Chapter 719, Secret Project

Osena and Wu Jiarong are quite familiar with each other.

At least we were familiar with each other before.

That was when we were still on Raging Owl Star and the alliance was just getting started.

Osena has always been the housekeeper at the rear, while Wu Jiarong is the general manager of production technology.

Inevitably, the two of them will have a lot of work contact, and they will naturally become familiar with each other.

But as decades passed, Wu Jiarong became more and more unfamiliar to Oceana.

It’s not that the two have less work contact.

Although they don't meet as much or as often as they did in the early years, the two still have contact from time to time at work.

Wu Jiarong's "strangeness" is a kind of...Osena's change that is a bit hard to describe.

Moreover, this change happened right in front of her eyes, every time the two of them came into contact.

There are changes in appearance and sound.

She still remembered that Wu Jiarong's arms had been modified into mechanical ones at the earliest, and her eyes had become mechanical eyes. There was also a tube inserted in the back of her head, connected to her waist, and she could stand up and follow her at any time. A flexible, flexible auxiliary operating machine with many operating levers...

But no matter what, although the degree of modification is much greater than that of ordinary people, it still looks humanoid overall. Osena still remembers the special beauty when Wu Jiarong's hair was flying, and the white skin exposed was in contact with the mechanical structure; she also remembered that when she smiled, her face had a little baby fat, which could be called sweet.

That was not Wu Jiarong's deliberate move. She had been arrogant since she was a child and lived in an environment where appearance was not valued. That was the most natural look of her at that stage.

And these appearances quickly disappeared as time went by, and as Wu Jiarong's technical level and professional title status within the Mechanical Corner improved.

Osena felt that every time the two of them met, something would be missing from Wu Jiarong, or something would be more, or something would change.

Her body is changing, her voice is changing, her emotions are changing...

Now, all that is left of her is the same face as before. That face, nourished by the nutrient solution, could no longer express any expression. It's not that Wu Jiarong doesn't have the skills to do it, it's that she doesn't want to do it. No matter what she faces, the same expression is the best. Even keeping a face is to leave a biometric mark so that mortals know who they are facing.

And besides this face?

Only the skull and brain are left original.

For the others, all the mechanical devices have been replaced, and even the appearance has not been retained.

Wu Jiarong was draped in a robe, revealing only one face. There was no emotion on her face, her mechanically synthesized voice had no emotion, and her hormone-secreting organs that easily affect mood changes were gone.

Of course, she's still a human being.

At least according to the empire's definition of "human", she is a human being.

It's just that it's hard to say how many human emotions and emotions are left in her body.

Oceana was a little emotional, but she didn't feel uncomfortable.

No one forced Wu Jiarong. Every part of her body was made by herself, and any replacement she made was her own choice.

Originally, Oceana was still thinking about whether she could exchange a few words before starting the formal topic, but when the screen was connected and she opened her mouth, she decided to forget it.

Judging from Wu Jiarong's calm look, she didn't seem to be interested in small talk.

Then save time and get to the point.

What Oceana wants to ask about is a 'secret project'.

The confidentiality level of this project is very high. Even Ossena, as the prime minister of the alliance and the head of the government, does not have enough authority to see all the contents of this project.

Very normal. Although she has one of the highest authority in the alliance besides Gu Hang, except for Gu Hang himself who has the right to access all the intelligence in the alliance, no one else has full power.

Just like Wu Jiarong didn't know a lot of sensitive data from the alliance's central government, Osena didn't know about some confidential technologies and production projects.

She understands all this, and has always known propriety, and will not ask too many questions that should not be asked.

However, this time is different.

This secret project has had a very big impact on the alliance government, and she had to ask.

The first-phase plan has a budget of 60 billion, and the project's finances, personnel organization, technical production, and transportation... are all kept confidential.

Sixty billion for one project... is already an exaggeration. This amount is enough to completely build a battleship.

But it is said that this is only the first issue.

As the person in charge of this project, Wu Jiarong is already asking the coalition government to prepare the second phase of the budget. It will be needed next year, and the amount will be increased again, to a full 80 billion.

A total of 140 billion in two years... The initial alliance's imperial tax for a year was only 300 billion! This project will eat up half of the imperial tax in two years, but it’s not bad!

I was already scratching my head under the pressure of imperial taxes and had to undertake such a large project.

It's too difficult.

Of course, this project was finalized by Governor Gu before he left. The order given to the alliance government was to cooperate as much as possible, and Oceana could not hold back. Not only did she follow Governor Gu's orders, she also understood that with such a high level of confidentiality and such a large investment, what she built must play a vital role in the development of the alliance.

But the pressure of money is still too much. This time, she just wanted to discuss with Wu Jiarong whether she could change her plan?

The 60 billion for the first phase has been given out, you can use it first; can the 80 billion for the second phase be less? That 60 billion is a huge amount of money. Use it first and then buy it. It won’t be so easy and quick to use it all up, right?

Even if it is absolutely essential, can it be given later?

It won't be too late, just a few months, until the first two-year imperial tax is paid, and then the new money will be allocated.

Wu Jiarong refused.

"This is the Governor's project, a matter of life and death for the Alliance."

Wu Jiarong emphasized this point first.

Are you using the governor to oppress me?

Oceana felt somewhat uncomfortable.

But she wasn't going to show off because of it.

Maybe motor oil guys are like this. You can't expect them to maintain a particularly high emotional intelligence after cutting off a lot of organs and dealing with machinery every day.

"This is not a request," Osena explained patiently, "but a request. I am discussing with you. There is a lot of pressure from the government, and I hope you can understand."

"I can understand you, Prime Minister Oceana." Wu Jiarong still maintained a relatively tough attitude and responded, "But there is no room for negotiation on this matter."

However, she was not so arrogant that she would hold Oceana down just because of the governor's request.

She still gave a little explanation: "The current consumption has been carefully calculated and the optimal solution under very extreme conditions. The number of workers, senior engineers, raw material consumption, energy consumption of the entire secret project... ...There are too many. In addition, we also need to place orders from various high-precision factories in various regions of the alliance, and even to Alamita and Jindi Star, and even require the sages to personally lead the manufacturing. ”

"The cost is very high. The current situation is indeed the most extreme situation under calculation. The current state of R&D and production is already carried out on a dangerous bridge. If it is slightly removed, the entire bridge may collapse. ”

Wu Jiarong tried her best to speak well, and even used some adjectives!

Oceana could feel it too.

She sighed and accepted the reality: "Okay, I will find a way."

At this point, the two were silent for a while.

Oceana put away some of the disappointment of not achieving her goal and brought up another matter.

The most important thing she wanted to discuss with Wu Jiarong this time was of course the secret project. The second thing is about the alliance’s technical support for production recovery and production strengthening in various regions.

This has nothing to do with the newly occupied areas in the Spider Web Domain.

Not at all, but the most important task in those places is to resume production. Either these planets have certain production capacity and industrial level in front of the station, then we can find ways to retrieve the equipment and workers from the original planets; if they cannot be retrieved, or the production capacity of the planet itself is not good enough , that depends on the technology spillover from the core areas of the alliance.

It would be enough to relocate some ‘low-end industries’ in core areas to these areas.

And after relocating low-end industries, workers in core areas cannot be freed from work, right?

That's certainly not the case.

There is a need for higher value industries to accommodate those experienced workers and engineers.

And for these, we need to see what help Wu Jiarong can provide.

In this matter, Wu Jiarong did give Ossena some good news.

There are indeed some pretty good industries that can be given away.

Angry Owl Star has now transformed into the core technology base of the alliance. Many stronger industries have been added to the seven-horse land that has been relocated.

Advanced heavy engineering machinery, starcastle construction factories, more construction docks, more Titan factories, more advanced energy compression factories, more stellar energy stations...

All require more people.

It cannot be done by low-level workers. It must be a talent with rich experience and accumulated technical ability. Those who have been liberated from lower-level industrial industries can do exactly this.

For these individual workers and engineers, it’s not bad either. Higher-level and more important industries can obviously give these people better opportunities to upgrade.

Osena returned home satisfied. After ending the call, she immediately sent the records and summaries of the conversation produced by the clerks to Minister Zhao Jiuzheng of the Production Department.

He was also very excited, and immediately started arranging manpower, preparing to connect these technologies, equipment, and technical instructors with Nu Xiaoxing, and then plan where to build these new factories.

Oceana herself started the next task.

…

In the capital city of the Fox Moon Star Territory, which is very far away from Qima Di and the core areas of the Dragon Eagle Star Territory, on the Snow Fox Star, a Jason Morgan is also holding a key meeting.

The situation in the Fox Moon Star Territory is actually different from many other star territories in the Spider Web Universe. This star field is located to the east of the Princess Star Field and northeast of the Alfonzo Star Field. Going further east from the Fox Moon Star Territory, you have left the empire's territory and entered the dark outer realm.

In their previous wars, whether on the northern, western or southern fronts, they had nothing to do with the Fox Moon Star Territory.

That means that this star field has not been seriously affected by the war, at least the Fox Moon Star Field has not been used as the main battlefield.

Of course, although the impact is not great, pest infection is still inevitable. It is just not serious and relatively easy to solve.

Because of this, the Alliance will naturally not invest in particularly strong military forces to control.

There are too many places that need military suppression and takeover, so if you can save some troops, save some.

However, the Fox Moon Star Field has not been severely damaged by the war. There are good aspects, which means that the productivity remains relatively intact. However, there are also bad aspects. The local forces have not been swept away by the war, and there are more remaining.

They all had a close relationship with the Iron Armor and the Alfonzo Sect in the past.

Political work is not easy to do.

At least it is not like those places that were made into white land and then taken over and rebuilt by the Alliance.

Against this background, Jason Morgan and his wife came to the Fox Moon Star Field together.

He himself is the highest administrative chief of the Fox Moon Star Region.