"Then what response do we need to make?" Lilith asked.
Zhao Chen shook his head: "At present our battle-lines are chiefly divided into the Chu River Star Region border, the North Wind Star Region border, and the North Wind Star Region battlefield now underway. But we've only just been through a battle, we're still in the rest-and-refit period, and our follow-on combat resources aren't yet fully replenished; it's not the time to open a large-scale interstellar engagement. Besides going on sending interstellar scout-ships to keep watch on the enemy's various main fleet-groups and star-ports, remind the Imperial Princess Fleet-Group and the Chu-family legion fleet fighting in the North Wind Star Region to slow their earlier combat plan, and be a bit careful of that Prince Yan."
Lilith nodded: "I'll go notify the two of them at once."
"If the Imperial Capital Star and that Prince Yan make any other move, notify me at the first moment." Zhao Chen cautioned.
"Yes."
"All right, nothing more for now. Once you've relayed all this, go and rest." Zhao Chen waved a hand, and sat by the window, gazing at the grassland scenery outside — by the look of it, Zhao Chen wouldn't be resting for a while.
"Mind you rest." Lilith slowly withdrew from the room, and the instant the door closed—
Lilith felt some hot stream trickle from her nose.
She drew great gulps of breath, cheeks flushed crimson, leaning against the wall; she felt her heart was about to leap out of her.
Normally, seeing the Commander-in-Chief in his Commander-in-Chief's uniform, she felt nothing much; but now, facing that body of the Commander-in-Chief head-on, the lethal force was astonishing indeed.
"Tonight… I should have a fine dream." Lilith, bracing against the wall, legs trembling, made her way back to her own room.
Within the room, Zhao Chen was, at this moment, thinking on the matter of Prince Yan, Qin Xiaotian.
Since he dared surface at such a time, he surely still held some trump card in hand.
"A trump card that could give Qin Xiaotian the confidence to do battle with my Owl Dragon Legion?" Zhao Chen pondered.
A great mass of interstellar warships?
Unlikely; if Qin Xiaotian could hide 50 legion-fleets, 150,000 interstellar warships was already his limit — he couldn't possibly have any more interstellar legions.
After all, the larger the interstellar legion, the more vast the logistics support required; to have hidden 150,000 was already a matter of great capacity, and to hide another few hundred thousand was truly hard to imagine.
The Holy Radiance Empire's backing?
Even if Qin Xiaotian had contact with the Holy Radiance Empire, by his own earlier Sacred-War-Duel wager with the Holy Radiance Empire, the Holy Radiance Empire couldn't possibly step directly into the Starlight Empire's civil-war affairs.
The likeliest thing was providing ready-made interstellar warships or combat resources — but on these alone, it couldn't possibly be Qin Xiaotian's trump card.
Turning it over and over, Zhao Chen was left with only two possibilities.
The first: Qin Xiaotian had gotten hold of T5-grade interstellar-warship technology!
"Impossible; there's no T5-grade interstellar warship in the whole Galactic Alliance, and developing one needs a vast supply of resources — there's no way it could truly be done without a whisper. The likeliest is a high-grade T4 interstellar warship or a quasi-T5-grade one." Zhao Chen surmised.
The second: Qin Xiaotian held in hand an interstellar legion not very large in scale but extremely strong in combat power, numbering no more than 3,000 ships.
In that case, it could explain why Qin Xiaotian had the confidence to meet the now-blazing-bright Owl Dragon Legion — that would be the ground of Qin Xiaotian's confidence.
"This possibility's the greatest; I must guard carefully against it," Zhao Chen muttered.
The best way to guard against such a threat was for Zhao Chen to grow his own power.
Build a T5 combat-type interstellar warship?
Zhao Chen had the notion, and he had the technology too.
The T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought!
But that 3 trillion-star-coin build-cost still made Zhao Chen shrink back.
Though at present Zhao Chen's monthly output had reached 500 billion star coins, to meet the build of a T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought would likely require Zhao Chen to halt over half his present production plans.
That would surely affect the Owl Dragon Legion's development.
Beyond that was another reason — not enough T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships.
"Still have to wait; at the earliest the second half of the year before the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's production plan can begin, and at the fastest next year before it rolls off the line and enters service." Zhao Chen scratched his head, helpless.
By the look of it, then, relying on the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought to hold the line was, for now, distant water that wouldn't quench a near thirst.
"Then there's no choice but to go on stepping up the Owl Dragon Legion's build speed. Three interstellar legions aren't enough — then five, 10! I just won't believe that Qin Xiaotian truly has any heaven-overturning power!" Zhao Chen muttered.
Qin Xiaotian had a trump card, but that trump card wouldn't be absurdly strong.
Otherwise, he'd have had no need to endure in silence so long, to push out Qin Ming and the Princes' faction as his stepping-stones; he could simply have "steamrolled" his way to the throne, no?
This gave Zhao Chen the confidence to meet Qin Xiaotian's coming move.
Having reasoned all this through, Zhao Chen opened the System interface.
And saw the annual task, already updated.
Annual Task
Task One: the death of Qin Ming (complete)
Task Two: control at least four star regions within the Starlight Empire. (Progress: Chu River Star Region, North Wind Star Region)
Seeing the freshly refreshed Task Two, he found its description very simple.
Four star regions of the Starlight Empire; by the description, it should not require Zhao Chen's own power to control them directly — control by Zhao Chen's allied powers would count too.
And the five resource-star-regions Zhao Chen had newly developed out beyond were not reckoned in.
"Four? Then that's two more to go — to be exact, one and a half." Zhao Chen opened the Starlight Empire's interstellar map.
The Chu River Star Region and the North Wind Star Region needed no further mention — already in hand.
The Azure Star Region was at present still being contested; if Qin Xiaotian did not intervene, it would sooner or later fall under their control, so Zhao Chen counted it as "half."
And next he'd need one more target.
This target, of course, had to be a bordering star region.
At present, the star regions bordering Zhao Chen's alliance were the Purple Perilla Star Region, the Starlight Central Star Region, and the Grey Moon Star Region.
Of these, the Purple Perilla Star Region bordered the Azure Star Region; once the Azure Star Region was controlled, one could move on to the Purple Perilla Star Region.
"The Starlight Central Star Region is the strongest; the original plan was to take it during the second-stage offensive, and then control the whole Starlight Empire. But with this Qin Xiaotian suddenly cropping up, this plan will likely meet enormous obstruction. So as not to affect the completion of the annual task, I must prepare a second plan. Besides the Starlight Central Star Region— —the fittest targets at present are the Grey Moon Star Region and the Purple Perilla Star Region. The Purple Perilla Star Region hasn't clearly sided with Qin Xiaotian; if I move troops against it, I might well push it toward Qin Xiaotian's side. So… the fittest is the Grey Moon Star Region." Zhao Chen pondered.
To take the Grey Moon Star Region.
Zhao Chen thought a moment, then edited a command and sent it to Chitong, Shen Bing, and the rest, having them simulate, within three days, a workable operational plan for the Grey Moon Star Region.
This command, for now, was to be discussed only among the few of them; before it was formally settled, it was not to be spread abroad.