Wang Qi said, “You really are greedy!”
Gu Hang laughed and asked, “Isn’t it mother who asked me to make requests? Is there a way to achieve this?”
Wang Qi was just cursing casually; in fact, she had already had some ideas, “To achieve your goal, you’ll need enough Star Realm Army to help. That means we can’t completely offend the Fatches Family. I need to inform them about Blackbird.
Unless their entire family has violated the Smart Mechanisms ban—which is unlikely—just Blackbird’s violation alone would make them even more eager than you to take down Blackbird.”
“But that will offend Pei Desi, and the Imperial Navy won’t help transport the army.”
Wang Qi smiled, “For naval battles, the Chamber of Commerce Fleet of our family may not cut it; but for transportation, even when added together, the Tianma Fleet is no match for ours. As for the issue of offending Pei Desi… we might, and we might not. We could also mediate and help them with their biggest concern—the issues with Korolya III.
The Fatches Family, feeling guilty about their violation, will lend a hand.”
“Well, speaking of Korolya III, I also have some thoughts about this matter…”
Wang Qi’s face turned sour, “You also want to take advantage of this situation?”
Gu Hang said with a smile, “Of course, the biggest constraint on the development of Rage Owl Star is the lack of population. I need people, and there are forty billion people suffering from disaster on Korolya III. As a subject of the empire, it’s my unshirkable duty to help the citizens of the empire!”
Wang Qi sneered, “How would that work? No matter the disaster, the population is still wealth. One person, five Tax Currency, are you going to buy them?”
“Of course, that’s unaffordable.” Gu Hang’s attitude was very gentle, he was asking for a favor, “Mother dear will definitely have a way.”
“Hmph, now you know to curry favor with me?”
“Hehe.”
A nursing mother is a mother indeed, let alone one’s own flesh and blood mother.
Seeing that Wang Qi was deep in thought, Gu Hang did not disturb her further, merely waiting quietly.
After a while, Wang Qi spoke slowly, “It’s not like there are no ways at all. How many people do you want?”
“I wouldn’t mind having as many as possible!”
“Can you afford to support that many people? Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
Gu Hang said earnestly, “When you last came to Rage Owl Star, you at least got a bird’s eye view of our Beiqing Valley Province. Currently, with the annual grain output here and by the standards of Rage Owl Star, we can feed fifty million people. Currently, the population under my governance is only twenty-five million.
We are not lacking in food, at least bringing in tens of millions of people would be no problem. The per capita living standards and food consumption on Korolya III cannot reach the levels of Rage Owl Star.”
This was a truth.
The forty billion population on Korolya III, mostly poor, lived on the verge of hunger, with per capita food consumption probably not even reaching 30% of Rage Owl Star’s E5 level, just barely enough to avoid starvation, eating nothing but corpse starch, at best.
The corpse starch on Rage Owl Star was now even used to feed livestock.
In an extreme scenario, it wasn’t just another twenty-five million that could be supported—fifty million wouldn’t be a problem.
“Moreover…” Gu Hang continued, “The Beiqing Valley region has a vast amount of farmland yet to be developed. The reason it hasn’t been developed isn’t due to anything else but a lack of population, a lack of agricultural workers. If all twelve billion acres of arable land were developed, considering other aspects of food production, I could support three hundred million people without any issues.”
“You sure are capable,” she said sarcastically, but actually Wang Qi knew this was praise, although she wasn’t used to complimenting her son.
She simply changed the subject and got back to the matter at hand, “We could follow the Imperial Migration Decree and relocate populations as free immigrants. Our family’s Chamber of Commerce Fleet could help with transport. But we will have to talk to Pei Desi about this. Moreover, you should also be prepared to pay some price, as the population won’t be given to you for nothing.
However, since you have an abundance of food reserves, at that time, you might offer a certain amount of food aid, consumer goods aid, and military hardware aid.”
“Isn’t that still basically buying?”
“The price will be much, much lower,” said Wang Qi. “This time, of the forty billion Tax Currency that Korolya III has to pay, the proportion from the human tax is likely to increase substantially because of this. Their demand for various kinds of supplies will also increase; an excess population will become a burden for them, and they will be willing to let go of some.
I estimate the overall cost could be brought down to 1 Tax Currency per person, or even lower.”
Gu Hang nodded slightly.
Although it was regrettable not to get them for free, he also knew that one must not be too greedy.
So, Gu Hang spoke again, “There’s also the third matter regarding intelligence, can I possibly…”
Seeing her eyes widen, Gu Hang laughed a little, feeling a bit embarrassed to continue asking.
But what’s a little embarrassment? Benefits are what truly matter.
He pressed on shamelessly, “The Apostles of War are coming to the Tianma Star Sector, ensuring that the Imperial Tax of the Tianma Star Sector for the expedition is secured, and on top of that, they want to collect an extra windfall. That’s fine, Rage Owl Star can support an additional ‘expedition tax’, and we might even get Heijian Star to support this tax as well.
But can I, rightfully and legitimately, take control of Heijian Star?”
“`
“…Your appetite is huge.”
Wang Qi already regretted saying “focus on Rage Owl Star first” earlier.
Who knew Gu Hang could be so good at capitalizing on opportunities? His son wasn’t like this before!
“It’s an opportunity that comes once in a thousand years,” Gu Hang confidently said, “How can I not take it? When next time will there be someone with the power to appoint one person to govern two places in the Tianma Star Sector? Who knows when that will be.”
“Your Rage Owl Star has only twenty million people, and you want to swallow up Heijian Star with its four hundred million? Aren’t you afraid of bursting?”
“At least I’ll get the name and the legal principles established. This is beneficial for the family too, isn’t it? After that, Heijian Star will be all mine, and there won’t be incidents like the one with Gu Ming again.”
After pondering for a while, Wang Qi said, “The price will be very high…”
“Mother, do you remember what I told you? As a ruler, you can’t only consider the price,” Gu Hang replied.
“Don’t give me that crooked logic of yours,” Wang Qi said, “I will try.”
Gu Hang was overjoyed!
“Then, I thank you, Mother!” Find exclusive stories on empire
…
After hanging up the communication, Gu Hang was indeed extremely happy.
If the three requests he made to his mother, from eliminating Blackbird to population growth and to becoming the Governor of Heijian Star, could all be realized, that would be wonderful, equating to eliminating threats, increasing potential, and expanding externally all at once.
Of course, he knew that things probably wouldn’t go that smoothly; there could very well be complications.
But if there were problems, then he would solve them; this path had to be taken.
Just like now.
Gu Hang wouldn’t place all his hopes on his mother.
Frankly speaking, it wasn’t impossible that the entire Fatches Family had violated the ban on intelligence and was controlled by smart mechanisms.
He still needed to be prepared to deal with the current crisis on his own.
The whole Alliance system had already begun to operate.
Firstly, the ambassador from Blackbird Heavy Industries stationed in the Alliance had already been taken for tea by Lambert’s special agents.
There was no longer any talk of turning faces; the Demon Hunter Squad had made quite a ruckus to the west of the mainland, and Blackbird Heavy Industries was probably prepared for this.
Gu Hang still hoped to get more intelligence from the mouth of the ambassador sent by the Blackbird group.
However, results came quickly.
The Blackbird ambassador and several attendants who were taken for tea suddenly died of cerebral hemorrhage seventeen minutes after their arrest. External personnel from the Alliance Hospital performed autopsies on the bodies and found that, although they looked nearly human on the outside, they had significant mechanical modifications inside.
It was a bit regrettable but an expected outcome.
Gu Hang simply had Lambert continue to send people to the west for intelligence gathering.
The Demon Hunter Squad would go again.
Just having Demon Hunters wasn’t enough; with their limited numbers, Lambert would also arrange for hundreds of ordinary special agents to participate.
Intelligence work was of course dangerous, but it was a necessary task.
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