"Mm mm mm mm."
At this point the little girl in Madam Miao's arms pointed toward the bridge's porthole.
Looking that way now, one could see a mighty interstellar city floating in the distance.
Though it was an interstellar city, the whole city was built in a style heavy with history.
And in the most conspicuous place were three great golden characters:
'Chang'an City'
"So this is the Owl Dragon System's Chang'an City. How beautiful. I've never seen an interstellar city with such an air of majesty," Madam Miao exclaimed in spite of herself.
"Within the Owl Dragon Empire there's not a single interstellar city that can compare with it." Li Yaqi, who had seen much of the world, gave the plainest verdict of all.
Zhao Chen nodded and said, "For now, at least, that's so."
"Did such a splendid interstellar city cost a great deal of resources?" Madam Miao asked curiously.
Zhao Chen nodded. "Chang'an City was built on the technical blueprint of the Divine Palace-class Interstellar Complex. Buildings of this kind are going up in other parts of the Owl Dragon Empire as well. But their outward look will be restyled to suit local culture and custom. That is, inside they're all the same, but outside they'll differ a great deal. And of them all, Chang'an City has cost the most to build so far. By the word I have, it's expected to have cost close to 600 trillion star coins."
"600 trillion star coins!" Madam Miao drew in a cold breath at the figure.
Though she had no charge of interstellar trade, she had been with Li Wei all along; she had never eaten pork, but she had seen the pig run.
She naturally knew what 600 trillion star coins meant now.
Zhao Chen clasped his hands behind his back and looked through the porthole at that most splendid Chang'an City.
"I know that an interstellar city so splendid, so lavish in cost, may seem to outsiders a wholly needless expense. That money, used to build warships, could build several T6-grade main warships. If I were still the Owl Dragon Legion's supreme commander, I'd scorn to build a thing like this. But I'm the Empire's Emperor now. And so this Chang'an City must be built. Its future is to stand for the Imperial royal house, for my existence. It will be the center of everything in the Owl Dragon Empire. It will be the banner of the Owl Dragon Empire's glory."
Madam Miao listened, dazed.
Perhaps she could not yet understand what this Chang'an City meant.
But Li Yaqi beside her understood the reason in it, and nodded silently.
Chang'an City's worth in name far exceeded its worth in substance.
"A landmark interstellar building like this actually has enormous symbolic effect for a place too. Your Majesty, I have a suggestion, in fact. It might quickly give the Empire more buildings of this kind, and let the Empire prosper faster," Li Yaqi said at this point.
"Go on." Zhao Chen looked at Li Yaqi with interest.
Li Yaqi pointed out of the porthole at that splendid Chang'an City in the distance.
"Your Majesty, let me ask you first. The blueprint this Chang'an City uses, that T6 Divine Palace-class Interstellar Complex: is there a simplified version? That is, a version cheaper to build. A version where some functions can be cut, and the outward form and size can be made smaller too. The technology used needn't be all T6 grade either; it could be T5 grade," Li Yaqi asked.
Zhao Chen said without a moment's thought, "That's no great problem. We can have the Imperial Military Industry Research Academy do some simplifying for such a version; spend a little time making sure every program is compatible, and it's done."
Li Yaqi nodded and went on, "In that case, we can simplify the Chang'an City type of interstellar city. Say this one of ours cost 600 trillion star coins to build; no interstellar family or interstellar power anywhere could afford that. Then we bring the building cost down to 10 trillion star coins, and set the outside sale price at between 30 trillion and 50 trillion star coins. If possible, we can bring the price down some more. According to different needs, we can set large, medium and small; or luxury, prestige and standard models. Let interstellar powers and interstellar families everywhere choose. Before long, once the Empire is stable, every region is bound to want buildings of this kind to show off its own growth and prosperity. And then the sign hung out will be that it uses a technical blueprint like Chang'an City's: what face that gives them! That way, without spending any cost of its own, the Empire lets buildings of this kind spring up all over the Owl Dragon Empire like bamboo shoots after spring rain, which is an enormous help to the Owl Dragon Empire's economy. And the Empire can make money on these projects besides. Isn't the money made as good as feeding back into the 'Chang'an Cities' the Empire itself is building?"
Hearing Li Yaqi's words, Zhao Chen felt as though a door had been opened in his mind.
Li Yaqi's suggestion was very good indeed.
"But what if those interstellar powers or interstellar families don't want to? Spending so much money only to build an interstellar building of this kind: for some families it might be better to save it for themselves," Madam Miao said beside them.
Li Yaqi said with a smile, "There's something in what you say. In truth a thing's worth in itself is single. But what if we give it some other worth? Say His Majesty arranged that from now on the Owl Dragon military academies' final recruitment of new soldiers is always held in interstellar buildings like Chang'an City. Or say that from now on, when His Majesty travels anywhere, he'll stay only in buildings of this kind? And what if word got out that whether a star region's administrator has a building of this kind within it is a sign of how prosperous the place is, and will bear directly on whether that star-region administrator goes on rising in rank!"
As Li Yaqi went on, sentence after sentence,
Madam Miao's eyes grew wider and wider, and began to shine.
Madam Miao came of a family herself; she knew very well that let those families catch the scent of such profit, and they would try every way there was to get it done,
above all when there was a chance of touching the Empire's power.
The Owl Dragon military academies' recruitment of new soldiers, for one:
if that stage were held in an interstellar city you were responsible for, might more of your own family's children get into it?
And among the other recruits, you could build up the air of a local administrator who cared very much about them.
In future, supposing some of those recruits rose high in the world,
these families might well be able to climb onto a high branch.
"Of course, some bad things are bound to come of it. There will surely be those who try to cheat for favor in the recruitment stage. Or who neglect the growth of other sides of their own domains for the sake of building this interstellar city, and even squeeze their own people for it. And to keep such things from happening, corresponding plans must be drawn up," Li Yaqi did not forget to remind them.
Zhao Chen nodded, and said, "All you've said is very sensible. I've made a note of it; I'll talk it over properly with Lilith later."
"If there's anything we can help with then, we'd be very glad to help." Li Yaqi bowed slightly.
Madam Miao murmured beside them, "And this New Year's banquet is just the best moment to promote this kind of interstellar building. It's as good as an advertisement to the whole universe. It's simply too perfect."
Madam Miao looked at her sister-in-law in great admiration.
Though she had long known her sister-in-law was formidable, above all in business,
seeing it with her own eyes was another thing entirely.
At this point Li Wei came running back in a hurry.
He wiped the sweat from his face and looked at Zhao Chen and his sister.
When he looked at his sister, his gaze was plainly somewhat afraid.
"I found out. It was a manager in charge of the holds, who quietly put these stowaways in the hold he was in charge of, meaning to make a sum of money out of it. I've had him taken into custody; it'll be dealt with by the rules!" When he had said it, Li Wei looked at Zhao Chen, ashamed. "Old… Your Majesty. I really didn't know about this, but for stowaways to turn up on my starship, the responsibility is mine and I can't shirk it. I'm willing to accept punishment."
Li Yaqi, beside them, said nothing.
Madam Miao cast a somewhat worried look.
"No matter; it's a small thing. Just deal with it your way. Be more careful from now on. Make trouble again next time, and your wife and I won't be able to protect you," Zhao Chen said, unable to hold back a laugh.
Li Wei looked at Li Yaqi at this point, as though looking at a tiger. "Big Sister……"
"You dealt with it well. But what should be punished must still be punished. For the next half year, all your leave is canceled," Li Yaqi said sternly.
"Yes," Li Wei said in a small voice.
"All right, don't be glum. We're about to go into Chang'an City." Zhao Chen hooked his arm round this brother's neck, pointing to Chang'an City, which could no longer be seen whole.
For the starship they were aboard was now coming into port.
Beside this enormous Chang'an City, such a starship was truly tiny.
The entry procedure was swift.
Very soon this starship was moored at its appointed berth.
Because it was Li Yaqi's and Li Wei's, this warship had been specially allowed to moor at an inner berth,
from which one could walk through a corridor straight into Chang'an City.
The great majority of warships could only moor in the berthing zone in a ring outside Chang'an City, and those with permission then rode shuttles into Chang'an City.
At this time, outside Chang'an City, shuttles in their thousands flew without pause like fireflies.
Zhao Chen and the others left the bridge, ready to set foot in this most splendid Chang'an City.
First they stepped onto a corridor with moving walkways.
Through the windows on either side of the corridor they could see the buildings on Chang'an City's surface outside, and the warships moored there.
The warships that could moor in this position were nearly all of T5 grade and above.
"What's this……" Li Wei noticed Zhao Chen had put on a mask, showing only his two eyes.
"Are you stupid? Think who His Majesty is." Madam Miao was beginning to wonder whether her husband's head really was not working.
Only then did Li Wei catch on.
Though there were still some days before the New Year's banquet, no few people had come early.
In the corridor ahead where the others joined it, hundreds and thousands of people could be seen.
Had Zhao Chen appeared here with his true face, there would certainly have been a great to-do.
That was why Zhao Chen hid who he was.
"I've come privately ahead of time to have a look too. Traveling incognito, you might say, to inspect how Chang'an City has turned out." Zhao Chen spoke, and his voice was now changed somewhat by the mask on his face.
At this point, unless one knew Zhao Chen very well, one could never have recognized the man before them as the Owl Dragon Empire's Emperor.
Very soon Zhao Chen and the others had merged into the crowd.
Panther-Girl and the other guards had already formed, without anyone noticing, a layer of protection around Zhao Chen, and turned a warning look on anyone who dared come near.
People were curious, but made no fuss either.
On seeing Li Yaqi, Li Wei and the others,
they found it all the less strange:
wasn't it quite normal for someone like Li Yaqi to have a few bodyguards with her?
"So many people? As I understand it, Chang'an City only began opening up bit by bit ten days before the year's end." Madam Miao looked at the dark mass of people before her and drew in a cold breath.
There were really far too many people,
and that only in this area before their eyes.
"How many people have you invited?" Li Wei asked in a low voice beside him.
"Outside the Owl Dragon System, to the powers invited, we sent out 100,000 invitations in all. And each invitation lets the one invited bring three family members. So there are at least about 500,000[1] people invited. Besides that, within the Owl Dragon Empire, from the military and the war industry: those with rank, or with an outstanding record, we've sent invitations to all of them, and for low- and middle-level soldiers we've given rewards by lottery, so they can draw an invitation. They can invite their own families to come too. And, to share the joy with the people, we've invited the local residents of the Owl Dragon System as well. I remember Lilith telling me that, barring surprises, at least 50 million people will gather in Chang'an City this time."
Fifty million people?
At that figure Madam Miao was greatly astonished.
A banquet to which 50 million people were invited:
likely nothing like it had ever been done before.
It showed, too, the Owl Dragon Empire's present strength!
"But can this Chang'an City take in so many people?" Li Wei asked curiously.
"Chang'an City was designed from the start to hold over a hundred billion people. For now it's more than enough. For before Chang'an City opened, we'd already had a batch of people move in, chiefly every trade and profession within Chang'an City, and the staff. That part alone came to a billion people. So taking in these few tens of millions is more than enough."
An interstellar city that could hold over a hundred billion people.
Li Yaqi too showed a look of astonishment and interest.