Oxygen Deprivation

Don't get the wrong idea; Gu Hang certainly wasn't insane enough to think that just because he had over four hundred men and four armored vehicles, he could take Revival City by force.

That wasn't realistic.

Revival City was the capital of The Alliance, a place with a permanent population of 130,000 and a refugee count over ten times that number, all relying on the city to survive. It directly or indirectly controlled hundreds of survivor settlements of various sizes in the surrounding area.

Its conventional military forces included tens of thousands of fully armed soldiers, a significant number of artillery pieces, and locally produced tanks and propeller aircraft. If necessary, they could even conscript mercenaries in numbers far exceeding their standing forces at any time.

In terms of military strength, the gap was too wide.

However, Gu Hang didn't necessarily have to rely on military means to take Revival City.

At least, not by relying on the army.

If his four hundred men went to cause trouble for Revival City, it would indeed be like an egg hitting a rock. But up in orbit, the Quintet was floating there, its starship macro-cannons aimed at Revival City; the power of an orbital bombardment was enough to wipe the city off the surface in a single day.

This was the greatest military deterrent.

And the other point was a political approach based on legitimacy.

At the same time, Gu Hang was the Planetary Governor, and the Alliance government was theoretically the only legitimate regime on Nuxiao Planet; he was naturally the supreme leader of The Alliance. Before him, every Planetary Governor who arrived on this planet landed in Revival City, inherited the Alliance regime, and subsequently exercised the governor's power.

In fact, Gu Hang had initially intended to do the same.

When he first obtained the system and hoped to secure a territory of his own, he felt he had received a dream start. After landing, the entire planet was his territory, so wouldn't the fixed income provided by the system be maxed out immediately? Relying on the system, no matter what trouble he encountered on the planet, it would be easy to handle. If he farmed for two years, how could he possibly fail to pay his taxes?

Reality slapped him in the face very quickly.

After landing, he was warmly welcomed, but the system didn't make a sound; it didn't recognize his ownership of Revival City—which he held only in name—let alone the entire planet.

Thus, Gu Hang, this dignified governor, had to go out and strike out on his own.

Actually, he had given this some thought.

The first layer was that if the system didn't recognize the territory, he couldn't activate the system's abilities without a territory, and there would be no way to receive income or boons. If the system couldn't function, he naturally had to go out and find a way to make it work; otherwise, wouldn't his golden finger be a waste?

The second layer was that the system's lack of recognition for the territory meant there was a huge problem within Revival City. It would be very difficult for him to gain real power through political maneuvering. Gu Hang didn't think that he, a transmigrator who had never studied power struggles, had the ability to outwit those local snakes.

Even with the Quintet in the sky, it was useless. Orbital bombardment was a final resort; could he really blow Revival City to the ground? That would be mutual destruction. Unless he was at the end of his rope and needed to drag someone down with him, he wouldn't use it. At best, it was a deterrent.

The third layer, based on the first two, was that he basically understood why previous governors couldn't solve the core problems of Nuxiao Planet. Aside from the harsh environment, the dangers, and the lack of productivity on Nuxiao Planet itself, there was likely the fact that they couldn't completely and thoroughly grasp power.

When the objective conditions were poor and there was internal strife, it was normal that they couldn't develop and couldn't pay the Imperial taxes.

Gu Hang couldn't follow the old path, or his hopes would be slim.

It was precisely because he considered these multi-layered factors that he went out to start his own business.

But this didn't mean he didn't want Revival City anymore.

It was the largest settlement in the vicinity, possessing abundant manpower, a developed light industrial system, and it was a center for commercial trade and exchange.

Gu Hang still had to take it, and he couldn't drag it out for too long; otherwise, if he relied on his own slow development, he would be executed in two years for failing to pay taxes.

He had some ideas on how to do it.

"Connect me to Revival City," Gu Hang called out.

"Yes!" Zhang Chao replied loudly and went to operate the radio.

He was the only person who had followed Gu Hang when he came from the family; he was Gu Hang's attendant, a quite clever young man.

Before long, the communication was connected, and a weary, aged voice sounded from the radio speaker: "Greetings, Governor. This is Revival City. I am Mirian Hodgson."

Gu Hang had met the old man who called himself Mirian Hodgson once, right when he had just landed on this planet.

This man of great bearing was the Chairman of the Alliance Council. During the periods when the Planetary Governor was not in office, he and the Alliance Council he led were the actual power holders of Revival City. After a new governor took office, he was supposed to step back to the second line to serve as an advisor and strategist to the governor.

But clearly, Gu Hang, a governor who didn't play by the rules, had caught Hodgson completely off guard.

He felt exhausted.

Facing Hodgson, Gu Hang wouldn't be as polite as he was when speaking to Yelicia, nor did he have any interest in appealing to reason or emotion. Instead, he directly issued his demands in a commanding tone:

"I need one hundred tons of food, ten thousand sets of textile clothing, and various industrial consumer goods here. I will provide you with a list, and you will deliver them to my camp within a week."

After he finished speaking, there was no reply from the other side for a long time.

Gu Hang frowned: "Answer me!"

He appeared very dissatisfied.

A young voice came through, stammering: "Go... Governor... the Chairman... he..."

"What happened to him?"

"The Chairman has fainted!"

"Uh..."

Gu Hang's first reaction was disbelief.

How could he faint so easily? I only asked for a tiny bit of stuff.

However, listening to the chaotic sounds on the other end of the radio, it seemed like it might be true.

Then, his second reaction was a bit of guilt.

Is it really not good to provoke people like this?

Then came the third reaction: Why the hell should I feel guilty? You deserved it.

He had done it on purpose. Making Hodgson faint from the shock was an accident, but it was no big deal.

Gu Hang gave a light cough and continued, "In any case, you have all heard my demands. This is a Governor's Decree: supplies must not be short, and deadlines must not be missed. That is all."

Several dozen minutes later, Revival City, Inner City Council Chamber.

The silver-haired old man wore an oxygen mask, gasping for air in heavy, ragged breaths.

After waking up, Hodgson had convened The Alliance council and publicly informed all the councilors of the Governor's demands.

The crowd was incensed, and the councilors below were arguing in a chaotic uproar.

Still wearing his oxygen mask, Hodgson felt his brain ache even more, and black spots danced before his eyes.

He thought with sorrow that if things continued like this, he truly wouldn't live much longer.

He had to pound the table forcefully for several minutes before the room finally began to quiet down.

He took a deep breath of oxygen, slowly removed the mask, and said, "Continuing to argue like this won't produce any results. Let's put it to a vote. I want to see exactly how many people here have the guts to defy the Governor's orders while under the orbital cannons of an Imperial cruiser."