Chapter 429, I am the ruling bishop!
Whether it is the training of military backbones, the construction of academies, the loyalty training provided by Zhongsi Academy, or the targeted activation of ship engineers and special agents, all of them are investments in "people", the most basic and most important resource.
Together with the previous 500,000 factory investment, Gu Hang had basically spent most of the gift points he earned in this wave.
Of the remaining 100,000 or so, he would keep tens of thousands as a reserve fund, and the rest he planned to invest in the technology tree lottery.
Not counting the prize pool that has been drained, Gu Hang now has two choices: 10,000 or 100,000.
After thinking about it, he chose the latter.
Although the prize pool for the former is not yet dry, the probability of epic and elite level items being dropped is already low.
Although, if you really draw ten times in a row, you might get something, but since you have 100,000 on hand, and the 100,000 prize pool is a complete, high-probability prize pool, you might as well go for a big one.
What Gu Hang hopes most is to draw naval-related technology to directly increase the speed of the alliance's subsequent naval expansion.
However, after spending 100,000 grace points, the opposite happened.
Although, with a 50% chance of getting an epic technology, it shouldn't be considered bad luck. However, the naval technology I wanted was not obtained, but the [Stellar Energy Technology] was obtained instead.
Although a little disappointed, Gu Hang quickly accepted the reality and thought that this [stellar energy technology] was actually quite good.
The alliance is now in a stage of massive production capacity expansion, and the daily energy consumption on the front battlefield is astronomical.
It is certainly unrealistic to rely on fossil energy. What's more, many core war machines and many high-level manufacturing plants cannot use fossil energy at all.
The representatives of the former are the navy’s ships and the army’s Titans; the representatives of the latter are the shipyards.
The energy solutions for these things rely on the elite technology that Gu Hang had extracted earlier, [Compressed Energy Technology], to convert electrical energy or spiritual energy into energy crystals - this is an ultra-high-density solid-state energy crystal that can be compared to a battery with extremely high performance and storage capacity.
Although the alliance now has oil industry, it is basically supplied to some low-end vehicles and machinery using grinding stone engines. The energy used by high-level machinery is energy crystal blocks.
Even at critical moments, when the fossil energy reserves on the front battlefield are insufficient, but the machines need to be moved, the grinding stone engine also needs to be supported by energy crystals. At that time, cost performance is not considered, and the machine needs to be moved first.
Similarly, energy crystals can be converted back into electrical energy. When interstellar energy trade is needed, there is no need to actually build a transmission network to send it to another planet - that is also impossible. Instead, it is a more convenient and quicker way to transport a ship of energy crystals and send them to the power plant on the other planet as fuel.
A standard compressed energy crystal block, worth 1,000 tax coins, is enough to supply a town with a population of over 100,000 for a whole year - of course, this does not count as industrial electricity consumed by factory production. Such an energy crystal block is about a 10-centimeter-long, 10-centimeter-wide, and 10-centimeter-high cube. If it is not used with compressed energy release technology, it will not explode, is not afraid of collision, and can even be cut. It is also more convenient and reliable to transport.
However, its energy source is a problem that needs to be solved.
Compressed energy technology can only convert available energy into this kind of energy crystal, but where does the source of the converted energy come from?
The Alliance’s main energy source now is the waste energy storm on the Angry Owl Star.
Build a compressed energy factory directly in the area where the waste energy storm has been raging for a long time. When the storm blows, use the technology of collecting the waste energy storm to infuse it into the energy compressor in the factory to produce energy crystals.
But this depends on the weather.
Even on the two waste continents of the Angry Owl Star, storms do not blow every day.
Another relatively stable means is power generation supply.
One energy crystal block can supply a small town for a year, so a small power plant of this size should be able to produce one energy crystal block a year, right?
This technology is now mainly used in some large nuclear power plants in nest cities and industrial centers, but it is mainly used to collect surplus electricity or release electricity to correspond to peak electricity consumption when electricity consumption is flat or peak. Although it can also produce some energy crystals, it is definitely unrealistic to expect them to be used for trade and supply wars. Even some large power plants need the waste energy conversion factory of Angry Owl to export energy crystals when supplying energy consumption for industrial production to ensure the cost.
As more and more starships are built,
The main means of power generation in the alliance is the controlled reactor. Using air and water, it is possible to generate nuclear fuel and generate electricity. This is already high-tech enough, and the cost of generating energy is low enough.
But... Angry Owl Star and Black Arrow Star can develop on a large scale because they have abundant water resources, but over time, the sea will be drained.
At present, the population size is not very dense, so it is still okay. However, the energy consumption required by the increasingly developed industrial production has begun to show its strength. If we don't take care of it now, the environmental problems will become more serious in the future.
The Koroga hive world, which has dried up and only has industrial wastewater left, and most of the domestic water resources can only rely on the water circulation system, is an example.
If possible, Gu Hang didn't want to drain every world under his control into that state.
He had two options: calm the storm on the Angry Owl Star, or repair it into a spiritualized gas field.
Needless to say, by collecting and manufacturing energy crystals in the Light Spirit Gas Field, Angry Owl Star can get a net income of 8 billion tax coins a year. This is equivalent to half of the current annual output value of Angry Owl Star.
But obviously, the alliance does not have planetary-level climate modification technology. Gu Hang doesn’t even know whether this technology is in the epic prize pool. Maybe its level will be higher.
And [Stellar Energy Technology] is another route.
He carefully read the instructions on the blueprint. Although he certainly couldn't understand the specific technology all at once, he could roughly understand the effect.
All we have to do is build a huge stellar energy collection station around the planet, and with the supporting compressed energy technology, we will be able to continuously extract stellar energy and create energy crystals.
And if there are enough collection stations built around a star, so that the entire star is completely surrounded, it will form something that Gu Hang remembers: a Dyson sphere.
Of course, there are many engineering and technological fortresses in between, and it cannot be solved simply by accumulating numbers.
Moreover, even if the technology was available, the current alliance certainly did not have the qualifications and financial resources to build such a super-giant structure. Currently, several galaxies in the Tianma region did not have this condition, and building a Dyson sphere would cause the entire galaxy to fall into silence.
But it's always easy to build a few energy mining stations.
The standard output value of such an energy mining station is 10,000 energy crystals per year, which is equivalent to about 10 million tax coins. It takes half a year to a year to build a station, and a total of 100 million tax coins are needed to build one station. There will also be high maintenance costs every year.
Overall, it will take about 20 years to get your money back.
But this is the normal construction cost, which is calculated by pulling out the production line and building it yourself using the technical blueprint.
Gu Hang has a black box cheat. He uses the finished black box to produce key components and then transports and assembles them. The construction cost can be drastically reduced to almost just the labor cost, and the construction period can be shortened by half.
This is a cheaper source of energy than reactors, and with the accompanying compression technology, it can not only solve the energy needs of the present and for a long time in the future, but also the unused energy can be sold directly for money after the war.
Moreover, if the number of them built is not large, the environmental impact on the many planets in the star system will be negligible.
Gu Hang placed the black box into the black box factory located in the Storm Kingdom in the subspace. Under Gu Hang's instructions, the Alliance's secret research institute began to prepare to produce things, and the corresponding construction instructions were also issued to the Alliance government.
Later, the alliance government will follow his orders and launch a certain number of energy station projects on the eight major stars in the Tianma star region.
However, this construction time will be relatively long.
Gu Hang's chief technology officer, Ms. Wu Jiarong, is not currently in the Tianma star region.
…
In the distant Steel Fire Dragon Star Region, on the orbit of Jindi, the core forge world of the Mechanicus-Ming Yang Sect, a huge Mechanicus fleet slowly set out from the port.
The paint scheme of all the ships is different from the common red of the Mechanicus. Instead, it is mainly bright yellow with bright red as embellishment.
Leading the way was a somewhat bloated-looking square 'battleship'. Judging from its size alone, it was much larger than the Yunluo Fleet's flagship 'Dragon Eagle', and even larger than the main battleships of the Human Empire Navy.
The actual combat capability may be slightly worse. Because the "Jin Di" mechanical ark of the Mingyang Sect also has certain research and manufacturing functions, and its structure is not entirely designed for war. Its firepower and protection have reached the level of battleships, and even exceeded it by a lot, but there are gaps in structural strength, agility, speed, and steering, and its overall combat capability may be slightly weaker.
But in general, when the greenskins invaded, the Ming Yang Sect did not cling to its own Forge World. Instead, it clearly chose to stand with the star domain government and took the initiative to deal with the disaster. This greatly excited the entire Dragon Eagle star domain government.
The originally desperate atmosphere has changed.
Although the revitalized Yunluo Fleet, even with the addition of the Mechanicus fleet of Jindi, still lags behind the greenskin main force led by Titus in terms of overall scale, but in terms of main battleships, with the addition of the Jindi Ark, it has reached a level where it can compete.
At this moment, the huge fleet of the Mechanicum is about to attack and head to Shangyuan Plateau to meet up with the Yunluo fleet.
According to the agreement between Jin Di's forging general Chen Haixu and the star domain leader Tan Jiuyi, the two fleets will gather together, take the initiative to attack, and jointly fight against the greenskin fleet.
It's not about fighting a decisive fleet battle, but we can have the confidence to defend Shangyuan Star, which is a major transportation hub.
Titus has already shown his strategic intentions, and the fleet is clearly moving from the Snow Eagle Star Region to the Steel Fire Dragon Star Region. Between the star region capital Yunluo Star and the forging world Jindi Star, Chief Irontooth chose Jindi Star as the primary target.
And Wu Jiarong is on this ship at the moment.
More than a year ago, she finally accepted the invitation of Wang Zhaoran, the technical director of Feiyi Star Shipyard and the ruling bishop of Mingyang Sect, and came to Jindi Star.
Over the past year or so, she has been able to thrive in Jindi Star.
The struggle within the Mechanicus was fierce and cruel, and Wu Jiarong had a deep understanding of this. She was born on the planet Jindi, and she became a victim and was taxed without knowing it.
This is of course irrational, Jindi Star is the forge world of the Mechanicus, and this type of world does not even need to bear imperial taxes. She was completely tricked to death.
However, those who cheated her could never have imagined that she would come back one day, and as an important guest.
While the struggle within the Mechanicus was fierce, the entire sect also had a strong admiration for technical ability. After Wu Jiarong returned, she gave several speeches and participated in several project guidance, all of which were of her highest level, which was the basis for her to win respect.
Furthermore, many of the techniques she possessed were not even available within the Ming Yang sect.
This is also normal. It is true that Wu Jiarong's academic foundation comes from her studies at Jin Dixing, but the subsequent growth in her technical and academic abilities is basically due to the growth brought about by her research on black boxes.
She studied every finished product directly produced by the black box, pondered what these most precise products represented, and gained some insights.
The so-called technology that she mastered and the Mingyang Sect did not have did not roughly refer to that she mastered the production blueprint of the War Dog Titan, while Jindixing could not build Titans. Jindixing could certainly build War Dogs, and even Jindixing had the ability to build a higher level of Warlord-level Titans.
Still taking the Warhound Titan as an example, Wu Jiarong has mastered some special technical details. For example, by studying the key components produced by the black box, she knows the specific technical details of a weapon installation component. This detail can increase the power of the Warhound Titan by 7% when assembling hot melt weapons, and it is safer and more stable. She not only knows how to do it, but also knows how to improve the production line to achieve this goal.
This is a technical detail that does not exist on Jindi Star that she mastered after studying the absolutely standard parts produced by the black box.
And there is no doubt that such details are quite important.
There are many similar things. As long as the black box of the alliance has output and she has studied it carefully, she will have more or less similar gains. It's just a matter of the value of this gain.
Of course, she would not be so foolish as to throw all these things out. If she did, what she would win would not be admiration, but suspicion and greed.
The current level is just right.
The things she took out were all discussed with Gu Hang before she came. These efforts were exchanged for the recognition of the Mechanicus and a proper title, and some technology in return. This deal could be done.
She successfully passed the review conducted by a committee of six sages of the main profession and obtained the title of ruling bishop.
In the past, she only met the requirements; now that she has obtained a definite identity, the corresponding honors, status, and authority have followed.
Then, in addition to her normal activities, she did a "small thing": she checked who was responsible for her being sent to serve as a human tax and becoming an indispensable technical specialist on the Pegasus Fleet?
Later, she found out that it was really just a small matter. One of her "colleagues" at the time was also competing for the promotion opportunity of a mechanic, but he could not beat her through the normal assessment route. In addition, the two had a feud, so she used some connections and gave a gift to one of his relatives. That person was just a mechanical priest, and then she was sent away just like that.
After finding out the truth, she originally didn't want to pursue the matter any further. That might be a good thing. If she hadn't been sent away and hadn't met Governor Gu, she would have stayed in Jindi Star for fourteen years and might still be a mechanic.
Without special luck, it would be very difficult to advance to a higher class. At best, she could find someone to guide her, but she could only reach the level of a mechanical priest at best, and that would probably be the limit of her life.
How could he have the opportunity to be like this now, having officially obtained the status of the ruling bishop and being considered a big shot in the entire Jindi Star?
However, she didn't have to do anything herself.
Her actions to investigate the matter naturally attracted the attention of those who were interested.
Then, the mechanical priest and his entire family soon became slave laborers.
Wu Jiarong also asked if this might be a bit too much.
An engine prophet in charge of supervision smiled humbly and said no.
That person was not clean to begin with, so by getting rid of him, we have basically removed the termites.
Wu Jiarong said nothing more.
She remembered that day, she looked up at the dim sun hanging in the golden sky, feeling filled with emotion.
All the past grudges have disappeared.
Also dissipating along with it was the slight thought of returning to the Mechanicus that remained in his heart.
According to her original plan, it was time for her to return.
She had become a formally recognized ruling bishop of the Mechanicus, had gained some fame, and even avenged her past. She had basically completed what she needed to do on Jindi Star, and it was time to go back and prepare to establish her own branch sect.
The level of the ruling bishop is enough.
By then, this small branch sect will be established and will be part of the Mingyang Sect.
This situation is quite common. A ruling bishop or a major sage has some special ideas of his own, unites a circle of members of the Mechanicus around him, and forms a branch faction attached to the main sect in the past.
Generally speaking, it is not certain whether the dependent sect will support, ignore, or even be hostile to this. It depends on the popularity of the ruling bishop in the original sect and the motivation and goal of establishing a branch sect.
Specifically for Wu Jiarong, she has already privately talked with some other bishops and even the two sages with whom she has had good relations. It is not realistic for the new sect to get the support of the Mingyang Sect, but for now, it should not be hostile, at most it will be indifferent.
Wu Jiarong said that she had first promoted the alliance, which had developed very rapidly. The governor was indeed quite reliable and had a certain sense of wisdom and power. Moreover, she had played a role in it. She had also contributed a lot to the development of the alliance. The alliance was also part of her life's career, and she was reluctant to give it up.
With the help of Feiyi Star's foundation and Korojia's population, the alliance's development potential in the future will be very great. She can establish a branch of the Mingyang Sect there, and Bishop Wang Zhaoran at the Feiyi Star Shipyard can also provide some help. Wang Zhaoran has been on Feiyi Star for so many years, and the expansion of the Mechanicus' religious influence has not been very good. She will change this situation.
In fact, the Ming Yang Sect was not particularly interested in Wu Jiarong's statement. In other words, the Mechanicus was not so obsessed with expanding the influence of religion in the traditional sense, unlike the state religion. Anyway, as long as an imperial world needed machinery and had technical needs, it would be inseparable from the Mechanicus, and faith and the like were not that important.
What they care more about is where there are special technologies, where there are precious resources, and where there is the potential to build a new forging world.
However, they will not hinder the expansion of religious influence.
To sum up, Xiao Wu, if you want to help us expand our religious influence, that's great. We are a religious sect, so you can just build a branch. We won't obstruct you and may even say a few words of support in name; but this matter is not that important, so don't expect actual support.
Wu Jiarong fully accepted this.
However, just as she was about to leave, the Iron Teeth War broke out.
The green-skinned orcs pierced through the Dragon Eagle Star Region, cutting off east-west traffic, and Wu Jiarong could not go back.
She was also drawn into the war and began to work for the Mingyang Sect in Jindi Star.
Supervise factory production and personally produce some high-tech equipment...
It's not without benefits. She now even has the ability to hand-make Titans - it's just that she can do it a little slowly by herself and can't mass-produce. But on Jindi Star, she is only responsible for hand-making the core components, and the main production is handed over to the factory.
Moreover, she also used the resources of Jin Dixing to make a series of body modifications. At present, although she still looks like a human girl, in fact, there are four metal brackets extending from her back, supporting a mechanical vehicle that is almost as big as her, which is part of her body.
It looks like a mere means of transportation, but when necessary, it can transform into a variety of powerful weapons, capable of both close combat and long-range combat. In a one-on-one fight, it should have no problem killing an ordinary Space Marine.
To be honest, she didn't actually want to undergo such a large-scale body modification.
However, she had to do so during the war. Otherwise, if something unexpected happened, she would be doomed without the ability to defend herself.
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6k
4k regular updates, 2k debt repayment, still owe 70k
There is also a star map at the back.
(End of this chapter)
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