Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 588

Chapter 586: Spend the Gift

The Alliance provided more than just the Blood Tax to the Blood Sharks.

There was also a Gray Tax, something Gu Hang would never forget.

Generosity is key.

The Blood Sharks had saved three of their own battlecruisers, contributed greatly during the Battle of Bowang, and even participated in the boarding and seizing of ships… Gu Hang remembered all of these feats.

What did the Blood Sharks want?

Consumables?

Ammunition, medical supplies and equipment, starship repairs and spare parts… Giving them, that’s a small price to pay.

Equipment?

The Blood Sharks themselves were somewhat disdainful of the Alliance’s vehicles. They had many valuable finds from the Dark Outlands, as well as elite equipment bartered with other Mechanicums. However, quantity was a problem, and the Alliance’s production capacity could provide a significant influx of equipment, greatly enhancing the combat capabilities of the Blood Sharks’ vassal and auxiliary forces. From exoskeletons to feedback-based power armor; from armored vehicles to sentry mechs… The Blood Sharks’ auxiliary forces used to be cannon fodder, how could they ever expect such treatment? With this equipment, they would be able to last longer when serving as cannon fodder.

However, the Alliance also has some cutting-edge equipment the Blood Sharks need. The Iron Knight Terminator and the Stalwart Power Armor are both excellent items. They truly possess some impressive equipment, and the Chapter even possesses two Hades-pattern Terminators. This is practically the most advanced Terminator armor, and quite rare throughout the Imperium.

However, these are few in number. The Blood Sharks still primarily utilize the most common Skyhawk Power Armor and Indomitable Terminator.

Now that the Alliance has a supply, they’ll surely be delighted to upgrade to a new batch.

Then there’s the valuable item of Phaser. True to the Blood Sharks’ style, it can be fashioned into a battle axe or a polearm, no problem.

Phaser weapons haven’t yet been mass-produced by the Alliance, relying solely on black box production, resulting in relatively limited quantities. Even the Phoenix doesn’t have many. But precisely because of this, these items can be priced incredibly high.

And they’re truly worth the price.

For a close-quarters Chapter like the Blood Sharks, this kind of top-tier weaponry is even more important than power armor upgrades. A few Phaser Axes are enough to earn them a considerable price.

Of all the equipment, the most valuable item wasn’t these.

It was the starship.

The Blood Sharks’ greatest desire was, of course, the battle barge.

However, their contributions and sacrifices weren’t enough to secure this battle barge, originally belonging to the Fury Chapter, from the Alliance. After all, Gu Hang played the greatest role in the Battle of Bowang, followed closely by the Phoenix Chapter. The Blood Sharks contributed somewhat, but not significantly, not even as much as the Alliance’s own Glory Guards and Sisters of Battle.

In starship naval warfare, the Alliance Navy played a greater role than the Blood Sharks. After all, the Blood Sharks initially doubted that engaging the powerful Alfonzo Fleet in the Bowang System was the right decision, and Ewing naturally wouldn’t hand over his entire fleet to the Alliance and fight alongside them. It wasn’t until the destruction of Alfonzo II, their most powerful war ark, that they finally put aside their hesitation and engaged in earnest.

The Blood Sharks themselves couldn’t boast that their contributions were significant enough to warrant the best ship.

However, they had saved three Alliance battlecruisers and suffered two hundred casualties in the ongoing war.

The Alliance was willing to build them a Grail-class battlecruiser and three Space Marine strike cruisers.

The Blood Sharks didn’t want anything more conventional, though. They only wanted fast vessels that could keep up with their movements.

Combined with the excellent blood tax, the gray tax provided by the Alliance, and the increased fleet strength, the Blood Sharks were generally quite satisfied with the rewards of fighting alongside the Alliance. This

was significantly more generous than the rewards they had previously received from doing business and taking on commissions with certain Mechanicus sects.

Gu Hang’s promise of a “higher-than-average price” had been proven true.

They were also willing to continue fighting alongside the Alliance in this war, and to follow the orders of Gu Hang, the Southern Imperial Commander-in-Chief.

Of course, their independence remained strong, and their relationship was closer to that of an alliance. Ewing would follow Gu Hang’s orders, but he would make his own decisions on how to carry them out and to what extent. Gu Hang

had no problem with this.

It was as it should be.

This didn’t affect the Alliance’s Blood Tax and Ash Tax payments.

They were well-deserved.

Besides… what’s yours is mine, so why bother dividing things so clearly?

…

Of the 1,800 Space Marines Gu Hang exchanged, 300 went to the Blood Sharks, not only making up for their losses but also providing a slight boost to their strength. He also gave 500 to the Phoenixes, bringing their strength to 1,000. While nearly a hundred of them were Dreadnoughts, and some were in life support pods awaiting Dreadnoughts, their strength had nonetheless reached the Chapter’s maximum.

And what about the remaining thousand?

Gu Hang had formed a ‘Shadow Chapter.’

They all used Phoenix gene-seed, and their training speed, meaning the cost of Gu Hang’s Boon Points, matched the Phoenixes’. But Gu Hang didn’t intend to let too many people know about their existence.

As their name suggests, they were a shadow.

Gu Hang wanted them, first and foremost, to replenish the Phoenixes more quickly.

Normally, even with the expedited use of Grace Points, it would take several months for a young man’s superhuman organs to fully develop after receiving his gene-seed.

Currently, they could recuperate for a relatively long period, which wouldn’t be a problem. However, if the battle intensified and the Phoenix suffered heavy casualties, they would need rapid reinforcements. With these Shadow Legion members, replenishment wouldn’t even take several months; it would be seamless.

Another advantage was that the Shadow Legion could provide Gu Hang with other tasks.

When the Phoenix was too busy, when even the Phoenix wasn’t suited to perform… they could be useful.

Space Marines aren’t exclusive to the Imperium.

Those lost renegades, even those who fell into Chaos, are quite useful,

suited to doing dirty work.

Some died at the hands of “renegade” Space Marines; others were committed by renegades or the Corrupted.

But at the moment, Gu Hang didn’t have the luxury of resorting to this tactic.

But the future is uncertain.

While I still have plenty of Gift Points, I can start preparing.

Even if the time is right, Gu Hang could go public through a backdoor listing.

Within the Imperium, there are many Chapters that have vanished into the depths of history.

Those Chapters explicitly expelled from the Imperium, those completely decimated in battle, don’t have the right names. But that’s okay; there are plenty of Chapters

whose whereabouts remain unknown throughout Imperial history. While there’s the risk of a sudden reappearance, like the Blood Sharks, the risk of missing for centuries isn’t as great.

As for incomplete procedures and difficulty gaining approval, these are also real issues.

But Gu Hang feels he’ll gradually stop worrying about such issues.

I’m willing to borrow a shell company, and let others enjoy the secrets. Clearly, if the Chapter expands to a certain size, how many people can do anything to Gu Hang?

Of course, reaching that point would be embarrassing. Gu Hang isn’t powerful enough to completely disregard what Holy Terra might think.

All that can be said is that everything needs to be prepared in advance. Otherwise, when the opportunity presents itself, being ill-prepared will be a real problem.

…

The various expenses of Space Marines are expensive, but they primarily come in the form of resources and funds.

The grace points were actually not that bad.

It only cost 1.5 million.

Although they were strong, expensive and good at fighting, they were not large in scale after all, with only a few thousand people, so it was not a big expense.

Moreover, Gu Hang’s idea of forming a Space Marine Legion was shattered due to the restrictions on gene seed exchange.

So it was even less expensive.

So far, Gu Hang had spent more than 18 million of the 30 million grace points he had received.

There were still a little over 10 million left, and Gu Hang was a little hesitant.

He was mainly thinking about whether to hold a technology lottery.

It was really expensive to hold a technology lottery now. The previous prize pool had basically been drained, and a ten-draw streak in the million-level range would be enough to use up all his remaining grace points.

But he still had a lot of places to use grace points.

Especially in terms of productivity.

Gu Hang had the idea of exchanging countless factories, colleges and other buildings to cover the entire alliance.

Warfare can’t just focus on immediate military issues. It’s

a battle of treasuries. This is especially true

for the navy. Building a single starship can easily cost tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. The Alliance currently spends over two hundred billion on a single shipbuilding cycle, producing one Retribution-class, one Zhuge-class, and four battlecruisers.

What does this mean?

It doesn’t mean the Alliance has to shell out that much tax money to buy them, at least not entirely. The Dragon Snake-class battlecruisers, which the Ming Yang Sect is continuously ordering, two per cycle, will have to be purchased. The

Alliance can build the rest of the ships themselves, without spending any real money.

However, the actual cost is not bad.

A single starship is so massive. Building a hive capable of navigating and fighting in space requires a vast array of supporting industries.

Countless people are dedicated to it. And that’s not just the skilled workers involved in shipbuilding; that’s a massive number. Considering the Alliance’s treatment, the cost of housing, food, medical care, consumer goods, and even entertainment required to maintain a relatively comfortable lifestyle, the costs are substantial.

Oppression and exploitation are a dead end in this matter. Those involved in shipbuilding, not to mention the core senior engineers, even lower-level skilled workers are considered “talented.”

Oppression undermines worker morale and may even reduce efficiency.

The construction of various components and hulls, the processing and production of supporting raw materials… all of this is extremely costly.

In other words, it robs productivity.

A significant portion of the Alliance’s treasury is invested in shipbuilding.

But even this isn’t enough.

In fact, given the national strength of the Menghe and Dragon Eagle star regions, maintaining current shipbuilding efficiency is already at its limit, even exceeding its capacity.

Fortunately, after the war, they no longer have to pay Imperial taxes; otherwise, they simply wouldn’t be able to sustain the situation.

Furthermore, as the Alliance advances deeper and achieves positive results, support from the Empire is increasing.

Some of this support was direct military assistance. Over fifty warships were mobilized from surrounding regions to form friendly forces, united under the command of Commander-in-Chief Gu Hang.

While these vessels were small or medium-sized, even a single frigate cost hundreds of millions of tax coins. Fifty ships was a considerable sum.

In the army, six Astra Militarum Corps, totaling approximately forty million men, were also gradually deployed to the front lines, providing Gu Hang with manpower at his disposal.

After the battle, these would be returned. Gu Hang had no desire to harm his allies or deliberately send them into a brutal war.

There was no need; they were merely a complication, not affecting the overall situation and not damaging his reputation.

Regardless, these were valuable additions.

The Empire’s war support went beyond simply exempting imperial taxes—more accurately, it was imperial taxes earmarked for the Ironclad War.

Furthermore, the Empire provided direct “money.”

The most recent payment, made on behalf of the Eastern Space Region government, actually came from two or three surrounding space regions, at the request of the Imperial Central Government, totaling a staggering 150 billion.

The money arrived after the Alfonzo Cult joined the war.

150 billion was a massive sum, no matter how you

sliced it. Gu Hang’s request for money or paper was useless. He didn’t need these tax payment certificates to offset his taxes. However, these “papers” could be used to purchase everything the Alliance needed, directly from surrounding star regions and even the Universe.

Ammunition, energy, weaponry, food… even ships!

Some things, impossible to buy with money, were now affordable.

Gu Hang bought a Retribution-class battleship directly from the Duchen Cult in the neighboring Lonely Mountain Universe for 60 billion.

It cost 50 billion to build, and when you factor in the crew, fuel, and ammunition… 60 billion was practically no money at all.

Furthermore, the seven star regions of the Lonely Mountain Universe were considered among the most troubled areas within the Empire by the Greenskins. The Duanchen Cult was able to produce a battleship and sell it to Gu Hang, rather than using it for the defense of their own universe. This was already a great favor.

This favor was definitely not given to the Alliance, as the two had little ties. It was purely due to the influence of the Imperial Center.

The money came from the center, and the purchasing authority was secured by the center.

With Holy Terra as a backer, the benefits were significant.

That’s great.

I, Gu Hang, have always been a loyal subject of the Empire!

In short, without the local use of Imperial taxes and the external financial support of the Empire, the Alliance’s war machine would not be able to operate at full capacity as it is now.

But this isn’t a long-term solution.

A strong iron must be forged.

After much deliberation, Gu Hang decided to hold off on the lottery.

He invested almost all of his remaining 10 million or so Gift Points into increasing productivity.

This was achieved primarily through two means.

First, he built numerous academy buildings in Longying and even the Menghe Galaxy.

He redeemed points for the General Academy, Zhongsi Academy, and the Military Academy, but the largest number of points went to the Technical Academy.

By improving the efficiency of talent training in this area, the Alliance’s future pool of engineers and skilled workers will be significantly increased.

The two star regions have a combined population of over a trillion. If their professional skills are elevated to a high level and their human resources can be fully tapped and utilized, overall productivity will rise significantly.

The exchange price for one academy is 1,000 grace points.

Gu Hang redeemed a full 3,000 of them.

For example, on Feiyi Star, there are at least thousands of universities. Gu Hang directly used these redeemed grace points to cover 500 of them, further strengthening the planet’s role as an educational center.

Koroja also redeemed 100, covering the densely populated Hive Worlds; Angry Owl Star covered 100, directly exporting a large number of shipbuilding talents…

and other worlds were also covered. He wanted to ensure that each of the two star regions he considered his territory, totaling 774 worlds, had at least one, and some with larger populations or more developed industries would have more.

This was the cost of 3 million grace points.

There were still 9 million points of grace left, and Gu Hang spent them all on exchanging for another building: the factory.

Whether for civilian or military factories, this redemption, applied to existing factories, can directly improve efficiency. It’s a simpler, more direct, yet effective method.

Gu Hang redeemed 50,000 factories, covering nearly every planet and every industry.

Food processing, materials processing, construction, consumer goods production, civilian engineering machinery manufacturing… these civilian industries cannot be ignored. Even from a purely military perspective, they underpin the military industry.

But the bulk of the effort still lies in the military,

particularly in the production of various parts for shipbuilding and the dock assembly plants at starports. That requires more than just 100 grace points per level-one factory; how could that be enough?

Gu Hang simply redeemed for a level-five factory!

The redemption price for each level of factory building increases by one zero.

However, the effect of a level-five factory can nearly double work efficiency.

Of course, this only significantly improves the efficiency of machinery and personnel; it doesn’t truly halve the time required for shipbuilding. This benefit might be reflected in the number of ships that can be built simultaneously, reduced resource and energy consumption, and fewer people required.

But being able to save resources, save manpower, and speed up the shipbuilding speed by 50% is already very good.

Gu Hang is willing to spend 1 million gift points each on the two major shipyards of Angry Owl Star and Flying Wing Star.

At the same time, Gu Hang is also willing to give the shipbuilding center in Yunluo and the Granya Shipbuilding Center in Menghe Star Field a level 4 factory of 100,000 points.

The construction technology of the Holy Grail class has also been distributed to these two places. The Alliance squeezed resources from its teeth and also built two more Holy Grail class battleship production lines in these two places.

So far, Gu Hang had just received 30 million gifts, which had not even warmed up for a short time, and he had spent them all.

In exchange for an alliance that will become even stronger from military to economy!

————

5k

still owed 114

(End of this chapter)