Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 652

Chapter 650: Waiting for the Right Time

What was it like signing seven extermination orders in four days?

Gu Hang felt a heavy weight on his heart.

According to the previous criteria for signing extermination orders, those worlds weren’t just facing difficult situations, with loyalists unable to be contacted or provide assistance. Crucially, these were all populous core worlds.

At the very least, each boasted a population exceeding five billion before the war.

Besides population, another factor to consider was the strength of a world’s orbital defenses. If the orbital defenses were mediocre and ineffective against the Alliance’s fleet, Gu Hang wouldn’t easily sign an extermination order. Instead, he would prefer to dispatch ground forces, supported by the fleet’s orbital support, to strike at the enemy on the surface and search for survivors.

These participating forces wouldn’t necessarily have to be the Alliance’s mainstays; local forces could be mobilized from better-preserved planets in the Alfonzo Sector.

To achieve this, the Alliance might only have to cover the transportation costs for deploying the troops and a few frigates or destroyers for ground support. Even the ammunition could be requisitioned from those worlds.

The fleet would strike particularly stubbornly defended areas on the ground, coordinating with ground forces. Furthermore, with the constant production of viral bombs, now delivered to the needed locations almost as soon as a few are made, they could maximize their effectiveness while the infected haven’t had time to acquire information and evolve their own genes.

This way, a planet with only 300 million to 500 million infected, or at most 10 to 20 billion, could be conquered through gradual attack. Furthermore, with the help of viral bombs and orbital support, the cost might not be particularly high.

However, if the planet’s population exceeds 5 billion, and its orbital defenses are relatively well-developed, a fleet breakthrough would be costly, and the deployment of troops would incur significant losses. Ground warfare would become a quagmire that even viral bombs could not resolve… This was the target of Gu Hang’s extermination order.

Seven extermination orders would wipe out a total of 60 billion people.

Of course, Gu Hang’s heart ached not because he had decided the fate of these 60 billion people.

In fact, their fate had already been determined during the infestation.

Gu Hang wasn’t naive enough to assume these infected were still alive.

The heavy burden weighed on him. The loss of sixty billion people meant the complete destruction of seven worlds.

And according to models, there were perhaps three to five billion sane, loyalist humans on those planets, all gone. It

was a loss.

Of the remaining forty-three worlds that had previously lost contact, seventeen were eventually reestablished, allowing for their assistance in pacifying the planets. The remaining twenty-six, though unreachable, were manageable, with small populations or weak planetary defense systems, allowing for gradual tackling.

If the Alfonzo Sector had been largely settled since the victory at Aramita, then the situation would be stable now.

As long as the established strategy was implemented, the outcome of the countless battles involving tens or even hundreds of thousands of people on the planets would have no bearing on the overall situation.

And what was the overall situation?

The Alliance’s unwavering control of the entire Alfonzo Sector.

Counting Martins’s capture of the Nepeta Sector, the Alliance now controlled a total of five sectors.

Among them, Dragon Eagle and Menghe can already be considered “homeland.” Alliance government agencies are located on nearly every planet in these two star regions. The Alliance can draw upon the human and material resources of these planets.

The Proud Claw star region is rapidly advancing this effort.

In a state of war, the Alliance government’s work is incredibly demanding.

Not only does it involve preparing for various battles, but it also involves the task of taking back the territories captured by the Alliance.

Pride Claw is a key area of focus.

Many areas of the Proud Claw star region have ended military control and the mandates of local power groups, transitioning to the establishment of an Alliance system.

This is the essential path to integrating territory into the Alliance’s own strength.

Of course, construction is always harder than destruction.

Transplanting the Alliance’s political system and establishing direct rule on numerous planets is no easy task.

But despite the difficulties, progress must be made step by step.

The Alliance currently has three models of governance.

The most core is the complete establishment of the Alliance’s political system, including a hierarchical system and a highly centralized government structure… Regions that have completed these political developments can be considered core Alliance territories. The Alliance will develop the planet as much as possible according to local conditions, and can fully mobilize the planet’s resources and adjust the planet’s production model to help with war or development.

Another type is that the political system is not fully established. Job levels are only used by some people, and a considerable part of the population is outside the job level system. Government agencies are also directly managed by the Alliance’s top government, but a considerable number of people inside have traces of the old forces and have not been able to be completely reformed.

Places like this are currently included in the Alliance’s territories. In Gu Hang’s system interface, it can be clearly seen that these territories are providing him with gift points, and the Alliance can also mobilize manpower and material resources from them. As for the difference, among these included territories, there are quite a lot of negative conditions, such as unstable rule, volatile classes, conspiracy groups… and so on. Specifically, this manifests itself in numerous obstacles, making operations less smooth. Lower-level officials may feign obedience but secretly attempt to corrupt Alliance officials. Some are actually corrupted, colluding with local interest groups…

These incidents, if uncovered, will be compiled into government reports and presented to Gu Hang. Of course, many more remain hidden, undiscovered.

But now, Gu Hang can no longer monitor the situation on every planet.

He can only fully trust that the officials he has trained can carry out their work on these planets according to the Alliance’s overarching strategy.

A third possibility is that the Alliance’s system is not yet fully established, and the local governance structure and government agencies still retain the characteristics of their original planets. Alliance control over these planets is exercised through special envoys, military occupation, and other means. This

is reflected in the system as vassalage.

Generally speaking, all Alliance territories are structured in this roughly three-tiered structure, from the inside out.

Furthermore, the Alliance is continuously transforming directly governed areas into core territories and vassalage areas into directly governed areas.

In this regard, Gu Hang had two huge advantages that other rulers could not have.

First, in terms of talent.

Through the system, Gu Hang has invested a considerable amount of Gift Points in this area.

Numerous individuals have undergone training at Zhongsi Academy, even those trained as [Political Commissars], and inspired by the [Hero] interface. They all possess varying but undeniably exceptional skills in government and economic development.

These [Heroes] are the driving force behind the Alliance’s vigorous growth.

Another benefit is that Gu Hang can clearly see, on the monthly income screen, whether a planet has been recognized by the system as Alliance territory.

This is crucial.

Real-world rulers, who can truly know whether every territory and planet under their control is truly following their orders and truly reliable?

Subordinates may pretend to obey, deceive, and create information cocoons and false images…

But Gu Hang sees the real, unvarnished reality on the system interface.

This reduces significant uncertainty. Although Gu Hang didn’t know the specific events unfolding on those planets, as soon as he saw a planet’s loyalty level drop—perhaps experiencing a negative status, even seceding from the alliance, becoming a vassal state, or even rebellion—he’d know something was amiss and could dispatch personnel to investigate and resolve the situation.

If a planet’s loyalty level rose, Gu Hang would know that its officials, whether planetary governors or government agencies, were doing a good job, making it easy to reward them.

While he might be a bit results-oriented, it was still objective fact, and it was better than being fooled by flowery propaganda, believing things were going smoothly when, in reality, the situation was utterly rotten, and the supreme rulers were completely oblivious.

Gu Hang rarely fell for it these days. When

government departments praised someone for their performance or criticized someone for their poor performance, Gu Hang could tell by glancing at the results in the system whether it was exaggeration or a matter-of-fact assessment.

Flattery, whitewashing, and deception…those tactics had no effect on Gu Hang. After several harsh crackdowns, the Alliance government, from top to bottom, has been able to maintain a relatively pragmatic, efficiency-focused, and results-oriented ethos.

With the expansion of its territorial reach, bloat and declining efficiency are inevitable. However, the Alliance has also implemented various strategies, such as delegating greater power to local officials, allowing them to act with discretion.

This approach isn’t feasible for ordinary governments. Well, actually, that’s exactly how the Empire operates. After all, its vast size forces it to delegate as much power as possible, allowing planetary governors to run their own affairs.

However, this can lead to excessive independence, making it difficult to wield full control. Mobilizing resources and personnel relies primarily on political inertia, military coercion, and the loyalty of local residents, primarily relying on Imperial taxes. Additional resource support is uncertain.

However, Gu Hang isn’t afraid of granting local officials excessive independence. This is due to the loyalty of the personnel and the system interface that allows Gu Hang to monitor the situation in the region in real time. High independence isn’t a problem; officials are less likely to defect. Of course, the Zhongsi Academy and the political commissar training aren’t completely mind-locked; they simply reinforce education, ensuring sufficient loyalty and a low risk of rebellion. There were some who harbored rebellious tendencies, but Gu Hang could immediately discern them from the planetary status.

Negative statuses like [Separatist Tendencies], [Lie Fake], and [Unruly Ruler] were immediately apparent, allowing him to nip any potential problems in the bud.

Being able to directly measure loyalty was a golden tool for a ruler.

Gu Hang felt immense satisfaction as he watched his core and directly subordinate territories expand over time.

In a sense, he even hoped this rebellion could last longer. Even if he couldn’t capture more territory, at least it would buy Gu Hang more time to consolidate the already occupied areas. If

it ended prematurely, the Alliance would be in a difficult position.

Once Gu Hang relinquished his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Front, what would become of the occupied territories?

The Imperial Center would undoubtedly reward those who had achieved merit, but there was no way they could give the Alliance all four star regions: Menghe, Proud Claw, Jingjie, and Alfonzo.

Spanning two cosmic domains, five star regions in total, over three thousand worlds… That’s outrageous. Even smaller cosmic domains with sparsely populated colonies hold just that many worlds. If

they gave it all to the Alliance, wouldn’t it instantly transform it into a regional power even more formidable than Iron Armor? Despite all their talk of loyalty, what if Gu Hang rebelled? The commotion he’d cause could easily be even greater than Iron Armor’s!

Aren’t the rulers of Holy Terra afraid that just as they’d conquered Iron Armor, they’d foster a separatist faction with even greater potential for future growth?

They couldn’t help but consider this.

There would be plenty of political maneuvering to be done.

How much of the Alliance’s territory would ultimately be acquired, and how, and what kind of relationship the Alliance and the Empire would have in the future, all seemed uncertain.

Gu Hang, in short, didn’t want to give up too much of what he’d already taken, nor did he want to fall out with the Empire, be labeled a traitor, and then be subjected to relentless attacks from all sides.

Was Iron Armor a complete military failure? Of course not. They set out from the Empress Star Region and quickly swept across the universe. On the battlefield, the Western Front, with the presence of the Founding Chapter and the full support of the Inquisition, was defeated and ultimately collapsed. Initially, Leroy was stopped by the Zerg swarm on the northern front and could not be pierced. Gu Hang on the southern front had also been extremely cautious, advancing step by step. Although he had achieved a series of victories, it was clearly against the Fury and Alfonzo, not the main force of the Iron Armor.

But so what? Victory after victory, the Empire suffered losses, and the situation continued to decline. If the Empire lost one legion, it could send in two; if it lost a Phoenix Chapter, it could immediately bring in an Ortopis. If the Black Crusaders could not overcome one fleet, they would send in another. The Argent Watch, the Faithful Stormtroopers, and other elite units provided a constant stream of support from various locations.

Win one, ten, a hundred battles, so what? Wouldn’t there be losses?

A major loss would mean a complete loss.

Gu Hang saw all of this and took it as a warning.

Even if Gu Hang had confidence, even if the two armies on the western and northern fronts came south to attack him after defeating Tie Kai, he could still withstand it.

But that would be meaningless. Even

if he won, he would just be like Tie Kai, being completely overwhelmed by the endless stream of imperial armies, wave after wave.

The best situation is to hide under the banner of the empire, gradually develop, and wait for the right time.

————

This chapter makes up for yesterday.

There will be another chapter in the second half of the night.

(End of this chapter)