Zhao Chen looked at the battlefield wreckage before him.
Everywhere were the remains left behind by hive-race creatures; drifting hive-race units could be seen, and the bodies of some giant Hive Motherships.
Among them could even be seen some bug-eggs and small individual bugs.
They seemed not to have realized at all that this battle was over; for now they were instinctively devouring the hive-race remains around them, so that they could grow quickly.
"The conclusion drawn from this battle is this. If every hive-race attack to come, one wave every seventy-two to a hundred hours, is on this scale, we can hold them off completely. So long as we lose no interstellar warships in the fighting, our biggest outlay is battlefield consumption: the interstellar missiles, shells, energy blocks and so on. For this battle, our total battlefield consumption came to around three hundred billion to three hundred fifty billion. Counting later interstellar warship repairs, casualty allowances, fleet rest and refit, and replenishing interstellar fighters, interstellar drones and combat mecha, all of it together, it will not exceed five hundred billion star coins."
Secretary Officer Barbara had already worked out a figure, and went straight on: "Suppose we reckon the interval between each wave at seventy-two hours. You said before that attacks like this would go on for nine months. That means ninety more waves of attack like this. Total battlefield consumption would be within fifty trillion star coins."
Zhao Chen frowned. "Fifty trillion star coins? Reckoned that way, that's already more than our Fierce Dragon civilization's present annual output, isn't it?"
"Over the past year, the total annual output of our Fierce Dragon civilization's nine systems reached the level of thirty trillion star coins. So it is indeed more than our Fierce Dragon civilization's annual output. And these three systems together produced around ten trillion star coins over the past year. Looked at from this angle alone, we would be paying five times over to hold these three systems, which really is a rather losing deal. But that isn't how this should be reckoned. First, we can levy taxes on the businesses and individuals still operating in these three systems! That raises the output these three systems bring us!"
"The key is the businesses. We give businesses of different tiers different degrees of tax increase. The reason is simple, too. What are our Fierce Dragon fleets fighting here for, if not to keep these businesses producing? If we alone make the sacrifices at the front while these businesses sit safe behind us making money, contributing nothing, is that right? We could perfectly well give up these three systems. Then these business groups wouldn't have any chance to make money at all. So as long as our tax increase is reasonable, they will accept it entirely. I've calculated it: the business taxes alone can at least double these three systems' output, and add the taxes that fall on individuals. Over the coming year, these three systems' output may well break thirty trillion star coins, tripling outright!"
"But thirty trillion star coins of output against fifty trillion star coins of outlay: that's still no small gap!" Zhao Chen pointed at the two figures.
"No, no, no. This is only the first step. Open new sources and cut costs. Having spoken of new sources, next naturally comes cutting costs. Fifty trillion star coins is the conclusion drawn from our first battle's battlefield consumption. With the enemy's fighting power unchanged, we can keep refining our tactics. If one battle consumed five hundred billion star coins before, not every battle after will necessarily consume that much. It might be four hundred billion, three hundred billion, or even lower. Don't forget. In this first battle, though we committed our elite, our defense line was not finished. Once our T3 Storm-Fortress-class Large Star-Ports and T4 Storm-City-class star-ports are built, our fighting power will rise further! Besides that, we have a third point. You see all this hive-race wreckage? I've asked Chief Engineer Annie. When the time comes, we can build a few factories here specially to turn this hive-race wreckage into the energy we need, and then use it in the battles to come. By our calculations, once all this is in place, the battlefield consumption of a single round of fighting may shrink to two hundred billion star coins! Reckoned at that figure, over nine months the final total battlefield consumption would not even exceed twenty trillion star coins. Set against the thirty trillion star coins the three systems produce, we would still have a surplus! Then it is no longer a losing deal."
By Secretary Officer Barbara's reckoning, this business did seem to have something in it.
"Besides that, we have other gains. Round after round of fighting can train up crew-soldiers rich in combat experience for us, raising our fighting power further. We can also use this to build more industrial factories producing those interstellar missiles, shells and energy blocks to meet the needs of our front-line battlefields. And when in the future we go to war with the other Trial civilizations, these production lines can run at full speed too. That way we will, so to speak, have built a military system in a virtuous circle ahead of time. Besides that, the star-port fortresses we build are all of the movable type. If there is need in the future, we can carry these star-ports to other battlefields as well. These are all hard assets. So it looks like a disaster, but run the way we're running it, we have turned it entirely into a chance for military reform and training our troops!" Secretary Officer Barbara said firmly.
Zhao Chen's eyes lit up.
The picture Barbara had painted was indeed very reasonable, and gave cause for hope besides.
"Very good. Have the staff department run simulations on this at once. Get a workable plan as soon as possible, and once it passes review, carry it out immediately!"
"Yes!"
Zhao Chen looked at Chu Xuan beside him. "It seems that for a long while to come, our focus will have to be here."
Marshal Chu Xuan nodded, looking at the battlefield before her.
She had already begun preparing for the second round of the hive-race wave.
She meant every battle's record to far surpass the last.
A few days later,
the Fierce Dragon civilization announced a temporary act to be carried out in the three systems.
Every business in the three systems would pay a new tax, a special fund devoted to the fighting against the hive-race waves on the border battlefields.
Whenever the fighting against the hive-race waves ended, this tax would be canceled.
As for collecting this tax,
naturally a good many business owners objected out loud, and there was a great deal of grumbling.
But when it really came time to pay, every one of them was very well behaved, and not a cent of what was owed went unpaid.
For the Fierce Dragon civilization had added a supplementary note: any business unwilling to pay this tax would be shut down outright.
These merchants knew very well that as long as these systems remained and their businesses remained, paying a little more tax meant at most earning a little less money.
But if the systems were gone, those money trees would be gone for good.
Even if they moved their operations to another system, it would be starting over.
Rather than start over, everyone naturally hoped all this could keep running as usual.
So they all hoped the Fierce Dragon civilization's fleets could hold.
As for the personal taxes that fell on the locals, there were some, but the rise was small.
And it was tiered.
For those at the bottom of the income scale, it might work out to only a few dozen coins.
It mainly fell on the high-income groups.
Arranged like this, it was something everyone could accept.
For the low-income, those few dozen coins were only the price of one meal out anyway.
For the high-income, it might sting a little.
But changing jobs, going to another system to find new work, cost rather a lot.
So the great majority still chose to stay.
And after the Fierce Dragon civilization first succeeded in holding off the bug-tide fleet's attack,
the locals grew more determined too, trusting that the Fierce Dragon civilization could hold these three systems.
Everyone's life and work gradually returned to their former level.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth.
Ten battles in a row.
The Fierce Dragon fleets lost only two T3-grade interstellar warships, and even those were not destroyed, only damaged too badly to be worth repairing.
Total casualties did not exceed one thousand.
At the same time, with the building of the star-ports, and interstellar fortresses and combat satellites of every type, the Fierce Dragon civilization's defense lines grew more and more unyielding.
Bit by bit, a good order took shape.
People no longer trembled at the appearance of these hive-race fleets.
They even came to treat each battlefield broadcast as a banquet.
By comparison,
some of the other Trial civilizations had already fallen into a complete mess.
The Crimson Flame Federation simply gave up the systems more than ninety percent of which lay in the danger zone, keeping only two extremely important systems.
At the same time it launched attacks on the systems of the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society, the Triumvirate and the Far Shore of Deep Space.
It had become a mad dog.
The other Trial civilizations were fighting too, but by comparison none of them was so frenzied.
In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.
Every great Trial civilization had undergone earthshaking change.
Zhao Chen looked at the report before him.
"At present the Savage Beast Alliance's overall strength still ranks first among the five Trial blocs, and it still has all three of its Trial civilizations. But the systems it fully controls have shrunk to twenty-one, with another three systems in the midst of war. Its active interstellar warships have also fallen to two hundred thousand, of which T4 interstellar warships are still twenty thousand;[1] the rest are all T3-grade! Order is fairly stable, with no great problems inside or out."
"Some trouble has arisen within the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society. Of its five Trial civilizations, one has more than ninety percent of its system territory inside the danger zone. The other Trial civilizations all said to give up these systems in the danger zone, and that Trial civilization naturally refused. Fortunately, after some haggling, the other Trial civilizations agreed to a certain degree of compensation, and so it did not come to an internal split. At present it fully controls twenty-seven systems, with another five systems at war. Its total is said to exceed seven hundred thousand interstellar warships, including three thousand T4 interstellar warships, five hundred thousand T3 interstellar warships and two hundred thousand T2 interstellar warships. On the whole: there are internal conflicts, but they are still under control. But if the danger zone grows again next time, this situation may very well blow up!"
"The three Trial civilizations of the Triumvirate Star Union can be said to be the luckiest in this disaster; only two of their systems lay within the danger zone. They simply chose to give them up. They now fully control twenty systems, with another system at war. Their total is two hundred fifty thousand interstellar warships, including two thousand five hundred T4 interstellar warships, two hundred thousand T3 interstellar warships and fifty thousand T2 interstellar warships. The Crimson Flame Federation is in the worst state. Of its original Trial civilizations, one was simply carved up from within during this half year. Its systems have shrunk outright to five! With another five within the war zone. It now has two hundred thousand interstellar warships, including one thousand five hundred T4 interstellar warships, one hundred thirty thousand T3 interstellar warships and seventy thousand T2 interstellar warships. One can say the Crimson Flame Federation has now been pushed to the edge of a cliff, and from here on it may do anything at all. Of the five Trial blocs, it is now the greatest internal hazard. But fortunately, the Crimson Flame Federation's star coordinates do not border ours. So it should not affect us. The three Trial civilizations of the Far Shore of Deep Space did not lose much in this danger; they fully control nineteen systems, with another three systems at war. Their present total is about two hundred thousand interstellar warships, including two thousand T4 interstellar warships, one hundred thousand T3 interstellar warships and fifty thousand T2 interstellar warships. The one thing against them is that over this half year and more, their interstellar warship losses were not small. But they have all stepped up their investment in the arms industry. I hear quite a few Trial civilizations have given up research breakthroughs in new technology, and have all begun stepping up the production of present interstellar warships, chasing military strength in the here and now. This has basically become the consensus of every Trial civilization. Because of the change in the Trial of the Gods' rules, the appearance of the calamity waves has made everyone realize that this is the Trial of the Gods speeding up its elimination. Before long, there may very well be only a few systems left. By then, you Trial civilizations will have no choice but to fight for them."
"There is some other news as well. The Far Shore of Deep Space has stepped up the frequency of its investigations into us again. Because of our fighting on the Ninth System's border, the disturbance from the battles risks exposure before the Far Shore of Deep Space's radar detectors and other equipment. So before long, how many systems we have, how many fleets and other such information will very likely be exposed before all the Trial civilizations," Secretary Officer Barbara said gravely.
This was in effect as good as the Far Shore of Deep Space holding a dagger that might be thrust at the Fierce Dragon civilization at any moment.
Only, when this dagger would fall, no one knew.
"Chu Xuan. With our present military strength, if we made enemies of all the Trial civilizations, what are our chances?" Zhao Chen went straight to the worst case and asked Chu Xuan.
Chu Xuan thought a moment.
She said, "That depends on who strikes first. If our information is fully exposed and those Trial civilizations strike at us first, our chance of winning may be under ten percent. Because we would have to hold the defense line here while fighting those Trial civilizations too. That means we would be dragged into a war on several fronts!"
"But if we strike first, our chance of winning can rise to thirty percent, even forty."
Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised; he had not thought that the mere matter of who moved first would make such a difference.
"If we strike first, I would arrange a large-scale offensive with two main aims: to destroy certain weak but threatening military forces and powers, and to weaken certain highly threatening powers' military forces!" Marshal Chu Xuan held up two fingers.
Zhao Chen at once understood Chu Xuan's intent.
"But it must be said, when to act is a vital point in time. If we act too early, we may force the other side to respond, and instead step into the downpour ahead of time ourselves. If we act too late, it may turn into the first case."
Marshal Chu Xuan said helplessly.
This point in time was indeed vital.
Zhao Chen looked at Secretary Officer Barbara beside him. "You're to take charge of this. Step up the cultivation of our undercover informants inside the Far Shore of Deep Space. Whatever the cost, any information of value must be sent back at once. Above all whenever the Far Shore of Deep Space may disclose intelligence about us! And Chu Xuan. Your side is to have battle plans ready in advance. It must be so that, the moment the order is given, the legion fleets under your hand can be fully ready for battle within seventy-two hours. They must be able to move out at once, and fight at once!"
Marshal Chu Xuan and Secretary Officer Barbara nodded together.
"This Trial of the Gods, I feel, will be decided in three to five years at the shortest, ten at the longest," Zhao Chen said with some feeling.
Soon the nine-month calamity waves ended at a certain point in time.
To the public, it felt as though the disaster had ended there.
But only the leaders of the Trial of the Gods knew that all this was far from over.
It was only that the sword had not yet fallen.
At last!
Three months after the calamity waves stopped,
a new message appeared in the minds of every Trial civilization's leader.
It concerned a new safe zone.
Shrunk by half yet again from the last!
This time, of the Fierce Dragon civilization's nine systems, six lay entirely within the danger zone!