Furthermore, deciding whether to turn a blind eye depended on personal benefits received in the process.
Of course, in practical terms, there were also situations where the rules were strictly adhered to.
This situation typically arose when there was a person targeted for a takedown.
Lois, along with many staff members led by Galaraldo, refused the Wind Falcon offered by the Alliance; instead, they had their own spaceship—coincidentally, it was a Traveler.
Gu Hang, as well as several top executives of the Alliance, were also asked—not invited—onto the Tax Fleet’s Traveler to head westward.
The entire journey was expected to take less than three hours.
Indeed, it was more than twice as fast as the Wind Falcon.
On the spaceship, the Apostle of War spoke two pieces of information to Gu Hang.
Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire
The first praised Gu Hang for his outstanding work on Rage Owl Star, developing it well, and also commended him for his exceptional performance on Heijian Star, stabilizing the most important Empire Commerce Guild power within the Tianma Star Sector—the internal chaos of the Gu Family. Although the Gu Family had suffered some losses, they were now more united and stronger, with the future bound to be bright. Such a Gu Family, in alliance with Rage Owl Star and Heijian Star, had great prospects for development and thus should provide more support to the great endeavors of the Empire.
The figure for this support could be three billion Tax Currency.
If Rage Owl Star, Heijian Star, and the Gu Family jointly could afford this sum, as additional funding for the Empire’s grand mission—The Sun Expedition—then Galaraldo would be pleased, and he would consider Gu Hang a friend.
The second message related to a specific current affair.
He was disgusted with many of the rotten situations now emerging in the Empire, especially those tampering with the Star Realm Army. He cited several examples from recent enforcement efforts, with some Star Realm Armed Forces units not meeting the expected standard of the Star Realm Army. However, he believed that a rising star like Gu Hang, tasked with setting up a new Star Realm Army Corps, would certainly meet the requirements.
Together, these two messages made Gu Hang’s understanding of their meaning crystal clear.
“Give me three billion, and not only will I ignore whatever you want to do on Heijian Star, but I’ll also provide you with some assistance.”
“I’m well aware of all the dirty tricks you Planetary Governors play to dodge taxes with the Star Realm Army. If you don’t pay the three billion, forget about me making a hundred problems for you later—right now, don’t even think about passing your ‘Rage Bear Legion’ through inspections.”
After hearing these two messages, Gu Hang almost wanted to laugh in anger.
The arrival of the Apostle of War, coupled with the Tax Officer’s reminder, had led Gu Hang to anticipate that his position as the governor of the most destitute planet in the Tianma Star Sector had marked him as a target for exploitation,
He had even prepared for the possibility of losing money to avoid disaster.
The premise was that the price wasn’t too outrageous.
But to start off with a demand for three billion??
Even robbers weren’t that fast!
Clearly, Rage Owl Star could not afford such a price. The entire Alliance’s annual output was just over thirty million Tax Currency, and even selling the whole of Rage Owl Star would not be enough to cover this amount.
His target was the wealth of the Gu Clan behind Gu Hang.
The problem was, based on what Gu Hang knew about the Gu Family’s situation, they couldn’t afford it either.
The total annual revenue of the Gu Family was around ten billion Tax Currency, but most of this was spent as costs. The procurement of goods, transportation costs, labor costs… these took up the bulk.
The Empire Commerce Guild certainly had to pay Imperial Tax as well, and they always imposed a flat rate of 10% of revenue without considering costs. Moreover, the Empire Commerce Guild was subject to many legal restrictions and many potentially highly profitable means they couldn’t just use.
Not to mention the high risks—losing a ship full of cargo during interstellar travel meant compensating both buyers and sellers, and as ships were expensive, the losses were huge.
Putting these aside, the net profit of the Gu Commercial Firm was around 3% a year, topping out at three billion—that includes the cost of risks.
Given these returns, the Gu Commercial Firm was essentially working solely for the Empire. It seems like a lot was earned, but the bulk of it went to taxes, and less than one-third of the amount after taxes remained in hand.
Galaraldo’s demand for three billion amounted to the entire year’s profit of the Gu Commercial Firm.
Crucially, this profit wasn’t the Gu Family’s to begin with; it belonged to the entire commercial association. The Gu Commercial Fleet was a franchise fleet, how could the Gu Clan use the profits meant for those franchise fleets to donate to the Sun Expedition?
People would rebel against them in an instant.
Already weakened by the internal strife, the Gu Family had lost two of their fourteen merchant fleets, and the remaining twelve were down eighteen various commercial vessels. To lose another three billion…
They couldn’t afford it.
Unless they sold ships.
Gu Hang would certainly not approach his mother with such a request.
Selling ships from the commercial fleet? What a joke!
Gu Hang had no intention of satisfying Galaraldo’s greed, which was far greater than he had imagined.
Of course, he also chose not to reject him outright.
First, stall for time.
You, Galaraldo, are a busy man, how long can you stay in the Tianma Star Sector?
Just drag it out for now.
The longer the delay, even if it leads to a fallout in the end, the less time he will have to cause trouble.
If it really comes to it, regarding the affairs of Gu Commercial Firm, let him talk to Wang Qi.
As for the current threat of whether the Rage Bear Legion can be established…
Sorry, Gu Hang is not afraid in the slightest.
Perhaps, other Planetary Governors have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve when dealing with the Star Realm Army’s tax deduction matters.
But with Gu Hang, it’s all legitimate.
Go ahead and investigate.
It would be impressive if you could find even one unqualified soldier or a single piece of substandard weaponry after your scrutiny.
In front of Galaraldo, Gu Hang chuckled, beat around the bush, and avoided a direct response.
…
Galaraldo understood Gu Hang’s intentions.
But he wasn’t very angry; instead, a smile remained on his face.
The youngster is still naive, unaware of how treacherous the world can be.
Bring it on.
He had encountered such situations many times before, some people just wouldn’t come to their senses without a coffin in sight. Without a shock from an imperial senior official, they never wake up to reality.
Having understood Gu Hang’s intentions, Galaraldo didn’t say much anymore, simply reclining in his chair and resting with his eyes closed.
And soon, they arrived at their destination.
The Rage Bear Legion had already assembled.
The Beast Slaughter Brigade, the 11th-14th Infantry Divisions, the 26th-33rd Infantry Divisions, the 35th Composite Brigade, all were in place.
It was also lucky that there hadn’t been any conflicts in the Western War Zone previously, and Blackbird Heavy Industries’ combat power had temporarily been pushed even further west. Otherwise, pulling these 13 division and brigade level units from the defensive line for an inspection would indeed have been difficult.
During the previous battles, these 13 units planned for the Rage Bear Legion had all suffered some loss of personnel and equipment. Gu Hang had long since ordered the logistics department to prioritize their resupply of troops and equipment.
By now, these 13 divisions and brigades were at full strength.
During the descent from the sky, the smile that had been on Galaraldo’s face slowly faded away.
How could a war apostle, a high-ranking official who rose from the vast battles of the Sun Lord’s far-reaching campaigns, one of the Sun Lord’s confidants, be a simpleton?
Merely from the bird’s-eye view, looking down at the military formation, he caught a glimpse that told him this force was special.
Though the formal inspection had not yet begun, the military demeanor and appearance of the Rage Bear Legion had already left a deep impression on him.
But at that moment, he still regarded this army as mere window dressing.
The reason was simple: how could a soldier of the Star Realm Army’s standard be so easily trained? It required not only selecting outstanding soldiers but also long periods of tactical training. How could this Gu Hang, who had only been in charge of the Rage Owl Star for two years, possibly train a truly strong force given the previous dismal state of the planet?
After landing, he pulled over the representative from the Star Realm Armed Forces who came with the delegation and whispered something to him.
The other party nodded, indicating understanding.
Then, the inspection began.