Chapter 645: Chapter 371, The Right Path
Upon receiving orders to split his forces and head to two different Nest Capitals, thousands of kilometers apart, to carry out military administration tasks, General Hans cursed under his breath.
But his cursing didn’t last long.
Because ‘care’ from Mr. Gu arrived before the military deployment commenced.
The Dragonhawk 3rd Corps, numbering over twenty million people, was primarily stationed in Korolya. In the recent years, their personnel and equipment replenishments were supplied by the Fatches Family—of course, this ‘supply’ actually involved submitting cost reports to the Military Affairs Department. The department wouldn’t provide cash payments and instead counted it towards tax credits.
For most planets, maintaining a Star Realm Army was a cost-effective affair. Tax obligations existed regardless; it made more sense to invest in an army which could be used as a tax write-off and remained under local control. What could be wrong with that?
The premise, however, hinged on the ability to keep the military in check.
…
One slip-up, like the current situation, could leave the entire Dragonhawk 3rd Corps stranded on Korolya with no return in sight.
And if Gu Hang wanted to retain these troops, he naturally had work to do.
In the last major conflict, the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps had lost nearly three million soldiers.
Gu Hang replenished all these personnel in one go—with three million new recruits recently conscripted from Korolya itself.
When General Hans first heard the news, especially the source of the new recruits, he was furious.
But when he saw the quality of these soldiers, he shut his mouth.
The quality of the recruits was absolutely up to standard, even far superior to those provided by the Fatches Tri-Star.
The new soldiers that Fatches provided for his corps were from their Planetary Defense Force, usually with over two years of service and professional military training.
Yet, even so, it was considered good if 20% met the Star Realm Army’s standards. The remaining 80% needed further training. As a result, the overall quality of the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps was such that only about 60% met the Star Realm standard, with the remaining 40% falling short.
However, the three million troops supplied by Mr. Gu were all up to standard, as confirmed by inspections conducted by Hans’ own people.
He was initially incredulous at this result.
How could anyone believe this?
He couldn’t help but suspect that Mr. Gu had somehow bought off his trusted officers.
Then, after conducting his own random inspections, he had to admit that it was all true.
How on earth did Mr. Gu find so many qualified soldiers on Korolya?
Hans found it hard to comprehend.
Moreover, Mr. Gu had supplied more than just troops.
Within these three million, an entire Army Group was formed, consisting of 25 fully-manned large infantry divisions, each with 44,000 soldiers, adopting the large division structure of the alliance.
This structure emerged only during the Korolya conflict, after Li Kexi reported up the chain of command, consulted with Yan Fangxu, and then submitted the proposal to Tadeusz for a joint research on organization.
Smaller divisions were indeed insufficient on the battlefield of Korolya. Armored Composite Brigades were fine, being elite armored forces and powerful assault units. However, infantry divisions, when facing a particularly intense and wide battlefield position, were undermanned with the previous Alliance standard of about 14,000 soldiers.
Thus, they had no choice but to adapt to the reality and create the ‘large infantry division’—a different organization from the regular ‘infantry division.’
However, the Alliance’s large infantry divisions differed slightly from those of the Dragonhawk Legion. Although similar in the number of personnel, the divisions of the Alliance possessed more firepower and a greater number of weapons and vehicles than those of the Dragonhawk.
They had more artillery, were equipped with more infantry weapons—incendiary bombs, heavy grenade launchers, plasma guns, infantry mortars…all allocated down to company level. Plus, they had ample troop carrying vehicles, enabling any infantry division to become completely motorized without the need for logistical support, operating solely at the division level.
This meant that the cost of creating an Alliance-style large infantry division amounted to 886,000 Tax Currency. For 25 divisions, that was over twenty million Tax Currency.
Looking at this new Army Group, Hans could only pinch his nose and reluctantly admit it was excellent.
Although this Army Group was a pure infantry artillery unit lacking armored capabilities, it was still more formidable than other infantry Army Groups within his own corps.
The remaining two million were distributed throughout undermanned units within his corps.
At this point, what more could Hans be dissatisfied with?
Three million high-standard soldiers, a fully manned and equipped Army Group without cutting any corners—the level of assistance was something he had never even experienced before.
He even hesitated to make a phone call to Mr. Gu, subtly hinting at whether such an approach could be…improper?
Brother, when you supply and reinforce the Star Realm Army, do you really make no profit at all?
Cutting corners with personnel, matching three million with another three million who don’t meet training standards; skimping on equipment, inflating the numbers on paper.
This way, those three million wouldn’t simply cost fifty million Tax Currency, wouldn’t you have to claim a hundred million from the Military Affairs Department?
Although the department wouldn’t really pay out, the debt would allow your alliance to avoid taxes for four years.
Why be so earnest?
