Chapter Summaries

Li Qingsong used his society’s extraordinary efficiency to justify building a fleet of more than 75,000 ships and set the Jupiter System’s industry to work producing it. Before production was complete, he launched live-fire exercises with the roughly 3,000 warships already built, leaving two opposing fleets poised for battle in deep space.

• Li Qingsong calculated that his 120 million effective population could support a far larger military force than an ordinary civilization and planned a fleet exceeding 75,000 ships.
• Li Qingsong mobilized the Jupiter System’s mines, factories, transport routes, and clones to produce warships at scale.
• Li Qingsong’s one hundred Final Assembly Plants began turning out Mercury-class, Venus-class, and Earth-class ships equipped with advanced systems.
• Li Qingsong divided the roughly 3,000 completed warships into two fleets, each led by an Earth-class Battleship, and sent them into deep space for live-fire exercises.

Li Qingsong’s live-fire exercise between two AI-commanded fleets escalated into a brutal war around Jupiter IX and Jupiter XI, with ships and clones dying as the fleets and bases continued producing reinforcements. After two years of combat, the battle had grown to more than five thousand warships, and Li Qingsong concluded that he needed to strengthen his limited weapons systems.

• A Venus-class Battleship exploded after damage caused its fission reactor to overload, killing all eighty clone soldiers aboard.
• The First Fleet reached within ten thousand kilometers of Jupiter IX and launched a massive attack on the Second Fleet’s base, factories, and defenses.
• Both fleets fought with increasingly varied tactics while clone crews maintained production under bombardment and Strategic Wukong AI gathered combat data.
• Li Qingsong kept sending replacement warships into battle, and the number of ships involved exceeded five thousand after two years.
• Li Qingsong judged that his Laser Cannons, electromagnetic cannons, and limited Interstellar Missiles gave him too few offensive options, so he decided to strengthen his weapons systems.

After a live-fire exercise exposed the limitations of conventional artillery and missiles in interstellar warfare, Li Qingsong developed a high-speed Electromagnetic Artillery Cannon and a powerful new explosive. He began redesigning Venus-class Battleships to carry the weapon and turned his attention to developing a new Interstellar Missile.

• Li Qingsong concluded that artillery shells and Interstellar Missiles needed much higher speeds to remain useful on modern interstellar battlefields.
• After a year of research, Li Qingsong developed an Electromagnetic Artillery Cannon that fired 10-kilogram rocket-like shells at up to 25 kilometers per second.
• Li Qingsong created Pentaazadienyl Anion Salt, an explosive with energy density more than ten times that of TNT, for the new shells.
• Li Qingsong began revising battleship blueprints to fit the Electromagnetic Artillery Cannon into Venus-class Battleships, since Mercury-class Battleships were too small.
• Li Qingsong turned his attention to developing a new type of Interstellar Missile.

Li Qingsong devised and tested a Separation-type Nuclear Explosion Engine to give interstellar missiles the acceleration that chemical fuel and miniature Secondary Pressurization Thrusters could not provide. The prototype exceeded his speed target before exploding, but its uncontrollable reaction and other dangers left him determined to improve it.

• Li Qingsong abandoned plans to miniaturize the Secondary Pressurization Thruster further and designed a missile engine that used a slowed, eventually runaway nuclear fission reaction to produce thrust.
• Li Qingsong launched the first hemispherical missile after robots loaded its engine with three portions of critical-mass Uranium-235.
• The missile began accelerating about fifty seconds into the countdown, and Li Qingsong could no longer stop it, only adjust its exhaust direction slightly.
• After flying for roughly half an hour and more than 100,000 kilometers, the missile reached 80 kilometers per second before its fission fuel exploded into a fireball.
• Li Qingsong identified the engine's uncontrollable acceleration, high fuel consumption, vulnerable slow start, and danger, but accepted it as his best long-range, high-power weapon and resolved to improve it.

After completing his weapons system, Li Qingsong launched the Solar System Great Development project to gather resources and support increasingly costly combat exercises. Thirty years later, every major planet except Earth had been industrialized, the Solar System had been connected by spacecraft, and massive war games continued across it.

• Li Qingsong integrated nuclear missiles into his battleship designs, tested competing configurations, and began mass-producing the optimized warships.
• He introduced unmanned weapons, including Unmanned Warships, Automated Turrets, and Unmanned Missile Clusters, making the Jupiter System’s live-fire exercises more brutal and varied.
• With exercises consuming too many supplies, Li Qingsong sent fifty modified Aerospace Carriers to develop resource-rich worlds across the Solar System.
• Li Qingsong transmitted his primary consciousness to Mars and personally directed difficult early construction work there for two years.
• Over the next thirty years, factories and Space Elevators transformed every major planet except Earth, and larger capital ships replaced the Aerospace Carriers.
• The decades-long combat exercises expanded across the Solar System, with one hundred thousand warships participating as cargo fleets moved vast quantities of supplies toward the Jupiter System.

Li Qingsong spent decades testing weapons and tactics in live-fire exercises, strengthening Wukong AI while keeping the opposing fleets’ intelligence separate. With the Lantu Ke Civilization’s main fleet expected in forty to sixty years, he ended the exercises and turned to building the Solar System Defense Line.

• A Faction fleets suffered surprise attacks from concealed Nuclear Missiles and Interstellar Mines, while unmanned weapons and support craft tested a range of battlefield tactics.
• Li Qingsong enforced the Intelligence Separation Policy so neither fleet nor its Wukong AI could use information unavailable to it in real combat.
• The exercises generated vast amounts of battlefield data, advancing Wukong AI while reinforcing Li Qingsong’s view that AI could assist but not replace people and manned fleets.
• Li Qingsong invested the solar system’s resources in the exercises as factories and more than a hundred million clones supported decades of fighting.
• Li Qingsong ended the exercises after estimating that the Lantu Ke Civilization’s main fleet would arrive in forty to sixty years, and began the work of building the Solar System Defense Line.

Li Qingsong planned a massive expansion of the Solar System Defense Line, using advances in hibernation technology and AI to prepare fleets, clone reserves, computers, and unmanned weapons for the Lantu Ke Civilization's arrival. He ended by ordering the construction of space fortresses and their weapons.

• Li Qingsong estimated that his consciousness links would reach 200 million by the time the Lantu Ke Civilization's main fleet arrived and planned to build 1.28 million warships and support vessels.
• Li Qingsong set a target of three billion backup clones after he and Nuwa AI achieved a breakthrough in Hibernation Technology.
• Li Qingsong planned thirty Hibernation Bases, each capable of holding one hundred million hibernating clones.
• Li Qingsong planned ten thousand supercomputers, including at least 5,000 Supercomputer Ships, to extend Wukong AI's computing support across the Solar System.
• Li Qingsong ordered the production of vast numbers of Interstellar Mines, satellites, and Interstellar Nuclear Missiles.
• Li Qingsong called for the construction of Space Fortresses equipped with an array of weapons.

Li Qingsong used the Solar System’s resources to build an enormous defensive network of mines, turrets, unmanned spacecraft, air-defense bases, and supercomputers. After several decades of construction, he finally detected clear traces of the Lantu Ke Civilization’s main fleet again.

• Li Qingsong planned vast numbers of planetary turrets, unmanned combat spacecraft, and Ground Air Defense Bases to protect planets, mines, factories, and other facilities.
• With the Solar System Great Development complete, Divine Craftsman AI and Li Qingsong’s clones coordinated the extraction and transport of resources for construction on an unprecedented scale.
• Li Qingsong’s factories produced hundreds of millions of Interstellar Mines each day, which cargo ships distributed around planets, dwarf planets, and tactically valuable regions of space.
• Clones entered hibernation as their bases were built, while factories assembled warships and produced unmanned vessels, missiles, turrets, and supercomputer facilities.
• Li Qingsong installed supercomputer bases and limited supporting infrastructure on Earth, then spent several decades expanding the Solar System’s defenses.
• Li Qingsong saw clear traces of the Lantu Ke Civilization’s main fleet after it activated the Dark Nebula.

Li Qingsong detected the Lantu Ke fleet decelerating toward the Solar System and sent it a message proposing peaceful negotiations and offering supplies if it chose another destination. He continued strengthening the Solar System Defense Line while awaiting the fleet’s reply.

• Li Qingsong observed the Lantu Ke fleet’s engines shining as it began decelerating toward the Solar System.
• Li Qingsong calculated that the fleet would take about 9.5 years to slow down and decided to contact it.
• Li Qingsong sent the Lantu Ke Civilization a message offering resources and the return of Momo Lansi and the other retained personnel if it continued its journey elsewhere.
• Li Qingsong warned that humanity had built a defensive line and invited the Lantu Ke Civilization to send an inspection fleet for negotiations.
• Li Qingsong continued strengthening the Solar System Defense Line as he waited for a reply.

Chief Haiwei learned that the Lantu Ke fleet was nearing the Solar System and dismissed humanity’s claim to it, while Li Qingsong prepared for war after receiving no reply to his offer of negotiations. The chapter ended with the Lantu Ke fleet less than 13 billion kilometers from the Sun.

• A Lantu Ke officer showed Chief Haiwei a message from the Solar System, and Haiwei concluded that the civilization there was weak and ordered the information announced to the public.
• Haiwei led the Lantu Ke fleet toward the Solar System and disregarded humanity’s claim that it was their home.
• Three months after Li Qingsong sent a negotiation proposal, no reply arrived, and he saw the approaching fleet grow brighter through his telescope.
• Li Qingsong continued preparing for war, building ships and weapons, upgrading AIs, and expanding his forces and clone reserves.
• After several years without contact, Li Qingsong watched the fleet’s engines go dark and saw the ships directly as they came within 13 billion kilometers of the Sun.

Li Qingsong watched the Lantu Ke fleet gather supplies at Huishen Star and used hundreds of thousands of satellites to assess its strength, finding more than 400,000 warships. Chief Haiwei considered plans from General Li Yuesen and General Halier for attacking Planet Seven, with Halier demanding a much larger force.

• Li Qingsong decided to defend the eight planets and the Asteroid Belt while abandoning celestial bodies beyond Neptune, including Huishen Star.
• Li Qingsong sent hundreds of thousands of satellites to surveil the Lantu Ke fleet at Huishen Star as both civilizations continued their reconnaissance efforts.
• Li Qingsong counted more than 400,000 Lantu Ke warships and saw that their fleet included over ten thousand ultra-giant Aerospace Carriers.
• Chief Haiwei summoned General Li Yuesen and General Halier to choose a commander for the first battle against Human Civilization.
• General Li Yuesen proposed attacking Planet Seven by first seizing Satellite One with 10,000 spacecraft.
• General Halier said he needed more than 100,000 spacecraft to take Planet Seven at a relatively low cost.

Halier chose a cautious plan to attack Uranus, and both the Lantu Ke fleet and Li Qingsong’s forces spent a year preparing for the battle. The battle began with their unmanned forces clashing, and Halier was shocked by the intelligence of Li Qingsong’s Combat AI.

• Halier proposed using thirty thousand warships to attack a smaller moon while the rest guarded against reinforcements, and Haiwei chose his plan over Li Yuesen’s.
• Li Qingsong detected a Lantu Ke fleet of more than ninety thousand warships heading toward Uranus and began redeploying his forces.
• After about a year, Li Qingsong had amassed one hundred and sixty thousand warships in the Uranus system and moved his core consciousness to Titania to command the battle.
• The Lantu Ke fleet split, with more than thirty thousand warships and their unmanned forces charging toward Titania as the larger fleet spread around the Uranus system.
• The two sides’ unmanned forces exchanged attacks, and Halier realized that Li Qingsong’s Combat AI was more intelligent than the Lantu Ke AI.

Halier recognized that his fleet’s superior unmanned equipment was being outmaneuvered by the enemy’s more intelligent combat AI, while Li Qingsong pushed production and Wukong AI to their limits. As both sides committed their manned fleets, the battle escalated into a direct confrontation.

• Halier watched the enemy coordinate mines, ships, and other weapons to encircle and steadily destroy his unmanned forces.
• Li Qingsong saw that the enemy’s equipment was far superior and that Wukong AI and the supercomputers were operating near their limits.
• Li Qingsong ordered the rear to maintain maximum production of weapons, ships, and other war supplies.
• Halier increased his planned manned commitment by ten thousand warships and ordered his fleet to enter the battle early.
• Halier sent more than ten thousand ships toward the battlefield from seven directions and committed the original thirty thousand warships.
• Li Qingsong sent more than one hundred thousand warships from Uranus’s satellites toward the battlefield.

Li Qingsong committed his fleets and defenses to a brutal battle around Uranus, using Venus-class and Earth-class Battleships to blunt the enemy’s technological advantage. Though the Earth-class Battleship Greedy Wolf was destroyed, the battlefield stabilized and began to shift slowly in Li Qingsong’s favor.

• More than a thousand manned warships were destroyed in the opening clash, with over eight hundred belonging to Li Qingsong.
• Li Qingsong’s Mercury-class and Venus-class Battleships fought back with interceptors, cannons, and missiles against the more advanced enemy fleet.
• Li Qingsong committed all fifty Earth-class Battleships from Uranus, and Greedy Wolf helped stabilize a collapsing defensive line.
• An enemy shell breached Greedy Wolf’s armor, and the Earth-class Battleship exploded into wreckage.
• Ground defenses on Uranus’s moons joined the fighting as the chaotic battle stabilized and slowly began shifting in Li Qingsong’s favor.

Li Qingsong’s forces endured severe communications interference, but their Tactical Wukong AIs maintained enough independent coordination to keep the battle tilted in their favor. General Halier committed another forty thousand warships, overwhelming Li Qingsong’s fleet and destroying many unmanned forces, but Li Qingsong was prepared to replenish them.

• Electromagnetic interference cut many of Li Qingsong’s forces off from the Strategic Wukong AI, while the Lantu Ke fleet’s superior communications technology gave it an advantage.
• Li Qingsong’s Tactical Wukong AIs independently coordinated attacks and defenses, offsetting the enemy’s communications advantage through their superior intelligence.
• General Halier judged that his forty thousand deployed warships could not win and sent another forty thousand into battle, keeping ten thousand in reserve.
• The enlarged Lantu Ke force overwhelmed Li Qingsong’s fleet, destroying unmanned combat forces and putting his side under escalating pressure.
• Li Qingsong rejected the idea that the enemy could defeat him by eliminating his unmanned forces, relying on his ability to replenish them while sustaining a fleet at maximum scale.

Li Qingsong flooded the interstellar battlefield with weapons and reinforcements, turning his inexhaustible production into a trap for the Lantu Ke Civilization fleet. General Halier ordered a retreat, and Li Qingsong ended the battle pleased that he had destroyed twenty thousand enemy warships.

• Li Qingsong used the Space Elevator to send vast stocks of weapons and supplies into space while factories produced replacements and new Mercury-class Battleships.
• Clones replenished battlefield and factory losses at a rate exceeding a million casualties a day, while Li Qingsong's forces produced billions of mines and other weapons daily.
• General Halier's reconnaissance revealed the scale of Li Qingsong's daily reinforcements, and he ordered most of the Lantu Ke fleets to retreat with three fleets covering their withdrawal.
• After the battle paused, Li Qingsong regretted that the enemy commander had retreated but celebrated destroying twenty thousand enemy warships.

After repelling the Lantu Ke Civilization fleet at Uranus, Li Qingsong planned for the next phase of the conflict. Unable to afford another voyage and unwilling to continue fighting, the Lantu Ke leadership proposed peace while demanding supplies and compensation from humanity.

• Li Qingsong surveyed the wreckage at Uranus, celebrated his victory despite losing over a hundred million clones, and used Wukong AI to plan future deployments.
• General Halier returned to the Lantu Ke Civilization flagship facing public fury over the loss of twenty thousand warships and five hundred thousand warriors.
• The Lantu Ke leadership learned that its remaining supplies could not support another interstellar voyage without deuterium from a gas giant, now controlled by humanity.
• The Head of State decided to negotiate rather than keep fighting, while planning to use public anger and demands for compensation as leverage.
• Li Qingsong received a message in which the Lantu Ke Civilization called for peace but demanded compensation, an in-person apology, punishment of human officials, and a list of materials.

After Li Qingsong rejected the Lantu Ke Civilization’s demands for supplies and declared that he would defeat them, both sides committed to war. Chief Haiwei put Halier in command of a second campaign with 300,000 warships, and Halier led the fleet away from Huishen Star toward the star system.

• Li Qingsong refused the Lantu Ke Civilization’s demands and vowed to take its population, technology, and ships as compensation for its defeat.
• The Lantu Ke Civilization’s leaders responded to humanity’s rejection of peace by deciding to resume the war.
• Chief Haiwei told Halier that his first defeat was not his fault and appointed him commander of the second campaign.
• Halier proposed entering the star system before choosing a weak target, then using the fleet’s mobility to seize a Major Planet as a base.
• Chief Haiwei assigned Halier 300,000 warships, and public anger over humanity’s refusal strengthened support for the campaign.
• Halier ordered the gathered warships and support vessels to set sail from Huishen Star.

Li Qingsong used his ability to shift his consciousness links to make the Lantu Ke fleet believe every Major Planet could field 160,000 warships. After Halier deduced the forces were remotely controlled by a limited group, Chief Haiwei approved testing the planets’ unmanned defenses to find a weakness.

• Li Qingsong shifted his consciousness links to Saturn and deployed 160,000 warships against the Lantu Ke fleet’s attack.
• Halier tested the defenses of several Major Planets and found 160,000 warships wherever he probed.
• Halier probed two planets simultaneously and found their forces split into 90,000 and 70,000 warships, totaling 160,000.
• Halier told Chief Haiwei he suspected Human Civilization could remotely control no more than 160,000 warships at once.
• Chief Haiwei and the leadership approved Halier’s plan to test the unmanned defenses on every Major Planet and seize any weakness they found.

Li Qingsong’s forces fought a drawn-out war of scattered attacks across the Solar System while General Halier faced mounting opposition from his own civilization. Chief Haiwei kept Halier in command, and Halier finally announced that he had found the enemy’s weakness.

• Li Qingsong saw the Lantu Ke fleets disperse and launch shifting attacks across the Solar System, then decided to test his defenses against their attrition tactics.
• Li Qingsong’s forces fought thousands of scattered battles as he relied on the resources of the eight Major Planets to replace losses.
• Lantu Ke officials demanded that Chief Haiwei remove Halier, arguing that the war of attrition was wasting their resources and soldiers.
• Chief Haiwei refused to replace Halier and used his authority to suppress opposition across the civilization.
• General Halier continued directing the brutal fighting, and during an intelligence analysis meeting he announced that he had found the enemy’s weakness.