Chapter 1767: Chapter 1003: The Dilemma of Expansion and Development
Robert’s expeditionary force, it was truly vast.
He wished to recruit a significant number of soldiers for training, these people needed to be sourced from Holy Terra and from the nearest Nest Capital World—Necromund.
However, drawing such a large population away from construction would significantly undermine the economic development and investment of the Alliance.
To build more Starfighter Battle Groups, a considerable amount of population is needed for recruitment and selection as well.
The genetic seed stocks on Holy Terra and Mars would need to be utilized. The Original Casting technology developed by the Great Sage Kao’er would play a role; if there weren’t enough genetic seeds, they could even directly extract genetic fragments from Robert and re-cultivate them—although this was rarely done.
In short, the genetic seeds weren’t particularly a big issue.
But the issue was the population, and the money.
Interstellar Warriors aren’t simply made and done with; orders for a massive amount of weapons and equipment need to be placed frantically on Mars and the many Founding Worlds and Industrial Worlds of the Alliance.
An entire set of equipment for an Interstellar Warrior is very expensive, not to mention equipping an entire standardized battle group, which would also require various heavy equipment and ships.
In addition to these ground forces, Robert’s expedition naturally required a large number of warships.
The Solar Fleet was an important component, but Robert still found it insufficient. Moreover, the Solar Fleet couldn’t be entirely used for his unyielding expedition, as Holy Terra also needed to retain ships for defense.
This meant that a large number of new ships needed to be constructed.
The orders for Mars were already packed, and they had repeatedly sent letters asking: the Terra Government requested that all kinds of industrial consumer goods, infrastructure necessities, and various factory equipment production be given high priority. However, the Command Center from Robert’s unyielding expedition demanded that all kinds of military products be given the highest priority...
The conflicting orders left them confused about how to proceed.
How was Gu Hang supposed to resolve this contradiction?
...
Without even thinking about it, among these two real contradictions, Gu Hang naturally chose to prioritize development before going to war.
According to his philosophy, the territories conquered were considered core territories for development, all needed agricultural development, thus the benefits of war were never immediate or present, but looking towards the future.
To be honest, this was unlike any expedition conducted by the Human Empire in the past.
In past Imperial expeditions, there were immediate benefits. As long as they won victories, they could sustain the war through the gains of war.
The reason was simple—if they conquered non-humans, they would undertake an extinction-level plunder; even when reclaiming human worlds, it was merely changing from destruction-level plundering to exploitation-level plundering.
The Empire’s expeditionary forces always adhered to one viewpoint: the current sacrifices were for a greater goal.
Whenever the army was short on food and armaments, whenever the rear military factories lacked raw materials, workers, and energy, the quickest solution was plundering and enslavement.
As for the destruction caused to local societies... it frequently existed objectively.
The destruction of war was objectively present, and the subsequent over-exploitation would turn a once possibly prosperous world into one of decline.
If luck was on their side and peace ensued after the war, then even under the pressure of an Imperial Tax, perhaps the vitality could slowly recover; if luck was bad and the war dragged on for a long time, a world with severely damaged vitality would struggle to recover, and the Empire usually wouldn’t invest casually in reconstruction, leaving it to themselves.
However, the Alliance didn’t fight wars this way.
Sometimes, Gu Hang would rather expand the army less and extend the expedition longer, as long as the foundation was solidly laid.
It’s precisely these solid foundations, one world after another, recovering from darkness, chaos, and poverty, that contribute back to the expedition, gradually forming a snowball effect, creating the outward appearance of a ’prosperous’ Alliance today.
Where is the prosperity? It’s all accumulated bit by bit!
In the past century of expeditions, the Alliance found this model successful and worthy of long-term adherence. The same applied to Holy Terra.
Building up Holy Terra, even if it doesn’t fully restore to its previous peak, a recovery of sixty or seventy percent would already be excellent.
Gu Hang would prefer Robert’s unyielding expedition to slow down, as long as the construction is done well first.
He decided to personally talk to Robert about this issue.
...
Robert was not oblivious to the Alliance’s strategy. However, his conversation with Gu Hang still ended in a somewhat unpleasant manner.
This wasn’t about understanding or comprehending.
It’s a matter of position rather than intellect.
Robert actually agreed with the Alliance’s mode of expedition. Although there would be greater short-term pressure, the foundation would be more stable, and the future potential would be greater. The Alliance’s current state of being couldn’t be separated from their solid groundwork over decades.
However, everything in the world has a limit.
If every world had to be well-established before launching an expedition, many worlds that could have been saved would potentially be lost due to delays.
Robert agreed that Holy Terra should indeed be well constructed, and he understood that once Holy Terra regained its vitality, it would be very beneficial in the long run for his unyielding expedition.
However, the irrefutable issue was that whatever choice was made, at its core, it still had to serve the expedition.
Being excessively focused on construction, to the point where the expedition’s progress is being dragged particularly slowly...
Such scenarios did occur during the early national expedition era. Some groups clearly suffered lessons because of it.
Construction was also for the expedition, and sometimes there was no need to go to such extremes.
Besides these factors, another consideration was that he was the leader of the unyielding expedition, the Regent King of the Empire, and the Empire Government should adhere to his requirements.
How could they go against it?
This diverged from what was initially agreed!
However, after the conversation with Gu Hang, despite the displeasure, he ultimately...
Conceded.
On one hand, he felt the firmness in Gu Hang’s attitude.
On the other hand, Gu Hang also presented a solution.
After hearing it, Robert’s face turned a bit dark, but... he ultimately chose to agree.