Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 259

259. Chapter 258: They were the first to strike

attack. What does Gu Hang think of Black Arrow Star?

Of course he has a lot of ideas.

Originally, he sent Perbov to lead the expeditionary force here just to protect his mother’s safety and ensure the smooth transition of power of the Gu family.

Now that an accident has happened, he personally led an army and also invested in space warriors to come to support. The cost is very high.

Not only the military cost, but also the economic and political cost.

The Gu family suffered heavy losses after this battle. In the past few days, not only the ground war was fierce, but also in the space star field of Black Arrow Star, the two sides of the Chamber of Commerce fleet, which originally belonged to the same family, were almost fighting each other.

However, there is a bit of a chicken pecking at each other between them. The

main reason is that neither side is a serious navy. At most, they are just armed merchant ships. They are said to be frigates and destroyers, but in fact, they are at most similar in size and firepower, not to mention other aspects.

In addition, at the beginning of the battle, apart from the various transport starships that had no combat power, there were more or less civil strife on the remaining armed merchant ships of the eight fleets controlled by Wang Qi.

At the beginning, the fighting between the two sides was not very fierce.

After Wang Jiarong reorganized the fleet and began to attack with all her strength, the fighting between the two sides became really fierce.

But the other side tried to maneuver with the help of the planetary orbital firepower. Obviously, they had fewer ships, but the losses were less than Wang Jiarong’s side.

However, Wang Jiarong ordered the fleet to attack fiercely regardless of the losses.

In a few days, more than a dozen ships of both sides were destroyed, and the intensity of the war was still rising.

Wang Jiarong was also anxious.

Not only did she have a deep relationship with her aunt, but even from the perspective of personal interests, she was an outsider of the Gu family, and she got a high position by following her aunt, and she was her aunt’s iron confidant. If something happened to Ms. Wang Qi, she would be the second person to be liquidated.

Although this naval battle was quite like a fight between chickens, it was still very desperate.

The fierce battle did not stop until the Blade Tiger, under the banner of the navy, forced both sides to cease fire.

At this time, more than 20 ships had exploded.

Gu Hang’s heart was bleeding.

These were all family assets. If nothing unexpected happened, he would become the patriarch of the Gu family in the future, and these were all resources he could use.

Now, they are all gone.

And these are all explicit losses. The two sides have such a big conflict that even resorted to force. In the process of Wang Qi cleaning up the situation and reintegrating family resources, there will probably be many difficulties. Many of the family’s business routes, relationships, and resources in the past will be greatly affected.

According to my mother, the family’s assets will shrink by 40% after this battle. As for

the political cost, it is mainly the things that Gu Hang promised to the leader of Pei Desi on the way to save his mother.

After this battle, the Gu family’s original political stance of getting rid of the so-called Tianma Star Region Iron Triangle, becoming more neutral, and facilitating further cross-star region development, was basically impossible to implement. The Fachers family has spent a lot of effort to ease the relationship, and they can even purchase goods on a large scale and turn it into an important place of origin and consumption. Samsung may also lose the market in the future.

After all, it is necessary to implement some blockade actions of the leader Peders against the Fachers family.

Of course, these difficulties are mainly faced by Gu Hang’s mother.

But although the two cannot be considered as one now, at least after many incidents, Gu Hang can probably regard the forces controlled by Wang Qi as a firm ally of the Angry Owl Star. This kind of alliance is maintained by unbreakable blood ties and is very reliable.

Gu’s loss is my loss.

Then it is not too much to collect some rewards from the Black Arrow Star to make up for the loss, right?

“What do you want specifically?” Wang Qi raised this question.

“I want the Luman Kingdom.” Gu Hang told his mother his asking price very directly. “The Luman Kingdom is the third largest country on the Black Arrow Star, with a population of 40 million and 4.8 million square kilometers of land. I want all of these things. The Luman Kingdom itself can exist; the Luman family should not exist.”

Wang Qi frowned: “What’s the value of this? It’s just an agricultural country. Their annual output value is only more than 20 million tax coins, but they have to pay 4 million imperial taxes. After paying taxes, the fiscal surplus may be less than 2 million. Most of this 2 million will be used to pay for the maintenance of the army, and then add some administrative expenses and royal expenses… After a year, it’s good if the fiscal deficit is not out. If you take over such a place, what can you get?”

Gu Hang shook his head and said, “Mother, this is the difference between the thinking of a businessman and the thinking of a builder. You only see the present of an asset, but you can’t see its future.”

Wang Qi’s temper has really improved a lot after the ordeal of this incident. In the past, if her son talked to her like this, how could she tolerate it?

Now, she could tolerate it. She was just a little dissatisfied: “It’s not that I don’t understand the meaning of potential. However, the premise of development is to invest the required capital. A population of 40 million and a land area of more than 4 million square kilometers with a relatively good environment are all positive assets. However, the education level, industrialization level and infrastructure level of the residents of the Kingdom of Luman are extremely poor. How much resources do you need to invest to realize the future you envision? And how many years will it take to get back the investment?”

After a pause, Wang Qi continued: “Moreover, this is still a simple economic account, and the others have not been calculated. This is Black Arrow Star, which has an owner and a King’s Council. If you occupy the Kingdom of Luman, what will the other six kingdoms and a lot of small countries think? How do you establish a reasonable rule? If the contradictions intensify, is it possible for a war to break out? How many resources will you invest to deal with these wars?”

Obviously, Wang Qi was skeptical about this. In the end, she gave her own advice: “Why not exchange the results of this battle for some tangible benefits.”

“Population and land are tangible benefits.”

“I mean shorter-term and more direct benefits.”

Gu Hang sighed.

This was the biggest disagreement between him and her mother.

As a businessman, you consider profit, investment return, and risk…

but Gu Hang never defined himself as a businessman. Pure profit was never his primary consideration when making some decisions.

The same goes for coming to Angry Owl Star to be the governor.

At this point, Gu Hang said, “Did I invest anything when I rebuilt Angry Owl Star?”

This rhetorical question stumped Wang Qi.

Yes, the situation on Angry Owl Star is much worse than that on Black Arrow Star. According to Wang Qi, isn’t Angry Owl Star a more negative asset?

But what is the result?

Even she can’t lie about the current development of Angry Owl Star.

And all this is based on the premise that Gu Hang started from scratch.

She knew better than anyone that Gu Hang had not received a single cent of investment from the family in the short period of nearly two years.

But even so, Angry Owl Star is already a booming scene.

She didn’t know how her son did it, and she also tried to ask indirectly, but never got a positive answer.

But if the corresponding model is copied to Black Arrow Star, then how much potential will the 40 million people of the Luman Kingdom burst out?

She couldn’t help thinking.

Gu Hang continued, “Of course, I will not treat this place as my homeland or as a core area for development. My energy and resources are limited, so I will give priority to the Angry Owl Star. Moreover, as you said, there will be all kinds of obstacles and troubles for me to control the Kingdom of Luman. I will only treat this place as a colony for the time being.”

“But I will still invest a small amount of development resources. After all, given the current situation of the Kingdom of Luman, no matter what you do, it is all empty, and you can only squeeze it to death. Improving productivity in an all-round way and making the cake bigger is the kingly way. I have calculated this investment, and it does not need to be too high, and I will liberate the people, whose current production relations are too primitive and backward.”

Wang Qi worriedly said, “If you do this, you will inevitably offend the other six feudal kingdoms, and there will be relatively large problems in diplomacy.”

Some history from Gu Hang’s previous life flashed through his mind, and it was indeed the case. What would it be like if a foreign country with a centralized system appeared among a large group of feudal monarchies?

“You are right. However, there will be a major window of time soon, which can buy a period of peace.”

Wang Qi frowned immediately.

She thought for a moment and understood what Gu Hang was talking about: “Imperial tax?”

“Yes.” Gu Hang said, “If nothing unexpected happens, the fleet of the Imperial Taxation Department will arrive in the Tianma Star Region in two or three months at most.”

Wang Qi followed Gu Hang’s words and thought about it: “And now, the ‘Governor’ of Black Arrow Star is the King of the Luman Kingdom. This is authorized by the King’s Council and registered with the Imperial Administration Department. This means that the imperial tax of the entire planet must be submitted through Ness Luman… In theory, he still owns the entire planet…”

“Yes.” Gu Hang said, “After I kill Gu Ming and Ness Luman, you go to clean up the family’s mess, and I will clean up the mess on Black Arrow Star. I will reconvene the King’s Council to confirm the amount of the Gu family’s claim against the Kingdom of Luman, which is the ownership of the entire Kingdom of Luman; I will hold the governor’s authority of the Kingdom of Luman for two years in my hands during the period when the imperial tax is about to be paid. The other six countries must agree. They have already sent the imperial tax materials for this period to the Kingdom of Luman one after another. They must compromise on this matter.”

“The risk is still too high.” Wang Qi said, “You are right, at least before the imperial tax is paid, no matter what you do, the other six countries will not make any big moves. But three months later, when the imperial tax is paid, they will not let the power of the planetary governor be in your hands. They will definitely reopen the King’s Council and re-elect the governor, and you will not be elected.”

“Who agreed to them reopening the King’s Council?” Gu Hang said.

“This is the tradition of Black Arrow Star.”

“What does their tradition have to do with me?” Gu Hang asked back, “Does the Empire recognize the tradition of Black Arrow Star?”

“Yes… No.” Wang Qi reacted.

Does the Empire recognize the tradition of the so-called King’s Council of Black Arrow Star?

It depends on which aspect you look at it from.

Black Arrow Star changes a governor every four years. This governor is nominated by the King’s Council and is appointed by a king from one of the seven major countries. The governor is reported to the Empire, and the Empire accepts it. Then, the two taxes in these four years are collected from this governor.

From this perspective, the Empire certainly recognizes it. The Imperial Administration will respect the local traditions of the planet to a certain extent. If you say you want to change the governor, then you can change it.

However, from another perspective, this is not contrary to the Empire’s policy at all. The Empire collects taxes by focusing on the governor, and whoever is the governor is the governor; similarly, the Empire’s ruling policies are also oriented towards the registered governor. Military aid and interstellar trade are all in line with the governor.

Essentially, the process of changing the governor of Black Arrow Star, from the Empire’s point of view, is that the incumbent governor resigns and nominates a new governor, the star zone government approves and approves, then the star domain government approves and approves, and then the imperial administrative department approves.

It’s just because of the special situation of Black Arrow Star that the whole process will be very smooth.

So what if the incumbent governor does not resign during the process?

What if Gu Hang uses the governor’s authority obtained from Ness Luman to occupy it?

In the Empire, there is no term limit for the governor. As long as you pay enough taxes every two years, you are the governor recognized by the Empire, and the Empire doesn’t care about other things.

This kind of thing has happened more than once in the history of Black Arrow Star.

If the country that occupies the position of governor is particularly strong in a certain period, then other countries will have to endure it with a pinch of their noses, and if they don’t endure it, they will be beaten, and finally they will have to be obedient.

And if it is not strong enough, then war will break out. A powerful country that holds the position of governor will beat up those who are disobedient, provided that the imperial tax is met, and confirm its hegemony by subverting the royal power, supporting puppets, plundering territory, etc.

This is clearly written in the history of Black Arrow Star.

However, this kind of hegemony usually cannot last too long. In the past one or two hundred years, the international situation on Black Arrow Star has been relatively stable, and the King’s Council has played an important role. Everyone is honest and obedient, and there are few hegemonic wars for the position of governor.

Wang Qi sighed: “You want to turn Black Arrow Star upside down.”

Gu Hang spread his hands innocently: “They started it first.”

(End of this chapter)