Chapter 410, Expedition of Atonement, Independent Kingdom
When Martins was escorting Blevins and eight others on the way to the Angry Owl Star, Gu Hang had already received the information sent back by the Phoenix.
In this intelligence, Martins did not hide anything from Gu Hang. The origins of Blevins and his gang, as well as a series of intelligence about the Ashes of the Dead, were all included in the report in detail.
After reading it, Gu Hang actually already had an idea of how to deal with Blevins and the other eight people.
There is no doubt that Martins hoped to save these people's lives.
Even though the intelligence sent back from the front line recorded every word between Martins and Blevins, words like "traitor to the empire", "disgrace to the warband", and "coward" were thrown at Blevins and his gang. Moreover, in Martins' own report, the crimes of these people were clearly written, and it was claimed that all the power of judgment was in the hands of Gu Hang, the supporter, ruler, and savior of the warband.
But if Martins really wanted to wash away his shame, wouldn't he just kill these eight traitors on the spot?
Even if one cares about the so-called correctness of the process, or wants to give them a ceremonial trial, one should not say that the fate of these people will be judged by Gu Hang.
Report it to the Empire. Either the Imperial Inquisition or the Space Marine Management Agency would be more suitable judges - of course, that would cause the Phoenix's reputation, which had been hard to improve, to drop significantly, and it might even lead to scrutiny, which would not be worth the effort.
But no matter what, nominally, what does Gu Hang have to do with Phoenix? He is nothing more than a sponsor.
It is true that Gu Hang is the actual controller of the Phoenix Regiment, but when Martins set out, Gu Hang had already made it clear that those who might be traitors of the Phoenix would be left to Martins to deal with.
In the end, Martins brought the person back alive.
Don't look at what he says, just look at what he does.
As for whether these people are dead or alive, Gu Hang really doesn't care.
Just eight Space Marines.
Even if they are all century-old veterans and elite soldiers, so what?
Gu Hang can now create space marines in batches. Including gene seeds and personnel screening, it only costs about a thousand points of grace; the Alliance can already mass-produce MK4 majestic power armor, and even the cost can be controlled below 100,000 tax coins.
For Gu Hang, Space Marines are no longer a scarce commodity.
The eight century-old veterans were indeed quite powerful and could serve as the backbone, but with the training system in Gu Hang's hands, it would only cost an extra 200 points to train a single Space Marine into a veteran; even if Blevins and the others had each reached the level of Chief Sergeant, Gu Hang would only have to spend an extra 400 points to get a new one.
It was for this reason that Gu Hang let Martins handle it himself.
It would be great to pick up eight veterans for free and save tens of thousands of grace points; but if Martins insisted on eliminating this group of people, Gu Hang had no objection.
However, judging from the current situation, since Martins wanted to keep these people alive, or at least had a conflicted mentality, Gu Hang felt that it might not be a bad idea to accept them.
As for risks, he doesn't think there are any.
According to Blevins's confession, they were very cautious in their past actions. They just came to the Pegasus region recently to lure Martins out, so they repainted their power armor red. If they were operating normally before, they would not even paint red, and would have used other colors. God knows who they are.
They just need to announce to the outside world that they had killed these "pirates" when they arrived at Saturn.
As for those who really knew the truth, there were still only a few, mainly the elites of the 10th Brigade. The reliability of these people was also quite high, and Gu Hang was not worried that they would leak the secret.
Of course, we can't let them off so easily. After all, they are guilty.
You can escape the death penalty, but you can’t escape the punishment of life imprisonment.
Gu Hang gave Martins a suggestion, or instruction: to set up a new company under the Chapter, named "Atonement Company". After Blevins and his eight companions re-swore allegiance to the Emperor, their past affairs would be kept secret by the Chapter and the Alliance. However, the Atonement Company they belonged to would participate in the most difficult part of every battle of the Phoenix Chapter in the future.
The Alliance would not engage in a sin-atonement expedition. Not providing reinforcements and lack of supplies would clearly mean sending people to their deaths. All treatment would be the same as for normal Phoenix warriors. They would not be deprived of the equipment and supplies they should have, nor would they be asked to perform any missions that would ensure their death.
But at the same time, they must also shoulder the arduous task of attacking the enemy and cannot shirk their responsibilities. Moreover, they must fight well when normal conditions are met.
…
That was how it was handled for Blevins and the other eight people.
Compared to the eight of them, Gu Hang was more interested in the past of the Phoenix and the information about the 'Ashes Dead' mentioned by Blevins and the others.
He had previously looked up information about the 'Bauhinia Rebellion' that led to Phoenix being sentenced to an atonement expedition.
That was information with a very high level of confidentiality. At first, Gu Hang could only get some fragmentary information, as well as some statements about the Phoenix from Martins and Pastor Rizzo.
But these are rather one-sided and thin.
Later, when Gu Hang's "good brother", Bogio Gallardo, became rich, it became easier for Gu Hang to find out the information.
Gallardo gave him an internal, confidential report.
The Bauhinia Rebellion took place in a star region called 'Bauhinia', located in the Spider Web Universe, within the Princess Star Region.
The Spider Web Universe is right next to the Eastern Universe, located in the north on the star map.
In the Bauhinia Star Region, there is a regiment with the same name as the Star Region, called the Bauhinia Regiment. This is also a sub-regiment of the Phoenix Legion, with the same bloodline as the Phoenix.
In the Spider Web Universe, there is another regiment called Iron Armor. Compared to Bauhinia and Phoenix, the Iron Armor regiment is much more famous. They directly guard the Princess Star Region and together with multiple star regions, form a defense network. The main enemy they face is the Void Zerg.
The Void Zerg are a kind of terrifying alien creatures. Individuals among them have no self-will, but are completely obedient to the commands of the node creatures at a higher level.
Their biological fleets are spread across the planetary seas, and each ship can be regarded as a huge space creature. They are true destroyers. When they visit a planet, they will quickly devour all the life on the planet, destroy the local ecosystem, and lay down a large amount of "meat blankets". These meat blankets will absorb nutrients from the entire planet and efficiently absorb stellar energy, while hatching more void insect beasts, and even hatching many parts and sending them into space to form new biological starships.
A Hive Fleet arrived in the Empress Star Region by conventional physical space travel and caused great damage. It was not until the arrival of Iron Armor and several war groups allied with Iron Armor that they took control of the situation in the Empress Star Region and suppressed the power of the Void Zerg within a few star regions.
Although the disaster was under control, the characteristics of the Void Zerg were their endless huge numbers and their super-fast recovery of troops. In addition, the planets devoured by the Void Zerg were all their meat blankets, and even if humans took them back, they basically couldn't use them again.
Because of this, the Empire considered that the price to be paid to retake these planets was too high, so it ordered Iron Armor and several regiments to build a defense belt around the multiple star regions invaded by the Zerg. The goal of the human empire was to control the situation in the area and not let the empire invest more manpower. After all, at that time, the preparations for the Solar Expedition were in full swing, and a large amount of manpower and material resources were concentrated in the southern part of the empire. There were not enough resources to solve this major disaster.
To this end, the Empire also granted the Iron Armored Corps considerable autonomy. They can collect taxes on their own and manage the Empire's power in the entire Princess Star Region. As long as they pay the Imperial taxes, the rest will be under their control.
Even the multiple war groups operating in the Princess Star Region let Tiekai be the leader so that they can coordinate their actions in a comprehensive manner.
At this point, the Iron Armor Regiment became the de facto masters of the Princess Star Domain.
The Ironclad did a really good job; they stopped the continued expansion of the Void Zerg and paid the full amount of imperial taxes.
If things had only come to this, then the Ironclad would undoubtedly be loyal and meritorious officials of the empire.
However, this incident soon revealed some inside information.
The Iron Armored Regiment did not pay that much tax at all. The so-called "full" tax payment of the Princess Star Region was actually a false account. They increased the losses caused by the Void Zerg by more than ten times, and intercepted 80% of the taxes that should have been paid in the star region by lowering the development degree and concealing the population verification.
On this basis, they also exaggerated the scale of the battle with the Zerg, constantly asking the Empire for money, people and supplies, and saying that they could not stop them if they did not give them. Then, they would really open up part of the defense line, let the Void Zerg rush out, and go to the outer star field to cause trouble, forcing the Empire to really give them money.
The gene-seed tax they paid was also problematic, the number of seeds they were given was in line with the level of a Chapter of about 800 to 900 men, but in reality, they had "overpopulated" many more. According to reports, the Ironclad Chapter had at least 6,000 Space Marines on the eve of the Bauhinia Heresy.
The Empire has a limit on the size of a chapter, which must not exceed one thousand. Six thousand Space Marines is the size of six chapters.
Moreover, they have also trained a large number of mortal auxiliary troops who are only loyal to them.
This is a typical behavior of keeping an enemy for one's own benefit.
The ones who exposed all this were the Bauhinia Regiment.
Bauhinia is also within the Princess Star Domain, but they already have some old grudges with the Iron Armor Regiment, and now they are asked to obey Iron Armor's command, which is a bit difficult to accept.
If that were all, they would have endured it for the sake of the greater good and the Empire's orders. But the key point was that the Ironclads were not kind, often withholding their resources and supplies, and always forcing them to fight difficult battles.
The hatred is growing.
The Bauhinia is located inside the Princess Star Domain. Over time, they have obtained some evidence of the Iron Armor Regiment's actions, and then directly reported it to Holy Terra, and had an armed conflict with the Iron Armor Regiment.
The Bauhinias were no match for the Iron Armored Regiment, which was much larger than them, not to mention that there were three other regiments that also stood with the Iron Armored Regiment.
So, they started to recruit people. It was also during this stage that Phoenix, who had a good relationship with them, was recruited to help.
But at this point, the situation is actually not that bad. It has only remained an armed conflict. If we turn a blind eye to it, it can be considered a civil war.
However, Holy Terra's next action intensified the situation.
The Imperial government is certainly not happy to see the actions of the Ironclad Regiment.
If you do it on a small scale, it's okay since you are really capable of doing things on your own; however, if you do it too big, you will save 80% of the tax revenue of a star sector; if you have 1,800 extra children, it's tolerable when you are in a wartime state, but if you have 6,000 extra children, and there are three regiments standing by you, with a total of nearly 10,000 Space Marines, it is really inappropriate to set up an independent kingdom here.
As a result, the Empire determined that the Iron Armored Regiment's behavior was rebellion, set a deadline to restore imperial taxes, and required the Iron Armored Regiment to be split into six regiments and accept the Empire's dispatch to other places.
Bauhinia, Phoenix, and another "Star Breaker Blade" regiment that was invited to serve as supervisors.
Tiekai was also annoyed and directly concluded that this matter was targeted and it was nonsense, and the traitor was in Terra.
They opened up their defenses, allowing some Void Zerg to rush out, and at the same time, completely blocked the Empress Star Region and the surrounding star regions, preventing any imperial ships from passing through the Empress Star Region. In addition, they carried out a comprehensive cleanup of Bauhinia, Phoenix, and Starbreaker within the star region.
This is a big deal.
The incident affected many star regions, which had a great impact on the Empire's taxation, trade, and navigation in this area. The Void Zerg were rampaging, and Iron Armor followed behind them. In the name of chasing and fighting the Void Zerg, it took over and even plundered many planets, and even requisitioned many materials from the Empire's tax collection fleet.
Inside the Princess Star Region, Bauhinia, Phoenix, and Starbreaker were no match for the Iron Armor. They were not as numerous as the other side, and the key point was that the other side had raised a large number of very elite mortal auxiliary troops for so many years. The three regiments lost the support of the Empire and could only deploy some of the planetary defense forces under their control. The quality was very different and they could not win at all.
Things have gotten to this point and it's almost impossible to resolve them.
Do we really have to start a civil war in the empire during the preparations for the Solar Expedition?
It's not that they can't win, but they need to deploy nearly ten more loyalist regiments, plus countless Astra Militarum and Imperial Navy fleets, to settle this matter. Then, they have to deal with the rampant Void Zerg, and then they have to leave enough forces to block the Void wormholes that keep popping up in the Princess Star Domain.
After evaluation, the cost is really too high.
At this time, a Terran official was sent to the Ironclad Warband. With his superb diplomatic skills, he persuaded the Ironclad Warband to stop.
The Empire will not split them up; the Imperial tax in the Princess Star Region will increase a little, but not too much; the places they should guard will still be handed over to them; the Empire will still provide them with reinforcements and supplies; the Empire will also withdraw its decision on the rebellion of the Iron Armored Regiment...
The Ironclad accepted these terms.
So if Tiekai is not the traitor, then who is?
Someone has to be responsible.
At the request of the Iron Armor Legion, Bauhinia took the blame. This was clearly a rebellion of the Iron Armor Legion, but in the official records, it became the "Bauhinia Rebellion."
They framed the 'loyal' Iron Armor and took the initiative to launch an attack, which led to the collapse of the Zerg defense line, causing this to affect several star fields and even put the Spider Universe into a deep crisis.
The Bauhinia was completely destroyed in the Iron Armor Regiment's "suppression" battle.
Phoenix and Starbreaker were released and sentenced to the Expedition of Atonement. Starbreaker was completely wiped out when the Expedition of Atonement lasted for sixty years; Phoenix survived the Hundred Years Expedition, but only seven people were left until they met Gu Hang.
This is the whole process of the "Bauhinia Rebellion".
Now, the Iron Armor Regiment is still a major overlord in the Spider Web Universe. It has strong troops and horses, its own independent kingdom, and is also a heroic regiment fighting against the Void Zerg.
As for the battle groups that opposed them, except for the Phoenix which had a special situation, all the rest were wiped out.
In fact, Gu Hang always thought about this matter occasionally.
Originally, the Alliance and the Iron Armored Corps had no major connection. Although the Eastern Space Domain and the Spider Web Space Domain were adjacent to each other, the Dragon Eagle and the Princess were not close in terms of star domains. They had to cross at least three star domains before they could connect.
Unless the alliance expands to an outrageous extent, it is unlikely to reach the Princess Star Region in the short term;
However, we cannot ignore another problem: if the Void Zerg problem breaks out in the Princess Star Domain, whether the Iron Armor can no longer stop them or they are about to do something weird again, and the scale expands to an outrageous level, then the Dragon Eagle Star Domain may be affected instead.
But the probability should not be too high. The incident a hundred years ago was not a small one. It did rush through three star regions, and it took a lot of effort to wipe it out. However, it did not move towards the Dragon Eagle Star Region.
However, although this is the normal situation, if the Phoenix is revived again, what will the Iron Armored Corps do?
Gu Hang's knowledge of this war group all came from the reports of the Bauhinia Rebellion. Judging from what happened in those years, Gu Hang felt that this war group's methods were quite unscrupulous. Moreover, they had a vengeful character and were ruthless in treating their enemies.
If Bauhinia were to revive, Gu Hang would have no doubt that the Iron Armor Regiment would find a way to kill Bauhinia even if they were separated by three star fields.
The Phoenix was slightly better. After all, the Phoenix came to help in the battle, and the hatred between it and Tiekai was not that great. But it was only slightly better than the Bauhinia. Gu Hang was still unsure what Tiekai would think.
This could be a threat that needs to be taken seriously.
The same goes for the Ashes of the Dead Warband, and it's even more urgent.
After all, the Ironclads were still part of the Imperial Order, and no matter how reckless they were, they could not completely abandon the rules. The Ash Dead, however, were a renegade warband that had defected to Chaos, and they were not restricted by any rules and were full of malice.
According to some information revealed by Blevins during the interrogation on the ship, the Ash Dead have an "obsessive" attitude towards all the bloodlines of the past Phoenix. After Blevins and his men broke out of the encirclement of Zhongjihua, they were tracked and intercepted by the Ash Dead many times in the following years, and they escaped every time.
Zhong Jihua really wanted them to "join" because they had the same blood, so it would be best if they all became tainted blood. If there were Phoenixes who were still loyal, or even getting better and better, Zhong Jihua would be very unhappy.
This was certainly Blevins's guess, and there was a certain degree of exaggeration on his part. But Gu Hang believed that it was highly likely that the Ash Dead would become enemies of the Phoenix and then the Alliance.
The Phoenix's attack on Saturn this time not only solved a small problem of pirates, nor was it just a problem of eight Phoenixes, but it also put some hidden worries of the future in front of Gu Hang.
These things need to be prevented.
How to prevent it?
It's nothing more than making yourself stronger.
It may be a long way to go to fight the Iron Armor. They are the overlord of a star field, and they had an estimated 6,000 Space Marines a hundred years ago. A hundred years have passed, and although they have suffered some losses in the continuous fight against the invasion of the Void Zerg, their number will definitely not be less than that of the past. In fact, the Empire does not know how many people the Iron Armor has now, and they are very vigilant about it.
He has not only a few thousand, but possibly tens of thousands of Space Marines. The most important thing is that he has integrated the power of an entire star field. His strength is equivalent to that of the Astra Militarum's mortal auxiliary forces, which is probably calculated in the billions. The size of the naval fleet, according to the Dragon Eagle Star Field, is at least three to four times that of the Pegasus Fleet in its heyday.
The size of the league today is incomparable.
But at least, it's a goal.
To be honest, Gu Hang still had some yearning for the Iron Armored Corps' rule in the Princess Star Region. However, Gu Hang would not adopt a similar plan to theirs.
As for the Ash Dead, they might be relatively easier to deal with in terms of strength. The size of this warband might be similar to that of the current Phoenix, which is about 200 to 300 people. What's more, the Phoenix has the support of the Alliance.
But the trouble with them is that the whereabouts of the rebellious warbands are even more unpredictable, and they have no base or nest, so they can't be found. Even though Martins now really wants to find the Ash Dead and eliminate these real shame of the Phoenix, but... there are no conditions.
To deal with them, we can only passively defend.
Head-on confrontation is not a problem, but the problem is that Gu Hang doesn't know when, where, and how their threat will come, so it is not easy to guard against it.
In this situation, Gu Hang decided that in the next period of time, he should put a little more effort into strengthening the Phoenix Regiment.
The best defense against Chaos Space Marines is, of course, the Loyal Space Marines.
While others will not be stupid enough to confront the huge size of the alliance head-on, they will most likely resort to some means of unrestricted warfare and special operations. The alliance must have the corresponding strength to carry out the confrontation.
…
After thinking about two possible threats in the future for a while, Gu Hang also dealt with matters concerning Jue Saturn.
When Martins took Blevins and others to leave Judah, the Alliance left behind about 20,000 Star Troops from the Angry Bear Legion to control the capital of Judah.
But in fact, Gu Hang had no intention of bringing Juedushu under the direct rule of the alliance.
The power of the alliance is not a big problem in the Tianma Star Region, as Gu Hang is now the leader of the Tianma Star Region. But if it is to expand beyond the Tianma Star Region, it will be a very sensitive political event, which will cause some consequences that Gu Hang does not want to see.
It's not that he doesn't have a plan for this, but he may lack the opportunity to do it.
The point is, if there is a really significant benefit, Gu Hang will do it despite the risk. But obviously, the situation of Jue Saturn and the benefits it can bring are obviously not equal to the risk.
The minerals on that planet have not been explored yet, but I think there won't be too many, or they won't be precious, otherwise it wouldn't be like this now; there are also some necessary conditions missing for developing industry, as it's neither close to a market nor a place with a particularly large population, nor is it a place with rich resources.
Relying solely on nomadic life and agriculture, the country was barely able to support 200 million people. Gu Hang felt that there was really no need to make a fuss about it.
The conditions on Juedus may not be as good as those on the original Wrathful Owl. Although Wrathful Owl had a small population at the beginning and was still a post-war wasteland, it at least had the development of Wrathful Owl back then, and at least there were places like the Qinggu area with a well-preserved natural environment, and precious resources like the Waste Energy Storm.
What's more, Gu Hang had invested resources to build the Angry Star. He had no choice. He started his career here and had no choice.
Now that he has a choice, Gu Hang doesn't think that taking over Jue Saturn and spending a lot of money to develop it is a good option.
However, not bringing it under the direct rule of the alliance does not mean that there are no other ways.
The Governor was dead, and the charges were clear. If the charge of betraying the Space Marine was removed, the rest would be enough for Gu Hang to hang him.
Next, he will support a new governor of Saturn, who will not join the alliance, but can sign some cooperation agreements with the planets under the alliance.
The food and biological products produced by the nomadic herds there are valuable, and the Alliance can also export some cheap industrial products, such as daily necessities, furniture and home appliances, which are very despised by the imperial tax, in exchange for these things.
It is good enough as a small grain production base.
Then, some of the technology can be used to better carry out the breeding industry and primary processing industry, which will also stimulate the development of Juedus.
Overall, this is a mutually beneficial thing - the benefits to the alliance are a little greater, but not to the point of bloodsucking.
At the same time, the alliance's control over Jue Saturn will be raised to a very high level. Although he has not joined the alliance, it is better than joining.
In the future, if the situation changes, Gu Hang can ask Jueshuxing to submit an application to join the alliance at any time when he needs it. Once it is approved, everything will be done.
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Happy New Year to everyone first!
Happy New Year to everyone!
This chapter has 7.2k words, and more will be added!
I know I still owe the leader extra chapters, and I still owe him 25k. Plus, I didn't update for three days last month due to business trip and illness, so I have to pay back 12k, which is 37k in total.
Today I added 3k chapters, and I still owe 34.
I was actually very busy during the Chinese New Year, but I tried my best to write!
(End of this chapter)
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