As soon as Igor returned to the spacecraft, he sent Liu Hai a communication, relaying Zhang Tingyu's message to him.
Upon learning that he could exchange materials for a spacecraft—albeit with a one-year wait—Liu Hai was stunned. He had merely mentioned it to Igor on a whim, never expecting such a pleasant surprise in return.
"What position does this person hold at Thunder God Company? Can he guarantee the transaction will go through?" Liu Hai didn't rush to agree, mainly because he knew nothing about the other party. If he got scammed, there'd be no way to seek recourse—after all, it was a smuggling deal with no official paper trail. If anything, he'd be lucky if the authorities didn't come after him for smuggling.
Igor sent over the information he had gathered: "He's a college classmate of an old friend of mine, works in logistics at Thunder God Shipyard, a seventh-level employee—basically mid-level management."
After a moment of thought, Igor added, "Actually, all major arms companies have their own channels. I've never heard any rumors about them double-crossing people. Their reputation is pretty solid. Big companies like that don't bother with small-time profits."
Liu Hai curled his lips. Sure, the company itself was massive, with annual profits measured in trillions, but that didn't mean the individuals executing the deals were trustworthy.
"Hold on for now. I'll ask around about him first." Liu Hai ended the call with Igor and contacted Brely instead.
Brely's crew was also involved in arms smuggling, so they likely had a good understanding of the channels used by various arms companies.
When Brely heard Liu Hai's question, he was surprised. You're in arms smuggling yourself, and you're asking about a competitor's credibility? Though curious about Liu Hai's situation, he didn't pry and simply answered the question.
"Thunder God Company—and all the major arms suppliers, really—have solid reputations. The ones with bad reputations either faded away or got swallowed up over time."
"Because the Federation is constantly embroiled in territorial disputes with neighboring civilizations, plus the Pioneer Order, the demand for arms has always been high. But the Federation's resource limitations prevent them from scaling up production."
"So, to maximize profits, it's inevitable that they'd divert part of their output into smuggling for higher margins."
"But over the years, the number of arms companies has grown too large. Many lords have their own production lines, so even smuggling can't keep prices and sales volumes up. The long-term market fluctuations have forced them to develop a strategy for maximizing profits."
"That strategy revolves around the Pioneer Order, the Exploration Order, and wartime. In fact, the introduction of the Pioneer and Exploration Orders was partly driven by them. These periods are when they rake in the most profit."
"Don't believe it when they claim production capacity is insufficient, that output can't keep up and you'll have to wait in line—it's all lies."
"Do you think they just pay all those workers to sit idle during slow periods? Of course not. They keep producing, but where do all those extra arms go? Stockpiles."
"They're waiting for these peak periods to offload those stockpiles through various channels, making profits several times higher than usual."
"So the result is, with their long-term plans, they maintain the highest market credibility to maximize profits—after all, their biggest profit actually comes from smuggling their own products."
"Especially since this behavior is tacitly approved by the Federal Council. As long as no major trouble arises, the Council generally turns a blind eye. After all, no matter how you obtain the armaments, they'll ultimately be used for expansion and exploration—all for external purposes. Plus, the Council gets a cut of the profits too."
After hearing Brely's explanation, Liu Hai was utterly dumbfounded. Smuggling their own products for profit, yet the entire Federation tacitly allowed it. The ones footing the bill were the middle and upper classes anyway, with little impact on ordinary citizens. In fact, the rising cost of raw materials might even earn them a small profit.
Those who acquired the armaments were all aiming to become lords or strike it rich by exploring new star systems and mining fields. It was essentially a way to make the wealthy, who had accumulated fortunes over time, spend their money to give the lower classes a share—then risk their lives for a shot at a possible future.
Killing multiple birds with one stone. Truly, no policy should be underestimated—who knew acknowledging illegitimate children might even tie into grand population growth plans? Though come to think of it, the Star River Federation didn't seem to have any population decline issues, did it?
After Brely's explanation, Liu Hai still had some doubts, but those stemmed from the fact that he wasn't originally from this era and still felt somewhat alienated from it.
Besides, doubts wouldn't put food on the table. At least Brely's reasoning followed a logical pattern, so Liu Hai gave Igor a definitive answer: agree to the deal.
At the same time, he instructed Igor to ask if they could help launder the remaining funds. After all, Liu Hai hadn't poured all his capital into buying warships—there were still crew and supplies to purchase.
With the final decision in hand, Igor immediately left the ship to contact Zhang Tingyu.
Zhang Tingyu, who had just finished gathering intel on the Star Sea Group, was summoned by Igor's call. They met again at the same bar, the same spot, with the same lively music in the background.
"Your boss agreed to pay with warships?" Zhang Tingyu wasn't surprised when he learned Liu Hai had accepted his proposal. Though he'd marked up the price by 30%, smuggled goods could go for 50% more. Besides, at this point, it wasn't just about the money.
Igor nodded. "My boss wants three Light Cruisers, one Heavy Cruiser, five Destroyers, ten Corvettes, and three Medium Armored Transport Ships."
"Any specific models in mind? What about weapon configurations?" Zhang pressed.
Barebones ships wouldn't bring much profit—the real money was in the armaments. Any shipyard could produce a basic hull; the only difference was armor quality.
For conventional warships, the real technological edge lay in the Warp Devices, Warp Drives, conventional propulsion engines, Energy Shields, Reaction Furnaces, and Ship Cannons.
"The Cruisers need Thunder God Third Generation Sharp Spear systems, the Destroyers Second Generation Lightning, and the Corvettes Fifth Generation Aegis. All top-tier configurations," Igor said, inwardly stunned by his boss's extravagance. Corvettes, for instance, didn't need top-tier gear—they were just expendable cannon fodder.
Zhang Tingyu's eyes lit up—top-tier configurations, though the demand was a bit low: "The top-tier third-generation Fengmao series costs 4 billion for Heavy Cruisers, 2.3 billion for Light Cruisers, 80 million per second-generation Lightning Destroyer, and 13 million per fifth-generation Aegis Corvette, totaling 12.73 billion Credit Points."
Igor nodded. After the boss mentioned which ships to buy, he had checked the prices—they were indeed correct, but...
Ahem! Igor cleared his throat lightly and glanced at the performance on stage, his right hand reflexively rubbing the tabletop.
Zhang Tingyu immediately understood what Igor was hinting at and assured him that a "service fee" would be provided once the deal was completed.