Starting from the Planetary Governor-Chapter 794 - 485, Marshal Gu_2

Chapter 894 -485, Marshal Gu_2

The Emperor began his rise to power here, unifying the entire world; the Emperor created the Interstellar Warriors and the so-called ‘perfect humans’ of the Imperial Guard here, and sparked the grand expedition that established the current boundaries of the Empire. Moreover, it was here that the Emperor ascended to godhood, sheltering humanity for countless millennia.

And now, Gu Hang’s destination was precisely here.

…

Gu Hang’s journey to Holy Terra took a great deal of time.

The longest part of the journey was from the Alliance to Wuji Star. The southern route was too dangerous, so Gu Hang had to choose to go through the East Adjoining Starfield, then south to the Eagle Silk Starfield, and from there to the Wuji Starfield.

After arriving at Wuji Star, one more jump was needed to enter the Wenshou Universe, and then to the Sun Zhou Domain.

When the Empire divided its administrative regions, it was particularly meticulous: each capital planet of a Cosmic Domain, while serving as the core of an entire Cosmos Domain, also had to meet another requirement—that its connection with the Sun Zhou Domain should not exceed one jump between star domains.

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Even to the point where, in consideration of the second criterion, sometimes the first would be sacrificed, resulting in some Cosmic Domain capitals being isolated on the fringes.

Clearly, this was done to ensure the Empire could maintain as much control as possible over its vast territories.

Eventually, as the Empire’s territories became overly large, this rule was relaxed to two Star Domains.

But in any case, the journey from Wuji Star to the heart of the Empire, the Sun Zhou Domain, did not seem so remote when looking at the map of the Empire’s Star Domains.

However, even so, it took Gu Hang a full seven months of travel time to reach the Sun Zhou Domain, and another three months to arrive on Holy Terra.

This was still because Gu Hang was on a high-speed ship, not carrying an entire Fleet, with no stops along the way, minimal deceleration, and with travel passes issued by the Central Empire to various locations, that he managed to complete this journey in ten months.

If it had been a larger Fleet or transport convoy, the same journey would generally take close to two years.

For Gu Hang, a man worth millions every minute, it was certainly not desirable to spend such a long time on the road.

Especially on the critical occasion of the impending Silver Tribunal.

Could it be that Gu Hang wasn’t worried that after the Silver Tribunal’s arrival, under immense pressure, they would declare the Alliance as traitors, and then the Fury Flame Battle Group would start a war, launching a comprehensive attack on the Alliance’s controlled areas?

Of course, he was still worried.

But after much consideration, Gu Hang still decided to make this trip.

Galaraldo invited him, primarily to resolve the ‘Iron Fury Stone’ issue brought to the Alliance.

Officially, it was to invite Gu Hang to Holy Terra for a commendation ceremony specifically in his honor. The victory report of the Iron Teeth War had finally gone through the procedures of the Imperial Military Department. Despite some complications, it was now almost certain that Gu Hang and his Alliance were the greatest contributors to this war.

But if it was just for commendation and decoration, Gu Hang certainly would not spend nearly two years to make a round trip to Holy Terra.

Even if Galaraldo said there was a chance to obtain a Marshal’s rank for him.

Marshal, that’s an outrageously high military rank. And to be awarded in Holy Terra means it couldn’t possibly be some useless rank like those of local world Defense Armies, but a genuine Marshal of the Imperial Star Realm Army.

Usually, this top rank could only be obtained by the highest military Commander of an entire Cosmos Domain’s Star Realm Army or Imperial Navy Fleet, as well as the highest permanent rank of the Star Realm Army and Navy. Although, in reality, there are still two higher ranks above Marshal: Grand Marshal and Supreme Marshal, which are generally honorary. A Grand Marshal is usually appointed by the Central Government to command a war with multiple Empire Marshals, assuming the highest unified command role.

At the end of a typical war, this temporary title of Supreme Commander would be revoked, or if the individual’s performance and contributions during the war are too significant to overlook, the rank of Grand Marshal might be retained as an honorary title.

The Supreme Commander is unique in the entire Empire, representing the Star Realm Army among the thirteen seats of the Imperial Council.

In this sense, the rank of Marshal truly stands at the pinnacle within the conventional military ranks of the Empire, and it possesses tremendous political significance. Even a bare title of Marshal carries substantial influence.

However, for Gu Hang, the rank of Marshal was not worth the nearly two years of travel time back and forth.

He was different from the other genuine Marshals of the Star Realm Army. After their promotion, they would be formally tasked with or granted control over more Star Realm Armed Forces, becoming higher-level commanders, and only then would they be awarded such a top-tier military rank.

But Gu Hang’s rank of Marshal was earned as an independent power. His Rage Bear Legion, though formally registered as a corps of the Star Realm Army, had expanded several times to a total size of twenty million. Of course, this was not enough to support the title of Marshal.

For him, the rank was merely a token of honor and not highly valuable in itself.

Yet, the underlying implications carried greater weight.

He could not expect, after being conferred the rank of Marshal, that the Empire would assign a vast number of Star Realm Armed Forces to expand his power. However, Gu Hang’s own Rage Bear Legion could further increase its expansion.

If it could be legally expanded to tens of billions in size, then based on the standards of the Star Realm Army, it would mean an annual allocation of hundreds of billions, or even trillions, for maintaining the forces; the yearly maintenance cost itself would amount to tens of billions.

Moreover, in the discussions between Gu Hang and Galaraldo, the Empire was likely to grant another rank of Imperial Navy Admiral to the Alliance.

A bona fide Imperial Navy Admiral.

Of course, Gu Hang would offer this opportunity to Yelisia.

Aside from the honor of the rank, it also meant that the Tianma Fleet, as part of the Imperial Navy Fleet, could be expanded to several times its current size. This too signified an annual allocation of hundreds of billions, as well as maintenance costs of tens of billions per year.

Of course, the Empire wouldn’t actually give a penny for this ‘allocation’ of funds for military buildup; all of it would be provided by the Alliance.

But it could offset taxes.

And that was as good as hard cash.

After all, military construction took time. Each year, the Alliance would deduct a portion of the Imperial Tax it was supposed to pay, equivalent to how much was built.

Rather than handing over the money for nothing, it was better to count it towards the construction of the Star Realm Army and the Imperial Navy to offset taxes.

Obviously, they couldn’t actually build as much as their annual tax obligation of 38 billion; otherwise, others who needed the money along the line would be offended. But offsetting taxes by about 20 billion a year—and as the Alliance grew and the tax obligations increased, this number could also rise—would suffice. Over the course of twenty or thirty years, these two forces could be established.

Although theoretically, if the Alliance’s forces were converted into the Star Realm Army and Imperial Navy, the Empire could command them, but…

In the past, Gu Hang would have had no choice but to comply with any orders received.

However, if Gu Hang had control of a Star Realm Army plus an Imperial Navy Fleet valued in the trillions, then whoever wanted to issue such ‘orders’ would have to think thrice.

Of course, Gu Hang was an Imperial Loyalist; he would definitely follow the orders, otherwise, wouldn’t that make him a domineering warlord?

But before such orders were issued, Gu Hang’s opinion would have to be seriously considered. As an Empire Marshal, and by then a Marshal with actual authority, who could ignore his views?

The deep significance behind the ranks of ‘Marshal Rage Bear’ and ‘Tianma Admiral’ was the apparent reason why Gu Hang had to make a personal visit to Holy Terra.

This concerned matters equal to two to three hundred billion in value, equivalent to four to five years’ worth of the Alliance’s Imperial Tax, and it also represented significant political interests that could not be overlooked.