Chapter 701, Military Achievements

The biggest topic of the meeting was over.

The finishing work was arranged, and each unit received relevant combat tasks.

These orders were jointly issued by the three commanders of the South Line, West Line, and North Line.

That is, the names of Gu Hang, Lu Salilius, and Xi Rui.

Among them, Gu Hang's name was at the top, symbolizing his highest status in the coalition after the merger. At the same time, the orders signed by the three commanders at the same time have the highest effectiveness in the entire imperial coalition.

The troops who received the order had nothing to say, and they had to work when they had to work.

However, at the end of the meeting, Gu Hang mentioned another thing.

Although it was just the beginning, it was mentioned briefly and not expanded, but this matter itself was already very concerned.

The sentence Gu Hang mentioned was to submit a battle report to Holy Terra.

Translated, it means reporting merit.

This matter is what everyone pays attention to.

When they came to the war, they all said that they accepted the call of the empire and were loyal to the empire. But in fact, they all have political demands.

Whether it is the Space Marines, the Navy, or the Star Army, the defense forces of each planet, the escort armed fleet of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce...

All are like this.

Participate in the war, gain military merits, accumulate reputation... Return to your own territory and get what you deserve, this is what everyone expects.

Whether this thing is an official position, specific resources, or political status... In short, it is what these political creatures desire.

However, Gu Hang has always had an understanding: victory and the fruits of victory are not the same thing.

It is not uncommon for heroes to shed blood and tears in any place and in any era.

Gu Hang does not know whether these people who won the battle can really get what they want when they go back.

They are not his people, so he can neither manage nor want to manage.

All he can do is to record every battle truthfully and impartially in the battle report submitted to Holy Terra, who participated, who achieved what results, and who paid how much sacrifice...

That's all.

As for what specific benefits they will get with this war achievement officially recognized by the empire, it depends on personal luck and personal means.

Gu Hang can only take care of himself.

He is very clear about what he wants.

It is also quite rustic and primitive.

That is population, resources, and land.

The importance is arranged in order.

To go further, in this war against the Iron Armor, which then evolved into a war against the Void Zerg, all the places conquered by the Alliance will be handed over to the Alliance.

This includes the Menghe Star Region, which was managed by the Alliance in the early stage of the war, the Aozhua Star Region, which was taken in the middle of the war, and the Jingjie Star Region and Alfonzo Star Region, which were taken by the Alliance in the late stage of the war.

By then, the Alliance will have direct territories spanning two universes and a total of five star regions.

Nearly 4,000 worlds and 10 trillion people.

This is the ideal map in Gu Hang's mind.

With the [Technology Tree] panel, and enough time, Gu Hang can raise the development here to a considerable level.

By then, he, who can be called a local lord, will have enough confidence.

He has not thought about what he wants to do with this confidence. However, farming and giving a good life to 10 trillion humans are huge benefits in themselves. As for the strong military force supported by developed productivity, it is used to sweep away various external and internal threats, and will never threaten the stability of Holy Terra or even the entire human empire regime. On the contrary, a strong alliance will be a strong pillar for maintaining the stability of the empire.

Well... the only problem is that this statement is believed by Holy Terra?

From an objective point of view, Gu Hang is not optimistic.

For ordinary local forces, as long as they pay the imperial tax honestly, the empire will generally not care much, and they can do whatever they want.

But that is for ordinary forces.

The alliance is no longer an ordinary force.

If the occupied areas across five star fields are all given to the alliance, then as a unified political entity, the scale will be too large.

Wouldn't Holy Terra murmur in his heart?

You know, the lesson of Tiekai is still in front of us.

How big is the core territory of Iron Armor?

It is nothing more than one star field, more than 700 worlds.

With this alone, they can continuously expand their influence to the surrounding areas, stir up rebellions, and create a war that swept across four universes.

The Empire built the Western Front Legion twice, sent reinforcements to the North Front many times, and a new alliance formed the South Front, which killed Iron Armor.

If the Alliance really controls 4,000 worlds, how far will Gu Hang expand his influence?

If one day, the Alliance will also stir up a rebellion like Iron Armor, how much effort will it take to quell it?

Even... can it be quelled?

After this war, the Alliance's war strength and potential have been recognized by many parties. There are Space Marines who are very close to the Alliance, they have their own starship production capabilities, and they have the support of two mechanical orders. The training and equipment levels of the army are excellent among the Star Army...

Isn't this a large Iron Armor?

If such a powerful alliance wants to use military and economic power to expand its influence to the surrounding areas like the Iron Fury Stone did before, how many worlds will collude with the alliance?

To put it bluntly, if an alliance of that level rebels, if the first wave of imperial troops to suppress the rebellion fails to defeat it, the alliance may be able to easily push back to the Magre Universe and then stab into the central territory.

Is it likely?

Maybe not, but the masters on Holy Terra have just experienced a war that made them bleed a lot, and they certainly don’t want to have another big one.

Even if it’s just a risk, it won’t work.

It’s said that the imperial tax can be paid on time and in the right amount, but who can tell for sure about this?

If a planetary governor says he doesn’t want to pay taxes, Holy Terra doesn’t even need to know, and the star zone will do it for you; a star zone unites to rebel and become an independent force to resist taxes. This term has a special name, called "pocket empire", and the star zone-level government has enough power to suppress it.

Then if the future complete alliance that controls five star regions rebels and says that I will not pay taxes, what can Holy Terra do?

Can the space domain government suppress it?

Impossible, the Spider Web Space Domain cannot even suppress the rebellion of a star region within its own territory.

Can we expect the future Spider Web Space Domain and the Eastern Space Domain to suppress the alliance?

Nonsense.

At that time, the Empire may not even dare to turn against the Alliance.

Whether it can be won or not is one thing. Not paying taxes will lose the tax revenue of 4,000 worlds. If there are 10 trillion people, it is roughly 1 trillion tax coins per year. But if we have to fight, how much money will it cost to destroy the alliance? One trillion? One trillion?

If the alliance-controlled area is beaten into a mess, taxes cannot be collected, and a large amount of money may be invested in reconstruction...

It is better not to fight.

With so many concerns, why not let these risks happen from the beginning?

Because of this, Gu Hang was not optimistic at all that he could smoothly take the current occupied area in his hands.

Even more, if you speculate more about the thoughts of the masters on Holy Terra, let alone let Gu Hang keep five star fields, even if it is the territory originally owned by the Alliance, that is, the Dragon Eagle Star Field, they may find a way to dismember it after the war.

What's wrong with Gu Hang being a combat hero? What's wrong with being the greatest contributor to the Battle of Iron Armor?

Are there fewer heroes and heroes who were killed by the Empire? In the eyes of Holy Terra, Gu Hang would probably be no different.

However, things should also be thought of in reverse.

Precisely because Gu Hang can think of these, he has to put forward his demands to Holy Terra and strengthen the power at hand.

It is useless to rely on reasoning. It is also not feasible to use the merits he has won to ask Holy Terra for what he deserves.

Only by showing off his muscles and appearing to have enough "united front value" can the empire feel that it is not worthwhile to fight him. Think about the pain relief, and then show that he can pay taxes steadily, and even steadily improve the development and population of each world in the five major star regions-that means paying more taxes.

In this case, the value of the latter will be seen by the masters on Holy Terra.

Gu Hang is a person who can learn from history. The example of Tiekai is just in front.

In his opinion, the biggest mistake of Tiekai is that they have basically achieved the former and have "united front value", but they did not show the latter, that is, they did not give Holy Terra enough benefits. Even, they are still expanding and devouring the resources of the central empire.

That is unacceptable.

Of course, at this point, Gu Hang knows that Tiekai will go crazy because they are really crazy and have been controlled by the Queen of Insects. All their actions can be explained.

But if it were me, Gu Hang decided to take a path that is similar to Tiekai in the first half and different from Tiekai in the second half.

Gu Hang knew that the contradiction between himself and Holy Terra was like a huge ravine, lying across the development path of the Alliance. He understood that if he did not find a way to solve it, the future fate of the Alliance would be full of variables.

After careful consideration, Gu Hang probably thought of some means:

First of all, the first point is to develop a sufficiently strong local force to make the Empire afraid to act rashly.

This is fundamental.

Otherwise, weakness will only become a reason for being slaughtered.

In addition, Gu Hang will make a lot of friends.

Tie Kai had done this before. Norberto, who was once the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs and one of the thirteen high lords, was Tie Jia's "friend".

This is like the relationship between Gu Hang and Gallardo.

However, that is not enough.

There must be more friends.

The first thing he thought of was to strengthen cooperation with the Space Marines. These chapters have a special status in the Empire. Although their loyalty is first dedicated to the Emperor, they have established a deep fighting friendship with the Alliance in the long-term process of fighting side by side with the Alliance.

This includes the Ortopis Chapter of Salilius, the Black Crusaders Chapter, and the Phoenix Chapter.

These three are all large and influential chapters. Either they are the direct chapters of the Terra government, or the top chapters that have "legally exceeded their birth", or they are the start-up chapters.

The Alliance has saved their lives for all of them.

Especially for the Phoenix, the favor is particularly heavy.

Without Gu Hang, even if the Phoenix Chapter did not perish, it would be almost the same.

The commander of the regiment must die, two hundred soldiers must die, and even the Queen of Glory-class battleship left over from the Legion era must be lost.

For this favor, let Phoenix work like a cow and a horse in the future, and treat me as a close brother, there should be no problem, right?

A newly founded regiment has a lot of say.

As for friends, there are also various parties that have been made friends in this war.

What about the Inquisition, the Sisters of Battle, the Imperial Navy, the Solar Legion, the Legion of the Firstborn, the Legion of the Death in the Astra Militarum...

There will be some favors.

By then, the network of people established by the Alliance in the Empire will definitely be stronger than Iron Armor.

This also means that before they really fall out, rebel, fight, and have to choose sides, these people will speak for the Alliance, and they are brake pads, and another dimension of the Alliance's "united front value".