Chapter 10

I sat in my Council Chamber waiting for my various advisors to show up. Uttu was already here, of course. She stood next to my throne in her purple silks, an expression of supreme confidence on her face. Chen was here as well, my First Prime standing at attention, waiting for any hint of treachery from any of the assembled Ministers. Eventually, however, all of my Ministers and Generals had arrived, Luoshen in her blue silks, Chíguó Tiān with his Lute, Lu Dongbin with his baijiu gourd, Kui Xing with his genetically modified host, and my Jaffa Generals with their various dispositions. Once all had arrived, I called this meeting to order.

"How fares our various projects?" I questioned

"We have finished rolling out schools and new worker housing on Taiji and have most of the new houses electrified with running water. We should have the rest ready for habitation by the end of the month. In addition, housing and schools have also started to be built on Yunhuayuan, Jinshu, and Chejian. It will take some time for those worlds to be completely built up, though. A year and a half at the latest for full implementation." Began Luoshen.

"And how has the new housing and schools affected production?" I queried

"If anything, production has increased. It seems you were correct, My Lord. Treat the workers well and they will work harder for us. I would not have believed it were I not witnessing it myself." Answered Luoshen.

"There is one thing, My Lord. My office has received a petition from the workers. Traditionally, we have paid them in a combination of rations and Zhiquan according to production to induce them to work harder. If they do not work, they do not eat. However, the increase in production means the workers now are receiving more rations than they can eat every week. The workers have petitioned to have more of their pay be in Zhiquan now that production is up." Informed Chíguó Tiān.

"I see no reason to deny this request. As production evolves, so too must our inducements for hard work. Increase the ratio of Zhiquan to Rations in the Workers' Compensation." I ordered.

"That may not be wise, My Lord. Some of our Jaffa view their larger Zhiquan Payments as a sign of their superiority over the common worker." Advised General Kuo.

"And if we increased Jaffa Pay by a similar amount?" I asked.

"That would solve the issue but may lead to foolishness in the younger Jaffa. They might start thinking they earned the extra money for nothing." Scoffed General Yan.

"Then we will just have to make sure they remember not to get lazy, yes?" Offered General Di.

"Indeed. Make sure the Jaffa know that should their performance be lacking, that such monetary rewards can be easily taken from them." I intoned.

"That should work." Nodded General Tsao.

"Speaking of, how goes our production on the war front?" I questioned.

"We have fully reversed the deficit in equipment and will have replenished stores of spares by the end of the month." Reported General Kuo.

"Indeed, though I thought it foolishness to give the workers more perks, it seems that the increased production was worth it." Begrudged General Yan.

"And our ship construction?" I queried.

"The first two Long-class Cruisers are fully constructed and their crews are familiarizing themselves with their operations. We also have finished some three Al'kesh Gunships as well, though once the second Ground-based shipyard is finished we should be able to increase production there." Explained General Di.

"I am informed we'll have to choose between Al'kesh and Long-class Cruisers for a production increase, unfortunately. There just will not be enough room for both at the same time." Admitted General Tsao.

"And when can we expect the shipyard to be completed?" I pressed.

"Two months. Military infrastructure takes time, even with the increased production." Insisted Luoshen.

"That will have to do. Lu Dongbin, how is morale?" I asked.

While Lu Dongbin's official title was minister of rites, that position could more accurately be termed Head of the Commissariat or Chief Morale Officer. His actual duties were not religious in nature but more to ensure that the Jaffa and Workers were toeing the party line. Normally, such a position would be abhorrent to my still-human sensibilities. I didn't enjoy having a secret police ministry, after all. However, Lu Dongbin had been appointed Minister of Rites precisely because he was an Abnormal Goa'uld who wouldn't turn into Space Beria at the drop of a hat.

"Well, My Lord. Your reforms have had an increase in morale, which I suspect is partly responsible for the production increase. After all, happy workers tend to be productive workers. However, there wasn't one thing my agents managed to ferret out." Explained Lu Dongbin.

"Which was?" I questioned.

"A small group of workers had been found that were set up to leak news of any developments to a handler of a foreign power. These workers were led to believe they were reporting to an agent of Lord Yu." Intoned Lu Dongbin.

"I take it that wasn't the case?" Queried Uttu, my Chancellor speaking up.

"No, it was not. We have their handler in custody. He turned out to be an agent of Ba'al." Explained Lu Dongbin.

"That isn't good. My Lord, you will have to report this to Lord Yu. If Ba'al is interfering in his domain, he will want to know." Advised Uttu.

"Agreed. How much did this handler report back to Ba'al?" I asked.

"Apparently not much, if anything. It seems he only collected gathered intelligence every six months. His arrival this month was early, precisely because it would be the first intelligence collection since you took over as Lord." Informed Lu Dongbin.

"That's good. We should silence this handler." Hedged Uttu.

"Would it be possible to turn said handler to our side? Feed Ba'al misinformation?" I questioned.

"Were it one of his minor Goa'uld Agents, I would say yes. A Jaffa like this one, however, is unlikely to flip, even under duress." Refuted Lu Dongbin.

"Very well. Much as I dislike such methods, it seems an execution is in order. See it done." I commanded.

"Of course My Lord." Bowed Lu Dongbin.

"Your squeamishness is interesting. May I ask the reason for it?" Queried Chíguó Tiān.

"It seems wasteful. Normally I would prefer to engineer a more efficient solution, such as the aforementioned attempt to subvert the agent. Unfortunately, sometimes such things cannot be worked." I admitted.

"Interesting." Mused Chíguó Tiān.

"Moving on, have we any appointments to approve?" I asked.

"Just a few, My Lord. Some minor undersecretary positions in the Ministries of Works. Two in the Department of Agriculture and one in the Department of Waterways. I have sifted through the Candidates and found the best suited to the task." Rumbled Kui Xing in his gravelly voice that was only enhanced by the power of his 'God Voice'.

He handed over several dossiers to me and I found his choices were more Abnormal Goa'uld. Shennong, a Goa'uld known for his penchant for allowing his hosts to age normally as well as inventing a method for increased tea and rice production, and Hou Ji, another Goa'uld known for producing variations of various grains genetically modified for cultivation in harsh planetary environments were the two candidates selected for the Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, Xiangshuishen was a Goa'uld who promoted a method of Bamboo Growth along waterways that allowed larger commercial harvests of bamboo was the candidate chosen for the Department of Waterways.

"Excellent picks, Kui Xing. Consider them approved." I intoned.

"I thought you might, My Lord." Nodded Kui Xing.

"Now that we have that business taken care of, it is time to move on to what I had been hoping to talk about. Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals and the conquest of their domain. How goes our preparations for war?" I questioned.

"We ought to be able to beat their forces in space, though I've been informed that we will do so more handily once the two Long-class Cruisers are fully crewed." Offered Chen.

"The bigger issue is the Shipyard over Ba Chua Xu's Capital World of Samshan. We will want to seize it intact. That will mean fighting in close quarters aboard a station in space. We will need to capture it quickly in order to avoid it being scuttled by the defenders." Intoned General Kuo.

"They may jump to scuttling the shipyard sooner than we'd like, as well. Once they realize that our Tianjia Armor and Tianyue Rifles are superior to anything they can cobble together." Added General Tsao.

"Fortunately, we had a think about that and came up with a plan." Informed General Di.

"Yes. The rotation of Samshan means that for an hour every day, the shipyard sits perched over Ba Chua Xu's Palace. The very place she will be commanding the defense from. It would be the height of foolishness to scuttle the shipyard only for its inert hulk to come crashing down on the nerve center of your defense." Insisted General Yan.

"That will have to be our window, then, My Lord." Insisted Chen.

"I see. Chen, you will personally lead our forces in capturing the station, then. I trust you to take control of it, and thus the shipyard, within the time allotted. I will handle the Enemy Fleet. I assume you have concocted plans for ground assaults as well?" I pressed.

"Indeed, My Lord. There is only one area on any of the world's that should give us any trouble. The Mountain Fortress of Âu Cơ on Pu Si Lung. It's dug into the mountains there, reinforced with Trinium Supports, and shielded from orbital bombardment." Informed General Kuo.

"We'll have to fight room to room to capture it." Added Chen.

"Bloody business." Frowned General Tsao.

"Though we'll fare well enough thanks to your innovations, My Lord. At least, better than we would have previously." Insisted General Di.

"It is still foolishness and will still be bloody, but it is less so than it would have been." Admitted General Yan.

"It's the only way, though. At least until we can capture the control room for the shield generators. Then we can transport troops down using the ring transports, though that will only go so far with all that Trinium-reinforced stone." Pointed out Tsao.

"It will still allow us to open up a second front on the defenders." Nodded General Di.

"I still say we should evacuate and flatten the mountain from orbit once the shield is down rather than persist with a foolish assault." Scoffed General Yan.

"Your objection is noted. Our Lord wants whatever can be captured intact to be captured intact." Admonished General Kuo.

"Indeed. I trust the plan and my innovations to carry the day. That being said, make your final preparations. We launch our invasion at the start of next month." I commanded.

And with that, the meeting adjourned. All my functionaries and Generals headed out of the Throne Room to carry out their orders and make final preparations. In one month's time, we would be invading Ba Chua Xu's territory to conquer her alliance of five worlds and gain more territory, population, and infrastructure. It would give us yet another shipyard, plus extra production of all kinds of things. I would need it going forward. I'd already spent half a year getting my house in order and I needed to be ready. In around a year and a half, the Abydos Expedition would kill Ra, after all. I needed to be independent and entrenched by the time that happened, or the System Lords would eat me alive in the aftermath.

It would be a free-for-all within a year of that happening, after all, and I was determined not to be taken down during it. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. Things are about to heat up in the borderlands now that Erlang Shen has all his ducks in a row on the home front. Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals are first on the chopping block, though they won't be the last.

At the same time, Erlang Shen's advisors are beginning to learn how to use the carrot as well as the stick. A lot of them are already Abnormal Goa'uld so they have an easier time grasping the concept, but Luoshen and Chíguó Tiān are Normal Goa'uld who needed some convincing. They're coming around now, though.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the start of the war with Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals.

Stay tuned. . .