Chapter 80
Chapter 80: Ideological Construction
Disarming and concentrating over seven thousand soldiers under guard did not mean the matter was over.
Were there still heretical cultists among them? Could there be cultists who had not revealed themselves during Gu Hang’s recent actions?
This was highly possible.
The Battle Nuns were responsible for this task. Unlike the Phoenix Battalion, who had a bit of downtime after the battle, the Holy Mercy Lilies became even busier.
They began searching the entire army for any remaining hidden heretical cultists. Under the eyes of the Holy Mercy Lilies, heretical cults had nowhere to hide. These individuals were quickly identified, exposed, and publicly executed.
Their actions not only did not provoke backlash from the soldiers but further assisted Gu Hang.
The Original Owl Beast Sect didn’t have a good reputation. When the soldiers realized that there were quite a few heretics among them, they were actually angry. They began to think, was their former commander deliberately condoning this? Should they continue to oppose the Governor alongside these cultist traitors?
Absolutely not.
In other words, this provided the soldiers with another reason to convince themselves to accept surrender peacefully.
At the same time, the Holy Mercy Lilies were also proselytizing, instilling the doctrines of the state religion, faith in the God Emperor, and loyalty to the Empire into the hearts of the soldiers.
Their strength had already been deeply etched into the soldiers’ minds through the bloody battle; now, they were displaying mercy. They wore gentle smiles, and divine light radiated from them.
Faith in the ascended God Emperor was already the most widespread belief throughout the entire Human Empire, and Fury Owl Planet was no exception. Seizing the opportunity to combat heresy, carrying the aura of victors, and taking advantage of the soldiers’ post-defeat bewilderment, their proselytizing efforts were quite effective.
The Holy Mercy Lilies weren’t doing this specifically to help Gu Hang.
What other reason do nuns have for preaching?
As for the fact that this objectively helped Gu Hang, the Governor representing Imperial rule, by strengthening the soldiers’ loyalty, that was an unexpected bonus.
While the Battle Nuns were busy, Gu Hang was not idle either.
In the prisoner camp, he met with all surviving battalion and regiment-level commanders and spoke with each of them for a while.
After these individual meetings, he also convened a closed-door meeting with all company-level commanders and above.
During these conversations, Gu Hang listened a lot and spoke a lot.
He learned about the soldiers’ confusion, demands, and doubts, and he provided many firm answers.
Gu Hang was not there to destroy Revival City; on the contrary, he was there to build it. Loyalty to the Empire was every soldier’s duty. They would be able to gain more merits on the battlefield, and they would fight for the reconstruction of this world, for a better future for themselves, their families, and their homeland.
Of course, these words might sound abstract, but Gu Hang also spoke of many practical matters:
In Revival City, the treatment of these Alliance regular troops was not bad, and Gu Hang could ensure that their resource allocation would only be higher than before, including for the officers;
In the future, the army would expand, and well-performing officers would likely have more opportunities for promotion;
The army would receive more attention and better equipment, which would be allocated to them;
All soldiers’ families and officers’ families would receive corresponding subsidies according to their rank.
If there were casualties, the compensation rates would be higher than before…
On both the spiritual and material levels, Gu Hang provided assurances to these mid- and low-level officers.
The officers, as if injected with adrenaline, pounded their chests and assured the Governor that they had been misled in the past, but now they understood that loyalty to the Governor was the only correct path.
Overall, the discussions were quite satisfactory for both parties.
Of course, Gu Hang was not naive.
Could he fully trust the chest-thumping assurances? Could he immediately consider them his own people?
That was clearly unrealistic.
For instance, Gu Hang could not let these Alliance soldiers take on the task of sealing off the city.
If that were the case, the city’s aristocrats familiar with the officers would pull connections, offer bribes… who knows how many people would escape.
In the current situation, those veteran officers, those mixed in the political landscape of Revival City, would be foolish not to say some flattering words.
But Gu Hang didn’t mind.
As long as the attitude was displayed, that was enough.
Moving forward, Gu Hang had plenty of ways to enhance the army’s combat effectiveness and his control over it.
He would genuinely fulfill the material promises, not deceive anyone. Soldiers need to be properly fed and clothed; fulfilling promises builds basic loyalty. The construction of spiritual civilization needed to be further strengthened. In this regard, Gu Hang planned to take some special measures.
He would draw a batch of personnel from the six infantry battalions he had built and subject them to special training. He would invite Battle Nuns and Star Warriors to give them lessons.
After their lessons, Gu Hang would personally teach them.
This wasn’t about special military training but about cultivating ideological awareness. Loyalty to the Empire and faith in the God Emperor needed to be further emphasized. Gu Hang needed to bind concepts of loyalty, honor, and faith to himself.
This made perfect sense logically.
If you believe in the God Emperor and are loyal to the Empire, then as the Empire-appointed Governor, the one who rules Fury Owl Planet on behalf of the God Emperor, serving the Emperor means serving the Governor.
There’s nothing wrong with that logic.
However, the task of inserting his own ideologies wouldn’t trouble the Phoenix Battalion or the Holy Mercy Lilies. Gu Hang was willing to take on the extra work himself.
Those who were trained would be placed among the various levels of officers within the Alliance Corps.
They were not there to seize power or become military commanders but to act as political commissars.
Their duty would be to spread loyalty to the Governor throughout the army and to scrutinize the actions of military commanders. If an officer showed signs of disloyalty, the commissar would report it for further action; in wartime or other urgent situations, the commissar could even execute military commanders and take over command of the troops.
Such positions did exist within the regular forces of the Empire.
But what Gu Hang intended to do went even further.
He would establish the position of political commissar down to the company level!
Building the army, strengthening discipline, motivating morale, and spreading loyalty… these were the tasks these individuals would undertake for Gu Hang.
For these purposes, Gu Hang spent a full two days in the outer city.
Nearly fifty ‘political commissars’ were selected. They were temporarily dressed in black coats and newly dyed red military caps, placed into the prisoner camp, and integrated into the various companies of the Alliance Corps.
Although these individuals were somewhat rushed into their roles, and even the ideological training envisioned by Gu Hang was rudimentary—with the nuns chatting with them for half a day and Gu Hang himself for another half—their loyalty to Gu Hang was somewhat ensured. By introducing them into the troops, it was a step to strengthen control over the army.
As for more extensive training, it could be conducted more thoroughly once there was time and after the situation had stabilized.
Meanwhile, as Gu Hang was busy with the army, the inner city had turned upside down in the past two days.
