Financial Problems

With only thirty years, many things feel urgent when it comes to developing military strength.

But Chen Xi can't speed things up; at least for now, he can only be patient and wait for things to go through the proper channels.

After all, even though Ovilia is a Bio-Sage of the Adeptus Mechanicus, she can't make grapes ripen instantly, turn them all into wine, and then immediately turn that into money.

Chen Xi shouldn't expect any income from the wine industry for at least a year.

If Ovilia can cultivate enough grapevines within a year and brew the first batch of wine in the first year, that would already be a great achievement.

Moreover, new wine usually can't be drunk directly; it needs to age in oak barrels for at least nine months.

So, if Chen Xi wants to make money from wine, he needs at least two years for initial preparation and construction. Considering potential problems, it's best to extend that to three years.

The same goes for the Sisters of Battle. Building a convent, recruiting sisters, training personnel... all the preliminary work needs to be completed before the order can reliably produce Sisters of Battle, which will also take at least three years.

As for the Planetary Defense Force, they can be trained extensively, as long as Chen Xi can provide sufficient military funding.

However, he doesn't have that kind of money right now.

He's already reviewed the planetary financial report submitted by the finance officer. Overall, Rostov II's economic situation is good, provided he doesn't cause any trouble.

Ten regiments of the Planetary Defense Force, totaling nearly 70,000 troops, cost nearly five million Throne Gelt a year just for salaries, enough to buy a Lunar-class Cruiser.

Fortunately, they don't have any combat missions at the moment. The overall expenses are mainly daily training costs and food, which, combined with salaries, can be kept under ten million Throne Gelt a year.

The price of two Lunar-class Cruisers.

But this money has to be spent. Regardless of the agreement between the previous Planetary Governor and Magos Ovilia, planetary defense itself requires Chen Xi to maintain such an army, and even expand its size if necessary.

Fortunately, Rostov II's current annual revenue is about twenty million Throne Gelt, which is enough to cover the army's expenses. Although the remaining money has various uses, there's still a surplus of about two million Throne Gelt a year.

However, Chen Xi won't be able to use this money, at least not for a few years.

The previous Planetary Governor already used this surplus to purchase a protein factory in installments over ten years to solve the planet's food problem.

The project is now more than halfway complete, and the previous Planetary Governor has already paid for six years. Chen Xi needs to continue paying for at least four more years.

In other words, Chen Xi can only plan carefully for these four years, wait for the vineyard to produce wine, and then sell the wine for money to see if he can improve the planet's economic situation.

If he can secure a stable source of income that brings in no less than two million Throne Gelt a year, Chen Xi can expand the size of the Planetary Defense Force or train more Sisters of Battle.

A set of equipment for a Sister of Battle costs 16,000 Throne Gelt, and slightly upgraded, it goes up to 20,000. Two million a year is barely enough to equip a hundred bolter babes, not counting training costs.

"Damn it, others who transmigrate into Warhammer are either slaughtering on the battlefield or indulging in harem antics. How did my life turn into reviewing financial reports first?" The Inquisitor, whose consciousness had been transferred, threw the financial report on the desk in front of him in frustration, but then he revealed a helpless expression.

These are all urgent problems to be solved. The Great Rift, which will open in thirty years, is like a Damocles' sword hanging over his head.

Although Rostov II is a frontier world located in the Sol System, it can be said to be peaceful before the Great Rift opens.

But once the Great Rift opens, they will also be affected by Chaos. Chen Xi must find a way to raise the planet's military level and complete the planet's defense construction to resist any possible problems.

Rostov II doesn't have a Hive City. If something really happens, the current state of the city doesn't even have defensive walls.

"So, I still need to plan a fund for city defense construction... Ahhh, everything costs money! If only I could conjure up a million or eighty hundred thousand Throne Gelt right now!" Chen Xi couldn't help but scratch his head frantically.

Fortunately, he's scratching the head of the chess piece, not his own hair.

Currently, Rostov II doesn't have any products that can be exchanged for money. All the income mainly comes from taxes paid by the billions of people in the two cities, as well as income brought by some Adeptus Ministorum pilgrims who arrive on this planet.

The former accounts for the bulk of the fiscal revenue, while the latter is a small fraction.

If there's anything valuable on Rostov II, it's the Blackstone resources that have been designated as private property by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

However, this part is occupied by the Forge World in the sector. The reason why Ovilia is on this planet, at least the official explanation, is that the Forge World sent her to supervise the mining of Blackstone.

These Blackstone resources belong to the Adeptus Mechanicus, and only Tech-priests and the Inquisition want this stuff. Even if Chen Xi secretly organizes people to dig, these Blackstone resources will eventually have to be sold to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

It's like walking right into a trap.

Moreover, usually, there's a Necron tomb underneath Blackstone. If they dig too hard and wake up those metal skeletons, Rostov II's current military strength probably can't defeat even the lowest-level grunt lord.

"Wait... Necron tomb..." Chen Xi suddenly had an inspiration. Other things might not be reliable in the short term, but what if he sent a small team into the Necron tomb to scavenge for treasure?

As long as they're careful and don't wake up the metal skeletons in the tomb, they can bring back something from the periphery. Even just a Stasis Field Coffin could be exchanged for something from the local Adeptus Mechanicus.

Moreover, this can also be considered an initial reconnaissance of the Necron tomb. Chen Xi needs to investigate the scale of the tomb so that he won't be passive when dealing with it later.

However, Chen Xi himself is very resistant and wary of exploring the Necron tomb. After all, if it's a complete Necron tomb, anything can be found inside.

A weak one might just have a tomb technician with a few Necron Warriors, who can't even get up and just sleep to death in their sixty-million-year slumber.

And a stronger one... might even unearth a Shard of the Star Gods. There's no limit to how outrageous it can get.

"Forget it, let's discuss it with Magos Ovilia first and see how much she knows about that Necron tomb!" Chen Xi couldn't make up his mind for a moment and decided to communicate with Ovilia first to see if she had any clues and information.