Chapter 136: Building the Barnard Defense Line

More than three years have passed.

The Fifth Fleet, which once set out alongside the Sixth Fleet,

has made significant progress. Two years ago, Ye Lingwei took over from Mu Qingxue as the commander of the Fifth Fleet and was officially promoted to major general.

She also shed the ‘acting’ title before her name and stepped in as the true commander.

Yet on her journey to Barnard’s Star, she found no planets suitable for terraforming. Even the few existing planets weren’t fit for development.

To put it bluntly, there wasn’t much value to be gained there.

Afterward, the Fifth Fleet used Barnard’s Star as their starting point and visited Luyten 726-8, Ross 154, and Ross 248.

Over the course of these three years, unlike the Sixth Fleet, the Fifth Fleet barely stopped—they spent most of the time on the move.

But even after traveling through those four star systems, they finally came back with results.

First, Luyten 726-8 turned out similar to Alpha Centauri—another binary star system with fifteen planets, three of which are within the habitable zone. All three are fit for terraforming and won’t be too difficult to develop.

Besides that, both Ross 154 and Ross 248 each have one planet suitable for terraforming.

Most importantly, these four star systems—Barnard’s Star, Luyten 726-8, Ross 154, and Ross 248—form a natural barrier, tightly wrapping around the Solar System.

If you place the Solar System at the center and stretch ten light-years outward, you get a spherical area with a ten-light-year radius.

The four star systems just mentioned basically cover half of that sphere.

As for the other half, that’s the direction of Proxima.

It’s been said before—cosmic currents always form between two star systems no farther than ten light-years apart, linking them through gravitational interaction.

Now, not every pair of star systems within ten light-years will definitely generate a current.

But if a current does form between two systems, their distance never exceeds ten light-years.

Currently, there are two cosmic current channels connecting the Solar System to the outside—one leads to Proxima, the other to Barnard’s Star.

Barnard’s Star, on the other hand, has four cosmic currents. Excluding the one that leads back to the Solar System, the other three connect to Luyten 726-8, Ross 154, and Ross 248.

Taking all this into account, the Federation Fleet Headquarters decided after careful analysis.

Although the Orion Spur’s prosperous zone contains multiple third-level civilizations—and even a fourth-level civilization that rules the entire region—

now is not the time to march out and expose humanity, still weak, to the gaze of the Drac Empire.

So for now, the main path for development still heads deep into the desolate star region, well outside the Drac Empire’s sphere of influence and with no third-level civilizations.

That area might be a bit barren, but at this stage it’s simply the best place for human progress.

But is there enough room left—has someone already claimed everything in that direction?

Is that really a concern?

Why do you think Lin Yu and Mu Xingchen are so eager to push military trade?

It’s all about tapping into the vast resources of other civilizations to develop humanity, while military trade also lets them gradually gain control over those cultures.

Whether they slowly take over piece by piece or settle it all in one sweeping war—

neither option is all that hard.

In the end, any first- or second-level civilization in the desolate star region will either become a Federation vassal or get wiped out.

That’s basically the whole idea.

Meanwhile, the Federation Fleet Headquarters has officially designated the four star systems in the direction of Barnard’s Star as a defensive ring for the Solar System—simply called the Barnard Defense Line.

After all…

Any enemy advancing from the Orion Arm’s prosperous zone will have to break through this ring and travel at least ten light-years before they can even reach the Solar System.

Of course, trying to form a massive defensive ring spanning ten light-years across four star systems will take a staggering amount of resources and an enormous fleet.

At first, even Mu Xingchen and the others had doubts—building it would nearly drain the entire Solar System.

But the rapid development near Proxima gave the Three Leaders a boost of confidence.

Now, a steady stream of resources is flowing into the Solar System from Alpha Centauri, with at least thirty percent going straight to the Barnard Defense Line to reinforce the frontier.

On the Federation Fleet’s side, aside from the ongoing construction of the Seventh Fleet, the Eighth and Ninth Fleets are now on the schedule and set to be formed within two years.

Yes, in the past, building three fleets would’ve taken the Federation seven or eight years at least.

But now…

With endless resources pouring in and production capacity soaring,

they can build nearly five hundred warships in just two years for the new fleets.

After that, adding in the Fifth Fleet, four fleets together will hold the line at the Barnard Defense Line, giving the Federation’s campaign into the desolate star region—

a solid and secure base of operations.

And this is just the beginning.

According to Federation plans, after all four fleets are in place and the defense line stands strong,

the next step will be expanding those fleets until each one matches the size of the First and Sixth Fleets.

In the end, the Barnard Defense Line will be guarded by more than thirteen hundred warships.

——-

Over the past year,

the Tuoba family’s trading fleet has hardly stopped moving.

The star systems under their control just happen to sit close to Alpha Centauri, making everything easy and convenient.

They haul back huge volumes of goods and sell them throughout the Xitoris Kingdom—some even make it to nearby civilizations.

Tuoba estimates this round alone could make his family ten times their money back.

It’s basically a gold mine.

That’s the magic of interstellar trade.

Mu Qingxue already drives a hard bargain, with every product earning at least a hundred-fold profit—and some, even a thousand-fold.

Yet in Tuoba’s hands, they can squeeze out another ten-fold on top of that.

Isn’t that outrageous?

But honestly…

That’s just how interstellar trade works.

At the very start, it’s always the most profitable.

Over time, sure, most products will adjust in price, but the margin stays huge—and some key commodities always keep their value.

Take military goods, for example—

Military trade!!

Even though Tuoba only put down a 20% deposit on the biggest order between both sides,

that alone—

meant the full order already paid for itself and brought in a profit a hundred times over.

Once the final payment clears, the Federation’s profit from this batch of arms could reach nearly six hundred times.

And this is just the first deal—Tuoba has already said he’ll place bigger orders once the first batch is done.

No matter how you look at it, the guy’s got serious ambition.

But the Federation isn’t bothered at all—they’re happy to sell as much as he wants. If the Xitoris Kingdom descends into civil war, then—

there’ll only be more chances for the Federation, right?