The destroyer Chen Ming was on arrived at the Beniu star field.

And judging from the hyperspace route data coordinates of the spacecraft, it will reach the capital of the star region in another hour.

Just at this moment, there was a knock on the door of the room.

Chen Ming walked over and opened the door. He Gu was standing at the door and said, "We are almost there. Be prepared. It will be a bit bumpy when entering the star gate."

"Bumpy?"

Chen Ming has ridden in the jump engine countless times and never had any bumps. Why is there bumps when he gets to the more technologically advanced star gate?

He asked with doubt: "How does the star gate work? Why is it bumpy?"

He Gu patiently explained to Chen Ming: "The operating principle is quite simple, it is the same as the operating principle of a wormhole."

"So the spacecraft will be pulled by the tidal force when it passes through, causing turbulence."

"We will have to turn off the spacecraft's gravity-simulating device by then. Remember to be mentally prepared in advance and pack up any flying objects."

Wormhole technology?

Chen Ming had known this for a long, long time, but it was only confirmed now, and he has not yet come into contact with this level of technology.

Although his psychic power can already achieve similar effects, if one wants to rely on non-psychic means to create the effect of a wormhole, that is something that only top scientists can do.

Wait, if the Empire's stargate technology was modeled after wormholes.

So……

“Do natural wormholes exist?”

"Of course there are. There were even many wormholes in the empire before, but... you probably can't see them anymore."

"Why?"

He Gu turned his head and looked out the porthole.

Although nothing could be seen there except the deep purple background of hyperspace, He Gu's gaze seemed to be able to penetrate the hyperspace and see the star gate of the Beniu capital.

"Because all the wormholes that have been discovered, their core singularities, have all become the core of the stargates we build."

"This is the power of a man, not a psyker."

He Gu said in a calm tone what seemed extremely exaggerated to Chen Ming.

Being able to control the power of a wormhole at least means that the Empire possesses the same level of power.

In other words, the battleship is definitely not the most powerful means of combat at the empire's disposal. The empire must have a higher-level force.

Chen Ming followed He Gu's words and thought about it for a while, but soon gathered his thoughts and asked, "Then I remember that every star field has such a star gate. That means when the empire builds a new star field, it not only considers the site selection, but also the star gate, right?"

He Gu said: "That's right. Stargate is the fastest way to move in this era. Star regions without stargates may be out of the control of the empire."

"There were many reasons why the empire did not continue to expand abroad, and the inability to find a suitable wormhole was one of them."

Chen Ming asked again: "So now we have found a suitable wormhole?"

"It has already been found, and the singularity has been obtained."

"After all, when developing, it is difficult to slow down and fully develop the areas you have already occupied. You will always miss some places. If you slow down the pace of development, there will be opportunities, and the wormhole will be found."

When Chen Ming heard this, he immediately began to consider whether its colony also needed a star gate. If the star gate could directly connect to the empire, the benefits would be unimaginable.

But problems will also arise.

"The star gate needs to be opened in both directions, right?"

"Yes, otherwise there would be no need for Zuo Jing to occupy the star gate in Caimo Star Region before."

Okay, then Chen Ming has no problem with this. It seems that things like star gates are still very necessary.

It is time to find a way to acquire stargate technology for the sake of the colonies.

When Chen Ming thought about the difficulty of this, he suddenly felt a headache again.

However, he had been able to obtain the design blueprints of a battleship and an entire giant dock in the past, so obtaining the design blueprint of a stargate was not an absolutely hopeless thing.

Chen Ming once again gathered his divergent thoughts and returned to the previous topic.

"So, besides the lack of wormhole singularity, what else was the reason for the empire to stop?"

Chen Ming had heard about the empire's pioneering era from many people. It was an era of hard work and enterprising spirit.

As for the reason why this era is gradually disappearing, the answers vary from person to person among those Chen Ming knows, and it is unknown what He Gu's answer will be.

"There are many reasons to stop it, but there is only one main reason."

He Gu pointed a finger at Chen Ming.

"Do you know the concept of the maximum range of a scheduled spacecraft?"

Chen Ming clearly understood the meaning of He Gu's words, but this "maximum range of a regular spacecraft" must be a special term, not the superficial meaning he understood.

So Chen Ming answered directly: "I don't know."

"It's okay if you don't know. Anyway, the concept means that a spacecraft uses objective means that can be used to navigate, such as hyperspace or phase space."

"But the capabilities of the spacecraft itself, such as the jump drive, cannot be taken into account."

"The distance a spacecraft travels in a year is the specific meaning of 'the farthest distance a regular spacecraft travels'."

"Put the starting point of this distance at the center of the empire, and the end of this distance is the limit of the empire's theoretical maximum border."

Seeing that Chen Ming couldn't understand the connection between the two, He Gu added: "It means that if a rebellion breaks out on the border of the empire or a foreign enemy invades."

"If the Empire's fleet cannot reach the border from the capital star region by direct sailing within a year, then there is no way to govern such a place."

"The administrative capacity of the empire is limited, and there are also limits to what can be handled."

"As the empire's borders expand, the territorial scope of the entire empire grows exponentially."

"If something happens, politicians won't be allowed to hold meetings. One year is the maximum time limit."

"This is one of the reasons why the empire's expansion has slowed down."

Chen Ming roughly understood the meaning, but he still had a question: "Administrative management capabilities will change, right?"

"Yes, so this regular one-year period will also change."

"The more advanced the empire's communication methods and administrative management capabilities are, the longer this period of time can be delayed."

"It's like this one-year period was set by tacit agreement during the pioneering era."

"The situation is definitely different now. I don't know how long it will last, but there will definitely be more."

Chen Ming suddenly thought of a point and asked, "When was the Star Gate technology developed?"

He Gu replied quite familiarly: "A long time ago, in the pioneering era."

"I know what you mean."

"The Stargate, as a device that can transmit over long distances, connects almost the entire empire and can greatly extend the distance that spacecraft can travel."

"However, the use of the star gate is not without restrictions. Activating the star gate will cause damage to the singularity inside the star gate. The singularity needs to be maintained and cannot be used without restrictions."

"It is not an objective thing, but a human creation, so it cannot be considered to have completely increased the maximum range of regular spacecraft."

"So this factor cannot be taken into account."

"The empire has gone through so many years of development, sociological theories have been studied, and the improvement of administrative management capabilities is no longer what it used to be."

"With the breakthrough in antimatter technology, the speed of spacecraft has been greatly improved, and the distance a spacecraft can travel within a certain period of time has also changed dramatically."

"The empire is finally able to continue its expansion."

Chen Ming completely understood how the empire's pioneering era came to an end.

Then he couldn't help but ask another question: "Is it just because of the Antimatter Technology Empire that they decided to restart the development again?"

"Of course not." He Gu said confidently: "Just like the end of the pioneering era had many impacts, the empire's intention to restart the pioneering era will also have many impacts this time."

"I won't go into details about the internal conflicts and problems within the empire, as well as the aftereffects of the dimensional infection. I will just talk about the Fourteenth Legion, which has a close relationship with us."

"The Fourteenth Legion is currently facing the main force of Yuhui as a single legion."

"And most of the other legions in the entire empire have only participated in small-scale, low-intensity wars. These legions are not fighting or preparing for war, but are providing for the elderly. Or the empire pays for their retirement. Would you be happy if it were you?"

"This is one of the reasons that affect the empire's reopening. It is impossible to let the legions that are supported by money eat for free and do nothing."

"Then your two technologies... um... mainly the hyperspace channel technology."

Chen Ming immediately recalled that when he handed over the hyperspace jump technology and energy crystallization technology to Bai Quan, it seemed that it was not through He Gu and the Psychic Energy Research Institute.

Only the results of the research mission on the relics of another civilization assigned by the later legion were handed over to the Institute of Psionics.

However, it was normal for He Gu to know about these things, so Chen Ming did not delve too deeply into it, and just asked, "What's wrong with this technology?"

"Well... this technology is already known to many people, but it has only been tested in our legion before."

"The effect is very good. Recently, this engine has been adapted and optimized for different types of spacecraft, and has begun to be promoted from our legion to other places."

"But the speed of propagation is definitely not as fast as antimatter technology."

"Antimatter technology is truly epoch-making technology, and it is also the technology that truly drives the Empire to restart its development process."

"But I remember that you also have some patents for antimatter technology, right? And it seems that you stole it from Yu Hui. The antimatter technology developed by Yu Hui allowed this technology to overcome the final difficulty."

"The empire's ability to return to the path of exploration is closely related to you."

"And to be honest, your technology is not bad. Hyperspace channel jump engines consume less energy and are easier to maintain than ordinary jump engines."

"Although there are restrictions, these restrictions are nothing in front of the Empire."

"And even if your technology is slower than antimatter technology, I feel that your technology has a chance to be fully deployed faster than antimatter technology."

Chen Ming asked again: "Why is this?"

"Besides, it is impossible for the Empire to equip the entire Empire with antimatter technology before it is familiar with its use."

"Also, you know it best. The antimatter technology was first obtained from Yu Hui, and Yu Hui has not yet demonstrated the ability to possess antimatter technology that can be applied to various fields."

"That is to say, once our antimatter technology is taken away by Yuhui, it is very likely that they will be able to immediately come up with the same technology."

"And the mechanical race, they also haven't used antimatter technology."

"But as one of the legacies of another civilization, it is very likely that they are not incapable of it, but have lost some of their technology."

"Once our antimatter technology is acquired by them, the situation may be the same as that of Yuhui."

This is indeed a rather troublesome point.

This is also the news that Chen Ming would hear from some scientists who study antimatter when he occasionally cared about the patent fees for his antimatter technology.

"But not taking weapons to the battlefield because you're worried about someone picking them up is not the right approach."

In response to Chen Ming's question, He Gu said: "This is certainly not the right approach, so I just said that it is impossible to start equipping it so early."

"If our antimatter technology is acquired by Yuhui or the Mechanical Clan too early, then our advantage of being one step ahead will be gone."

"So the actual deployment of antimatter technology must be in the early to mid-term transition period after the start of the Mechanical Race War."

"A large number of ships will be lost during this phase, and there will definitely be opportunities to commission them."

"All applications of antimatter technology before this were for testing purposes."

"That's why I think your technology will be deployed faster than antimatter technology."

He Gu presented his ideas in a well-reasoned manner, and Chen Ming really had nothing to refute.

There was no need to refute, after all, what He Gu said was a disguised compliment to him.

"What about energy crystal technology?"

He Gu was a little embarrassed now. He thought for a while before saying, "It's not my research area, so I don't know much about it, but I can tell you roughly what the Legion thinks of this technology."

"Your technology does have great potential and performs very well. As a new type of energy storage material, it is even better than the battery array of a battleship."

"You should also be breeding and selecting the right energy crystal crabs, right? The energy crystals you send over are getting better and better each time."

"Forehead……"

Chen Ming hesitated for a moment and said, "Indeed."

However, what he was doing was not eugenics, but the Queen Zerg had been selecting the individuals with the best quality crystals from those Zerg individuals that specialized in producing energy crystals and had been deeply repaired and optimized by Chen Ming.

Then, they replicate these individuals and slightly modify their genes for producing energy crystals, trying to find the most suitable Zerg individual for producing energy crystals.

How could the crystals sent over be bad?

However, He Gu immediately changed the subject and said, "However, these energy crystals cannot be used as a technology to promote the development of the empire. They are far less important than the previous two technologies."

“Although energy is also an important part, there is another key issue: yield.”

"The antimatter battery is still under research, and it is not certain whether its effect can be comparable to your energy crystal."

"But as long as the research is successful, antimatter batteries can definitely be mass-produced."

"So where is your energy crystal?"

"Mass production is not as simple as building a factory. If a technology is to be applied to the entire empire, it needs the support of the industrial colonies and industrial base of the entire empire."

"You have currently built a planet as a breeding base for energy crystal crabs, but what can you do with the output of one planet?"

"Even if a planet is cultivating and producing, it can't keep up with the consumption of the entire empire. It may not be able to barely supply a legion."

"So the view of the Corps is to directly digest all the energy crystals sent by you and use them all on the battleship to replace the battery array of the battleship."

"Anyway, our army has the ability to transform capital ships. We have specially modified models of offensive-class and corps-class ships."

"This technology can be used and is very useful, but it is limited by your continued expansion. Don't even think about it, unless... you understand."

Chen Ming also knew that it was a pipe dream for an insect hive on one planet to supply energy crystals to the entire empire.

He Gu’s meaning was very clear. As long as Chen Ming was willing to deepen cooperation with the 14th Legion, he would directly hand over the cultivation of energy crystal crabs to the 14th Legion.

In this way, although Chen Ming's share in the entire production process is reduced, he can earn less money.

But if the overall production scale is expanded, the final benefits may be greater.

The output of energy crystals...

Chen Ming felt that he needed to think about it.

Because he felt that the Queen of Insects had the potential to support the energy crystal consumption of an empire.

Moreover, he and He Gu just had a chat before arriving at the Star Gate, which certainly cannot be counted.

So Chen Ming simply didn't continue to talk about this.

Instead, he followed up on the topic of the battleship He Gu had just mentioned and said, "Speaking of modified battleships, I'm quite interested in the Prometheus Mk.2 from the Caimo Star Region. Is there any news about it?"

He Gu couldn't help but say, "Your thinking is a bit jumpy."

Chen Ming said as if he was used to it: "More than one person has said this to me, but I am like this, I just say whatever comes to my mind, so how about the battleship?"

“But I’m not researching this…”

"Then there must be some basic data or something, right?"

"Let me think..."

He Gu thought about it seriously and said, "The full name of the modified Prometheus class is the Prometheus Mk.2 class improved fuel transport ship."

"The main weapon it carries is different from the ordinary Prometheus-class. It is a weapon called the Light of Lud by the people of Zuojing."

As He Gu spoke, Chen Ming's mind immediately reappeared the image of Prometheus that he had seen through his Afterglow Fleet.

When Chen Ming's mind gradually drew the main gun of Prometheus Mk.2, he suddenly realized a problem: "I remember you said that the mechanical race has created a unique kinetic main weapon, right?

"So that means the main weapon of this Mk.2 is not a kinetic weapon?"

When Chen Ming saw the new weapon before, he thought it was a kinetic weapon. Could it be that it isn’t?

He Gu admitted: "Yes, it is not kinetic energy. Although it looks like it, its weapon type should actually be classified as a missile weapon, that is, an explosive weapon."

"And this thing is quite special. Zuo Jing's modification converted the main gun into a disposable weapon."

"It can directly fire the main gun as a bomb with an extremely large equivalent."

"ah?"

Although He Gu explained it very clearly, Chen Ming still couldn't understand it.

He Gu seemed a little overwhelmed: "Even if we fire the main gun, it is feasible in the calculation."

"But in actual combat, we may need a battleship to rush forward to help this bomb withstand some defensive firepower."

"It's outrageous, but it's very consistent with Zuo Jing's weapons. The ultimate power is also very exaggerated. If it hits the continental shelf of a planet, it will be enough to destroy the entire planet's ecosystem."

"Fortunately, Zuo Jing is finished, otherwise God knows what else they can come up with."

Chen Ming suddenly seemed to be at a loss for words.

He Gu was looking out the porthole and didn't notice anything unusual about Chen Ming.

Chen Ming thought about it and decided not to say much about his understanding and knowledge of Zuo Jing.

The real brainwashed psychic of Zuo Jing is still hiding in Zuo Jing within the empire. I still have to find a suitable opportunity to tell the right person about it later.

Just as Chen Ming and He Gu were chatting.

The destroyer Chen Ming was on was gradually approaching the capital of the Beniu star field.

Then, Chen Ming discovered that in the hyperspace, in front of the ship he was on, there was a fleet approaching him.

The familiar tattered armor and the modified spaceship made Chen Ming immediately realize that they had encountered pirates.

It is in the Beniu star field, just a stone's throw away from the capital of Beniu.

The pirate fleet saw that they only had one destroyer and four escort frigates and thought they were easy targets, so they decided to come and cause trouble.

Chen Ming has seen a lot of pirates.

But it was the first time that the pirate Chen Ming was seen near the capital of a star region.

Even in the marginal star regions, such as Gallo, it is impossible to allow pirates to operate so openly near the capital.

All I can say is that the situation on Beiniu's side is chaotic.

Frequent piracy and chaotic management

The elected interim government had almost zero ability to manage lower-level departments, and could not even manage the area near the capital.

The poison left by Zuo Jing is really...

Just after Chen Ming discovered something wrong outside through the destroyer's sensors, He Gu quickly learned from the captain of the destroyer that pirates were coming.

And quickly shared it with Chen Ming.

Then Chen Ming had a question: "Didn't they say that the 14th Legion was responsible for taking over Beiniu? It hasn't started yet?"

"It should be soon."

He Gu responded and was about to talk to the captain to deal with the pirate issue.

Chen Ming had already taken action and created a Rainstorm-class ship out of thin air.

(End of this chapter)