"Your Excellency the Empress, I must ask you to wait a moment. I need to give these two some instructions." Zhao Chen looked at the Fox Empress Su Yaya with a smile.
Su Yaya looked at Zhao Chen with some surprise, but nodded slightly all the same.
She was curious why this Owl Dragon lord should assign tasks to Chieftainess Hu Ya and the rest in front of her.
Zhao Chen looked to Chieftainess Hu Ya and Hu Xin'er, and began setting out once again those plans he had laid before Lilith a while ago.
Chieftainess Hu Ya's expression was level, no stir of feeling to be made out in it; she seemed only to be listening to it all quietly.
Hu Xin'er's eyes lit up, and she looked at Zhao Chen. "How is it I never noticed before that you were so crafty? Quite like a swindling merchant."
"What do you mean, swindling merchant? This is called war is the way of deception." Zhao Chen folded his arms across his chest, the corner of his mouth rising.
"What do you make of it?" Zhao Chen asked the two of them for their views.
"The difficulty of carrying it out is not great; it can be executed," Chieftainess Hu Ya answered.
Hu Xin'er raised her hand outright. "Let me take charge of this business. Staying here, sitting about with that crowd — I'm bored near to death."
"Very well; the two of you will be responsible for the planning and deployment side of this business, and Lilith will help you convey the orders. If there is anything you need help with, you may also ask Lilith directly," Zhao Chen said.
"Yes." Chieftainess Hu Ya saluted, her manner meticulous.
While Hu Xin'er was so excited she could hardly wait to begin executing the plan that instant.
"Our own business is settled; now let us speak of Your Excellency the Empress's business." Zhao Chen looked to the Fox Empress Su Yaya.
The Fox Empress Su Yaya blinked and asked curiously, "My business? What business could I have?"
"The fate of the fox race in time to come, for instance," Zhao Chen said.
The Fox Empress Su Yaya asked, all puzzlement, "The fate of the fox race? I am still not quite clear on it."
This fox-charmer is playing the innocent.
Zhao Chen did not waste words on her either, and said outright, coming straight to the point, "As I see it at present. The fox race's future comes to no more than three outcomes. The worst case is that your fox race is buried alongside the Dragon-folk tribe, or rather alongside the Warhammer's old order — which may bring your fox race to decay, and may even cost the lives of the overwhelming majority of your people."
The Fox Empress Su Yaya did not change color, and went on watching Zhao Chen.
"The second case, which is somewhat better. On the eve of the Warhammer old order's collapse you choose to forsake the dark and turn to the light. In that way you may escape the worst outcome; but at the same time you gain no benefit whatever, and your Fox-folk tribe becomes a wholly unremarkable existence. And may even suffer oppression from other newly risen tribes."
Zhao Chen's words checked, and he looked straight into the Fox Empress Su Yaya's bewitching eyes. "The third case, which is the best choice. Your Fox-folk tribe shows foresight and chooses to stand upon the right side, whereby in the new order to come you will gain standing, authority and wealth such as you have never had before. That is your Fox-folk tribe's fate to come. And now this choice concerning that fate is set before you, Your Highness the Empress."
With that, Zhao Chen spoke no further.
He simply used the intelligent device beside him to order a drink.
And sat there tasting the liquid in his cup, serene as a light cloud in a calm wind.
The Fox Empress Su Yaya smiled faintly — a smile that could without question drive the overwhelming majority of men mad for her.
Among the beauties Zhao Chen had seen, Su Yaya was perhaps not the best-looking; but she was without question the most alluring. To describe it in a phrase: bewitchment born in the bone.
"My lord, to hear you speak. It is for all the world as though you were the sovereign of this place, able to decide everything in it. That is surely a little too conceited."
Zhao Chen smiled faintly; he shrugged, spread his arms, and said with a mild laugh, "Conceited? No, I do not consider that I am being conceited. To hold a strength that does not match one's claims — that is conceit. What I have here is called confidence."
The Fox Empress Su Yaya ordered a drink as well; she took a sip of fruit juice and then said slowly, "I heard just now the operational plan you set out for those two. Though let me state first that I had no wish to eavesdrop. By the information and data I have obtained, your Owl Dragon Legion, though very strong, is at present short of strategic materiel. Which is to say that those interstellar missile ships of yours, of such astonishing combat power, cannot display that combat power thoroughly upon the field. Which is why you have chosen a plan of this kind. Since you lack even the strategic materiel to operate your own Owl Dragon Legion. What confidence have you that you can master the situation in the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth? I truly cannot see where this confidence of yours lies."
At the Fox Empress Su Yaya's challenge Zhao Chen took no offense.
Because this was precisely the result he wanted. To bring a clever woman of this kind to a willing and sincere submission—
there was only one method.
And that was to let her feel Zhao Chen's strength thoroughly and to the bone.
Not merely those interstellar fleets upon the frontal field, but the strength behind them.
Zhao Chen raised a hand, and with his voice electronic screens appeared one after another before the Fox Empress Su Yaya — brief data reports, one upon another.
"Because my confidence comes from these. Behind my Owl Dragon Legion lies an exceedingly vast industrial system and resource system. First there are those five newly developed resource star regions outside; at present my single-month output value already exceeds 500 billion star coins, and with my new-generation interstellar mining ships and interstellar transports entering service— this figure will rise further still. Besides that, my industrial base can guarantee the production of 400 T4-grade interstellar warships in a single month, and can at the same time produce 30,000 T3-grade interstellar destroyers. And beyond this, I have besides a trading enterprise for military starship export, which can produce 20,000 T2-grade interstellar warships in a single month — and in future may produce 100,000 in a single month! I possess at present a near-complete T2 and T3 technological system, and a near-complete T4 one besides, above all in military-industrial technology. I dare say that even the Holy Radiance Empire does not match me. As for that question you raised just now of insufficient strategic resources. I acknowledge that our Owl Dragon Legion has that problem. We do, after all, burn a good deal of money fighting."
Zhao Chen shrugged helplessly.
Burning money was the Owl Dragon Legion's one defect, and one it could not at present overcome.
Zhao Chen stared at the Fox Empress Su Yaya, who did not change color. "But I possess military strength of such depth as this. I can perfectly well wait. I could even give up the Black Tiger Star Region I have just taken. I can grind the legion fleets of the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth's several great tribes to death by degrees. For the speed at which I manufacture interstellar missiles is without question faster than the speed at which they build ships." Zhao Chen said it with confidence.
"I should not wish this war that has happened in the Black Tiger Star Region to happen again within the Fox-folk tribe's territory. And so the fate of this Fox-folk tribe in time to come— Your Highness the Empress, rests wholly upon your will."