Chapter 640: Chapter 368, Not Enough Troops
After meeting with Lois, Gu Hang still managed to get what he wanted.
Although the Star Domain envoy didn’t want Gu Hang to “mess around” in a general sense, under Gu Hang’s insistence, she didn’t directly oppose him.
And in terms of the actual measures taken, they essentially satisfied all of Gu Hang’s requests.
The six-year tax exemption for the militarized zone was reconfirmed unless Gu Hang failed to manage well during these six years, causing continuous turmoil in Korolya and showing signs that taxes could not be paid even after six years; otherwise, there shouldn’t be any problems.
And since it was militarization, Gu Hang’s position as the commander of the military zone was also retained.
However, Tianma Fleet was stripped away from the military zone. Gu Hang never had any unrealistic expectations about keeping it, so it was not surprising that it was gone.
…
But the Third Group Army of the Dragonhawk Legion would stay in Korolya under the command of Gu Hang, who would still be the military zone commander for six more years.
This turned the Fatches Family upside down.
They were, of course, furious.
In the last round of struggle, they had secured the position of Korolya Governor, hoping they could finally take charge of the Tianma interests and become the master. They did indeed manage to stand on an equal footing with the Star Sector Government over the past few years, basking in glory.
To secure their position in Korolya, they had invested heavily.
And now, it was all for naught.
That would have been fine, but now, they had even lost the 3rd Army Group!
The Dragonhawk 3rd Corps had always been Fatches’s forbidden fruit. For many years, they had borne all costs for the Legion, from personnel to equipment to logistics.
Problems in Korolya were nothing new. Though there had been repeated requests to deploy the Star Realm Army—namely the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps—from the Korolya Governor to the Star Sector Government, and the Star Domain Government had approved it time and again, Fatches had created numerous obstacles, and the deployment of troops had been stingy, initially only on the scale of one million.
This was far less generous than when they had sent people to Rage Owl Star to clean up for Blackbird Heavy Industries.
Only after they took over the position of Korolya Governor did they spare no effort to commit the Star Realm Army to secure their status.
And now, they had lost the position again.
All the previous investments in resources and political assets had gone down the drain, but they were willing to take their losses and would find another way. However, they had never intended to give up control over the Dragonhawk Legion.
It wasn’t easy to speak up before the defense of Mingyan City concluded, but now, with Fino City destroyed, the Fatches family was openly trying to maneuver to get the Dragonhawk Legion recalled.
They found a basketful of reasons—Fatches Tri-Star defenses were weak, the Legion’s longing for home, claiming that supply would be more convenient after returning to Fatches Tri-Star…
But Gu Hang blocked all these reasons.
His counterquestion was simple: Is this the Star Realm Army, or is it your Fatches’s private militia?
Although Fatches had always treated this force as their private militia, that was obviously not something they could publicize openly.
Furthermore, Gu Hang had received support from various parties.
The Star Sector Government was certainly willing to suppress Fatches, and the Star Domain Government, represented by Lois, also intended to punish Fatches—the performance of the Fatches family during their tenure as Korolya Governor was nothing short of disastrous.
Of course, the Fatches Family wouldn’t just let things go so easily.
In explaining the situation, they mentioned some realities—the vast majority of officers and soldiers in the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps came from the Fatches Tri-Star. They were homesick and their morale had lowered due to not being able to return home for a long time, and the Fatches Family had sufficient ability to influence the internal situation of the Corps. Over time, this would undoubtedly lead to issues within the Corps.
The most direct manifestation of this was that although they were currently following Gu Hang’s orders, and General Hans, the Corps commander, had also shown compliance with the orders from the Star Realm Army headquarters and the Military Affairs Department by suppressing the emotions within the troops and continuing to execute Mr. Gu’s commands, they still had not appeared in the system’s [Soldier Tag].
This also meant that the system did not recognize them as Gu Hang’s troops.
However, this did not affect Gu Hang’s decision to make use of them for the time being.
After the destruction of Fino City, there was no need to keep so many forces on the battlefield outside Mingyan City.
The local forces that had undergone training with Gu Hang’s [Soldier Tag] System numbered twenty million. After the battle, deducting the casualties, missing personnel, and the injured soldiers who were discharged, there were still seventeen million left.
Tadeusz had recruited another three million people from within Mingyan City to supplement this force and completely integrated them as the ‘Salvation Army,’ which was then reassigned back to Mingyan City.
General Tadeusz temporarily assumed the position of commander-in-chief of the Salvation Army, and his first task was to execute the Governor’s order to completely clear the Lower Nest District and Bottom Nest District of Mingyan City and establish military governance.
The more than thirty million local Defense Forces generally returned to their respective Nest Capitals. The numerous Nest Capitals on Korolya were in constant turmoil and urgently needed the military to maintain order.
The remaining more than eighteen million from the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps stayed near the ruins of Fino City. There were still several million weakened demons, leaderless cultists, and pestilent walking corpses in the area.
Gu Hang’s task for General Hans was to have them swiftly eliminate all remaining enemies in the area.
Hans spent three months to fulfill this mission.
Once it was confirmed that most of the enemies had been eliminated, he left several hundred thousand troops to monitor and continue clearing the region. The majority of the remaining troops then entered Mingyan City and joined the campaign to purge the Bottom Nest District.
The military operation itself did not present many difficulties.
Gangs, Rebel Army, cults, interest groups… Could any of these possibly muster an effective resistance against the military’s iron fist?
But to say it was smooth sailing would not be quite accurate.
The military pressure was still quite substantial.
This pressure did not stem from the strength of the enemy or the intensity of their resistance, but rather from the fact that maintaining public order was extremely troublesome.
According to ancient statistics, Mingyan City had a population of four billion.
Most of them lived in the Lower Nest District and Bottom Nest District.
The Lower Nest District was still manageable as it had a certain administrative management system. However, the Bottom Nest District, though not entirely in chaos and disorder, was at the very least not under government control.
Gangs and the Rebel Army would scatter as soon as they were attacked, but after the battle ended and military governance was established, that’s when the real trouble started.
An endless stream of violent crimes, attacks on patrol teams, night raids, secret preaching and assemblies…
Even with the forty million troops of the Star Realm Army and Salvation Army in Mingyan City, they still felt it was not enough.