Chapter 5

As the Xiaotian Quan and Opele made their way through Hyperspace to my new Domain of Taiji, I made myself busy first by supervising the modifications of the Opele via Vo'cume Projector, my hologram's supervision allowing the Jaffa there to make my modifications without any complications. That didn't take much time, however, and Goa'uld Hyperdrive technology was fairly slow, all things considered, which gave me an excuse to look up my new Domain and the status of various worlds there. It turned out that Taiji and the Province that bore its name was quite a lucrative place for an Underlord to be assigned.

Taiji was a world full of forested mountains, rivers, and valleys. Mines in the mountains pulled Naquadah, Trinium, and other materials out of the stone, while various river valleys cutting through the mountains provided ample water for numerous terrace farms growing all manner of crops. Settlements dotted these river valleys, ranging from small villages of a few dozen to cities of tens or even hundreds of thousands. The population of Taiji was one-hundred-ten-million people, of which, roughly one-million-one-hundred-thousand were Jaffa. The Largest City was the Planetary Capital of Yungong, a city of four-hundred-fifty-thousand people. There was a bevy of factory workshops in the larger cities, producing everything from Ma'tok Staff Weapons to Ptah's various fighter craft, plus a single, ground-based, Al'kesh Shipyard.

All in all, it was one of the higher-quality worlds that an Underlord could have, and it wasn't the only one I was now Lord of. There Taiji was the Capital World of Taiji Province, which had six other worlds in it. These worlds ranged from agricultural worlds to mining worlds, to manufacturing worlds of varying quality. Of these three stood out, Yunhuayuan, Jinshu, and Chejian, while the other three were less important, though could become more important with the proper investment of resources and time.

Yunhuayuan was the best agricultural world that produced not only large amounts of food, but also cash crops like Kash'ta Root, which could be refined into a powerful combat drug, and Mamu Shrubs, which could be refined into an anesthetic salve that was useful for medical purposes. It was a land of lightly forested plains with several, large, river systems providing ample water for the crops. Most cities were in the tens of thousands, though a few had reached over a hundred thousand. The largest, and planetary capital, was Kaihuazhen at one-hundred-eighty-thousand. The planet had a population of seventy-five-million, of which, roughly seven-hundred-fifty-thousand were Jaffa.

Jinshu was a more rugged world of mountainous grassland analogous to the Highveldt of South Africa back on Earth. It was a large center of mining that produced a lot of Trinium, Naquadah, and other minerals. Much of the food here came from ranching and with so much land being used for that and mining, it was sparsely populated as a result. Most settlements were in the tens of thousands, with only the Planetary Capital of Yeliancheng being over a hundred thousand, at one-hundred-fifty-thousand people. The planet as a whole had only forty million people with roughly four-hundred-thousand of those being Jaffa.

Chejian was a world of rivers and lakes, with large areas built into cities and towns along those rivers and lakes. It was the second most populous world of my new domain, being a hub of manufacturing, and producing large amounts of civilian goods and military equipment. It even had a shipyard that was capable of producing Ha'taks, though doing so in a shipyard of that size was a cumbersome project that took multiple years. My mother had attempted to expand the shipyard to speed that process as part of her efforts to rebel, but Lord Yu had dismantled the extra slipways while quashing her revolt. Chejian had over a dozen cities that had breached one-hundred-thousand, with many more in the tens of thousands. The largest city and planetary capital was Hudian, at two-hundred-fifty-thousand people and the Planetary Population was ninety-million, with nine-hundred-thousand being Jaffa.

The other three worlds of Taiji Province, Senlin, Zhaoze, and Shamo, were all far less developed, worlds of around ten million people each, with one-hundred-thousand being Jaffa. Senlin was largely a jungle world, while Zhaoze was largely a swamp world and Shamo largely a desert world. Each was more like Tiber and Po in that they were only moderately productive, though with a much higher potential with the right investment. Shamo, for example, had signs of larger Trinium and Naquadah deposits in the deep desert, while Senlin could be a good agricultural world if effort was made to clear parts of the jungle and install weather regulating technologies. Zhaoze had the potential for city-building if wetlands could be poldered up. That was for the future, however.

For now, my domain as Lord Yu's Grand Chancellor was one that contained three-hundred-forty-five-million people, with roughly three-million-four-hundred-fifty-thousand Jaffa, two shipyards, a Factory World, an Agriworld, a Mining World, one Combination World that had aspects of all three, and Three Minor Worlds. It was a hell of a starting position. Unfortunately, that position had allowed my mother to get cocky and seek to revolt against Lord Yu, a mistake I refused to repeat if I could help it. Lord Yu had punished her for it by taking her life and culling the Jaffa who had supported her bid for rebellion. He'd also stripped her of the worlds my Grandfather had left for her after his death during the Massacre at Nilor. If Taiji was a good start, those would have been an even better one. I very much doubted I'd be getting those back.

That meant expansion, which meant looking into the minor Goa'uld who ruled worlds in the border areas between where I was and where Ba'al's Domain was. There were a number of likely candidates there. Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals, an alliance of five Minor Goa'uld in the borderlands seemed a likely target. Together, they could add another eighty million people, of which eight-hundred-thousand were Jaffa, an Agriworld, a Mining World, a Factory World, two Minor Worlds, and a Shipyard, though that shipyard could only produce Ha'taks slowly, like the one above Chejian.

Then there was Khun Theu Kham, a Goa'uld who ruled a pair of worlds, one an ocean world that produced a decent amount of seafood and some Naquadah and Trinium via seafloor mining, and the other a Jungle World that produced timber and a decent chunk of agricultural produce. Those two Minor Worlds had a single Al'kesh shipyard and roughly thirty-million people of which three-hundred-thousand were Jaffa. They mostly got the materials to defend themselves via the trade of foodstuffs with the next Minor Goa'uld on my list, Shenrab Miwo, who ruled a trio of worlds, one one mountainous Minor World, One Mining World, and One Factory World which had another small, slow, Ha'tak Shipyard. He had sixty million people between all three of his worlds of which six-hundred-thousand were Jaffa.

Finally, there was Tengri, who ruled a quartet of Worlds, one Agriworld, one Mining World, One Factory World, and one Combination of the three. He had one Al'kesh Shipyard and one small, slow, Ha'tak Shipyard and eighty-million people, of which eight-hundred-thousand were Jaffa. Tengri used to be a lot bigger deal, actually, but he lost three of his worlds to revolts around the time that Anubis was running around, two of which buried their Stargates and had since been lost, while the last of which, Simarka, had become a Protected Planet after Ra had lost his Asgard Campaign and was forced to acknowledge and abide by the Protected Planets Treaty. Tengri was still a formidable Minor Goa'uld, whose influence in the borderlands was checked by Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals.

The other Independent Goa'uld would likely be beyond my reach for some time if Ba'al didn't snap them up before I did. I would be overextended if I tried to advance on them before digesting my other conquests, after all. Honestly, ruling over a mini-empire of Seventeen Worlds would likely be the bulk of what I could get away with for some time to come. It would already make me the most powerful Underlord in the Goa'uld Empire. It was only three worlds less than the requirement to become considered for promotion to System Lord by the High Council of the System Lords, after all. Of course, that was in theory. In practice, the High Council basically did whatever Ra told them to, serving as his rubber stamp, at least for now, and Ra wasn't green-lighting any new System Lords at the moment.

Of course, before I could even expand, I'd have to build up my worlds. My current plan for that was to introduce basic literacy and numeracy and begin shifting production over toward my Tianyan Staff Rifles, my Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tels, and any other improvements I could come up with. Once I reach the limits of what I can do with a workforce only basically literate and numerate, I'll begin introducing more advanced concepts. I also planned a revamp to various utilities to ensure my workforce and Jaffa have access to basic amenities such as running water and indoor plumbing. I'd introduce other improvements over time as well.

If I was going to rule these people, I was going to be worthy to do so. Not only was it the right thing to do, it was likely the only way I would be able to keep my throne once the Tauri arrived on the scene. I was planning to transition into a sort of constitutional monarchy when that happened, though I'd need to get what was essentially a society of Medieval Chinese Peasants to a point where they could rule themselves before that happened, which wasn't going to be something I could just do with a snap of my fingers. Luckily, I was a Goa'uld and thus could live for millennia. I literally had all the time in the world, barring mishap.

My plans were drawn up, now I had roughly a day left of hyperspace travel to tinker. This, I did via the Vo'cume projector. These things were based on Ancient Hologram Communications Technology, only far cruder, like all Go'auld tech. That meant the range was highly limited. No more than a dozen Light Years in any direction, and even that was spotty at times. Using my genetic memory, plus the Enhanced Intellect given to me by Oma Desala, I started looking at various ways I might improve on the design. I actually stumbled across my next innovation by accident while doing that.

Goa'uld Hologram technology was capable of projecting images, though it couldn't make them solid. Not like Asgard or Ancient Holograms, however, the subroutines were still there in the crystalline computer matrices of each device, it was just the projectors that needed refining. I had the knowledge to do that, though by the calculations I'd run and the experiments I'd run over the course of the day, it was likely such refinements would require a dedicated workshop or lab to produce. It was actually during one of those experiments when I had my hands forearm-deep into the guts of a Vo'cume Projector that Chen arrived.

"Pardon me, My Lord, but we will be reverting out of Hyperspace at Taiji shortly." Advised Chen, bowing.

"Ah, excellent. How shortly is shortly?" I questioned.

"Within the next standard hour, My Lord." Answered Chen.

"I see." I said, looking down at my hands and arms covered in lubricant and machine oil. It was hardly good form for me to arrive at my new domain covered in such things.

"Give me a moment to clean up and I shall join you on the Pel'tac." I nodded.

"Of course My Lord, I will be waiting outside." Confirmed Chen.

He was a good subordinate. I should give him a raise. After I instituted payment of wages for my Jaffa and Workforce, I mean. Man was there a lot of reforms that needed to happen. I suppose even the most benevolent of Goa'uld like Lord Yu still rule over their subjects like a Feudal King, doling out rewards only when it pleases them. I honestly wasn't sure if we even had a standardized monetary system. My Genetic Memory seemed to suggest our Domain used a sort of Trinium Coinage called the Zhiqian, but that was only for use among high-ranking Jaffa and the Goa'uld of the Domain, while the bulk of the workforce and Jaffa got by on barter.

As I bathed myself, lacking the attendants that most Goa'uld would have during such a thing by preference, I shook my head at the disaster that was the Goa'uld Empire's Economy. Apparently, each System Lord had their own monetary system that mirrored Lord Yu's in that only the leadership and highest-ranking Jaffa ever got to use it. From the Ryo of Amaterasu to the Drachmae of Cronus and the Shekels of Ba'al. Even Ra didn't bother to standardize things, or so my Genetic Memory told me. Apparently, it wasn't a prestigious enough undertaking for the Supreme System Lord. I dressed myself and sighed at the grandiosity and short-sightedness of the Average Goa'uld.

As I walked out onto the Pel'tac I vowed that I would change that. Yet another system for me to reform. Then the blueish-white tunnel of hyperspace faded away as we exited into realspace in a burst of Cherenkov Radiation and I beheld the Green and Blue world of Taiji in person for the first time. It was beautiful, and enough to take the breath from anyone on seeing it for the first time, even a Goa'uld. For a few moments, I allowed my Jaffa to bask in the view. Chen cleared his throat after ten seconds, forcing me back on track.

"Right. Take us into orbit over my Palace. Chen, with me." I commanded.

My Jaffa moved to obey and Chen fell into step beside and slightly behind me as we headed for the Ring Transport in the Cargo Bay of the Xiaotian Quan. Moments later we arrived at our destination as the Ha'tak began hovering in geostationary orbit over my Palace in Yungong. The ring transport hummed to life and there was a brief sense of discombobulation as my First Prime and I were effectively teleported down into my new palace. As we reappeared in my new throne room, I spotted a few minor Goa'uld functionaries and Jaffa Elders turned to take notice of me. I suppose it was time to meet my new minions.

Hopefully, I could stomach them. . .

XXXX

AN: All Right, so here we get a bit more worldbuilding, the initial plans for Taiji, and the initial plans for expansion, along with the arrival of Erlang Shen in his new Domain plus a bit of tinkering. He plans to do a bunch of reforms and expand against the various Minor Independent Goa'uld in the Borderlands.

There are a lot of those between Lord Yu, Cronus, and Ba'al's territories, after all. All of them feuding against each other and all of them armed. There's a reason no one's tried expanding there, it's generally not seen as worth it to fight a bunch of armed Independent Goa'uld for planets that are generally less productive than those of your rivals. Erlang Shen has no rivals, though, and his plans for reforms allow him to get less productive worlds up to snuff faster than normal. After all, most System Lords would take a more brutal approach, which always comes with mixed results.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve meeting the new minions.

Stay tuned. . .