Chapter 197: A Strategic Shift at the Pinnacle

One month later.

Lin Yu was summoned to attend a high-level meeting.

How high-level, you ask?

There were just five people in the entire room.

Besides Lin Yu, the others were Mu Xingchen, Commander of the Federation Fleet, Ryan as Vice Commander, Vladimir, and then Federation President Tellus—the new president after Friedrich stepped down.

Basically, everyone present sat at the very peak of the Federation’s power structure.

“We’ve all reviewed the report you submitted three days ago. The reason we called you here is to elaborate on your plan and answer some questions.”

As the meeting began, Tellus spoke up without delay.

“Sure, no problem.”

Lin Yu nodded, then stood and pulled up a star chart of the Desolate Star Region.

“Thanks to mass production of the Zero-Point Module and Jump Engine, the first batch of Zhulong-class B heavy cruisers will be entering service next month.”

“There’s no doubt that the previous plan—to absorb the Wasteland Alliance in twenty years and take the entire Desolate Star Region in fifty—will be greatly accelerated. At this pace, we might actually finish what would’ve taken fifty years in just ten.”

“But as our efficiency rises, a huge problem crops up. We’ll have new territory, but not enough manpower to develop it!”

“After all, the Desolate Star Region might be poor, but it holds more than thirty thousand stars, hundreds of thousands of planets, and countless asteroid belts. Under the original plan, with humans living much longer and policies encouraging population growth, the expectation was our numbers would increase nearly sevenfold in fifty years. But now…”

“To sum up, in ten years, we’re heading straight for a severe population shortage.”

At this,

Everyone nodded in agreement.

What does thirty thousand stars really mean?

It’s thirty thousand solar systems. The main difference is, only a few have natural life-bearing planets.

If the timeline were fifty years as planned, we might scrape together enough people to start development in parts of the region. But in ten years…

The population gap is way too big.

Forget developing everything—even carving out a small part won’t be possible with so few people.

At this moment, Lin Yu continued.

“So, we need to shift from our old strategy, which only kept the Ziyang Empire and Xitoris Kingdom around, and instead preserve more civilizations so they can help with development.”

“Of course, they’re not like the elves, and by Federation law, they can’t join us directly. But that’s not a deal breaker—we can set up a subsidiary civilization platform for unified management of all these groups.”

Subsidiary civilization platform?

“Lin Yu, explain this platform in detail!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Lin Yu nodded.

He pulled up a new interface, filling the screen with data and images.

“You all know the most prosperous area of the Orion Spur is ruled by the Drac Empire, a level-four civilization. Every hundred years, they tax every single civilization in that zone, and the tax rate is a stunning 70%.”

“With this, the Drac Empire drains lower-level civilizations like mad to keep up their own rapid development.”

“From a civilization’s viewpoint, it’s rough and heavy-handed, but it works. In this universe, the growth of your own civilization comes first—if that means wiping out every other group, so be it.”

“The platform I’m proposing is similar—just dressed up fancier. On the surface, it looks the exact opposite of what the Drac Empire does, but fundamentally… it’s the same thing.”

“For instance, say Civilization A controls 100 units of resources. Civilization B, being stronger, just takes 70 units by force, while Civilization C uses trade to take away 80 units. If you had to choose, would you rather be Civilization B or Civilization C?”

Hmm…

When Lin Yu posed this question, everyone paused, thinking it over.

They understood exactly what Lin Yu meant.

In this example, Civilization B is clearly the Drac Empire, while Civilization C stands for the Federation.

The Drac Empire takes 70% of everyone’s resources at gunpoint.

The Federation, on the other hand, squeezes kingdoms like the Ziyang Empire and Xitoris Kingdom dry through trade—and if you really do the math, probably takes even more than 70%.

Between them, centuries of accumulated wealth have nearly been bled dry.

Some people might argue: the Federation gives plenty in return, while the Drac Empire just steals for free—so isn’t that different?

Alright, then let’s talk about the profit margins in interstellar trade.

As mentioned before, the big-ticket trade items are military goods. The Federation’s military exports to those two kingdoms come with hundreds—sometimes thousands—of percent profit.

Even for regular goods, they’re marking up prices dozens or hundreds of times.

With profits like that, Federation costs are basically nil. It’s even faster than outright robbery.

The real kicker is, those civilizations in the Orion Arm who fear the Drac Empire—every last one of them hates it behind closed doors.

If they ever get a chance, they’ll gang up and tear into the Empire with everything they’ve got.

But the Ziyang Empire and Xitoris Kingdom? Even though the Federation exploits them harder…

Even their centuries-old reserves are nearly gone.

But do you see them hating the Federation?

Not at all. In fact, they’re actually grateful.

So, that’s the difference between the two methods.

“Go on.”

After thinking it over, Tellus looked up. Lin Yu had paused, waiting for them to process everything.

Tellus understood—he needed to give them a moment to catch up.

He nodded slightly.

“So, the subsidiary civilization platform I’m proposing can also be called a contribution platform.”

“Any subsidiary civilization under the Federation can use this platform to earn points, and spend them on anything the Federation offers.”

“That includes regular goods, technical data—even warships.”

“As long as you have enough points, there’s nothing you can’t buy. Even a Zhulong-class B warship, if that’s what you want.”

“How to earn those points? We can set multiple methods.”

“For example, the Federation could post a list of technologies. If another civilization has tech that’s not on the list, they upload it to the Federation, and we’ll grant points based on the value of that tech.”

“Another way: publish a catalog of needed materials, each with a clear point value. Contributing supplies nets you points, transparent and fair.”

“Alternatively, they can send their talented people to serve the Federation. We’ll set the point value based on the profession and skill level, again—open and clear.”

Inside the meeting room, Lin Yu described more and more scenarios, thinking aloud.

The other four stared in stunned disbelief, one by one.

Wait a second…

Is this even allowed?