Chapter 258: Star Gate Procurement Discussion
Jin Qiaoying did not have a speech script in her hand; as the Minister of the Ministry of Trade and a committee member, she could effortlessly recall these data points.
Fan Ren looked at this woman who had helped him for many years without complaint and who had extremely strong work ability, his eyes openly showing admiration.
As if sensing the gaze of the man at the main seat fixed on her, Jin Qiaoying’s cheeks faintly flushed a bit red; her tone paused slightly as she quietly suppressed the inexplicable emotion and continued:
“Currently, the total revenue from our various ores, calculated using the Star Coin exchange rate, has already reached 50 million Star Coins annually. However, up to now, the ores we produce have led to a still enormous shortfall in our industrial development projects due to the large number of ship construction projects previously.”
As Jin Qiaoying said this, her gaze swept toward Fan Ren there with a hint of resentment.
It was unclear whether it was because of this guy’s gaze that had never shifted, or some decisions of his that caused her dissatisfaction.
“And to make up for the usage needs of our industrial projects, in the next five years, various metals produced by mineral production must be tilted more toward them.
Let me give an example: currently, our space hubs temporarily have two core areas, the Blue Star Hub and the Jupiter-Mars Hub.
But aside from that, apart from the space station cluster construction above the Jupiter Ring, we have no other hub construction projects.
Actually, in the earlier Ministry of Industry plan, in order to further optimize the industrial structure and the excess transportation consumption, the Ministry of Industry planned to add two targeted small hubs for metal processing and related industries at Mars and at the Jupiter Ring.
But it was precisely because of the tension in construction materials that these projects were shelved.
Moreover, this time the Peace Messenger brought back planetary infrastructure construction equipment that can perform environmental transformation on Mercury, as well as Venus with its extremely rich mineral resources, and satellites like Io.
Through the development of mineral resources on these planets, we can completely achieve the expected goal of doubling overall mineral resources in the next five years.
Therefore, actually, perhaps it won’t take 100 years; I believe that perhaps in 50 years, we will completely have the ability to fully repay this debt.”
Jin Qiaoying showed no stage fright; after finishing her speech, she calmly nodded slightly to everyone in the venue, then cast her gaze toward Fan Ren at the main seat.
Fan Ren smiled in response, then turned his gaze to Ke Fengyun beside him.
“Minister Ke, share your thoughts.”
After his words, the committee members and senior executives in the venue all shook their heads and sighed in unison.
These two ministers—one was the general manager of Xinghai Technology Company under Fan Ren for many years, and the other had governing ideas extremely similar to his, was also from an engineering background, and had even received help from Fan Ren regarding high-voltage radio technology.
The two of them, not to say they followed Chairman Fan Ren’s lead, but they did somewhat obey his words and plans.
Having him as the second speaker made the chairman’s attitude very clear.
Ke Fengyun glanced around at the committee officials present, all of whom were older than him, then spoke in his serious tone:
“After ore produced in our Solar System is refined and compressed into metal, it needs to be transported to the Lunar Far Side, then delivered by the Conqueror.
After arriving in the Ross 154 system, these Giant Elephant Class cargo ships need a 20-day range to reach the transfer Star Gate in the Ross 154 system.
Then, the range from the corresponding Star Gate in the Alpha Centauri system to the Hub Star Gate requires another 30-day range.”
He made an opening, his tone somewhat grave as he continued:
“This process will undoubtedly lengthen our overall transportation cycle.
Similarly, as Minister Jin just said, overusing the Conqueror carries correspondingly huge risks.
In our civilization’s future development, erecting a Star Gate from the Solar System to the Alpha Centauri system is undoubtedly a step we must take.
Rather than wasting a lot of time on excess operation cycles before that, and thereby incurring huge dangers, I think it’s better to take out a loan early to purchase and erect a Star Gate in our system.
Similarly, it’s not just for cargo ship travel; as we develop, contact with the Galactic Alliance and even surrounding civilizations must also proceed synchronously.
I can’t have the Conqueror perform delivery every time I ‘go out,’ right? That would undoubtedly be a huge waste of resources and greatly increase the risk of exposure.
Once we have a Star Gate, as trade proceeds, our overall industry and trade can enjoy more convenient access from the Starfield Market.
And the Foreign Affairs Department—they should also understand the importance of the Star Gate to us.”
Ke Fengyun did not say too much, passing the conversation to Xu Hongwei seated behind him.
Over there, regardless of the crowd’s current surprised attitude, Xu Hongwei stood up directly and said:
“It’s like this: after this trip to Sirius Prime Star, the Foreign Affairs Department has gained a general understanding of our surrounding civilizations.
Obviously, currently in terms of technology level, because of the dreadnought design drawings handed over by the Fox, and the strong molecular metal processing process.
At the same time, plus our self-developed hybrid engine system, and superior strength in nano materials, and so on.
Currently, in most technology domains, we have already surpassed these civilizations that mainly rely on mineral production industries.
Here, I want to mention a piece of data.”
If Xu Hongwei, due to his age and the Foreign Affairs Department being neglected for a long time previously, was still a bit stage-frightened.
But after this trip to Sirius Prime Star, this young and handsome Minister of Foreign Affairs already had a bit of the style of the old minister Zhao Bo back then.
In the venue, perhaps because of Fan Ren’s presence, no one raised objections to the change in speaking order; everyone focused and waited for his data.
Xu Hongwei said softly: “The silver-like super metal required for one battleship of our civilization is worth approximately 200,000 Star Coins when converted.
But in the Starfield Market, the average selling price of battleships is between 1 to 10 billion.
Obviously, this huge price difference is the added value brought to mineral metals by technological improvement.
However, compared to similar products from those advanced civilizations on the Starfield Market, the battleships our civilization currently builds still have certain technological gaps.
I think this is why most Tier 2 Civilizations’ battleships follow the path of self-construction and equipment procurement.
And what I want to say is that in the last interception battle, our civilization’s battleships have already demonstrated their considerable value.”
As he said this, he turned his gaze to Liu Shengzhan beside Fan Ren, who had remained silent.
“Commander Liu, you should have seen the various public documents we brought back this time. You should understand what I mean.”
