Chapter 458, Will You Sign or Not?
The war situation has definitely improved, and there seems to be no sign of defeat for the time being. However, the expansion of the scope of the war has also put greater economic pressure on the alliance.
The navy is actually easier to deal with. After all, the fleet has to be maintained at that size, and the construction of new ships has never stopped.
However, the cost of the army is huge.
The ground war on the two planets in the Temir galaxy has not stopped at all. Although the intensity has decreased a bit, the overall scale is still there, and the money spent will not be much less anyway.
After the ground battlefield broke out in the Tongguan star zone, the Alliance Army began to further increase its troops to multiple planets in the star zone; after the Wuma star zone was attacked, the Alliance Army would definitely also increase its troops to ensure safety.
All of these have increased expenses.
Another surging expenditure was military aid to many planets at war, which cost the Alliance a lot of money.
These military aids include direct support of weapons, equipment and ammunition. Each planet that receives the aid can directly establish an army with a fairly good level of equipment and fight side by side with the Alliance Army, or fight under the management of officers sent by the Alliance.
In addition to direct weapons and equipment support, the Alliance will also provide a large amount of industrial production assistance. The core of this is to help those planets build and restore their own industrial production capabilities, especially heavy industry and military industry.
This is intended to strengthen the war potential of each planet and strive to make them self-sufficient in military armament.
Of course, it is difficult to achieve this level, but at least it can reduce the dependence on external assistance of the alliance as much as possible. In this case, it can also reduce the transportation pressure of the alliance.
To put it bluntly, this is the impact brought about by the increase in the scale of the war and the lengthening of the front line.
In fact, this is of course a more cost-effective way of fighting. If the Alliance's direct troops were to fight these wars, the cost would obviously be much higher, and sending Alliance army units to various planets would also take up precious ship resources.
It would be best if these planets could, with the help of the Alliance, build up a sufficiently reliable resistance force on their own soil.
But it costs money.
Moreover, over the past few days, the cumulative number of people transferred from the Jinguan Star District and the Tongguan Star District has been calculated in billions.
Human resources are, of course, also valuable resources. However, in the early stages, the alliance still needs to spend money to place these people.
Providing housing, food, and interstellar population transportation...all of these things cost money.
Only by spending money first can we make overall plans and provide them with suitable jobs, so that they can be "stuffed" into the alliance's war factories and bring out their due value...
All in all, the league is spending more and more money.
Up to now, even though all the imperial taxes that the entire Seven Horses should pay have been gathered in the hands of the alliance, it has gradually become unable to bear the consequences.
At present, it seems to be barely enough. But in the future, if the scale of the war is to be expanded or even a large-scale counterattack is to be launched, the entire economy will certainly be seriously dragged down.
Even the Prime Minister of the Union, Ossena, specifically talked to Gu Hang about the government-led plan to launch a second-level mobilization order.
Human resource mobilization will not be raised to the second level, but the economic bill may be raised to the second level, which is equivalent to the wartime economy model.
Today, the alliance is still in the standard third-level mobilization state, which is a partial mobilization level.
Gu Hang certainly didn't want to use this strategy that would seriously affect the efficiency of alliance development.
He kept thinking whether there could be any other way.
That is indeed still there.
Of the total fiscal revenue of the alliance of more than 38 billion, two-thirds came from the Tianma Star Region, 10 billion was the imperial tax that should have been paid, and more than 13 billion was the legitimate fiscal revenue.
The alliance is certainly still in rapid development, but Gu Hang is still somewhat dissatisfied with this speed of development.
He is not dissatisfied with the work of the Union Government. He understands that there are realistic factors. We cannot ignore objective conditions and insist on development. This will force government officials to exaggerate and falsify data, which will be a worse situation.
What he was not satisfied with was the direction.
In the nine worlds of the Tianma Star Region, among the more than 60 billion people, a considerable number of them have already entered a relatively wealthy state. Not to mention Feiyi Star, which is already a developed planet, the per capita output value of Nuxiao Star, where Gu Hang first made his fortune, has now exceeded 3. Even on the poorest Korojia 3, the per capita output value has now exceeded 1.
Don’t underestimate this number. It’s just the standard level of the Empire. In fact, it depends on what Koroga 3 was like before it was ruled by the Alliance - it was only 0.6!
Koroja has really been the engine of the alliance's economic development in recent years, with a large population and a fast economic growth rate.
The reason is very simple: we are too poor.
It is definitely relatively easy to develop from a poor and backward situation to a relatively normal level, especially with external support.
Let’s take a look at Feiyi Star. Its per capita output value was already over 4%, and in the hands of the alliance over the years, it is sure to have grown. Especially the shipbuilding industry, under the strong stimulation and technical joining of the alliance, has begun to further expand and increase production after many years.
However, Feiyi Star, including the relatively developed Fache Star Three, is definitely not comparable to places like Koroga in terms of economic growth rate.
It is true that these developed planets are the economic cornerstone of the alliance; however, if the economy is to grow further and reach a larger scale more quickly, it cannot rely on them.
A pearl is a pearl, but it also needs more bricks and stones to form a base.
The Alliance has tried its best to explore the potential within the Tianma Star Region, but at this critical moment, there is no need to limit our attention to the Tianma Star Region.
Was the Seven Horse Agreement signed in vain?
The Alliance is not just for bloodsucking!
It will definitely give back!
But to repay the favor, you have to be obedient.
After personally communicating with Ossena, the Alliance established a series of new policies specifically for those peripheral worlds of the Seven Horsemen's Agreement.
…
Hippogriff III, an agricultural and mining world with a population of 800 million.
This is a typical raw material production world, relatively poor but with abundant supplies.
The main reason for poverty in the past was the underdeveloped productivity. Although there were large tracts of arable land and certain mineral deposits, both the planting technology and the mining technology were relatively backward.
Not to mention, they were invaded by the greenskins.
However, in the past six months, their lives have been relatively comfortable.
The invasion of the greenskins has been resolved. Although we cannot say that the greenskins are no longer seen on the entire planet, at least they are no longer seen in the main areas of human activity. All the greenskin garbage cities on the entire planet have been cleaned up, and all the greenskin ecosystems that were established not long ago have also suffered a devastating blow. The flames have purified every inch of land polluted by the greenskins.
Perhaps, in the future, new greenskins will still be found in the wild from time to time on this planet. But as long as we don't relax our vigilance, strengthen our defenses, disinfect regularly, and burn any place where greenskins have appeared with fire, the problem will not become more serious.
The entire planet seemed to have returned to its normal life track.
The Alliance has stationed a division here permanently to provide protection; in addition to the framework of the Seven Horse Agreement, the Alliance has sent military and economic supervisors to control the development of the entire planet... and apart from these, their lives seem to have really returned to the days before the war.
Although they were still quite poor, they still had to pay the imperial taxes, the only difference was that the payee had changed. But at least the threat of war seemed to have gone away, and they no longer had to worry about the day when the greenskin army would suddenly come and destroy the farms and massacre the residents.
But the planetary governor of Hippogriff III, Larin Ulrich, has been a little confused lately.
The Alliance's diplomat made him a 'suggestion'.
And until now, he is still not sure whether he should accept it or not.
But time is running out.
The diplomat of the alliance came up again.
"Governor Ulrich, you have to give me an answer now." Wu Yang, the alliance diplomat, stood in front of him.
This female diplomat from the Wing Star Law School looked exceptionally young. She wore glasses and was gentle and refined, with a kind of intellectual female charm that Ulrich rarely saw in Hippogriff III.
Her smile was very gentle and not very aggressive, but Ulrich was still particularly afraid of seeing this girl.
He really didn't know how to deal with Wu Yang's question.
But there is no escape.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Wu Yang asked again: "You told me last time that you would give me an answer today. I have waited until this time and even negotiated with my superiors for this. Otherwise, the deadline should have been two days ago."
After a pause, Wu Yang continued, "Besides, I don't understand why you are hesitating or struggling. The Alliance is going to provide direct economic assistance to Eagle Horse III to help it establish more efficient agricultural and mining production, and can build a series of industrial capabilities based on these two industries... What's the harm in this?"
Ulrich sighed and said, "If that's all, then it would be a great thing. But...what's the price?"
Before Wu Yang could speak, Ulrich added a few more words and said, "Of course, I don't mean to blame the Alliance... But let's be honest, the Alliance helped us to eliminate the invading green-skinned orcs, and we are of course very grateful. Moreover, we, the Hippogriffs, also know that the war is far from over. Although there is no more fighting on Hippogriff III, countless Alliance warriors are still resisting the invasion of orcs outside the star zone. Without the Alliance, the peace of Hippogriff III cannot be sustained."
"But we didn't pay no price. We also made our own contribution to this war. We handed over more than 10% of the annual output, which is more than the imperial tax. We converted all our troops into allied forces according to the provisions of the Seven Horses Agreement and obeyed the deployment of the alliance."
"We have no complaints about this. This is the price we pay for our peace. The Hippogriffs understand that the two are equal."
"The Alliance is going to increase its financial assistance to Eagle Horse III. Of course, we are very happy. But I know that there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. That's why I ask, what's the price? What is the price? Higher taxes? Or other political rights? Let's talk about a price, a clear price. This will benefit everyone."
Wu Yang chuckled and said, "The price? The price is that the people on the entire planet will live a better life from now on; the price is that the entire planet can produce more to support the war on the front line. That's all."
Ulrich ruthlessly retorted, "It's not that simple, is it? Aren't you going to implement your rank system in Eagle Horse III?"
"Yes, is there any problem with this?" Wu Yang spread his hands and asked, "The aid and investment of the Alliance will build many modern farms and modern mines. Eagle Horse III uses resources, land, and manpower as investment, and the Alliance uses technology, products, and equipment as investment. The management method, personnel benefits and salaries are distributed according to the Alliance's method. It's reasonable, right?"
Ulrich was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I have been very frank, but Ambassador Wu Yang, you are not frank enough. How about I put it more bluntly? When Eagle Horse III is full of farms, mines, factories and even cities assisted by the Alliance or jointly invested and built by both parties, most of the output will come from those cooperative places. The people there will obtain ranks and accept the management of the Alliance according to the Alliance system... Then what is the role of the planetary government?"
Wu Yang smiled and said, "Isn't this good? You know what the rank of the alliance means. People will get better living security, they will have more output, and the planetary government will also save a lot of management pressure. It's a win-win situation!"
Ulrich had almost lost the will to continue pestering, and he asked directly: "What about me? What can I get?"
Wu Yang seemed to have heard a joke: "You? You are the one who has gained the most! You are the governor of Eagle Horse III, there is no way to change this. The whole planet has developed well, and you have gained a more developed world! Isn't that enough?"
"That's not my world!"
"It seems that we need to confirm a question: Do you regard the entire world as your private property? This world belongs to the Empire, and you are just its lifelong manager. From the Empire's perspective, it will always be the Empire's world; from your perspective, you will always be its manager. Is there any change?"
Ulrich was suddenly speechless.
Wu Yang restrained his smile and said solemnly: "I have also introduced to you the series of treatment and arrangements of the Alliance for planetary governors. If you are unsure about anything, I can explain it to you again. From my personal point of view, it is already a very generous treatment. Your current living standard is not comparable to the treatment given by the Alliance. However, we really don't have much time. Today, today, you must give me an answer."
"Seven Horse Economic Consortium Act, will you sign it or not?"
(End of this chapter)
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