Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 608

Chapter 606, Nepeta Strategy

. Problems within the Proud Claw Star Region are relatively easy to resolve.

After all, it’s separated from the Iron Armor stronghold of the Princess Star Region by Nepeta, and the impact it has suffered over the past century hasn’t been as significant as Nepeta.

More importantly, by the time Iron Armor dropped its grip, the Proud Claw Star Region was already under the control of the Alliance. The largest-scale corruption spread, but the planets of Proud Claw didn’t “feel” the effects.

Instead, upon receiving intelligence, the Alliance immediately established a “Pest Control Office” within each planet.

Directly led by a specialist dispatched by the Alliance, local governments on each planet were required to fully cooperate with the Pest Control Office, even including it in core performance indicators. Those who performed well were rewarded with promotions along the way, and could even accumulate meritorious service for future promotions. Those who performed poorly or caused trouble were demoted without mercy.

Rewards and punishments were secondary; more important was ensuring effective publicity.

The first order of business for commissioners dispatched from the Alliance’s central government to the local level is often to educate the local ruling class about the threat posed by the insect infestation and expose the horror of the cosmic-scale catastrophe unleashed by Iron Armor, which will cause horrific devastation. A multi-pronged

approach is essential!

First, let everyone know that this is a catastrophe, destined to destroy the world. The insect swarm will devour the world, and no one can escape. The fate of the group is intertwined with the fate of the individual.

Then, the Alliance’s system of rewards and penalties is used to manage daily operations and ensure effective implementation. This cannot be based solely on the larger ideals of justice. Otherwise, disasters won’t strike overnight, and there will always be those who, feeling temporarily indifferent, will try to muddle through.

These measures address the issue of motivation.

Those who are unmotivated and drag their feet are either stupid or bad. Bad means suspecting an infection and eliminating it immediately upon confirmation. If they’re not bad, then they’re stupid; while they won’t be eliminated, they should be expelled.

Ultimately, when it comes to truly implementing the plan, it all depends on the mobilization and management capabilities of the entire society.

Some worlds are doing quite well; others, already at the level of a mixed feudal/slave society, coupled with the chaotic mix of capitalism… are a complete mess. Expecting them to accomplish anything significant, to effectively control the spread of insect infestations, is wishful thinking.

In such a time, the Alliance can’t afford to act gently. The Alliance system is being forcibly implemented, backed by military force and facing a severe existential crisis. Objectively speaking, this is a good time to implement it.

From a backward, semi-feudal, semi-capitalist society, we’ve swiftly entered the era of the Alliance system.

Recently, corrupt cults have been rampant. Many people have disappeared, some natural ecosystems are rapidly changing, and cults are militarizing to resist official crackdowns. Some worlds have even seen large-scale insect swarms. Incubation pools have even been discovered in the lower levels of hives, in slums, and in the wilderness!

Unrest is inevitable on every world in the Proud Claw Sector.

However, with the Alliance’s many tools and the fully mobilized indigenous forces of the planets, they are generally able to suppress the problems on their own.

On planets with better conditions, the primary focus is anti-cult efforts, centered around legal departments and supplemented by the military. This model resembles a “war on terror.”

On planets facing dire situations, even if a war truly erupts, defense forces can still annihilate the enemy.

To put it bluntly, the Zerg’s most formidable weapon is sheer numbers. However, they haven’t yet plundered enough biomass on any planet in the Proud Claws region to generate a critical mass of Zerg/parasite infested individuals. Before their numbers grow, as long as the authorities pay sufficient attention and respond with all their might, the threat can be contained.

The situation across the Proud Claws region can be described as improving amidst the chaos.

However, the situation in the neighboring Jingjie region is quite different. Heshan, the planet

connecting Proud Claws and Jingjie, on Jingjie’s side, is in relatively good shape. This is likely due to its status as a fortress world, primarily a military town, with a small civilian population. Furthermore, its basic social ecosystem is centered around supporting the soldiers’ lives and meeting military needs, and civilians are also managed in a militarized manner. Under these circumstances, the spread of the pest cult was limited, and the number of infected was small.

Once the entire planet was conquered by the main force of the Alliance, the minor problems were quickly resolved.

Iron Armor’s spread of the pest infestation was not entirely without merit.

A silver lining: it significantly reduced human influence in Iron Armor-occupied areas, weakening their loyalty, making the Alliance’s recovery of these worlds much smoother.

On Heshan, this wasn’t as pronounced. After all, the infestation wasn’t severe. Although the Alliance’s orbital defenses had been dismantled by force, the resistance was crushed by orbital bombardment and the threat of the army’s intervention, forcing them to retreat into covert resistance. The remaining resistance largely surrendered.

The remaining resistance disbelieved the Alliance’s propaganda, believing it to be a lie. Those who surrendered also wondered if they were being deceived.

However, as news spread through various channels from more and more worlds within the Jingjie Sector, its credibility grew, and the Alliance’s rule and management became more streamlined. The planet’s reconstruction as a fortress world also proceeded smoothly, thanks to the cooperation of the surrendered natives.

Of course, this was essentially the work of the officers and political commissars who remained on the planet.

The Alliance’s main force couldn’t remain on Heshan for long.

After conquering Heshan, the Alliance’s main fleet departed, continuing its advance into the depths of the Jingjie Star Region.

Future worlds wouldn’t have the long-standing military rule and stable society of Heshan. Gu Hang considered the problem of insect infestation quite serious.

However, on most worlds, the problem wasn’t yet extinct.

The Alliance would gradually begin to exert its influence and take action on these worlds.

Branch fleets branching off from the main fleet often found ways to collaborate with local forces.

These worlds also harbored a desire to save themselves.

The first step in this collaborative effort was to eliminate Iron Armor’s influence on their planets.

They would kill or capture Iron Armor representatives on their home worlds. This could be a unit of the Princess Legion, an administrative official embedded in the local government, or someone within the local government with close ties to Iron Armor.

Simultaneously, “Pest Control Offices” would be established on each planet.

This step was similar in the Proud Claw Star Region,

but in reality, there were significant differences.

The most striking point is that many of the worlds in the Jingjie Star Region are no longer able to resolve their internal problems solely through their own strength.

Insect swarms roar in the wild, periodically attacking human society; and the insect cults within human society have corrupted every aspect of society.

In fact, compared to corruption at the top and in the ruling class, widespread corruption at the grassroots level is even more terrifying.

While the former is troublesome, it’s a large target, easy to identify, and simple to eliminate. Once that’s done, simply replace the people you need and the problem is over.

But widespread corruption at the grassroots level is a far more serious problem.

Simply put, no matter what policies or plans are formulated, they all need to be implemented and enforced by grassroots management. If the grassroots collapse, the whole thing is doomed.

The Alliance isn’t incapable of addressing this. They can separate all high-level, mid-level, and grassroots personnel; they can even isolate entire areas and impose military control—a relatively crude but effective approach.

The Alliance has always strived to avoid this kind of situation, but that’s clearly not an option in the Jingjie Star Region.

Serious cases require drastic measures.

Of course, this would significantly strain and divert the Alliance’s resources,

keeping the Alliance’s general staff incredibly busy.

The Alliance can’t realistically attack hundreds of worlds one by one, distributing its forces to address local issues. That’s unrealistic, and even if it were possible, the Alliance would likely be stuck in the Jingjie Star Region for countless years.

That’s definitely not possible.

But the good news is that capturing a planet is essentially effortless. Wherever the Alliance fleet arrives, they’re greeted with food and drink, ready to welcome the imperial army. Even planets not in the Alliance’s attack path are frantically sending signals, asking when the Alliance will arrive. “We surrender, please send troops to help us deal with the insect infestation!”

As for dividing the forces, they do need to do so,

but not equally.

That’s where the Alliance staff’s job lies. Using the detailed information they gather from below, they need to determine which planets are in urgent need of massive support and which are less desperate and can afford less troop deployment.

For those in relatively good shape, the next largest Alliance Army group will suffice.

One million troops, along with some officials urgently recruited from the Alliance mainland, constitute the main force of the Insect Control Office.

A million-strong Alliance Army can play a stabilizing role, at least maintaining peace in one area. With this as their core, they will strive to purify and rebuild local grassroots management capabilities, draw as much strength from the local community as possible, develop new military and administrative personnel, and expand their administrative area.

Any local forces that are reckless and rebellious will be destroyed. If a single Alliance army is insufficient, more will be immediately dispatched.

However, if such a situation arises, the staff officers who made the initial assessment will be reprimanded, or even held responsible and demoted.

Analyzing the level of cooperation among local forces is also a key part of their work.

Overall, in the four months since entering the Jingjie Segmental Region, the Alliance has captured over two hundred worlds, roughly half of the region.

These worlds are in relatively good condition, accounting for approximately one-third of the total.

The remaining two-thirds are in relatively or extremely poor conditions.

Both the upper and lower levels have collapsed completely, requiring the Alliance to invest significant resources in comprehensive reconstruction. This scenario is considered a good one, simply following the “Insect Control Office” model, only taking it a step further. Completely abandoning any reliance on or illusions about local forces, and starting over from scratch.

The initial work will be difficult and require significant investment, but with the greater purpose of “saving the world” at stake, the civilian population and scattered local armies, once mobilized, will generally quickly accept Alliance rule and actively participate in the cause.

This scenario is considered relatively good.

The other worst-case scenario involves local forces being extremely loyal to the Iron Armor, or possessing strong independent tendencies, or having short-sighted and selfish rulers… Whatever the reason, they simply refuse to cooperate with the Alliance.

The infestation and swarm numbers in these areas may still be manageable, but the problem lies in the fact that once the Alliance is defeated, they will have to deal not only with actual insects but also with the insects among humans.

The more volatile generals have proposed a more radical plan: treating all these opposing forces and the insects as enemies and attacking them all together!

However, Gu Hang rejected these ideas.

Kindness and benevolence weren’t the key issues; the main issue was that if there were too many planets like this, it would be a huge burden on the Alliance.

Precious manpower shouldn’t be deployed there.

Instead, they could deploy an army, or even fewer, and simply drop a few observation posts and quietly watch the situation unfold across the world.

If the local forces could resolve the issue themselves, that would be perfectly fine and save them trouble. Even if they refused to accept Alliance rule, that wouldn’t matter. After all, a single world didn’t have the strength to cross into the galaxy and challenge the Alliance. They could simply remain on their home planet and wait until the Alliance had time to resolve the issue.

This was an internal issue within the group.

If they couldn’t hold out, the Alliance’s ambassadors would intensify their contact and intervention. Ultimately, it came down to the question: “Are you still stubborn?”

If not, then fine, follow our proven experience. If they were stubborn, then we couldn’t just stand by and watch them perish. We had to assess the situation and deploy a large force to resolve the planet’s problems, while also eliminating these local forces, who were either foolish or evil, or both.

After sorting the problems on these planets, the Alliance’s most valuable and vital military forces can be deployed to approximately thirty worlds with extremely serious problems.

Those planets have become hell on earth.

The population is not extinct, but at least it has been lost on a large scale; the evil followers infected with parasites have occupied the mainstream position in society; the real insect swarms they have bred are huge in number.

Simply relying on the “Insect Control Office” plan is no longer enough to save the entire world. The number of enemies to be faced on the planet may be counted in the hundreds of millions or even billions.

In such a world, it is undoubtedly necessary to invest heavily and deploy a large army.

A large number of ground forces, space marines, and a few warships in orbit for ground support… everything necessary must be there, and the problem must be solved with the mentality of fighting an apocalyptic war.

(End of this chapter)