Starting from the Planetary Governor

...

Having established policy strategies for planet-level issues, the remaining tasks now fell on Gu Hang to address.

The hostile forces from the Princess Star Domain required military and intelligence operatives to work in concert for resolution;

Local rebellious elements on planets were to be dealt with through optimized collaborative governance strategies;

And beyond these two, there existed a third direction of resistance that also could not be ignored.

That would be the pressure from the Menghe Government.

This was a problem that even Gu Hang had not anticipated at first.

After becoming the General of the Southern Theater Command, nominally overseeing military and political power, Gu Hang was not to the extent of managing the entire Eastern Cosmos Domain—this demand was rejected by Holy Terra—but, at the least, Holy Terra had explicitly commanded the forces of the entire Space Domain Government to cooperate with Gu Hang's actions, assisting him in war preparations.

As one of Gu Hang's 'own people' and a member of the Galaraldo political faction, Zuo Zhaofeng would certainly not set up any obstacles for Gu Hang.

Although there wouldn't be support to the point of financial ruin, since there were still many other threats within the domains of space that needed to be addressed. But at least, within a reasonable scope, he had already done much work.

For example, allocating a portion of Imperial Tax to the Alliance.

For example, transferring a considerable portion of military forces, especially naval forces, from the more peaceful sectors within the domain to the Alliance, to help the Alliance in combat and strengthen the naval power of the Alliance.

This was significant support.

Converted into money, the total value was feared to amount to several tens of billions.

Not to mention, this kind of support would continue for many years to come.

That's quite a lot of money.

Currently, the Alliance, not counting its expenditures, had a total of about two hundred billion in Imperial Tax and financial income from the Dragonhawk Star Domain.

For the Eastern Cosmos Domain to provide about fifty billion in ships, materials, money, and military forces each year... was already quite good, accounting for about 20% to 25% of the total income of the Alliance.

Up to this point, Zuo Zhaofeng had been very meaningful.

The Space Domain needed funds, and the Star Domains beneath it likewise needed funds. Being able to contribute so much in a year, who could say that Zuo Zhaofeng wasn't 'one of our own'?

From his perspective, he also explicitly issued orders to the Star Domain Government of the Menghe Star Domain to cooperate with the Alliance's actions.

But, the situation in the Menghe Star Domain was, after all, different.

Other Star Domains would just need to comply with the Space Domain Government's requests for financial and manpower contributions, and the Alliance would not come to their territory.

The Menghe Star Domain was formally entered by the Alliance.

As the host, or at least the self-proclaimed host, the Menghe Star Domain Government was quite unhappy about this.

This was the superficial aspect. At least, when expressing his displeasure towards the Alliance, the Star Domain Head of the Menghe Star Domain, Zhai Guangshan, put it this way.

He believed that the actions of the Alliance constituted an invasion and had complained to the Alliance several times.

Complaining to the Space Domain Government didn't do much good, so he took his grievances to Holy Terra.

That was equally ineffective.

But for one thing, it was kind of annoying to have a Star Domain Head complaining day in and day out about how the Alliance mistreated him; it was indeed tiring.

The potential for a decrease in reputation alone was problematic, not to mention the upsurge of rebellions in various places, influenced by the insinuation of the Star Domain and Star Sector Governments.

The Alliance's intelligence department had already gathered information that could infer that many of the more aggressive rebellious areas had the shadow of the Star Domain or Star Sector Governments behind them.

Aside from offending certain interests, the Alliance's intelligence department also believed there were some unclear contacts between the Menghe Star Domain Government and Tie Nu Shi.

Although the information currently in the hands of the Alliance was not critical or conclusive enough to directly take down Zhai Guangshan, if there was only suspicion, there was no need for complete evidence.

Moreover, if Gu Hang wanted to resolve this issue by force, it would not necessarily require incontrovertible proof.

What evidence is needed to quell a rebellion?

It's just that Gu Hang doesn't want to wage war.

At least not large-scale war.

Since he did not want to wage war, Gu Hang's personal visit this time was intended to solve issues through diplomatic and political means.

This was not something that could be managed by simply sitting in Dragonhawk.

Upon entering the Meng River Star Domain, his target was clear: a planet named 'Gelangya'.

Gelangya's status in the Meng River Star Domain was somewhat similar to that of Flying Wing Star in the Dragonhawk Star Domain.

Perhaps even more important.

While not the capital of the Star Domain, this world's shipbuilding industry was developed and, with the shipbuilding industry as a support, had a strong economic influence.

By comparison, the economic development of the capital of the Meng River Star Domain, Mengyang Star, was worse than that of Gelangya.

The Alliance's vanguard fleet had already entered Gelangya.

Gelangya itself was one of the strategic targets sought by Gu Hang; he coveted the planet's shipbuilding capabilities.

Although it couldn't compete with what Flying Wing Star used to be, let alone now that under the Alliance's control, the shipbuilding industry had stepped up to a higher level. Yet, Gelangya was one of the few places capable of constructing large ships, even though its original technology couldn't even produce the Moon Class, the cruisers it could make were a castrated version named 'Town River Class'. But that's still a cruiser!

Moreover, if Gelangya fell under the Alliance's control, then the Alliance's technological capabilities could be put to use on this planet. Once the original technological bottlenecks were broken, Gelangya's hardware facilities—the large ship docks and the large Starport, as well as the planet's various matching components of ship manufacturing capability—would be well unleashed.

Even the dock originally built to manufacture Jufu-class Transport Ships, with some modifications, could be used to build Battle Cruisers.

Get Gelangya in hand one day earlier and you can start shipbuilding one day earlier, and the sooner you can accumulate strength for the Alliance Navy.

But here, they encountered resistance.

The Menghe Fleet blocked the Alliance's vanguard fleet's path, preventing the Alliance Fleet from approaching; meanwhile, on the planet, including the orbital Starport and the shipyards, a large amount of troops were filled and ready for battle.

The Alliance's forces were thus stuck.

On the one hand, the vanguard fleet's troops alone might not be able to break through the Menghe Fleet, and the scale of the Land Forces they carried was also not sufficient to quickly conquer the entire Planet.

On the other hand, it was also not quite right to start an open battle with full setup.

Then, Gu Hang arrived.

He also made a solo visit.

The Alliance valued Gelangya so much, there must have been arrangements within. Several of the Alliance's intelligence organizations had infiltrated agents there. On behalf of Gu Hang, they sent out an invitation to the planet's rulers, 'Gelangya Ship Industry Group's board of directors, for a meeting.

They also agreed to meet.

Afterwards, the Star Sector Government, which knew about this situation, was still trying to intervene. But by the time they began to act, it was too late. Gu Hang himself had already taken a small ship to Gelangya's Starport and completed the meeting with the sovereigns of the Shipbuilding Group.

They only blocked Gu Hang outside the conference hall after he had just finished the meeting with the directors of the Shipbuilding Group.

Gu Hang was accompanied by only two aides, with no one else.

The leader of Cliffcloud Sector personally led the team. He looked at Gu Hang with a displeased expression and let out a cold laugh, but when it came to what to say, he had not quite figured it out himself, and in the end could only watch as Gu Hang left the Starport.

Later on, the Menghe Fleet opened a path, and the Alliance's troops entered the Starport, onto the planet's surface.

The irate Star Zone Leader was 'politely sent' away from the Starport.

...

"What exactly did Gu Hang say to you, that made you give up resistance?" Zhai Guangshan, with a grim face, raised this question to Jerio Fisher.

Upon learning of Gu Hang's journey to Gelangya, the Star Domain Head Zhai Guangshan, had also hurried over.

But by the time he arrived, everything was already too late.

Gelangya had already become owned by the Alliance.

Unwilling to accept it, he prepared to leave, only to receive an invitation from Gu Hang, who had not yet departed.

After thinking it over, he decided to accept the invitation and speak to Gu Hang face to face.

The location of the meeting was still at Gelangya's Starport.

Fisher, chairman of the Shipbuilding Group, accompanied Zhai Guangshan as they waited for Gu Hang's arrival.

While waiting, Zhai Guangshan couldn't help but ask the previous question.

Fisher just smiled embarrassedly: "Mr. Star Domain Head, I had no choice..."

"I didn't want to at first, planning to stand with you."

"But... Mr. Gu offered too much."