Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 798

Chapter 792: The End is Near

Economic problems, coupled with the need for Gu Hang to part with a portion of the Storm Kingdom’s essence to suppress the warp contamination of the ships…

these two factors make it difficult for the Alliance to produce a new Glorious Queen every fifteen years.

However, the Alliance currently has one, will soon have two, and will have three in fifteen years… this scale is more than sufficient.

In fact, even the moment this “Vostok” was unveiled to the world, it caused immense astonishment.

From Mars, Holy Terra, and the various Mechanicus sects… those who received the news sent countless inquiries.

The Alliance Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a plan in place, and all inquiries were rebuffed.

However, some inquiries were directed directly to Gu Hang.

For example, Qi Bodu and the Great Sage Cawl, who had provided Gu Hang with crucial assistance during his time on Holy Terra.

These high-ranking individuals had Gu Hang’s contact information. They bypassed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and inquired about Gu Hang, which Gu Hang couldn’t ignore.

However, he only addressed them briefly.

The Imperial Central Government announced that next year’s 3 trillion Imperial Tax would be waived, and that a Queen of Glory would be sent instead. Gu Hang flatly refused

. “How the Imperial Tax is paid is my business; as long as the quantity is sufficient, it’s none of your business.”

Then, Qi Bo Du compromised, hoping to place an order for Queen of Glory warships, quoting 4 trillion and asking how long the Alliance would take to build.

Gu Hang, however, turned the tables and demanded 15 trillion, with a 30% upfront payment and 10% annually over ten years, for delivery in 60 years.

Qi Bo Du hesitated.

Both terms… he could accept.

15 trillion was indeed a lot, almost half the Empire’s annual revenue, or even more.

However, if 15 trillion couldn’t be used for anything else, a Queen of Glory could be squeezed out.

As for the 60-year construction time, it was actually quite reasonable. On many Forge Worlds, building a single mechanical ark or battleship took decades. So what was wrong with a warship of the Queen of Glory’s caliber taking 60 years to build? He thought it would be quick, at least he’d see it in his lifetime—if his life-extension surgery was successful.

But these two conditions, combined, were a bit overwhelming.

You want to build a ship for sixty years, so why should I pay all the money at once?

Qi Bodu tried hard to bargain with Gu Hang about this matter.

Gu Hang was quite surprised that Qi Bodu acted like he was open to negotiation. He simply asked for an exorbitant price and construction timeline, citing a completely unrealistic price and construction timeline, without even a final payment. “I’ll take all the money in ten years, and then the ship will be left unfinished, are you afraid?”

This offer was designed to scare Qi Bodu off.

Turns out there was still room for negotiation…

and Gu Hang really piqued his interest.

Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiate with the Imperial Central Government, and include it in the terms of the new tax law.

If the Empire truly agrees, Gu Hang will sell it to him in exchange for a Glorious Queen after sixty years. “

I’ll give you the time to build five ships, and you’ll pay for seven.” That’s not a problem.

As for the Martian Cult, they weren’t asking for ships; they were inquiring about the possibility of technical exchange.

Gu Hang could only agree to this with some degree of certainty.

The Alliance’s own shipyards were limited in their ability to produce the Queen of Glory-class battleships, undertaking relatively low-tech tasks. The core components, to be honest, were still being crafted piecemeal from the black boxes Gu Hang pulled out.

This part couldn’t be shown to the Martian Cult.

It would be useless for them to see it.

As for the ship itself, Gu Hang could allow them to visit and even study it.

This was also due to the fact that the Great Sage had helped him in the past.

After all, it was impossible for them to really develop the technical capabilities to build a new Queen of Glory by studying the finished product.

The Empire now has more than just the Alliance Queen of Glory. Each of the major loyalist warbands has one. Given the status of the Martian sect, there must be many opportunities to study those Queens of Glory, but the fact that they have not made any achievements proves that the difficulty of replicating this technology is far beyond imagination.

In this regard, some mutual exchanges are not a bad idea.

With this idea in mind, Gu Hang generously agreed to the Great Sage’s request for communication, and did not even put forward any additional conditions for the exchange of benefits.

However, what the Great Sage said next surprised Gu Hang even more.

“Let me correct you. Exchange isn’t what you think it is. I will convince the Casting General to send the Martian team that’s best at building large ships, as well as the team that’s most thoroughly researched about the ancient Queen of Glory, to the East.”

“The goal of this exchange isn’t to learn anything from you. It’s to apply what they’ve learned and excelled at to the construction of your Queen of Glory.”

A piece of cake?

From this perspective, it could almost be said that Mars is providing the Alliance with free technical support.

Although, technically, the Alliance doesn’t particularly need it; but if the Great Sage truly does what he says, these people alone are talented and can more or less speed up the construction of the Queen of Glory.

“Accelerating the Alliance’s construction of the Glorious Queen-class battleships is precisely my goal.”

“Excuse me… why?”

The Great Sage told Gu Hang the reason directly, without hiding anything: “The End Era is approaching. We don’t have much time. Now that the Alliance has the ability to build the Glorious Queen, every bit of power accumulated before the end will bring positive changes to the future of the Empire.”

“The End Era… is approaching? Can you be more specific? I want to know what it is, and if there’s a specific timeline?”

“I don’t know,” the Great Sage said, “but it won’t be too far away.”

“…Okay.”

…

Gu Hang couldn’t get any more information out of the Great Sage.

But the sense of urgency within him grew even more intense.

He was truly worried about the so-called End Era, and the prophecy he’d once read from the Dark Eldar, and what it would ultimately become.

Gu Hang was annoyed by this kind of thing.

He was annoyed by anything that kept him from staying home, farming, developing, and ensuring a good life for his people.

The matter of the End of the Era may be even more annoying than the problems brought by the Imperial Center.

So much so that he didn’t have much energy to pay attention to the new crisis between the Alliance and the Empire, the new tax negotiations and the like. Instead, he spent more time in the Kingdom of Storm God, observing the changes in the warp.

The Empire and humanity face many threats in this universe. But if there is something that really deserves the word “end”, Gu Hang would first suspect the vast and terrifying warp.

A year and a half later.

When the group of experts from Mars arrived and had already started working; when the negotiations between the Empire and the Alliance broke down for the third time, and the Empire once again took out the bluffing mobilization army it had used before, gathering in the space around the Alliance, intending to put pressure on the Alliance…

Gu Hang saw a shocking explosion in the warp.

(End of this chapter)