Yang Ming now felt a bit like ridiculing.

Look at this petty Emperor, what kind of things has he given him!

A colonel military rank, without the right to command troops, equivalent to an honorary title, with just a bit of salary from the military every month;

An Honorary Earl with a title, and the title was the very ordinary "Strong," which showed the Emperor's perfunctory and hasty selection when choosing his title;

Three soon-to-be decommissioned military ships from the military for his fief's private escort squad, the largest being a seven hundred meter-class Star Patrol Ship, and the other two were dry and ragged three hundred meter-class Escort Ships.

Of course, he had to respect reality.

Given the current tense relationship with the Emperor, it was already fine that he was given anything at all.

The biggest problem was still the century-long fief directly allocated to him by the Emperor—

Saka Star.

Yes, that's the place where Yang Ming, incarnated as Hui Saka, entered the Empire, the original homeland of the Saka family, now designated as the territory of the Honorary Earl, the White Ghost Hanton.

Saka Star was once an industrial hub of the Empire, and also a primary Administrative Star.

Directly assigning an entire planet to Yang Ming as a century-long fief also highlighted the 'grace' of the Emperor.

The problem was, Saka Star had previously suffered from an insect plague, with over ten million dead or injured, most of the major cities on the surface nearly destroyed.

After the plague, most of the residents took official subsidies and left Saka Star. Now the permanent population of Saka Star is less than six million, ranking at the bottom among the Empire's hundreds of main Administrative Stars, and most of them are the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.

The Saka family itself had also moved away from this Administrative Star.

Its economic benefits and population size were even less than most minor Administrative Stars.

Through this event, Yang Ming had also come to understand the Old Emperor's scope—it was hardly much bigger than a sesame seed.

Complaining aside, he got what he should have gotten.

Now on the day after the award ceremony, Yang Ming received a formal but perfunctory inquiry at the Noble Court and obtained his freedom.

He didn't stay long, returned to Emperor Star to visit Hanton's parents, and after confirming that the couple was comfortably under house arrest, he quickly bid them farewell and embarked on his journey to Saka Star.

When the convoy of three old ships left the Emperor Star Space Port, Yang Ming did not look back.

He stood on the bridge, gazing at the dense array of firepower from the small fortresses near Emperor Star, and couldn't help but wonder:

How powerful a fleet would it take to capture Emperor Star?

Yang Ming found this question rather interesting and began to calculate carefully, concluding that only the Empire itself had the formidable military strength capable of breaking through Emperor Star's defense system.

Even if the Empire's military forces were to head out for expeditions in distant Star Domains, Emperor Star could remain impregnable.

"Does Director Eno really believe what I said to Daphne?"

Yang Ming pondered with his head lowered.

Being in the midst of it all, he couldn't get a full picture and had to slowly discern with the information at hand.

Suddenly, a coquettish voice came from behind him: "Boss, do you want something to drink?"

"No need," Yang Ming turned around and saw Han Xiang dressed in a maid's short skirt, puzzled, "Isn't this the prop uniform you guys used for the case before? Why put it on again?"

Han Xiang immediately became somewhat flustered, her big eyes shifting to the side as she involuntarily took two steps back, the little apron on her maid's short skirt trembling slightly.

She stammered an explanation, "It's, it's that, my sister said that since you're leaving Emperor Star, you might not be in a good mood, so we should fulfill some of a maid's duties... so to say."

Yang Ming smiled silently, crossed his arms, and sized up Han Xiang a few times.

The delicate beauty exuding from inside out was quite rare among the girls Yang Ming had encountered.

Hera, although also petite and well-proportioned, had an inner strength that made her resolute, unable to be swayed once her mind was set; she was entirely different from Han Xiang, who had been trained from a young age with the intent to serve her future master as a court maid.

"Boss, please, don't look at me like that," Han Xiang appeared to be slightly overwhelmed.

The temporarily drafted soldiers on the ship each wore a faint smile, as if they had stumbled upon some amusing stories.

"Men."

A cold laugh came from the side.

Han Yin stood with her arms crossed at the entrance of the bridge; dressed similarly to Han Xiang, she looked a bit more sensual and a bit less innocent.

Han Yin said indifferently, "I've received messages from a few of my sisters saying that we might encounter some trouble on the way and should make some preparations in advance."

"Trouble?"

Yang Ming suddenly understood.

It was probable that the Elder Court was planning to retaliate against him.

Right now, the Imperial Nobles were the organization that hated Yang Ming the most; it was the faction left over from the previous Great Elder, which has a great influence across the Empire.

Although Yang Ming had, in the span of one year, swiftly attacked the core of this faction, he still couldn't completely erase them.

Now, Yang Ming had offended the Emperor, and the White Ghost had become the Emperor's discarded piece. These people thought they had their chance again.

"Don't worry," Yang Ming said soothingly, "Our ships will head directly to Saka, and we are within the Empire's territory. I don't believe the nobles' fleets would dare to attack me directly."

"You'd better be careful," Han Yin advised, "lest you run into some fools; it's the Elder Court's usual style to use idiots to do stupid things."

"It won't matter."

Yang Ming narrowed his eyes slightly and said calmly:

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