Chapter 367, You Can Applaud
When Gu Hang arrived on Lao Yisi's ship, he was greeted by a cocktail party.
Neil Laois, wearing a neat white uniform skirt and combing her gray hair into curls, looked quite elegant and capable. Seeing Gu Hang coming in from the door, she smiled and raised her glass to Gu Hang, and shouted to everyone else at the party:
"Everyone! Everyone! Look! Our protagonist today is here!"
"Here comes the hero who will save Koroja and Pegasus!"
"I propose that everyone raise a toast to our heroes!"
After saying that, she took the lead and drank the wine in one gulp.
Lao Yisi was the one with the highest status among those present. With her taking the lead, the rest of the people, no matter what they were thinking in their hearts, had to put on a smile on their faces and raise their glasses to drink together.
After putting down their glasses, people began to applaud Gu Hang, who walked into the party and was pulled to the stage by Lao Yisi.
Gu Hang walked to the front amid the applause of the big shots in the Tianma star region.
On the stage, looking at the people applauding below, and savoring the little thoughts hidden beneath their applause and smiles, Gu Hang quickly formed a plan of what he was going to say in his mind.
He raised his hand and pressed down.
He waited until the applause died down before he began to speak:
"The last time I met with you all was more than four months ago. I still remember the atmosphere of that meeting, which was solemn and desperate. I believe that no one at that time could have imagined that four months later, we would be in the same place, drinking and celebrating our victory."
"This is all because of you!" someone shouted from below.
Whistles and applause sounded one by one, and Gu Hang waited with a smile on his face.
When the applause died down, he continued:
"Indeed, I will not be modest. That is indeed because of me. Four months ago, I said some unpleasant words here. I criticized the policies of the previous two governors in Koroja and the ongoing struggle between the Fats family and the star district government."
"I naturally became the new governor of Koroja, and after Koroja announced the complete transformation into a war zone, I became the commander-in-chief of the Koroja War Zone. I promised that I would do my best to fight a battle to defend Mingyan City, and I will definitely win."
"Four months have passed, and I have brought you the victory I promised you."
Having said that, everyone cheered again.
It’s not that these big shots present like to make a fuss, but... Gu Hang’s achievements this time and his performance of turning the tide have already formed a magnificent trend.
If you don't applaud or cheer, do you have any objections?
Not to mention those neutral elements, those supporters who had previously linked up with the Gu family and the Fofana family to form a third-party neutral force in the Pegasus sector, even the parliamentary faction representing the sector government and the representatives of the Fachers family who had lost Governor Koroja, had to applaud and cheer no matter what they thought in their hearts.
No choice.
However, this time, Gu Hang did not let the cheers rise.
He made a gesture of pressing his arms down, and at the same time, he quickly moved on to the following matter: "But this does not mean the war is over."
He set the tone first.
"The plague cult is still growing in Koroja. If it is not properly dealt with, the disaster brought by Fino City may happen again."
“The external enemy is never the most terrible; the most terrible enemy always appears within.”
"How did the problem on Koroja evolve to this point? I think everyone has their own answer. But for me, what I need to solve is to completely eliminate all cult influences during the next six years of Koroja's continued war zone transformation; to completely clean up the lower and lower nest areas of every hive city on Koroja."
"I said that I would establish a complete and efficient administrative system, eliminate the inefficiency and corruption that the Koroja government has been suffering for countless years, and better mobilize the potential of the entire planet. Four months later, I still leave this sentence here, please bear witness to it. Six years later, the star district government and star region government will see a complete, brand new Koroja with ample development potential."
"I have finished my speech. You may applaud now."
Gu Hang smiled and took a step back, away from the microphone.
The people in the audience were still very considerate and applauded collectively again.
But this time, everyone was much more rational, and the applause became more polite.
In fact, the so-called "eliminating evil cults", "eliminating corruption", "Koroja has development potential" and so on are all empty statements. Which governor would not brag like this when he takes office?
Everyone's ears are about to get calluses from listening to so much.
Who can't just set goals and make big promises?
But the key point is that Gu Hang mentioned a serious handling strategy in his words.
That's called 'cleaning the nest area thoroughly'.
This is not something I can say casually.
In a hive world like Koroja, who doesn't know that all kinds of terrible and stubborn diseases exist in the uncontrolled sub-nest area?
However, how easy is it to thoroughly clean the nesting area?
Of the 40 billion people on Koroja, nearly 30 billion live in the Underhive and Lowerhives. With such a large population, it is impossible to establish effective administration with the previous planetary government.
All kinds of complicated gangs, interest groups, rebels...all kinds of organizations are entrenched in those places, essentially replacing the powers of the planetary government.
The relationship between them and the planetary government can be antagonistic, superior-subordinate, manager or managed... But no matter what role they play, there is a tacit understanding between them and the government: I respect you, and for your sake I will find a way to adjust the taxes for you, and you don't have to worry about anything else.
Of course, the planetary government is always the most powerful, the most senior, and the most orthodox force on this planet. The so-called "tacit understanding" depends purely on whether the planetary government is willing to maintain it.
But the reason why this tacit understanding exists is essentially that the planetary government cannot fully manage the lower levels, which gives these interest groups room to emerge and grow. The planetary government also needs them to manage the power vacuum areas of the government. Without these interest groups, will the planetary government collect taxes on its own?
With the Diwei area being completely in the dark, how can we collect taxes? I'm afraid the tax convoy will disappear as soon as it goes down.
Of course, there are often some interest groups that mess around or are unreliable in paying taxes, such as the "rebels" (they often call themselves the resistance army). This group is the most disobedient. Those radical rebels directly resist taxes in an all-out manner. The more established ones will also use their own territories and population to kidnap the planetary government and negotiate to pay less or no taxes.
Sometimes, the planetary government will turn a blind eye, but if it goes too far, or the planetary government is pushed to the limit, it will dispatch the planetary defense force to launch a "counterinsurgency" operation to deal with the corresponding interest groups.
But suppressing a rebellion requires troops and time. What if the war lasts too long and no taxes are collected? After the war, the interest groups have been destroyed. Who will collect taxes? Who are the people who should be taxed, where are they, how much can they pay... All this information is unknown, so it is extremely difficult to collect taxes.
Or else, it is more brutal, and after suppressing the rebellion in a region, all the rebels are arrested and killed, and the survivors are all treated as human taxes, but this is not sustainable. If we do it this time, what about the next tax payment?
You can't cut the chives by the roots.
This kind of action can only be punitive and warning. Normally, it is cheaper and easier to negotiate halfway or to support a new interest group to take over after the negotiation is over.
On Koroga, the ecology of each hive city has continued to operate like this for hundreds or thousands of years.
Many, many years ago, Koroja had a population of about 40 billion, and it always maintained a relatively high birth rate. However, due to the imperial tax and high mortality rate, Koroja's population size has hardly grown despite the high birth rate, and has always maintained its current size.
Even this so-called "40 billion" people is just a fictitious number.
Over the long years, the Koroja planetary government has conducted several world population censuses, but the data have all been quite unreliable, and much of the data has ultimately been estimated.
Anyway, the imperial taxes have always been levied based on a population of 40 billion, so let's just assume that there are 40 billion people on Koroja.
This is roughly the situation on this planet.
Now, Governor Gu said he wants to completely clean up the entire base area?
Everyone really doesn't think it's a good idea.
If a system is still functioning, don't touch it. Otherwise, you don't know how many piles of shit there are underneath, and if you touch it, it may all collapse.
They simply couldn't imagine what the system that had proven itself capable of keeping Koroja running over the long years had to change into in order to become better.
Establish a complete government that goes all the way down to the grassroots level?
Do you know how many administrative staff are needed? How should these administrative staff be managed? How can the government afford such high personnel costs? How many troops are needed to maintain stability during turmoil?
Can you afford it?
There are ten thousand problems here.
If anyone had proposed doing this before, it would have immediately sparked a barrage of questions. Even though the planetary governor had full control over his planet in name, it was just a casual remark.
In "bad places" like the Wrathful Owl Star and the Black Arrow Star, you can really do whatever you want and no one will care about you. It doesn't matter.
But if Korojia, such an important financial and taxation center and labor export base, is messed up, everyone will be doomed.
The district government wants to intervene, the star region government wants to intervene, and all stakeholders related to Korojia's population business want to intervene.
It was Gu Hang who came here with a great victory of saving the world and stood here to speak, so that he could barely block these words in everyone's hearts and make them dare not say them to Gu Hang in public.
But in fact, not daring to say it does not mean it does not exist.
His enemies had sarcastic smiles on their faces, and although they were applauding, they might be waiting to see you make a fool of yourself. What's more, they might be thinking about what to do next to hinder you.
Some of those close to him looked worried.
…
After the cocktail party, Governor Gu’s old mother came to see him.
"You said you were going to clean out every nesting area on Koroja? You were just saying that, right? You weren't serious about it, were you?"
"Of course I have to do it for real." Gu Hang said, "When did I ever brag?"
She frowned fiercely: "What are you going to do?"
"That's too complicated. It's hard for me to explain it to you all at once."
"Just tell me where your money comes from."
Wang Qi asked a key question, which is a key core question from her perspective as a businessman.
"From Korojia." Gu Hang said, "Korojia has such a huge population resource, why would you worry about not being able to pay the money?"
"You want to sell people? If you sell them all, then later..."
"No." Gu Hang interrupted his mother, "Of course not selling people. In fact, I also plan to reduce the proportion of human taxes that Korojia pays as much as possible in the future. The ideal situation is that no human taxes should be paid."
"The population resources you are referring to are..."
Gu Hang rolled his eyes: "Mother, have you been brainwashed by Koroja's past? When it comes to human resources, you can only think of the price of 'people' themselves? People are the most valuable means of production and the most core and basic labor force."
"Oh my God!" Wang Qi almost screamed, "40 billion people! Do you know what you are talking about? You want to provide 40 billion jobs and let them create value as a labor force?! It's simply a fantasy!"
"Why not? Isn't this the best ending for Koroja?"
"Then the best outcome for Gu's Company is to become the president of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce!" Ms. Wang Qi rolled her eyes. "The key is how to achieve it?! This is impossible!"
"Then let's see what I can do."
Wang Qi wanted to ask more questions, but at this moment, a waiter came to them.
"Excuse me for interrupting you, but... Special Envoy Laois hopes to have a private chat with Governor Gu."
"Of course." said Ms. Wang Qi.
She pulled her son and whispered in his ear, "Don't mention your crazy plan in front of Lao Yisi, you..."
"Okay, mother, I have a good idea, don't worry."
After saying that, he turned around and followed the waiter to a small room on the side of the banquet hall.
Lao Yisi, dressed in white, is already waiting here.
However, her face didn't look very good, and she didn't look like she had just won a battle.
Seeing Gu Hang coming over, she asked directly:
"You want Koroja to be a war zone for six years in order to clean up all the hives?"
————
I was very sleepy when I got home yesterday. I thought I would lie down for a while, close my eyes and rest for a while before getting up to write, but when I woke up it was already time to go to work...
After I came back today, I was thinking of posting a single chapter to explain it first, but then I thought it would be better to finish writing as soon as possible.
(End of this chapter)
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