Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 53: The Second Generation Governor

Gu Hang revealed a smile. He stepped forward and gave Lambert a big hug: “I’m willing to believe in you, welcome aboard, young comrade.”

Lambert’s stance was sincere, but Gu Hang didn’t fully trust him yet.

However, since Lambert had brought a group with him, and they disarmed when asked and worked when told, what was there to worry about?

Gu Hang neither expected much from them nor would he use them for important tasks.

Just cleaning the battlefield and carrying stuff—anyone could do that. As long as they were useful, that was enough.

Trust wasn’t something that could be shown through words alone.

With more time and more shared experiences, their true nature would eventually reveal itself.

Moreover, Lambert brought Gu Hang an even greater surprise.

Along with the five hundred armed soldiers, there were also over two thousand refugees.

According to Lambert, these were people he had recruited from outside the city when he set out.

The reason he did this was that he had heard about a merchant named Denison Henry who had recruited refugees for the Governor before.

Thinking that there was a significant manpower shortage at the Governor’s, he did the same when he set out.

Not only that, he had arranged for people to carry out long-term migration propaganda outside Revival City.

They promoted that the Governor’s place offered good jobs, good treatment, and enough food and clothing to not starve to death.

Wow, the young man was really on the right track.

Gu Hang was very pleased.

Because of this, he even felt a little embarrassed to complain when he spoke on the phone with old Hodgson.

But there really wasn’t much to complain about.

The attack was indeed unrelated to them, at least currently, there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

The attackers were heretical cultists, and the powerful Storm Magic made it clear.

Moreover, Hodgson had given him a prior warning before the attack.

At the moment, old Hodgson also mentioned that they had made further progress in their investigation of the cult.

They had captured two mid-level preachers from the Original Owl Beast Sect and learned that this heretical organization was indeed secretly stepping up its actions in Revival City, possibly with some plan in progress.

Following this lead should yield more results.

Aside from the heretical cult issue which Gu Hang used to leverage against the Alliance government, Hodgson’s performance in other areas also left Gu Hang quite satisfied.

Sending a grandson over, whether to serve him or to act as a hostage, was itself an expression of an attitude.

In practical terms, Lambert made his stance quite clear.

Five hundred soldiers and two thousand refugees might not be much, but Hodgson had subtly promised to act according to Gu Hang’s instructions within Revival City and cooperate with the Governor.

However, Hodgson also mentioned that he needed the Governor to understand his difficulties.

He was the Council Head, but he didn’t have absolute power.

Directly providing resources, promoting a certain law, replacing a council member, or mobilizing large-scale troops… these ultimately required the entire council’s discussion and resolution.

Gu Hang didn’t push too hard on this matter.

Pushing wouldn’t help.

For now, Hodgson could be considered to be on his side, at least judging by his attitude.

Pressing him wouldn’t be very meaningful. On the contrary, Gu Hang needed Hodgson to help him pressure those council members.

This time, Gu Hang talked with Hodgson for a long time.

They discussed what Gu Hang needed Hodgson to do, what support to provide, how to gradually advance Gu Hang’s agenda, and what conditions would make Gu Hang consider re-establishing his presence in Revival City.

They even briefly touched upon the policies and reforms Gu Hang would implement once he took over the Governor’s authority, ensuring that the planet could pay taxes in two years while continuing to develop.

The conversation didn’t go deep; most topics were only briefly touched.

After all, Gu Hang didn’t fully trust this Council Member who claimed to be on his side. However, the fact that they could discuss these topics so broadly indicated that Gu Hang had, to some extent, accepted this Council Member.

As for now, Gu Hang didn’t plan to visit Revival City soon.

The heretical cult issue wasn’t resolved yet, making a visit to Revival City unsafe; power wasn’t fully consolidated, so it would be hard to maneuver; and his own strength hadn’t accumulated enough to have absolute authority in Revival City…

But that time wouldn’t be too far off.

…

Revival City, Inner District, a certain private clubhouse.

Three well-known figures within the entire Alliance were gathered here.

These three were all Alliance Council Members and had significant industries in Revival City.

However, their faces were all very gloomy.

Bradford spoke up: “Everyone has heard the recording. Don’t stay silent; let’s discuss our thoughts.”

He was a business tycoon in Revival City, with not much industry under his name, but he had strong commercial channels in all directions.

Many of Revival City’s products had to go through his channels to be sold, and things not produced in Revival City needed his channels to be brought in.

In a place like Revival City, which centered around being a commercial hub, his status was self-evident.

After Bradford finished speaking, the old man sitting next to him shook his head and said, “I just can’t understand why old Hodgson would do this. Is he not afraid of repeating the situation of the second-generation Governor?”

This man, named Norris, was an industrial tycoon in Revival City. His family’s enterprises encompassed food factories, chemical plants, textile mills, and even the medical industry.

He was an important ally of Wohan, and Wohan’s death and the subsequent collapse of his industries had a significant impact on Norris.

When he mentioned “the situation of the second-generation Governor,” the faces of the other two darkened even more.

They all remembered that terrible era.

Twelve years ago, the second-generation Governor arrived at Fury Owl Planet aboard his escort ship. At that time, the Alliance was still powerful, although slightly loose in structure, which suited the reality of Fury Owl Planet. The major powers, if not bowing their heads in obedience, at least responded to the requests of the Alliance government.

This was the solid foundation laid by the first-generation Governor.

However, this foundation nearly collapsed within a mere six years.

The second-generation Governor, after taking control, did not follow the previous Governor’s path of recuperation and development.

He believed the previous Governor’s kindness and weakness had led to insufficient taxation.

The natives of Fury Owl Planet were disloyal and needed to be whipped into paying taxes with the strictest attitude.

He sat in his position for six years, managing to scrape together enough for the Imperial tax through extortion and coercion.

But his tyranny also sparked turmoil that swept the entire world.

Rebellions flared up, powers broke away from the Alliance, some were duplicitous, some violently resisted, and some were annihilated… The planet’s population suffered greatly in those six years.

This loss included the many taken as Imperial tax and those who died or starved due to the upheaval and shortage of supplies…

The first Governor’s seventeen years of nurturing Fury Owl Planet were almost destroyed in an instant.

And the second-generation Governor, naturally unable to support the third tax collection, died at the hands of the Imperial Taxation Department.

Those six years were something no one on Fury Owl Planet wanted to relive.

Whether poor or rich.

The last of the three stood up.

He was burly and still wore his camouflage military uniform even when meeting with friends.

He was Mondok, a general of the Alliance.

In Revival City, the ten thousand soldiers on standby, the more than twenty aircraft, the seventy tanks—they were all theoretically under his command.

“Everything must return to the right path. Old Hodgson’s mistake must be corrected.”

“Impeachment in the council? I remember the council meets again in four days, but we might not succeed. Hodgson has been operating for many years and has many supporters; it will take us a lot of time to coordinate…”

“No,” Mondok rejected the suggestion, “That’s too slow. We need a faster way.”

The other two were stunned.

They saw the somewhat ferocious expression on Mondok’s face.