Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 559

Chapter 557, Sectarian Dispute

Conflict When the Alliance made its move to attack Heyang VIII, the Alfonzo Cult had already begun contacting the Alliance.

To be honest, the Alliance and the Alfonzo Cult had always maintained contact.

The Alliance had sent numerous diplomatic envoys, including those at Iron Fury Stone and Alfonzo.

However, before that, communications between the two sides had been rather bland, with nothing important, useful, or core discussed.

There wasn’t much to discuss. It wasn’t

until the Alliance launched its offensive into the Proud Claw Sector that the Alfonzo Cult began summoning Alliance ambassadors more frequently.

And now, as the Alliance was approaching Heyang VIII, an Alfonzo Cult Master of the Occupation, in a small boat, had blocked the Alliance fleet’s path.

This Master of the Occupation, Todd Paulson, claimed full authority to represent the Alfonzo Cult on all matters in the Proud Claw Sector and expressed a sincere desire to engage in in-depth discussions with the Alliance to resolve the conflict there.

It was a nice statement. Gu Hang, considering the other party’s status—after all, a Sage of the Main Occupation, certainly a high-ranking figure within the Alfonzon Cult—could offer some respect.

However, stopping the Alliance fleet on their own was impossible.

They could negotiate, and while they did, the fleet continued their journey towards Heyang VIII.

Even after Sage Paulson boarded the Alliance ship, he didn’t even meet Gu Hang; he was merely an Alliance diplomat, communicating with him.

Paulson constantly emphasized that the Alfonzon Cult and the Iron Armor Chapter were not allies; that the Alfonzon Cult remained steadfast under the banner of the great God of All Odds; and that the Alfonzon Cult and the Alliance were not enemies.

The Alliance didn’t object to these claims.

They didn’t even throw the alleged evidence of collusion between the Alfonzon Cult and the Iron Fury Stone in Paulson’s face.

That was pointless; Paulson could just lie and claim it was fake news.

There was no point in arguing about right and wrong. If you claim loyalty, then demonstrate genuine loyalty.

The Alliance laid out its conditions clearly:

Heyang VIII must fully submit to Alliance arrangements; the armed forces aboard Heyang VIII must be assembled, under Alliance command, and participate in the war; all ships bearing the insignia of the Alfonzon Order stationed aboard Heyang VIII must be drafted into the Alliance fleet and assigned to the war.

If these conditions were met, the Alliance would naturally consider you loyal and acknowledge the Alfonzon Order as an ally, a comrade-in-arms on the “anti-Iron Armor” front.

At this point, Paulson faltered.

He could only emphasize that Heyang VIII also required defense arrangements; the Alfonzon Order’s core interests, the “Alfonzon Sector,” lay directly behind the Princess Sector, and over four hundred worlds were filled with Iron Armor Chapter auxiliary legions and naval bases. The entire Order was in a position of being held at the mercy of the Iron Armor, a situation they could not overcome even though they wanted to.

As the negotiations progressed, the Alliance softened its demands.

The Alliance could even accept that the Alfonzo Cult would withdraw all its military forces from Heyang VIII and remove all fleets stationed at the starport.

The Alliance wanted this planet to ensure that when they turned around and announced that the entire Proud Claw star field had been conquered and needed to fully deploy defenses against the enemy’s possible invasion from the south of the Thorn Star Field, there would not be a huge bomb behind them.

This was already a very sincere condition.

However, Paulson was still avoiding the issue. He

said that Heyang VIII was the hometown of the knights. The so-called armed forces – that is, the knights, were actually the local indigenous people; they said that the ‘Third Knights of Alfonzo’, that is, the ‘Knights of Heyang’, were loyal to the sect, so why would the sect migrate all its loyalists from their hometown?

But for the Alliance, if they still didn’t accept it at this point, then let’s fight.

The Alliance was determined to take down Heyang VIII.

Paulson, in desperation, even made a threat:

“Are you trying to force the Alfonzo Cult to revolt?”

“Can your so-called alliance truly shoulder such a responsibility?”

Upon hearing these words, Gu Hang merely chuckled and had the Alliance’s receptionist relay the response to Paulson:

“Loyalty to the Divine Emperor is unconditional.”

“Whether the Alfonzo Cult rebels or not, and whether it will rebel, is never determined by me or anyone else; it’s a matter of fact.”

After conveying General Gu’s opinion, the Alliance’s diplomat reiterated the Alliance’s unwavering bottom line.

Alfonzo must be released from Heyang VIII.

Paulson couldn’t agree to this and claimed to be leaving, returning to Heyang VIII to discuss matters with the Heyang Knights.

The Alliance refused to release him. “

There’s astropathic equipment on board; you can communicate.”

The next day, servants found the sage “dead” in Paulson’s room.

But soon after disassembling the body, they discovered it was a completely mechanical “dummy.”

Paulson hadn’t come in person from the beginning; he had already made preparations.

Even after the Alliance seized the spaceship carrying the dummy, no trace of Paulson was found inside.

After dissecting the “corpse,” Alliance technicians, along with advisors from the Ming Yang sect, concluded that Paulson’s true form might not even be in this system.

The Ming Yang sect’s ruling bishop excitedly declared this a lost technology, enabling a human to control a mechanical body from countless light-years away. He

then made a formal request to the Alliance. If a formal war were to commence with the Alfonzo sect, captured Alfonzo equipment, captured personnel, and acquired technology would have to be turned over to the Ming Yang sect.

The Ming Yang sect wouldn’t take it for free; they were allies, weren’t they? These could all be counted as money!

If the technology analyzed by the Ming Yang sect could be mass-produced or could yield some products, it could be provided to the Alliance.

This was a typical model of cooperation between the Mechanicum and other factions.

Previously, the Ming Yang sect had been reluctant to engage in such cooperation with the Alliance.

To put it bluntly, they still held the Alliance in low regard.

However, things have changed since the Alliance revealed the black box.

Coupled with Wu Jiarong’s internal efforts, the Ming Yang Sect quickly adjusted its attitude toward the Alliance and began to seriously consider the Alliance as a good partner.

Thinking this way, if there was an opportunity to attack the Alfonzo Sect, the Ming Yang Sect would be very happy.

The Alfonzo Sect is much stronger than the Ming Yang Sect, which means that it has a large amount of Mechanicus background that the Ming Yang Sect can obtain.

For this reason, the Ming Yang Sect’s ruling bishop also hinted that if necessary, the sect could send a fleet and a Titan Legion.

(End of this chapter)