In the absence of leadership, and under the condition that any attempt to band together would be met with assault, the once million-strong army of the Kingdom of Stefano fragmented into countless warlords of various sizes.
The largest amassed force, which once numbered four hundred thousand, accepted an invitation from the Panbos Kingdom. They headed to a region near the border, attempting a massive retreat.
But the retreat was stopped.
As they tried to cross the river, the ferries and the troops waiting to cross were subjected to a fierce air raid by the Wind Falcon; the troops on the opposite bank, waiting to provide support, were attacked by paratrooping elite forces and were forced to withdraw.
Then, facing a lack of supplies and the loss of all hope, the remains of Stefano’s army, under the assault of multiple Armored Brigades accompanied by infantry divisions, ultimately had no choice but to surrender unconditionally.
Afterward, the forces of the Alliance left behind only a small contingent, leading troops gathered from the Luman Kingdom, as well as defectors from within Stefano’s camps of prisoners of war, to form the Defense Army. This was to ensure the maintenance of the capital and its surrounding areas, as well as the logistical supply lines.
The rest of the troops regrouped once more, setting their sights on the neighboring Heijian Star’s largest kingdom, Panbos.
At this time, the Kingdom of Stefano, having been reduced to the brink of extinction in a mere 47 days since the war began, had already sparked a political tempest, its appalling military record swiftly spreading across the world.
The King’s Council was frightfully panicked, even emitting desperate cries that “the Rage Owl Star People will rule the world.”
Meanwhile, some kingdoms took more practical measures.
In fact, within the Pincer Palace at this very moment was not just one queen—Isabel.
Thirteen nations had either sent their monarchs or dispatched high-ranking ambassadors to the place.
These were mostly minor states; among the seven most important kingdoms on Heijian Star, only Luman and Stefano were present.
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At the same time, the King’s Council, which had previously broken off diplomatic relations with the Luman Kingdom, saw the other five major nations also sending diplomats.
This was what Gu Hang had been busy with during this period.
When he finished signing the last document, he finally lifted his head and looked towards the Iron Curtain Queen, speaking,
“Thank you for waiting,”
“Listen carefully to what I am about to say,”
“There’s no room for bargaining; this is a unilateral notification. You only have the choice to accept or not.”
Isabel took a deep breath, “I understand. Please speak.”
What the Governor was about to say concerned the fate of her nation. Although she couldn’t change anything and could only passively accept the judgment of destiny, she was still extremely solemn.
“First of all, every kingdom will be preserved,”
This first sentence from Gu Hang brought Isabel a great sense of relief.
This was a matter of utmost survival.
Her greatest fear was that the Governor was intent on annihilating the Kingdom of Stefano.
Although she rationally judged that the likelihood of this happening was actually very low, if it did occur, Stefano now had no capacity to resist.
Isabel’s expression was fully captured by Gu Hang.
He sighed softly to himself.
If possible, wouldn’t he wish to implement the administrative system of the Alliance directly on Heijian Star, to wholly replicate the set of policies from the Alliance Government here, ensuring that a highly centralized government with strong control over local civil administration, industry, and military could be established on Heijian Star?
But that was unrealistic.
The reason Gu Hang was able to build up such a system from scratch on Rage Owl Star was that he truly, from top to bottom, spent two and a half years overturning almost all of the existing ruling classes on Rage Owl Star.
It might sound exaggerated, but it actually wasn’t.
Rage Owl Star was indeed an entire planet, but firstly, with a population of only 45 million, it wasn’t as vast as one might imagine; secondly, given the largely wasteland environment of Rage Owl Star, the existing ruling class there was quite fragile, making them easy to overthrow.
Heijian Star, however, was different.
Here was a fully-fledged feudal society, deeply entrenched with an existing ruling class. To completely eradicate them would be too challenging for Gu Hang. If he had sufficient strength to capture and hang all the nobles, that could be a viable approach, but he did not.
Although the productivity of Rage Owl Star had indeed developed much more under his years of management than on the feudal world of Heijian Star, the issues of a smaller population and shorter development time objectively existed. For a population of 55 million to swallow up the four hundred million people of Heijian Star was akin to a snake trying to swallow an elephant.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t swallow it, but to expect immediate digestion was unrealistic.
It was difficult enough to remove the local ruling class. For example, although the Kingdom of Stefano is already crumbling, with 200,000 people captured in the capital and 400,000 more during the border retreat, those scattered noble warlords and landlord warlords posed no real threat; but to clear them out meant sending troops to gnaw away at them for months, if not years.
And there was still the threat of other kingdoms. How could Gu Hang spare the time to gnaw at them?
And even if he did finish them off, the real trouble would only begin afterwards.
To establish an entire set of efficient administrative systems afterwards requires a large number of loyal and reliable administrative personnel. On the Alliance’s home territory, this was already somewhat difficult, necessitating the ramping up of anti-corruption measures by the Loyal Heir Academy. The situation on Heijian Star was even more so.
