"I know that according to past practice, orders will still be assigned to military enterprises in the Central, Southern, and Eastern regions, but this time I have a different idea."

"Considering possible future crises, and in order to use this massive order to develop our military industry better, I suggest retracting the orders distributed to the Southern Star Region and the Eastern Star Region, and instead direct them to the Central Star Region and the Northern Star Region." Her words sparked intense discussion.

The military industry is an extremely sensitive field. Since Emuralin re-unified the Federation, a convention was established: to spread military enterprises across different star regions and domains, rather than concentrating them.

Surely, concentrating them would bring higher production efficiency, but it could easily lead to the formation of a military-industrial complex.

In the Interstellar Era, the decisive factor in war is no longer the personnel quality of bygone eras, but rather the production capacity of the military industry. It's safe to say that as long as these enterprise factories exist, they can continuously transform various resources and materials into war power.

Gathering military enterprises is a very sensitive action. If the representative's suggestion is followed, then in the following decades, the military strength of the Federation's Central Star Region will greatly increase, undoubtedly enhancing the Federal Center's ability to speak and deterrence, but the result will be this action greatly stimulating factions in the Southern Star Region and Eastern Star Region, bringing unknown effects.

In the past, as long as the Federal Center held authority, military enterprises could be in any star domain, and they could be easily mobilized and recruited. But since the signing of the agreement five years ago, the Federal Center's control over the various star regions and domains had greatly decreased, and military enterprises in remote star domains cannot be fully controlled by the Federal Central Council.

The choice is whether to continue upholding the past conventions, watching the strength of the Central Star Region decline, or grasp the chips firmly while the power in other regions is not yet fully formed to maintain the current strength and position. This decision is not difficult to understand, but really making the decision requires considerable courage, because they face the legacy left by Emuralin.

Emuralin has passed for more than 400 years, yet her will still influences the present Federation; she holds high prestige among the people, and rashly overthrowing her decisions from back then is quite risky.

During the discussion, many people turned their attention to Evelyn, who sat in the highest seat, hoping the Songstress could withstand the pressure and complete this decision, thus sparing them the risk.

It's not that Evelyn was unaware of the people's intentions, but such actions didn't comport with her philosophy, besides she was not the type to strong-arm under pressure and go against public opinion; in the end, she only shook her head in silence.

Seeing the Songstress did not lean toward making that decision, the crowd had to temporarily give up and instead delve into detailed discussions on how to quickly obtain technology from 'Jade Dragon'; foreseeably, they would not care if the means were legal, rather they would use all channels and methods to get everything they wanted.

Faced with everyone's cohesive thoughts, Evelyn could only respond silently now; she was not a strong-willed person who could force these people to abandon their interests, sacrificing to sit by as the Southern Star Region rises.

If the Songstress must stand on the side of the Federation's interests, the problem is who truly represents the Federation's interests and future today; it's already a very obscure and hard-to-clarify problem. Each faction believes they're right, and the Songstresses cannot completely go against the prevailing tide.

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'Harp Crown' Residential Star.

It's been a month since she returned with Ores to the Sedide Family. During this month, Tilan often traveled back and forth with Ores, sometimes staying at the Sedide Family, sometimes residing in her mansion. Besides looking after Ores, she gradually learned the resolutions of various factions and powers within the Central Star Region.

"It seems they are prepared to abandon past rules." Tilan put down the intelligence report.

"Yes, Lord Tilan," an intelligence officer bowed in respect to her.

"According to our personnel stationed within various factions, many top firms in the Central Star Domain have now received their tasks; they will dispatch elite operatives to infiltrate new factories in the Southern Star Region by various means to gain 'Jade Dragon' tech data."

"The headquarters, members, connections, and networks of these firms are in the Central Star Region, making them unable to refuse such top-down pressure tasks; even if we issue warnings, they will not stop." He continued to add.

"A bit troublesome." Tilan rubbed her brow, feeling these firm members are like mosquitoes or flies, not as good in direct combat ability compared to armies, but when it comes to stealth, concealment, and espionage tactics, they are notably abundant.

The production bases under Jade Dragon have numerous personnel; she could not protect every person and corner as comprehensively as possible, and tech data, once leaked, could easily spread.

"Have they completed the confidentiality plan I previously instructed them to prepare?" Tilan asked another member in front of her; he looked stern, wearing intelligence glasses.

"It's ready. Internal production data within Jade Dragon is now divided into five levels and 47,820 modules; each module is independent, and technical personnel in bases focus on their assigned modules, unable to perceive overall situations. As such, the higher the confidentiality level of a module, the stronger our security and monitoring force."

"I see..." Tilan contemplated at the desk.

"Though we can strictly control on the production end, the construction of laid Dragon Veins might be hard to regulate, as those are colossal projects spanning thousands of kilometers."

"It means, some data and information are bound to leak eventually." Her fingers lightly tapped the dress on her knee, snow-white fingers poking out from Dailan's sleeve with some girlish cuteness.

"We can only try to delay this process and keep it confidential for more time."

"However..." Tilan recalled something.

Some specialized materials required originate from 'Grey Dust Crystal,' which indeed are her own produced Purification Crystals. Without these, forces in the Central Star Region would have difficulty finding substitutes, it's not a simple affair.

Tilan couldn't guarantee they'd never find substitutes, but this crucial material certainly delays their progress significantly; meanwhile, she must quickly bolster the strength of the Southern Star Region to prevent factions in the Central Region from being cornered and resorting to outright war to seize it.

"In other words, military enterprises are key..." Her voice murmured low.

Current military technology is nothing like past eras; a latecomer only needs ten years to catch up; manufacturing Starships, though, is far beyond simple rifles and cannons, intricate in myriad places necessitating experience and technical accumulations, far from being imitable from scratch.

How to persuade or gain solid bargaining chips for self-preservation, it seems inevitably in coming years she has to visit those famous military enterprises.

In this aspect, she's not entirely without foundation thanks to the base Yarnasha left her years ago; even after spending years on a Lost Planet, she can leverage these connections to reconnect with familiar figures.

Wonder how Yarnasha views her nowadays; she hasn't returned to the Central Star Domain to helm a situation and instead founded 'Jade Dragon' in the Southern Star Region, likely disappointing the elder here, as it doesn't benefit Federation's whole stability, strength branches while weakness roots—treat of disorder.

Yet she also has own ideas, wanting not only be some adhesive maintaining Federation's complete unity but establishing a Federation under from top to bottom control, thus accomplishing those unpredictable, even radical reforms.

Doing this means she alone wouldn't suffice; she inevitably needs a firm foundational backing, subsequently establishing 'Jade Dragon' becoming a necessary path.

Predictably, as she steps closer to that target, many former Songstresses would gradually take opposing sides, for what they aim to preserve is their ideal 'Federation,' not the Federation Tilan envisions. Both named the same, but with inherently different cores.

Times have changed, teacher.