"All right — to business." Zhao Chen hauled the talk back on track: "I've drawn up here a plan of the coming year's interstellar-warship build requirements; the two of you have a look. This is only an outline; there may well be revisions or additions each quarter to come."
Two electronic documents were sent before Annie and Nana.
This outline was divided into several series.
There was the expansion plan for the interstellar-industrial-ship segment, and some technologies for expanding certain auxiliary-type interstellar warships.
The great bulk of the rest was the coming year's expansion targets for the Owl Dragon Legion.
But at the very end was a segment thinnest in words, yet mightiest in the shock it dealt.
All-T4-Series Interstellar-Warship Fleet Construction Plan
As the name declared, this was to forge a whole interstellar fleet of nothing but T4-grade interstellar warships!
It was precisely this item that had shaken Lilith earlier.
And in this build plan were far too many ship-class names she'd never once seen.
T4 Tyrant…
T4 Gorgon…
T4 Fallen-Angel…
T4 Skeleton-King…
Besides which, among the auxiliary ship types too was a whole run of classes she'd never seen.
T4 Tycoon…
T4 Selene…
And one "Creator-class Starship" with no grade marked at all.
Zhao Chen looked at the two chief engineers before him; their expressions were poles apart.
Annie's face was ashen, her two legs all but trembling, and she swallowed without cease, for all the world as though she might faint at any moment.
Nana, on the other hand, was faintly flushed in the cheeks, her breath a touch quickened, her eyes giving off a certain radiance!
"My lord Commander, this build plan of yours is far too hard!"
"My lord Commander, this build plan of yours is magnificent!"
Annie and Nana spoke at once; Zhao Chen needn't even look to know which line was whose.
Zhao Chen looked at Annie, and narrowed his eyes: "You think these build plans I've drawn up can't be done?"
Annie nodded over and over, wearing a knit-browed look of woe: "You saw my suggested proposal earlier too — this… this overshoots by far too much."
"You have still the nerve to bring up that suggested proposal you wrote — I couldn't even be bothered to call your bluff." Zhao Chen flung Annie an I-see-right-through-you look.
Annie knew she couldn't keep up the act; she could only shift tack, pointing at the material: "But the demands you've set really are too high. And these ship-technologies in here, item after item I've never so much as heard of — and straight off the bat we're to mass-produce them… this… this difficulty…"
"You make it sound as if those warship data-dossiers I handed you before weren't all mass-produced straight off the bat. Which time did a problem ever come of it?" Zhao Chen shot back.
Annie was stumped a moment; she scratched her head.
It did seem to be so — the data-dossiers the Commander brought out each time had near enough never a fault in them; even when Annie tried to pick a flaw from among them, she'd found it a wasted effort.
"Funds! Right — funds are a big problem! This build plan of yours needs far too vast a sum of funds!" Annie said suddenly, seizing on the crux.
Even the cleverest wife can't cook without rice; without a sufficient supply of funds and raw materials, the Owl Dragon Legion's build plan for this year could not be carried out.
This time, Zhao Chen did not at once refute her.
Instead he looked to Lilith beside him.
Lilith had just now been at the tallying work; she called up four great screens, each showing the expansion-build plan of one of the four types of interstellar warship.
"First is the interstellar industrial ships' expansion plan for the new year. Per the Commander-in-Chief's requirements, our interstellar industrial ships need to expand a step further. The T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships need no further expansion. The T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships need to expand from the present 500 to 3,000. The T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships need to expand from the present three to 100. On these alone, the build-cost segment will need 700 billion star coins," Lilith said.
Zhao Chen's expression stayed calm, waiting on Lilith's next figures.
Investing so vast a sum in building interstellar industrial ships — this Zhao Chen had weighed long since, in drawing up the plan's outline.
But the interstellar industrial ship is the foundation of a civilization!
Building so many T4 Geminis was also to build, as soon as could be, the two T5-grade interstellar warships.
An investment of this sort — however great the figure, it had to be made!
"On the auxiliary-type warships: the T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships continue expanding per the original plan, from the present 10,000 to 20,000. At the same time, 300 T4 Tycoon-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships are to be built. The T3 Great White Whale-class Heavy Interstellar Transports expand from the present 300 to 3,000. 300 T4 Giant Whale-class Heavy Interstellar Transports are to be built. The T3 Silver Eden-class Starships expand from the current 300 to 1,000. This segment of the build plan is expected to call for an outlay of 500 billion star coins," Lilith said.
Nana beside her had begun to knit her brows tight; she dearly hoped this whole run of build plans could be carried out — but if the raw-material supply couldn't keep up, then all of it was so much empty talk.
On the two electronic screens below were the two Owl Dragon Legion expansion plans.
One of them was the All-T4-Series Interstellar-Warship Fleet Construction Plan.
Beneath it a line of estimated build-cost was marked out: 500 billion star coins.
Bear in mind — Zhao Chen's build plan here was but a small fleet, an establishment of 300 ships; were it forged to the establishment of a full legion-fleet of 3,000 ships, one can well imagine what a fortune it would swallow!
The other was the Owl Dragon Legion's overall expansion plan, to grow from the present 7,000-odd interstellar warships to 30,000.
Which was to say — to forge 10 full-strength legion-fleets!
And carried out to Zhao Chen's standard, the construction cost of a single full-strength legion-fleet came to 200 billion star coins.
The present shortfall ran to about eight legion-fleets — that was 1,600 billion star coins.
"Just these four construction plans that Sister Lilith has tallied — next year's outlay on this alone will need 3,300 billion star coins! And that's not even counting our personnel costs, warship upkeep, or the construction costs of star-ports, star-gates, and the like. And if a battle suddenly breaks out on top of that, this outlay…" Annie looked at Zhao Chen, her eyes plain enough in their meaning.
Boss, your money isn't enough.
You'd best weigh it up for yourself.
"You reckon this one up quick enough, don't you?" Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes at Annie.
Annie glanced guiltily aside.
"3,300 billion, plus some other outlays, plus a war reserve. Next year, across the whole year, we'll need at least 5 trillion in takings, just barely to prop up the Owl Dragon Legion's normal operation. Isn't that so, Lilith." Zhao Chen looked to Lilith.
5 trillion… what sort of a notion was that?
By the word Zhao Chen had, the Starlight Empire's own yearly takings a few years back had come to only 20 trillion star coins!
"5 trillion is the red line; below 5 trillion, our financial system may collapse," Lilith said.
"Lilith, can our finances bear it?" Zhao Chen looked to this house-stewardess of his.
The house-stewardess raised a hand, and opened up the map of the present Owl Dragon System, and of several other star regions besides.
"Assuming our homeland suffers no attack, that the five resource-star-regions develop smoothly, and that the foreign arms trade of both the Eden Grain-Trade Group and the Northern Goose Group goes well— —next year's takings will be at least 7 trillion and up." Lilith weighed that word "at least" with emphasis.
Zhao Chen understood her meaning: all going smoothly, 7 trillion to start from!
In which case, Zhao Chen could not only carry out all those build plans smoothly, but even add on some extra production plans besides.
"I'm done for…" Annie stood there stock-still, her soul all but fled from her.
She seemed already to see next year's Big Baby Annie, toiling away in the office like some soulless drudge.
Annie: boo-hoo-hoo, Annie wants to resign o(╥﹏╥)o
"Annie — do you want to build a few habitable planets for that dwarf race of yours?"