Chapter 476: Let's get past the hurdle of caring about someone first
The atmosphere between Erso and Gu Hang suddenly fell silent because of these words.
After a few seconds, or maybe a few minutes, Erso spoke:
"What did you say?"
After the words came out, he felt that he was not good enough.
No one would make a joke about this kind of thing or say false news.
Moreover, the possibility was originally very high. The main force of the Alliance was already making trouble in the greenskin's lair. Titus ran towards Iron Teeth's lair and was blocked by the Alliance. It's easy to understand.
But he couldn't help but want to make sure.
At the same time, a huge sense of absurdity arose in his heart.
Titus died at the hands of the Alliance, so where are the gains from the Furious Flames' hard work over the past few years?
In the past, no matter how big the alliance was on the Eastern Front, it was still a side battlefield. The main battlefield is still here with him. The leader of the orcs, the great chief Titus, is right in front of him.
According to the empire's tens of thousands of years of struggle with the greenskin race, everyone knows that the leader of the orcs is the most critical thing in a war against the orcs.
They attracted the attention of the greenskins from the front, creating an opportunity for the real heroes and protagonists to go straight to the Yellow Dragon and intercept the greenskin chief.
In this version of the story, the Alliance is no longer a supporting player. On the contrary, the Wrathful Flame Chapter is the supporting role.
As long as Fury Flame kills Titus, they will undoubtedly be the biggest contributors to this Iron Teeth War. No matter how great the contribution made by others, it is only a foil at best. It only brings help to the main battlefield and cannot usurp the main battlefield.
For a normal Space Marine Chapter, the logic of fighting is actually very simple.
They own their own home planet, and all output from their home star belongs to them. The reward for the Empire is that the Space Marines will accept the Empire's recruitment campaign.
But there are relatively few direct orders from the Empire, and Space Marines can even refuse to act - but they usually don't do so - more often than not, the Chapter receives a distress signal from a certain planet. , and then dispatch a company, or even sometimes not even a company, to go to the rescue to see exactly what kind of trouble the planet has encountered.
However, this is completely unacceptable to Erso!
Only by destroying the supreme leader of the orcs can the victory of a war be declared.
The Raging Flames Chapter came to the Dragon Eagle Star Territory to fight this battle, and they also followed this process.
From this point of view, the supporting role is just a supporting role. Although it is a bit regretful, the average battle group really does not have to fight for this.
From these perspectives, the Space Marines are very independent.
Yeah, golden green leaves, golden supporting roles.
But the difference is that ordinary war groups are satisfied after receiving honors.
The story will be different immediately.
The Wrathful Flames Chapter is no ordinary war group.
But now, this greatest achievement has been taken away by the alliance.
The Alliance is no longer a foil or a supporting role.
Of course, most Space Marines would not ignore calls for help or refuse Imperial orders. This is their glory.
Overall, the Raging Flames held back the main force of the Greenskins from the front, while the Alliance attacked Huanglong from the side, greatly destroying the war potential of the Iron Teeth clan, forcing Titus to retreat and causing the Greenskins to retreat. Civil strife, and in the process of encirclement, they annihilated the main force of the greenskins, killed the orc chief Titus, and won the war.
But not the Wrathful Flames. What they value more is the actual meaning behind the glory.
They can also ignore these distress signals.
It would be nice if they were just supporting roles, but the key point is that they paid such a high price to indirectly exert influence on the Dragon Eagle Star Territory by spreading reputation and winning the war, and develop this star territory. Become part of the outer circle of influence of 'Iron Fury Stone'.
Now, after they had paid a heavy price, the benefits they wanted were taken away by Gu Hang's intervention.
Even a chapter leader with hundreds of years of life experience like Erso still finds it difficult to treat him calmly.
He tried to take a deep breath, but still couldn't suppress the anger in his heart.
"Okay, very good. Governor Gu did a great job."
"However, the war is not over yet. Our Raging Flame Legion will stay in the Dragon Eagle Star Territory for a while. The future is long."
At this point, Erso hung up the communication.
...
The last words Erso left were obviously a threat.
However, Gu Hang didn't take it seriously either.
The fact that Titus was killed by him was not something he actively pursued.
However, he was also able to realize that Titus could not escape back to the greenskin's lair alive, otherwise the subsequent annihilation operations would become very difficult.
The appeal of an orc warchief is too strong. If he comes back alive, it means that when the Alliance is wiping out the four green-skinned star regions, they will not face separate and loose green-skinned worlds. They will unite and act together.
By then, even if the alliance can complete the clearing operation, the cost will be completely different.
Therefore, after learning about the greenskin civil strife, Gu Hang then concluded that Chief Iron-Tooth's intention was to take a detour back to the Jiangmeiyu Sector. He led the main force of the fleet to the sector in advance and blocked Titus's returning fleet.
The returning Titus, with one-third of the green-skinned main force, is actually quite a large team. However, in a sudden surprise attack, Gu Hang spared all the other fleets, except the green flagship that Titus himself was aboard.
When Titus realized that he could not escape the pursuit and could not win in the Star Wars, he wanted to land on the surface of the nearest planet and make a final stand.
But this plan was also discovered by Gu Hang.
The psychic power captured his battleship and tore through the void shield. The Fire Nova took several human cruisers and focused their fire on them. Titus's vehicle is no longer the green-skin battleship it once was, which was blown up by the Raging Flames, nor is it the Battle Moon, which was destroyed in the green-skin civil war. What he was riding now was just an ordinary green-skinned cruiser, and there was no way it could withstand such a blow.
After his battleship was destroyed, in order to ensure his death, Gu Hang sent people to board the several large pieces of the ship to find his body.
This is quite a matter of luck. Even with a strong body like the Orc Warchief, it is impossible to survive after the ship is destroyed. Whether there can be a whole corpse depends on the specific situation.
But Gu Hing was in good spirits, and among the many ruins of the ship floating in space, the phoenixes who looked for it actually found his body. He was seriously injured when a steel pillar that broke during the explosion penetrated his chest. There were also signs at the scene that he broke and pulled out steel pillars and struggled to survive. Even his chest that was penetrated showed signs of wound repair due to his strong physique.
However, due to the destruction of the life support facilities and the extremely cold environment, his destroyed armor was unable to provide him with life support.
But even though he was seriously injured and directly exposed to space, he still survived for at least thirty-nine hours. When the phoenixes found him, he was still alive and moving.
This was an extremely dangerous individual. After consulting Gu Hang, in order to avoid further trouble, he did not consider the issue of being captured and imprisoned, but directly executed him and brought the body back.
With the help of the Chapter's Apothecary, Titus' body was taxidermied.
Then, there was this interstellar phone call between Gu Hang and Erso.
In fact, at first Gu Hang considered whether to completely fall out with Erso and the Raging Flames, and even considered whether Titus' body could be used in exchange for some benefits.
However, Erso's attitude when he came up was a little too much.
Gu Hang's mentality is mature, but when it's time to rejoice in grudges, he won't hold back.
What's more, can selling Titus' body really ease the relationship between the two parties?
After Gu Hang carefully analyzed the overall situation, he thought it was impossible.
The relief is also temporary, and there are fundamental and irreconcilable conflicts between the two parties.
After the Iron Teeth War is over, will Gu Hang retreat to the Pegasus sector with full honor, be satisfied with the alliance's current nine planetary sectors, and give up and abolish the political framework brought by the Seven Horses Agreement?
Obviously not.
The alliance has shown its strength. From now on, it will be impossible for him to make a fortune silently.
He must expand the alliance's base, and expanding from the Pegasus region to the Qima region is the minimum. At the same time, we must use political alliances, mutual defense, economic alliances and other means to bring in all the galaxies currently included in the alliance, in order to live up to this opportunity.
And to get so many places, there are many conditions required. Military capabilities and economic capabilities are the most basic. Gu Hang must be able to pacify these planets and restore the economic status of these planets.
But at the same time, its huge reputation and political legitimacy cannot be ignored.
The so-called 'interstellar political body', that is, the alliance's license, will definitely not be able to support such a large area. Although, his alliance's license does not actually limit the number of governors who can join. But if it really takes hundreds of worlds at once, it will definitely cause an uproar.
The scale of the impact of this incident is not only at the regional level, but will directly attract the attention of the central political circles of the empire.
Gallardo couldn't bear it.
Gu Hang must obtain this legitimacy from other aspects.
The most direct route is to seek the position of head of the Dragon Eagle Star Territory.
With the identity of the first leader of the Star Territory Government, the strength of the alliance can be turned into serious political influence, making his position more stable than anyone else; at the same time, the identity of the Star Territory Head of State will also be reversed. Give the alliance shelter from wind and rain, so that the alliance can develop with confidence within the scope of the entire star field.
The second-level plan is to make the head of the star field one of our own if we cannot become the head of the star field. That can also achieve similar effects, but there will be some hidden dangers and problems.
Even worse, if the head of the star field is on the opposite side of Gu Hang, then the only means he can adopt are conventional interstellar trade, military exchanges, and political alliances. It's not impossible. No one has stipulated that several planets cannot help each other. But when the scale increases and there is no serious political reputation, it is very easy for people to cause trouble.
Gu Hang didn't want to fall into the third situation, so he could only pursue one and two.
This has an absolutely irreconcilable contradiction with the Raging Flames Chapter.
The so-called "Iron Wrath Stone" refers to the Iron Armor Chapter, headed by the Iron Armor Chapter, plus the two die-hard allies the Fury Flame Chapter and the Rock Shield Chapter, with the Queen's Star Region as the core, radiating to many surrounding star regions. Huge political entity.
They can almost be regarded as a separatist force within the empire, much more extreme than Gu Hang's alliance.
Although the three Chapters have made certain cover-ups, anyone with a discerning eye knows that their numbers and Chapter specifications far exceed the regulations of the Space Marine Codex.
Generally speaking, it is normal for a normal battle group to be a little bit over the top, or for its behavior to be different from the regulations. After all, they have special identities and different cultural histories. As long as they are loyal to the empire, the empire will usually turn a blind eye.
But if you are reincarnated to ten or twenty times the size, what else do you call a battle group? You might as well return to the Legion era.
And it wasn't just the Space Marines who violated the rules. The imperial tax in the Queen's Star Territory is now almost as much as they want to pay.
If I give you some imperial tax, that's to give you face; if I don't give you face, the Void Zerg invasion has been fierce recently and I've spent too much, so the empire will give me some money.
Not approved? The star regions next door sympathized with us and made donations, asking the empire to exempt them from imperial taxes.
No?
Someone will accept it and let me see.
This is the attitude of Li Guoshi, the leader of the Iron Armor Chapter, the 'husband of the princess', the 'tyrant of the spider web', and the 'shield of the eye of the void'.
Much more than the Alliance, which has never defaulted on imperial taxes to this day. Every account of the recent imperial tax collection, how much money was collected, where it was used, and what the results were, are all clear and clear. From now on, after the war is over, Gu Hang has no intention of refusing to pay the imperial tax. At best... ahem, just pay it more flexibly.
In Gu Hang's view - and not just in Gu Hang's view, but in the view of many high-level officials in the central empire, the 'Iron Fury Stone' has become a de facto separatist regime, and it is unscrupulous.
Gallardo had discussed this matter with Gu Hang.
From this perspective, the Raging Flames came to the Dragon Eagle Star Territory with the mission of opening up territory.
What should Gu Hang do?
Bow your head and surrender, and from now on become a dog of the 'Iron Fury Stone' just like many imperial forces in the Queen's Star Territory and the Star Territories surrounding the Queen's Lady?
That's obviously impossible.
Political conflicts are inevitable.
Gu Hang gave up the idea of appeasement.
With this military exploit, the strength of the alliance, and the connections with the higher-ups, Gu Hang has a chance to get what he wants.
In addition, Gu Hang also planned to find common interests to support the alliance with certain people at the top of the empire.
If you want to get the 'Iron Fury Stone' from the Dragon Eagle Star Territory, you have to go through the level of I Gu Someone first.
(End of this chapter)