The Gu Family had certainly received the invitation as well, earnestly inviting Gu Hang and his mother Wang Qi to attend together.
Given previous events, Gu Hang took it as a sign that Galaraldo was showing them a display of power.
"I can easily manipulate both the leader and the governor of the largest planet, and I haven't come down hard on you, the Gu Clan. Don't fail to recognize what's good for you."
Originally, Wang Qi had advised her son not to attend, saying that she could handle it herself.
But Gu Hang decided to go.
If you get yourself killed, don't blame me.
Before leaving, there were matters on Rage Owl Star that needed to be addressed.
For governmental affairs, he spent a good while talking to Osenia; Lambert was put in charge of law and order as well as maintaining stability; the military aspects would be managed by Yan Fangxu and Tadeusz.
After giving each of them careful instructions, Gu Hang then departed.
He estimated that his trip would take at least a month.
He had considerable trust in the Alliance Government system he had established. Even in his absence, those individuals could maintain stability for several months without issues.
The only thing he was somewhat concerned about was the situation on the Western Front.
Even though substantial forces from the Star Realm Army would come to support, that wasn't necessarily all good.
He had learned that the Star Realm Army commander arriving there was an Imperial Major General.
With a high military rank and being from the Star Realm Army, the commander naturally had an advantage over the Planetary Defense Force.
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If the Major General worked efficiently, there would be no issue, but Gu Hang feared that trouble might arise.
However, he had made preparations for this matter as well.
He just hoped that he wouldn't need to use them.
After all, since the other party was there to help, creating any conflict was not what Gu Hang intended. If they could smoothly utilize the superior military force to flatten Blackbird Heavy Industries on the western side of the continent, that would be ideal.
For this reason, he had specially contacted Yelisia one more time.
Technically, after completing the first phase of the Imperial Tax on Rage Owl Star, Yelisia and her ships should have departed.
The original order she had accepted was to station in orbit around Rage Owl Star for two years.
Now that the two-year period had ended, it was time for her to leave.
But at Gu Hang's request, and given that a new order from Tianma Fleet Command had not yet been issued, Yelisia considered for a while and ultimately agreed to his request.
Nine days later, Korolya III, Salt City.
This was the largest Nest Capital on Korolya, inhabited by three billion people.
It was a giant honeycomb-like structure. The lower half had nearly hollowed out the earth; the upper half was an immense multi-tiered structure, piercing into the skies.
Before seeing it with his own eyes, Gu Hang had always found it difficult to believe how a city could possibly accommodate three billion people.
It was indeed like bees, like ants.
The residents crowded inside, with the vast majority of Nest Capital inhabitants possibly never having seen sunlight in their lives. They lived within the honeycomb, toiling away to earn just enough corpse starch and water for sustenance;
Some of them didn't even have jobs, as local demand and productivity could not provide enough employment opportunities. Those better off joined gangs, stayed warm in numbers, and survived by engaging in dirty or illegal work or exploiting others; some became unemployed vagrants who relied on minimal government relief, worked odd jobs, and managed to not starve to death, striving to live and hoping to be chosen one day as part of the Imperial Tax, to be handed over.
And it was precisely for this purpose that the Korolya government provided relief.
A populace taxed at 5 Tax Currency per person.
On a strict sustenance diet, where starvation is all that is avoided, 5 Tax Currency could support one person for fifty years—of course, under conditions where only 0.1 Tax Currency is spent per year, most humans wouldn't live so long. Long-term malnutrition, diseases, adverse social conditions, accidents... they could all easily end a life.
But what did it matter? As long as the poorest were kept from starving for the moment and were then used to pay taxes, that was enough.
The main industry of Korolya, the driving force behind their tax contributions, was its population.
They could indeed raise people like pigs – even easier than livestock.
After all, pigs can't work, but humans can be exploited in factories as child laborers after a few years of age, not to mention the adults.
Salt City was such a place.
But this city wasn't devoid of beauty.
At the very top, the upper class lived in drunken luxury. A massive glass dome filtered layer allowed the sunlight, which seeped through the damaged atmospheric layer, not only to avoid being lethal but to become warm and comfortable; the fierce storms carrying dust were filtered into easy breezes; the lit aromatic diffusers carried fragrance throughout the entire upper district.
Except for the severe scarcity of water that made it difficult to grow many green plants, it was like a garden.
And a grand banquet was held here.
Gu Hang stood at the 'open-air' parliament hall, gazing at the large and mild star in the sky, which he had been watching for a long time.
Next to him, his mother was speaking with Pei Desi.
In Gu Hang's recollection, Pei Desi was always impeccably dressed, meticulous, proper, reserved, and composed, with an inherent aura of dignified nobility.
But today, even though his attire was still meticulous, the redness of his eyes was hard to conceal, as was the slight raspiness in his voice.
Pei Desi asked, "You're really going to sell the ships?"
"Yes," Wang Qi said with a wry smile, "Otherwise, how would we satisfy the insatiable appetite of His Apostleship of War?"