The T3 Silver Eden-class Ship!
Hearing this name, Annie was for all the world like a dog that had caught the scent of meat.
Though the Bronze Eden and the Silver Eden both belonged to the same ship-class, their capabilities were wholly different.
First of all, in the output of the various goods within them, the two were worlds apart!
And there was, besides, a point few knew: the Silver Eden-class Ship's yield of premium-grade produce was far higher than the Bronze Eden's.
Put simply — the things from a Silver Eden were better.
Even apples grown from the very same seed came out, from a Silver Eden, bigger, sweeter, juicier!
The meat of its cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens was more delectable too.
"To be able to serve the Lord Commander, to serve the Owl Dragon Legion — that is Nana's honor; nothing else matters at all," Nana said firmly.
Annie covered her own eyes.
Good heavens — had this little sister of hers had her head knocked loose by a starship?
"Work hard. If, by year's end, you can become the finest employee of our Owl Dragon Legion, I'll reward you with three years' use-rights to a T3 Silver Eden-class Ship." Zhao Chen stroked Nana's head.
Three years!
Annie's eyes went wide.
Watching the Commander and Nana's intimate little exchange, for some reason she felt as though her own T2 Bronze Eden had suddenly lost its savor.
Zhao Chen shot a glance at the crestfallen Annie off to the side.
Annie's ability was, naturally, greater than Nana's — but this girl was wanting in a certain zeal.
It was as good a moment as any to use Nana, this model employee, to give Annie a good prod.
"Nana will, without fail, complete every task the Lord Commander sets her," Nana said, unshakeable.
Zhao Chen nodded, gratified.
Thereupon he took out the technical blueprints of the T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Frigate, and had Nana arrange the relevant production tasks.
This time Annie was a great deal more eager, stepping up of her own accord to say she'd share the work with Nana.
In this way, two classes of combat-type T4 interstellar warship would very soon enter service in Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Legion — greatly increasing the Owl Dragon Legion's combat power.
"Lord Commander, the 'hardware' side we've already set in motion — but the 'software' side of the problem hasn't been arranged yet." Lilith looked toward the Commander.
"'Software'?" Zhao Chen was momentarily at a loss.
"So many ownerless star systems, so vast an industrial-and-mining expanse, and the huge supporting facilities and the rest — all of it needs a great many people to take charge. The low- and mid-tier staff we can cultivate, but top-tier talent isn't something to be cultivated in a day or two." Lilith reminded him.
Zhao Chen understood Lilith's meaning.
That is: whom to send, hereafter, to manage the mining operations of these ownerless star systems?
Surely everything couldn't be seen to by Zhao Chen and Lilith in person.
"Have you candidates in mind?" Zhao Chen looked at Lilith.
Lilith raised her hand, and two holographic images appeared before Zhao Chen.
These two, Zhao Chen knew well.
They were, respectively: Li Yaqi of the Northern Goose Starship Technology Group, and Red Rose of the Bramble Free Trade Group.
Both were now working under Zhao Chen's hand.
Li Yaqi's holdings were the larger.
On Red Rose's side, ever since all that wealth of the little Princess's had been transferred into Zhao Chen's pocket, the matters she had charge of had grown fewer.
Both were able hands in the matter of interstellar trade; and though this venture was interstellar mining, that too fell under one branch of interstellar trade.
To hand it to them was, indeed, most fitting.
But… which to choose, in the end?
Li Yaqi had followed Zhao Chen the longest, had the ability, and was worthy of trust — but the Northern Goose Group had no small number of matters on its plate just now, and this might add to Li Yaqi's burden of work.
Red Rose had drive and daring, and she'd cut her teeth in the Reef Star Region before — which placed her, as it happened, at an advantage among those ownerless star systems.
"You're deliberating over which to choose?" Lilith inquired.
Zhao Chen rubbed at his chin.
"It's a touch hard to choose."
"Since it's hard to choose, then have the two of them come in together. Split this pie in two, hand it to the both of them, and see who does the better job. That may be reckoned, too, a kind of internal incentive." Lilith suggested.
Zhao Chen's eyes lit up; this was indeed a fine method.
He at once got in touch with Li Yaqi and Red Rose, to ask the two of them their views.
When Li Yaqi and Red Rose learned that Zhao Chen meant to hand them a task so vast — bound up with a resource output running to upward of 100 billion star coins a month — it gave them, in truth, no small fright.
Astonished as she was, Red Rose was the first to agree — which showed her daring and decisiveness.
On Li Yaqi's side, she too very soon agreed, and guaranteed it would not affect the Northern Goose Group's own affairs.
But this was, after all, the mining sector; and so they were not brought in directly under their original trade entities.
Two new ones were established instead: the North Dragon Mining Group and the Rose Red-Dragon Mining Group, managed respectively by Li Yaqi and Red Rose.
Zhao Chen gave the two of them a promise: so long as they could meet the relevant task targets within the coming 30 years, they'd each be allotted a 5% carried stake.
And this 5% carried stake was no small thing.
On the strength of it, Li Yaqi and Red Rose would, in the future, be figures ranking among the top 10 of the cosmic rich-list — resounding, cosmos-class wealthy women!
From this point, the three great mining groups under Zhao Chen's hand were fully established, becoming one of the pillars of Zhao Chen's wealth.
"Our own affairs are all seen to." Zhao Chen stretched himself.
He opened his comm list and sent a comm request to one of the names on it.
Very soon, an old man appeared in the video window before Zhao Chen.
"I hear you, boy, have gone and taken on the mining operations of all those systems out there." The North Wind Governor looked at Zhao Chen with interest.
"That's all still a thing without a shadow to it yet. And it's not as if I had a choice — whose fault is it that my fiancée's grandfather insisted on picking a fight with people? As the grandson-in-law, mustn't I put my back into it?" Zhao Chen wore an aggrieved look.
Then his tone shifted: "Governor, sir — how do things stand now in our North Wind Star Region? Have those clowns who caper about the stage all been dealt with?"
"Don't keep 'Governor'-ing me. My surname's Zhu, and Chu Xuan's my granddaughter too. Just call me Old Zhu… well — 'Elder Zhu.'" the North Wind Governor said, all mildness and warmth.
"Then this junior will make so bold as to call you 'Old Zhu.'"
Old Governor Zhu went on: "Going by that list of ours from before, the moment the Prince Faction took the knife to old Chu, I moved at once. I ordered my own trusted men, and the fleets concerned, to round up that whole pack of fellows. And the five imperial legions garrisoned within the North Wind Star Region are now, too, in the grip of us of the Zhu family. I'm a man without old Chu's great gifts, true — but on this little patch of turf that is the North Wind Star Region, I have a bit of pull yet." Old Governor Zhu laughed.
"In that case, the Chu River Star Region and the North Wind Star Region form a united front — no need to fret over internal troubles; we have only to make ready to meet the Prince Faction's coming offensive," Zhao Chen said.
"On my side there's no problem to speak of. Though I reckon Chu Changhe's side will still have to see a little blood," Old Governor Zhu said in a low, grave voice.
Zhao Chen looked at Old Governor Zhu, not following.
"That business of old Chu assassinating the Emperor — I don't believe it. But that dagger of Chu Changhe's, the one he kept — that's real. And it's the one and only 'evidence' the Prince Faction holds. Old Chu has a fondness for collecting daggers, and that one he prized more than most; when he attended certain important banquets, he'd wear it at his waist. The rest of the time he kept it stored away in his residence. And a dagger such as that became the murder-weapon in the Emperor's assassination — turning up in the Imperial Capital Star without a soul the wiser! The Chu family has a great rat hidden away in it yet." Old Governor Zhu shook his head with a sigh.
At this very moment, in the Chu family's home star system, Chu Changhe had returned to his Chu family residence — but the air there was terrifying beyond words.
"Marshal, every one of those on the list is under watch." An officer stepped up and reported.
"Now bring them all before me," Chu Changhe said coldly.