A few days later, the situation gradually became clear. Half of the alien spacecraft headed for other celestial bodies in the solar system, while the other half flew directly towards Earth, expected to arrive in half a year.
Upon receiving the news, Yanjing immediately declared a state of war nationwide, stocking strategic materials, implementing a rationing system, and mobilizing reserve personnel. Industry fully transitioned to a wartime economy, factories relocated from prosperous coastal areas to inland regions, and all localities focused on expanding civil defense projects and conducting air raid drills repeatedly.
Overnight, this ancient nation, which had not experienced war for nearly a century, transformed into a massive and efficient war machine.
However, this was just the beginning. Subsequently, the Great Bear, the Old America, and Europe successively announced their transition to wartime systems.
There was no need for Yanjing to provide information. As long as any entity had the capability, they knew what was happening. Even those who didn't were contacting Yanjing after the announcement of the wartime state to inquire about the situation.
Thus, more entities entered a state of war. Even those without the ability to venture into space were mobilized to stabilize the domestic situation first – heaven knows where the aliens would land, so it was better to be prepared than to scramble at the last minute.
In just a few days, the regions in a state of war covered half the globe. Those entities that truly lacked the capability also expressed their verbal support.
Frankly speaking, with their national strength lagging half a century behind the world, all they could offer was verbal support.
To be honest, Yanjing had bought humanity considerable time by suppressing the alien species single-handedly for four full years. No matter how critical the other entities were, they had no grounds to blame Yanjing.
The citizens of various countries suddenly discovered that everything familiar had changed. Everything had to prioritize serving the war effort.
Although all the other entities had implemented measures to stabilize prices, the market was still severely impacted. Prices for food, vegetables, meat, eggs, and milk, all essential civilian goods, increased daily.
Goods unrelated to civilian life also saw price hikes, but within a few days, they plummeted and then dropped again. However, the once prohibitively expensive electronic products were now ignored even at greatly reduced prices. Instead, the most ordinary and simple radios became bestsellers.
In addition, various outdoor emergency products, power generation equipment, and so on, all became market darlings.
There was also a major event closely related to the citizens of all countries: the new conscription system.
Previous major wars primarily involved large-scale conscription, even forcibly drafting people regardless of their willingness.
This time, it was different. Since the main battlefield was bound to be in space, only highly skilled and talented individuals were recruited, with a bachelor's degree as the minimum requirement, master's degree holders receiving preferential treatment, and Ph.D. holders being highly sought after.
Countries were not disregarding the possibility of defeat. But then again, if the space fleet couldn't stop the enemy, and the enemy possessed a significant advantage in space and air, then even large ground forces would be of little use, merely fulfilling their duty and leaving the rest to fate.
The space fleet, however, presented an entirely different picture. Warship orders poured into Yanjing like snowflakes. Even though space warships were prohibitively expensive, the other entities gritted their teeth and tightened their belts. Those who already had warships considered adding more, while those who didn't were planning how to acquire at least one.
Yanjing possessed sufficient production capacity; the problem lay in insufficient launch capabilities, making it impossible to launch so many warships into orbit in a short period.
Furthermore, their own fleet also needed expansion. Yanjing had to reluctantly reject most of the orders.
However, the enthusiasm of the other entities was surprisingly high. They sought every means to request Yanjing to sell them warships, even if the delivery time was delayed.
Personnel also needed Yanjing's help for training, ensuring that the warships could be immediately operated upon completion.
At this point, the role of the Luojiangshan base became evident. After more than two years of planning, it possessed industrial systems for both steel and chemicals. The Moon's manufacturing capabilities had surpassed most of Earth's entities, not only resulting in lower manufacturing costs but also significantly faster construction speeds than on the ground.
The primary limiting factor for the Luojiangshan base was not technology but the insufficient output of various metals. Even when building new ships according to the standards of expeditionary warships, the output could not be increased.
Yanjing gritted its teeth and made the decision to temporarily halt warship construction and prioritize expanding production.
Half a year was truly too short. Fortunately, Luojiangshan had laid a solid foundation, and expanding production was akin to sharpening the knife before chopping wood. With everyone's joint efforts, in just half a month, the existing smelting capacity had been doubled!
To be more precise, heavy-duty 3D printers stopped printing warships and switched to printing smelting equipment.
In addition, the military improved the warship manufacturing process. Previously, the steel plates and bulkheads of each module were formed through integrated 3D printing. Now, it was changed to the most traditional stamping and rolling forming.
Although this added an installation step, it also saved printing capacity. Overall, the efficiency of the improved process was higher.
During this period, Ou Zhanpeng also put aside his primary duties and intended to participate in construction alongside others. However, Luojiangshan already had a mature engineering team. They were familiar with the lunar environment and knew how to construct in low gravity, possessing all the necessary equipment.
This team worked in perfect coordination with first-class efficiency, requiring no assistance from other departments.
After installing the smelting equipment, the engineering team wasted no time and excavated a new underground space near the old industrial zone to serve as a new industrial area.
The military planned to upgrade the industrial zone of the Luojiangshan base into a super-large arsenal, capable of producing everything from warships to artillery shells and bullets, making it the largest military industrial production base outside of Earth.
Speaking of which, apart from Luojiangshan, humanity had no other industrial production capacity beyond Earth, and it was already the largest.
However, having production capacity alone was not enough; more importantly, the output capacity also needed to keep up. This was not something that could be completed in a day or two. Even with 3D printing production lines, corresponding raw material preparation systems were required; otherwise, having many printers would be useless.
In early September, as the smelting equipment was just installed, an alarm suddenly sounded in Luojiangshan. The industrial zone was sealed off by several airlocks, and all personnel exposed outside the buildings were immediately recalled to the base.
Moments later, after verifying the location of everyone and confirming that no one was stranded outside, several high-power vacuum pumps began to operate simultaneously, evacuating the interior of Luojiangshan to a vacuum.
Next, the airlock covering the mountain pass opened, revealing a small patch of starry sky and half of the Earth.
"Launch!" Commander Gong Yiding gave the order. A magnetic levitation transport vehicle sped out of the tunnel, ascending along an inclined track. In an instant, it shot out of Luojiangshan and flew towards the sky at a seemingly slow but actual rapid pace. Before long, it had escaped the Moon's gravity and entered a lunar orbit.
Subsequently, several modules were launched and joined together. Several engineering vessels combined them, and the core cabin of a warship rapidly took shape.
Then came the inflation forming of the outer hull and the assembly of various onboard weapons. Before long, a new expeditionary warship would be completed.
Ou Zhanpeng had always assumed that the fourth ship had already begun construction, but that was not the case at all. The military mistakenly believed that Expedition Three could completely suppress the alien species, so the fourth ship remained only on paper.
It would not be entirely accurate to say that the military's judgment was flawed. This was because the cost of space warships was too high. Expedition Three was launched by the military out of necessity due to the prevailing situation. After the situation stabilized, continuing to build expeditionary warships not only consumed a large amount of resources but also squeezed out the already limited launch resources.
Furthermore, with the news of the discovery of oil resources on the Moon, the military carefully considered and repeatedly deliberated, deciding to consider new ships only after the lunar industrial zone was completed.
As a result, it was delayed for a full year.
However, Luojiangshan was not entirely unprepared. Upon receiving the task, they immediately selected some modules from the new warship design. These were launched into orbit without any modifications and, when combined, formed a complete core cabin.
Paired with other modules, this would be a new warship without a ship name, only a codename. With a solid-state smoke hull, it would be the Expedition Fourth Ship.
After all modules were launched, the sealed dome was pressurized for the interior space of the mountain, and the base soon returned to normal.
A few days later, another spacecraft arrived at Luojiangshan. Ou Zhanpeng had been waiting at the spaceport area for a long time. The moment the cabin door opened, he immediately rushed forward.
A familiar figure leaped out of the cabin door and, like a swallow returning to its nest, threw herself into his arms.
It was none other than the long-absent Xu Qing!
The crowd witnessed this scene, some with envy, some with encouragement, and some even cheering and whistling, shouting loudly, "Kiss her, kiss her!"
Ou Zhanpeng retorted with a laugh, "Alright, you guys, quiet down... Ling Xiao, don't think I don't see you. You're the loudest of all!"
Ling Xiao squeezed out with a grin, "Hey, hey, can you blame me? You're so infatuated with a woman that you've forgotten your friends, and you won't let us shout a little?"
The crowd erupted in laughter. Ling Xiao winked, "Long-lost lovers, the night is short. Hey, everyone here is family, no need to hold back, hurry back and give me a nephew as soon as possible. What do you all say?"
"Well said!"
"Absolutely right!"
The crowd's chaotic agreement made Xu Qing grind her teeth. She glared at the instigator and threatened, "Ling Xiao, you just wait for me... And you all, not a single one of you is good!"
Despite being teased by everyone, she did not leave Ou Zhanpeng's embrace. At times like these, the more shy and reserved she was, the more these boring guys would egg her on. Ignoring them would eventually make them quiet down.
Ou Zhanpeng scanned the crowd with his gaze and immediately changed the subject, "Is everyone here? Here for the Fourth Ship?"
"Of course!" Ling Xiao said, "See? Our Captain Luo has already received orders to continue commanding the Fourth Ship."
"Then congratulations. I also submitted an application, but it wasn't approved," Ou Zhanpeng sighed with disappointment.
The Fourth Ship was more functionally complete and had a significantly higher degree of automation, requiring only 26 crew members to operate.
Therefore, the military selected more than a dozen people from the expeditionary team, including Luo Tu, and another dozen from the base, forming the crew for the Fourth Ship.
Ou Zhanpeng, like most others, did not have the chance to board the Fourth Expeditionary Ship.
"Oh, stop it," Luo Tu said with dissatisfaction. "Looking at everyone here, who can compare to you?"
The others also joined in with a barrage of criticism, venting their displeasure.
Ou Zhanpeng retorted without hesitation, "You guys can't get on the Fourth Ship, but there are the Fifth and Sixth Ships. I can't get on any of them. Is that the same thing!"
The crowd immediately fell silent, all asking the reason why.
However, his current work involved a lot of classified information, and he couldn't reveal anything. Ou Zhanpeng could only offer a perfunctory response to get through the matter.
After a period of boisterous commotion, everyone followed Ou Zhanpeng back to the base.
After arranging for everyone, Ou Zhanpeng finally had time to be alone with Xu Qing. They had been apart for more than half a year and had countless things to say, finding even trivial matters incredibly interesting.
Xu Qing suddenly remembered something important, "A few days ago, there was a notice. Did you receive it?"
"What notice?" Ou Zhanpeng asked casually.
"The one about preserving reproductive cells," Xu Qing said.
The Mars space station had sunk, and the military had lost two excellent astronauts, especially the sacrifice of Lin Jiayi, which had enraged the military.
In response, the military issued a notice stating that, on a voluntary basis, all astronauts could preserve their reproductive cells. They could designate a matching partner, or the authorities could arrange a match. If an astronaut sacrificed themselves, or lost their reproductive ability due to an accident during a mission, offspring could still be conceived through artificial assistance.
Ou Zhanpeng immediately recalled, "I know. What do you think?"
Xu Qing's expression turned somber, "I've already preserved mine. If one day I sacrifice myself..."
"Shut up, don't talk nonsense!" Ou Zhanpeng sternly stopped her.
Xu Qing smiled, "Don't be like this. We are soldiers. Once we go to battle, we never know what awaits us... Listen to me, if that day comes, and if you still remember me, raise our child well..."
Ou Zhanpeng silently hugged his beloved closer and, after a while, said, "I don't intend to preserve any cells. We'll live together and die together."
Xu Qing pushed Ou Zhanpeng away and asked in confusion, "Why?"
Ou Zhanpeng said softly, "Ling Xiao and I are orphans. Do you know what we've been through since childhood?"
"I understand what you mean," Xu Qing said. "But have you considered that I still have parents? If I'm gone, the child would be some comfort. If we leave nothing behind, I can't imagine what they would become."
Although Ou Zhanpeng had not experienced the warmth of a family, it didn't mean he didn't yearn for a warm home. He stared blankly at Xu Qing, and after a long moment, said, "Do your parents know about us?"
"They do," Xu Qing smiled. "Next time we go back to Earth, I'll definitely bring you to meet them."
Ou Zhanpeng lowered his gaze and nodded, "Okay. But as for the child, there's no need to trouble the organization."
Xu Qing blushed and turned to hide, "What are you doing? It's broad daylight..."
Ou Zhanpeng grabbed Xu Qing's waist, "I don't care if it's day or night, you come here!"