"This round's a win!"
Xi Yan pumped his fist hard in his office, looking delighted-ten out of ten delighted, or at least nine.
You dared sign a migration treaty with me?
I'll lure away every last one of your people!
Who could have guessed that Xi Yan had imposed extremely strict social controls, forbidding his people from leaving their colonies by any means?
Stay home and work for me!
The United Nations of Earth, by contrast, was still constrained by the old morality of "democracy and freedom." Its control over society and its citizens was not particularly strict, so Xi Yan needed only a few tricks to lure plenty of its citizens over as immigrants.
Xi Yan kept his own citizens firmly under his wing. Without his permission, not a single one of his people could get out!
He would consider developing tourism in the future, but in these early days, everyone would have to put up with some hardship. He hoped they would stay where they belonged rather than wander around.
They had to obey the empire and remain at their posts for life.
They had sold their freedom in exchange for lifelong safety and freedom from worries about food and clothing. The empire took responsibility for their lives, and frankly, the treatment Xi Yan offered them was among the very best.
Xi Yan immediately instructed the imperial agencies to continue creating all kinds of production jobs.
The workers arriving from the United Nations of Earth would soon fill those jobs.
Xi Yan's population could not leave, while people from the United Nations of Earth would stream in without end, confined to their posts to produce resources for him.
The United Nations of Earth would probably take a while to realize what was happening.
Surprise attack!
Then Xi Yan