Warhammer, I really didn't intend to form a second empire!

"Yes, Father."

With communications cut off, Zhao Zheng turned and walked down the slope, his footsteps making heavy, muffled sounds on the scorched earth.

As he passed the Red Guards troop stationed outside the fortress, Meng Tian was standing at the very front of the column, his helmet tucked under his arm, revealing his young but already angular face.

After nodding to Meng Tian, ​​Zhao Zheng walked straight to the Stormbird, preparing to make arrangements for the remnants of the Qin Empire.

Before boarding the plane, he looked back at the fortress one last time. The firelight inside the city gate was more intense than before. People were starting to pile up new firewood at the entrance, and more oil lamps were being brought out from the low houses, forming a winding ribbon of light on the main road.

The lights flickered weakly in the night, like a river trying to break free from the long darkness.

The Stormbird's engine emitted a deep, drawn-out hum behind him, and the light from its ion tail cast his shadow on the ground, creating a broad, silent dark expanse.

The people here are not yet used to his rules, but his rules will not wait just because they are not used to them.

Tonight is just the beginning.

The mineral reserves of Qiankun Star have always been very abundant. Zhao Zheng originally thought that it was because Qiankun Star was very large, which is why there were so many mineral deposits. However, he later realized that he was wrong.

It's as if the mineral veins on Qiankun Star have an automatic regeneration function. Once one iron ore vein is exhausted, you can start mining another one, and within a month, the first iron ore vein will be filled up again.

Moreover, Zhao Zheng discovered something extremely terrifying: when he developed the CMC and SCV armor, similar alloy materials had already appeared in the newly discovered mineral deposits on Qiankun Star.

Without any need for synthesis or extraction, the alloy material simply appeared blatantly underground.

If Zhao Zheng still doesn't realize something, then he's a fool.

In short, from then on, the industrialization process of the Qin Empire accelerated, using methods that could be described as draining the pond to catch all the fish, and never stopped.

Now, it's estimated that many, many miners will appear in the mineral veins on Qiankun Star.

Chapter Twelve Green Skin

Three months later, the outline of the continental barrier on the Yuanshuo-1 satellite was no longer visible from its orbit, showing no trace of the former gray barrier complex.

Those stone walls stretching for hundreds of kilometers were crushed piece by piece by the hydraulic shears of the SCV, and the aggregate was used to pave the newly built roadbeds and port foundations, replacing them with industrial node cities distributed along twelve main rivers.

Zhao Zheng stood in front of the observation porthole on the bridge of the Lishan ship, his gaze sweeping over the dense network of lights covering the surface of the blue-green planet below.

Forty thousand standardized blast furnaces, three thousand two hundred automated ammunition production lines, four hundred mecha assembly workshops, eight hundred weapon casting workshops...

These facilities have been transformed from blueprints into reality at an almost insane pace over the past ninety days, driven by nearly 70% of the workforce of the 203 million population, along with immigrants from Qiankun Star and technological advancements.

Those who once huddled in the shadows of the fortress awaiting death now work from five in the morning until sunset under the supervision and quota system of the Red Guards, feeding ore into the blast furnace, sending parts onto the assembly line, and laying tracks deep into the continent.

These tasks should have been done by the engineering team, but for the sake of efficiency, Zhao Zheng threw all of them into it as well.

But Zhao Zheng treated them much better than they had ever lived before.

There is enough food, bread, and milk to fill their stomachs; clean drinking water; standardized prefabricated houses to shelter them from the wind and rain; and children can attend school and showcase their talents…

Most importantly, there will no longer be raiders like black bean sprouts coming to their side like harvesting crops, wantonly killing and capturing them.

But Zhao Zheng never gave them any tender promises, nor did he give them any unrealistic expectations.

They were forcibly incorporated into production teams, assigned labor quotas, and forcibly instilled with new language and operating procedures. Any delays in the work schedule or concealment of materials would result in them being immediately escorted to the mine and forced to perform the most basic heavy manual labor under the supervision of SCV overseers.

Zhao Zheng didn't intend to spend time trying to convince them to believe in him; time was too precious. He only needed their obedience, even if it was out of fear and habit.

However, Zhao Zheng was not the kind of person who only exploited others. In three months, more than six million newborns were born at the Yuanshuo-1 medical station, all of whom were guaranteed by midwives who had undergone preliminary training and the delivery process designed by Bian Que and Hua Tuo.

These children are incorporated into a standardized education system from birth. Their parents may never understand the meaning of new writing systems and mechanical drawings, but the next generation can.

Zhao Zheng simultaneously established comprehensive colleges in forty-six major settlements, with courses ranging from basic literacy to advanced engineering. All instructors were senior teachers transferred from Qiankun Star, and the teaching materials were a modular knowledge system personally compiled by Zhao Zheng.

Three months is enough for the first round of training courses to graduate. The young people who react the fastest and have the strongest comprehension are selected and assigned to grassroots technical management positions, where they take on some of the work of supervision and production coordination.

He even selected 5,000 outstanding young people from the Yuanshuo-1 local area to undergo gene enhancement procedures, raising their physical condition to near the minimum standard for Chiwei-I type battle armor pilots.

These local youths displayed a ruthlessness in the training camp that surprised Zhao Zheng. They were more silent, more obedient to orders, and less hesitant to act than the remnants of Qiankun Star.

It can be said that, apart from their innate physical condition and the technological knowledge in their blood, they are not much different from the remnants of the Dragon Kingdom.

Indeed, those humans who survived the era of conflict all had some advantages.

But Zhao Zheng also knew there were other reasons.

The marks of suffering are etched into their bones, transforming into a burning anger and survival instinct. So when they hold explosive guns and chainsaws, these young people are probably still replaying the scenes of being driven and tortured by black bean sprouts in their childhood memories.

They lack the gentleness and restraint of the people of Qiankun Star, but they are ruthless enough and obedient enough.

that's enough.

The galaxy has no shortage of talent, yet it is also the most lacking resource, which is exactly what Zhao Zheng needs right now.

Time is the most expensive resource, and Zhao Zheng never has enough time.

By the end of the third month, the ground industrial system of Yuanshuo-1 had basically completed its initial integration, and he then turned his attention to more distant star systems.

In the fourth month, the size of the Qin Empire's fleet doubled.

Twelve newly launched battleships sailed out of the giant shipyard in the northern hemisphere of Qiankun Star. Each ship was over thirteen kilometers long, with armor up to forty meters thick at its thickest point, main guns with a caliber of 6,400 millimeters, and ammunition reserves sufficient for continuous firing for more than seventy-two hours.

Zhao Zheng named these battleships the "Great Wall Class," symbolizing the construction of a steel and artillery defense line along the edge of the territory.

Meanwhile, the new drive system has also completed laboratory verification.

The subspace engine is still a bit difficult to develop, but it's not very realistic to create a faster-than-light warp drive like the undead. He doesn't know how to activate it, and besides, he doesn't have a map.

So he researched a new method of interstellar travel.

Zhao Zheng discovered a strange crystal vein deep within the mantle of Qiankun Star. This crystal can produce a spatial folding effect when excited by an electromagnetic field of a specific frequency.

He temporarily calls it "Deep Crystal," which is essentially a naturally existing physical cosmic space structure folding node.

After scanning with a psionic probe, Zhao Zheng discovered that the spatial curvature inside this crystal had been naturally compressed to an extremely high density. With sufficient energy stimulation, spatial jumps could be achieved in local areas without involving subspace.

It doesn't need a navigator, nor does it need psionicists to burn consumables as fuel or a Geller field protective membrane. All it needs is a sophisticated activation device, a sufficiently large energy storage capacitor, and a captain with adequate basic knowledge.

The only limitation is that each jump has a cooldown period, and the jump itself will cause irreversible damage to the crystal.

But it doesn't matter, the reserves of this stuff in the mantle of Qiankun Star are inexhaustible. Resources are the least of our worries in Qiankun Star and the Milky Way.

Secondly, this method of travel certainly cannot rival faster-than-light speeds, but it is definitely much faster than the speeds of Titanium.

The third problem is that the jump accuracy is not high enough, with an error range of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of kilometers, which is too large for interstellar travel. However, Zhao Zheng's design is to disperse the fleet into small formations, complete the jump on the outskirts of the target star system, and then regroup to make up for the last distance with conventional thrusters.

The cost of this plan is that the fleet will have a window of opportunity to regroup after the jump, during which the fleet is most vulnerable.

However, it can avoid all the risks associated with warp travel, avoiding chaos, demons, and the distortion and erosion of time and space, and also eliminates concerns about mutations...

In the Warhammer world where life is cheap, this method of travel is actually a very good result.

Unfortunately, Zhao Zheng was unable to replicate the warp drive technology he had in mind; otherwise, he would already be able to lead his people out of this star sector.

The keel of the Great Wall-class battleships already had reserved mounting positions for the Deep Crystal Excitation Array, and the first batch of modifications was completed within three months.

Meanwhile, the Qiankun and Yuanshuo star systems are also being explored simultaneously, and Zhao Zheng has begun to establish shipyards and weapons production lines in these locations.

Unfortunately, habitable planets are relatively rare in the Milky Way, and most of the planets inhabited by humans don't actually offer very good living conditions.

In the middle of the fourth month, the Qin Empire projected military power into space beyond the Qiankun star system for the first time.

The target star system was named "Yulin" and is about twelve light-years away from Qiankun Star. Detection data showed that a small-scale Greenskin Empire existed there.

Those green things are as ubiquitous as cockroaches in the Warhammer universe. The Greenskin Empire in this star system is based on a barren rocky planet, and its size is estimated to be around one billion according to orbital remote sensing. It has a fleet large enough to organize intergalactic raiding and wars.

Zhao Zheng chose the "Yulin" star system as his first official target for battle for a simple reason: this planet has abundant mineral deposits.

Moreover, its orbit is located on the only way for the Qiankun Galaxy to reach the next star field. If these green creatures are not cleared away, the expansion of the Qin Empire's territory will be as difficult to swallow as a fishbone stuck in its throat.

Four hundred Great Wall-class battleships, along with the rest of the fleet, formed an expeditionary force that arrived at the outer edge of the Yulin system on the morning of the thirteenth day.

Zhao Zheng did not go on the expedition with the fleet. He stood in front of the holographic tactical platform on the bridge of the Lishan ship and synchronized the battle situation through the remote communication link. Li Jing served as the front-line commander, Xiang Ji led the first company to be responsible for the ground assault, and Meng Tian commanded the Red Guard Battalion and the Marauder echelon to provide fire support.

On the tactical hologram, the barren planet in the Yulin system is slowly rotating, with large patches of dark red and ochre on its surface. The crust is moving violently, and several huge rifts are clearly visible in the satellite scan. Something seems to be wriggling inside, and a faint glow can be seen.

Those green-skinned nests are embedded deep in the rift valley.

Zhao Zheng observed for a moment and then casually pulled up the data sent back by the ground reconnaissance team six hours earlier.

The nests were more complex than expected. The rock walls on both sides of the rift valley had been carved out with a dense network of tunnel entrances, like anthills hollowed out by borers. The metal welding marks at the entrances were crudely made but numerous.

The Greenskins are incredibly resilient, almost like cockroaches. They managed to develop a small empire in such an environment, complete with warlords.

I have to be amazed by these green mushrooms. What kind of monsters did the ancient saints create back then?

Green-skinned sentries set up observation posts at the edge of the rift valley. Those burly green figures, carrying crookedly welded guns, patrolled back and forth between the rock crevices.

Zhao Zheng pulled out the analysis report from Bian Que's team on the tissues of several green-skinned corpses they had captured earlier; he needed to formulate a battle strategy in advance.

The physiological structure of green skin is more robust and resilient than expected. Their muscle fiber density is close to the strength of engineering plastics, their bone toughness is comparable to low-grade alloys, their wound healing speed is about fifty times that of humans, and their reproduction method is comparable to uncontrolled mold.

What's even more troublesome is their fighting style when they operate in groups.

Once the battle begins, a certain psychic connection between individual greenskins will suddenly intensify, accompanied by a surge in their aggression and excitement, and a visible leap in their reaction speed and muscle explosiveness.

The longer the battle lasts, the more dangerous they become.

Upon realizing this, Zhao Zheng understood that he was a natural counter to the Greenskins, and not only him, but also his offspring.

However, we still cannot let our guard down. Even if the Greenskins' "I think" power has been weakened, it does not mean that they are weak.

"Be careful, don't underestimate these greens."

Zhao Zheng's words reached Li Jing's ears through the communication device. Li Jing nodded solemnly without replying.

"Spread out the fleet, maintaining a formation distance of no less than twenty kilometers, and aim the Great Wall-class main guns at the orbital defense platform."

Li Jing spoke, his voice causing a barely perceptible ripple on the holographic tactical screen, and the tactical interface simultaneously received his command.

"Dismantle their space firepower first. Don't rush to enter low orbit. Keep the transport ships in geosynchronous orbit and stand by."

"Yes, Commander."

A series of confirmation beeps came through the communication channel.

The first hundred Great Wall-class battleships adjusted their posture at the front of the formation, their massive bow turrets slowly rotating along their tracks, their muzzles pointing at the green-skinned defense platforms suspended in low planetary orbit.

Those platforms had no aesthetic appeal whatsoever; they were crude structures cobbled together from scrap metal and welded plates. However, the number of large-caliber naval guns welded onto them was astonishing. A rough estimate suggests that each platform was equipped with more than twenty crudely made cannons.

The low-frequency hum of the main gun charging echoed from the bridge, traveling up from deep within the hull and through the metal structure to every passageway.

Li Jing looked at the hundred energy readings that gradually lit up on the holographic screen, then raised his finger.

"Fire."

One hundred dark red beams of light traversed the void, accurately striking the six green-skinned defensive platforms at the very front.

The structures welded from scrap iron shattered instantly under the beam of light, sending large pieces of metal flying in all directions. The ship's cannons mounted on the platform were snapped off like matchsticks.

The chain of explosions engulfed the wreckage of the six platforms in just a few seconds, forming a sphere of ever-expanding metal and flames.

The Green Fleet began reacting the instant the platform exploded.

The crooked ships emerged from the planet's shadowy side, numbering around three hundred. Each one looked like a pile of scrap discarded by the welding process, but they turned very quickly, much faster than the shoddy ships that such crudely made structures could withstand.

Their bow guns had already begun firing as they turned, the chaotic trajectories of the bullets scattered in the vacuum of darkness, forming a random barrage.

Li Jing frowned.

The Green Fleet's tactics were simple: charge around with massive, heavy-duty ships, use enough scrap metal to disrupt the Qin fleet's formation, and then send even more scrap metal ships to board the Qin fleet.

This is their preferred fighting style. Once they get close, Zhao Zheng's side will be at a disadvantage.

If this were the fleet of the human empire, this method would be exactly what the empire wanted. Unfortunately, Zhao Zheng's ships do not yet have the same iron hull as the empire's.

If we're already in space naval warfare, then it's a bit wrong to still use warships to collide with each other.

The green-skinned fleet is large and has a very mystical quality, which is definitely related to their ability to think and their dealings with Mao Zedong, but this time they have misjudged the situation.

The Qin Empire will not give you the chance to trigger subspace metaphysics.

"Great Wall-class, target switch to the green-skinned main fleet, open fire freely, frigates advance and deploy interceptor barrage at a distance of three million kilometers, do not let them get close to the core of the formation."

The fleet's cannons were once again aimed at the Greenskins charging haphazardly towards them, and then dark red beams of light shot out again.

A dazzling display of fireworks suddenly appeared in front of the Qin Empire fleet, beautiful and eye-catching.