Chapter 578, So, What Is the Price?

Ewing has silently readjusted his judgment of the alliance's strength in his heart.

It can't be taken lightly.

He must consider how to deal with the relationship with the alliance in the future.

Since the Blood Sharks have accepted the call to participate in the rebellion launched by the Iron Armored Corps and to avenge the Iron Armored Corps, which had caused the Corps to suffer a loss 130 years ago, it is obvious that they still need to cooperate with the Alliance for a relatively long time.

This counter-insurgency war does not seem to be over in a short time.

Gu Hang, a powerful psychic, a ruler of the Alliance who cannot be underestimated, and the commander-in-chief of the southern theater of the counter-insurgency war, is a person who needs to be dealt with for a long time.

As the head of the Blood Sharks, Ewing must of course deal with it carefully.

Ewing, who was quite worried, completed the task of capturing the entire battleship together with the Phoenix and the Alliance army.

The Alliance advocated a policy of accepting prisoners and even treating them well; the Space Marines led the way, the Battle Sisters cooperated, and the Glory Guards took the lead, repeatedly disintegrating some Alfonzo diehards in the ship who tried to damage the ship at the moment of death.

In the end, this Retribution-class battleship was completely controlled by the Alliance.

Some crew members and even the entire command system entered the ship and began debugging.

Soon, the Retribution-class battleship, which originally belonged to the Alfonzo fleet, was restarted.

However, now it belongs to the Alliance.

According to convention, the Alliance named this level of giant ship after a star region in the Dragon Eagle star field: Iron Horse.

Its condition is not very good. While the previous space naval battle caused some damage to it, the boarding operations launched by the Blood Shark, Phoenix and the Alliance army were not too gentle, causing some damage from the inside.

The Alliance's engineers and the Mingyang Sect technical priests who accompanied the army have been fully checking all aspects of the ship.

At present, the situation is still optimistic.

The Iron Horse does not need to be returned to the factory for overhaul at least.

It should take a few months to drive the ship to a relatively better star port, and it should be able to restore its normal combat effectiveness.

At this point, the mission of the Space Marines is completely over.

Ewing was planning to return to his flagship "Ghost Shark" with his fighting brothers. But at this moment, he saw a red-armored warrior wearing an Iron Cavalry Terminator walking towards him.

Ewing knew him.

His name is Karduso, the captain of the Phoenix Regiment, and the commander of the three hundred Phoenixes operating on the ship.

This fierce-looking Space Marine actually left a deep impression on Ewing. He always subconsciously evaluates the gap between others' strength and his own through their performance. In his opinion, Karduso is still a little worse than himself, but he is almost the same as the captain of Blood Shark's own company.

It's rare.

Some leaders of regiments with poor reputation and average strength may not have this strength.

Criticizing the New World Torch by name.

However, the captain of the Phoenix looked unhappy, and looked at him with a bit of hatred.

Why?

Ewing soon figured it out: they didn't have any hatred for the Phoenix, but the Phoenix didn't have any hatred for them.

In the Bauhinia Rebellion 130 years ago, although their main target was the Bauhinia Regiment, they also killed quite a few Phoenixes.

But he didn't feel guilty or sorry about it.

At that time, the two sides were fighting, and the Phoenix was identified as a traitor by the Empire, so it was natural and duty for the Blood Shark to suppress the rebellion and fight the Phoenix. The fighting on the battlefield is like this, life and death, no other words.

If the Phoenix has hatred, they should go to find the people who labeled them as traitors of the Empire, not themselves.

Even if it's a blood feud, the number of Phoenixes killed by the Blood Shark back then is definitely not as many as the Fury and Iron Armor.

But no matter what, if the Phoenix insists on treating them with hatred, he has nothing to say. If Governor Gu Hang makes some choices because of his closer relationship with the Phoenix, then it can only be regretted that the two sides have become enemies.

With this mentality, Ewing greeted Carduso frankly.

Carduso looked him up and down in front of him, his expression was still not good, and he even snorted coldly.

But in the end, he did not do anything radical, and said in a muffled voice:

"The Governor invites you to meet him."

...

Ewing did not struggle or hesitate. As soon as he received the invitation, he boarded the spaceship and arrived at the Alliance aircraft carrier "Hippogriff" where Gu Hang was, and met the Governor.

Gu Hang is not like Carduso, who only has a stinky face.

He smiled and greeted the Ewing war captain with a gentle attitude. A simple snack for only the two of them was brought up by the attendant, and Gu Hang invited Captain Ewing to taste it.

Ewing was unmoved by this, and even showed some discomfort with the environment, the etiquette, and the words of greeting from Gu Hang.

To be honest, Ewing had no experience in dealing with the scene, he was neither good at it nor liked it.

Gu Hang soon saw this.

He chuckled, it was really not unexpected.

It was precisely because of the advance estimate that Gu Hang did not ask anyone to make a fuss.

After the initial greetings, he quickly got down to business:

"I hope that the Blood Shark Regiment and the Alliance can become closer allies."

"Not just this war, but also the future after the war."

"I know the traditions of the Blood Sharks, and I know the existence of the Gray Tax and the Blood Tax. There is nothing wrong with these, and I fully agree with them. But I want to say that the Alliance cannot allow the Blood Sharks to collect the Gray Tax and the Blood Tax directly by violent and unnegotiable means. At the same time, I also think that this is a very inefficient and wasteful thing."

At this point, Gu Hang paused for a moment and observed the expression of Ewing, who was not wearing a helmet.

He didn't have much expression.

Space Marines have always been like this, not to mention the Blood Sharks, who are relatively taciturn and don't show their emotions in various regiments.

But Ewing didn't leave the table angrily when Gu Hang said this, which was a good result.

After all, the Blood Sharks have a criminal record. The conflict between them and Iron Armor happened here.

Even if it is possible to anger the Blood Shark, Gu Hang must first draw this bottom line clearly.

"Very good, it seems that we have reached a consensus on this most basic principle."

"I agree that the Blood Shark has the right to collect blood tax and gray tax. This is what you deserve after fighting side by side with the Alliance and winning the victory. You also agree that the collection of blood tax and gray tax needs to be provided by the Alliance, rather than directly obtained by violence. Mutual respect, we have the basis for cooperation."

"Based on the results of the Blood Shark, the Blood Shark has the right to put forward a series of material and personnel requirements to us. In accordance with the tradition of the Blood Shark, let's talk about the gray tax first. What was the price when you traded with those Mechanicus in the past? The price that the Alliance offers for the technology and equipment recovered from the Blood Shark will definitely exceed theirs by more than 20%."

"In terms of blood tax, it can be divided into two parts. The Blood Shark needs excellent backup personnel , as a new source of blood for the development of the war group. I promise that when the blood sharks need it, there is no need for any military merits or achievements. As long as you need to add new blood, you only need to tell the alliance a number, and the alliance will provide this number of outstanding young people. "

"The second aspect of the blood tax is that the blood sharks need ordinary mortals to serve as the blood shark auxiliary army, the crew of the war group fleet, and the war group servants. The alliance can also provide them, and it is completely free. But on this basis, the blood sharks need to agree to a series of conditions from us: the mortals provided by the alliance have service years, basic treatment, and the right to basic protection. Their lives should not be trampled on at will, and they should be given basic respect. "

"Wait..." At this point, Ewing had to interrupt Gu Hang's speech.

He stared at Gu Hang and didn't even ask his own questions.

He believed that Gu Hang understood what he meant.

The blood sharks never treat mortals as human beings.

Not only enemies, not only friendly forces, but also their own auxiliary forces and mortal servants.

This is not only a traditional problem, but also a problem of concept. They don't care, and they also believe that only those who survive the trials of blood and fire are worthy of being their auxiliary troops, that is, to be high-level cannon fodder; if they fail to survive the trials, then it's just right that they sacrifice in the glorious cannon fodder work, which is their best destination.

Then, now Gu Hang said that he should respect these mortals?

And he also needs to pay them? And there is a service period, can he retire when it is up?

Ewing hopes to tell Gu Hang with his eyes how ridiculous this matter is.

However, Gu Hang did not back down on this matter.

"It's not that I can't give you the traditional blood tax you want from the prisoner-of-war camps; but every world declared as a territory by the Alliance will not provide such "slaves" without rights."

"But please listen to me, this matter also has benefits. You don't need to pay for the remuneration, the Alliance will pay; but because of this, they are still part of the Alliance, so you can't trample on their lives and dignity. At the same time, I believe that during this period of time, you have also seen the heroic appearance of the Alliance's mortal warriors. Let me say shamelessly that many of their elites, except that they don't have the opportunity to be implanted with gene seeds and don't have superhuman bodies, are no worse than any Space Marine in terms of technology and spiritual will."

"Like your Honor Guards?"

"Yes, of course, I can't guarantee that when I provide you with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of manpower, everyone will have this level. But I will guarantee that there will be such elites among them, and at the same time, their average level is not weaker than the Empire's Star Army. You should know what kind of value this is."

Ewing fell silent again.

This time, he was thinking.

Of course, he knew what such value meant.

The Blood Shark Corps had been collecting blood taxes for so many years, and had also gained a lot of experience. Those "slaves" they had forced to be trained to the level of auxiliary troops they recognized through the so-called "blood and fire cleansing" would probably be a good thing, not to mention that only one in ten would survive.

Therefore, they need to collect blood taxes continuously. On the one hand, they do need a considerable number of cannon fodder, but at the same time, they also need a considerable number of cannon fodder to wash out a sufficient number of auxiliary troops.

But if the Alliance directly provides it, then why do they still need so many cannon fodder?

What's more, the low-level cannon fodder is not so compatible with their fighting style. They are a war group that is good at quick response and quick assault. Why do they need cannon fodder? Are they fighting head-on and consuming each other?

More elite auxiliary troops will obviously assist them in fighting better.

Even if some ordinary troops are needed to help attract the enemy's attention on the front battlefield to create opportunities and space for them to quickly assault the rear, it is better to use cannon fodder than to use elite auxiliary troops to hold the enemy in the front.

It sounds very beneficial.

The only problem is that the war group needs to change their traditions, their cognition, and their concepts.

This is a somewhat challenging thing.

"Let's put these aside for now." Ewing put aside the dispute first and said, "Your conditions sound good from beginning to end. There are more transactions for gray tax, and blood tax is provided to me by the alliance for nothing..."

"So, what's the price?"

"What does the alliance want from the blood shark?"

Gu Hang smiled widely and almost said "all this".

But he still held back.

He said: "Allies, we need a long-term, reliable ally, an ally that can establish a unified command system and act for a unified goal."

"Just an ally?"

Gu Hang's smile remained on his face: "Of course, just an ally. These are all the conditions for the alliance. Do you have any more questions after listening to this?"