“Up until now, our Xiaolong Fleet has 35 Interstellar Warship currently in service.

Among them, 17 are combat-type Interstellar Warship and 18 are auxiliary-type Interstellar Warship.

There are over 4,000 active soldiers, with 650 frontline combat soldiers and over 3,200 second-line logistics and industrial Starship soldiers.

The number of reserve soldiers is over 5,000.

Currently, the annual maintenance cost for our Starfleet alone is as high as 15 million star coins.

The annual cost for the welfare and salaries of the female soldiers in the fleet is 1.2 million star coins.

In addition, there are over 50,000 dwarves working in the Interstellar Industrial Factory, which are not included in these calculations.” Lilith first reported on the current operational status of the Xiaolong Fleet.

“The annual maintenance cost for the fleet is as high as 15 million star coins?” Zhao Chen was startled by this number: “We only have 35 Interstellar Warship!”

Lilith looked at the Commander: “Commander, among our 35 Interstellar Warship, four of them are T3 Interstellar Warships.

These four T3 Interstellar Warships alone account for two-thirds of the maintenance costs.”

Zhao Chen finally understood why those interstellar forces would rather maintain a large number of T1 Interstellar Warship than have even a single T3 Interstellar Warship in service.

During non-combat periods, a T3 Interstellar Warship is like an ancestor.

As for T1 Interstellar Warship, a simple repair and maintenance is enough, and they are more than sufficient for patrolling the lower Star System.

Don't underestimate Zhao Chen's current 35 Interstellar Warship; their maintenance costs might far exceed the hundreds of Interstellar Warship under the command of other interstellar forces!

But what can be done?

These are the ancestors Zhao Chen created himself, so he has to maintain them.

And in the future, there will only be more to maintain.

Lilith continued: “Originally, we had 7.8 billion star coins on our books.

After deducting 5 billion star coins for raw materials ordered from the Bloody Mary Mercenary Group, and a subsequent 1.5 billion commission, 1.3 billion star coins remained.

From this fund, we have already paid the Bloody Mary Mercenary Group the final installment, and the Bloody Mary Mercenary Group will deliver the last batch of raw materials before the end of the month, at which point we will pay them the 1.5 billion commission.

Your war income in the Reef Starfield this time was 1 billion star coins, but it was converted into raw materials worth 800 million star coins, so we actually have about 2 billion star coins on our books.”

After listening to Lilith's financial report, Zhao Chen had a general idea.

“Annie, have you finalized the next construction plan?” Zhao Chen looked at Annie.

“This is the construction plan I formulated based on your requirements.

August: Ten T2 Iron Hammers will continue the construction of the Star Gate in the Lion King Star System, which is expected to be completed by the end of August.

At the same time, the remaining ten T2 Iron Hammers will be used to build another ten T2 Iron Hammers; according to your request, this will likely be the last batch of T2 Iron Hammers we construct.

This way, we will have thirty T2 Iron Hammers in active service.

September: The production capacity freed up from building Star Gates and producing T2 Iron Hammers can be fully utilized.

This month, we will build and launch ten T3 Gold Digger-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships, fifty Black Rhino Class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigates, five T2 Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleships, one T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser, and one T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber.

The Starship construction plan for these two months will consume raw material resources worth 160 million star coins.”

As Annie explained these plans, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° blueprints of these construction plans automatically appeared in Zhao Chen's mind.

The T3 Gold Digger was a reward Zhao Chen received from a previous quarterly mission, and now he had a high-quality resource asteroid belt.

Building ten T3 Gold Digger-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships was precisely for mining resource ores.

Although the value generated is not as much as Zhao Chen earns from fighting wars and selling Interstellar Warship.

But these are the foundation of the Owl Dragon Star System, its heritage!

Relying solely on selling Interstellar Warship and fighting wars is acquiring resources and wealth from external sources; he must have the ability to generate resources internally.

Zhao Chen understood the principle of not putting all his eggs in one basket since he was a child.

“Do as you said.” Zhao Chen said with satisfaction.

“Commander, that asteroid belt also needs a name.” Lilith inquired about this matter.

Zhao Chen thought for a moment and casually said, “Then let's just call it the Owl Dragon Resource Star Zone.”

“Yes.”

In the construction plan, the most numerous were the t2 black rhino-class interstellar heavy assault frigates, with a total of fifty!

The reason for building so many t2 black rhino-class interstellar heavy assault frigates was primarily to be able to undertake the task of protecting the Owl Dragon Star System and the Lion King Star System in the future.

At that time, protecting Star Gates and resource Star Zones will all require an Starfleet.

They can now serve as combat power supplements in Zhao Chen's fleet, and when the time comes to gradually phase out T2 Starships.

This cost-effective T2 Starship can naturally be honorably retired to the second line.

After finalizing these matters, Zhao Chen sent Annie away, then sat alone in the captain's chair, pretending to be asleep, and opened the system interface.

Host: Zhao Chen, Occupation: Top Starship Engineer, Special Attributes: Fleet Luck Bonus, Eye of Insight, System Points: 1820 (Monthly Fleet Income: 302 points), Mission Points: 35, Starship Quantity: 35, Mission: Quarterly Mission (Unfinished), Warehouse: T4 Rebirth-class Clone Starship technical blueprint, T3 Gold Digger-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship technical blueprint, T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber technical blueprint...

Zhao Chen looked at his current system points and frowned slightly.

Too few.

One of the requirements for his quarterly mission was to exchange for a T3 Starship technology; he had enough mission points, but he was far short on system points.

Although he had a passive income of over three hundred points per month relying on the current fleet size.

But this was far from enough.

Most of the previous system points were used to exchange for the T3 Brightmoon-class Stargate technology, which led to the current shortage of system points.

He could only hope that in the next two months, more missions would appear that would allow him to earn points, otherwise, he would miss this quarterly mission.

Time quickly arrived at the beginning of August.

It was strange; the Bloody Mary Mercenary Group was originally scheduled to deliver the last batch of raw materials at the end of July, but they still hadn't appeared.

Although it's generally normal for a delay of two or three days.

But for some reason, Zhao Chen always felt something was off.

“Commander, our first batch of trained recruits is about to graduate from the T3 Goddess Academy.

The dean wants to invite you to preside over the graduation ceremony.” Lilith contacted Zhao Chen at this time and brought up a matter.

T3 Goddess Academy-class starship.

Speaking of which, he hadn't even visited this Starship since it went online and entered service.

“I understand, arrange a time.” He agreed to the itinerary.