Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 987

Chapter 978, King and Prime Minister

Gu Hang and Robert were both incredibly intelligent individuals.

They didn’t need to waste time rehearsing their ideas or trying to convince each other. They could clearly identify their own core interests and quickly understand the other party’s core interests, which were non-negotiable.

Because of this, their communication was remarkably efficient.

A consensus on some fundamental, inviolable principles was quickly established.

First, the Emperor was the supreme representative of the Imperium and the divine authority of faith. When He returned to the mortal realm—regardless of whether He did or did not—He would be the Emperor of Mankind, ruling over all of humanity, from spirit to soul to body.

This was undoubtedly the first and undeniable fact.

Beyond this, however, a clear dual-headed system would be established.

The Empire would have two heads of state—Robert and Gu Hang.

The Imperial Regent and the Imperial Chancellor.

The Regent was easy to understand, as he was the supreme military and political leader of Holy Terra and the entire Imperium.

Gu Hang’s role as Chancellor was different from the Chancellors of the past ten thousand years. On the contrary, the powers and responsibilities of the first Chancellor of the Empire, held by the “Eternal One” during the Emperor’s reign, are more similar.

The current Chancellor’s primary role is as a member of the Imperial Supreme Council, the head of the Imperial government, and oversees the four major branches of the Imperial Central Government. In theory, the Chancellors of Justice, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Taxation, and the Executive Council all report to him.

However, in reality, over the past millennia, few Chancellors have managed to hold all four positions simultaneously. It’s common for a Chancellor of a single department to develop significant political influence and assertiveness, forcing them to challenge or even sideline the Chancellor.

In the military, not only does the Chancellor not directly command the troops, but even their involvement in military strategy is limited. The Grand Admirals of the Astra Militarum and the Navy, two of the most powerful military leaders, do not report to the Chancellor. Even if the Chancellor can indirectly intervene through the Ministry of War, this indirect leadership is inherently weak, as the Chancellor may lack control over government departments.

Not to mention forces like the Inquisition, the Mechanicus, the Assassins’ Court, and the Space Marines, who lack even the authority to indirectly lead through the Chancellor’s authority.

Before the Cataclysm, Zilberto’s rise to truly powerful Chancellor was a rare occurrence in Imperial history. Moreover, even after becoming Chancellor, he spent decades as a grandson, and decades more cleaning up the mess before finally achieving his goal.

Even then, the power of the Chancellor rests essentially on the government. To wield greater power, one must rely on control over the Supreme Council.

To put it bluntly, the truly powerful Chancellor isn’t determined by the position’s power, but by the individual’s inherent ability to manipulate the Supreme Council through exceptional skill. Essentially, they’re wielding the power of the Supreme Council.

From this perspective, the Imperial Chancellor’s authority is quite limited.

But according to the new agreement between Gu Hang and Robert, that’s no longer the case.

The Supreme Council will become a mere figurehead. The Imperial Council, once solely under the Chancellor’s leadership, will become a subordinate body—a legacy of the former First Chancellor.

Gu Hang, the future Prime Minister, will report to the Imperial Parliament, whose appointments rest with the Prime Minister. Beyond the four major departments of administration, finance, justice, and military affairs, all government agencies across the empire’s universe and star regions will be directly appointed and deployed by the Imperial Central Government, led by the Prime Minister.

The structure in which the President of a universe is like the leader of a vassal alliance, the Head of a star region is like a fiefdom, and the Governor of a planet is like a feudal lord will be broken down.

Personnel management, economic development, military development, legal affairs, and stability maintenance across the entire human empire will be more centralized.

In this sense, the Regent is nominally the supreme military and political leader, but the actual scope, breadth, and depth of his responsibilities are far less extensive than those of the Prime Minister. The Regent is more like the supreme commander in external battles and a political representative, while the Imperial Central Government, led by the Prime Minister, is truly responsible for implementation.

Within this structure, the Regent’s orders and the Prime Minister’s orders will be implemented across the galaxy from two different perspectives.

However, precisely because of this, Robert naturally has concerns.

Under this structure, the role of the “Regent” could easily be sidelined.

Therefore, both the Regent’s Order and the Prime Minister’s Order were based on a single premise: Imperial law must prevail over all specific government matters. The powers of the Prime Minister’s Order and the Regent’s Order were outlined in the “Charter of Imperial Reorganization.”

This charter framework was jointly drafted by legal experts appointed by Robert and Gu Hang.

After the Charter was signed, the two sides would merge to form a new department, the “Imperial Charter Committee,” independent of the Prime Minister and the Regent. Its primary responsibility was to oversee and review every Royal Order and Prime Minister’s Order for violations of the Charter.

This committee ostensibly acted as a third-party oversight body, but in reality, this so-called “oversight” was a myth.

The Charter Committee consisted of legal experts appointed by Gu Hang and Robert, representing the will of the Prime Minister and the Regent, respectively. They would certainly not oppose their respective heads of state; at most, they would oppose the opposing side. Even if the Charter Committee ruled that a certain order was “unconstitutional,” it would essentially be a case of one side overriding the other within the Charter Committee.

That’s not a good sign. It could signal a conflict between the two, necessitating a public confrontation within this normally ceremonial body.

Under normal circumstances, the two should have a tacit understanding not to go beyond the Charter’s provisions. If they absolutely must, they should discuss and revise the Charter before proceeding.

Of course, this oversight body, whether nominal or not, must still exist. At the very least, it should provide a place for the two Imperial Heads to sit down and negotiate when conflicts arise.

Besides this Charter Committee, there’s another, perhaps more formal, “check.”

The power and responsibilities of the Regent and the new Chancellor are immense. Therefore, the Charter, which provides them with the latest confirmation of legitimacy, must itself be approved by the Regent and Chancellor, and signed in the presence of the Grand Marshal of the Guards, the Forge-General of Mars, and the Pope of the Ecclesiarchy.

Subsequent revisions will follow the same process.

Approval from both Heads of State is paramount. After all, the Charter was ultimately an agreement between the two of them, defining their respective roles and spheres of influence.

It was a way of laying out the hard truths upfront to facilitate coordination. As for the other so-called witnesses… well, they were just witnesses.

If the so-called “Imperial Dual Head System” really took shape, under the highly centralized power of two leaders, what would the Martian Cult and the Imperial Guards do? Wouldn’t they still have to obey orders?

The Guards were fine, just like the Martian Cult. Could Gu Hang even tolerate the existence of something like the “other end of the Imperial double-headed eagle emblem”?

Just look at the living conditions of the Mechanicus within the Alliance.

Gu Hang will respect the Mechanicus, but this respect is based on their integration into the Alliance’s research and development and production systems.

Mechanicus fleets roaming the world collecting technical data, recovering black boxes, and ignoring other matters are not tolerated in the Alliance. The Skitarii and Mechanicus fleets within the Alliance have been reorganized. Aside from the organizational names of the fleets and ground forces, their original characteristics have been retained, retaining elements of Mechanicus culture that symbolize their origins. At most, some of their distinctive command structures have been retained. In terms of overall strategic planning, they are completely subject to the orders of Alliance High Command.

If you are ordered to join a certain front on the Dark Side Crusade, you must go, no questions asked. Once you are there, you have no independent command authority. You must obey the orders of the front headquarters, accept combat missions, and complete them effectively. Failure to perform these tasks will result in stripping you of your official uniform or court-martial.

But similarly, the Alliance would transfer any unique technologies acquired from various regions, alien technologies, or technologies lost from the past Golden Age to the Alliance’s research institute. With the Mechanicus fully integrated into the research institute, they would naturally receive free access.

The restrictions on the state religion were even more severe.

High efficiency required the unification of national power. Gu Hang would not tolerate fragmentation into disparate factions, lacking mutual support and even hindering each other.

In the future, when the Alliance’s political system replaced the old Imperial government, a similar situation would unfold across every inch of the Empire.

This would undoubtedly lead to considerable controversy and even conflict.

But Gu Hang was determined to overcome such resistance.

In his mind, no amount of radical reform would be enough to save the entire Empire.

According to Gu Hang, taking over Holy Terra and transforming the old Imperial government was not what he wanted.

No, there was no such thing as transformation.

This was not transformation, but a revolution.

He wanted to overthrow the old imperial government and completely replace it with the Alliance Central Government, which he was now generally satisfied with.

The old system should be completely destroyed during this war so that it could rise from the ruins and be reborn.

When Gu Hang laid out his ideas for Holy Terra, even though Robert had anticipated them, he was still a little frightened.

In his opinion, this was a bit too radical.

The Holy Terra government couldn’t be so terrible, right?

Wouldn’t it leave nothing behind?

If there was no transition, wouldn’t it be too chaotic in the middle? Wouldn’t there be problems with the integration of the imperial power?

He had many concerns.

But Gu Hang gave a clear answer.

The Holy Terra government was indeed terrible.

And…

“Give up your illusions, give up your hopes, Your Highness. We must now be prepared to rebuild the Empire.”

“Rebuilding isn’t just talk; it’s a true rebirth from the ashes. Starting with the Alliance’s Dark Side Crusade, and including the future expedition to the Holy Territory of the Empire once we regain control of Holy Terra, it will be like another Great Crusade to Found the Nation.”

“You must be prepared. This is rebuilding the Empire.”

“Future history may refer to the Empire from this moment on as the Third Reich.”

Hearing the word ‘Third Reich,’ Robert’s heart leaped violently.

At least two things shocked him.

First, Gu Hang’s ambition—or rather, his determination—was so immense. To completely rebuild a new Empire, replacing it with the Alliance—this was a truly monumental undertaking.

But before considering this further, Robert had to consider why Gu Hang called the Empire they were rebuilding the ‘Third’ Reich?

If the Old Empire was the First Reich, then what was the ‘Second’ Reich?

He recalled a story that should have been kept strictly secret—the Second Empire, hidden during the Imperial Civil War.

It was a secret he never wanted to be revealed. At a time when they believed the civil war was lost, Holy Terra had fallen to traitors, and the Golden Throne had been lost, he and his other loyalist blood brother, the genetic father of the Angels of Death, had jointly crowned their blood brother as the new Emperor in the Infinite Segmentum.

It had been a farce. When they realized Holy Terra had not yet fallen, and the Golden Throne had not yet crumbled, they took the initiative to end the farce, burying the Second Empire in history, rallying their armies, and saving Holy Terra.

But after that, none of them dared to speak publicly about this matter.

If it were made public, who would be the traitor?

Such presumption, such disloyalty… it was blasphemous.

If anyone else brought up this matter, Robert’s first move would be to draw the Emperor’s Sword and strike them down. Next, he would launch the largest and most secretive investigation, determined to eliminate all those who knew about it.

But hearing it from Gu Hang…

well, he didn’t have the ability to deal with Gu Hang, and he even felt that it wasn’t inconceivable that Gu Hang knew about this.

After all, the so-called “Second Empire” was a real event. Even if he had destroyed almost all records at the time, there would always be some clues about such a significant historical event.

Some of these clues might not even exist in the real universe, but instead left traces in the subspace.

So, was there anything strange about what Gu Hang learned from this?

A flash of doubt flashed through his mind:

What did Gu Hang mean by bringing this up now?

Was he threatening him? Was he using this secret as a bargaining chip?

Robert didn’t ask the question out loud, but Gu Hang seemed to hear his thoughts:

“The cornerstone of this new empire, the foundation that has enabled it to withstand ten thousand years of turmoil, is the absolute trust between the king and the prime minister.”

“What do you think, Regent?”

(End of Chapter)