"This problem Annie raises is one we need to consider in advance too. Our capacity is bound to keep expanding in the future. But relying entirely on raising it through internal development is still a bit slow. So expanding outward is an inevitable choice too. But when to expand and how to expand: that's a question we have to decide!" Zhao Chen said earnestly.
Secretary Officer Barbara nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. We've only just come to hold five systems of territory, and have only just come out of a war. Right now isn't the time to expand outward. But we can't shut ourselves off completely either, or else, when our resource development truly hits a bottleneck in the future and resource output can't meet our fleets' expansion needs, seeking a breakthrough outside then will be too late. As I see it: for the first year ahead, we put the focus on internal development. Industrial upgrading, sector upgrading, large-scale planetary development, cross-system trade and so on, all put on the agenda. And outward, we only send out reconnaissance equipment to scan for the coordinates of any systems that may exist around us. In the second year, we still work on internal development. But at the same time, our outward exploration has to speed up too. In this second year we must find out clearly how many systems there are within a certain range around us, how many of them are systems of value, whether these systems have civilizations, whether they have Trial civilizations, and so on. By the third year, it's time for us to truly begin expanding outward. And when we reach that step, we have to sort out the cases too. Expansion can be divided into armed expansion and expansion of influence. The former, naturally, is bringing those territories into our domain by our ship guns. The latter is relying on our strength and influence to make the native civilizations of those systems join our system willingly and work for us! Naturally it's best if we can take the latter road. If that really won't do, then we can only rely on the former!"
Though Secretary Officer Barbara counted as a civil official, the fighting spirit in her was not the least bit inferior to that of the military officers.
"Mm. We'll do it this way. Our internal system and development now both need to keep up with the times continually. We're no longer just a Fierce Dragon civilization ruling and administering one system, but one that spans five systems!" Zhao Chen said, tapping the table with his finger.
——————
Over the next several months,
the Fierce Dragon civilization used thunderous means in the four systems it had taken over; not one of the powers that tried armed resistance came to a good end.
One family among them, relying on having some power on its own planet and a fair number of ground troops, wanted to bargain with the Fierce Dragon civilization, and even to carve out a fiefdom and crown itself.
The Fierce Dragon civilization refused outright,
and at once sent a fleet thirty starships strong to that system,
opening a punitive campaign at once!
First, starships in low orbit carried out orbital bombardment of these family powers' strategic points on the planet.
The ground forces those families were so confident in
were all cleared away within five minutes of the fighting starting.
Next, combat mechas were delivered to the ground,
every last one of them T3- and T4-grade combat mechas,
to finish clearing away the few rebel forces still resisting.
"Residents of this city, listen well. We are of the Fierce Dragon civilization's fleet. This planet has been taken over by us. The reason we are here is that certain family powers of this planet attempted to harm the Fierce Dragon civilization's interests. Rest assured, all of you: we are only here to clear away these family powers that threaten the Fierce Dragon civilization. Please stay in your homes and do not move about. Within forty-eight hours at most, we can finish clearing away the remnant followers of those family powers on this planet."
A T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha stood in the central square of a city, broadcasting to every corner of the city.
And in an alley, a squad of soldiers lay quietly in hiding.
"Aim at that thing."
"Boss, will this weapon of ours really work on that thing?"
"Cut the chatter; you were told to use it, so use it!"
A rather timid soldier was shoved out by his squad leader.
On his shoulder he carried a rocket launcher.
He aimed the rocket launcher at that combat mecha in the central square in the distance,
swallowed, then pulled the trigger.
A rocket flew with its tail flame toward that combat mecha.
Just as this lot were watching eagerly as the high explosive they had so carefully prepared was about to hit that combat mecha,
boom!
After the explosion,
on the surface of that combat mecha's armor there was, of all things, only a little gray mark left.
"This… how is this possible!" These soldiers stared at the sight in shock.
And that combat mecha turned its head and spotted them too.
"Remnant combat unit spotted. Considering this is an urban area, deploy combat drones first to mop up!"
Combat drone after combat drone flew into this city.
These soldiers began fleeing in terror.
But how could the speed of their flight compare with these combat drones, the more so as these combat drones had thermal imaging,
and could easily lock onto their positions?
"Shoot these damned flies down, quick!" One soldier could not hold back any longer and opened fire on these combat drones,
trying to shoot down these combat drones that would not stop chasing them.
But before they could open fire,
the machine guns these combat drones carried opened fire on them first.
Bang, bang, bang.
Several soldiers' bodies fell in pools of blood.
"Ding. Ten remnant targets found; eight cleared."
A mechanical voice sounded from the drone.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me!" One soldier threw down his gun, knelt on the ground and raised his hands high.
Beside him, another soldier had fainted outright.
The drone hovering in the air slowly locked onto them.
The soldier kneeling on the ground hurriedly shouted, "I know where our unit is hiding. There are five hundred–odd more there; I can take you there!"
"All right. Take us there and help us clear away these remnants, and your crimes can be lessened," a human voice came from inside the combat drone.
This let the soldier breathe a sigh of relief.
Whatever happened, at least he had survived.
And so
the remnants on this planet were soon all cleared away.
And before long,
ten great family powers were put forward on this planet.
These ten great family powers, as the Fierce Dragon civilization intended, restarted the planet's order, and got all of life and work back to how it had been before in an extremely short time.
As for those families that had disappeared,
all their holdings were carved up among these ten families, as if they had never existed.
After cases like this had happened a few times,
there were basically no more of the families inside those several systems who did not know their place.
All obeyed the Fierce Dragon civilization's arrangements meekly.
From then on, the Fierce Dragon civilization had complete control of the five systems,
and opened the next stage of development.
First, in the initial three months, the four systems all recovered to their former levels of production.
And the greatest change among them was naturally in the three systems formerly under the Dax Empire's rule.
The former system of slavery was overthrown completely,
and a new system began to be built.
And some of the original steward families at first still felt some panic and worry.
They feared the Fierce Dragon civilization would clear them away.
But the first thing the Fierce Dragon civilization did on stepping in
was to investigate the circumstances of every steward family within a system,
and divide them into three lists:
a white list, a blacklist and a yellow list.
These three lists each meant something different.
A steward family on the blacklist meant that when it had ruled its planet before, it had used certain extremely brutal means that outraged gods and men alike.
Steward families of this kind, the Fierce Dragon civilization would put on public trial.
Clansmen with conclusive evidence of their crimes were executed outright on the planet concerned.
Other clansmen involved were sentenced to terms of different lengths according to their circumstances and sent to resource and mining planets to dig ore; basically, life imprisonment was the starting point.
Steward families on the white list were just the opposite; though before this they too had submitted to the Dax Empire's rule,
they had basically never gone beyond their orders, and in ordinary times had seen properly to the natives of their planets.
Steward families of this kind, the Fierce Dragon civilization would allow to go on existing and go on administering their original planets,
only by the rules the Fierce Dragon civilization laid down.
These families were invited to take part in the governorate council too.
Families on the yellow list were a rather special case: they had done some bad things, but had not gone so far as to commit every kind of evil.
Families of this kind were judged according to their particular circumstances.
For instance, if someone in the clan had once been guilty of heinous crimes, that person would be tried,
and the other clansmen would not be held jointly guilty.
Then they would pay a small price besides,
such as ceding some family interests, as a kind of fine.
Steward families on the yellow list could also be invited to take part in the system governorate council.
"That fellow Zhao Chen is really something. He said before he'd give me a planet to run. Now look: he's thrown me a whole system to run outright." Fire Phoenix looked at the representatives of the steward families present.
He rubbed his temples.
That was right: he was now a system governor, one of the five great governorates under the Fierce Dragon civilization,
in charge of a whole system.
He was now, by the rules the Fierce Dragon civilization had laid down, convening the steward families within this system to hold a meeting,
to tell them the new rules.
As one who had once been a sovereign of a nation,
he was used to scenes like this.
It was only that the people taking part in the meeting were no longer of a single race, and some of them were ones he had never seen before.
Everyone arrived.
The meeting began.
Fire Phoenix first announced the laws the Fierce Dragon civilization had laid down.
"These are the Fierce Dragon laws. These laws are the bottom line; no planet and no family may break them. On top of these laws, each planet may make some further laws according to its own actual circumstances. But these local laws must be reported to the governorate, and may be carried out only after the governorate has reviewed them. Once any steward family is found playing local emperor on its own planet, defying all law and order, then these steward families on the blacklist will be your fate!"
Fire Phoenix raised his hand.
A black list appeared before everyone.
On this black list were written, plain to see, the names of several steward families.
And most of these steward families were great families riding high under the Dax Empire's former system.
It was because they had performed well enough that the Dax Empire had valued them.
And the reason they could perform so well was in large part that their methods were cruel.
"Look for yourselves. Remember this scene. Above all those families on the yellow list. Someone in your clan died because of this. I expect someone in your clan is bound to bear a grudge. But the Fierce Dragon civilization isn't afraid. Who worries about an ant's grudge? But you had best hide your grudge for your whole lives; once it's found out, ruining yourselves would be one thing. Ruin your whole clan, and that would be bad." Fire Phoenix's eyes swept over those families on the yellow list.
At the same time, he raised his hand and opened several video windows.
What these several video windows showed were live scenes of the trials of those several blacklisted families in progress.
They could be called quite a spectacle.
Around the trial platforms, the local people gathered in dark masses.
These people, every one, could be said to have been reduced to something barely human.
And when they learned that the steward families that had squeezed and persecuted them all these years were to be tried,
even those with broken legs dragged themselves up to come to the scene.
It was said that as many as ten million people wanted to see these people tried with their own eyes.
For this, the Fierce Dragon civilization's trial staff could only open trial platforms all over this planet,
sending the clansmen of each such steward family, whose crimes were too many to record, to different trial platforms to be tried, so that everyone could see the scene of this steward family being tried.
In fact, before the trials had even begun,
the people of these families were already half dead.
Stones of every kind were hurled up at them, and even stinking excrement.
Some people, heedless of the Fierce Dragon civilization's soldiers trying to stop them, rushed up with homemade weapons and stabbed at the enemies of days gone by.
"Animal! You animal! Give me back my sister's life!" A man's stone spear stabbed down hard into the groin of the man tied to the cross.
Before long that man's groin was a bloody pulp.
"You devils, give me back the lives of my son and my daughter-in-law! They only collapsed from exhaustion while they were working, and you hung them up outside the work site for all to see and hanged them alive!" An old man on a walking stick limped up with a stone in his hand,
and struck at his enemy again and again.
The stone shattered.
He bit the flesh off the man with his own teeth.
The scene was soon about to get out of control.
In the end, the Fierce Dragon civilization's soldiers silently stepped back, which amounted to tacit consent to what these people were doing.
At that, the persecuted natives rushed onto the trial platforms as if mad.
The screams of the people of those steward families rose one after another!