Chapter 48 Chapter Eighteen

Huber Marlow was pacing impatiently, leafing through his many reports.After two years as mayor, he became more indoors, more tactful, and more patient.However, he has never cultivated an interest in official government documents and bureaucratic articles, and always feels dizzy whenever he sees them. "How many starships did we lose?" Jere asked. "Four ships were trapped on the ground and captured. Two ships are currently unaccounted for. The rest are reported to be safe." Marlow murmured, "We should have done better, but this is only a minor injury." Jer didn't answer, Marlowe looked up and said, "Are you worried about something?"

"I hope Seth will come here." Jere seemed to answer the question. "Oh, yeah, so we can have him give us another lesson in home affairs." "No, it's not like that," Jere roared, "but you're too stubborn, Marlowe. You're meticulous in everything you do with foreign affairs, but you don't care about what happens on your own planet." Never cared at all.” "Oh, that's your job, isn't it? Otherwise, what's the point of me appointing you Minister of Education and Propaganda?" "Judging from your cooperative attitude, your appointment obviously wants me to die in an ugly way right away. I have nagged in your ear countless times throughout the last year, reminding you to pay attention to Seth And the Fundamentalists he leads—they are getting stronger and stronger, which is very dangerous. If Sett forces a special vote and prepares to remove you, what will your countermeasures be?"

"I admit, I have no countermeasures at all." "And your speech last night was tantamount to handing over the approval order of this election respectfully to Seth. Do you have to be so straightforward?" "Can't you see that the purpose of my doing this is to prevent him from taking the lead." "Impossible," Jayer said passionately, "it's useless for you to do this. You claim to have foreseen everything, but you never explain why the trade policy you have implemented against Corey for the past three years has made the world so invincible." They took advantage of all the advantages. Your only strategy for this war is to retreat without fighting; you gave up every trade opportunity in the star sector near Keril, and publicly declared the war to be in a stalemate; you did not mention at all that you would Take the initiative, and there is no such plan in the future. God, Marlowe, this is a mess, what do you want me to do?"

"Are you saying that my approach is not attractive enough?" "It lacks the charisma to appeal to the sentiment of the masses." "It's not all the same." "Marlowe, wake up. There are only two ways you can go now - one is to announce a tough foreign policy immediately, regardless of your real plan; the other way is to reach some degree of agreement with Seth. compromise." Marlowe replied, "Well, if I can't do the first, let's try the second, and Seth just arrived." Seth and Marlowe hadn't seen each other since the trial two years ago.We met again today, but we couldn't detect any change in each other. It's just the delicate atmosphere of this meeting, which made people feel very clearly that the situation has already changed from subject to guest.

Seth sat down without shaking hands with Marlowe. Marlowe handed him a cigar and said, "You wouldn't mind if Jayle stayed too, would you? He's very eager for a compromise between us, and if we get too emotional he can be a mediator." Seth shrugged: "You really need a compromise. Last time, I asked you to put forward your own conditions. I think the situation is just the opposite now." "You're right." "Okay, so now let me put forward my conditions. You must abandon those stupid and naive foreign policies, such as economic bribery, trade routes for small appliances, etc., and immediately return to the traditional policies formulated and tested by the ancestors .”

"You mean conquering other worlds by means of missions?" "exactly." "Otherwise, is there no room for compromise?" "Absolutely not." "Well——" Marlowe lit the cigar very slowly, and took another deep breath. The head of the cigar immediately gave off a dull red light. "In Harding's day, the policy of missionary conquest of other worlds was a new and radical approach. At the time, conservatives like you were all against it. However, this policy has passed the test of time and is now hallowed. It's all good, and a man like you, Sett, thinks it's good in every way. But tell me, how are you going to get us out of this mess?"

"It's your current predicament, which has nothing to do with me." "Just correct the question as you wish, please answer." "We need to take the initiative with a strong force. You seem to be satisfied with the current stalemate, but in fact it is fatal, because in this way, it means that we are showing weakness to all the worlds on the outer edge. However, in the interstellar jungle of the outer galactic green , the most important way to survive is to show your strength. Otherwise, other worlds will fly over to attack us like vultures. Every world hopes to get a piece of the action. You should understand this. You are from Smirnor ,right?"

Marlowe deliberately ignored the overtones of the last sentence, and replied, "Even if you can defeat Corell, how can you deal with the Empire? That is our real enemy." The corner of Seth's mouth forced a smile: "Oh, no, you wrote a complete report on your visit to Sivina. The governor of Sivina is trying to create disputes on the outer edge purely for his personal considerations. This is just It's a trivial question. When he is surrounded by more than 50 powerful neighbors who are eyeing tigers, and he is planning how to rebel against the empire, he will never rush to send an expeditionary force to the edge of the galaxy - these are excerpts from your Report."

"Oh, you are wrong, Seth. If we are strong enough to pose a threat to him, he will really do that. If we use the main frontal attack to defeat Corell in one fell swoop, it will make him feel this We have to be more roundabout and more subtle in our approach to this threat." "For example—" Marlow leaned back in his chair and replied: "Sert, I will give you a chance. I don't need you, but I can make you useful. So I will tell you the ins and outs of everything, and then you can decide for yourself—" Or join me as a member of the coalition cabinet; or you can play the role of a martyr and spend the rest of your life in prison."

"You have used this trick before." "I didn't do my best then, Seth, the right time is just coming. Now listen to—" Marlowe narrowed his eyes. "That time I was ordered by you to go to Corell," Marlowe began. "I bribed the leader with some trinkets and utensils, which are the most common things in the cargo hold. My original intention was just to take advantage of this Gained access to the steelworks, and had no further plans. Everything went smoothly, and I saw what I was looking for. However, it wasn't until I visited a corner of the empire that it finally dawned on me, Figured out how to use trade as a weapon.

"Currently we are facing another Seldon crisis, Seth. It is absolutely impossible to rely on individuals to resolve the Seldon crisis, but must rely on the power of history. When Hari Seldon planned the historical trajectory for us in the future, there was no Taking into account the great heroes, famous generals and good ministers, what he calculates is the huge current of economic and social history. Therefore, every different crisis has a different solution, which depends on the strength in our hands at that time. "And this time—it's trade!" Seth raised his eyebrows suspiciously, and took advantage of Marlowe's pause to interject, "I hope I'm not too incompetent, but I really feel that your speech was vague." "You'll see soon enough," Marlowe replied, "think about it, the power of trade has been underestimated up until now—for so long people have thought that trying to make trade a powerful weapon , it is necessary to have a clergy class under our control. But it is not the case. This discovery can be said to be my contribution-trade without priests! Pure trade! In fact, it is already powerful in itself. "Let us discuss a very simple and specific example, the Republic of Corell. Since we are now at war with Corell, the trade between the two sides is completely interrupted. However - please note that I have reduced this situation to a single case. Discussion - Over the past three years, Corell's economic system has become more and more dependent on nuclear energy technology, which we have introduced and only we can provide maintenance services. Now let's assume that when those What exactly happens when tiny nuclear power generators fail and one by one gadgets become unusable? "The first thing that went wrong was the small domestic nuclear power installation. After half a year of what you call a deadly stalemate, the nuclear power paring knife failed, the nuclear power oven, the washing machine also went on strike, and in the hot summer, the thermostat failed. It has become a decoration. So, what will be the result?" Marlowe stopped here, waiting for Seth's answer.Sett said in a calm tone: "Nothing will happen. During the war, the people can show full resilience and endurance." "That's right, the people are indeed able to share the difficulties during the war, and will send their children one by one to join the army, and have the heart to let them die tragically in the destroyed starship. They will not succumb to the enemy's will Air raids and bombing, even if you have to hide in a bunker half a mile deep and live on moldy bread and bad water. But then again, if there is no imminent danger at all, the patriotism of the people will not be inspired, so that Well, those small inconveniences will be unbearable. This will lead to a stalemate, no casualties, no air raids, and no real war. "The only thing that will change is that the knives can no longer cut the food, the stove can no longer cook, and in winter the room is freezing to death. This will interfere with the lives of the people, and the people will inevitably complain." Seth said slowly, incredulously, "Dude, is that what you're hoping for? What the hell are you counting on? A housewife revolution? A peasant uprising? A sudden rebellion by the butchers and food peddlers, taking their cut Meat and bread knives, took to the streets shouting: 'Nuclear energy or give me death!'” "That's not true, Mr. Sutter," said Marlowe, growing impatient too. "That's not what I was counting on. What I was really expecting was that this general discontent would gradually spread to more influential people. " "So, who is the more influential person?" "For example, the manufacturers, factory owners, industrialists, etc. in Keril. After this stalemate lasts for two years, the machines in the factories will stop one by one. Those that have been thoroughly improved by us using nuclear energy devices All industries will be shut down in a short period of time. And the big bosses of heavy industry will find that all their machines have been turned into scrap iron at once." "Marlo, their factory was doing fine before you went there." "Yes, Seth, it was, but the profit was only about one-twelfth of what it is now. Even if the cost of switching back to a non-nuclear system is negligible, absolutely no one would take such a loss-making business. Like this, when When industrialists, capitalists, and most of the people are extremely dissatisfied with the leader, how long do you think the leader can do?" "He can do it for as long as he can think of to get new nuclear power generators from the Empire." But Marlowe smiled happily: "You're wrong, Seth, as wrong as the leader himself. You screw everything up and don't understand the situation at all. Mind you, man, the Empire can't help at all Because the Empire has always been a colossus with almost unlimited resources. Every problem they have considered has always been in units of planets, galaxies, and sectors; They are used to thinking like this. "But we, we are different - our small base, our single world without metal resources, we have to find a way to build a completely different system. Our generator is only the size of a thumb, because we only have so much A bit of metal. We had to develop new technologies that were beyond the reach of the Empire, as the empire's overall creativity had waned and it was no longer able to make any significant technological advances. "Although they have a huge nuclear shield, big enough to protect a starship, a city, and even the whole world, they can't make a shield for personal use anyway. In order to provide light and heat for a city, they use six story-high generators—I’ve seen them—and our large generators could fit in this room. And when I told an Imperial nuclear expert that the generators could fit into a walnut-sized In the lead box, he almost suffocated on the spot. "Yes, their experts no longer understand those huge monsters. All the machines are fully automatic, and they have passed these machines down from generation to generation. Even the maintenance personnel are hereditary privileged classes. However, even if there is a The D-tube burned out, and those guys were just as helpless. "So this war is actually a battle between two different systems—the base system against the imperial system, and the nanosystem against the megasystem. The way the empire controls a certain world is by offering them giant starships as bribes. These starships Although it is a sharp weapon on the battlefield, it has no meaning to the national economy and the people's livelihood. On the contrary, we use some small gadgets to buy people's hearts. Of course, these small things are useless in war, but they are indispensable for economic prosperity and industrial and commercial development. Short. "For kings or leaders, they would rather choose starships, and even start wars. In history, every autocratic ruler likes to exchange the well-being of the people for the glory and martial arts in their minds. However, for The vast majority of people are only related to those small things. Therefore, in the next two or three years, the economic depression will inevitably sweep the Republic of Corell, and I believe that Asper Ago will not be able to sustain it any longer .” Seth walked to the window unconsciously, with his back to Marlowe and Jerre.It was dusk now, and a few stars were blinking their eyes hard over the edge of the Milky Way.Behind these starlights is the hazy lenticular main body of the Milky Way, in which the remnants of the empire are still dormant, still powerful, and faintly facing the base. Seth said suddenly: "No, you shouldn't be in this role." "You don't trust my abilities?" "What I mean is, I don't believe in your loyalty. You are a smooth-talking guy. When I sent you to Corell, I thought everything was arranged perfectly, but in the end you tricked me. During the public trial, I Thought you were in trouble, but you still managed to get out of it. Not only that, but you also used the power of the masses to get the position of mayor. You are not honest at all, and every motive of yours has another purpose, what you said Every sentence has at least three meanings. "If you are a traitor, if you were bought by the people of the empire when you visited the empire, and they promised you power, this can also be explained reasonably for the various actions you have taken so far. You put the enemy When you fatten up and go to war, you make the base unable to fight back, you come up with plausible explanations for everything, and you scare everyone." "You mean there's no room for compromise?" Marlowe asked in a mild tone. "I mean, you have to step down anyway, whether you resign voluntarily or we push you out." "I have warned you just now, what will happen if you don't cooperate with me." Seth was suddenly very excited, and his face flushed red: "I also warn you, Huber Marlowe from Smirnor, if you arrest me, you will dig your own grave. My people will be everywhere immediately. Proclaim your truth, and the people of the base will unite against your alien ruler. We all have a sense of the fate of the base, which you Smirnians cannot understand-and this awareness is enough to make you destroy." Marlowe turned his head and whispered to the two guards who walked in: "Take him away, he's under arrest." Seth said hurriedly, "This is your last chance." But Marlowe didn't raise his head, and didn't answer, just put out the cigar by himself. Five minutes later, Jere said worriedly and weakly: "Okay, now that you have created a martyr, what are you going to do next?" Then Marlowe stopped fiddling with the ashtray, looked up and said, "This isn't the Seth I know, he's like a blind bull. God, he really hates me." "That would make him more dangerous." "More dangerous? Nonsense! He has completely lost his judgment." Jere said with a sullen face, "You are too confident, Marlowe, and you ignore the possibility of mass rebellion." Marlowe stared at him, and said sullenly, "I'll just say this once, Jer, there's absolutely no way the masses will rebel." "You are too confident." "I don't have confidence in myself, but I have full confidence in the Seldon crisis and the rationality of its solution-whether it is internal or external rationality. There are some things I didn't tell Seth just now ——He tried to control the base itself with the power of religion in the same way as he controlled other worlds, but he failed. This is the best example, showing that in the Seldon plan, the role of religion has been retired. "Economic power, however, is quite different, to paraphrase Seve Harding's famous aphorism: it is an equal weapon against friend and foe alike. If Corell prospers by trading with us, so does our own economy. Conversely, if Corell's factory closes down because of the interruption of trade with us, and other worlds suffer from depression due to trade isolation, our factory will also close down, and the base will also fall into a recession. "Today, with all the factories, trade centers, shipping routes, etc., all under my jurisdiction, I must not back down if Seth tries to carry out revolutionary propaganda. If his propaganda methods are successful, or just It looks like it will succeed, and I guarantee that the prosperity here will be destroyed by him. On the contrary, if he fails, we can continue to maintain the prosperity today, because my factory can provide many employment opportunities for many people. "Since I believe that the people of Corell will break out in revolution because of the pursuit of prosperity, for the same reason, I believe that our people will never let prosperity be destroyed. This is roughly how the ending of this drama is." "So according to what you said," Jieer said, "You are establishing a plutocratic politics, and you want to turn our place into a paradise for merchants and business princes. If this evolution continues, what will happen in the future?" Marlow raised his stern face, and shouted sharply: "What the hell does the future matter to me? Seldon must have foreseen it long ago, and prepared a clever plan long ago. When the power of money is as outdated as religion is today, Naturally there will be other crises. Those will be left to future successors, but in any case I have solved the present dilemma." Corell... Therefore, after three years of war with the least actual combat in history, the Republic of Corell finally surrendered unconditionally.Huber Marlow thus became the third hero in the hearts of the base people after Harry Seldon and Seyfer Harding.