My Husband, a Marshal: Conquering the Stars with My Culinary Arts-Chapter 591 - 199: Participation Matters, Heartache_3

Even if those votes were added, it wouldn’t help the Military Department take first place, but they wanted to know the reason, the reason why the Minister of the Military turned a blind eye to the Military Department.

Iron-eating Beast and His Majesty Tosuo exchanged a glance and wisely decided to leave first. They originally intended to have a meal from the Blue Star Empire together before departing, but at this moment, it was clearly not the right time to discuss dining plans, so it was better they leave on their own.

The people around them had all left, and the field was empty, with no one else around. The Minister of the Military didn’t need to hide anything while talking to this old professor. It was the old professor who spoke first: "Minister, I don’t understand why..."

"You want to ask why I didn’t vote for your Military Department?" Without needing the old professor to elaborate, the Minister of the Military knew what he wanted to ask, so he interrupted the professor, his expression devoid of any smile and tinged with disappointment. "Originally, I had a rather favorable impression of your Military Department because I saw a very hardworking young man in the Food Department. If he received good training, he would have been qualified to join my department in the future, even if he wanted to go under Ke Lian’s command."

"But unfortunately, if I hadn’t met him earlier, his life and dreams might have been ruined by your Military Department!" The old professor was elderly and shouldn’t be provoked, but the Minister of the Military couldn’t care less. He knew the status of this old professor and believed that only by making him realize the current problems with the Military Department could he prevent more talents from being ’cut short’ here.

The young man the Minister of the Military mentioned was the very one Du Xixi praised on the first day. His name was Lan Zhao, an orphan who relied on the support of kind-hearted people and the Empire to attend school. Thus, he was determined to serve the Empire and always aspired to be a great hero like Ke Lian.

Such a pure young man with a remarkable spirit was greatly admired by the Minister of the Military. On the first day, he lingered in the Food Department, and upon leaving, didn’t have time to visit the Military Department, so he went there first thing the next morning.

He wanted to see just how many young men like Lan Zhao were hidden within the Blue Star Empire’s Military Department. He wished to discover them one by one, aiming to give them a bright future.

But regrettably, he had expected Lan Zhao to be a representation of most Military Department students. In fact, although Blue Star University’s Military Department had excellent staff, its teaching had become "assembly line," producing students who were all the same. While they might impress others, they wouldn’t survive long on a real battlefield.

This was the reason for the Minister’s disappointment. He finally understood why the proportion of newcomers from Blue Star University’s Military Department joining the Military Department was so low each year, and in some years, there were even none.

Some promising talents studying in such an assembly-line style department... It was a complete disservice to the students!

On the second day, the Minister of the Military toured the entire Military Department and finally selected fifty students, including Lan Zhao. He made an exception by inviting them to study in the Military Department. He preferred to create a "Military Department" within the Military Department under pressure than to see good talents gradually buried within Blue Star University’s Military Department.

"Old professor, you’re getting on in years, your eyes and ears aren’t as sharp as they used to be. You should take a good look at the Military Department. Does the current Military Department really deserve to exist within Blue Star University, a top institution?"

"I didn’t vote because you simply don’t deserve my vote!"

With those words, the Minister of the Military turned and left without mercy. He wasn’t afraid his attitude might provoke complaints. More than how others felt about him, he cared about the future military strength of the Empire.

The old professor was deeply affected by the cold tone and disappointed look of the Minister for quite a while. Although the Minister had left long ago, he still stood there stiffly. Even when a few young professors from the Military Department came over out of concern, he remained standing there dumbfounded, without speaking a word.

One of the professors couldn’t stand it any longer. Concerned both for the old professor’s health and curious about what the Minister had said, he gently touched the old professor’s shoulder and softly asked, "Senior, what did the Minister say?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The old professor came back to his senses but didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he looked at the young professors surrounding him, and after a long while, his eyes suddenly reddened, and he burst into tears: "I, I have failed my teacher! I’ve misguided my students!"

The old professor was none other than the head of the Military Department, who had held this position for nearly seventy years. He had taken over this responsibility from his teacher, the former head of the Military Department, and could still remember his teacher’s words to him back then.

’Young man, as soldiers, our aim is to protect our home and country. You’re now going to be someone who trains soldiers. Always remember, you must train them to be real warriors! Warriors who can protect our home and country!’

Protect the home and country... protect the home and country...

The old professor wept as he collapsed onto the ground. Despite the young professors’ attempts to help him up, he couldn’t stop crying and couldn’t stand. It was all because of him, because of his decades-long insistence on improving students’ skills and neglecting the real dangers of the battlefield, ignoring his teacher’s earnest teachings, leading to the current state of the Military Department... a mess.

The Minister was right; such a Military Department no longer deserved its place at Blue Star University. Without change, everything would be ruined, and nothing would have time...

That night, the head of the Military Department voluntarily resigned and sent his letter of repentance to every school leader, including the Minister of the Military who had already returned to the department.