Chapter 978: Chapter 528

The political pressure endured by the Alliance has always existed.

First strong, then weak, then suddenly increased to the point where the Alliance had to compromise to some extent, until the recent year when there has been a large amount of criticism against Alliance policies.

The harshest criticisms even began to suggest that the Alliance is another smaller version of ‘Iron Fury Stone’. The same country within a country, equally unresponsive to orders. Taxes were paid in the past, but now after Galaraldo defied many to give the Alliance the so-called title of Southern Front War Zone Supreme Commander, the taxes stayed, allegedly for war preparations against Iron Fury Stone, but there have been no significant movements for years.

This led to a series of significant changes.

Four years ago, the Eastern Cosmos Domain still allocated billions annually to the Alliance as war aid, two years later these funds were completely cut off.

The Heretic Tribunal sent a few Judges, claiming to investigate the Alliance’s misconduct, believing there was illegal contact between the Alliance and Iron Fury Stone. Although the final result was inconclusive, with no real intention from the Heretic Tribunal to take any action against the Alliance, the mere gesture carried a warning meaning.

The Star Domain Military Headquarters consecutively denied the Rage Bear Legion’s expansion plans twice, resulting in the originally planned two hundred million troops intended for the Star Realm Army having to remain as Alliance Army, forcing the Alliance to account for the expenses under Alliance fiscal expenditure instead of as a consumption of the Imperial Tax.

The Alliance also, through the mouth of Galaraldo, submitted a written explanation to Holy Terra.

Not using overly strong tones, but the Alliance explicitly pointed out that the whole so-called Southern Front War Zone currently only consists of the Alliance, with no other reinforcements, vastly insufficient in strength.

Mr. Gu also didn’t ask for much, if the Empire could allocate two to three battle groups, more than five battleship-class giant ships, the Alliance would have the capability to launch a large-scale proactive offensive.

Once these supports are in place, the Alliance would immediately launch an offensive without hesitation.

When Galaraldo mentioned this, reportedly, people from outside the Military Department jumped up to accuse Galaraldo, asking why the Southern Front War Zone wasn’t provided with enough military power, so Gu Hang could advance sooner?

Facing such accusations, there was no need for Galaraldo to speak, as people within the Military Department began to evade the issues adeptly.

Plainly put, where are the forces?

The Empire is a riddled mess! Constantly, at every moment, countless wars are occurring within the Empire.

The most notable in the current range of the Empire is the chaos in the Spiderweb Domain, that’s true. But it doesn’t mean the wars elsewhere are unimportant.

Take the Eastern Cosmos Domain as an example, besides the Dragonhawk Star Domain and Menghe Star Domain, are there no troubles in the remaining areas?

Every single one has issues!

Most even face crises similar to those of the Dragonhawk Star Domain a few years ago, before the outbreak of the Iron Tooth Green Tide, meaning each Star Domain actually requires a certain degree of readiness to resolve or at least cope with the crises within their domains.

It’s the same for the Space Domain Government, the biggest problem faced by the capital location in the Eastern Cosmos Domain, Wuji Starfield, is frequent piracy.

These aren’t just any pirates; there are many Dark Spirit Race among them.

The lean, tall space aliens with sharp ears, skin mostly gray-black, gray-white, or purple-white, act bloodily and ruthlessly. They are not much interested in occupying specific star territories, and their hideout remains a mystery. But what is known is that they are extremely interested, even to a large extent, in plundering resources and capturing people to turn into slaves.

In Wuji Starfield and even in several surrounding Star Domains, reports about Dark Spirit Race activities are frequent. These hateful aliens move unpredictably, often attacking human ships. They rarely attack large-scale human military fleets but are not at all polite when encountering lightly guarded transport ships or even solitary mission ships.

Once successful, most of the time they would take away both people and ships; if they can’t take the ship or if the ship is damaged in battle, they would only loot the cargo and people.

They might even raid some inadequately guarded planets, seeking not occupation but merely plunder. The most exaggerated cases show they can completely empty a Nest Capital from beginning to the end of an operation within a month, a duration insufficient for reinforcements to arrive.

The Wuji Starfield, along with the Eastern Cosmos Domain Government, must maintain a strong and rapid-response force to tackle the threat of the Dark Spirit Race.

The same principle applies to other Star Domains and even the entire Empire.

The types of threats differ, but they certainly exist.

Though the Empire is vast, truly mobilizable forces are very limited.

How to allocate to the Alliance?

Even stepping back, even if there were surplus forces, they would be deployed to the Western or Northern Line.

Why allocate to Gu Hang, who doesn’t work?

In this report, the Alliance also explicitly proposed a timeline, stating that the Alliance’s ships are under construction, and they need some time to prepare for war.

This statement, the Alliance originally did not want to reveal so straightforwardly.

Keeping a low profile and patience is a better choice, even if a fight is needed, it would be better to have an element of surprise.