Chapter 486, Marshal Gu
Looking at the planet in front of him, he couldn't recognize that this was the home planet of mankind, Earth.
The beautiful blue planet in my impression is completely gone.
The ocean, which should have occupied most of the planet's surface area, had completely dried up many years ago, and the floating white clouds naturally disappeared as well.
Instead, there are countless man-made buildings that are clearly visible from space, covering every inch of the planet, including the dried seabed.
Those were hive cities.
This was Gu Hang's first thought, but he quickly overturned it.
It's so inaccurate.
It was a bunch of nest cities.
Today, Holy Terra is the largest hive world in the Empire. According to the Empire's data, there are a trillion people living here, including more than 50 billion officials of the Imperial Government, who are responsible for ruling the entire vast territory of the Empire.
What a scary number this is?
Koroja is already a standard hive world, with its huge population resources being its most core output. But even so, its population at its peak was only 40 billion, only 4% of Holy Terra.
Today, the Alliance controls half of the star field. If we include all the worlds indirectly controlled by the Seven Horses Framework and the Economic Community Act, there are a total of 182 worlds, with a total population of only 340 billion, which is only one-third of the planet of Holy Terra.
Holy Terra has more than just population. Its productivity is also very developed.
The entire solar system is indeed the most core area for mankind.
There is not only Holy Terra, but also the Moon Base, and another magnificent world - the headquarters of the Mechanicus, the Mars Forge World.
The star port area of Holy Terra is also extremely large, like a flat space world, with continuous steel creations, almost connected to the distant lunar star port.
Countless ships, large and small, were densely packed in and out of this magnificent star port area. Most of them were various types of transport ships, and the daily cargo throughput of the star port was incalculable. Gu Hang could even see several ships dragging a huge ice comet into a specific star port. These ice comets might be the source of living water for the trillions of people on the long-dried Holy Terra, which was beyond Gu Hang's imagination.
In addition, the core Solar Fleet of the Imperial Navy was patrolling in this area. Gu Hang could see many powerful warships of various shapes at a glance, each of which was comparable to or even larger than the size of the Retribution-class battleship. The largest number of them was definitely the most common Retribution-class battleship; but there were also some battleships that looked a little different, and they looked more powerful than the standard Retribution-class.
And in the orbit of Holy Terra, the most eye-catching thing is a circular creation, a bit like a star fortress, but much larger than any star fortress Gu Hang had ever seen before.
It is called the Phalanx, and is the largest mobile fortress in the Empire. It is as big as a satellite or a large asteroid, and 10 battleships can dock on the front deck alone. It can even be regarded as a space hive city, which can accommodate an unimaginable population and requires an incalculable number of mortal pilots.
Not only was it large, it was also fast. On the rare occasions that it left Holy Terra to fight, it was always able to arrive at the battlefield quickly and destroy the enemies of the Imperium with its unrivaled firepower.
Its history even exceeds that of the human empire. It is a prehistoric creation. Current human technology can only maintain it. If it suffers huge damage, it can only be repaired through alternative technology, which will cause permanent performance loss, not to mention building a new one.
The Phalanx was found by the original VIIth Legion of Space Marines 10,000 years ago. After the split of the Chapter, it also became the home of the VIIth Legion's reorganized Golden Knights Chapter.
Today, the Golden Knights are the only Space Marine Chapter stationed on Holy Terra. Together with the Imperial Guards, both types of super warriors painted golden, they jointly defend the home planet of mankind, the heart of the Empire.
The spaceship that Gu Hang was riding on flew past the Shanzhen from a distance, and his eyes were always looking at this huge, majestic, and beautiful creation, thinking in his heart:
"When can I have such a big one..."
Only when the Phalanx disappeared from his sight did he reluctantly look away.
After entering a star port and changing into a small spaceship, Gu Hang headed towards the ground.
While flying close to the ground, Gu Hang caught a glimpse of the people living in those towering nest cities.
Well... not doing very well.
This caused the halo of the sacred Terra in Gu Hang's heart to be slightly shattered.
In the planet's orbit, he was almost shocked by the capital of the empire, the heart of humanity. However, the living standards of the people on Holy Terra were similar to those in his stereotyped hive world.
But it is said that housing prices on Holy Terra are very high, and even the most shabby little room may be worth the price of a palace on other planets.
On the surface of Holy Terra, the most magnificent building complex is undoubtedly the Imperial Palace.
It is located on the Himalayas and covers the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Its spires reach into the sky, and its magnificent palaces sparkle in the sun. Countless spaceships hover above it, guarding the glory and dignity of the empire. It is not only a symbol of imperial power, but also an eternal fortress, standing tall in the long river of history, witnessing the rise and fall and changes of the empire.
The Emperor made his fortune here and unified the world. The Emperor created the Space Marines and the Imperial Guards, who were considered "perfect humans", and launched the Great Crusade to establish the current territory of the Empire. The Emperor also ascended to become a god here and protected mankind for millennia.
And the destination of Gu Hang's trip is right here.
…
It took Gu Hang a long time to reach Holy Terra.
The longest journey was from the Alliance to Wuji Star. The road in the south was a bit too dangerous, so Gu Hang could only choose to go from the east to the Donglin Star Region and then go south to the Diaochou Star Region before reaching the Wuji Star Region.
After arriving at Wuji Star, it will make another jump to enter the Wenshou Universe and then the Sun Universe.
The empire also has its own rules when dividing administrative regions. Every capital planet of a universe, while serving as the core of an entire universe, also has a requirement, which is that the connection with the solar universe should not exceed the jump of one star domain.
Sometimes, for the sake of the second point, the first point is sacrificed, leaving the capital planet of a certain star field isolated on the edge.
This is obviously to ensure that the entire empire can maintain better control over the entire vast territory of the empire as much as possible.
Later, when the empire's territory became too large, this rule was relaxed to two star regions.
But in general, the journey from Wuji Star to the Solar System, the core of the Empire, is not as far away as it looks on the Empire's star map.
However, even so, it took Gu Hang a full 7 months of sailing to reach the Solar System, and another 3 months to reach Holy Terra.
This was because Gu Hang was riding on a high-speed spaceship, without an entire fleet, without any stops on the way, and rarely slowing down. He carried the pass issued by the central government of the empire to various places along the way, and only then was he able to complete the voyage in 10 months.
If it were a larger fleet or transport fleet, it would usually take two years to complete the journey.
For Gu Hang, a man who earns millions a minute, he would definitely not be happy to spend such a long time on the road.
Especially at such a critical juncture when the Silver Tribunal is approaching.
Isn’t Gu Hang worried that after the Silver Tribunal arrives, it will withstand the pressure and declare the Alliance guilty of treason, and then the Fury Legion will start a war and launch a full-scale attack on the areas controlled by the Alliance?
Of course I am still worried.
However, after careful consideration, Gu Hang decided to make this trip.
Gallardo invited him here in order to solve the problems that the "Iron Rage Stone" brought to the alliance.
In name, Gu Hang was to come to Holy Terra, where there would be a commendation meeting specially opened for Gu Hang. The victory report of the Iron Tooth War had finally gone through the process in the Imperial Military Affairs Department. Although there were some twists and turns in the middle, it was now basically established that Gu Hang and his alliance were the biggest contributors in this war.
But if it was just for commendation and awarding of honors, Gu Hang would definitely not have spent almost two years traveling back and forth to Holy Terra.
It would be the same even if Gallardo said that there was a chance for him to get the rank of marshal.
Marshal, this is an absurdly high military rank. Moreover, when it comes to Holy Terra to be awarded, it is obviously not a useless rank like some local world defense forces, but a solid Imperial Astra Militarum Marshal.
This is usually the highest military rank that can be obtained by the highest military commander of the Astra Militarum or the Imperial Navy of an entire universe. It is also the highest permanent military rank in the Astra Militarum and the Navy. Although, there are actually two levels above the Marshal, the Grand Marshal and the Supreme Marshal, but they are basically honorary. The Grand Marshal is usually a marshal appointed by the Imperial Central Government to take on the highest, unified command in a war involving multiple Imperial Marshals in a large-scale war.
Generally, after the war is over, the status of the temporary supreme commander will be removed. Or because his performance in the war is very crucial and his contributions and merits cannot be ignored, the rank of marshal may be retained as an honorary rank.
As for the Supreme Commander, there is only one in the entire empire. As the representative of the Astra Militarum, he sits in the thirteen seats of the Imperial Senate.
In these senses, the marshal is indeed the highest normal military rank in the empire and has great political significance. Even if he is a marshal alone, the influence brought by this title alone is quite great.
But for Gu Hang, the rank of marshal was not enough to make him waste nearly two years traveling back and forth.
He was different from the regular Astra Militarum Marshals. After they were promoted, they would be transferred to or command more Astra Militarum units and become commanders of a higher level before they would be given such a top military rank.
However, Gu Hang's marshal was created as a relatively independent force. Although his Angry Bear Legion was also a formally registered Star Army Legion, its overall size after several rounds of expansion was only 20 million, which of course could not support a marshal.
For him, the title of marshal is just an honor and is not that valuable.
However, the meaning behind it is quite great.
Although he could not expect the Empire to allocate a large number of Star Army troops to expand his power after being promoted to Marshal, the Angry Bear Legion that Gu Hang already had could be further expanded.
If it can be legally expanded to a scale of billions, then the money for maintaining the troops each year, according to the standards of the Star Army, would be hundreds of billions or even tens of billions of dollars; the money for maintaining the troops each year would also be calculated in the tens of billions.
Moreover, in the discussion between Gu Hang and Gallardo, the Empire might also give the Alliance the rank of admiral.
A proper Imperial admiral.
Of course Gu Hang would give this opportunity to Ye Lixia.
In addition to the honor of military rank, this also means that the Pegasus Fleet, as the Imperial Navy Fleet, can be expanded to several times its current size. This also means hundreds of billions of dollars in funding and tens of billions of dollars in maintenance costs each year.
Of course, the Empire will not actually give a penny of these "grants" for building the army; all of it will come from the Alliance.
But it is tax deductible.
That's equivalent to real money.
Anyway, building an army takes time, so we can build as much as we can by using the deductions from the imperial taxes the alliance should pay each year.
Rather than handing over this money in vain, it would be better to use it to build the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy to offset taxes.
Of course, we can't really build so many troops with 38 billion in tax per year, otherwise other people along the line who need this money will be offended. But the tax deduction is about 20 billion per year - as the alliance develops and the tax amount increases, this number can also increase. It will take 20 to 30 years to build these two troops.
Although, if the Alliance's army was transferred to the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy, then in theory the Empire could mobilize them, but...
In the past, Gu Hang had to do whatever he was told as soon as he was transferred to another place.
However, if Gu Hang really controls the interstellar army and naval fleet with a total value of hundreds of billions, then no matter who wants to issue this "transfer order", they must think twice before issuing it.
Of course, Gu Hang is a loyal minister of the empire and he will definitely carry out orders. Otherwise, wouldn’t he become a domineering warlord?
However, before issuing the order, Gu Hang's opinion must be sought. As the marshal of the empire, and a marshal with real power at that time, who can ignore his opinion?
The meaning behind the two military ranks, 'Marshal of the Angry Bear' and 'Admiral of the Pegasus', are the superficial reasons why Gu Hang wants to come to Holy Terra in person.
This involves matters worth a total of two to three hundred billion, which is equivalent to four to five years of the alliance's imperial tax revenue. It also represents major political interests and cannot be ignored.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
