Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 495

Chapter 493, Never worry about Gu Hang’s loyalty!

Ou Juren’s concerns were justified.

Who was the most powerful military force in all of Holy Terra?

It was undoubtedly the Imperial Guards.

The “Ten Thousand” was no joke. At least tens of thousands of Guardsmen were present, each one incredibly powerful. Individually, they would be a near-perfect match for a Space Marine.

Only the most elite of Space Marines could even compete with the Nameless Guardsmen.

Furthermore, these Guardsmen weren’t just formidable individually; their equipment was arguably the most advanced in the entire Imperium.

Who knew how much cutting-edge technology lay within the numerous secret Imperial laboratories they guarded? Their power armor, weapons, and vehicles weren’t mass-produced, but precision-crafted creations.

Beyond their inherent combat prowess, their influence was unparalleled.

What loyal Imperial force would dare turn its guns against the Guardsmen, the Emperor’s spokespersons?

On Holy Terra, these Guardsmen could mobilize nearly every military force.

There’s no explicit rule on this, no law authorizing them to do so, and no clear hierarchy of command. Yet, no one doubts their ability to do so. Even

the Golden Knights, one of the founding Chapters based on Holy Terra, enjoys a close relationship with the Custodians. If anything were to go wrong, they would undoubtedly side with the Custodians.

Under such circumstances, who would dare to antagonize the Custodians on Holy Terra? Fortunately

, the Custodians do not interfere in politics and have never harbored any desire to overthrow the Imperial government.

They are even the guardians of the existing political framework.

The High Council and the political framework of the Imperium of Man were bequeathed by the Emperor. Maintaining this framework is upholding the Emperor’s will, and the Custodians have an unshirkable responsibility to do so.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t!

We don’t care about your conflicts, but no one is allowed to bring them to light. Otherwise, the High Lords are useless, I say!

Against this backdrop, no matter how powerful the High Lords may be, they remain wary of overreaching. The Custodians hold the heavy guillotine of their heads hanging

over their heads.

From this perspective, the presence of the Custodians objectively served as a form of oversight for these High Lords—although this was unintentional.

No one could ignore the Custodians, and everyone feared them. Naturally, no one wanted them to become a weapon against their opponents.

The Custodians refrained from interfering in politics, and no one should provoke them; this was a tacit rule among the High Lords in their political struggles.

Norberto had broken the rules and paid a heavy price.

Now, Ou Juren feared he had broken the rules and would pay the price too.

The Supreme Council was in session; who dared to push through the door without permission?

Anyone who did so would face the wrath of the High Lords! Such disloyalty and disrespect would inevitably be punished by the highest authorities in the empire!

It was the Custodians… It was all right. Was it

really all right?

Every one of the thirteen High Lords was shocked.

Someone had to be held accountable for this. They didn’t dare vent their anger on the Custodians, but someone would inevitably become the target of the High Lords’ wrath.

Ou Juren didn’t want that person to be him.

However, Gallardo disagreed with Ou Juren’s concerns.

“This isn’t our problem, but Norberto’s. We never intended to involve the Imperial Guards. It was Norberto’s overreach that caught the Imperial Guards’ attention. We must emphasize to the other factions that it was the Imperial Guards who led us to recapture Naldo and to break into the parliament, not us. I believe the other High Lords understand this.”

After Gallardo finished speaking, Gu Hang added, “The Imperial Guards’ actions are a clear warning, and this warning comes from Norberto, not us. There’s no need to worry about us being resented.”

Ou Juren nodded slightly.

Indeed, there was nothing wrong with putting the blame on Norberto.

It was Norberto who did it, and we were the victims.

However, even so, Ou Juren’s mood still didn’t fully improve.

“That matter is enough. There’s another crucial point: alas… Norberto, he fell so quickly.”

At this point, Gu Hang and Gallardo fell silent.

Norberto’s downfall was indeed their long-cherished goal, but it shouldn’t have happened so quickly.

If it happened this quickly, many of their original plans would be disrupted.

They had originally planned to gradually chip away at the pie, but suddenly, a huge pie was revealed. Others nearby would immediately swarm around like jackals, and the situation would destabilize. Many who originally had no chance of profiting from this incident would now suddenly have an opportunity.

This would damage the political gains of Ou Juren’s faction.

There was also a significant downside: how would the Iron Fury Stone react?

Norberto protected the Iron Fury Stone, allowing them to expand and develop their local power. But objectively, he also served as a bridge between the Iron Fury Stone and the Imperial Center, a buffer between the two sides.

Before Norberto’s fall, the Iron Fury Stone could at least listen to Holy Terra. Now that Norberto was gone, could the Iron Fury Stone still listen?

Of course, the Iron Fury Stone understood that they were a thorn in Holy Terra’s side. They had certainly made political efforts, with Norberto diligently mediating between the two sides. Now that this mediator was gone, would the Iron Fury Stones interpret this as a sign of impending Imperial action? Would they conclude that the option of peace had completely disappeared, leaving only war?

This was the primary reason Norberto couldn’t be eliminated immediately: the fear of provoking the Iron Fury Stones into rebellion!

The Empire hadn’t yet fully prepared to quell the rebellion!

Troops, supplies, personnel, propaganda, policies… everything was still being planned.

If the Iron Fury Stones rebelled, the entire eastern empire would be in turmoil!

Thinking of this, not only the High Lords who had been startled in the earlier council meeting, but even ordinary politicians realized that the situation had spiraled out of control.

Everyone internally resented these Golden Corn Spirits: they were completely useless, devoid of any political acumen, and only knew how to stir up trouble!

If you had the nerve to cause trouble, why not fight your way out of Terra and personally conquer the Iron Armor in the eastern empire?

Staying in the palace every day, the emperor has ascended, and who knows what he is defending!

But no matter how much he complains and how much he resents, he said he didn’t dare to talk to the imperial guards.

The various departments of the central government of the empire could only seize the time and try to make the bloated system run as much as possible to deal with the crisis that might come much earlier than expected.

…

After the assassination, Gu Hang stayed in Holy Terra for about a month.

During this period, his previous awarding ceremony, which was forced to be terminated due to an accident, was carried out again. This time, there were no accidents, and he received the golden scepter that symbolized his status as the Imperial Marshal.

He currently holds the highest-ranking military position in the entire Dragon Eagle Sector.

While he effectively holds direct command only over his own Angry Bear Legion, his title, as Grand Marshal, is also “Grand Marshal of the Angry Bear Legion.” He has no command authority over other Astra Militarum Corps-level units.

However, the Astra Militarum is, after all, a unified, Empire-wide military entity. Unlike the defense forces of various planets, which have virtually no control over one another

, Gu Hang holds the highest-ranking officer within a given war zone, unless otherwise ordered.

This means Gu Hang cannot exercise his authority outside of the Angry Bear Legion. He cannot dictate the organization, personnel appointments, or military deployments of other legions.

However, if war breaks out and there is no established command system from a higher level than Gu Hang, then all Astra Militarum Corps units within that war zone will be subject to his orders as Grand Marshal.

In the Dragonhawk Sector, that meant the entire Dragonhawk Legion—not just the Dragonhawk III, which he commanded, but also the other eight Dragonhawk Corps groups currently under the jurisdiction of the Sector Government. They were all subject to his command.

While there was another Dragonhawk Legion commander in the Dragonhawk Sector, Commander Michelle Oliqi held only the rank of Grand Admiral, with Gu Hang still a senior general between them.

If the Alliance and the Fury of Flame went to war, the Dragonhawk Legion, serving under the Fury of Flame, would be in a very awkward position. They were all members of the Astra Militarum, so how could they obey orders from a Grand Admiral?

Would that be treasonous?

Similarly, Ye Lishia had previously faced difficulties. Her Pegasus Fleet was constantly receiving orders from the Commander-in-Chief of the Yunluo Fleet, the highest official in the Imperial Navy in the Dragonhawk Sector, under the Sector Government.

Now, thanks to Gu Hang’s influence, she had been promoted to Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy.

With their ranks now equal, Ye Lishia could openly ignore the opposing side.

Of course, just as Ye Lishia previously evaded the Admiral’s orders, Admiral Oliqi, the Dragon Eagle Legion’s commander, could also disobey Gu Hang.

The difference, however, is that Ye Lishia is determined to follow Gu Hang, given their close relationship.

Was Oliqi determined to obey the Fury of Flame? Risking treason?

Probably not.

Meanwhile, Gu Hang received another benefit,

a more complex one. It

involved a proposal for him to become the Dragon Eagle Segment’s highest administrative official—the Segment Head.

The process for appointing a Segment Head is for the higher-level government, the Cosmic Government, to propose the proposal, report it to Holy Terra, and receive approval from the Imperial Executive Council, which then takes effect.

Gu Hang’s proposal to become Dragon Eagle Head followed this most normal and reasonable process. Following Gallardo’s prompting, Zuo Zhaofeng submitted the proposal.

Generally speaking, the Imperial Executive Council rarely rejects proposals from the Cosmic Government.

But Gu Hang’s case was different.

He was now a Grand Marshal of the Imperial Astra Militarum, his wife was an Imperial Navy Admiral, and he had a Space Marine Chapter under his command. And now he was the head of the Dragonhawk Sector government… He was in charge of both military and political affairs, right?

The Empire was still grappling with how to eliminate the Iron Fury Stone, and now it was nurturing another independent regional warlord?

Some were indeed concerned.

The Prime Minister of the Executive Yuan was trying to stop him.

Everyone knew he was an associate of Prime Minister Zibodu, and to some extent, he represented Zibodu’s thinking.

In this regard, Ou Juren played his role.

The appointment of a Sector Head no longer required a vote in the Supreme Council. Ou Juren, through alliances and especially a personal visit to Zibodu, made assurances, and persuaded the Prime Minister.

Although not stated explicitly, Gu Hang could roughly guess what these powerful figures were thinking.

They were, of course, afraid of another Ironclad.

On the other hand, while Gu Hang had Space Marines at his disposal, unlike the Princess Sector, the Ironclad Chapter was independent, while the Phoenixes were not. The Supreme Council believed there were plenty of ways to separate Gu Hang and the Phoenix.

They feared Space Marines more than a mortal political leader.

Imperial history was filled with instances of unrest caused by Space Marines. A mortal rising from a local position and then becoming unstoppable

was unheard of.

While there had been instances of “unrest” caused by mortal political leaders, they had always occurred at the center. Even during the Solar Lord Era, which had only lasted a dozen years, Solakem had first become Supreme Marshal of the Astra Militarum and one of the Thirteen High Lords before launching the Solar Crusade and gaining power.

Furthermore, compared to Iron Armor’s notorious record, Gu Hang paid his taxes diligently. When he didn’t pay, he was explicitly granted tax exemptions, which he didn’t even ask for, but were granted voluntarily for various reasons. He clearly used those tax exemptions to accomplish more than the tax exemptions

themselves, such as saving a Hive City and winning the Iron Teeth War.

Gu Hang’s reputation in this regard was much better.

Gu Hang’s clout was fueled by the formidable enemy, Tiekai.

They had a foe that was causing headaches even for the Imperial Central Government.

Let them take on the enemy first. After the battle, Gu Hang’s alliance would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses. At that point, splitting up the alliance would be much easier.

Gu Hang simply smiled, repeatedly explaining to everyone he met how honest he was and how his lifelong wish was to achieve some accomplishments in the local area, leading to a transfer to Holy Terra to work alongside everyone else.

This narrative genuinely convinced many,

as it resonated with the perception of most Imperial officials: Holy Terra was supreme, superior to any other place. They’d rather have a bed in Terra than a palace in Garden World. The prospect

of a transfer to Holy Terra, to a high-ranking position, was enough to make someone give up everything they had accumulated in their local area.

Many high-ranking officials in the Empire rose this way.

After defeating Iron Armor, Gu Hang

will have achieved success and fame. If you find him an official position in Terra, won’t he naturally let go of that so-called alliance and come all the way here? There’s no need to worry about Gu Hang becoming too powerful in the local area and then becoming too big to be removed!

You never have to worry about Gu Hang’s loyalty!

———— It’s the end of

the 4k

month, and I’m going to shamelessly shout out, begging for monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)