Chapter 486, Marshal Gu
Looking at the planet in front of him, he couldn't recognize it as the Earth, the mother planet of mankind.
The beautiful blue planet in my impression is completely gone.
The ocean, which should have occupied most of the planet's surface area, had completely dried up an unknown number of years ago, and the floating white clouds naturally disappeared.
Instead, there are countless man-made structures that are clearly visible from space, covering every inch of the planet, including the dry seabed.
Those are hives.
This was Gu Hang's first thought, but he quickly overturned it.
So inaccurate.
It was a hive city.
Today's Holy Terra is the largest hive world in the empire. According to the empire's data, there are trillions of people living here, including more than 50 billion imperial government officials, who are responsible for ruling the entire empire's vast territory.
What a terrible number this is?
Koroga is already a standard hive world, and its huge population resources are its core output. But even so, its peak population was only 40 billion, only 4% of Holy Terra.
Today's alliance controls half of the star field. Counting all the worlds indirectly controlled by the Seven Horses Framework and the Economic Community Act, there are 182 in total. The total population is only 340 billion, and it is only the planet Holy Terra. Only one-third of it.
And Holy Terra has more than just population. Its productivity is also very developed.
The entire solar system is indeed the core area of mankind.
Here is not only Holy Terra, but also a lunar base, and another magnificent world - the headquarters of the Mechanicus, the Forge World of Mars.
The star port area of Holy Terra is also extremely huge, like a flat space world, with continuous steel structures that are almost connected to the lunar star port in the distance.
Countless ships, large and small, were densely packed in and out of this magnificent star port area. Most of them are transport ships of various types, and it is difficult to calculate the amount of materials handled by the star port every day. Gu Hang could even see several ships dragging a huge ice comet into a specific star port. These ice comets may be the source of domestic water for the trillions of people on the long-dried Holy Terra that are beyond Gu Hang's imagination.
In addition, the Sun Fleet, the core of the Imperial Navy, patrols this area. Gu Hang can see many powerful warships of different shapes at a glance, each of which is comparable to or even larger than the Retribution-class battleship. The most numerous of them is definitely the most common Retribution-class battleship; but there are also some different-looking battleship models that look more powerful than the average Retribution-class.
In the orbit of Holy Terra, the most eye-catching thing is a circular creation that looks a bit like a star castle, but is larger than any star castle Gu Hang has seen before.
Named Phalanx, it is the largest mobile fortress currently in the Empire. It is the size of a satellite or a large asteroid, and can accommodate 10 battleships on its front deck alone. It can even be regarded as a cosmic hive city, which can accommodate an unimaginable population and requires an immeasurable number of mortal pilots.
Not only is it big, it's also fast. On the rare occasions when it left Holy Terra to fight, it was always able to quickly arrive on the battlefield and destroy the enemies of the Empire with unmatched firepower.
Its history has even exceeded the history of the human empire. It is a prehistoric creation. Humanity's current technology can only maintain it. If there is huge damage, it can only be repaired through alternative technology, and it will cause permanent performance loss, let alone it. A new ship has been built.
The Phalanx was recovered by the original 7th Space Marine Legion 10,000 years ago. After the Chapter was split, it also became the home of the 7th Legion's reformed Golden Knights Chapter.
Nowadays, the Golden Knights Chapter is the only Space Marine Chapter permanently stationed in Holy Terra. Together with the Imperial Custodes, both are super warriors painted in golden color. They jointly defend the mother planet of mankind and the Empire. heart.
Gu Hang's spaceship passed by the Phalanx in the distance, and his eyes were still looking at this huge, majestic, and beautiful creation, and he was thinking:
"When can I have such a big guy..."
It wasn't until the Phalanx disappeared from his sight that he reluctantly looked back.
After entering a star port, he changed into a small spaceship and headed to the ground.
While flying close to the ground, Gu Hang had a startling glimpse of the people living in those majestic hives.
Hmm... not doing so well.
This slightly cracked the aura of Holy Terra in Gu Hang's heart.
In the orbit of the planet, he was almost shocked by the capital of the empire and the heart of humanity. However, the living standards of the people on Holy Terra were similar to the hive world in his stereotype.
But it is said that the housing prices on Holy Terra are very expensive. The most shabby small room may be worth a palace on other planets.
On the surface of Holy Terra, the most magnificent building complex is undoubtedly the Imperial Palace.
It is located in the Himalayas and covers the entire Tibetan Plateau. Its spiers reach into the sky, its magnificent palaces shine in the sunlight, and countless spaceships hover above it, guarding the glory and dignity of the empire. It is not only a symbol of the power of the empire, but also like an eternal fortress, standing in the long river of history, witnessing the rise, fall and changes of the empire.
It was here that the Emperor made his fortune and unified the entire world; it was here that the Emperor forged the Space Marines and the Emperor's Custodes, who could be called 'perfect humans', and launched the Great Crusade that established the current territory of the Empire. The Emperor was even here, ascending to godhood and protecting humanity for thousands of years.
And Gu Hang's destination for this trip is exactly here.
…
Gu Hang's trip to Holy Terra took him a long time.
The longest journey is from the Alliance to Wuji Star. The road to the south was a bit too dangerous, so Gu Hang could only choose to go from the east to the East Star Territory and then south to the Silk Carving Star Territory, and then to the Wuji Star Territory.
After arriving at Wuji Star, he made another jump and entered the Wenshou Universe, and then entered the Sun Universe.
The empire is also very particular when dividing administrative regions. Each cosmic capital planet, while serving as the core of an entire cosmic domain, also has a requirement that the connection to the solar cosmic domain should not exceed that of one star domain. jump.
Even, for the sake of the second point, sometimes the first point is sacrificed, leaving the capital planet of a certain star field hanging on the edge.
This is obviously to ensure that the entire empire can maintain better control over the entire empire's vast territory as much as possible.
Until later, the territory of the empire was too large, and this rule was relaxed to two star regions.
But all in all, the journey from the Promise Star to the Solar Space Domain at the core of the Empire is not as far away as it seems from the Empire Star Domain map.
However, even so, it took Gu Hang a full 7 months of sailing time to reach the solar universe, and another 3 months to reach Holy Terra.
This is because Gu Hang took a high-speed spaceship and did not bring an entire fleet. He did not stop at any time on the way and rarely slowed down. He led the central government of the empire to issue traffic orders to various places. He only completed this in 10 months. voyage.
If it were replaced by a larger fleet or transport fleet, it would usually take two years to complete this journey.
For Gu Hang, a man who makes millions a minute, he would definitely not be happy to have him spend such a long time on the road.
Especially at such a critical juncture when the Silver Tribunal is approaching.
Isn't Gu Hang worried that after the Silver Tribunal arrived, they would withstand the pressure and declare the alliance treason, and then the Raging Flame Chapter would start a war and launch a full-scale attack on the areas controlled by the alliance?
Of course I'm still worried.
However, after much consideration, Gu Hang decided to take this trip.
Gallardo invited him here to solve the problems caused by the Iron Fury Stone to the alliance.
Nominally, the purpose is to bring Gu Hang to Holy Terra, and there will be a commendation ceremony specially held for Gu Hang. The victory report of the Iron Teeth War has finally gone through the process at the Imperial Military Affairs Department. Although there were some twists and turns, it is now basically established that Gu Hang and his alliance were the biggest contributors to this war.
But if it was just about commending and conferring honors, then Gu Hang would definitely not spend nearly two years traveling back and forth to Holy Terra.
Even if Gallardo said that there was a chance he could get the rank of marshal.
Marshal, this is an absurdly high military rank. Moreover, when one comes to Holy Terra for a title conferment, it is obviously not possible to give him a military rank that is not available in some local world defense forces, but a solid Marshal of the Imperial Astral Force.
This is usually the top military rank that can only be obtained by the highest military commander of the entire Astra Militarum or the Imperial Navy. It is also the highest permanent military rank of the Astra Militarum and the Navy. Although there are actually two levels above the marshal, the grand marshal and the supreme marshal, they are basically of an honorary nature. A generalissimo is generally a war involving multiple imperial marshals in a large-scale war. A certain marshal is appointed by the empire center to assume the highest and unified command status.
Generally, after the end of the war, the temporary supreme commander's identity will be removed, or because his performance in this war is very critical, his contribution and meritorious service cannot be ignored, and the military rank of this generalissimo may also be changed. , is retained as an honorary military rank.
As for the Supreme Commander, there is only one in the entire empire. As the representative of the Astra Militarum, he sits on the thirteen seats of the Imperial Parliament.
In these senses, the marshal is indeed the highest rank among the normal military ranks of the empire, and it has huge political significance. Even if he is a marshal, the influence brought by just this title is quite large. .
But for Gu Hang, the rank of marshal was not enough for him to waste nearly two years traveling back and forth.
He is different from ordinary marshals of the Astra Militarum. After someone is promoted, he or she must be transferred to or master more Astra Militarum troops and become a commander at a higher level, so that he can be assigned such a top military rank.
However, Gu Hang's marshal was created as a relatively independent force. Although his Raging Bear Legion is also a registered Astra Militarum legion, after several rounds of expansion, its overall size is only 20 million. Of course, it cannot support a marshal.
If this title of marshal is just an honor to him, its value is not that high.
However, the meaning behind it is relatively large.
Although he cannot expect that after being named a marshal, the empire will deploy a large number of Astra Militarum troops to expand the power at his hands. However, Gu Hang's own army of angry bears can be further expanded.
If it can be legally expanded to a scale of billions, then the annual funding for raising troops will be hundreds of billions or even hundreds of billions according to the standards of the Astra Militarum; the annual funding for raising troops will also be calculated in the tens of billions.
Moreover, during the discussion between Gu Hang and Gallardo, the empire might give the alliance another rank of admiral.
A serious Imperial Admiral.
Of course Gu Hang would give this opportunity to Ye Lixia.
In addition to military rank and honor, this also means that the Pegasus Fleet, as an Imperial Navy fleet, can be expanded to several times its current size. This also means an allocation of hundreds of billions and an annual maintenance cost of tens of billions.
Of course, the empire will not actually give a dime of these 'appropriations' for building the army, they are all provided by the alliance.
But it is tax deductible.
That's equivalent to real money.
Anyway, building an army takes time, so you can build as much as you can deduct from the imperial tax the alliance pays every year.
Rather than handing over this money in vain, it is better to use it as a tax deduction for building the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy.
Of course, we can’t really build that much with an annual tax of 38 billion, otherwise other people along the entire line who need this money will be offended. But the tax deduction is about 20 billion a year - as the alliance develops and the tax amount increases, this number can also increase. It would take twenty or thirty years to build up these two armies.
Although, if the Alliance's army is converted into the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy, then the Empire can theoretically mobilize it, but...
In the past, Gu Hang had to do whatever he was told to do as soon as he was given an order.
However, if Gu Hang really controls the Astral Army and Navy fleet worth hundreds of billions, then no matter who wants to issue this 'paper transfer order', he will have to think twice first.
Of course, Gu Hang is a loyal minister of the empire and will definitely carry out orders. Otherwise, wouldn't he become a domineering warlord of a separatist regime?
However, before issuing the order, Gu Hang's opinion must be carefully sought. As the marshal of the empire, and a marshal with real power at that time, who can ignore his opinions?
The meanings behind the military titles of ‘Marshal the Raging Bear’ and ‘General Tianma’ were the superficial reasons why Gu Hang wanted to visit Holy Terra in person.
This involves matters with a total value of two to three hundred billion, which is equivalent to the alliance's imperial tax for four to five years. It also represents major political interests and cannot be ignored.