At the mention of the war now between the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire and the Devourer Civilization, grave looks came over the faces of everyone present.
And just then footsteps sounded in the hall.
Madam Miao and the others looked over and saw Li Yaqi, dashing and spirited, walking in with a grave look and firm steps, with a good many people behind her.
These people were, without exception, the senior figures of the Imperial Ministry of Commerce now.
Many of the plans the Imperial Ministry of Commerce made were put forward and drawn up by them.
They could be called the Imperial Ministry of Commerce's brains.
When Li Yaqi walked into the hall, nearly everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing and looked at this group.
Li Yaqi's gaze swept over the people there; it paused on Li Wei, Madam Miao and Red Rose, and she nodded slightly and walked on.
She went into the meeting room.
Because of her present position, Li Yaqi seldom went back to the Li family now; she spent most of her time in Chang'an City, where she had bought a residence of her own.
For Li Yaqi, once one of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's richest women, land in Chang'an City cost as much as building an interstellar warship,
but to her it was truly just a string of numbers.
Very soon, with three minutes left before the Ministry of Commerce meeting began, the meeting room's closed doors opened.
The attendants who had received them before each went to the side of the guests they had received and led them toward the meeting room.
Li Wei and the others went in together.
When they walked through the meeting room's doors, the air inside was plainly heavier than outside.
There was an oval table here.
At every seat a name card for the person sitting there had already been set out.
One could see that one side of the table was all people from the Imperial Ministry of Commerce,
and the other side was the interstellar merchants come to attend this meeting of the Imperial Ministry of Commerce.
Li Wei and the others happened to sit very nearly in the center seats.
Across from Red Rose was Li Yaqi.
In the interstellar trade market, with Li Yaqi gone as a rival, hardly anyone was a match for Red Rose.
So the businesses under Red Rose had naturally become, in name, the largest enterprise in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire now.
But Red Rose had not used the chance to expand her own business empire; instead she put more of her energy into research and development and into helping some small and medium interstellar traders.
For Red Rose knew very well that the tallest tree catches the most wind. She believed herself very loyal to the Owl Dragon Emperor, and the Owl Dragon Emperor was a wise ruler too,
but she could not really let herself grow as rich as the state itself.
If it came to that, then even if the Owl Dragon Emperor did not want to touch her, countless others would.
So Red Rose had not expanded her businesses any further.
Even so, it still secured her place now as the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's foremost interstellar trader.
For her to sit at the center here, naturally no one dared object.
Everyone had arrived by now, and the doors slowly closed.
Only these people were left in the whole meeting room.
The wealth these people held or indirectly influenced already made up over ninety percent of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's.
"This Ministry of Commerce meeting is mainly about a few things. You should all know how things stand in our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire now. Because our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire is at war, the supply of resources has begun to fall short. That's made prices of goods at home go up every month. This item, for example, a necessity for ordinary people, has gone up over 80% in the past year, and it's hitting ordinary people hard. I hope all of you can find ways to expand production of this item and bring its price back down. Any problem with that?" Li Yaqi threw out the first question, looking at everyone present.
Red Rose was the first to state her position: "Our group plans to expand the supply chain for civilian economic needs within the next three months. By then, what our group produces for civilian needs will go up by at least 30%."
Red Rose's statement made a start, and the other interstellar traders gave their thoughts too.
The interstellar traders present all knew very well what Li Yaqi's meeting was for: she wanted to pull them in to solve this problem.
They all made their money on this one little patch of ground; none of them wanted this ground to go bad.
"Besides that, we've now established trade relations with several universes, and many cross-universe star gates have been finished. So I hope all your companies can open up markets on that front then. Use the raw materials and products we get from outside to feed back into our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, and at the same time sell some of our rich, high-value products abroad and make more profit."
Li Yaqi tapped her fingers on the tabletop and said plainly, "I won't talk around it with you. Every group and company behind the people here: over the next three years, your cross-universe trade business must grow its investment and returns by 50% every quarter. No problem with that, I trust."
Faced with Li Yaqi's question,
naturally no one present dared raise any objection or problem.
And nearly everything in the rest of the meeting had a great deal to do with this.
Time passed bit by bit, and very soon the meeting was over.
Everyone present left one after another.
But Li Yaqi kept back Red Rose alone.
Very soon only Red Rose was left in the meeting room.
"Thank you." Li Yaqi tugged at her collar.
"Why so polite, Minister Li? I'm making my living under your hand, after all," Red Rose teased.
Li Yaqi rolled her eyes. "Stop teasing me. Being this minister is really tiring; there's too much to think about. It's nowhere near as free and easy as being an interstellar merchant was."
"Those words would make a lot of people outside envious. A lot of people have their eyes on your seat. In their eyes, you're their god of wealth," Red Rose said with a smile.
Li Yaqi waved her hand. "Never mind that. I really do thank you for this. You know how things stand in our Empire now. If you hadn't stepped up and made those arrangements, some of those fellows wouldn't necessarily have been willing to leave their comfort zones."
"We all live in one pond; only if the pond and its water keep getting better can we live better. I'm doing it for myself too," Red Rose said frankly.
"Then I still need to thank you," Li Yaqi said again.
Red Rose did not dwell on it long; she asked another question: "Is this war nearly over?"
"No more than a week. By then the pressure on us will be greater. His Majesty will probably draw up another whole series of defense production plans. So we need to raise output early," Li Yaqi said.
Red Rose nodded silently.
——————
At this very moment, in the asteroid belt outside the battlefield of the Troll Monarch's star system
Major General Tabitha the angel glanced at the time and said in a low voice, "Major General Winnie should be attacking the star system's star gate by now. As we arranged, their communications will be jammed, so they'll most likely send interstellar warships through the star gate to the nearest star-gate system and contact this side from there. That should take about half an hour in between. Half an hour from now, the Troll Monarch's side will know that of the five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts we pulled away, three are 'missing'. So we have to move before the Troll Monarch learns of it."
"That's right," the deputy captain agreed beside her.
"From the moment we set out from here at full speed, to the enemy spotting us, to our getting back onto the battlefield: how long will it take?" Major General Tabitha the angel drew a line on the star map.
The deputy captain beside her soon worked out the figure, and said, "The best way is to use some distance to bring our speed up to the maximum first, then burst out of the asteroid belt. That way, with no interference along the way, we expect to be back on the battlefield in fifteen minutes, able to attack the enemy's interstellar warships."
Fifteen minutes.
Major General Tabitha the angel knit her brows slightly; she knew it would take that long, but once the enemy saw three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts charging in again, they were sure to make ready to defend.
Then the attack would be a great deal harder.
Major General Tabitha the angel thought hard: was there any way to cut short the time between their being spotted and their arrival?
Suddenly, a voice came from beside her.
"Um… I don't mean to intrude. I actually have an idea."
Major General Tabitha the angel looked at a comms window beside her that had been open all along, only shrunk; she raised her hand, brought the comms window up and enlarged it.
On the other side was the commander of the reconnaissance team on standby here.
To keep in touch, the comms channel had been kept open all along.
"You said just now you have an idea?" Major General Tabitha the angel asked curiously.
This reconnaissance team commander nodded and began setting out her idea: "What you want is for the three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts here to slip in as close to the battlefield as they can without the enemy spotting them, and launch a sudden attack on the enemy, giving the enemy little time to prepare its defenses. The way interstellar stealth bombers fight."
Major General Tabitha the angel nodded.
The idea was simple, but very hard to bring about.
"My idea is this. We use the interstellar supply ships here as a front, and form them into a fleet formation, as if they were getting ready to carry supplies to the five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts left on the battlefield."
This reconnaissance team commander raised her hand and even began sketching a diagram.
First she marked several dozen interstellar supply ships on it.
"Then your three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts here hide in the middle of these interstellar supply ships. With a fleet of the fifty interstellar supply ships here, hiding three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts isn't hard."
"They can be hidden from sight, but the enemy's starship radar isn't just for show. The enemy recorded the energy strength and energy signatures of three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts long ago; they can't fail to spot them," the deputy captain objected beside her.
Major General Tabitha the angel said nothing, but waited for the head of the reconnaissance team to go on.
So obvious a problem, she could not fail to know of it.
"We have a way to deal with that. We happen to have a T6 Silent Ghost-class Light Interstellar Stealth Reconnaissance Ship here. Besides the usual stealth and reconnaissance capabilities, this interstellar stealth reconnaissance ship can in fact do some other things. For instance, it can put out a jamming field, and the energy signatures of starships inside the jamming field are hidden; the scouting equipment around can hardly find starships inside it. Besides that, the fleet of fifty interstellar supply ships can block the enemy's line of sight, but that alone isn't very safe either. We can add another layer of safety: put some interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships between the interstellar supply ships and the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, to make an invisible screen and lower the risk of exposure," the head of the reconnaissance team said with full assurance.
Major General Tabitha the angel's eyes lit up; arranged this way, it really could very well be done.
"Good. We'll carry out your plan," Major General Tabitha the angel said.
"Yes."
Half an hour: not long, not short.
And to guard against surprises, Major General Tabitha the angel and the others did not cut the time fine, but set out on the task fifteen minutes early.
"Every part is ready." The deputy captain looked at the dozen-odd video windows on the command channels before her, then at Major General Tabitha the angel beside her, and said so.
Major General Tabitha the angel looked all around, and at last her gaze settled on the video windows of the several heads of the interstellar supply fleets.
She said gratefully, "This time we're putting you to a lot of trouble. Not only did you carry out the resupply for us; now, for our operation, we even need you to cover for us."
The several heads of the interstellar supply fleets looked at one another and smiled, and one of them said frankly, "That's nothing. We handle logistics and supply, true, but if we can do more on the battlefield, we couldn't be happier."
"Then we're counting on you all," Major General Tabitha the angel thanked them sincerely again.
Next, naturally, it went just as the head of the reconnaissance team had planned.
A "sailing fleet" was born: on the outside, nearly fifty interstellar supply ships; in the middle, interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships in stealth;
and innermost, three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts.
With this cover, the three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts had no need to go to full speed at once; the whole fleet sailed forward slowly at a steady pace.
And the moment this supply fleet appeared,
the legion fleets on the battlefield of the Troll Monarch's home planet naturally spotted it at once.
"Report: an Owl Dragon interstellar supply fleet has appeared on the edge of the battlefield. On the battlefield, one Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought has eased off its attack too. The enemy looks to be preparing to rest and resupply," a subordinate reported before the Troll Monarch.
At the same time, he brought up the photographs taken and the star map from the radar scans.
On them, sure enough, only those interstellar supply ships could be seen.
The subordinate paused, then went on, "Should we find a way to pull out a fleet to harry this interstellar supply fleet?"
Hearing this, the Troll Monarch waved his hand. "No need. In one way, this buys us time too; the number of enemy starships fighting on the front and the force of their fighting have both dropped somewhat. The Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought will attack more fiercely once it's resupplied, true, but there's nothing to be done about that. And right now we have fewer than four thousand interstellar warships left here, and word from the fastest reinforcements is that they still need an hour to get here. If we pull out a fleet to harry this interstellar supply fleet, we may just throw that fleet away. Right now we don't need to think too much; we only need to think about defending and buying time."
With the Troll Monarch's thinking laid out, his subordinates naturally had no other view, and simply carried it out obediently.
Time passed bit by bit.
That interstellar supply fleet drew closer and closer to the battlefield, and the commanders of the Troll Monarch's legion fleet who watched it marveled at how bold this Owl Dragon interstellar supply fleet truly was,
to come so close to the battlefield.
Just then, this Owl Dragon interstellar supply fleet suddenly spread out to both sides like an opening umbrella, as if about to turn back.
Those who noticed it were greatly puzzled.
But just then, three golden starships slowly appeared before them all, like a beauty hidden behind a veil of thin gauze showing her true face bit by bit.
In that moment, the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship's alarms went off at once.
"Report! Disaster! Three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts have appeared on the frontal field, charging at our battle positions at tremendous speed; they're expected to come within range of the fighting in thirty seconds!" a subordinate reported in a hurry.
Hearing this news so suddenly, even the Troll Monarch was greatly startled.
He roared, "What's going on? How can three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts suddenly turn up? Didn't you say before it was only an Owl Dragon interstellar supply fleet?"
The subordinate's forehead was covered in sweat; he answered carefully, "Before, neither the deep-space telescope observation posts nor the radar department found these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. At the time… at the time we really saw only these interstellar supply ships. Maybe… maybe those three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts used some means to hide their hulls."
"Useless! A pack of useless fools!" The Troll Monarch slapped this subordinate without ceremony, sending him flying; he hit the floor, rolled several times, and passed out on the spot.
It could be seen that the Troll Monarch had truly put his anger into that slap.
After all, to let three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts suddenly come charging up to the front lines: having seen the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's terrible fighting power, he naturally knew very well how great a threat these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were.
"Organize the defense at once! Beware of these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts!" the Troll Monarch ordered.
Then he looked at the three extra Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts on the interstellar holo-table, knit his brows and muttered, "Where does the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire get so many Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts? Five over at Drought-Fiend's, ten here at mine before, five pulled off toward the star gate. Now three more turn up. An interstellar warship this strong, and the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire has squeezed out this many in so short a time?"
It had been barely more than half a year from start to finish.
It truly was incredible.
The Troll Monarch could be sure that the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had rolled this interstellar warship off the line and into service within this half year.
For if the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had had this interstellar warship when he first invaded the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's universe,
the Owl Dragon Emperor would surely have brought it out then; and with these Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts on the frontal field,
their invasion fleets would have had it harder still, and the tens of millions of interstellar warships afterward could never have withdrawn so smoothly.
The more he thought about it, the more frightening it became.
For the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire to develop and build such a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship in so short a time:
with defense-industrial power this terrible, no wonder this Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, so little known before, had actually caught the eye of Order.
Thinking of it now, this Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire really did deserve it.
It could even be said they had been careless before.
Back in the first campaign, they should have gone all out, with no holding back and no contempt.
Had the three Sovereigns gone all out against the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire then, there would be none of this mess now.
But there was only thinking about it now; regret was no use.
And just at this moment, a piece of news reached the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship too.
"Report, the latest news: of the five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts we thought would attack the star system's star gate, in fact only two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts appeared there! This is word from the star system's star gate!" another subordinate reported carefully, watching his unconscious comrade being dragged away.
"What? Not five? Only two turned up at the star system's star gate!" The Troll Monarch understood all at once; suddenly everything made sense.