Especially when talking with Hua Ya Lanlan of the Bai Lan Interstellar Trading Group, they had a very good conversation.

Perhaps it's because Huaya Lanlan is viewing things from the perspective of an interstellar trader, which is completely different.

After the banquet, the Azure Water Elf King even specially invited Flower Bud Orchid to go for a walk together.

"I originally thought that in your cooperation with the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire would be somewhat coercive, or have a superior attitude, in order to gain more benefits for themselves."

However, during my conversations with you, I've found that this isn't entirely the case.

Their cooperation with you has indeed brought them considerable benefits, but it has also brought you considerable benefits.

And without anyone noticing, they increased their infiltration of your interstellar forces.

"Don't you have any objections to the latter situation?" the Azure Water Elf King asked Flower Bud Orchid curiously.

Hua Ya Lanlan smiled and explained, "Any smart person could see that."

The Dragon Star Empire's investment in us is naturally aimed at ensuring our continued loyalty and providing us with various benefits.

This is completely understandable; as the saying goes, no one gets up early without a reason.

We interstellar traders would never do anything without a return.

The Dragon Star Empire has invested in us, supported us, and helped us, so naturally they hope to get more from us in return.

In the meantime, they also worry that those of us they support might become uncontrollable or even turn against their masters.

This concern arises in the vast majority of strong-weak cooperative relationships.

The stronger party will worry that if the weaker party becomes stronger again, it will threaten their dominant position.

The weaker party, on the other hand, worries that the stronger party will increase its control over them, and that this might even affect their own autonomy.

The Azure Water Elf King listened to these analyses and nodded in agreement, finding them very reasonable and intuitive.

"This troublesome problem is one that occurs in bilateral and even multilateral cooperation, and it is unavoidable."

As for the approach taken by the Dragon Star Empire in dealing with this issue...

The current focus is on making the pie bigger.

If the pie is big enough and the benefits are distributed sufficiently, many problems will actually be temporarily set aside, because most people are focused on immediate gains.

Secondly, the Dragon Star Empire will increase its infiltration of us through various forms of cooperation.

For example, there are requirements for profit distribution and the shareholding of certain group companies.

However, the Dragon Star Empire has made it clear during the cooperation that it will not interfere with our management and decision-making; all they want is a sufficient distribution of benefits.

"Sometimes, through equity stakes, technology licensing fees, and so on, they might be able to take 80% to 90% of the profits," Hua Ya Lanlan said casually.

But the Azure Water Elf King was greatly surprised: "More than 80% of the profits? Don't you have any objections?"

"Benefit?

There may be in the future, but not now.

Because the profit margin we can obtain through our own efforts is probably only ten percent.

However, with the help of the Dragon Star Empire, the whole pie might exceed one hundred percent, so even if we only get 20 percent, we can still gain more than 20 percent in benefits.

There can even be significant increases every month.

Although our profits were taken away, the actual profit figure far exceeded what we received before.

Many people only see what they have already obtained.

As long as you get enough, it's not a problem.

At least not right now.

On the other hand, in order to maintain this balance of order, as long as the Dragon Star Empire retains its current military status, this balance can be guaranteed.

This is a situation that everyone is happy to see.

Upon hearing these explanations, the Azure Water Elf King showed a look of sudden realization.

"The most crucial factor is that, although Emperor Xiaolong is greedy, he is very clear that he can only reap more benefits by fattening up the sheep before slaughtering them."

Therefore, we are all very happy to cooperate with him.

"To achieve this win-win situation," Hana-ya Ranran said frankly.

The Azure Water Elf King nodded: "As you said, the Dragon Emperor has indeed done a very good job."

At this point, a look of regret appeared in the eyes of the Azure Water Elf King. She sighed and said, "It's a pity. I had previously proposed within the Holy Elf Empire to establish an alliance organization headed by the Holy Elf Empire."

However, it was rejected by most people.

The only one who supports me is the Flame Elf King.

Within the High Elf Council, very few people agreed with or supported my ideas.

Hearing what the Azure Water Elf King said...

Hua Ya Lanlan looked at the Azure Water Elf King and said frankly, "Your Majesty, Azure Water Elf King."

I'm going to say something that might not be pleasant to hear.

Even if the Holy Elf Empire were willing to form such an alliance now, it could never achieve what the Wraith Dragon Interstellar Empire has done.

The Azure Water Elf King looked at Flower Bud Lanlan with surprise, as if he doubted her words.

Hua Ya Lanlan continued, "I have also had some contact with the Holy Elf Empire, and I know very well what the temperaments and personalities of the high elves in your country are like."

Arrogant, complacent, and conceited, they look down on all interstellar races except the High Elves and despise most inferior beings.

Although these words don't sound pleasant, the Azure Water Elf King couldn't deny that this was the reality for the high elves.

"It cannot be denied that the Holy Elf Empire also possesses extremely high military strength, even surpassing the newly emerging Wraith Dragon Interstellar Empire in terms of overall strength."

But you should know that an alliance is a union of all allies, not subordinates.

The people of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire do not look down on other interstellar races. They prioritize their own interests, but at the same time, they strictly abide by the rules and regulations.

Working with them is a very pleasant experience.

At least that's how it is here for me.

That's why they're willing to be here. "Hana-ya Lanlan pointed to the people seated at the banquet.

The Azure Water Elf King fell silent, having to admit that what Flower Sprout Lanlan said was true.

“You’re right. Perhaps only the Dragon Star Empire can accomplish this,” the Azure Water Elf King said somewhat forlornly.

............

The end of the year was a very busy time for Zhao Chen, the Emperor of the Dragon.

There are banquets of all sizes to be held almost every day, as well as meetings to attend.

For the past few days, Zhao Chen has only had three to five hours of rest each day.

If Zhao Chen's body hadn't been enhanced, he might not have been able to hold on until now.

“This is the last report on interstellar warship data submitted by the military this year.” Secretary Lilith walked to the desk, looked at the Emperor of the Wyvern, who looked utterly dejected, and tapped the table with her hand.

This finally brought back the soul of the Dragon Emperor.

"Go ahead and say it."

"I can't concentrate on reading at all right now. The words are like little angels flying around in front of me." Zhao Chen's eyelids twitched, but he didn't want to move any other part of his body.

Lilith didn't say much, and began to speak after taking out the report.

"Currently, our Xiaolong Interstellar Empire..."

It possesses a total of fifteen first-line main force fleet groups, which are further divided into the Imperial Regular Legion Fleet Groups and five Imperial Elite Legion Fleet Groups.

The former ten Imperial Legion fleets are currently at full strength, each with 500,000 interstellar warships, totaling five million interstellar warships.

The latter consisted of five elite imperial fleet groups.

The latest data report shows that the Reverse Scale Ace Fleet has 50,000 active starships; the Blizzard Ace Fleet has 200,000 active starships; the Star Queen Ace Fleet has 150,000 active starships; the Shadow Hunter Ace Fleet has 100,000 active starships; and the Hell Angels Ace Fleet has 150,000 active starships, including 50,000 dedicated logistics supply ships.

The total number is 600,000 combat-type interstellar warships.

Of these, we currently possess a total of over six thousand T6 starships, one million T5 starships, and over four million T4 starships.

In addition, a number of special interstellar warships are about to join the active fleet, so they are not yet included in this report.

"Nearly six million interstellar warships," Zhao Chen muttered to himself. "Without realizing it, we've become quite a large and powerful enterprise."

"But according to the military's simulated operations, in order to defeat the Devouring Civilization with an absolute advantage, we need at least ten million interstellar warships, including more than ten thousand T6-class interstellar warships."

To have the ability to confront the T6 order, at least 30 million interstellar warships would be needed.

Nearly 50,000 T6-class interstellar warships are needed, and a certain number of T7-class interstellar warships are also required.

And this is just speculation.

"Because no one knows whether the powerful T7 Order has any other trump cards up its sleeve," Lilith said seriously.

Let's take it one step at a time.

In the coming year, we will both prevent another invasion by the Devouring Civilization and establish an economic system outside our Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, so that it can continuously support our Xiaolong Interstellar Empire.

"We need to accelerate our own growth," Zhao Chen said, expressing his vision for the future.

Lilith then introduced some more details, and the process only ended after Zhao Chen confirmed that he had 'listened' to everything.

But then Lilith produced another document.

Zhao Chen covered his face helplessly; this work was truly endless.

"This is the plan for the New Year's Eve ceremony for the third anniversary. It is basically a continuation of the previous two-year anniversary plan, with some additional content added on top of that."

"And your plan to inspect various parts of the Dragonflight Interstellar Empire this time will last a total of three days," Lilith explained.

"Just do as you say." Zhao Chen waved his hand.

At this point, Lilith added, "And this time, when you tour the entire Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, your flagship will be changed from the T6 Dragon Emperor interstellar command ship to the newly commissioned near-T7 class interstellar warship."

He will lead the first batch of five near-T7 interstellar warships to participate in this ceremony, marking their official debut to the public.

Hearing this arrangement, Zhao Chen perked up a bit and said with sharp eyes, "This time, we will be making our first appearance on the quasi-T7 interstellar warship."

The main reason is that these are the distinguished guests specially invited by the interstellar civilization forces that have just followed us.

"Take a good look at the strength of our Dragonflight Interstellar Empire, lest they cause us trouble and make a fool of themselves."

That's right, this is actually an opportunity to show off our strength.

The purpose is to encourage restless people to work honestly and stop thinking about unnecessary things.

This method is undoubtedly the simplest, most convenient, and fastest.

As Huaya Lanlan analyzed before, in the alliance system structure dominated by the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, as long as the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire continues to possess unquestionable military strength, this alliance system will be the best.

"This makes me a little excited," Zhao Chen said with a slight smile.

The first appearance of a near-T7 class interstellar warship.

This can be considered the first time, apart from the Devouring Civilization, that an interstellar civilization has displayed a near-T7 level interstellar warship among known cosmic civilizations.

As for whether there are any interstellar civilizations that secretly possess interstellar warships of this caliber, no one knows.

...

Time passed little by little amidst this busy atmosphere.

Finally, the year 3039 of the Galactic Calendar arrived, which was also the last day of the three-year period of the Dragon King.

Throughout the important star systems of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, everything was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations to celebrate this day.

In other interstellar civilizations and universes, although they also have their own celebrations, there are very few events like this one, specifically for the New Year and held every year.

After all, such activities require a considerable amount of manpower, financial resources, and material resources.

In those long-established interstellar empires, celebrations are usually just a little bit held on ordinary days.

This level of celebration will only be held every fifty or one hundred years.

The Holy Elf Empire is a case in point.

However, the situation of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire is quite special. For an interstellar empire that has risen in a short period of time, such annual celebrations can often deepen the public's recognition of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire.

At some point in the future, the Dragon Star Empire will gradually reduce this annual celebration and change it to a celebration every ten or twenty years.

These are all things to be discussed later.

At least for now, it's a day when everyone is celebrating together.

Meanwhile, in the Xiaolong Galaxy, many people had already gathered in various banquet halls, waiting for the appointed time to arrive.

"What was the process like before?" Hua Ya Lanlan asked her younger sister, Hua Ya Nini, who knew more about the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire than she did.

Hua Ya Nini said, "The previous procedure was that Emperor Xiaolong led his Imperial Guard fleet through the Xiaolong system, gave a speech, and then there was a cannon salute."

Meanwhile, the marshals of the Imperial Legion fleet will lead their elite fleets to make appearances in important star systems throughout the Wraith Dragon Interstellar Empire.

Hua Yalan understood; this was a way to increase the prestige of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire.

I expect it will be the same this year.

Time passed slowly, and soon the celebratory cannon salutes were fired.

But Huaya Lanlan quickly realized something was wrong.

Because everyone in the banquet hall was silent, their eyes fixed on the interstellar fleet slowly sailing out from the edge of the distant star system outside the porthole!

That was undoubtedly the Emperor's personal guard fleet.

But as everyone knows, the flagship of the Imperial Guard fleet is the T6 Dragon Emperor interplanetary command ship.

Everyone is undoubtedly familiar with that interstellar warship.

But at this moment, the interstellar warship slowly leading the way in the darkness was clearly not the T6 Dragon Emperor interstellar command ship.

It wasn't even any of the JF-17 series interstellar warships they knew.

The Flame Elf King stood up, his eyes burning like flames as he stared at the mysterious and unfamiliar interstellar warship, his gaze sweeping over its hull.

Although the Azure Water Elf King didn't know much about interstellar warships, he also stood up and curiously stared at the warship under the influence of the atmosphere.

The Azure Water Elf King couldn't help but ask the Flame Elf King beside him, "Saroman, judging from your expression, is there something special about that interstellar warship?"

The Flame Elf King said in a deep voice, "I don't know what's so special about that interstellar warship."

However, judging from appearance and the occasion...

It is remarkable that the Dragon Emperor could use this interstellar warship as its flagship to make its first public appearance under such circumstances.

There is only one possibility.

This is the latest interstellar warship launched by the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, and it is a very advanced and powerful interstellar warship.

If it were just an ordinary T6-class interstellar warship, it would never have such a status in the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire.

That leaves only two possibilities.

This interstellar warship is a completely new interstellar warship that far surpasses any current T6 Xiaolong series interstellar warship.

Another possibility... is that this is a T7-class interstellar warship, or at least a near-T7-class!

Upon hearing this...

Even if the Azure Water Elf King was not particularly sensitive to this matter, he was clearly aware of the special significance of this interstellar warship.

"A T7-class interstellar warship?"

How is that possible!

How could the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire possibly develop a T7-level interstellar warship?

Moreover... and... this isn’t just one...” At this moment, the Azure Water Elf King also discovered that behind the leading interstellar warship, there were actually four identical interstellar warships.

If it really is a T7-class interstellar warship.

And if five ships are to be deployed at once.

That means... the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire already possesses the military industrial capability to mass-produce T7-class interstellar warships!

This...this is impossible!

At this moment, everyone who guessed that this was a T7 or near-T7 level interstellar warship was filled with excitement.

Because they all clearly understand what this means and what it represents.

At this moment, a female voice broadcast from the official radio channel of the Dragon Star Empire rang out.

"Attention everyone, the JF-17 Royal Guard Fleet is currently at sea."

On this voyage, the flagship of the JF-17 Royal Guard Fleet was not the usual T6 Dragon Emperor interplanetary command ship, a fact that I believe everyone has noticed.

Here, I would like to formally inform everyone that the flagship used by the JF-17 Royal Guard Fleet, the JF-17 Emperor, is currently aboard its ship.

It is the latest independently developed and produced quasi-T7 Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought by the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, which has already been put into use.

This is the first mass-produced T7-class interstellar warship of our Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, although strictly speaking it is only a quasi-T7-class interstellar warship.

However, it still employs many T7-level technologies and possesses combat capabilities that surpass most mass-produced interstellar warships today!

...In this broadcast, a brief introduction was given to this quasi-T7 interstellar warship making its debut.

The speech was brief, but almost everyone who heard it remembered every word.

Some people even wrote it down directly, scrutinizing every single word.

Because the meaning behind these few words is completely different.

Unfortunately, there is very little detailed data about this near-T7 Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought; we can only speculate based on its appearance and its name, 'interstellar dreadnought'.

Specific intelligence information will depend on its performance in its first actual combat.

At this moment, an incomparably mysterious veil was shrouded in the body of this near-T7 Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought.

Therefore, many people are aware that this near-T7 Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought will undoubtedly be the hottest topic at the third anniversary celebration of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire.

In the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire, and even in all interstellar civilizations that have information exchanges, this near-T7 Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought has occupied the top of the trending search lists on information dissemination platforms!

Furthermore, it should be noted that the Emperor of the Dragon will then lead the Imperial Guard fleet on a five-day procession through the territory of the Dragon Star Empire aboard this near-T7 Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought.

This will undoubtedly continue to increase the popularity of this interstellar warship.

Many people are curious about the combat capabilities of this near-T7 interstellar warship.

"It seems we need to have a serious talk with this ally of ours."

This guy really has a lot of good stuff hidden away.

We'll leave aside the entire series of T6-class starships, and we won't even talk about those super flagships with formidable combat capabilities.

"But this is a near-T7 interstellar warship, and it's even a mass-produced one..." The Flame Elf King placed his hand on his chin, revealing a very interested expression.

With this main event in place, the subsequent New Year's Eve ceremony procedures are largely ignored, as they are just routine rituals.

After a salute, the ceremony came to an end.

Next came the local celebrations.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor will begin a five-day inspection tour of various locations.

However, before that, someone naturally approached Zhao Chen.