Super Mothership
Establishing a certain level of trade relations with Gemini had long been one of the planned strategies.
In this war of civilizations, now that things had reached this stage, Nie Yun had basically completed all of his short-term strategic goals!
Of course, he was not so reckless as to attempt to seize the neighboring star systems in one go, or even occupy two or three of them, turning Earth Civilization into a true “interstellar civilization.”
Because whether in terms of population or overall foundation, Earth Civilization was not yet prepared for expansion on the scale of entire star systems.
Not to mention that Nie Yun’s overall military power was still far from matching Gemini. Even if he could win, Gemini’s vast territory was far beyond what the newly rising Earth Civilization—just stepping onto the stage of interstellar powers—could swallow in one gulp.
With the resources currently under Nie Yun’s control, and with Earth’s population, the immense resources of the Solar System alone were more than enough to satisfy the short-term developmental needs of Earth Civilization for at least the next three years.
By focusing on developing the Solar System, strengthening the foundations of civilization, accumulating population and depth, and thoroughly absorbing the Solar System to shape it into Earth Civilization’s true “home system,” only then would Nie Yun have sufficient momentum for further expansion.
Blind expansion would only lead to shaky foundations and exhaustion. Even if he really did occupy one or two star systems, he wouldn’t have enough resources for full development, and worse, it would provoke Gemini’s vigilance and hostility.
If resources were consumed in endless wars, it would undoubtedly slow down Nie Yun’s pace of development drastically.
This was why, after occupying the wormhole and opening a channel to the outside, Nie Yun strove so hard to secure “peace.”
And trade—by exchanging technology and goods—could accelerate Earth Civilization’s interstellar progress, essentially amounting to a “reform and opening-up” at the civilizational level!
“Confirming one’s strengths and weaknesses through open trade plays a very positive role in restructuring industry and stimulating internal competition.
Since Earth Civilization is not alone, why not try engaging in trade with other civilizations?
Even with hostile civilizations—as long as there’s profit to be made—I believe it’s worth a try.
If it fails, our losses will be small. But if it succeeds, we gain access to a vast interstellar market!”
This suggestion was put forward to Nie Yun by Chu Xiaoxiao, based on her observations of Atlantis Corporation’s current operations.
After receiving the help of a brain chip, Miss Chu had gradually shown remarkable talent in corporate management and finance, building up strength over time.
Thanks to her planning and efforts, Infinite Coin had in a short time begun to replace the U.S. dollar’s role, moving toward becoming the Earth’s sole trusted currency.
Meanwhile, Atlantis Corporation, leveraging its technological edge, had been penetrating and invading industries everywhere, subtly becoming the rule-maker of Earth’s new era of commerce!
And now, she seemed intent on trying to use business to pry open the doors of Gemini…
At first glance, with Earth Civilization possessing only the resources and industrial strength of a single star system, attempting to plunder Gemini’s resources through product dumping and economic infiltration might sound like overreaching.
But when you consider the mechanical bugs—tireless, working 24 hours a day without pay, constantly upgrading technology with no R&D costs—it was clear they possessed a unique “low-cost, high-output” advantage…
Mechanical Bugs: “……” (╥﹏╥)
Since they had a foreseeable technological advantage in the future, it was only natural to begin preparing early and open up Earth Civilization’s external markets!
Perhaps the current trade volume between the two sides was no more than a drop in the bucket, but as Nie Yun’s technological lead grew more obvious, the trade imbalance would surely expand rapidly!
…
On Gemini’s side, when the experts looked at the trade list, most of them reacted as if they had stumbled upon a treasure.
By comparison, the 18 of “Anter Empire experts” appeared much calmer, only occasionally leaning in to whisper to one another.
In fact, Yu and the others had already received Gemini’s trade list from Nie Yun a day earlier, so they were already well aware of which technologies and goods were valuable.
But from the Gemini delegation’s point of view, that demeanor clearly suggested there wasn’t much on the trade list that interested them…
“So? Any gains?” Arthas leisurely finished a cup of juice before asking the expert beside him.
“Hmm… among the tech trade options, a fair portion overlaps with our own mechanical technologies — including our quantum and gravity tech trees. Their holdings aren’t much greater than ours. The unknown system called Psionic Energy appears to be a specialty of their civilization and is likely the key reason their weapons outperform ours. Those technologies would be the most valuable for our civilization; we should try to acquire them if possible.
“As for the goods list, there are actually quite a few cheap weapons and equipment: the standard mechs they deployed on the battlefield this time, biological hunter weapons, and high-precision high-yield artillery are all listed as sellable. They price things in energy crystals, and the prices are considerably lower than domestic averages. I recommend buying small batches for research.”
Yes — aside from the possibly overhyped Psionic Energy series, Nie Yun’s trade list was dominated by various inexpensive finished weapons.
Most of Nie Yun’s current owned industry produced high-tech, high-value cutting-edge products, especially advanced era weapons and equipment. Prioritizing military industry and strengthening the Solar System’s overall military strength was Nie Yun’s instinctive response to the Gemini threat.
However, in times of relative peace that industrial structure was somewhat ill-suited.
Given the current domestic consumption capacity, Earth could not even absorb a third of that production capacity.
Things like capital warships and large mechs require massive investment in personnel and logistics and are not something small factions can sustain right now. Moreover, within the Solar System, the Ghost Captain is the absolute arbiter of order — so long as the Ghost Captain doesn’t join the chaos, even space pirates have no room to survive, and thus there’s no battlefield for those large weapons to be used.
Therefore, after orders from the Earth Defense Force and several major nations, the excess output from the weapons factories could only be absorbed by Nie Yun himself or put into war reserves.
Small arms and individual weapons, under the Earth Military Alliance’s weapons-ban restrictions, also had very limited market demand. Besides, Nie Yun consciously controlled what weapons were sold to Earth to avoid causing any irreversible tragedy to the fragile Terran polity…
According to the codename’s statistics, before long the new military-industrial bases being built in the Solar System would reach a production boom; if demand was insufficient, the output capacity for these high-end weapons would quickly become wasted resources.
But because they were strategic necessities, converting them to civilian use wasn’t realistic. With insufficient internal demand, Nie Yun turned his gaze to markets beyond the star system.
The sudden invasion by the Wulf civilization might even become a once-in-a-millennium opportunity…
Earth Civilization’s trade road… would begin with arms dealers!
…
“Also, there’s one item on their list specially marked as a ‘special commodity.’ Generally speaking, strategic materials like this are not something that can be sold on a large scale…” the expert hesitated.
“What is it?” Arthas raised an eyebrow.
“…Energy crystals!”
TL Note- Energy....
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