Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 295

295. Chapter 294, You want 300 million?

The last words of Lao Yisi almost made Gu Hang understand what problem he was about to encounter.

This is indeed a bit troublesome.

But in fact, even if Gu Hang had already made an advance judgment on Gallardo’s intentions, in the end, he found that he still underestimated the appetite of this war apostle.

…

Early the next morning, Ms. Lao Yisi, the chief tax administrator, was going to check the imperial tax that the Angry Owl Star had to pay this time-the No. 43.25.09.03 Legion.

The formal process is actually like this:

the Pegasus Star District reported an application to establish a new Star Army Legion on the grounds of responding to the growing threat of imperial traitors and green-skinned orcs on the Angry Owl Star. In the middle, it listed the traces of the green-skinned orc vanguard on the Angry Owl Star, and also listed the naval battle against the green-skinned warships that took place in the Angry Owl Star system.

This application was approved. From this moment on, the No. 43.25.09.03 Legion, that is, the Angry Bear Legion, already existed.

Of course, this legion has no soldiers, no generals, and no equipment. The Eastern Theater of the Star Army sent a demand document to the Dragon Eagle Star Region. All expenses for establishing the Angry Bear Legion were to be borne by the Star Army, and the money spent by the Star Army was paid from the imperial tax collected by the Dragon Eagle Star Region and originally expected to be paid to the Star Army.

Isn’t this a coincidence? The imperial tax required to establish the Angry Bear Legion is exactly equal to 25% of the imperial tax amount that the Angry Owl Star has to pay – the other 75%, the star region government has already paid to the Angry Owl Star.

According to the document “Guiding Opinions on the Principle of Proximity for Imperial Tax Allocation” jointly issued by the Imperial Administration Department and the Taxation Department, the Angry Owl Star will provide soldiers, equipment, and generals for the Angry Bear Legion on the spot.

This whole set of operations is all legal and compliant, and all procedures are complete, so no one can say anything.

However, the process is fine, which does not mean that the matter is over.

The regulations of the Empire’s tax are very strict. As an Imperial tax officer, you need to inspect the army and evaluate whether the entire Angry Bear Legion is worth 2.5 million tax coins.

The evaluation is also very simple: one person is 5 tax coins; a soldier with all individual equipment and qualified training is 10 tax coins. These soldiers have a price. Add the total price of all equipment, and that is the price of the entire Angry Bear Legion.

It seems very reasonable and simple arithmetic, but in fact, there are too many things that can be bullshit in the middle.

The price difference between soldiers and ordinary people is twice as much. Who has the final say here? Is a soldier a “qualified Star Army”?

Here, a representative of the Star Army is needed to evaluate whether the soldier’s training level meets the standards together with the tax officer and the military affairs department.

It is of course reasonable to strictly follow the rules, but…

why is the empire corrupt? Since there are people here to do the evaluation and judgment work, there is naturally a place where people can cause trouble.

Can soldiers be unqualified? The standard of the Astra Militarum is very high. In many worlds, the quality of the local “planetary defense forces” is not up to the level of the Astra Militarum. Only a few elites in the defense forces can meet the standard.

But using the planetary defense forces to replace the Astra Militarum is still good. In some places, when providing soldiers to supplement the Astra Militarum, civilians are simply dressed in military uniforms, undergo simple training, and take up weapons.

Of course, this is not allowed in the rules, and it may not be in practice.

It depends on how the planetary governor does things.

In some places, this has even become a semi-open secret.

Providing enough soldiers is already good, and you haven’t eaten your empty salary yet.

No matter what ancient feudal society or modern society, or a cosmic empire like the Empire that spans the stars, as long as it is human and a society composed of humans, some bad things are not new at all.

In addition to the soldiers, weapons and equipment are the same. From a rifle, a plastic steel armor, to a lion tank, there are standard prices in the Imperial Military Affairs Department.

There is no room for nonsense here.

However, is the equipment new? Old? Incomplete? What is the pass rate? Is the production process compliant? Is there enough ammunition?

The answers to these questions will affect the price of weapons and equipment.

Generally speaking, the joint tax collection team composed of representatives of the Military Affairs Department, the Taxation Department, and the Star Army will not be particularly strict in these places.

The reason is also very simple. The imperial tax is tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. There are too many people and too many things. It is impossible to check every one. Random inspection has become an inevitable means. Moreover, some mistakes and omissions are not intentional by the planetary governor, nor is there any problem with the governor’s ability, but the objective facts are here, and it is impossible to make everything perfect.

Just have a look, that’s it.

This is not just in the special case of establishing the Star Army on the Wrath of the Owl Star, but also in normal taxation.

For a healthy adult, is it considered healthy if there are some problems with vision? Is it considered healthy if there are problems with teeth? Does stuttering count? Does having chronic diseases count?

As for material taxes, the newness and oldness of food, weapons and equipment…

the same principle.

If you stick to the rules, how many planetary governors will Laois have to execute after a round of taxation?

Turning a blind eye is necessary. This cannot even be considered corruption, but a compromise with reality. As a planetary governor, you should prepare a little more on the original tax amount as a redundancy; as long as the tax officer does not hold you to death, everyone can get by.

In addition, some personal benefits are collected in the middle, which determines the degree of turning a blind eye.

Of course, in actual operations, there are also cases of sticking to the rules.

This situation usually occurs when someone is being messed with.

Many staff members led by Laois and Gallardo rejected the Alliance’s Feng Falcon. They have their own spaceship on their starship – coincidentally, it is the Traveler.

Gu Hang and many executives of the Alliance were also asked – not invited – to board the Traveler of the tax fleet and head west.

The entire journey is estimated to take no more than three hours.

It is indeed more than twice as fast as the Feng Falcon.

On the spaceship, the War Apostle said two paragraphs to Gu Hang.

The first paragraph praised Gu Hang for his outstanding work on Angry Owl Star and his good development here. It also praised Gu Hang for his outstanding performance on Black Arrow Star and for suppressing the civil strife of the Gu family, the most important imperial chamber of commerce in the Tianma Star Region. Although the Gu family suffered some losses, they are more united and more powerful, and will definitely develop well in the future. And such a Gu family, united with Angry Owl Star and Black Arrow Star, has such a good development prospect, so it should have more support for the cause of the empire.

The figure of this support can be 300 million tax coins.

If the Angry Owl Star, the Black Arrow Star, and the Gu family can jointly come up with this money to additionally support the great cause of the empire – the Solar Expedition, then Gallardo will be very happy and he will regard Gu Hang as a friend.

The second paragraph is related to a specific matter at the moment.

He hates the many corrupt situations that have appeared in the empire, especially the manipulation of the Star Army. He cited several situations that happened during the rectification of the star actors. Some Star Army troops did not reach the level of strength that the Star Army should have. However, he believed that a rising star like Gu Hang, who was ordered to establish a new Star Army Corps, would definitely be able to meet the level requirements.

Putting these two paragraphs together, Gu Hang could of course clearly hear what they meant.

You pay me 300 million, and I will not only ignore what you want to do on the Black Arrow Star, but also provide you with some help.

I know exactly how many tricks you planetary governors have in dealing with the Star Army’s tax deduction. If you don’t give me the 300 million, don’t even think about how much trouble I’ll cause you later. Right now, don’t expect me to approve your “Angry Bear Legion” for you.

After hearing these two sentences, Gu Hang almost laughed out of anger.

With the arrival of the war apostle and the reminder of the tax officer, Gu Hang had already anticipated that as the governor of the most dilapidated planet in the Tianma Star Region, he had been targeted for a crime,

and he was even prepared to spend money to avoid disaster.

The premise is that the price is not too outrageous.

But, open your mouth, 300 million? ?

It’s not so fast to rob money!

Obviously, this is not a price that the Angry Owl Star can afford. The annual output value of the entire alliance is only more than 30 million tax coins now, and even if the entire Angry Owl Star is sold, it can’t raise enough money.

He is targeting the Gu family behind Gu Hang.

But the problem is that based on Gu Hang’s understanding of the situation of the Gu family, the Gu family can’t afford this money.

The total revenue of the Gu family last year was about 10 billion tax coins, but most of it was paid as costs. The purchase of goods, transportation costs, labor costs… these account for the bulk.

Of course, the Imperial Chamber of Commerce also has to pay the imperial tax, and never considers the cost, directly collecting 10% of the turnover. Moreover, the Imperial Chamber of Commerce is subject to many legal restrictions, and many means that can obtain high profits cannot be used casually. Not

to mention that there are also high risks – during interstellar voyage, if a ship full of cargo is lost, the buyer and seller will have to pay compensation, and the ship itself is expensive, and the loss is huge.

If all these are thrown away, the annual profit of Gu’s Business is about 3%, which is about 300 million yuan – this is after the risk cost is taken into account.

According to this income, Gu’s Business is just a pure employee for the Empire. It seems to make a lot of money, but the big head must be paid in taxes. After paying, the remaining amount is less than one-third of the tax.

Gallardo wants 300 million, which is equal to the income of Gu’s Business for a whole year.

The key is that this income is not from the Gu family, but from the entire Chamber of Commerce. Gu’s Caravan is a franchised caravan. You, Gu, want to use the income that the franchised caravan should get to donate to the solar expedition?

People will rebel in a minute.

Originally, due to the internal strife in the family, the Gu family was seriously injured. Two of the fourteen merchant fleets were lost, and the remaining twelve were missing eighteen merchant ships of various types. Another three hundred million…

couldn’t afford it.

Unless they sold the ships.

Gu Hang would definitely not ask his mother for this.

Let the merchant fleet sell the ships? That’s a joke!

Gu Hang did not intend to satisfy Gallardo’s greed, which was much larger than he had imagined.

Of course, he did not choose to refuse directly.

Delay it first.

Gallardo is a busy man. How long can he stay in the Pegasus Star Region?

Delay it first.

The longer it takes, even if he turns against you in the end, even if he makes trouble, the less time he has to make trouble.

If it really doesn’t work, let him talk to Wang Qi about the matter of Gu’s business.

As for now, Gallardo threatened whether the Angry Bear Legion could be established…

Sorry, Gu Hang is not afraid at all.

Maybe, other planetary governors have hidden ten thousand tricks in the matter of the Star Army tax deduction.

But for Gu Hang, it’s all real.

Go ahead and check.

It would be best if you have the time to check them one by one. If you can find one unqualified soldier or one unqualified weapon, you will be awesome.

In front of Gallardo, Gu Hang laughed and talked about other things without giving a direct response.

…

Gallardo understood what Gu Hang meant.

But he was not very angry. Instead, he kept smiling on his face.

Young man, you are still young and don’t know how dangerous the world is.

Come on.

He has encountered this kind of situation many times. Some people will not cry until they see the coffin. If they don’t give the senior officials of the empire a little shock, they will not wake up.

After understanding what Gu Hang meant, he didn’t say anything more, but just half-lying on the chair with his eyes closed.

And they soon arrived at their destination.

The Angry Bear Legion has assembled.

The Beast Slaughter Brigade, the 11th-14th Infantry Division, the 26th-33rd Infantry Division, and the 35th Combined Brigade are all assembled in place.

Fortunately, there was no war in the Western Theater before, and the combat power of Blackbird Heavy Industry was temporarily pushed to the west. Otherwise, it would be difficult to pull out a total of 13 brigade-level units from the defense line for review.

In the previous battles, these 13 brigade-level units planned to be included in the Angry Bear Legion had certain personnel and equipment losses. Gu Hang had also issued an order long ago, requiring the logistics department to give priority to their troops and equipment.

Up to now, these 13 brigade-level divisions are fully staffed.

During the process of the brigade landing from mid-air, the smile on Gallardo’s face slowly disappeared.

A war apostle, a senior official who rose in the huge battle of the Sun Expedition, one of the confidants of the Sun Lord, how could he be a straw bag?

Just from mid-air, staring down at the army formation, this stunning glimpse, he knew that this unit was something.

Although it has not been formally reviewed, the military appearance of the Angry Bear Legion has left a deep impression on him.

But at this time, he still regarded this army as just a showpiece.

The reason was simple. How could a standard-level Star Army soldier be so easy to train? Not only did he have to select excellent soldiers, but he also needed a long period of technical and tactical training. And how shabby was this Angry Owl Planet before? Governor Gu Hang had only taken over for two years. He was already impressive enough to make the planet presentable. How could he possibly train a truly strong army?

After landing, he pulled over the Star Army representative who came with the team and whispered to him.

The other party nodded to show that he understood.

Then, the review began.

(End of this chapter)