Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 155 Tithe

Looking at Gao Yi in front of him, Glades' eyes were already filled with hatred.

Her belief in an evil god ultimately brought her the same result.

"Why should the God-Emperor bestow blessings upon you? Why not choose me?!"

"Gledes said weakly."

"The Empire may be rotten, but Chaos is even worse. You haven't grasped this fundamental principle: reality and the Warp are fundamentally incompatible. When you tried to borrow the power of those evil gods, you became a pawn. Perhaps your existence is a mistake made by the Inquisition, but the root cause is your choice."
You claim to worship the Divine Emperor, yet you have brought harm to his people and even to yourself.

Despite Gao Yi's words, Glades remained dismissive; his century-old obsession could not be changed by a few words.

"Since you think I'm wrong, then I'd like to see how you handle what's to come."

As Glades spoke, his eyes were filled with mockery, and Gao Yi frowned.

However, no matter how Gao Yi questioned him, Glades did not explain why he had said those words.

Instead, they began to curse the empire and the ruler of mankind.

Gao Yi lost interest in arguing any longer. He snapped Glades's neck, and then memories began to flood back.

Lists of chambers of commerce and heretical goods still lurk in Malfi's cult stronghold.

As Gao Yi examined his memories, he also came to understand the meaning of Glades's words.

"A tithe?!"

As soon as Gao Yi stepped out of the cell, he immediately asked Lyon when the last time the Empire levied a tithe on Malfi was.

The reply was that the imperial tax collection team would arrive here soon.

The trap Glades dug for Gao Yi before his death was collecting taxes.

For many years, Malfi has exceeded his tithe quota, but the Empire's corrupt Ministry of the Interior will not reward him for exceeding it.

Paying your tithes is your obligation.

The officials in the Department of Internal Affairs would probably just think your planet has even more capacity to pay more tithes.

The tithe is not fixed; wars in surrounding star sectors or regions can affect it.

If supplies are tight in key war zones, it's possible to seize 50% of the entire planet's production capacity, although Malfy, as the capital of a sub-sector, wouldn't go to such lengths.

However, the current situation in the Calicus sector is absolutely an emergency requiring an increase in tithe collection.

Before Gao Yi arrived, Glades had already received a tax notice from the Ministry of the Interior.

Looking at the exorbitant tax demands that far exceeded those of the past, even Glades's abilities would be absolutely insufficient to complete them without affecting Malfi.

It could even damage the very foundation of Malfi. No matter how strong the administrative management capabilities are, they cannot conjure weapons and ammunition or qualified soldiers out of thin air; all of this takes time.

Glades was already thinking about how to complete this tax collection, and now, the task has fallen to Gao Yi.

The Ministry of the Interior doesn't care who the ruler of your planet is. As long as you accept the rule of the Empire, believe in the God-Emperor, and pay your tithes on time, almost no one will care about anything you do on the planet as long as you don't commit any intolerable heretical acts.

You can do whatever you want—tyrant, wise ruler, dictator—your ruling ideology means nothing to the empire, and the empire has no capacity to govern all the planets within its borders.

If the tithe is not completed on time, you will face the Empire's tax collection fleet. If you cannot complete it, the Empire will replace you with someone who can. As long as the tax can be collected, sacrificing most of the planet's population is worthwhile for the Empire.

When a planet faces a threat, the Empire might not heed your interstellar distress calls, but if you refuse to pay taxes, the Imperial fleet will definitely arrive. "Damn it... there's no tax-collecting fleet during the expansion; I almost forgot about that!"

Gao Yi couldn't help but scratch his head.

The Ministry of the Interior doesn't care whether he's a living saint or not. Without a tax exemption permit issued by a High Lord of Terra, no matter who you are, you can't pay a single penny less in taxes.

The taxes paid by Malfi consisted of weapons, ammunition, and various industrial products produced on the planet. In addition to these, Malfi also had to pay a large number of soldiers as part of the taxes to be used in wars throughout the empire.

Although Gao Yi's occupation of Malfurion did not reach a destructive level, the Zerg's surprise attack on the Lower Nest Factory District still caused great damage to Malfurion's industrial capacity.

The amount of ammunition and weapons consumed in war is enormous.

SCV can repair these facilities, but production always takes time.

However, the problem of weapons and ammunition is easy to solve; at most, we can use the Gorgon as a transport ship to bring them directly from the expansion zone.

At worst, they could use the mountains of C-14s piled up in the warehouse to pay taxes. After all, there was no regulation on what kind of weapon it was. The production and acquisition of ordinary resources on the planets under the command of Agathos and Gao Yi were within the normal range, but equipping them with weapons was no different from creating something out of thin air.

Glades never imagined that Gao Yi's industrial capacity had reached such a high level.

The most difficult issue is the tithe on the population.

Gao Yi also arrived at the conference room, where a group of merchants, wanderers, and important members of the alliance had gathered.

"Judge Lyon, you've been in the Calicus Sector for so long, can you use your influence to reduce the tithe requirements?"

"Lord Gao Yi. Tithe is sacred. It is an obligation that every imperial planet owes to the empire. Not to mention a Grand Inquisitor like myself, even the entire Reunification Cult would not dare to touch this forbidden zone. It is the foundation of the empire."

The surrounding merchants and wandering warriors were also horrified when they saw the total amount of taxes that Gao Yi had provided.

It seems being the ruler of planets within the Empire isn't so easy.

If this wave of taxes is paid, not only will the current benefits gained by everyone on Malfi be lost, but even a significant portion of the dynasty's own wealth will be lost.

Fortunately, Gao Yi said he would take care of the major part.

Hearing Gao Yi's words, everyone had even more faith in him. Look, this is what a true leader is! A true leader is one who can take responsibility!
However, while supplies were relatively easy to obtain, the tithe on the population was not so easy to evade.

Ordinary civilians can't be used to offset taxes; what the Empire needs are qualified soldiers who can fight across the galaxy.

Unfortunately, almost all the qualified warriors on Malfi were supported by Glades, so their resistance was the most intense.

The losses were also the greatest; almost all of their units were completely decimated by the Rangers and the Zerg.

Many soldiers have even been turned into biological agents.

Given the current situation, if the taxes for combat personnel are to be paid, in addition to submitting the remaining PDFs, the dynasty soldiers in combat uniforms will also be required to pay the taxes.

Gao Yi didn't object to throwing them into the war, but he was afraid that they would be used as expendable resources by the idiots in the military affairs department, or even that their equipment would be forcibly taken away.

"Judge Lyon, can you use your connections in Calicus to find out from the Ministry of Military Affairs where the surrendered soldiers will be transferred?"

“If that’s all there is to it, it should be doable. I will tell the Sintira cult members that it is the capital of the sector, and the cult can also contact some military officials in charge of these matters. Give me some time, and I should receive a reply soon.”

A few days later, the Star Speaker received a reply.

"Go directly to Sintira to join the other Star Guardians, and then provide direct support to the star sector near Cadian?"

(End of this chapter)