Chapter 338, Military Expansion

In Gu Hang's opinion, Koroga 3 is now a world full of despair.

Let him be the Governor of Koroja?

That would be like asking him to jump into this cesspool with his bare hands and clean it up.

It's too difficult.

For him, Koroja has only one function at this stage: to attract population.

In the past year, the Alliance has gained more than 8 million people from there and moved them to the Wrathful Star. This was obtained through the Support Act, arms production and military support. The Alliance paid a lot for this, but of course compared to the population gains, it is definitely a huge profit.

The population absorbed from Koroja has brought the population of Angry Owl Star to more than 65 million.

It’s enough as long as he can keep recruiting people. Gu Hang doesn’t want to touch anything else for the time being.

Even Black Arrow Star with a population of 400 million almost causes indigestion when eaten, not to mention Koroja with a population of 40 billion.

Gu Hang now has no ability to transform that planet with a huge population into what he wants.

What's more, can you just get such huge benefits as Koroja No. 3 if you want to?

Fachers had worked so hard to get the position of governor, and if Gu Hang tried to snatch it, it would be equivalent to a head-on war.

Laois said that he also wanted to get the support of the so-called "parliamentary faction" represented by Martinelli and Pedes Jr., but the key question is how to do this?

The so-called "parliamentary faction" refers to a political faction in the Dragon Eagle star field. Its main core is in the star field government, and its philosophy is to strive for the head position of each star field and support the party center of the star field government.

The former leader of Pedes was a product of this kind of plan.

After the death of Pedes, the parliamentary faction immediately selected Ivan Martinelli from the party to continue to hold the position of head of the important star region of Pegasus.

But simply getting the position of leader is only the first step.

Why did Pedesi have the final say in the Tianma Star Region? Because the governors of Koroja and Feiyi Star were all his men.

To put it bluntly, whether the leader of a sector has the final say depends entirely on how many governors support him. A leader without support is just a decoration.

Martinelli's words are not effective now because the three planets of Fache and Koroja don't listen to him either.

The core of the parliamentary faction has always been to defeat Ivan Fachs and take back Koroja.

Can Gu Hang be a dog of the parliamentary faction?

Obviously, it was impossible. If he really went to great lengths to stabilize the Koroja issue, it was for the sake of his own "alliance", not to become a thug for the parliamentary faction.

This is a fundamental contradiction.

If Gu Hang wants to make Korojia completely his own, he has to stand on the opposite side of the two parties who are fighting fiercely over Korojia.

I really can't figure it out.

After thinking about this for a few times, Gu Hang basically stopped thinking about it.

Of course, Gu Hang didn't refuse directly.

He smiled and asked, "If Koroja really joins the alliance, can it be turned into a war zone?"

"I told you, that's not realistic."

"My army has been fighting in Koroja, and I know the situation there very well. It's really rotten, and Koroja has to pay 8 billion imperial taxes every two years. It can't stand it."

"Don't we need a great man to come and save the world? You have already saved the Wrathful Owl and are saving the Black Arrow. Now let's have another Koroja."

"I'm still far from being a great man." Gu Hang refused to flatter me. "The situation in Korojia is completely different from that in Wrathful Owl and Black Arrow. Unless the star domain government can fully support me, turn Korojia into a war zone, and give me full support, allowing me to do it for a few years, there is no way to solve the problems there."

When it comes to the level of support, Laois is silent.

If I can give so much support, what else do you need to do?

With all this support given to Ivan Fachs, and with his own family backing him up, can't he solve the problem?

Gu Hang saw through Lao Yisi's thoughts.

He felt that Ivan Fachs was not capable of this.

But he just smiled and didn't argue about it any further.

After thinking for a while, Gu Hang decided to speak the truth in his heart: "Ms. Lao Yisi, in my opinion, there are many bleeding wounds of various sizes within the star field, that's true. But the problems must be solved one by one, from small to large, from the key to the edge. Korojia is such a place, it is relatively small, but critical enough. Instead of dragging this wound to continue to fester for the so-called overall situation, it is better to make up your mind and solve it here first. If we drag it on, the problem of Korojia will continue to worsen, which will be the greatest damage to the overall situation."

"The Star Domain Government also knows this." Lao Yisi said this and didn't say anything more.

Gu Hang also understood this.

They were just being perfunctory and didn't really care about my suggestions.

He also tacitly didn't say anything more.

Lao Yisi also roughly understood Gu Hang's thoughts and knew that he had no intention of taking over Koroga No. 3, so he couldn't help but feel a little bored.

However, it's not particularly disappointing.

This matter was originally just a spur of the moment decision she made after seeing the changes on Black Arrow Star and Angry Owl Star. It was not a decision made by the star domain government.

If Gu Hang agreed, she might put in some effort to push it forward, but if he didn't agree, then forget it.

If you think about it seriously, if the Fats family can't solve the problem, how can Gu Hang, who has a shallow foundation, definitely be able to solve it?

Laois stopped talking about this and started to remind him of another matter: "Although you are not very willing to be the governor of Koroja, you still have to shoulder some responsibilities for the affairs there. After all, you have another identity, the commander of a Star Army Corps. Your Angry Bear Corps must expand by at least three to five times in the next few years..."

Seeing that Gu Hang seemed to be about to speak, Lao Yisi waved his hand and interrupted, "Don't rush to refuse. In fact, there is no room for refusal. This was initiated within the Star Army system, and the Military Affairs Department approved it in response to relevant requirements. No one is causing trouble for you. It is purely because your army performed very well on Koroja 3. The commanders of the Dragon Eagle Legion hope to increase the size of your legion. The Governor of Koroja also applied to increase the size of your troops."

Gu Hang scratched his head. It sounded like there was really no room for refusal.

He said: "To expand the troops' personnel and equipment, as well as logistical supplies..."

Laois immediately said, "Don't worry, everything will follow the normal procedures of the Star Army."

Gu Hang was really relieved.

He smiled and said, "How long can you stay in the Pegasus region?"

"About six or seven days."

"That should be in time. I hope to invite you to my engagement ceremony."

"Engagement ceremony?" Lao Yisi said in surprise, "I've heard rumors before, but I didn't expect it to be true. Congratulations to you and Major General Ye Lixia."

"Congratulations." Gu Hang responded with a smile.

…

For Gu Hang, it is not impossible to expand the Angry Bear Legion. After all, they are his own troops and are completely under his control.

But, you can’t get it for free.

Even if it wasn't free, Gu Hang was not happy to transfer more Alliance troops to the Angry Bear Legion, even if he was paid. The most important point was that the Alliance's focus for a long time was to absorb the immigrant population from Black Arrow Star and Angry Owl Star, and to take advantage of the surge in population to vigorously develop production and construction. Gu Hang didn't have that much manpower to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the construction of the Angry Bear Legion.

But if it is the standard construction process of the Astra Militarum, then there is no problem.

After deciding on the expansion of the Angry Bear Legion, Laois left.

She is a very busy person, and being able to take the time to come and meet Gu Hang is really a great honor and treatment for her.

However, after she left, some other members of the team stayed behind.

On the one hand, the tax settlement work for the two planets is still ongoing, and on the other hand, it is about the expansion of the Angry Bear Legion.

The two leaders have already reached an agreement on the general intention, but if things are to be done properly, doesn't it still require the people below to negotiate the details and actually push forward before it can be truly accomplished?

Among the team she brought were people from the Military Affairs Department.

The Militaria Department is responsible for the formation and logistics of the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy. Although it has no battlefield command authority, nor the responsibility to mobilize troops or issue military missions, logistics and the formation of new armies are extremely important responsibilities.

The person who talked to the Military Affairs Department was not Gu Hang himself, but the Logistics Department of the Angry Bear Legion... Oh, actually the Angry Bear Legion did not have any Logistics Department, it was just that the Logistics Bureau of the Alliance Military and Political Department hung up a new sign.

According to the bosses of both sides, the Angry Bear Legion will expand to more than 500,000 troops. However, at present, the Angry Bear Legion has only 180,000 troops at full strength. There is a gap of more than 300,000 troops.

According to the Angry Bear Legion's military construction mechanism, the newly expanded 300,000 people were finally negotiated to be organized into 30 new divisions and brigades in accordance with the alliance's military organization.

The newly expanded troops, numbered from 73 to 102, include 8 armored combined brigades and 22 infantry divisions, with a total strength of 320,000 and a total cost of 9 million tax coins.

Including the previous troops of the Angry Bear Legion, the total strength reached 510,000, with a total cost of 13 million tax coins.

The cost of building an army is secondary. Maintaining and using the army is also a high-cost expense. If the fighting is of normal intensity, it will cost an extra year to build the army. If the fighting intensity is high, the cost will be unlimited. After all, in some high-intensity battlefields, a division may be destroyed in one day.

But since the Angry Bear Legion has become the Astra Militarum, all expenses of fighting with these 500,000 people will be borne by the Empire.

The Alliance will provide all logistical support, including equipment and personnel, but these will be paid for by the Empire, and the Astra Militarum or the Ministry of Munitions will need to place an order with the Alliance.

Moreover, since Gu Hang doesn't want the additional 300,000 troops to be sent from Black Arrow Star or Angry Owl Star, the Military Affairs Department will have to find a way to transfer manpower from other places.

The tax fleet carries a lot of human taxes, and what’s more important is that Koroja 3 is the place with the largest population tax.

However, Koroja was unable to provide 300,000 qualified soldiers - if he had these soldiers, he would have been sent to fight long ago.

After several rounds of negotiations, the alliance's military logistics department - oh, it was the logistics department of the Angry Bear Legion - finally generously stated that 310,000 regular manpower would be enough, and you have to pay me the difference for the rest, and we will find a way ourselves.

This price difference is 1.5 million tax coins. In fact, the training of these soldiers and political commissars will cost Gu Hang 4,000 points of grace in the future.

To put it bluntly, Gu Hang exchanged 4,000 gifts for 1.5 million tax coins.

Actually, he didn't want to do this business, but he had no choice.

Even if the Military Affairs Department provided him with Star Army soldiers at the so-called 10 tax coins per person standard, Gu Hang would still train them. Although, logically speaking, 10 tax coins per person should be a standard Star Army level soldier, theoretically reaching the level of a T5 soldier, and no training is needed.

However, everyone knows the actual situation.

If we really want to accept those soldiers, it would be good if one third of them can reach T5 level, and the rest are just for show at best.

Since they all have to be retrained anyway, it is better to just use ordinary people. As long as they are healthy, the [Soldier Card] training system will naturally raise the soldiers' qualities to a suitable level.

It can also save 1.5 million tax coins.

Of course, this is not legal.

But compliance is something that is decided by people. The bureaucrats in the Military Affairs Department have only seen people scold them for the poor quality of the soldiers they provide every day, and this is the first time they have seen people asking for low-quality soldiers.

Doesn't this give them the opportunity to take advantage of it?

It was quite difficult to find such opportunities in the past, but now it is so easy to make money.

Of course, the lion's share has to go to the alliance, but it would be nice to get a little share.

…

The people below were discussing the specific details of the military expansion, so Gu Hang naturally didn't need to participate much. He just needed to take a final look at the report and hope that the overall situation was roughly within expectations.

In fact, soon he will also leave his own territory and go to Feiyi Star.

His engagement ceremony was held at the starport of Feiyi Star.

On the other side, there is Ye Lishia.

This marriage was, of course, a political marriage. Ms. Wang Qi had been in contact with the Fofana family for a long time and finalized the marriage.

This idea comes from Wang Qi herself. She thinks:

Firstly, Gu Hang is old enough to get married;

Secondly, the Fofana family is a good marriage partner. One family is a member of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, and the other has a very deep influence in the Imperial Navy. The marriage will definitely be effective.

Thirdly, in terms of political factions, after the death of Pedes, Fofana escaped from the vortex of struggle between the "parliamentary faction" and Fachs, and is currently a neutral third party like the Gu family.

Being a third party sounds comfortable, as you don’t have to fight with anyone, but it’s actually not easy. If you don’t do it right, you will offend both parties and be caught in the middle.

A neutral person without strength will not be taken seriously; a neutral person with strength will be feared.

But in general, having strength is better than having no strength.

It would be a great reinforcement if Gu and Fofana joined together at the level of a neutral third party.

Of course, by now, Ms. Wang Qi has fully recognized her son's status and will not act on her own. Before pushing this matter forward, she also fully consulted Gu Hang's opinion.

Gu Hang agreed.

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(End of this chapter)