Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 951: Chapter 513, Slow Down

Humphrey Paul’s strategy of gaining prestige is actually quite challenging. There are many hurdles to overcome.

For instance, Gu Hang heard from Galaraldo that the Interstellar Warrior representative in the High Lord Council has been contacting several powerful Battle Groups.

Among them are top-tier Battle Groups like the Black Cross Army, which is also a Battle Group that proliferates prodigiously but is quite different from Iron Armor.

The Black Cross Army is a subsidiary of the Golden Knight Legion and they themselves have a significant amount of influence and background. However, they don’t hold territory; they are a Ship-Based Battle Group with no Mother Planet. They recruit and resupply wherever they fight and then rush off to the next battlefield…

And they are also quite ‘obedient’.

This obedience does not mean that they will do whatever the Empire tells them to, nor does it mean that they will comply with interference from the Empire Government in their internal affairs. But at least, when the Empire calls, they will come in most situations. They are also very willing to respond to calls of aid from all over the Empire, joining whenever they can.

This has earned them a substantial amount of prestige and goodwill, with many local forces willing to provide support, donations, and rewards as thanks, or simply to curry favor in hopes of receiving help from the Black Cross Army in the future.

And often, their wishes are indeed granted.

However, it is precisely because of this that the Black Cross Army, although large in scale, is also very ‘busy’.

Having received the Empire’s call, the Black Cross Army has expressed a strong desire to participate in this rebellion-suppressing operation. Unfortunately, their numerous expeditionary fleets almost all have their own ongoing missions. Despite their promise to try their best and join the battle as soon as possible, even they cannot commit to a specific timeframe.

Apart from the Black Cross Army, several other renowned Battle Groups have also received the summons. This includes several prestigious newly-formed Battle Groups, such as the Blood Angel Corps and the Bat Corps active in the Imperial North Border, and the Infinity Corps of the Eastern Frontier, which is even the parent group of the Iron Armor Battle Group.

The father is about to discipline his son.

After suffering a major setback, the Heretic Tribunal is furious as well, calling upon more elite forces they work with, particularly the Battle Nun Association, to prepare for an intensified participation in the combat…

Once these powers join one after another in the battle sequence against Iron Armor, the challenges that Humphrey Paolo will face will become increasingly immense.

Only by overcoming hurdle after hurdle can Paul’s envisioned strategy of gaining prestige really take shape.

Prior to that, he must carefully choose his opponents, carefully select his strategy. He cannot face too formidable an enemy too soon, lest he suffers defeat before the time is right, causing the anticipated tide to end prematurely.

This is also why Gu Hang judged that with the momentum already formed on the Western and Northern Fronts, Tie Nu Shi must commit the vast majority of its forces to maintain the offensive.

They don’t have the sufficient strength to move South, nor can they afford to make rash strategic blunders.

The Alliance is a typical opponent with not such great fame but considerable strength. Winning won’t necessarily bring significant prestige increase, and it will also be difficult to fight.

But if they really do come, then Gu Hang wouldn’t mind delivering a significant blow to Humphrey Paul in the Southern regions.

The price offered by the Empire is already satisfactory to Gu Hang, so participating in the war is acceptable.

However, the fact is, Iron Armor’s main approach towards the Alliance is still based on verbal sparring and some minor actions—as Gu Hang had anticipated, they dare not fully move southwards.

Their main ‘minor action’ is leveraging the influence established by the Fury Flame Battle Group’s frequent activities in the Menghe Star Domain over the past years to create problems for the Alliance.

They sent out many ‘military advisors’ and ‘independent advisors’. Most of these people come from the auxiliary systems of Battle Groups like Iron Armor. While they don’t count as the most elite military force, as the auxiliary force meticulously developed by Humphrey Paul named the ‘Princess Legion’, their level exceeds the average strength of the Star Realm Army.

Of course, the Princess Legion didn’t arrive as large, fully formed units. In those worlds, at most, a battalion, or even just a few companies.

The officers leading the teams serve as military advisors, leading the local efforts to establish more powerful troops modeled after the Princess Legion.

This effort is not entirely for the Alliance. In the past years, establishing the model of the Princess Legion as Local Defense Forces was itself a way to exert influence on the locals.

Objectively, this did have a significant impact on the Alliance’s operations in the Menghe Star Domain.

Initially, they hoped to draw the entire Menghe Star Domain into their internal united front merely through diplomatic means. But later on, relying solely on diplomatic and political maneuvers became insufficient.

Then came the military approach.

After the Alliance’s vanguard fleets arrived, they launched a series of offensives.

The initial battles were not that frequent. The part of the Menghe Star Domain closer to the Dragonhawk and the Alliance was rather timid. When the Fleet arrived, and Land Forces were dispatched, the local powers basically gave in without resistance, allowing Alliance officers to be appointed, resources started being collected, and the Alliance directly took over the Imperial Tax and the Planetary Defense Forces.

With wealth and armies at their disposal, the problem was largely resolved.

Once a world was stabilized, the vanguard Fleet would move to the next one, leaving behind a portion of the Land Forces.

In most cases, this pattern caused no major issues. The officials left behind by the Alliance, with the help of a small number of Land Forces, could generally control the world. The Alliance’s strength, along with the cause they held, ensured they could maintain relatively stable control of the situation.

But it was not always so smooth.

Some worlds, compliant when the Alliance’s fleets and main military forces were present, began to show problems after their departure.

Minor problems were local uprisings that hindered the Alliance-established cooperative governments from controlling the global situation.

In more severe cases, some could even see local cooperative governments being overthrown, Alliance troops besieged, and Alliance officers killed.

Whenever this happened, the Alliance typically had no choice but to call back the already departed vanguard forces’ main body to resolve the ‘rebellion’.

But this severely hampered the Alliance’s operational speed.

Over several months, after initially securing about seven Star Sectors and 103 worlds in the Menghe Star Domain, the progress was significantly slowed.

Gu Hang personally came this time to solve this problem.

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