Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 270 The Holy War Army Returns to Reinforcements

Although Chen Xi strictly kept the news of the Blood Oath Order's heretical beliefs a secret, the Star Sector still found out about it.

Of course, the information wasn't leaked from him; rather, the problem stemmed from the sector itself.

After all, the incident of the Blood Oath Order's heretical behavior occurred in the sector capital; otherwise, the nun who reported the Blood Oath Order's heresy to the Black Temple wouldn't have taken refuge on the Black Temple's ship.

This fact itself illustrates the seriousness of the problem. The Blood Oath Order has existed since the establishment of the sector, and its influence has permeated almost every aspect of the Mariupol sector.

When Chen Xi left the capital of the Star Sector, he did not report the matter directly to the Star Sector Tribunal. After all, if the Star Sector Tribunal knew about this matter, it would inevitably alert the suspect if a large-scale investigation were launched.

He prefers a more cautious and deliberate approach.

He planned to investigate the matter thoroughly before sending someone to handle it.

Moreover, he had already sent a small team from the Black Sanctuary to investigate. Theoretically, as long as the team investigated the matter thoroughly, collected evidence, and then reported it to the Sector Inquisition, the matter could naturally be handled properly.

Chen Xi didn't think that Black Sanctuary would fail given their level of skill.

They are the capital of an imperial star sector. Even if this sect has something to offer, how could they possibly cause trouble in the capital of a star sector?
This confidence stemmed from his trust in the fighting prowess of the Astartes and a rational assessment of the situation.

After all, even if a rebellion were to occur, the garrison strength of the sector capital would be sufficient to suppress it.

Especially with Chen Xi having several thousand Astartes and over a million Astral Army soldiers, suppressing one or two rebellions is child's play.

But things ultimately went beyond Chen Xi's expectations, because the Blood Oath Cult really did launch a rebellion.

The rebellion came so suddenly and on such a large scale that it caught everyone off guard.

The Blood Oath Order incited the lower hive residents in the sector capital, sparking a rebellion involving a large number of State Christians.

Yes, a large number of Anglican believers were involved, and this incident almost caused the Anglican sector bishop to have a stroke.

Upon hearing the news, the elderly bishop dropped his scepter. His aged face contorted with rage, and his voice trembled as he ordered an immediate and thorough investigation. He also sent a star message to the expeditionary force, requesting their return to quell all rebellions within the sector.

Because the Blood Oath Order instigated the rebellion by leveraging the influence of its legitimate branch of the Church, a large number of uninformed people from the lower classes and believers of the State Church were deceived and coerced.

They held aloft the holy image of the emperor, yet chanted heretical slogans; they wore the emblem of the state religion, yet performed blasphemous rituals.

For the state religion, this was an utter disgrace, the most vicious blasphemy and the most serious betrayal of the sacred faith.

In the face of this matter, even an expedition can be put on hold for the time being.

Faced with the demands of the State Religion, Chen Xi had nothing to say. The State Religion had provided him with so much support before, and at this moment he couldn't bring himself to ask the Holy War Army to stay.

Moreover, although a considerable number of the Jihad Army were deployed to the battlefield, a significant portion were still undergoing training and were not yet fully committed to the battlefield.

After all, the Jihadist forces were of mixed quality and lacked any training or organization. Upon arriving in the Rostov sub-sector, they needed to be organized into units and trained. Only those units that completed the training could be sent to the front lines to participate in combat. Moreover, some Jihadist units that participated in combat and suffered heavy casualties were rotated out for replenishment, which meant that there were always hundreds of thousands of Jihadist troops on the Rostov II.

In addition, a significant portion of the jihadist forces that participated in the Donetsk campaign have withdrawn for rest and reorganization. As a result, the Rostov-II now has a million jihadist forces that can be deployed to battle with minimal rest, possessing organization and discipline comparable to the Star Forces, and driven by a fanatical faith in the God Emperor.

After discussing with the high command of the expeditionary force, Chen Xi decided to send 800,000 Holy War troops back to quell the rebellion.

It wasn't that he was unwilling to send more people back, but rather that the counterattack by the space necromancers had already begun, and Chen Xi needed to commit troops to the battle, so he didn't have many troops available to return to defend the star sector capital.

Even so, he still managed to squeeze out a company of Astartes and send them back with the Jihad Army.

Other forces were partially deployed to defend several planets currently under human control within the sub-sector, while the remaining forces formed attack clusters to prepare for a counterattack.

To be honest, Chen Xi was feeling uneasy at that moment.

Although they now have a million-strong astral army and a small force of four thousand Astartes, this is still an astonishing force even in the era of the Great Crusade, almost equivalent to half the strength of a legion in the early days of the Great Crusade.

However, Chen Xi was somewhat uncertain about the strength of this force when facing a necromantic dynasty.

After all, no one can guarantee that this Necromancer Dynasty won't pull out some powerful weapon like a fragment of a star god.

So after assigning the troops at his disposal, Chen Xi summoned the four commanders he had appointed and asked them about the strategic deployment.

The reason for the question mark is that Ahriman has been busy with the Chaos Ritual and has not been involved in combat command.

This was also the issue that Chen Xi was most concerned about, so he immediately asked Aliman about the ceremony.

"Commander, my ritual has successfully torn open a warp rift, and a Chaos army led by a demon prince is attacking the Crown World of the Necromancer Dynasty." Ahriman brought good news.

This made Chen Xi look at him with slightly more respect, after all, Aliman hadn't messed up this time.

But thinking about it, it's not surprising. Ahriman during his Legion days was top-notch in both skill and ability. If he hadn't believed in Tzeentch's evil like Magnus, he wouldn't have cast two red spells, turning the entire Legion into an empty shell.

Moreover, aside from his mishap with the scarlet letter, Professor A hasn't had any other significant setbacks or mishaps, and overall he's still quite trustworthy.

So Chen Xi nodded in satisfaction and praised him, "Looks like you did a good job! I just don't know how long this demon army can hold them off..."

Speaking of this, Chen Xi was also very curious about which organization's demon army this was.

If possible, Chen Xi would prefer K-family, N-family is also acceptable, but S-family and T-family should be kept as far away as possible.

The reason for this name is that in the 40k universe, one cannot easily reveal the real names of the four vendors to avoid attracting attention.

(End of this chapter)