"Ten?" Xu Yan was surprised. "You can't afford it."
"Hey, who are you looking down on? Just give me a quote." Jiang Ye was amused.
"You're out of money," Xu Yan said. "The construction costs on Birong Star are high. A standard mechanical soldier factory costs 18 billion. Ten would be 180 billion. Besides the production factories, you'll need military outposts for the mechanical soldiers, as well as supporting repair plants, parts factories, and weapon factories. Add in maintenance costs for the next period, and it'll be over 250 billion."
Jiang Ye fell silent.
Damn it, he really couldn't afford it.
"Why do you suddenly need so many mechanical soldiers?"
"I need manpower to confront the enemy."
"Confrontation? Let me think… there are two ways I can save you money."
"Tell me!"
"First, place all the mechanical soldier factories on Jiang Ye Star. After the mechanical soldiers are produced, transport the finished products there by spaceship. Second, build a stripped-down version of mechanical soldiers. Their performance will be inferior, but they'll be enough to confront the enemy and boost numbers."
"Doesn't transporting them from Jiang Ye Star to Birong Star incur shipping costs?" Jiang Ye asked, confused. "Isn't domestic production cheaper?"
"The construction costs on Jiang Ye Star are half as much. You have many spaceships now, and even with shipping costs, it's still cheaper than the initial investment of building factories on Birong Star," Xu Yan explained. "I'm talking about initial costs. If the production volume is large, then it's definitely more cost-effective to build on Birong Star."
"Let's build five first," Jiang Ye said, feeling a headache. "If they work in three shifts non-stop, how many mechanical soldiers can five factories produce daily?"
"A thousand," Xu Yan replied. "If you want the stripped-down version, the production capacity can be increased."
"Strip them down to the bare minimum. Remove anything that's not essential. Basic mobility and the ability to follow commands are enough. You can even remove most of their intelligence and combat capabilities," Jiang Ye said. "Have a full-version mechanical soldier command a hundred stripped-down ones to walk back and forth, to vaguely impersonate a large army on the border. That's the effect I want."
"Strip them down so much? They won't even be able to fight, just walk around. Are they still called mechanical soldiers?"
"I'm the evil client, just do as I say. Don't ask why."
"Then most of the precision parts can be removed. Wait a moment, I'll calculate it."
Jiang Ye waited silently.
A moment later, Xu Yan said in surprise, "Are you sure you only want mechanical soldiers that just walk around?"
"Yes."
"The bulletproof casing can be removed, the consciousness module can be removed, the combat module can be removed, complex scanning can be removed. Only simple signal transmission and activity functions remain. They'll be commanded by the full-version mechanical soldiers to march in formation, is that right?"
"Yes."
"In that case, we can produce ten thousand units per day."
Jiang Ye's eyes lit up.
Ten thousand mechanical soldiers a day!
If they were deployed on the border, that would be incredible!
"Alright, we'll do it this way!" Jiang Ye agreed. "Send the detailed invoice to Feng Zhi Shuang, she'll transfer the money to you."
After finishing his conversation with Xu Yan, Jiang Ye sent a message to Fu Qiuyan.
"Can I buy on credit?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Buying androids?" Fu Qiuyan replied instantly, like a customer service representative.
"Yes."
Jiang Ye stared nervously at his phone.
Fu Qiuyan didn't reply.
However, below her nickname, a small gray text kept appearing.
【The other party is typing, please wait patiently】
Jiang Ye held his breath.
After more than ten seconds, the typing indicator disappeared.
But no message arrived.
A few seconds later, it started typing again.
This went on repeatedly for a full three minutes.
Jiang Ye couldn't help but send a "?".
"Alright," Fu Qiuyan's reply was clearly the result of a long struggle. "How many are you buying? How much credit do you need?"
"I want to buy forty-five thousand units, with the same parameters as the previous five thousand," Jiang Ye said. "Can I get all of them on credit?"
Fu Qiuyan fell silent again.
The small gray typing text flashed back and forth.
She was clearly struggling with the decision.
"Yes, but there will be interest. How long do you plan to defer the payment?" Fu Qiuyan finally managed to reply.
"One year, is that okay?" Jiang Ye asked. "How much is the interest?"
Actually, with his financial resources, he could repay the cost of these androids soon.
But Birong Star was too expensive, and he needed to make preparations without spending too much.
"If the payment is settled after one year, the interest will be ten billion."
Jiang Ye was startled.
"How can you overcharge a friend?" he questioned. "How about one billion in interest?"
Fu Qiuyan: "???????"
She was clearly stunned by Jiang Ye's shameless bargaining. Cutting ten billion interest down to one billion was like bargaining from the soles of his feet.
"This is my second order, and I might order two hundred more batches in the future. What's a little bit of interest for that?" Jiang Ye boldly made a promise. "I have a grand plan to deploy tens of millions of androids on Birong Star within a few years."
"Fine, one billion in interest," Fu Qiuyan compromised. "Send me the delivery point, and I'll get the delivery to you as soon as possible."
"You're straightforward. May our friendship last forever," Jiang Ye happily sent a voice message.
Fu Qiuyan replied with a sticker of a puppy resting its chin on its paws, clearly showing some resentment and helplessness.
...
A week later.
At one o'clock in the morning, Jiang Ye's phone vibrated incessantly.
【Detected a population surge in your territory. Territory Development Level has been upgraded to "Town Level 10%".】
【Detected an increase in building scale and factory numbers in your territory. Territory Development Level has been upgraded to "Town Level 20%".】
【Detected the presence of thirty thousand mechanical soldiers in your territory. Territory Development Level has been upgraded to "Town Level 30%".】
Looking at the series of upgrade messages, Jiang Ye was quite satisfied.
The forty-five thousand androids purchased on credit from Daughter Star had just arrived at Birong Star a few hours ago.
These forty-five thousand people were settled on the border with the Qianlong Star territory. It was a saline-alkali plain, where some simple bungalows and military tents had already been built.
Their job was afforestation.
The five thousand androids from the forest farm had also arrived at the border. They would command the subsequent forty-five thousand compatriots in their work.
As for the tree saplings for afforestation… they were gourd corn trees.
That's right, they were snatched from the farm on Junze Star.
In the past few nights, over three thousand mechanical soldiers had become tree-snatching maniacs. As soon as it got dark, they would go to the Junze Star farm, dig up trees, uproot them, and transport them away with ornithopters.
The Junze Star farm resisted, releasing many dog-shaped robots that nipped and bit, attempting to stop the mechanical soldiers.
But their resistance was in vain. The dog robots were all kicked to death by the mechanical soldiers, their parts were disassembled, packed, and also transported away by plane.
Junze Star initiated diplomatic measures and lodged a protest.
Jiang Ye Star immediately pointed out that this farm was within Jiang Ye Star's territory, and anything grown on one's own land could be dug up at will.
Junze Star knew it was in the wrong.
They did not continue to resist.
Instead, they retreated.
It wasn't that the people of Junze Star were easygoing, but rather that their territory was too small, having only just developed to Village Level 5%. They had no courage to compete with Jiang Ye Star's territory and preferred to retreat and develop in silence.
On the border between Jiang Ye Star's territory and Qianlong Star's territory, besides the fifty thousand androids planting trees, there were also fifty thousand mechanical soldiers.
Twenty thousand full-version mechanical soldiers were repairing military bases and supporting facilities.
Thirty thousand stripped-down mechanical soldiers were marching in formation all day according to their programmed routines to boost morale.
A total of one hundred thousand troops!
The Qianlong Star territory on the other side felt immense pressure.
They had also been reinforcing their troops in the past few days.
However, their troop strength was truly insufficient. Their total number had just exceeded twenty thousand, only one-fifth of Jiang Ye Star's forces.
Every night, the seagull aircraft squadron of Jiang Ye Star's territory would fly over to the opposite side and shower them with leaflets.
Tens of tons of leaflets were scattered every night, like rain.