Peering into the Sub-sector

From a scale perspective, a Sub-sector might not sound that large. After all, the Imperium has well over a hundred named Sectors, and countless more that haven't even appeared in official records.

But in reality, the territorial area of a Sub-sector isn't small at all.

Typically, a Sector is a vast cubic space with sides measuring two hundred light-years, divided into several sub-units like Port Zones and Sub-sectors.

And a Sub-sector usually includes several stars, along with the planets and other celestial bodies that orbit them.

Before Guilliman's return, the Ultramarines, who controlled the largest territory of any Space Marines Chapter in the Imperium, only controlled eight star systems, which together were roughly equivalent to one Sub-sector.

Although Macragge once ruled five hundred worlds, it had already been broken up by the time Guilliman wrote his famous toilet paper book.

Yet even so, the Inquisition kept a close eye on the Ultramarines, suspecting them of possible rebellion.

If Chen Xi could really bring the Sub-sector containing Rostov II into his grasp and manage it well, he would be a significant figure in the Imperium.

However, for the Imperium, developing such an area normally could take hundreds, or even thousands, of years.

After all, both planetary development and Hive City construction require time measured in centuries, or even millennia, to complete such vast projects.

At the same time, it also requires massive resources and astronomical amounts of Throne Gelt.

And wanting to develop a Sub-sector in thirty years? Without cheating, it's almost impossible.

Unless the Emperor manifests and the Departmento Munitorum throws money at it without counting the cost.

But in Chen Xi's view, it's not entirely impossible.

First of all, the population needed for the development and exploitation of a Sub-sector isn't an obstacle.

Pilgrims from the Adeptus Ministorum, surplus population from various Hive Worlds, even convicts from penal worlds, and clones from the Adeptus Mechanicus – there are always ways to obtain enough people to fill an entire Sub-sector.

As long as you're willing to pay or trade for it, getting enough people to develop a Sub-sector isn't difficult.

Although transporting potentially billions or hundreds of millions of people is a hassle, for the Imperium, a few tens of millions might just be a single run for a Rogue Trader Dynasty.

Never underestimate how much the Imperium's ships can carry; they don't have the concept of overloading.

As for building factories, mining resources, and so on, these aspects require specialized technology and equipment, but again, as long as you have money, the Adeptus Mechanicus will sell you anything.

As long as you can pay for it, even a space shipyard capable of building voidships is just a delivery-to-your-door business for the Adeptus Mechanicus.

And a series of things, such as planetary modification, procurement of weapons and equipment, and Hive City construction, can all be handed over to the Adeptus Mechanicus to solve.

As long as you can pay for it.

Yes, as long as you can pay for it.

What, you say you don't have money? Then sorry, it's not the Adeptus Mechanicus's fault, it's yours.

For Chen Xi now, money is the biggest problem restricting his development.

Although if he wanted to, he could transform this planet into a mining world, drain its resources to obtain a considerable sum of money, or even build a Hive City on the planet, transform Rostov II into a Hive World, and then develop all the surrounding star systems to provide resources for the Hive City while building it, but doing so would be too much like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Of course, if he were willing to completely dig up the Necrons tomb underground and exchange the products with the Adeptus Mechanicus, he could obtain at least enough resources to develop Rostov II.

Provided that this is just an ordinary Necrons tomb, and not one where digging halfway suddenly reveals a larger tomb on a neighboring planet, and then it turns out that it's actually a Necron Dynasty occupying several star systems.

This kind of thing isn't uncommon; the territories of some powerful Necron Dynasties can even cover several Imperial Sectors.

So for safety's sake, cooperating with the Adeptus Mechanicus and attracting the Forge Master's investment is a necessity.

This is Chen Xi's main development plan at the moment. As for growing grapes and making wine, this is just developing a planetary specialty, so that the planet still has a stable source of income after it develops, and doesn't have to resort to scorched-earth tactics for subsequent development plans.

After all, when dealing with a planet suitable for agricultural planting, the Imperium's development usually involves first transforming it into an agricultural world to drain all the fertility from the soil, and then emptying all the planet's mineral resources for industrial production.

After that, the remaining ravaged planet is not wasted either. On top of the giant equipment left over from the original agriculture and industry, towering Hive Cities can be built, allowing the planet to provide another resource for the Imperium – population.

The entire development plan may last for thousands of years, and each step is carefully designed. It can be said that as long as the planet meets the requirements, the Imperium can make the most of it to the extreme.

However, for Chen Xi, he doesn't want his planet to be developed in this way.

After all, a person from the 3K era and a person from the 40K era have different ways of thinking.

And the development methods between traditional Terrans and Anglo-Saxon bandits are even more vastly different.

Chen Xi hopes that the planet can maintain a relatively decent natural environment, so that at least the local residents don't have to wear breathing masks when they go out, and the rain on the planet isn't highly corrosive acid rain.

At the same time, industrial development and agricultural production on the planet should be maintained in a relatively sustainable state, so that resources can be produced for a longer period of time.

After all, not every planet can flatten all the mountains and plateaus, fill in all the oceans and lakes, sprinkle fertilizer in the air, and then drive farm machines the size of Warlord Titans on a plain the size of Eurasia for cultivation.

According to Chen Xi's idea, building a ring around the planet, and then building space hydroponic farms on the ring to provide food for the planet's surface population, is the most suitable choice.

Don't find it strange, the Imperium has this technology, and the Adeptus Mechanicus can also do it, but usually neither the Imperium nor the Adeptus Mechanicus have the motivation or necessity to do so.

After all, the Imperium has a million worlds, and it really doesn't need to be stingy with that little bit of resources that are insignificant compared to the entire Imperium.

On the contrary, how to extract the most resources in the shortest amount of time is what the Departmento Munitorum considers.

And this scorched-earth development model is something that Chen Xi cannot accept no matter what.