"By the way, are the troops on your planet superstitious?" Cen Zi suddenly thought of something.
"Superstitious? What do you mean?" Cen Yemeng was stunned.
"You know, all sorts of superstitious, mysterious, and mumbling rules," Cen Zi said.
"I don't think so. Why would they be superstitious?" Cen Yemeng didn't understand.
"I wasn't superstitious either, but after experiencing some things, I've started to feel that some things in the world are hard to understand. It's better to believe in some superstitions than not," Cen Zi said.
"Such as?"
"When I was an apprentice working as an aircraft mechanic on an aircraft carrier, I followed an old master. He was a sixty-year-old man with muscles all over and half-white hair. My master was very superstitious. He could divine and read Feng Shui. He had several large boxes in his cabin filled with candles, incense, yellow paper, compasses, and the like. Many people on our aircraft carrier went to him for matchmaking, financial advice, and fortune-telling. On weekends, there would be a line outside his cabin."
"At first, I didn't believe my master's stuff. I thought he was acting to swindle people. But later, my master predicted the direction of several wars, and he was right every time. For example, he said at the beginning of the year that there would be a war in June, and the insectoids would launch a fierce attack. In June, a major war did break out. After several such occurrences, I started to think he knew something."
"I completely believed him after I graduated. Once, during a battle, I was repairing an early warning aircraft. Early warning aircraft are quite important, even more so than fighter jets, because they can scout enemy firepower from the air and provide signal assistance to fighter formations. I had already repaired quite a few early warning aircraft, and I was very careful that time because the front line urgently needed it."
"However, after I finished the repair, the equipment on the aircraft kept freezing. I checked it many times, replaced many parts, but the equipment kept freezing inexplicably. I had no idea what the problem was. I was sweating profusely from anxiety. When my master heard about it, he rushed over to inspect it. But after looking at it, he couldn't find the problem either."
"Then my master said that he could only try. He set up a small altar, placed some apples and candies on it, lit three sticks of incense, and chanted something. The whole ritual took about ten minutes. After the ritual ended, my master restarted the equipment, and it started running directly. The equipment was inexplicably fixed."
"There are many such things," Jiang Ye, who had been silent, finally spoke. "A friend of mine, Xu Yan, works in construction. She said that before starting any project, they have to slaughter a pig to sacrifice to heaven. They cover a sacrificial table with red silk cloth. If they don't slaughter a pig, there are often fatal accidents on the construction site. Some projects are quite strange. If they can't drive piles for the foundation, they invite a Taoist priest to take a look, and then pour some cow's blood into the ground. The idea is that there's a 'ground dragon' beneath the building, and giving it cow's blood appeases it. The ground dragon gently moves aside, and the foundation can be laid."
"Xu Yan also talked to me about it. She said her parents also worked in construction. For a while, her parents didn't believe in such things and skipped these rituals. As a result, there were frequent accidents, and the accidents were always very peculiar. For example, skilled workers would suddenly develop a fever and have convulsions, new equipment would repeatedly malfunction, a worker sleepwalked and fell into a sand pit, wild cats would gather at the construction site, and workers living in the temporary shelters would collectively have the same nightmares," Cen Yemeng said. "Xu Yan doesn't actually believe in this stuff, but her parents repeatedly told her that even though they didn't know the specific reason behind it, they should just do it. People should not be too serious about life; living in a muddled way is how one survives."
"That's right. I've encountered many such things that seem inexplicable," Cen Zi nodded. "Before our new warships are delivered, they have to undergo a ritual, and they have to choose an auspicious day and time. They absolutely cannot be delivered if the day is not right. My master played such a role on our aircraft carrier. Before major battles, and before the aircraft carrier's first voyage after repairs, my master would set up a large sacrificial table on the deck for a ritual. And this was requested by our captain. The captain would issue an order in advance to clear the deck, and no unauthorized personnel were allowed to disturb it. Anyone who disturbed it would be confined. Later, when I became an officer and learned about the situation of the entire Saluxing army, I discovered that there was one or two such masters on every ship."
"One or two on every ship?" Cen Yemeng was surprised.
"Yes, it seems to be an unwritten rule among the various units. Whether it's a warship at sea or a warship in outer space, as long as the ship has a relatively large number of personnel, there will inevitably be a master who understands these things," Cen Zi smiled. "Later, when I entered the highest echelons of the military, I saw very detailed data tables for each unit. These tables were highly classified, and ordinary officers couldn't see them. Besides normal data such as troop types and weapon numbers, each data table had a column called 'Feng Shui Master'."
"At first, I thought I had misread it or it was a printing error, but I found it on every table. That's when I realized that the entire Saluxing army, from top to bottom, believed in this. Later, I even saw a report that inventoried the issues of discipleship and inheritance for such individuals in various units throughout history."
"People like my master usually select a few talented disciples and teach them hand-in-hand. When my master retires, his disciples can remain on the aircraft carrier to take over."
"This situation has been ongoing since the first generation of the Saluxing army and continues to this day. And Saluxing learned this custom from other planets, and it's hard to say how many generations it can be traced back," Cen Zi smiled. "When I was young, I thought my master's methods were too superstitious, but after I took charge, I didn't abolish this practice. I even allocated special funds to preserve it."
"It should be preserved," Jiang Ye nodded. "From a scientific perspective, even if ghosts and spirits are nonsense, having such a master perform a ritual can stabilize people's minds. When people's minds are stable, many things go smoothly. And this kind of thing doesn't cost much money. A few apples and a few pig heads are not worth much."
"Yes, yes, my thoughts are the same as my brother-in-law's. If I can't understand something, but doing it leads to great success, and not doing it leads to dire consequences, then even if I don't understand it, it's better to do it," Cen Zi nodded. "Do your sister's and brother-in-law's troops have such masters?"
"No," Cen Yemeng shook her head.
"Yes," Jiang Ye said.
Cen Zi was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Your brother-in-law's troops do, but your troops don't? Sister, do you need such people? I can send some masters to teach them, or we can exchange some personnel."
Cen Yemeng's expression changed slightly. She looked deeply at Jiang Ye. Her husband's reaction was very quick. He had immediately understood Cen Zi's intention, while she was half a step behind.
The conversation they had just had had reached a consensus on these metaphysical matters and confirmed their importance.
If she said they didn't have such masters at this point, Cen Zi would take the opportunity to send some over. And it was hard to say whether these masters were genuinely Feng Shui practitioners or spies sent to gather intelligence.
Cen Zi had laid the groundwork for so long, seemingly talking about trivial matters, but in the end, her true intentions were revealed.
It was truly a bizarre angle of attack.
"The Feng Shui and earth veins of different planets are different, and many practices also vary. We can't forcibly transplant them," Jiang Ye said to help his wife. "My troops have many such masters, and my wife and I regularly exchange some personnel. So, after the exchange, her troops will have them. Don't trouble yourself with such a small matter."