Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 5: A Cannon Shoots a Million Pieces of Gold

Rostov II is a deserted planet that was discovered and first developed by a merchant dynasty more than a hundred years ago.

However, this merchant dynasty did not own Rostov II for long. About thirty years later, a regiment of the Astra Militarum was decommissioned and stationed on this planet.

From then on, this planet became an imperial world, and the merchant dynasty lost the sub-star region it had developed.

It is unknown what exactly happened, but since then the planet has been out of the control of the merchant dynasty and has become an imperial world directly governed by the Ministry of the Interior.

Instead of following the usual practice, all planets developed by the Merchant Dynasty belong to the Merchant Dynasty itself.

The Ministry of the Interior invested a lot of resources in this planet, not only allocating the cost of the initial construction of the planet, but also paying for the food procurement costs for Rostov II for a hundred years.

Although the Ministry of the Interior only needed to deduct a portion of the tithe from that agricultural world to meet the needs of Rostov II, it was still an unimaginably huge amount of money.

This is enough food for more than a billion people on a planet to feed for a hundred years! Even though seventy years' worth of food had already been consumed, the remaining amount would still allow Chen Xi to not worry about food problems on Rostov II for the next thirty years.

"In other words, Rostov II needs to achieve food self-sufficiency within 30 years, or find a source of income sufficient to support food purchases." Chen Xi summarized the key information, but there was no worry on his face.

At first glance, this may seem like a difficult task, as thirty years can pass in the blink of an eye.

But for Chen Xi, this is not an unattainable goal.

However, he did not rashly express any opinions at the moment. After all, he did not yet understand the specific situation of Rostov II. If he made suggestions blindly, the only options he would have were to blow up the planet to mine or sell the population to the Mechanicus.

"This is actually not a problem. The previous governor had already reached a cooperation with Sage Olivia of the Mechanicum when he was in office. The sage agreed to assist Rostov II in building a protein processing plant large enough to feed everyone. Currently, the construction of the plant is halfway completed." Rachel explained to Chen Xi with confidence and pride on her face.

Chen Xi was surprised to hear Rachel's words and asked her for confirmation: "You said there's a sage on this planet? And he promised to help you build a protein factory? Did the oil man change his nature? Or is there something on this planet that can attract them?"

The oil man is stingy, and he is not just stingy.

The empire has been in constant turmoil for ten thousand years, and mankind has struggled to survive in the darkness of the apocalypse. All the people of the empire have been using their sacrifices and dedication to maintain the survival of the empire and the survival of everyone.

But what about the Mechanicus?
The Mechanicus held on to the advanced technology and massive productivity that could save the Empire, and just stood by and watched.

In the eyes of these mechanics, how can the precious technologies and technological creations bestowed by the Om Messiah be used on ordinary humans who are primitive, lowly and worthless?
While not all Oilers are like this, there's no doubt that the higher their status and power within the Mechanicum, the less human they are in this regard. And now, what was Rachel saying? A Bio-Sage would actually help build a protein factory on this remote, desolate planet? Had Oilers changed their ways and actually started doing charity?
Or is there something on this planet that attracts the oil man?
"I'm not very clear about this. If you are interested, you can ask Sage Olivia yourself." As the prime minister, it is difficult to say whether Rachel knows the truth or not, but obviously there are some things that are better not to be said even if you know them.

When Chen Xi heard Rachel's answer, the expression on his face suddenly became playful.

Obviously, facing a Mechanicus sage who can solve the planet's food problem, this lady of the palace would keep her mouth shut even if she knew something.

However, considering that he was a Mechanicus sage, Chen Xi felt that even the former planetary governor would keep his mouth shut and not try to find out what this big guy was doing on this planet.

After all, what if something really is found out?

So Chen Xi stopped asking questions and turned to be concerned about the military situation on the planet.

"Currently, the Rostov Planetary Defense Force has a total of ten regiments, all trained to Imperial Military standards. However, they're somewhat lacking in weaponry. They're equipped with only light weapons, lacking heavy equipment like Hydras, Basilisks, and Leman Russ." Perhaps because of the planet's Imperial Military background, Rachel seemed quite excited when she mentioned this aspect. "If you're planning to expand the Planetary Defense Force or upgrade its equipment, you might consider starting with this."

"Maybe, but we don't have the funds to do this right now." Chen Xi didn't want to get rich overnight, and these things were too expensive.

According to his experience from reading the official Warhammer novels and playing group games, the salary of a guard soldier is about fifty throne coins a month, and his full set of equipment including bulletproof armor, laser rifle, combat bayonet, and other equipment is about four hundred and fifty throne coins.

A qualified Astra Militarum soldier will need to spend an additional 1,000 Throne Coins for training, while the training fee for officers and civilian commanders is as high as 2,000 Throne Coins.

A standard Cadian infantry regiment has 5,000 people, of which 3,500 are direct combat soldiers, and the remaining 1,500 are command and logistics personnel.

Just training such a standard infantry regiment would cost 6.5 million throne coins, and the monthly salary would be at least 300,000 throne coins.

If such a standard infantry regiment is only equipped with heavy weapons such as heavy bolters, rocket launchers, meltas and plasma guns, and vehicles such as the Goddess, Taurus and Leman Russ are omitted, an additional 4.1 million throne coins will be required.

This does not include the consumption of such a legion during the war. A soldier will consume thirty throne coins of food and water a day, and the ammunition consumption is about 150 throne coins a day. Just the basic food and munitions for humans and horses will cost 600,000 throne coins a day.

There are about 50,000 people in the ten legions. It will cost hundreds of millions of throne coins just to train and arm them, and this does not include the military expenditure black hole after they are put into action.

Chen Xi doesn't even know how much money this planet can make in a year, so how can he possibly consider expanding his military?

(End of this chapter)