Chairman Maxwell was taken aback, then deeply moved. Bai Yantang and Jessica Yang were also pleasantly surprised. What worried clearheaded people like them most was that the president would be so swept up by these victories that he started thinking he really knew what he was doing.
Then he turned to the labor minister. "According to the report General Yang sent, we'll need to train at least five million qualified crew members over the next six months. This isn't ordinary conscription; it involves a great many skilled workers. Mr. Bai, you and Treasurer Donovan will need to work with the Defense Committee to see it through."
The president could be a little bombastic and a little theatrical at times, but wasn't he fairly capable? If it weren't wartime, he might have made a very good president. Bai Yantang thought.
...No, who said he couldn't be a good wartime leader? So far, at least, his speeches had all been successful, strengthening everyone's resolve to resist. And when it came to the actual work, he hadn't exactly held everyone back.
But back to the conscription issue. It was a very real challenge facing the Blue Star Commonwealth's forces.
The Blue Star Commonwealth currently had a registered population of 300 billion. Humans, the predominant species, made up 86 percent of it, and the average age was under thirty-four. There was no shortage of manpower at present.
So, after the war began, reserve systems across the Commonwealth had been activated. In just six months, more than fifteen million reservists had put their uniforms back on. A third of them had completed refresher training and were gradually being assigned to fortresses and planetary strongholds across the Commonwealth.
These soldiers had received only basic military training. They could shoot, hold a line, charge with bayonets when