"I do know a fair deal of this Owl Dragon of yours. In the Starlight Empire's civil war it holds a place of decisive weight, and on the strength of advanced interstellar warships of every kind it has become the rising military power of the Starlight Empire."
President Guiji began by praising Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon a while.
And then said, "But… this is the Stellar Alliance, when all is said. It isn't a case where military strength alone can change the situation as it stands."
What lay in President Guiji's words came to no more than this: a dragon crossing the river is no match for the snake that lives in the ground.
Only a pity that Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Legion was not merely a dragon crossing a river.
"I know it. Things in the Stellar Alliance don't run quite as they do in the three empires. But who says the Owl Dragon Legion has no way of swaying the Stellar Alliance? It comes to no more than a question of money." Zhao Chen smiled slightly.
President Guiji shook her head gently; she felt this lord was thinking of it far too simply.
Were it only a question of money, the three great empires would have had the Stellar Alliance under their control long since.
The Stellar Alliance had rules of its own to the game.
"My lord, you think of it too simply."
Zhao Chen shrugged. "Don't be in such haste to decide. Let Elder Sister President have a look first at what cards I hold."
With that, he looked to Chu Xuan beside him.
Well before coming to the Star-Shark Guild, Zhao Chen had set Chu Xuan a great many matters to see to.
Looking into how the Guild stood, and preparing certain things besides.
Chu Xuan took his meaning and raised a hand, and five video windows appeared at once.
Across them appeared five different figures — three men and two women.
And upon seeing these five, the look in President Guiji's eyes plainly changed.
"These five, I imagine President Guiji knows every one of." Zhao Chen looked at her, smiling.
President Guiji naturally knew what these five were. Every one of them was a much-courted prize within the Stellar Alliance just now.
All five were interstellar merchants: three of them in the grain trade, another a buyer of raw materials, and the last a seller of starships.
And of these, the three interstellar grain traders were chased after by the Stellar Alliance's people harder than any; scarcely a day passed at their lodgings without dozens of calling-cards presented at the door.
For there was far too much profit standing behind the grain trade, and it could bring a whole chain of industry into being at a stroke.
"We greet the lord!"
All five looked to Zhao Chen together and said it with the greatest deference.
"Suppose I say that the interstellar trade these five carry on — the escorting of the goods, the agency, the selling, the whole of it — can all be given over to your Star-Shark Guild to handle. I wonder how that pie compares with what the Qian family offers you," Zhao Chen said.
Something shook in President Guiji, and a flicker of excitement crossed her eyes.
But she held her feelings in check all the same, and turned her gaze on those five video windows.
The five spoke almost with one voice: "We are entirely at the lord's command."
President Guiji looked at Zhao Chen in astonishment. Never in the world had she thought that these five figures, who had lately been making such a splendid go of it in the Stellar Alliance, should now stand before this lord as meek as five dogs.
Zhao Chen smiled and said nothing.
The trading groups of both Li Yaqi and Red Rose had dealings with the Stellar Alliance; and A-Na of the Eden Grain-Trade Group likewise had channels of cooperation there.
And because of the Owl Dragon Legion's particular position, none of the three had made her own standing public, but had used certain means to arrange for a dozen-odd people to pose as traders and carry the cooperation on within the Stellar Alliance.
Which served, over the short term, to shield the Owl Dragon Legion — lest the Owl Dragon signboard prove too large a thing to hang out.
And what appeared before President Guiji at this hour was no more than a third of the people planted in the Stellar Alliance.
Yet these alone, by the resources in their hands and the interests they touched, were enough to give President Guiji a clear understanding of just how great a power this lord before her kept concealed.
"Lord of the Owl Dragon, it seems I must take the measure of your strength afresh." President Guiji looked at Zhao Chen; she was no innocent.
She knew that since he dared show her this much now, there might well be more cards hidden in his hand besides.
"If we can establish a relation of cooperation, then you'll come to understand my strength a great deal more clearly." Zhao Chen looked at President Guiji, smiling.
Their words fell, and what followed was a silence that held for several seconds together.
Zhao Chen was waiting — waiting on President Guiji's decision.
And President Guiji was weighing it within herself; she knew the decision she made now might bear upon the Star-Shark Guild's fate to come, upon its very life or death.
Xue Xiaoxiao, with that temper of hers, understood none of this; she ran up in front of President Guiji in her urgency. "Mother, the Commander-in-Chief truly is formidable! He… he… he's done far too many things that pass belief. If you had ever been to the Owl Dragon System, you'd find without fail how mighty a thing it is! Working with that dog-turd Qian family is nowhere near working with the Owl Dragon Legion. And the Commander-in-Chief said it himself just now — work with the Owl Dragon Legion and you'll come away with more. And we have no time at all to hesitate now; Sister Xiaoxiao may be in danger at any hour, and we must press on and go carry her back!"
Watching Xue Xiaoxiao in her impatience—
President Guiji let out a long sigh, and her fine eyes turned to Zhao Chen. "Since Xiaoxiao trusts my lord to such a degree, then this once I, Guiji, will make a great gamble of it too. I am willing to give up the arrangement with the Qian family, and to work with the Owl Dragon Legion. But upon one condition first: the resources in these five hands must be worked together with the Star-Shark Guild — and within the Stellar Alliance, of course, the Star-Shark Guild will see business done for the Owl Dragon Legion as well!"
In this arrangement, in truth, what the Owl Dragon Legion came away with fell far short of what the Star-Shark Guild did.
But once the Star-Shark Guild had walked into the Owl Dragon Legion's system, Zhao Chen could digest it at leisure — and by then… would the Star-Shark Guild still be the Star-Shark Guild it was now?
With business of that kind, Zhao Chen could hardly have been better acquainted.
"Very well. We'll do as President Guiji says." Zhao Chen agreed without a moment's hesitation.
President Guiji said further, "And then I have one small request besides. On this business of the Qian family — as matters stand, it cannot be the Star-Shark Guild that falls out openly with them. I know that to handle it so is hardly honorable of our Star-Shark Guild. But the Qian family's power within the Stellar Alliance is very great just now. Our Star-Shark Guild cannot stand against the Qian family in the open; we need a little time to settle ourselves. So…"
"This business of Sister Xiaoxiao's, our Owl Dragon Legion will handle. And that being so, however the Qian family may take it, there's no possibility of the blame falling upon the Star-Shark Guild's head." Zhao Chen knew well enough what President Guiji was anxious about.
Nor had Zhao Chen any thought of having the Star-Shark Guild stand up on his platform yet; that must wait, at any rate, until he had reared the Star-Shark Guild up.
Let it become a true giant shark within the Stellar Alliance!
And then it could hunt those targets down for him.
"Then Xiaoxiao is entrusted to my lord." President Guiji made Zhao Chen a bow, and gave the charge into his hands.