Chapter 787: I Don’t Want to Be the Sun Lord
"…What was the final result?"
"What else can come of it? This is just a meeting with no results. It's really boring."
"You're still not interested? If you really pass, you'll be the first to fail."
"If I could see such a big firework before I die, I would be willing to die."
Gallardo was clearly joking, too.
He never believed that things would come to that point.
After the meeting with Qi Bodu and a group of senior imperial officials, he found an opportunity to chat with Gu Hang remotely.
In the past, their conversations were quite secretive. Not only did they have to find a way to communicate safely without being eavesdropped on, but they also had to be careful when they spoke, fearing that walls might have ears and their communications might be eavesdropped on.
By now, they are becoming less and less concerned about these things.
On the one hand, they are fearless, and on the other hand, as Gu Hang's psychic power becomes stronger and stronger, their communication itself is becoming more and more secure.
Then, Gallardo enthusiastically told Gu Hang what happened next.
Especially I learned a little bit about Yerrol's speech.
That guy was still loyal to the end, serving as Prime Minister Qi Bodu's cover boy, and even performed a roar while punching the table, saying, "What the Prime Minister wants is a solution, not a suicide plan!"
"It was so funny that the whole conference room was silent."
"If the Empire throws its last bit of wealth at your alliance, the hungry wolves from other corners of the galaxy will pounce on you in an instant."
"What about the war bonds? When they 'defeat' the Alliance - if they can really defeat it - they will find that an orc empire spanning a certain universe has been quietly established, or rebellions have occurred one after another, or the Zerg has devoured an entire universe... There are a lot of unredeemable bonds left in the treasury. Who will buy them?"
"After the meeting, Luo Xi spoke to me earnestly, saying that the Empire was like a driver holding a rotten rein, and the horses pulling the cart had long been fed by the Alliance and turned into master-eating beasts. Now, no matter whether he whips or lets go, the end result will be the destruction of the cart and the death of the people."
"It's so funny."
Gu Hang asked with great interest: "Did Qi Bo say anything in the end?"
"Yes, he said that when a new Sun Lord appears above your heads, you will regret this day."
"It's so funny. Who didn't go through that era? Without Sohkem, I wouldn't be where I am today."
"By the way, do you want to be the Sun Lord in the future?"
Facing this question, Gu Hang laughed and said, "I've never thought about it. I just want to live peacefully on my own land, doing business and developing it. It's others who are causing trouble for me, and I can't do anything about it."
"One acre and three points of land... you really have the guts to say that." Gallardo complained, and quickly brought the topic back to the topic: "No, you still have to be responsible. I am still waiting for your support. It's really boring to work with Qi Bodu. He has a lot of ideas, but he is actually a fool. I really despise this old waste."
He cursed, but when he got to the key point, he unconsciously lowered his voice.
Although it won't be heard, it is a physiological reaction.
Gu Hang laughed innocently and said, "The name Sun Lord is not very auspicious."
I only did this for more than sixty years.
…
Gu Hang's fingertips lightly stroked the holographic star map, and the star clusters in the Eastern Universe scattered like startled fireflies. He stared at the blue dots marked as "Cui Ru Government", and his ears were still echoing with Gallardo's unbridled laughter at the end of the call.
It looks like the war won't break out, which is actually good news for the alliance.
Just like Gallardo's exaggerated plan, if the Empire was determined and really went all out, and carried out it according to that plan, the Alliance would be drowned.
Fortunately, the empire is not that determined.
Gu Hang picked up the bone china teacup and took a sip. The tea from the Canaan Universe was just so-so, not as good as the one produced by the Alliance itself.
Two documents were jumping on the holographic screen, one of which was titled "Draft of the Eastern Space Territory Provisional Tax Agreement".
This was something that Cui Ru’s government came up with, and Gu Hang is reviewing it.
Although in theory Gu Hang has nothing to do with the Eastern Universe, and this draft is also about how the Eastern Universe will pay taxes in the future. However, as one of the high lords of the empire, it is reasonable for Gu Hang to care about the affairs of the empire, right?
The other document is the "Alliance Program Supplementary Agreement - Tax Part"
This matter is the alliance's own.
If nothing unexpected happens, these two documents will be sent to the imperial center at the same time.
This incident did not really evolve into a war crisis between the Alliance and the Empire, but there is no doubt that the relationship between the Alliance and the Empire has deteriorated.
There must be a solution to what has happened, and these things are still worth discussing. The game between the Empire and the Alliance is far from over, and may never end. The two sides must inevitably develop with each other in a long-term dynamic game.
Some of what Gu Hang said was not nonsense. The most important thing in his mind was the development of the alliance.
In order for the alliance to develop, it must essentially rely on itself, improve its economic foundation and the alliance's productivity. However, the relationship with the central government of the empire is also a matter that needs to be dealt with, which determines the external environment for the development of the alliance.
It is impossible for the alliance to be tough to the end, and compromise is necessary.
An increase in taxes may be inevitable, provided the alliance does not want to fall out.
However, the increased tax amount must be exchanged for what it deserves.
For example, without incorporating the Eastern Universe into the alliance system, the alliance's influence on the Eastern Universe can be further expanded, investment and construction can be more intensive, and even some special cooperation can be established under the framework of the agreement.
For example, the imperial tax that the Eastern Universe has to pay will not only not be reduced, but the alliance can even collect the tax on its behalf.
"It's time to give our Prime Minister a way out." Gu Hang drew a new strategic arc on the star map.
Since the Empire doesn't dare to overturn the table, the Alliance will transform this table into its own throne.
The taxation rights in the Eastern Universe are just an appetizer, and the Empire can also reap benefits from it.
Before the unrest, the Eastern Universe's annual imperial tax was approximately 1.6 trillion, a figure not much different from the Alliance's 2.1 trillion.
But the problem is that the central government of the empire can only get 40% of it, which is about 640 billion.
Then, during the tax collection process, another 60%-70% is lost, and the total amount received is only a little over 200 billion.
This is still considered an upper-middle-level universe.
The Alliance's collection of taxes certainly cannot guarantee that all 1.6 trillion will reach the Empire's hands - unless the Empire allows the entire Eastern Universe to be incorporated into the Alliance, which is obviously impossible.
But the alliance can at least guarantee that you will receive the full amount of 640 billion. The alliance will compensate you for the losses in the process.
This growth is also a considerable figure.
For this, should the Empire also return the favor? Should Yin Bashim's actions be characterized as a regional riot caused by incompetence, and should the legitimacy of Cui Ru's government be recognized? Should the demise of Li Guangzhijian be a counterinsurgency operation?
For the alliance, this task may seem like a thankless task, but in fact, the real feast lies in how to turn 'assisting in taxation' into 'de facto custody'.
When the Alliance's taxation team entered the riotous areas where even the Imperial tax collectors dared not set foot;
When the Union's settlement system replaced the corrupt imperial tax system;
When the officials hired by the Alliance occupy a certain proportion of the Eastern Space Government, as well as the governments of various star regions and planets;
When the alliance's investment projects become the economic lifeline of each planet...
When all these things are realized, the blood vessels of the Eastern Universe will grow further into the economic heart of the alliance.
Did the Empire know this was a poison?
There are so many smart people, they can definitely see it.
But the facts are already like this. Should we continue to fight or drink the poison?
An additional 400 billion yuan in annual revenue is pretty sweet.
In the "Alliance Plan Supplementary Agreement", Gu Hang could also generously agree to increase the annual tax to 2.5 trillion according to the requirements of the imperial central government. In the next ten years, it can be increased by another 50 billion each year, eventually reaching 3 trillion.
This could even be considered to have met the standard of "punitive taxation" proposed by Xu Fuzhen.
This is also the money spent on "buying" the Eastern Universe.
But this alone is not enough.
Gu Hang sent a request to Holy Terra and Mars. After the Spider Web Universe was cleared out, there were only three regiments left: Phoenix, Blood Shark, and Dragon King's Spear. New World Torch and Fury Flame did not count, as these two regiments were redemption regiments and were not stationed in the Spider Web Universe. Similarly, Yellow Spring Gull did not count, as they were nominally a ship-based regiment.
Even if they are all included, there are fourteen star regions in the alliance, and six regiments are a bit too few.
There were only four in the Eastern Universe, which was not a lot, but one of them was destroyed by the Alliance.
It would also be reasonable to establish a few more battle groups in these two cosmic domains.
This requires the joint approval of the Imperial Center and Mars before the army can be established. Gene seeds must also be allocated from the gene seed bank by Mars.
Gene seeds are not important to Gu Hang, he can exchange them. But his exchange is limited by the number of warbands he controls. Each warband has only 2,000 exchange quotas.
As for the Space Marines, his speed in producing troops was hampered by the number of places available in the Chapter.
What he actually wanted was a place in the battle group.
This time, he made a huge request, asking for 5 new regiments, and ambitiously wanted to set up an "alliance army".
However, I guess the empire will not approve so much.
How many we can get specifically will depend on how we discuss it later.
Gu Hang’s bottom line is 2.
It doesn’t matter whether or not to provide gene seeds, or even a mother planet.
Gu Hang has enough grace points to exchange for seeds, nor does he need to settle on a mother planet to enjoy tax exemption.
What he wanted was the title of this chapter. If the Empire agreed to build five new chapters, he could directly expand the number of Space Marines by 10,000!
According to the level of the Space Marines created by Gu Hang, how many regiments would the Empire have to recruit to fight with these ten thousand Space Marines?
There’s no way to fight anymore!
Thinking of this, Gu Hang expanded his thoughts: When will the Space Marines be free?
I guess he would have to have full Imperial power and authority over the Mechanicus, and be able to approve and establish his own Chapters and be recognized. By then, he should be able to exchange unlimitedly.
I gritted my teeth, feeling that it was still a bit far away.
In addition to asking for the battle group, Gu Hang also wanted something else: his high lord power.
Although the new representatives were still appointed by Qi Bodu and listened to Qi Bodu, Gu Hang wanted to push for more rights to know and make suggestions. He asked his representatives to listen to his own opinions more than before when expressing their opinions.
This means that he had fought for and taken away part of the power of the high lords.
Even if it was relatively small, it still tore a hole.
I guess this matter will also affect Qi Bodu.
However, the total tax revenue increase of the Eastern Universe and the Alliance is 1.3 trillion. It depends on Qi Bo's judgment what he thinks.
Anyway, the temporary tax bill of the Eastern Universe is only a draft, and the first version of the alliance's tax increase plan will not directly put forward the bottom line condition of 2.5 trillion and an annual increase of 50 billion for ten years.
Let’s compete at the negotiation table.
This is because the alliance has the ability to fight for what it wants in the war, and therefore has the power to ask for these things at the negotiating table.
…
The subsequent negotiations were tense and lasted for a long time.
In fact, the situation had some new changes at one point, to the point that four or five other universes beside the Eastern Universe and Spider Web Universe began to receive mobilization orders from Holy Terra. An Imperial fleet had already entered the southern border of the Eastern Universe, and an Inquisition fleet was heading to Wuji Star under the banner of a thorough investigation of the Eastern Universe incident.
But the Alliance was also ruthless. An envoy went to the Infinite Star Region and had a secret talk with the Infinite Corps, in exchange for the Infinite Corps' silence on the demise of the sub-corps. This was not difficult. Although they all had the same gene seed, the Sword of Light was established under the command of the Empire. In the thousand years of its establishment, there was very little communication between the two sides. The Infinite Corps had thousands of sub-corps, and they could not manage them all if they had to manage each one.
In addition, there were some problems with Lingze Star’s star port and the tax system, which resulted in the first tax deferral since the signing of the Alliance Plan.
The Alliance accused this of being a "conspiracy of a small group of rebellious elements in the Empire". They hacked into the tax system and released the demon code, which caused the problem. The Alliance did not take any responsibility for this and informed the Imperial Center that the Imperial Tax would be postponed and the repair time was unknown.
Then, even though it was said that the star port was not operating smoothly, the trade on Lingze Star did not stop at all.
Xu Fu was really upset. One extension meant that 200 billion yuan would not be received in time, which had a significant impact, just like a chain reaction on the transmission gears.
But I can barely press it down, and by dismantling here and there, I can fix it.
But if the negotiations cannot be concluded for several months and the gap becomes one trillion or even two trillion, then we will be in big trouble.
At the same time, after all the gray arbitrage trade was stopped, the big guys who were originally making money suddenly suffered losses - the ships and personnel were floating around, and that was all money. The original business contracts might be breached, and they were not happy about it, and were paying close attention to the progress of the negotiations openly or secretly.
Against this backdrop, the negotiations finally ended.
(End of this chapter)
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