Chapter 731: Chapter 409, Atonement Expedition, Independent Kingdom_4 Chapter 731: Chapter 409, Atonement Expedition, Independent Kingdom_4 But the probability of that should not be considered high.
The incident that happened a century ago was already significant, having erupted over three Star Sectors, and it eventually took considerable effort to exterminate it.
Yet, its direction did not come this way toward the Dragonhawk Star Domain.
However, while that’s the normal situation, if the Phoenix were to be resurrected, what would the Iron Armor Battle Group do then?
Gu Hang’s understanding of this Battle Group all came from the reports of the Cercis Flower rebellion.
Based on what had happened in those years, Gu Hang felt that this Battle Group’s methods were quite unscrupulous.
Moreover, they had a vengeful nature and were ruthless toward their enemies.
If the Cercis Flower were to rise again, then Gu Hang had no doubts that the Iron Armor Battle Group, even separated by three Star Sectors, would find a way to utterly destroy the Cercis Flower.
The Phoenix, on the other hand, was slightly better off.
After all, back then, the Phoenix had come to assist in the fight and didn’t harbor as much enmity towards the Iron Armor.
But that was only slightly better than the situation with Cercis Flower, and Gu Hang still couldn’t be certain how Iron Armor would react in the end.
This could be a threat that needed attention.
The Ashen Dead Squad was in the same vein, and perhaps even more pressing.
After all, the Iron Armor Battle Group was still part of the Imperial hierarchy.
No matter how reckless they were, they couldn’t completely discard the rules.
But the Ashen Dead were a squad that had defected to Chaos; without any rules to bind them, they harbored full malice.
According to some information revealed when Blaywins was later interrogated on the ship, the Ashen Dead harbored an ‘obsession’ with all the past bloodlines of the Phoenix.
After breaking out of Zhong Jihua’s encirclement, Blaywins and his group were continually tracked and intercepted by the Ashen Dead over the following years, but they always managed to escape.
Zhong Jihua really hoped they would ‘join’ them because they shared the same blood, and it would be best if all turned into tainted blood.
If any Phoenix remained loyal and even thrived, Zhong Jihua would be extremely displeased.
This was, of course, Blaywins’s conjecture, and there might have been a bit of exaggeration on his part.
But Gu Hang believed it was highly likely that the Ashen Dead would consider the Phoenix an enemy, and consequently the Alliance as well.
The Phoenix’s recent strike on Extinct Soil Star wasn’t just about a minor issue with pirates, nor was it only about eight Phoenix members.
It also placed some future concerns before Gu Hang.
These were issues that needed to be guarded against.
How to guard against them?
It was nothing more than making oneself even stronger.
Confronting the Iron Armor might still be far off.
They were the overlords of a Star Sector, and a century ago, they had already exceeded an estimated six thousand Interstellar Warriors; a hundred years had passed, and although they had sustained losses in the ongoing resistance to the invasions of the Void Insect Species, their gradual development would likely mean they were no fewer than before.
In fact, the Empire now didn’t know how many members Iron Armor had, and was very wary of them.
They were not just a few thousand, but potentially tens of thousands of Interstellar Warriors.
More importantly, they had consolidated the power of a whole Star Sector, and their strength level was comparable to the Star Realm Army’s Mortal Auxiliary Army, which was undoubtedly counted in the billions.
The volume of the naval Fleet, based on the Dragonhawk Star Domain, would at least be three to four times the full strength of the Tianma Fleet.
The current capacity of the Alliance was incomparable.
But at least, that was a goal.
To be honest, Gu Hang did admire the Iron Armor Battle Group’s rule over the Princess Star Domain.
However, Gu Hang would not adopt similar methods to theirs to execute his plans.
As for the Ashen Dead, they might be easier to handle in terms of strength.
The scale of this squad might be similar to that of the current Phoenix, around two to three hundred people.
Besides, Phoenix had the support of the Alliance behind them.
But the tricky part was that the renegade Battle Group’s movements were more unpredictable, and without a base or stronghold, they couldn’t be tracked.
Even Matins really wanted to find the Ashen Dead to eliminate these true disgraces of the Phoenix, but the conditions weren’t there.
To deal with them, one could only passively defend.
Direct confrontation wasn’t the issue, but the problem was that Gu Hang didn’t know when their threat would come, from where, or in what manner they would strike, making it difficult to guard against.
In light of this situation, Gu Hang decided to invest a little more effort in the near future on strengthening the Phoenix Battle Group.
The best way to counter Chaos Starfield Warriors, of course, was with loyal Interstellar Warriors.
Since they wouldn’t be foolish enough to confront the vast size of the Alliance head-on, they would likely resort to unconventional tactics and special operations, so the Alliance needed to have the corresponding strength to counter them.
…
After pondering for a while about two possible future threats, Gu Hang casually dealt with the affairs concerning Extinct Soil Star.
When Matins and others like Blaywins left Extinct Soil Star, the alliance left about twenty thousand members of the Rage Bear Legion from the Star Realm Army to control the capital of Extinct Soil Star.
But in fact, Gu Hang had no intention of directly ruling Extinct Soil Star under the alliance.
The influence of the alliance was not a major issue within the Tianma Star Sector; after all, Gu Hang himself was the head of the Tianma Star Sector.
However, expanding beyond the Tianma Star Sector would be a politically sensitive event, likely leading to some consequences Gu Hang was not eager to see.
He had contingency plans for such occasions, but perhaps they still lacked an opportunity to act.
The key was, if there were particularly significant benefits, Gu Hang would take the risk.
But clearly, the situation on Extinct Soil Star and the profits it could bring did not equate to the risks.
That planet hadn’t been explored for minerals, but it likely didn’t have much, or anything particularly valuable, otherwise, it wouldn’t be in its current state; developing industry there also lacked some essential conditions.
It was neither close to any market nor had a particularly large population, nor was it rich in resources.
Merely relying on nomadic and agricultural practices to barely support two hundred million people, Gu Hang felt there was no need to make a big fuss over it.
The conditions on Extinct Soil Star might even be worse than those on Rage Owl Star initially.
Although Rage Owl Star had a small population and was a post-war wasteland at the beginning, at least it had areas like the Green Valley Region, where the natural environment was decent, and resources like the Low Energy Storm were treasured.
Moreover, when Gu Hang invested resources in building Rage Owl Star, he had no choice, since his beginnings were there.
Now that he had a choice, Gu Hang did not think that taking over Extinct Soil Star and then spending a lot on its development was a good choice.
However, not bringing it under the direct rule of the alliance didn’t mean there were no other methods.
The governor was dead, and the charges were ready.
ονǤ0.ᴄο
Take away the charge of betraying the interstellar warriors, and the rest was enough for Gu Hang to hang him.
Subsequently, he would support a new governor for Extinct Soil Star who would not join the alliance but could sign some cooperation agreements with planets under the alliance separately.
The food and biomaterials produced by the nomadic groups there had value, and the alliance could also export some inexpensive industrial products, such as daily necessities, furniture, and home appliances—things that the Imperial Tax despised—in exchange.
It would be good to serve as a small grain-producing base.
Then, they could slightly leak some technology to better conduct the breeding and light processing industries, which would also stimulate the development of Extinct Soil Star.
Overall, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement—the alliance stood to benefit a little more, but it would not be like sucking blood.
At the same time, the alliance’s control over Extinct Soil Star would be greatly strengthened.
Though not a member of the alliance, it would be practically equivalent to being one.
In the future, if the situation changed and Gu Hang needed Extinct Soil Star, he could at any time request its application to join the alliance.
Once approved, it would be done.
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I wish everyone a happy New Year in advance!
Happy New Year, everyone!
This chapter is 7.2k words, an additional update!
I know I still owe the Lord’s additional updates, as well as 25k for those, and plus the three days I missed last month due to business trips and sickness, that’s another 12k to repay, making it a total of 37k.
Today counts as an extra 3k update, so I’m still 34k short.
The New Year period is actually very busy, but I’ll try my best to write!