Chapter 40

The Imperium's exploitation of planets could only be called fishing a pond dry, because to the Imperium, there were never enough resources.

Though the Imperium ostensibly possessed over a million worlds, and not every one of those worlds represented a single planet, that still meant at least several hundred thousand planets.

(Imperial space stations also counted as Imperial Worlds.)

Yet scattered across the entire galaxy, such an enormous number was as sparse as taking a piss in the ocean.

It could not be said to have no effect, but it was basically impossible to see.

Moreover, because those worlds were spread throughout the galaxy, it was difficult for the Departmento Munitorum to ensure that the taxes and supplies it collected could be dispatched to where they were needed most in time.

After all, the Imperium's territory, measured in tens of thousands of light-years, made logistics and transportation a despairing affair.

Warp engines were the only technology capable of transporting supplies across Sub-sectors, but they were not safe.

The danger of becoming lost in the Warp often caused precious Tithes, gathered by an entire Sub-sector over centuries, to come to nothing.

Thus, the Imperium often had to use safer means to transport precious tithe supplies: the Imperial Merchant Fleet slowly crawling through realspace.

While traveling through realspace was indeed safe, with pirate attacks being the only major concern, it usually took decades or even centuries for supplies to reach their destination.

Such a speed was acceptable for transporting supplies within a Sub-sector, but for the entire Imperium, it was unimaginably slow.

After all, if Guilliman had traveled from Macragge to Holy Terra at that speed to provide reinforcements, he could have set out during the Great Heresy and arrived at Terra after the Age of Apostasy had already ended.

For precisely this reason, the Imperium had no choice but to extract resources from its controlled territories, which could guarantee stable production, to the utmost limit.

This created a tendency from top to bottom within the Imperium to fish the pond dry sustainably, with no consideration for more reasonable methods of development that might lessen the burden on Imperial citizens.

After all, for the Imperium, it was most practical and most necessary for a star system to be drained within a thousand years, yielding enough resources to sustain the wars in the surrounding regions.

As for extracting slightly fewer resources so it could operate for another thousand years, or produce resources sustainably for ten thousand years, that was impractical for the Imperium.

It sounded wonderful, but how could you guarantee that the front lines would not collapse without those resources? How could you guarantee that the Tithes you withheld would not cause dozens of Imperial Worlds to fall?

Therefore, even though the Departmento Munitorum knew that more reasonable extraction methods could yield greater returns, it still had no choice but to exploit Imperial Worlds to their absolute limits, forcing them to provide resources for the Imperium's continued existence.

This undoubtedly brought immense suffering to Imperial citizens, but it was also a necessary sacrifice.

And, rather ironically, it was precisely because of greater suffering that the Imperium's citizens believed more devoutly in the Imperial Creed and worshipped the Emperor.

That was why governors who seemed utterly abhorrent from the perspective of the 3K Era were considered exemplary by the Departmento Munitorum.

If you could levy taxes efficiently for the Imperium, and the citizens under your rule were especially devout, with some of those in good physical condition even being conscripted into the Astra Militarum or the Astartes, then if you were not exemplary, who was?

As for Imperial citizens having an average lifespan of less than forty, with most having no opportunity for education and being worked to death, what did that have to do with you?

You were the Planetary Governor. In a Hive City, only Imperial citizens above the Mid-hive counted as people, and even they were still merely burdens to the Imperium.

Even among Imperial citizens who could live in the upper hive, unless they became members of the Astra Militarum or other Imperial institutions, most were still only burdens to the Imperium.

That included the so-called planetary nobility, and even the Planetary Governor himself.

Chen Xi naturally had no intention of becoming that kind of abhorrent governor, nor did he intend to become a so-called "burden to the Emperor."

--

"If we don't want to become 'burdens to the Emperor,' we must at least develop this planet. If nothing else, the PDF must be capable of being converted into the Astra Militarum." At the gathering after leaving the Warhammer world, Gutierrez voiced his opinion. "The PDF's combat effectiveness on this planet is worrying. Their training level is passable, but their weapons and equipment, fighting spirit, and combat experience are truly unfit for polite company."

The four of them were still in Gutierrez's shop. After opening a bottle of wine, they sat together and discussed plans for future development.

"Rostov II's financial situation is very ordinary. At present, it is nearly impossible to upgrade the PDF's armaments." Chen Xi placed the financial report compiled by Ochumelov on the table. The numbers on it were far from encouraging.

The four present clearly all understood this, so they did not waste too many words on the matter. Chen Xi and Gutierrez merely turned their eyes toward Mai Mai and Twilight.

When they had divided up their duties earlier, besides going to the Sub-sector capital to pull strings, the two of them had also been tasked with conducting a census of the entire Sub-sector, at least determining how many planets it had and what types of planets they were.

And most importantly, whether those planets possessed resources that could be turned into Throne Gelt.

"According to scans from the shipborne augur array, the Sub-sector we are in has thirteen suns, spaced between three and five light-years apart. It is a region with a relatively dense concentration of celestial bodies." Mai Mai took out a record copied onto blessed parchment. Chen Xi could tell it had been written by a Servo-skull or an automatic scribe-servitor. "Each sun has at least three to five planets around it. A few systems have more than a dozen planets, while some have only one. Overall, all the suns are unremarkable, with nothing particularly special about them.

Other than Rostov II, there are no other Imperial Worlds in the entire Sub-sector. This planet is the only one that has been developed.

Excluding our planet, the entire Sub-sector has thirty-three planets. Three have environments too harsh and are classified as Death Worlds; six are Barren Worlds with atmospheres suitable for colonization; seven possess rich mineral deposits suitable for mining; eight are merely ordinary rocky planets; and the remaining nine are Gas Giants."

Hearing those numbers, Chen Xi felt his face turn green. "Three, six, seven, eight, nine, thirteen... Is this damn place really so blessed with talent and natural beauty?"

"Blessed with talent and natural beauty" was, of course, sarcasm. Three and seven were Nurgle's sacred numbers, six was Slaanesh's sacred number, eight was Khorne's sacred number, and nine was Tzeentch's sacred number.

As for thirteen, although rumors claimed it was the Emperor's sacred number, the Emperor did not actually have one. It was simply that, at some unknown point, the number had indeed become associated with the Emperor.