Gu Hang’s arrival at Rage Owl Star indeed put her mother in a passive position.
She was supposed to vie for the position of Family Head, but the designated Family Head was gone, which could still work out.
However, his performance on Rage Owl Star brought about a twist in the situation.
Gu Hang’s outstanding performance at Rage Owl Star not only saved Wang Qi millions needed to fill the Imperial Tax pit, but more importantly, it enabled Gu Hang to establish his own industry.
Did the Gu Family not want to own their own planet? Certainly, they did. But acquiring a planet of their own, especially one with positive assets, was extremely difficult.
Yet, worlds like Rage Owl Star, which were wastelands, they didn’t want. The initial investment required for development was too high, the period for recouping costs was quite lengthy, and there were numerous risks involved.
For example, during the past year and a half, Gu Hang had already encountered disasters like the Green Skins and the invasion of the Demon Cult—any of these risk factors could be catastrophic to anyone normally tasked with redeveloping Rage Owl Star, turning a high investment into a total loss.
Moreover, the biggest problem with seeking an unreliable Planetary Governor position is that you can’t just cut your losses and walk away. If other investments fail, you just accept the loss; but if investing in a planet fails, the Imperial Taxation Department won’t cut you any slack. You have to pay the full Imperial Tax owed, without missing a dime, and keep paying in the future.
It’s precisely because of this that Gu Hang’s performance over the past year has been surprising.
Although due to Rage Owl Star’s isolation and the slow flow of information, not many people were aware of it, and the upper echelons of Flying Wing Star’s society still considered Gu Hang’s appointment as Planetary Governor to be a joke. However, in the eyes of some who were paying close attention, the reality was crystal clear.
The people of the Gu Family, of course, belonged to this attentive group.
Because of Gu Hang’s absurd actions, Wang Qi’s allies began to question her plan with increasing intensity. Some of the most serious doubts were bordering on slipping out of Wang Qi’s control. Even with some remedial measures taken by Wang Qi, they worried if elevating such a Family Head could indeed increase their interests.
But Gu Hang’s performance alleviated many of their concerns, anger, and indecision.
What they once believed to be a good-for-nothing, a prodigal son dragging his mother down, had transformed into a Planetary Governor. And, in fact, without any support from his family, he had managed to run his enterprise successfully on that wasteland world.
Not only was he no longer in need of external subsidies, but he was also able to pay the taxes on his own and achieve a rather impressive output.
At this moment, by next year this output might already match one of the family’s merchant fleets on a planet, so who would dare to look down on him?
Industry and commerce, these are two different matters!
Moreover, this is only the current comparison; the potential of a planet, with future development improving, a growing population, and a more complete industrial structure, everything still has great potential for enhancement.
And could this potential be realized?
At least judging by Gu Hang’s performance over the past year and a half, it was quite likely.
To be honest, many found it hard to believe it was true, even suspecting that these were rumors fabricated by Wang Qi to maintain support from her old allies.
How else could it be?
How could Rage Owl Star, which had troubled Pei Desi’s leadership for a long time and been a burden on the Star Sector Government for many years, be so easily managed?
Turned from wasteland to treasure in just a year and a half?
Could it be that the guy who used to have the reputation of a wastrel was actually a chosen of The Emperor, blessed by the Divine Emperor?
However, as more and more information was disclosed, even the doubters had to believe.
For this reason, before Wang Qi could even launch some of her additional arrangements, her circumstances began to improve.
She probably wouldn’t need to take special risks anymore, just slowly proceed with the original plan.
She was not even afraid of the current Family Head learning about her intentions.
This matter couldn’t be hidden anyway, and it was all aboveboard.
Everyone could just proceed with their strategic moves, and the winner would be decided at the next Family Assembly when the votes of the fourteen family merchant fleets were cast.
However, an unexpected event happened.
The current Family Head, Gu Ming, convened the Gu Clan’s Family Assembly ahead of schedule.
The meeting was to be held on Heijian Star.
Among the nine major planets of the Tianma Star Sector, aside from Rage Owl Star, the most lackluster was Heijian Star.
It was a feudal world, where the overall technological level—apart from a few privileged nobles enjoying some interstellar technological conveniences—was not much better than the Middle Ages in most places on the planet.
It wasn’t that there was no technology, but the entire social production relationship was just off: serfs operating advanced agricultural machinery contributed to their lord knights;
The lord knights, vassals to various lieges, piloted knight mechas to fight for their lieges;
The lieges, in turn, were vassals to kings, assisting the kings with tax collection;
The highest ruling body of the planet was the Kings’ Alliance. The Planetary Governor was traditionally taken on in rotation by the largest kings of the world, responsible for ensuring that each kingdom was able to pay their taxes in full. Should there be any shortfall, the Kings’ Alliance would launch punitive wars against the deficient country, making up for the taxes through plunder…
Gu Hang was quite speechless about such a backward place, but this was the overall policy of the empire: as long as you pay taxes, I don’t care about the rest.