"Sir, I venture to request one thing. The current scale of the army is too vast, daily affairs are as numerous as the hairs on a cow, and the helm of the general direction is as heavy as a thousand pounds. I have been continuously fatigued for a long time and am truly unable to handle so much work. If possible, please arrange for another person or several people to take charge of more than half of the troops."
Jiang Ye secretly sighed, "You are quite clever."
Fatigue was just an excuse. Jiang Ye had witnessed Che Zhen's work capabilities, and he could manage hundreds of thousands of troops.
It was estimated that the rapid expansion of the army and the surge in troop numbers recently had made Che Zhen feel that his power was too great.
Rather than waiting to be curtailed later, it was better to proactively relinquish some military power and protect himself.
Jiang Ye said, "I understand. Please bear with it for now. I will start working on this matter as soon as I get back."
After some consideration, Jiang Ye added, "Don't try to do everything yourself. Even a god would be overwhelmed. Learn to delegate some tasks to your subordinates. This will not only save your energy but also help cultivate your subordinates."
Che Zhen replied, "Understood!"
Jiang Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He had been considering how to take back some military power from Che Zhen without disheartening him.
Now that he was proactively handing it over, things were much easier.
Working with intelligent people was indeed comfortable!
...
The spaceship entered the atmosphere of the garbage planet.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng stood by the porthole, looking down.
The huge planet was shrouded in darkness, and the outlines of clouds and land could be vaguely seen.
Lights were visible in three places, with red trails like light snakes. They could be seen even from space, at least at the level of forest fires.
Jiang Ye recalled the fire he had set. Had it been burning ever since?
"Sister Nannan, what are those lights?" Cen Yemeng, in sync with her husband, asked, "Could it be the fire we set?"
"Battle fires. The bright spots are where fighting is happening," Li Nannan said. "Many terrorists are hiding in the garbage mountains, setting fires to either force them out or burn them to death inside. Even if there are bunkers, the molten garbage can seal the bunker entrances, cut off oxygen, and suffocate them inside."
Jiang Ye reached up and touched the back of his neck. Dealing with terrorists was indeed ruthless; they used any method that was harsh. Humanitarianism did not apply to terrorists.
"I have a question," Jiang Ye said. "Why is so much garbage accumulated here?"
"What do you mean?" Li Nannan asked.
"The environment of this planet is habitable. Even if the mineral resources were depleted and the economy collapsed, it wouldn't be used for dumping garbage, would it? Wouldn't it be better to send garbage to uninhabitable planets? Habitable planets are quite rare."
"Also, the transportation costs for this cheap garbage are not low, are they? Wouldn't it be cheaper to process the garbage on the original planet? Why spend so much money to pile it up here?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Do you know about unfinished projects?" Li Nannan asked, not answering directly.
"Like unfinished buildings?" Jiang Ye asked. "Buildings half-constructed, unable to continue due to lack of funding, neither demolition nor completion, obstructing the view where they stand?"
"This planet is also an unfinished project. The garbage you see now was originally intact cargo. Due to prolonged exposure to the elements and neglect, it has rotted into garbage covering the planet's surface."
"Intact cargo?" Jiang Ye pondered for a few seconds. "Was this planet originally a cargo hold? A logistics transfer station? Later abandoned due to economic problems?"
"It wasn't a cargo hold or a logistics transfer station. It was the largest second-hand market in this galaxy. This planet's economy was originally sustained by the second-hand goods business," Li Nannan explained.
"Second-hand market..." Jiang Ye gazed at the planet below, lost in thought.
"I had a friend who was in the second-hand market business. He made enough money in five years to live for two thousand years and became immensely wealthy. In that era of economic prosperity, with extended lifespans and abundant goods, everyone's home accumulated a large amount of useful and useless items. When people moved, or when someone passed away, decades of accumulated items would be sold to the second-hand market," Li Nannan said. "Most of the items on this planet are relics. People like us can live forever, but the vast majority of people are still poor, struggling, and have limited lifespans."
Jiang Ye's heart trembled. The mountains of garbage were actually the personal belongings accumulated by living people over half their lives.
"Why did it become an unfinished project?" Jiang Ye asked.
"As the economy improved, people became more fickle and less willing to spend money on second-hand goods. You can see from history that if most people in a society don't wear second-hand clothes or buy second-hand furniture, and if second-hand markets in cities don't occupy prime locations, it indicates that the society's economy is in a period of prosperity." Li Nannan continued, "Moreover, the shipping costs, manual sorting fees, and repair costs for these second-hand goods were not low. They were only slightly cheaper than new items. In the end, merchants, unable to sell them, abandoned them here and fled, too lazy to deal with them. Over time, an entire planet became piled up."
"What a waste!" Jiang Ye exclaimed. "So much second-hand goods, it must be worth hundreds of billions, right?"
The spaceship slowly descended.
It landed on the familiar beach again.
The appearance of the beach had changed. The previously excavated water collectors had been washed away by the sea, and the plastic garbage in the sand had multiplied several times. A large patch of dead fish floated on the sea, looking like thin gruel from afar.
The charred small spaceship was still in its original position.
The three disembarked and headed towards the wreckage of the burned spaceship.
"You lived here at that time?" Li Nannan asked.
"Yes," Jiang Ye sighed. Returning to a familiar place, his mood was only heavy.
Cen Yemeng was the first to enter the wreckage, followed by a surprised shout, "Robo-dog!"
Jiang Ye was startled and ran over.
Cen Yemeng was squatting on the ground, holding a tattered robotic dog in her arms. The dog's surface was riddled with bullet holes, one hind leg was missing, and it was covered in sand and dust, but the indicator light on its head was still on.
"Master!" the robo-dog said.
Jiang Ye was also surprised. "Have you been waiting here all along?"
"I would come here to lie down for a while every day, thinking you might return," the robo-dog said. "You've really returned. Seeing that Master is safe, I'm relieved. I'm so happy!"
"We came this time specifically to take you with us," Cen Yemeng said. "Is there anything you want to bring?"
"Go? Where to?" The robo-dog tilted its head.
"To Jiang Ye Planet, to live with us," Jiang Ye said. "We'll fix your parts and make you a luxurious and comfortable dog house."
"But, I still have to process garbage on this planet," the robo-dog said.