"That ends the reporting on the war. Next we have to discuss and settle our plan and direction for building up the Owl Dragon legion fleets over the next two and a half years, that is, the time before the oath-duel," Secretary Lilith said, opening the next item on the agenda.
This part needed people from the army present, so the present occasion suited very well.
They could use this chance to settle the matter of the development plan.
"First we have to establish how much military strength we need to beat the Devourer Civilization in the oath-duel." When she had said this, Secretary Lilith looked at Grand Marshal Charlotte.
On such matters, naturally, military commanders like them knew best.
And having just been through a peak contest with the Devourer Civilization, their intelligence on the Devourer Civilization's legion fleets was the most up to date.
Charlotte did not answer, but looked at Midai, who was present. "I gave this task to Marshal Midai to analyze before. Tell us now what your analysis came to."
To give so important a task to someone else:
it plainly meant Charlotte wanted to bring them on a little.
Midai was an Imperial Marshal now too, and supreme commander of the Owl Dragon Ninth Legion Fleet Group,
but as everyone knew, there were distinctions within the ranks of Imperial Marshals now.
One could see it at important occasions in whose views Grand Marshal Charlotte asked, and to whom she gave important combat tasks.
Marshal Chitong, Marshal Chu Xuan, Marshal Medusa and a few others, for instance, carried more weight with Charlotte.
The others somewhat less.
And because the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's military power kept growing, many posts for legion fleet group commanders had been needed, which was why they had been picked and raised up.
It was not that they fully met Grand Marshal Charlotte's standard for an Imperial Marshal.
But to return to the matter.
When Grand Marshal Charlotte named her, Midai stood up and began: "By our summing-up after this battle, our fighting power against the Devourer Civilization stands at about ten to one. We did achieve a loss ratio of thirty to one this time, but a large part of that was the enemy's underestimating us, and the imbalance in intelligence. The Black-God Sovereign's side will never give us so good a chance a second time. So a loss ratio of thirty to one will be very hard to achieve, unless we have true T7-grade interstellar warships. So let's reckon at ten to one. In these two and a half years, after an arms race, the Devourer Civilization's military strength is sure to keep rising fast; by our estimate, their interstellar warships will reach at least a hundred million. And by the terms of the oath-duel, the other side may very well bring in reinforcements too. So the number of interstellar warships the enemy actually puts on the battlefield then will certainly be over a hundred million. On our assumptions, the final estimate of the enemy's fleets should be about two hundred million. And that figure can only go up, not down. We've worked out the worst case: the figure might reach five hundred million interstellar warships."
Five hundred million interstellar warships: what did that mean?
Every army commander present knew very well.
All the interstellar civilizations' powers in the known universe, leaving out cannon-fodder interstellar warships like T1 grade, could probably never reach so terrifying a figure as five hundred million military-grade interstellar warships put together.
Perhaps even the military-grade interstellar warships that had served in the Holy Elf Empire from its founding until now would hardly reach this figure.
So one could imagine how terrifying the number of five hundred million interstellar warships was here!
That, of course, was the worst case.
Marshal Midai went on, "For now we'll simulate by the most likely case: the enemy will have two hundred million interstellar warships. And by that ratio, we must have twenty million interstellar warships ready to stand a chance of winning."
Twenty million interstellar warships.
Everyone's heart jolted at the figure.
Mind you, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had only six million-odd interstellar warships in service all told, and after the campaign just past, the number had fallen to five million-odd.
So by Marshal Midai's requirement,
the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire would have to build and deliver fifteen million interstellar warships within these two and a half years.
On average, five or six million interstellar warships a year.
It was as good as building the whole Owl Dragon legion fleets as they were now, every year.
It asked a great deal of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's defense industry.
"I trust everyone can do this sum. We need to build another fifteen million interstellar warships. Then we'll have over twenty million interstellar warships in service, including thirty thousand T6-grade interstellar warships and five million T5-grade interstellar warships, with all the rest T4-grade interstellar warships. Besides that, the number of our Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts needs to reach about a hundred. That's the result of my simulations and projections. If there's any problem with it, you're welcome to point it out."
When Marshal Midai had said this, she sat down.
And every attendee received a file before her; the file was, naturally, the detailed material on expanding the interstellar fleets.
"Does anyone present have any view on Midai's figures and conclusions?" Grand Marshal Charlotte looked at everyone present.
Her gaze swept over them one by one.
Just then Zhong Xiaoxia stood up and said, "I think twenty million interstellar warships isn't enough; it should take thirty million interstellar warships to give us at least a ninety percent chance of winning in the oath-duel."
Of everyone present, Zhong Xiaoxia counted as the one who had spent longest in the Devourer Civilization and knew it best.
Zhong Xiaoxia paused, then added, "By my intelligence on the Devourer Civilization, the Devourer Civilization in fact has very strong military potential; it exists for war to begin with. And there's another piece of classified intelligence we've told His Majesty the Emperor…"
At this, Marshal Zhong Xiaoxia did not go on, but looked at Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen nodded to show she could go on.
Having received permission, Marshal Zhong Xiaoxia went on: "From intelligence we gathered in this stage of the war, we know that in private a good many interstellar civilizations' powers have dealings with the Devourer Civilization. For various reasons the two sides have been passing benefits back and forth. So if the Devourer Civilization goes onto a full war footing and builds up its military strength at any cost, then even with the star-gate network in its home universe partly wrecked by us before, it can still build up its legion fleets using the defense industry of those interstellar powers in league with it in private. So I think the Devourer Civilization will have still more legion fleets then. They may even drag along these interstellar powers that are in secret league with them and force them to show their hands, take sides and back them openly, and demand that they send their own legion fleets to take part in this oath-duel. So I think twenty million interstellar warships is nowhere near enough!"
When Zhong Xiaoxia had said what she thought, she sat down.
Many present cast her looks of approval and appreciation.
As a newly made Imperial Marshal, leading a support fleet group at that, to dare speak her mind at her very first meeting of this level
showed well enough that Zhong Xiaoxia was someone who dared take on any responsibility.
"Does anyone else have other thoughts?" Charlotte did not discuss at once the things Zhong Xiaoxia had said, but went on looking at the others.
After she had looked around, no one else spoke.
So Charlotte went on, "First, the conclusions Midai and Zhong Xiaoxia reached just now are both sound. After all, this is all still guesswork, so until we have a conclusion, all of it is possible. Whether so many interstellar warships can be built isn't something we need to concern ourselves with. After all, that's the task of the Empire's industry, along with whether resources can meet these building tasks."
When Grand Marshal Charlotte said this, Secretary Lilith could not help rolling her eyes; wasn't that as good as saying it was her work?
True enough, though: she was the housekeeper, and naturally had to make the arrangements on that front.
"I'll discuss that part later with the Secretary, His Majesty the Emperor, and the leaders of the defense-industry departments. Since we've settled on a large expansion of the forces, the army has two things to take care of. First, after the expansion, will our present fighting system for the forces still suit? And second, who will be given the posts of commanders of the extra legion fleet groups after the expansion? Mind you, if we don't change the military system, then in future we'll have at least thirty more legion fleet groups, and that means thirty legion fleet groups needing thirty legion fleet group commanders. We must pick the candidates ahead of time. Before, when we picked one or two, it was fairly easy. But picking thirty-odd at one time is no small matter. After all, a fleet group commander is the supreme commander answerable for hundreds of thousands of interstellar warships." Grand Marshal Charlotte's look was very grave as she said this.