Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1199: Chapter 649, Waiting for the Right Time_2

Places like this are currently included in the territory of the Alliance, and in Gu Hang’s system interface, it is also clear that these territories are providing Gift Points. The Alliance can also mobilize human and material resources from them. The difference is that within these incorporated territories, there are quite a few negative statuses, such as unstable governance, shaky tiers, conspiratorial groups… and so on. Specifically, it manifests in numerous restraints, not being so smooth, subordinates being sycophantic and deceitful, trying to corrupt Alliance officials, with some indeed having been corrupted, colluding with local interest groups…

These things, when discovered, would fall into government reports, compiled for Gu Hang to review. Of course, there are also many that are hidden underwater, yet to be discovered.

But now, Gu Hang can’t possibly focus on the status of every planet.

He can only fully trust that the many officials he has trained can complete their work on these planets according to the great strategies laid out by the Alliance.

The third kind is where the Alliance’s system hasn’t been fully established, and the local governance structure, government institutions, still retain the original planet’s appearance. The Alliance controls these planets through commissioners, military occupation, and other means.

This is reflected in the system as vassals.

In general, all the Alliance’s territories are roughly structured like this, in three layers from inside out.

Moreover, the Alliance is continuously turning direct rule areas into core territories; turning vassals into direct rule areas.

In this respect, Gu Hang has two enormous advantages that other rulers cannot possess.

The first is in the talent aspect.

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

A large number of individuals, who have undergone training from the Loyal Heir Academy, even undergone [Commissar] training, and have been enlightened by the [Hero] interface, have different but absolutely outstanding levels of performance in governance and economic construction.

These [heroes] are the driving force behind the booming development of the Alliance.

The other is that Gu Hang can see very clearly on the monthly income interface whether a planet is recognized by the system as part of the Alliance’s territory.

This point is very important.

Which ruler in the real world can truly know if every piece of territory and every planet under their command genuinely follows their orders and is truly reliable?

Subordinates may be sycophantic and deceitful, may create information cocoons and illusions…

However, what Gu Hang sees on the system interface is the actual situation.

This greatly reduces uncertainty. Although Gu Hang doesn’t know exactly what is happening on those planets, as soon as he sees a planet’s loyalty level drop, for instance, if a negative status appears, or if it detaches from Alliance territory and becomes a vassal territory, or even a rebellion, he can immediately tell that there’s a problem on that planet, and he can send people to investigate and resolve it.

And when a planet’s loyalty level rises, Gu Hang also knows that whether it is the planet’s officials or the Planetary Governor or government institutions, they have done well, and he can conveniently reward them accordingly.

Though it leans a little towards outcome-based reasoning, it still reflects objective reality in any case, which is far better than being fooled by subordinates with flowery words, thinking that everything is great when everything below is actually a mess, with the supreme ruler being oblivious.

Currently, Gu Hang is not easily deceived.

When government departments boast about someone’s achievements or criticize someone else’s failures, Gu Hang takes a glance at the system for confirmation, discerning between praise, slander, or genuine assessments.

Flattery, embellishing documents, falsification… these tricks do not work on Gu Hang. After strictly dealing with such cases a few times, the Alliance Government can largely maintain from top to bottom a relatively pragmatic atmosphere that emphasizes efficiency and results.

As the scale of governance increases, the issues of bloating and reduced efficiency are unavoidable. However, the Alliance has also implemented various strategies, such as delegating more power to local officials, allowing them to act according to circumstances.

Ordinary regimes can’t easily do this. In fact, that’s exactly how the Empire operates. Since it’s too large, it has no choice but to delegate power as much as possible, allowing Planetary Governors to handle affairs themselves.

But this leads to excessive independence, making it difficult to operate like a finely tuned machine, relying mainly on political inertia, force oppression, and local loyalty, and primarily taxing the Empire, with additional resource support not being easy to ensure.

However, Gu Hang isn’t worried about giving local officials too much independence leading to excessive autonomy. This advantage comes from the loyalty of personnel and the benefits obtained from Gu Hang being able to monitor the situation in real-time through the system interface. High independence isn’t a concern; officials aren’t likely to harbor dissent easily. Of course, the Loyal Heir Academy and commissar training don’t completely lock minds, they merely strengthen education, making it less likely for rebellions due to strong enough loyalty. Yet, there are always a few rebels, but Gu Hang can immediately spot them from the planet’s status.

Negative statuses like [Territorial Ambition], [Sycophantic and Deceitful], [Arrogant Ruler], can be identified at a glance, allowing issues to be extinguished while they are merely buds.

Being able to see “loyalty” directly is the biggest “cheat” for a ruler.

Watching as core territories and direct rule territories continually expand over time, Gu Hang feels quite satisfied.

In a sense, he even hopes this rebellion suppression war can last a bit longer. Not necessarily to conquer more land, at least to buy more time for Gu Hang to digest the areas already occupied, that would be good.

If it ends too soon, it becomes difficult for the Alliance to manage.

By then, once Gu Hang sheds his identity as Southern Commander, how will the occupied territories be considered?

The Central Empire is bound to carry out rewards based on merit, but anyway, it’s impossible to give all four star domains of Meng River, Otaubis, Thistle and Mustard, and Alfonso to the Alliance.

Spanning two Cosmos Domains, totaling five star domains, with over three thousand worlds in total… too exaggerated. Some smaller Cosmos Domains with fewer colonized planets only have about that many worlds.

Giving it all to the Alliance would instantly turn it into an even more terrifying local power than the Ironclad! Even while professing loyalty, what if Gu Hang also rebels one day? The uproar could possibly be even bigger than with Ironclad!

Surely, the lords on Holy Terra wouldn’t fear that after just subduing an Ironclad, they are raising a future power with even greater potential for division than Ironclad, right?

They cannot ignore this.

By then, there’ll be plenty of discussion needed on the political level.

Ultimately, how much the Alliance can retain and in what manner, and what kind of relationship it will have with the Empire going forward, all remain unknown for now.

In general, Gu Hang neither wants to spit out too much of what he has acquired nor wants to fall out with the Empire, to be labeled a traitor, and then be besieged endlessly by the various factions of the Empire.

Was Ironclad militarily unsuccessful? Of course not. They started from the Princess Star Domain, swiftly sweeping through the entire Cosmos Domain. On the battlefield, with the backing of initial formation legions and the strong support of the Tribunal, the Western Line was beaten back step by step until it collapsed. At the start, Leroux on the Northern Line was also blocked completely in front of the Insect Swarm and couldn’t break through at all. Gu Hang on the Southern Line has always been quite cautious, advancing step by step, and although a series of victories were achieved, frankly, it was all about fighting Furyflame and Alfonso, not Ironclad’s main force.

But so what? Victory after victory, the Empire lost one legion after another, yet the more they fought, the further they retreated. The Empire loses a legion, and they can send up two more; lose a Phoenix Legion, and they can immediately pull out an Otaubis. A fleet of the Black Cross Army can’t break through, then they send another fleet. Various elite troops, like the Silver Watch and Loyal Heir Storm Corps, can be continuously supported from different places.

What does winning one, ten, or a hundred battles matter? Won’t there be losses?

Lose one major battle, and the entire game is lost.

Gu Hang sees all this and is deeply wary.

Even if Gu Hang is confident, even if the two major armies of the Western and Northern Lines head south to deal with him after defeating Ironclad, he can still hold on.

But that is meaningless.

Winning would just end up like Ironclad, being completely submerged wave after wave by the continuously arriving Empire’s armies.

The best state is still to hide under the Empire’s grand banner, gradually developing, waiting for the right timing.

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