Chapter 719, Secret Project

Chapter 719, Secret Project

Ossena and Wu Jiarong are quite familiar with each other.

At least we were familiar with each other before.

That was when the alliance was just starting out on Angry Owl Star.

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

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

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

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

Although they don't meet as often as in the early years, they still have frequent contact at work.

Wu Jiarong's "sense of strangeness" is a kind of change that is a little difficult for Ossena to describe.

Moreover, this change happened right before her eyes and occurred with every contact between the two of them.

There are changes in both appearance and sound.

She still remembered the former Wu Jiarong. Although her arms had been modified into mechanical ones, her eyes had been turned into mechanical eyes, and there were tubes inserted behind her head, connecting her waist and back, and standing up a flexible auxiliary operating machine that could move with her at any time, with many operating levers on it...

But in any case, although the degree of modification is much greater than that of ordinary people, it still looks like a human. Ossena still remembers the special beauty of Wu Jiarong's fair skin when her hair fluttered and touched the mechanical structure; she also remembers her slightly chubby face when she smiled, which could be called sweet.

It wasn't that Wu Jiarong did it on purpose, she had grown up in an environment where appearance was not important. That was the most natural look she had at that stage.

However, these features are rapidly disappearing as time goes by and as Wu Jiarong's technical level and professional status in the mechanical corner improve.

Ossena felt that every time the two of them met, Wu Jiarong would be missing something, or having something more, or having changed something.

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

Now, all that was left of her was a face that was exactly the same as before. That face, nourished by the nutrient solution, could no longer make any expression. It wasn't that Wu Jiarong didn't have the skills to do it, but she didn't want to do it. No matter what she faced, it was best to have the same expression. In fact, she had to keep a face just to leave a biometric identification mark so that ordinary people would know who they were facing.

And what else besides this face?
Of the rest, only the skull and brain were still original.

As for the others, all the mechanical devices were replaced, and even the appearance was not retained.

Wu Jiarong was wrapped in a long robe, with only her face showing. There was no emotion on her face, nor was there any emotion in her mechanically synthesized voice. Her hormone-secreting organs that could easily affect her mood swings were gone.

Of course, she is still a person.

At least from the Empire's definition of "human", she is indeed a human.

However, it is hard to say how much human emotions and feelings are still left in her.

Ossena felt a little emotional, but she didn't feel uncomfortable.

No one forced Wu Jiarong. Every part of her body was made and replaced by her own hands, and it was all her own choice.

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

Looking at Wu Jiarong's calm expression, she didn't seem to be interested in making small talk.

So save time and get straight to the point.

What Ossena 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 Union and the head of government, does not have sufficient authority to see all the contents of this project.

This is normal. Although she is one of the people with the highest authority in the alliance besides Gu Hang, except for Gu Hang himself who has the right to access all the information in the alliance, no one else has full authority.

Just like Wu Jiarong didn't know a lot of sensitive data of the Alliance Central Government, Ossena also didn't know about some confidential technologies and production projects.

She understood all of this and always knew her limits, not asking unnecessary questions.

However, this time is different.

This secret project has had a huge impact on the Union government, so she had to ask.

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

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

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

As the person in charge of this project, Wu Jiarong has already asked the Union Government to prepare the second phase of the budget, which will be due next year, and the amount will be increased again, to a full 80 billion.

A total of 140 billion in two years... The initial annual imperial tax of the alliance was only 300 billion! This project will eat up half of the imperial tax in two years. Is that okay?

They were already struggling under the pressure of imperial taxes, and now they had to take on such a large project.

too difficult.

Of course, this project was decided by Governor Gu before he left, and the order given to the Alliance Government was to cooperate as much as possible, and Ossena could not drag her feet. 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 they built must be of vital importance to the development of the Alliance.

But the pressure of money was still too great. This time, she just wanted to discuss with Wu Jiarong whether the plan could be changed.
The first phase of 60 billion has been given, you can use it first; can the second phase of 80 billion be a little less? That 60 billion is a huge sum of money, use it first, it's not that easy and quick to use it all up, right?

Even if you really can't give it any less, can you give it 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, and it concerns the survival of the alliance." Wu Jiarong emphasized this point first.

Use the governor to put pressure on me?

Ossena felt somewhat uncomfortable.

But she wasn't about to show it.

Maybe this is the case for all engine oil guys. You can't expect them to maintain a particularly high emotional intelligence after cutting off a lot of organs and dealing with machinery on a daily basis.

"I'm not asking for anything," Ossena explained patiently. "I'm asking for something. I'm discussing this with you. The pressure from the government is huge. I hope you can understand."

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

However, she was not so arrogant as to use the Governor's request to suppress Ossena.

She still gave some explanations: "The current cost has been carefully calculated and is the optimal solution under extreme conditions. The number of workers, senior engineers, raw material consumption, energy consumption... for the entire secret project are too much. In addition, we also need to place orders from various high-tech factories in various regions of the alliance, and even from Aramita and Jindi Star. Some orders even require the sages to lead and manufacture them personally."

"The cost is very high. The current situation is indeed already within the calculation, the most extreme situation. The current state of research and development and production is already being carried out on a dangerous bridge. If it is slightly withdrawn, the entire bridge may collapse."

Wu Jiarong has tried her best to speak nicely and even used some adjectives!

Ossena could feel it, too.

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

Having said that, the two were silent for a while.

Ossena put away some of the disappointment of not being able to achieve 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 was the technical support for the alliance to restore and strengthen production in various regions.

This has little to do with the newly occupied areas in the Spider Web Universe.

It's not that there is no such thing, but the main task of those places is to restore production. Either these planets have a certain level of production capacity and industrial level before the station, then they can find ways to retrieve equipment and workers from the original planets; if they can't find them, or the planets themselves have low production capacity, then they have to rely on technology spillover from the core areas of the alliance.

It would be enough to move some "low-end industries" in core areas to these areas.

After relocating low-end industries, it is impossible that workers in core areas will not have to work, right?
Certainly not.

There needs to be higher value industries to accommodate those experienced workers and engineers.

For all of this, we need to see what kind of help Wu Jiarong can provide.

In this matter, Wu Jiarong gave Ossena some good news.

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

The Angry Owl Star has now been transformed into the core technology base of the alliance. In response to the relocation of industries from Qimadi, many stronger industries have been added.

Advanced heavy engineering machinery, star fortress construction factories, more construction docks, more Titan factories, more advanced energy compression factories, more star energy stations...

All need more people.

It is not something that low-level workers can do, it must be people with rich experience and accumulated technical skills. Those who have been liberated from lower-level industrial industries can do this.

It is also good for these workers and engineers. More advanced and more important industries can obviously give these people better opportunities for upgrading.

Ossena returned satisfied and immediately sent the records and summaries of the conversation made by the clerks to Director Zhao Jiuzheng of the Production Department after the call ended.

He was also very excited and immediately began to arrange personnel and prepare to connect with Angry Star about these technologies, equipment, and technical guidance personnel, and then plan where to build these new factories.

And Ossena herself started the next task.

……

In Snow Fox Star, the capital city of Fox Moon Star Region, which is very far away from the core areas such as Qimadi and Dragon Eagle Star Region, a Jason Morgan is also holding a crucial meeting.

The situation in the Fox Moon Star Region is actually different from many other star regions in the Spider Web Universe. This star region is located to the east of the Princess Star Region and northeast of the Alfonzo Star Region. Going further east from the Fox Moon Star Region, you have already left the Empire's territory and entered the Dark Outer Region.

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

That means that this star field has basically not suffered any particularly serious impact from the war, at least the Fox Moon Star Field has not been regarded as the main battlefield.

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

Because of this, the alliance will naturally not invest particularly strong military forces to carry out control.

There are too many places that need military suppression and takeover, so we should save as much manpower as possible.

However, the Fox Moon Star Region was not severely damaged by the war, which had a positive side, meaning that productivity remained relatively intact. However, there was also a negative side, as the local forces were not completely wiped out by the war, leaving relatively many.

They all had close ties with Tiejia and the Alfonzo sect in the past.

Political work is not easy to do.

At least it's not like those places that were turned into wasteland and then taken over and rebuilt by the alliance, which is so easy to use.

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

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

(End of this chapter)