The Luman Kingdom wasn’t large; in terms of size, it was about as big as a province under the control of the Rage Owl Star Alliance.
However, this place, though backward and poor, was much better off than the initial state of Wasteland World under Rage Owl Star. The relatively fertile land supported a population of forty million—already matching the entire population of Rage Owl Star.
Gu Hang planned to continuously extract population from the Luman Kingdom as part of an immigration policy to populate Rage Owl Star.
Rage Owl Star was his main base; building it up was the foundation of everything.
The mining areas in the Eastern Provinces needed manpower; the Weixing City industrial district he had built himself had an almost insatiable demand for people; thousands of kilometers of arable land in the Green Valley Region, across two provinces, was just waiting for people to develop it…
People and finances were both areas where Gu Hang could continue to bleed Heijian Star.
Not to mention, the vassal army established directly on Heijian Star could also substantially replenish Gu Hang’s forces.
Moreover, vassal states could also provide a trickle of favor points as income, which was an unexpected bonus. However, the amount given was quite small, with a population of forty million providing only 344 points.
On one hand, this was because the productivity of the Luman Kingdom was indeed too low;
On the other hand, the favor points given by vassal states inherently came at a huge discount.
And this discount would increase as the vassal level increased.
These were all direct benefits.
Politically, the death of Lienes Luman could also fulfills the stratagem he had previously discussed with his mother.
Nes Luman wasn’t just the sovereign of the Luman Kingdom, he was also the Planetary Governor of Heijian Star—even if he was just an elected governor with a term limit by the King’s Council.
Before, Gu Hang was worried about how, after plotting to dispose of Nes Luman, he would smoothly handle the matter of this temporary governorship.
Now he didn’t have to worry.
Nes Luman was naturally meant for the role, and, handling “international affairs” within Heijian Star, he would be under a lot less pressure.
As for the fact that Nes’s term had only two years left…
No matter, he would deal with it in two years.
Perhaps by then, Heijian Star wouldn’t need to elect a governor at all.
…
After checking the information on the vassal system, Gu Hang casually opened another message.
This was a routine battle settlement report.
[Pincer City Campaign: bloody battle, bloody victory, awarded 5695 favor points]
[Total losses 16144, enemy casualties 67823, prisoners captured 52446]
[Alliance Expeditionary Force: losses 16144, enemy casualties 67823]
The favor points reward was roughly within Gu Hang’s expectations, maybe even a little less than expected.
Although the Luman forces weren’t hard to beat, those four Knight Titans, along with the Sentry Mechas destroyed by his forces, weren’t junk; they were high-value targets that increased the overall reward.
Just, the phrase ‘bloody battle, bloody victory’ was a bit glaring.
Although, after he led the team from Rage Owl Star as reinforcements, the resulting battles could be described as thrilling. However, before that, at the start of the fighting, Perbov led three divisions to fight a bloody eight-day battle in the suburbs, and the losses were indeed substantial.
Being designated a ‘bloody battle, bloody victory,’ Gu Hang reluctantly accepted it.
What else could he do if he didn’t?
With the additional five thousand plus favor points, Gu Hang’s total favor points on hand broke through to 17,594.
This total was the result of a large income after winning the previous battle in the North Territory of Rage Owl Star and defeating the Primal Fury Owl, along with the monthly favor income from the past two months that Gu Hang had not spent and so had accumulated. Adding to that this recent gain of over five thousand six hundred points, it all added up to so much.
In fact, it could have been higher. However, Gu Hang had recently upgraded his Spiritual Energy level from LV5 to LV7, particularly costly during the jump from 6 to 7, requiring him to spend ten thousand favor points.
Of course, it wasn’t in vain. That expenditure of over ten thousand points to level up was necessary.
Otherwise, today’s subjugation of Nes Luman would have been difficult.
Within the [Vassal] interface, the Luman Kingdom had a tag that read [Puppet Sovereign].
That, of course, referred to Nes Luman.
And this puppet was not just a puppet in a simple sense.
Nes Luman, although he had clearly expressed his unconditional surrender and willingness to devote himself fully to Gu Hang in speech, Gu Hang had reviewed his past and learnt a bit about his character from his mother’s accounts.
He wasn’t a coward or a waste; he wasn’t someone easily manipulated.
The more earnest and humble his attitude seemed in Gu Hang’s presence, the less Gu Hang believed him.
What was the ambition of the mighty lying low for?
Gu Hang knew the story of enduring humiliation to carry out a mission earnestly.
He was confident he could outwit Nes Luman, especially since he held all military power, and without a blade in his hand, and external trade depending on the Gu Commercial Firm, it was hard for Nes to stir up too much trouble.
However, this was just a vassal state, a colony; Gu Hang’s stronghold was still on Rage Owl Star, and he couldn’t stay here for a long time in the future.
One look at this guy, and it was clear he wasn’t the sort to contentedly play puppet. Perhaps he would behave very well at first, earnestly doing what Gu Hang asked of him, but he would likely be scheming in secret, amassing strength for the future.
Fear was one thing, but it was genuinely bothersome.
And it could drag down Gu Hang’s progress on his own plans.
Yet Gu Hang couldn’t give up the political significance of having him around, and he did have actual administrative abilities.