Rostov II

Stepping out of the warship, Chen Xi, accompanied by his two fully armed squads of attendants, arrived at a starport's dock.

Those who had come to greet him had been waiting for quite some time. Leading them was a woman who appeared very capable.

Chen Xi walked up to her and greeted her, "I am Inquisitor Chen Xi of The Inquisition, appointed by the God-Emperor to serve as Planetary Governor of this world. Please state your identity, madam."

The woman was dressed in a dark blue coat. While this style might be considered somewhat masculine for a woman, it effectively showcased her competence.

However, the way this woman greeted Chen Xi caused his eyes to twitch slightly.

Instead of the Imperial Aquila Salute commonly used in such situations, she gave Chen Xi an Astra Militarum salute.

"Greetings, Inquisitor. I am Rachel Olivia, Chamberlain appointed by the previous Planetary Governor. I previously served as Commissar in the Rostov II Planetary Defense Force. I will assist you in managing this planet in the coming days, all for the Emperor!" Rachel introduced herself to Chen Xi, maintaining a ramrod straight posture throughout, making it clear to Chen Xi that she had undergone rigorous military training.

A former Commissar of the Planetary Defense Force serving as Chamberlain was somewhat unconventional.

However, considering that the planet's administrators were primarily a retired Astra Militarum Regiment, Chen Xi didn't find it too problematic.

It was normal for an Astra Militarum Regiment to retain some military discipline, which made Chen Xi have some expectations for this planet's Planetary Defense Force.

One should know that those who could become Astra Militarum were all elites among mortals. If the Planetary Defense Force they trained could inherit some of their combat power, they could be submitted to the Imperium as Tithes to become a new Astra Militarum Regiment.

And using the Planetary Defense Force as Tithes meant that the planet wouldn't have to pay other Tithes.

This matter was very important. After all, in the Imperium, only death and taxes were unavoidable. Even death could be avoided in this world, but paying Tithes was impossible.

"For the Emperor!" Chen Xi responded with a standard reply and then gave an Aquila Salute.

This was both an expression of courtesy and the completion of the initial greeting.

Subsequently, guided by Rachel, Chen Xi followed her toward the starport, with the PDF she brought following behind Chen Xi.

"Tell me about the planet beneath our feet. I don't know much about it. I heard it's a newly established Imperial world?" Chen Xi asked Rachel, attempting to gather more information and understand the world he was about to govern.

At the same time, this was also a test of Rachel's ability and attitude, testing whether she could provide substantial information and what attitude she and the forces she represented held toward him, the new Governor.

"Rostov II is a desert world, with only a few oases and water sources on the planet. However, according to the Adeptus Mechanicus's survey, the planet's groundwater reserves are quite considerable. If exploited in a planned manner, they can meet the planet's basic water needs." Rachel introduced the situation to Chen Xi and provided further explanation, "Currently, there are two cities on the planet. One is the planetary capital, which you will be heading to next, named after the planet, Rostov City. This city originated from the Astra Militarum who initially settled this planet and their families.

The other city belongs to the Adeptus Ministorum. A Pilgrimage Group of the Adeptus Ministorum chose this planet as the end of their pilgrimage and believed that the Emperor's mission for them was to build this city.

Under the governance of the previous Governor, the development of both cities is quite good, and the relationship between the two cities is also good."

"Sounds alright. What are the main sources of income for these two cities? And what is the planet's food self-sufficiency rate? Did the previous Governor have any development plans?" Chen Xi was satisfied with the current state of this planet. At least it wasn't the kind of place where various forces were deeply entrenched, all sorts of monsters and demons roamed the planet, and the planet itself faced various crises.

One should know that among the Imperium's million worlds, there were truly places that even the Departmento Munitorum was too lazy to manage, as long as you paid your taxes, it was OK.

There were even more perverted worlds that existed before the Imperium was established, such as the famous Necromunda. This place had a thousand hive cities alone, each with a population of 500 million to 1 billion. It had stood in the galaxy for eight thousand years before the Emperor began the Great Crusade.

One could imagine how extreme this place was and how high the requirements were for a Planetary Governor to govern such a planet well.

Fortunately, Big E didn't give Chen Xi such a hellish start but chose a world that was relatively easy and suitable as a starting point.

"Rostov II currently has no stable source of income. The planet's development and construction costs come from a special allocation from the Departmento Munitorum. After the Adeptus Ministorum pilgrims established a city here, some pilgrims came to worship, and their arrival brought some income, but because Rostov II is located in a remote area, and the entire star sector has only been developed in the last two hundred years, there are not many pilgrims." Clearly, Rachel, or rather the rulers of this planet, were also troubled by this issue.

"It seems that the first problem I need to solve is to find a stable source of income for this planet?" Chen Xi said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"If you could find a stable source of wealth for Rostov II, that would be wonderful!" Rachel obviously wasn't optimistic about this, but she didn't show it very clearly.

Chen Xi wasn't surprised by this. After all, finding a source of wealth for an entire planet was not an easy task.

However, skipping this topic, Chen Xi was more concerned about the planet's food self-sufficiency rate.

Although the Imperium's citizens were usually not treated as humans, even using their corpses to make corpse starch to feed them, or even using promethium extract to make corpse starch, the food self-sufficiency rate was still an issue that needed attention.

Otherwise, if the food supply was interrupted for some reason one day, it would really cause big problems.

It wasn't that they were afraid of people starving to death, but that they were afraid that people who were about to starve to death would attract Nurgle.

"Thanks to the help of a Bio-Sage of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the food self-sufficiency rate is currently around 40%. As for the shortfall, it is transported from agricultural worlds in another sub-sector by the Imperial Merchant Fleet. The Departmento Munitorum has already paid for Rostov II's grain for one hundred years, and there are currently about thirty years left. You don't have to worry about the food problem for the time being," Rachel told Chen Xi news that couldn't be considered good, but couldn't be considered bad either.