Chapter 751, False Name
Qi Bodu had no doubt whether what Gu Hang said was true or false.
Even though these remarks were just Gu Hang's verbal comments and the result of his interrogation, Qi Bodu still believed them.
It's not that he trusts Gu Hang, he just thinks Gu Hang is not a fool and it's impossible for him to make up such nonsense.
All the contents can be verified, and he will turn around and ask the imperial guards about the situation.
No matter how arrogant the Imperial Guards are, it is impossible for them to conceal information that is closely related to the Prime Minister.
Assuming the intelligence is true, Qi Bodu does have to consider who will take over this position.
The acting prime minister of the Ministry of Justice has too little experience, and his ability and loyalty are not well regarded by Qi Bodu.
He would rather choose someone like Yasdai from among the presidents of the universe who obey him.
There were many candidates in his mind, and for a moment he was a little hesitant, not knowing who to choose.
But no matter what, it won’t be Gu Hang.
What does it have to do with Gu Hang?
Of course, he wanted Gu Hang to be loyal to him and be his younger brother. However, he was still far from that state. Gu Hang at the moment was far from being trustworthy enough for him.
As for the exchange of interests?
In Qi Bo Du's opinion, the total tax amount of 2.1 trillion tax coins in the future has already squeezed them dry. Besides this, what else can be squeezed out of them?
Oh, the Alliance's pretty good military force is quite valuable, and there are several warbands that are controlled by them.
The navy and the army, plus those Space Marine chapters, are indeed very powerful. If these troops can be mobilized at will when needed, they will be of great value.
But the power to mobilize this force lies with Gu Hang. Its value lies not only in its personnel and equipment, but also in the logistical support provided by the entire alliance.
When fighting a war, it’s all about logistics.
If the prime minister were to pay for mobilizing this force, the value of the army would be cut in half.
Then again, is the Alliance willing to hand over all power over its army, including supply to the army, to the Prime Minister?
Of course I won’t do that.
Even if he was willing, Qi Bodu would not believe it.
They say they have handed it over, but what if the alliance makes excuses and resists when the time comes to use it?
This matter requires trust.
But there is clearly a lack of trust between the two sides.
Putting aside the alliance, what kind of benefits can Gu Hang provide in exchange?
The sixth rejuvenation surgery that can be performed is what Qi Bodu cares about very much. However, this thing has been exchanged for the approval of the "Alliance Plan".
Is Gu Hang going to use the rejuvenation surgery to force Qi Bodu to switch to the position of High Lord?
Qi Bodu will not surrender.
Now, he was only about to undergo his fifth operation. He still had at least sixty to a hundred years to live, so it was not so urgent.
If it were sixty years later, he might be forced to compromise.
Now, don't even think about it.
But something Gu Hang raised changed Qi Bodu's mind a little.
"If I am elected as the High Lord as the Chairman of the Spider Web Universe and the Chief Grand Master of the Psychic Order, can the Prime Minister recommend a talented person to serve as my representative and stay in Holy Terra?"
Hearing this, Qi Bodu was moved.
The High Lord's representative, this position is actually not important. In essence, it is to carry out the High Lord's will. All the powers of this representative come from the High Lord himself, and it is impossible for him to act without following the High Lord's will. The High Lord will never tolerate such behavior, so the selection of representatives, regular reporting and review, and changing positions after a period of time are all routine operations.
Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to steal the power of the high lords by bribing representatives.
But what if the High Lord himself cooperates?
This was what Gu Hang meant, and Qi Bodu understood it.
He was quite interested in this.
In the past, the high lords he trained, whether they were the president of the universe like Yasdai, or the leaders of some departments, since they had reached the position of high lord, no matter how obedient they were, they all had their own dignity, bottom line, and even... some ambitions hidden in their hearts.
They are willing, and indeed in most, if not all, cases, to follow the lead of Prime Minister Qi Bodu. Factional struggles are one thing, but when Qi Bodu makes a decision, no matter how unhappy they are, they will suppress their thoughts and obey his management.
However, this is also a decision they made themselves.
It didn't say that Qi Bodu cast the vote directly.
That's too low a line.
But Gu Hang seemed not to care.
If his representative is chosen by Qi Bodu, doesn't that mean that the representative only needs to listen to Qi Bodu's instructions? At that time, if there is something, it would be good to send a report to Gu Hang to inform him.
Even the dog that Qi Bodu had raised most familiarly had never had this kind of attitude.
He couldn't help but look at Gu Hang differently.
After pondering for a while, he said, "Then let's talk about the alliance army. Can we..."
…
The conditions were not negotiated. Qi Bodu wanted the command of the alliance army and wanted to place a large number of generals and officers in it. Gu Hang would definitely not let him succeed.
I would rather give up the position of high lord.
If you push me any further, I don't have to sign the Alliance Plan.
Military power and political power, this is Gu Hang’s bottom line.
But in fact, he was not too disappointed.
Even if the deal was not reached, as long as there is something to talk about, there is hope.
The bottom line that Gu Hang could accept was that the Alliance troops could go abroad and fight for the Empire. But all the conditions were the same as the Empire's conscription of any Star Army Corps. The Empire paid for the war and gave bounties. The Alliance could take care of the logistics, but everything had to be paid for.
Furthermore, the Alliance Army has complete autonomy in combat. It can accept orders from higher authorities in joint operations, but it can make its own decisions on combat command. And if the battle is led by me, then other imperial military units must also obey the command of the Alliance Army.
If we can't agree on this, there's no need to discuss it anymore.
As long as the deal was reached, Gu Hang thought that it would be like taking the position of high lord at no cost.
He could accept the alliance army going out to fight for money and acting like mercenaries. Even without the high lords, he had to take the initiative to promote it.
After all, wars had accounted for the vast majority of the alliance's thirty or forty years of development. The alliance had grown rapidly while fighting wars.
Apart from war, there is nothing else that can allow a force to develop from a planet to a universe in less than forty years.
But in the future, there should be no major wars within the alliance. However, in the past development process, a huge army and military industry have been accumulated.
The military industry is not so bad. The products it produces are quite popular either as imperial taxes or as trade items.
In the unstable empire, arms are hard currency.
But the army itself is more difficult to deal with.
It would be extremely uneconomical to maintain a super-large army without fighting, as it would seriously hinder the economic development of the alliance.
Especially when the tax pressure is huge.
Use the alliance's elite soldiers to offset taxes?
Gu Hang wouldn't do that.
It is better to reduce the army and let the soldiers retire to the fields, which will also increase the labor force. Giving tax relief to the empire is a huge loss.
But if the army really is disarmed... Not only would it be painful, the key point is that the prophecy of the end of the war has always been in Gu Hang's heart, like a thorn, always making him uneasy.
Who knows when that prophecy will come true?
What should we do if we disarm just as we are about to start a war?
Fighting to support the war is a good choice.
Send troops to fight for the empire. As long as the war can be won, there will be gains, not to mention losses.
Gu Hang didn't care how much money he made. As long as the empire could support a considerable portion of the alliance's troops and provide a training ground for rotation battles, that would be great.
On this basis, if one can use this matter as a bargaining chip and exchange it for some additional political benefits, then it would be a great profit.
The Alliance promised the Executive Yuan that it would send troops to interfere in Solaria's chaotic war situation based on this consideration.
It is the same thing to be able to promise the Prime Minister and participate in wars in various parts of the empire according to his request.
It all depends on whether you can earn the position of a high lord.
The representative is to let Prime Minister Qi Bodu "recommend" the candidate, which is equivalent to handing over power, but...
First of all, if not this, Gu Hang would not even be qualified to enter.
Secondly, if I use the person you recommended and I am not satisfied with him after a few years, it is my right to change him.
Of course, the second point cannot be used easily. It must be used when your wings are strong enough.
Why didn't Qi Bo Du think of this? It was nothing more than that Gu Hang broke the tacit understanding and changed the representative, and Qi Bo Du had the ability to change a high lord in the Supreme Council.
The key to preventing this from happening is that when Qi Bodu fails to replace Gu Hang's position as high lord in the Supreme Council, that is when Gu Hang can truly take power.
This takes a process.
But even if he was a high lord in name only, he was still a high lord, and one of the thirteen people with the most power in theory in the central government of the empire.
Gu Hang has this title, but it is just a title, and there are many tricks he can use to do so.
Both locally and in Holy Terra.
What's more, this is a matter of dynamic balance.
There is a middle ground between being a nominal figure with no real power and being a powerful high lord. It is not that one is a nominal figure one second and then turns against the other the next. Rather, as Gu Hang's strength grows, the game between him and Qi Bodu develops, and the mutual exchange of interests, concessions, and compromises will make the peace of the entire power constantly shake.
The center of the empire is, after all, Holy Terra.
When Gu Hang had established a firm foothold in the East and possessed a stable and powerful force in the local area, and could be regarded as an experienced player in the entire imperial political situation, it was difficult for him to expand in the local area in the same disorderly and barbaric way as in the past.
He had to find a new path.
At his level, new paths are only possible in Holy Terra.
…
Afterwards, Gu Hang stayed there peacefully for a few days.
Then, it was time for the signing ceremony of the Alliance Plan.
The ceremony was held on a grand scale and the people who attended were of high status.
Of the two signing parties, Gu Hang was of course the one representing the alliance; on the side representing the imperial government, Qi Bodu did not show up in the end, but the three prime ministers and high lords of the empire, Luo Fei, Xu Fuzhen, and Gallardo, were all there, so the standard was already very high.
The signed document was picked up by four people and presented to the camera. It was then spread everywhere through live broadcast and the remaining images.
This matter has been concluded.
Another week later, within the Psychic Order, Gu Hang was awarded the title of Co-Grand Mentor.
He did not directly take over the Psychic Order in its entirety, but instead allowed the original chief, the old man Dou Zhao, to continue to serve as the chief mentor and manage the Psychic Order.
Pretty much business as usual.
Gu Hang has many ideas about the Psychic Order, but he cannot personally go to Holy Terra to see their realization.
Then let’s leave it to Dou Zhao.
And when Gu Hang obtained the title of co-grand mentor, and Dou Zhao had fully supported him and supported him in promoting all the reform measures he wanted in the Psychic Order, what Gu Hang did not expect was that there was movement in the system panel.
In the [Vassal] interface, there is actually an additional [Psychic Order].
It was a pleasant surprise.
Although the obedience is not particularly high for the time being, it doesn't matter. No matter how Gu Hang said in the Psychic Order, I will lead the Order to greatness again. But in fact, for him, the greatest value of the Psychic Order is still just the name.
However, now that the system can identify it as a force and include it in the database, it is not impossible to invest a little resources in it.
According to Gu Hang's original reform intention, the future direction of the Psychic Order is to train more psychics and build its own armed forces. Then, based on this, it will handle more psychic affairs in the empire, gain influence and funding... On this route, it will continue to expand and even revive.
In the future, when the Psychic Order itself becomes strong enough, the lost "management rights over all psychics in the empire" may be able to be taken back.
At least get some back.
Gu Hang's Storm Mage Corps already had a team on the way. Some construction supplies were also on the way.
The Psychic Order also selected a group of people who would follow Gu Hang to the Alliance.
The Psychic Order will focus on building branches in the East.
The plan for the next ten years has been determined. More mage academies will be built in Holy Terra and even in the entire Solar Star Region.
With the support of the Alliance, the Psychic Force will also be built independently.
Subsequently, we actively participated in various external interference psychic disasters, psychic collection, and external wars to provide psychic support.
Once the dedicated psychic force has done its job, they can openly ask the imperial government for money.
So far, the "Alliance Plan" has been completed, the Psychic Order's plan has been decided, and Gu Hang's main activities in Holy Terra have been completed.
He already wanted to go home.
Before going home, he had to wait for the results of the latest discussion of the High Lords' Council.
(End of this chapter)
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