Of course, let alone Gu Hang, even the Gu Family doesn’t own any warships.
For those in business, maintaining their own warships is too expensive and unnecessary. With that money, it’s better to operate armed merchant ships, not to engage in naval battles with other major forces. If there is a real need, it’s wiser to seek the escort help of the Imperial Navy, which is definitely more cost-effective than maintaining their own warships.
This is the merchant’s way of thinking.
But now, Gu Hang wanted the help of a military ship. What should he do?
Above the orbit of Rage Owl Star, there really was one docked.
The Blade Tiger.
This starship, which had come to provide space support to Rage Owl Star in place of the Quintet, was now his hope.
Of course, relying on this escort ship, it was impossible to break through the blockade of the four Chamber of Commerce Fleets controlled by Gu Ming. Even with the addition of Blade Tiger, while it could bring significant help to the other eight fleets of Wang Qi’s camp, this kind of help was not decisive.
He also couldn’t expect that with just this one escort ship, he could suppress the orbital air defense firepower of the capital of the Luman Kingdom.
—— It would be more likely with the Quintet.
However, Gu Hang’s goal in leveraging the Blade Tiger was not to defeat his enemies’ star domain forces purely through military force.
But to use the “Imperial Navy” as a cover.
The Blade Tiger was a legitimate warship of the Imperial Navy. Heading to the Heijian Star System, it could brazenly park itself in orbit around Heijian Star, right in front of both parties. With the Blade Tiger not firing first, would Gu Ming’s fleet or the orbital forces of the Luman Kingdom dare to attack?
Gu Hang judged that they would not.
If they did so, that would be sheer madness.
All that remained was the one issue: how to convince the Blade Tiger to willingly transport his troops to Heijian Star.
As long as his army arrived there, saving his mother was the most basic goal.
Gu Hang felt he could achieve even more.
…
Gu Hang first communicated with the naval officers aboard Blade Tiger.
Although Yelisia was not the captain, clearly, she was the one calling the shots on that starship.
However, she didn’t dare to directly agree to Gu Hang’s request.
“Personally, I would very much like to help you, and I don’t believe that bunch would dare to strike at the Imperial Navy. But… precisely because we are the Imperial Navy, there are things I cannot do without higher-level authorization.”
These were Yelisia’s exact words.
“What level of authorization do you need?”
“At least an order from General Tilermungs, the Fleet Commander of the Tianma Fleet.”
Gu Hang recalled the situation of the Tianma Fleet and this so-called ‘General Tilermungs’.
The Tianma Fleet was the main force of the Imperial Navy stationed in Tianma Star Sector, with a defensive area extending well beyond Tianma Star Sector, affecting the star domain defense tasks of at least three nearby star sectors. The Fleet’s commander was directly appointed by the Imperial Navy.
That said, a good half of the Tianma Fleet’s long-term maintenance and construction costs come from the taxes of the Tianma Star Sector. The political clout of the Tianma Star Sector on this fleet goes without saying.
The Fufana Family, a naval legacy family native to the Tianma Star Sector, took shape about seventy years ago.
The General Fufana of that generation was appointed as the Tianma Fleet Commander, and during his service, he expanded his family significantly, gradually forming a clan.
After the first generation General Fufana, his brother, his grandson, and great-grandson had all held the position, embedding the Fufana name firmly in the genes of the Tianma Fleet.
The last Fufana commander was Yelisia’s grandfather, who retired eight years ago.
The Fufana Family’s influence within the Tianma Fleet was profound; for two-thirds of the past seventy years, the Fleet Commander of the Tianma Fleet bore the name Fufana. Many of the mid-to-senior fleet officers had been financially supported and promoted by his family.
However, it was awkward that after Yelisia’s grandfather’s retirement, the family suddenly lacked a successor. Although their influence on the fleet remained strong, it was difficult for the family to produce someone with the sufficient qualifications and achievements to take on the role of Fleet Commander.
Currently, the highest military rank within the family was held by one of Yelisia’s uncles, who was merely a major general and seemed to have no chance of advancing further.
This was not really a problem; the Tianma Fleet had not been headed by a Fufana for twenty out of the last seventy years anyway. It was just a period of lying low, nothing serious.
Moreover, within the family, there arose an unexpectedly rising new star—Yelisia. With a decade more of growth, she might have the chance to take over.
Thanks to Gu Hang’s encouragement, she participated in and defeated that Green Skin Orcs pirate fleet, which had added much to her luster. She was the person who enjoyed the greatest fruits of victory from that naval battle.
From this perspective, the Fufana Family should be willing to help him.
This point could also be deduced from the tone of Yelisia’s recent communication.
Furthermore, the Fufana’s relationship with the Gu Family was good—although this was a civil conflict within the Gu Clan, they showed no particular bias, but choosing to back Wang Qi would undoubtedly further solidify the relationship between the two parties after victory.
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And the current commander, General Tilermungs, although not a member of the Fufana Family, also shared a close relationship with them.
He was originally from the Tianma Fleet, later transferred elsewhere to establish his reputation, and rose to the position of general before being reassigned back to the Tianma Fleet. Upon his return, he knew that if he wanted to have a peaceful time as commander, he had to maintain a good relationship with the Fufanas.
The Fufana Family was not some tyrannical overlord; they showed considerable respect for Tilermungs—seeing as their own family could not promote anyone to the position, it made sense to support the current commander and foster a good relationship.
The cooperation between the two parties had been quite smooth over the past eight years.
Frankly, if the Fufana Family, especially the former commander, who was also General Tilermungs’ previous superior, General Fufana, were to mediate, this matter could likely be resolved.
Gu Hang even discussed the issue with Yelisia once again, and in this more private conversation, the female brigadier promised Gu Hang that she would speak to her grandfather, the former Tianma Fleet Commander, General Fufana.
But there was another individual whose attitude was very important: the Star Sector head, Mister Pei Desi.
This person was the one who held the closest relationship with the Fufana Family.
After the second communication with Yelisia ended, Gu Hang thought for a moment and then made a call to Mister Pei Desi.
Pei Desi had, of course, learned of the incident at Heijian Star.
With just a brief exchange with him, Gu Hang could roughly discern his stance.
The Star Sector head clearly saw this as an opportunity.
The political power in the Tianma Star Sector mainly consisted of a confrontation between two major camps: the native forces and the Star Sector Government.
The native forces referred to the Fatches Family, who had controlled the positions of the planetary governors of three stars and had a history in the Tianma Star Sector of several thousand years; they had even inhabited the area before the empire’s annexation, and had deep-rooted control in the three star systems, Fatches No.1, No.2, and No.3.
The Imperial Star Realm Army stationed in the Tianma Star Sector also had significant ties with them.
On the other hand, the Star Sector Government camp was led by the Pei Desi brothers, one of whom was the Star Sector head and the other the Flying Wing Star Governor. Together with the Fufana Family’s navy and the Gu Clan’s Chamber of Commerce Fleet, they formed an iron triangle that had oppressively contained the Fatches Family for twenty years.
However, in recent years, the Gu Clan had been moving away from this iron triangle, aiming to expand their business beyond the Tianma Star Sector and showing a trend towards reconciliation with the Fatches Family.
This was the larger context behind Gu Hang’s assignment as the Governor of Rage Owl Star, a scheme played by head Pei Desi. But this move did not turn out as Pei Desi had wished, failing to firmly tie the Gu Clan back to the iron triangle’s position; on the contrary, Wang Qi was quite averse to it.
Similarly, Gu Ming seized this opportunity and maintained a relatively good relationship with Pei Desi.
Before Gu Hang made the interstellar call to Pei Desi, Gu Ming had also called him.
Now, the situation was very delicate.