Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 75 The Pope's Coronation and the Reform of the Skydrive Military Commission

After reading the contents of the chip, Saint Sophia gradually began to understand everything.

She placed the separated chip back on the table, then said with a completely serious expression, "We will unify Terra within three years!"

Zhang Qiming shook his head: "Too slow."

He went on to explain: "After unification, we will need two to three years to build an anti-Zerg fleet. The Void Worms will arrive in three to five years. Unification of Terra must be completed within one year. This is a hard standard."

"My current assumption is that the strategic integration window is six months. During this period, Caul will do his best to assist the Technology Liberation and Reconstruction Committee in maximizing production capacity. The organizational gaps in the Fourth Fleet must be filled as soon as possible, and the other three main fleets must also complete the upgrade of key combat components simultaneously."

Saint Sophia's expression remained solemn after hearing the story.

"Rebuild the entire Fourth Fleet within six months?"

She felt that the targets proposed by Zhang Qiming were too radical and did not take reality into consideration at all.

"Even if all the shipyards on Mars immediately switched to wartime production and the core military industrial area operated at full capacity, it would be difficult to complete the construction of the entire range of ships, from heavy cruisers and destroyers to patrol gunboats and supply and repair ships, within six months."

"Furthermore, we also need to consider the mass production of shipborne SA and the systematic training of crew members. It is almost impossible to complete the Fourth Fleet's full organization within six months."

Zhang Qiming nodded.

"Under normal circumstances, it is indeed impossible, so this matter is left to me and Kaul to handle. After that, Kaul and I have a way to solve all the production bottlenecks we encounter."

"What method?" Saint Sophia blurted out.

She regretted it as soon as she said it.

Sure enough, Zhang Qiming revealed that familiar, blood pressure-raising smile, and said to Saint Sophia, "You'll find out then."

It's that damn riddle-solving segment again!

Saint Sophia had gradually gotten used to Zhang Qiming's riddle-like behavior, and the two quickly turned the topic to the separation of church and state.

Zhang Qiming proposed a six-step plan, with the first five steps being the most important because he demanded that the military, courts, schools, technical certification, and finance and taxation be separated from the church.

The final step was a concession he made to the church: the mechanical church could retain worship, doctrinal studies, ordination, and public service, but it could not interfere with the operation of state organs.

After explaining the six-step plan, Zhang Qiming concluded to St. Sophia, "The central government is willing to cooperate strategically with the Mechanical Church."

"You can establish legitimate research institutes, have legitimate scientific and technological research and development rights, and participate in or invest in the Mars Wanji Project, but research results must be registered, and content involving military industry and the Wanji Way must be subject to national supervision."

Saint Sophia pondered for a moment.

"If we want to retain believers and further promote change, I suggest that the Mechanical Church be designated as the state religion of Mars."

Zhang Qiming rejected it outright.

"No!"

"Martian citizens can enjoy freedom of belief in machines, other beliefs, or no belief at all."

"The Mechanical Church may have a special historical status in Martian society, but it cannot become the state's designated faith."

Saint Sophia was silent for a few seconds before finally nodding.

"Can."

She had already seen the chip and understood that Zhang Qiming would never back down on this issue. With the six-step plan finalized, the next key step was the coronation.

Five days later.

The Mars Global Public Channel has begun live streaming the Mechanical Church reorganization ceremony.

[Mars Public Channel - Skydrive Government Special News]

Today, Zhang Qiming, the Supreme Commander of the Provisional Government of Mars, attended the ceremony for the reorganization of the Mechanical Church and the enthronement of the Pope of the Millennium at the Olympus Political Hub.

At the ceremony, Saint Sophia Paleologina was officially crowned as the new Pope of the Mechanical Church.

The Supreme Commander, representing the Provisional Government of Mars, witnessed the entire enthronement ceremony and jointly signed the "Provisional Decree on the Relationship between the Church and State of Mars" with the newly appointed Pope of All Missions.

In the image, Hagia Sophia, dressed in a white-gold papal robe, stands before a platform where the old College of Cardinals emblem has been removed.

Zhang Qiming stepped forward slowly and personally handed her the Scepter of All Machines, symbolizing the highest religious authority of the Mechanical Church.

From this moment on, the era of the College of Cardinals officially came to an end.

The Mechanical Church still exists, but its masters have changed, and its position in Martian society has also completely changed.

Hagia Sophia gripped her scepter and turned to face the camera.

Her voice traveled across the entire network to the three major administrative regions of Mars, all near-orbit ports, and every operational Mars terminal.

"In order to guarantee the freedom of belief of every citizen, the monopoly of state power by any religious organization must be completely eliminated."

"The faith in machines belongs to everyone willing to follow the way of the machines, but it must never be used by a minority to manipulate the army."

Justice, taxation, education, technology certification, and local administration.

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"From this day forward, the Mechanical Church will return to the origins of its faith and fully cooperate with the Martian Provisional Government to complete a comprehensive reorganization."

The news footage then switched to the signing ceremony.

Zhang Qiming and Saint Sophia signed their names on the "Temporary Order on Relations between the State and the Church on Mars".

The document was entered into the Martian Provisional Government Archives by Chishiro and simultaneously distributed to the three major administrative districts, the Martian Defense Force General Staff Office, the Provisional Supreme Court, the Martian Committee, and the Technology Liberation and Reconstruction Committee.

From then on, what belongs to the church belongs to the church, and what belongs to the secular belongs to the secular.

three days later.

Zhang Qiming was still sitting in the supreme commander's office at the Olympus political hub. There were fewer documents on the desk, but the political information reported by Zhi Shilang and Ares was even more frequent than before.

Fortunately, the two Class I strong artificial intelligence systems can help him share the burden of government affairs.

Since the Provisional Decree on the Relationship between the Church and State on Mars came into effect, Pope Hagia Sophia has been gradually transferring control of Ares in accordance with the agreement.

At this moment, on Zhang Qiming's Gaia interface, the progress of the two tasks in the intelligence log is slowly advancing.

[Intelligence Log - Centralized Power: The Philosopher King]

Current progress: 65%

[Intelligence Diary - Separation of Church and State: Breaking the Crown of Secularism]

Current progress: 54%

Zhang Qiming was satisfied with the progress of these two projects; now it was just a matter of time.

The military's restructuring is also underway.

The Mars Defense Force General Staff Office and the Mars Defense Force Naval Command, two parallel command centers, are merging their upper-level responsibilities in accordance with the plan proposed by JOJ0.

Zhang Nanhai personally took charge of promoting the establishment of the "Skyward Supreme Military Council". Once the council was established, Zhang Qiming would serve as the chief military officer, leading the global armed forces and implementing a chief officer responsibility system.

Under this system, all work of the Sky Drive Military Commission is under the unified leadership of the Commander-in-Chief. The supreme leadership and command authority of the global armed forces are completely concentrated in the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Commission. The Commander-in-Chief has the highest decision-making power and command authority over all military affairs and bears ultimate responsibility.

This means that supreme command of the fleet, ground forces, SA aerospace forces, and orbital defense forces has been transferred to the Commander-in-Chief.

Each committee can participate in deliberations, and staff agencies at all levels can draft operational plans, but the final decision on military strategy formulation, troop deployment in the theater, fleet operational deployment, and issuance of major military orders shall be made and the chief engineer shall bear full responsibility.

Zhang Nanhai has already submitted the first draft, and in a few days, this matter will be officially implemented.

However, compared to these government affairs that are already on track, Zhang Qiming is now more concerned about another matter related to himself.

The second-level professional knowledge of the Great Creator, which was unsealed by the new Pope, namely the advanced knowledge of the Priest of Ten Thousand Machines, has been delivered to his office.