Chapter 664: Chapter 379, High-Ranking Central Government Official
Galaraldo had a very clear understanding of his own situation at the outset.
If he did nothing, he was as good as dead.
He was a War Apostle of the Sun Lord, the closest confidant of that great figure who had almost single-handedly wielded the Empire’s supreme power for decades. When necessary, the Sun Lord even liked to exercise supreme authority directly through his War Apostles.
This was a very normal choice; in his view, the governmental system of the Empire was too cumbersome and inefficient. With his unmatched prestige, he would directly deploy War Apostles, either as the chief administrative officer of a vast Star Domain, as a tax officer to gather war materials (this was the role of Galaraldo), or directly appoint a War Apostle as the person in charge of a certain war zone, consolidating forces like the Star Realm Army, the Navy, and even the Interstellar Warriors, the state religion’s nuns, the Tribunal, and the Sect of Mechanics…
This greatly increased efficiency, integrating the Empire’s complex and cumbersome forces, but undoubtedly destroyed the Empire’s established system.
While the Sun Lord was alive, this wasn’t a major issue, and the War Apostles could still summon wind and rain.
…
But after the death of the Sun Lord, there would inevitably be a comprehensive backlash from the entire Empire’s established system, which would drive the War Apostles into a corner.
Without their greatest patron, would the Empire tolerate these War Apostles, who could only wield immense power with the prestige of the Sun Lord, to continue holding high positions and usurping the authority of the Empire Government?
Clearly not.
So the question arises, what would the remaining War Apostles do?
Would they willingly accept their execution?
Clearly, that was also not a possibility.
Just as Galaraldo had tried everything to fight for a way out, the other forty or so War Apostles also each had their own methods and means.
By now, four or five years had passed, and the death of the Sun Lord still had not been made public.
The number of people who knew this news for certain was very few; those who guessed, those who felt it, there were many, but nobody had evidence, nor dared to be so certain; those who believed that the Solar Expedition was still proceeding vigorously were the overwhelming majority.
However, underneath the surface, everything had already begun to move in secret.
There were already War Apostles who had been purged, along with the series of forces they represented, which crumbled as a result.
And some War Apostles, especially those ensconced in the ‘Solaria’ Cosmos Domain conquered by the Solar Expedition and acting as generals, as chief administrators, quickly developed into separatist forces.
They also had a lot of dirty laundry to deal with each other. Of the forty or so War Apostles, were their relationships all close comrades-in-arms? Obviously not. Over the course of the lengthy Solar Expedition, these colleagues had become friends, but also, due to differences in ideology, personality, and other reasons, many conflicts had formed.
While Sun Lord Suo He Kaim was alive, all conflicts were suppressed beneath the surface; without him, these conflicts began to erupt en masse.
Some War Apostles wanted to elect a new leader, hoping that the position of ‘Sun Lord’ would continue to exist and continue to lead the ongoing Solar Expedition; some wanted to stop fighting and obey the Empire’s orders; some just wanted to independently rule over their territories like local tyrants…
But regardless of how much power they inherited, whether they were generals or politicians, whether they were loyal or harbored other intentions, in any case, the Solaria Domain had already become a complete mess.
Galaraldo foresaw these situations and future trends.
And he himself was different from those former colleagues. He neither controlled an army nor was he a powerful regional governor. Within the War Apostles, he served as a tax officer, and his biggest reliance was on the authority and prestige of the Sun Lord.
He could neither rule over a region nor had the chips to negotiate with the Empire.
On the contrary, by dealing with taxation and war donations, he had offended numerous people within the Empire. Although, the vast majority of them were local officials and lords, without his patron, these officials and real-power lords could very easily take his life.
However, he also had advantages that his former colleagues did not.
Unlike the other War Apostles who spent years in the Solaria Domain, expanding the Empire’s borders, Galaraldo’s ‘workplace’ was within the entire Empire, especially as he spent a longer time in Holy Terra, after all, he needed to deal with various government departments, particularly the Military Affairs Department and the Department of Taxation.
He had many connections.
Though in the midst of chaos, networking might seem inconsequential compared to genuine power in hand, but Galaraldo also swiftly analyzed another aspect—if the Solar Expedition Army, no matter how fierce, no matter how much it had concentrated the best of the Empire, lost Suo He Kaim himself, they would be nothing but loose sand, incapable of coming together.
His colleagues, even though they now possessed powerful legacies, still paled in comparison to the truly infinite power of the Empire.
He did not know how long the turmoil in Solaria would last, how severe it would be, or even if it might explode into civil war. But he believed that in the end, it would still be the Human Empire, which had stood for over ten thousand years, that would claim victory.
So, the path he chose became very clear.