Chapter 678: Chapter 384, it was Gu Hang who bewitched me into rebelling!
In Korolya, he married and had children locally, mixed in local Korolya soldiers into the legion, and took control of the legion in the capacity of a commander of the warzone…
All these efforts were made by Gu Hang in order to assimilate the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps.
Moreover, in the past few years, Gu Hang has been doing two more things:
First, he started replacing officers in the corps who were clearly inclined towards the Fatches Family.
Previously, he had done so in a more gentle manner, and he faced significant resistance. After all, General Hans was only a military subordinate to Gu Hang and had no political personnel authority.
However, once the news of the Fatches Family’s rebellion came out, Gu Hang suddenly had far fewer scruples. He began to forcefully purge within the Dragonhawk 3rd Corps under the guise of removing ‘the claws and teeth of imperial traitors,’ reducing the resistance substantially.
…
Even Hans couldn’t stop him then; otherwise, he himself might end up wearing the hat of a traitor and being purged by Gu Hang.
The second thing was, as soldiers from Korolya who had undergone training in Gu Hang’s Army Badge System joined the corps, he also started to implement the commissar system from the Alliance.
Originally, the Dragonhawk Corps did not have political commissars. Functions similar to that role were played by two other entities: the military judges and military priests.
The former, with their supervisory teams and military police, were in charge of combat discipline; the latter were responsible for the soldiers’ ideological matters.
But aside from Gu Hang’s intention to further infiltrate and seize control of the army using political commissars, even from an objective standpoint, he disapproved of the system.
Gu Hang felt that the Alliance’s commissar system was far more reliable than military judges.
As for the military priests, he had no plans to remove the existing ones, but he also had no plans to continue adding them to the army.
Maintaining the status quo would suffice.
Now, he believed that the current Dragonhawk 3rd Corps could turn against their former lord without issue.
Of course, even so, Gu Hang couldn’t fully trust this corps, after all, it wasn’t his own force and was not included in the [Soldier Tag] System. Even the three million Korolya people he had trained disappeared from the system after they were incorporated into the Dragonhawk Corps.
But for this very reason, he wouldn’t feel too distressed about sending them into the most grueling sieges.
This army was also the first to board the starships, and they would be the main force in the upcoming Fatches campaign.
The Alliance, too, had dispatched a force of over ten million soldiers.
The Alliance Land Forces currently comprise three major organizational structures: the Alliance Army, Salvation Army, and Korolya Defense Forces.
The former represents the military forces from Rage Owl Star and Heijian Star, currently about ten million strong; the latter is the defending army of Korolya, which totals over two hundred million to date; the Salvation Army is an intermediate state with over forty million soldiers.
The entire Alliance Army has undergone training in the [Soldier Tag] System, costing tens of thousands of favor points in total;
The Salvation Army numbers forty million and have all undergone [Soldier Tag] training. Mainly, these soldiers are those who Gu Hang directly incorporated during the previous Korolya campaign. The difference between them and the Alliance Army mainly lies in their equipment; comparatively inferior, with weaker armored forces.
As for the Korolya Defense Forces, they are the largest force, currently exceeding two hundred million.
Military reform will follow, where the Salvation Army and Korolya Defense Forces will be disbanded and fully incorporated into the Alliance Army, so everyone will have a unified organization. However, the main challenge comes from the Korolya Defense Forces, which make up the vast majority and are of much poorer quality.
Gu Hang wouldn’t be investing any more Grace Points in their training for a short time. Completing the full training would require two million Grace Points, which Gu Hang simply couldn’t afford.
He had already hurriedly dispatched qualified officers and political commissars to the Planetary Defense Force, conducting training according to Star Realm Army standards. Those soldiers who didn’t make the cut were eliminated, new suitable recruits were enlisted, and high standards were set for both training and logistical support, aiming to raise the overall troop proficiency by conventional methods as much as possible.
Once training was completed, a new Alliance Army division would be established.
In the future, Gu Hang planned to continue in the same vein. The Alliance Army would also have two tiers: the regular army would be on par with the Empire’s Star Realm Army, while the Defense Forces would correspond to the Planetary Defense Force.
At the same time, all past infantry division and garrison division structures within the Alliance Army were reorganized into formal large infantry divisions of 44,000 troops and were assigned a permanent Army Group, unlike the temporary ones formed in response to wartime needs in the past.
Each Army Group would have an approximate strength of 1.1 million, including 20 large infantry divisions, 6 Armored Composite Brigades, and their own air squadrons.
The Alliance Troops committed to the Fatches campaign consisted of the Land Forces and the Salvation Army, each contributing five million men.
The grand total of just over thirty million soldiers was the solid force Gu Hang had prepared for the Fatches campaign.
Aboard a fleet detached from the Gu Commercial Firm, they, their equipment, and a large amount of military supplies were loaded from various locations and assembled in the Korolya Star System, before they set off majestically toward the Fatches Star System.
…
“Is this what you call ‘sincerity’? You clearly stated that you were also dissatisfied with the Star Sector Government, that you would support Fatches, that not a single one of your soldiers would step foot on Fatches soil; you would provide Fatches with weapons and supplies, arming Fatches’s forces…”
“And now? Thirty million Alliance Army troops are eyeing my world with covetous intent! Is this the promise of your Governor Gu Hang? Habitual liars! Filthy traitors!”
Minnick’s insults were quite unsavory, but to Salihoovich, his anger appeared to be quite common and trivial.
Ever since two months ago, when Commander-in-Chief Gu Hang included the Fatches Star System under his jurisdiction, and the Star Domain Government and Star Sector Government jointly signed the order placing Gu Hang in full charge of quelling the rebellion in Fatches, Minnick had summoned the Alliance envoy—Salihoovich—no less than six times, with each meeting ending the same way.
To tell the truth, the first time was the most perilous.
Back then, the flames in the eyes of this Family Head of Fatches made Salihoovich keenly aware that the other party did indeed intend to take his life as a statement.
Despite this, Salihoovich uncharacteristically refused to grovel for his life at that time. He knew that yielding once would only complicate matters later on.
On the contrary, after he resolutely represented the Alliance’s stance, no matter how outraged Minnick was, he did not take any action against him.
What was the use of killing a senior diplomat? It would only further provoke the Alliance and, more importantly, cut off the channels of communication between the two sides.
During the past six encounters, Salihoovich had accurately conveyed the demands of Governor Gu Hang, and this time was no exception:
“Yes, this is our sincerity. Governor Minnick, your actions are intolerable to the Empire. As long as you surrender unconditionally, and everyone on the Empire’s list, including yourself, is accounted for, and heads to the Stellar Capital Yunluo Star for trial, then of course the Alliance will honor its promise and not allow a single soldier to set foot on Fatches soil. In this respect, the Alliance has not broken its promise.”
Minnick was so angry he almost laughed, “Is that how you honor a promise? Is that the Alliance’s attitude towards commitments? Twisting words, spouting nonsense, habitual lying… Aren’t you afraid of becoming a laughingstock to the entire universe?”
“The entire universe will only ridicule traitors, not the heroes who quell rebellions.”
“I will expose you! I will report to the Star Domain Government that it was Gu Hang who incited me to rebel!”