Chapter 1004, Accepting It

Robert's expeditionary force was enormous.

He wanted to conscript and train a particularly large number of soldiers, from the Holy Terra and from the nearest hive world, Necromond.

The large number of people withdrawn from construction will significantly reduce the effectiveness of the alliance's economic construction investments.

To build more Space Marine chapters, a considerable population will also be needed for recruitment and selection.

The genetic seed stockpiles on Holy Terra and Mars will have to be put to use, and the Primal Casting technology developed by the Great Sage Caul will come into play; if there aren't enough genetic seeds, genetic fragments can even be extracted directly from Robert and then re-cultivated—although this is done less often.

In short, the genetic seed is not a particularly big problem.

The problems are population and money.

Space Marines aren't just created and then it's over. They also have to place orders with Mars and the Alliance's many Forge and Industrial Worlds to build a large number of weapons and equipment.

A Space Marine's full gear is very expensive, not to mention an entire standardized chapter, which requires all sorts of heavy equipment and ships.

In addition to these ground troops, Robert's expedition would naturally require a large number of warships.

The Solar Fleet was an important part of this, but Robert still felt it wasn't enough. Furthermore, the Solar Fleet couldn't be used entirely for his Unyielding Expedition; after all, Holy Terra couldn't be left undefended.

This requires the construction of a large number of new ships.

Mars is overwhelmed with orders, and they've repeatedly written to inquire: the Terra government demands that the production of various industrial consumer goods, infrastructure supplies, and factory equipment be given high priority. However, Robert's Unyielding Expeditionary Command is demanding that all military products be prioritized...

These two conflicting orders left them confused and unsure of what to do.

How will Gu Hang resolve this contradiction?

……

Without a second thought, Gu Hang knew that given these two real contradictions, he would inevitably choose development first and then war.

According to his philosophy, conquered territories should be developed as core territories and cultivated. Therefore, the benefits of war are never immediate or short-term, but rather focused on the future.

To be honest, this is unlike any of the expeditions the human empire has ever undertaken in the past.

In the past, imperial expeditions yielded immediate benefits. As long as victories were won, the war could sustain the war effort.

The reason is simple: if the enemy is a foreign race, then they will carry out extermination-style plunder; and even if the human world is restored, it will simply change from extermination-style plunder to destruction-style plunder.

The Empire's expeditionary forces always held the view that the sacrifices made now were for a greater purpose.

The army was short of food and weapons, and the military factories in the rear were short of raw materials, workers and energy. So how could they achieve results faster? That was through plunder and enslavement.

As for the damage caused to the local community... in many cases, it is simply an objective fact.

The destructive power of war is undeniable, and the subsequent destructive practices of exploiting resources will cause a potentially prosperous and developed world to decline.

If you're lucky, the war ends, and the world can enjoy a relatively long period of peace. Even with imperial taxes, it might be able to slowly recover in the future. If you're unlucky, the war drags on, and the world is severely damaged. It won't be easy for it to recover, and the empire usually won't invest in construction indiscriminately. It's all up to them.

But that's not how alliances fight. Sometimes, Gu Hang would rather expand the army less and launch slower expeditions than compromise on building a solid foundation.

And it is precisely because of these solid foundations that one world after another has recovered from darkness, chaos, and poverty, which in turn has provided lifeline to the expedition, slowly snowballing the alliance into what appears to be a 'wealthy' alliance today.

There's no such thing as wealth; it's all accumulated little by little!
The Alliance considers this model successful and something to be maintained long-term during the past century of expeditions. The same applies to Holy Terra.

If we rebuild Holy Terra, even if we don't fully restore it to its former glory, achieving 60% or 70% of its former strength would be excellent.

Gu Hang would rather Robert's Unyielding Expedition be slowed down so that construction could be completed first.

He decided to talk to Robert about this in person.

……

Robert wasn't unaware of the alliance's strategy. However, his conversation with Gu Hang still ended in a less than pleasant manner.

This is not a matter of whether you understand or not, or whether you can see clearly.

In other words, it has nothing to do with wisdom. It's a matter of perspective.

Robert actually agrees with the league's long-distance travel approach. Although the pressure may be greater in the short term, it builds a more solid foundation and has greater future potential. The league's current status is inseparable from their decades of steady and pragmatic efforts.

However, everything has its limits.

An expedition can only begin if every world is properly secured. Otherwise, many worlds that could have been saved might not have been saved due to delays.

Robert agreed that Holy Terra should be well-reconstructed, and he understood that Holy Terra's restoration would be of great help to his indomitable expedition in the long run.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that, no matter what choice we make, the most important thing is to serve the expedition.

Being solely focused on construction has severely hampered the expedition's progress...

Such things did happen during the founding expeditions of that era. Some legions clearly learned a lesson from this.

Construction is also for expeditions; sometimes it's unnecessary to go to such extremes.

Besides these factors, there is another consideration: he is the leader of the Unyielding Expedition and the regent of the empire, so the imperial government should follow his demands.

How can we possibly oppose them?

This is quite different from what was said at the very beginning!
However, after his conversation with Gu Hang, despite the unpleasantness, he ultimately...

admit.

On the one hand, he sensed the toughness of Gu Hang's attitude.

On the other hand, Gu Hang also came up with a solution.

Robert's face darkened after hearing this, but... he ultimately chose to agree.

(End of this chapter)