Then everyone set off again, sailing along the Shanhai Passage toward the New Shenzhou Sector. On the last day of 833, the fleet reached the final stop along the passage, a star system called Shanhaiguan.
Construction was underway here, too. They had everything one could want: clusters of array gun emplacements, deep-space probes, shipyards. The original small fortress had expanded several times over, and the little space city that had once served as a waystation for merchant ships was being converted for military use.
There were also two large workships on standby nearby, looking ready to lay down the keel the moment the money came through.
In fact, when the Commonwealth began its major construction push two years earlier, Old Master Bai had used his position as a cabinet minister to wrangle a portion of the military budget and send it home for development. At last, they had managed to build a batch of transfer and repair facilities with both civilian and military uses.
After war broke out, naturally, work began on the second phase of the defensive project. At that point, the Farshore Theater had not even been established.
From that perspective, the people of New Shenzhou were probably among the most crisis-conscious in the Commonwealth.
Judging by the scale of the projects, they really did want to turn the narrow Shanhai Passage into a steel fortress. But resources and manpower were limited, so they could only do what they could.
Fortunately, New Shenzhou was geographically isolated and remote, nowhere near any major trade route. If the Galactic Empire's forces really did break through the Farshore defenses, they would surely punch through the Southern Heavenly Gate and make straight for Earth. In that situation, they probably wouldn't waste their forces sending the main fleet into the narrow Shanhai Passage.