This is our Warhammer journey

Chapter 214 Solution
"Because they have always believed that they are irreplaceable, from the time the emperor launched the Great Expedition until now."

Navarra Daren commented as follows:

"They don't consider the future. Tax exemption has given them the capital for extravagance, but with the restoration of taxes, the nobility will remain extravagant, and the bottom of the planet will simply return to the state of being exploited to the bone."

"One of the few social classes that can live relatively unrestrainedly."

Romulus nodded.

The affairs of a planet are still within the scope of human affairs, which means that as long as the planet's ruler can guarantee the payment of tithes, he can be in a relatively comfortable situation.

And ensuring payment isn't difficult; you just need to be sufficiently inhumane.

Romulus tapped his fingertips lightly on the data panel, where tax records and repression reports from various worlds scrolled continuously in the holographic projection. Behind those numbers were countless drained souls and withered hopes.

"That's the most ironic thing about the imperial tax system."

Karna also came to Romulus's side.

"It actually encourages rulers to become the worst kind of tyrants."

He gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, and then, relying on the slight sweetness from the fruit, he felt a sense of relaxation before finally catching his breath.

"I don't know how Master Ya managed to refrain from killing these nobles. I really couldn't have done it."

He was in charge of grassroots investigations and the promotion of doctrines. It can only be said that this is a true interstellar empire; you can find even the most anthropomorphic situations within the empire.

“I can’t stand it either, but simply killing people doesn’t solve much besides creating chaos.”

Romulus continued organizing the data, nodding in agreement with Karna's words, and then handed him a file.

"If you're interested, take a look at this."

"Uh?"

Karna looked slightly puzzled and took the file.

Before the main force of the Dawn Fleet set off, Arthur led a group of Dark Angels into the Dawn Sector.

They then discovered large stockpiles of weapons provided by the Mechanicus, modified mercenaries, and resistance agreements reached with the nobles of various star sectors on various planets.

Its purpose is to seize power by force when the Primarch attempts to strip the Emperor of the rights bestowed upon his 'great' people.

This is also why Romulus does not intend to implement sweeping reforms.

If a civil war were to break out over this, the damage to the sector would be far too severe.

With sufficient intelligence support, Romulus could have used a more efficient approach.

"We need to sever the Imperial nobles' connection with the lower classes before they can react, and then eliminate the nobles in one fell swoop to prevent them from having the opportunity to incite the people. This way, we can preserve the star sector's population to the maximum extent and reduce the intensity of the war."

Prioritize dealing with external threats, lulling the nobles of the star sector into complacency, promoting the state religion to gain control of the grassroots, using mortal agents to infiltrate the upper echelons of the imperial nobility, and then relying on the powerful combat forces of Astartes to launch a concentrated attack, subsequently taking over the rule of various planets.

That's the general idea; the plan is nearing completion.

Fortunately, he has the Dark Angels, a fighting force that is proficient in other matters besides warfare, which makes him much more relaxed in making plans now.

"Good good."

Karna rubbed his hands together.

"They're all dead?"

He possessed a rare, unusual enthusiasm for killing people.

"Kill them all."

Romulus nodded. This was his territory. If he didn't take a tougher stance, how could he still dream of destroying the First Empire and restoring order to the country?
"The empire's system and people are both incompetent; most of them are unusable."

Even the state religion was used by time travelers with their noses held back. How advanced could something that preserves such a barbaric custom as human sacrifice be? If it weren't for Karna's accidental intervention, their religious reforms would have been completely clueless.

After all, Huang Laohan was indeed a god in a way, and the people of the empire were suffering too much, so they could only use religion to maintain their faint hope.

As for wanting to change things without having the same cheat codes as the time travelers?

Would a ruler with even a modicum of conscience want to develop the world and improve people's lives?

He would soon find himself in a dilemma: either the Ministry of Justice would impose excessive taxes on his planet's development, leading to a civil unrest, or he would be targeted by the Inquisition for heresy.

The projection switches to an image of Damocles Bay.

There once existed a noble alliance that attempted reforms; they built rail factories, improved agricultural technology, developed trade, and even established a compulsory education system.

But after a sudden over-taxation, the entire sector's economy collapsed, factories shut down, farmland lay fallow, and a rebellion eventually broke out that swept across twelve star systems.

As for the other one, everyone knows about it. It was bombed by the Inquisitor and the Imperial Navy. If it weren't for the expeditionary fleet, it would have been wiped out long ago.

"If you're inhuman enough."

Romulus's finger traced another set of data, a report from a well-known "model taxation world" within the Dawn Sector, a strong contender for the sector capital.

"Use 90% of the resources to maintain the ability to collect taxes, so that the people are always in a state where they just won't starve to death on a large scale." The scene switches to the bottom level of the hive city in this world.

Here, workers live in a factory area perpetually filled with toxic fumes, with an average lifespan of no more than 30 years. Almost as soon as their children are able to take on the work, the pillars of their families collapse.

The boy, around 15 years old, will take on the heavy debts of his deceased father and work hard, and then, due to occupational diseases, will add a new medical debt to his descendants within the next ten years.

They did indeed rely on this method to "efficiently" maintain the production of a particular coating required by the Empire.

"Then you will not only be able to complete your term of office smoothly."

Navaradaren added, his eyes filled with sorrow for the loss of life: "He might even have received a reward from Terra."

This is too hellish for the natives of this universe to say.

Romulus turned off the projector, and his face appeared particularly stern under the bright lights.

"This system is sick. It rewards tyranny and punishes reform. It forces the rulers of every world to face the same choice: either conform or be crushed."

A brief silence fell over the cabin.

"It's time to change this equation."

Romulus finally spoke, his voice soft, yet it seemed to freeze the air around him.

Realistically speaking, given the current situation in the galaxy, he certainly couldn't completely exclude the existence of 'nobles'.

However, apart from the few that the empire could truly rely on in terms of function, such as the Imperial Knights and the Imperial Navy, Romulus did not want such privileged classes to appear in the administrative system.

If the overall suffering of an empire is due to the imperial system, then the suffering of the people of a planet is simply a problem of the planet's rulers.

Refer to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Terra's history.

Local autonomy can produce too many extraordinary individuals; even a cannibalistic demon like Zhu Can wouldn't make a splash if thrown in.

To be honest, Romulus was quite disappointed most of the time after arriving in this world 40,000 years in the future.

It's hard to imagine that he would see backwardness, ignorance, and corruption in an interstellar empire.

"Ramesses".

Romulus opened his private communications and contacted a capitalist who spent all his time in the warp.

"Hey, what's up?"

While inspecting the park, Ramses, who was using subspace technology to assist Arthur's operations, made a call.

"Have you finished setting up your Star Language Government Affairs System template?"

For empires, the biggest problem with centralized power is the lack of timely communication, meaning that imperial power, literally, cannot reach the countryside.

If Romulus wants to make a change, he must create a more efficient way of transmitting information between galaxies.

Fortunately, this wasn't too difficult for Dawnwing.

"It'll be ready soon, but the Eldar will need some time to complete the adaptation."

Ramses glanced at the Eldar's work situation and replied.

Recently, many prophets have been sent out, so the work speed has slowed down. The barbaric spirit race brought from the Heavenly World is also a bunch of complete illiterates who can't do anything but fight, and they can't learn as fast as him.

If it weren't for the fact that these people were relatively nice, and that they could be used to operate the Spiritforged series of war machines, Ramses would have wanted to return the goods to the World Soul.

"How are the results so far?"

Romulus pressed on briefly.

"The encryption protocol channel from the Dark Angels has just passed testing."

Ramses checked the usage records of the Pentagram Order.

“Now a trained clerk can transmit government orders from the sector capital to the outermost mining world in three minutes, provided that we have people there and that the pressure on psionicists is also very high.”

"What, you're already making your move before even finding the capital?"

he asked curiously.

"It's better to be prepared—you go ahead and get busy."

Romulus sighed, then hung up the communication and looked down at Cardinal World Astorgius.

Through the observation window, the terminator in Astorgius was slowly moving, and the lights on the spires of the hive city lit up one after another like stars.

Beneath those lights lie hundreds of millions of lives, living in an unknown world.

Hopefully, this planet will bring him some satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)