Warhammer, I really didn't intend to form a second empire!

The city-state rulers initially thought it was a divine intervention, but after confirming that the visitors were actually "humans from the stars," they surrendered with almost no real resistance.

For the Qin Empire, the submission of civilizations on this scale was hardly a significant event.

On the other side, Bai Qi quickly conquered world after world, slaughtering all the aliens he saw.

The commander of the Eighth Expeditionary Fleet, who had been relatively silent all along, had annihilated at least eight hundred alien planets in just three years.

He was truly a god of slaughter descended to earth, even the most bloodthirsty Xiang Ji and Chang Yuchun would feel inferior in comparison.

Even Zhao Zheng sometimes advised Bai Qi that there was no need to be so murderous sometimes. These aliens were excellent "talents" and the Qin Empire needed them in many places. He shouldn't kill them so casually.

Bai Qi didn't know how much he had taken in, but every time the engineering fleet repaired those planets, they had to spend a lot of time cleaning up the alien corpses and bloodstains on the planets. Otherwise, the nauseating smells and the scenes of their sanity dropping like crazy would drive the immigrants crazy on the spot.

Li Jing, Li Cunxiao, Chi You, Meng Tian, ​​and others were also constantly waging wars to expand the territory of the Qin Empire.

The wheels of the Qin Empire's expansion rolled over different stars under the command of these marshals. The speed was not fast, but each turn was very solid.

Zhao Zheng read through the reports one by one, then turned off the screen. As things stand, he doesn't need to worry too much about the war.

But we still have to continue developing, otherwise, once the Emperor arrives and the Qin Dynasty is incorporated into the human empire, who knows what will happen next?

Zhao Zheng knew the original owner's fate; even the empire's official records were erased, which must not have been a good thing.

However, Zhao Zheng switched the channel to the current second-stage evolution experiment and couldn't help but smile when he saw the excellent results displayed.

He suddenly felt a sense of anticipation, wondering if Horus would become insanely jealous after returning to the Empire and develop the same desire to destroy Fenris.

Zhao Zheng also wanted to know whether his father would think, "Does my father no longer care about me?" when he took part of the legion's command from Shouguizi.

Zhao Zheng was getting impatient.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Scoundrels of Kosonia

When Zhao Zheng walked out of the laboratory of the Lishan, he was holding a palm-sized alloy sample in his hand.

The cool gray surface gleamed with a dull sheen under the cold white lights of the corridor, and the edges were cut extremely neatly, with almost no trace of processing visible to the naked eye.

His fingertips rubbed the surface of the sample a few times; it felt dense and smooth, with a slightly cool texture somewhere between ceramic and metal.

This thing is called ceramic steel.

To be precise, these were the first batch of qualified ceramic steel alloy plate samples he produced using the newly built experimental smelting furnace at the Qiankun Star Central Research Institute.

The composition of this test piece has undergone forty-seven rounds of adjustments, and it was finally settled on a scheme in which a specific proportion of molecular ceramic fibers and high-strength alloy binder are doped into a tungsten carbide matrix. Its hardness, toughness and thermal shock resistance have all reached the standard of the classic power armor material designed by Emperor in his memory.

Zhao Zheng held the test film up to his eyes and examined it carefully for a long time under the light.

Its surface exhibits extremely subtle color changes under different angles of light, from cool gray to light blue and then to a near-silver-white reflection. This is the optical interference effect produced by the oriented arrangement of ceramic fibers in the microstructure.

He flicked the edge of the test piece, and a crisp metallic echo reverberated through the corridor.

Even as he was working on the Astartes modification surgery, the research on the formula for calcite was already on the list of special projects of the Academia Sinica.

However, the foundation in materials science was too weak. Although the metallurgical industry on Qiankun Star had made rapid progress, it was still lacking in molecular-level ceramic fiber synthesis and high-temperature and high-pressure sintering processes. The manufactured test pieces were either hard enough but too brittle, or had acceptable toughness but failed to meet heat resistance standards.

Zhao Zheng had personally burned dozens of batches of samples in the laboratory, and for each batch he repeatedly experimented with minor adjustments to the furnace temperature curve, pressure parameters and cooling rate.

In short, all sorts of problems will arise, and he will never get a result that satisfies him.

Tao steel, an alloy material with imperial standard strength, now stood like an insurmountable barrier on the Qin Empire's path of development.

This is actually the reason for Zhao Zheng's complex attitude towards returning to the empire.

He didn't want anything to happen to him, but the Human Empire was, after all, an empire that inherited the legacy of the Golden Age. Even a little bit of technology leaked from the emperor could trigger a technological revolution in the Qin Empire.

After several failed experiments, Zhao Zheng wanted to put the project aside for the time being, but unexpected surprises always come so suddenly.

He found crucial clues in the remnants of casting equipment from the Old Night Era that he brought back from the B-2 system.

The core components of that equipment contained a set of encrypted process parameters. Although they were old and the data transmission format was severely outdated, Zhao Zheng successfully deciphered and restored them in a few days, from which he extracted a special ceramic fiber synthesis path.

This synthesis route is a generation ahead of the formula derived by Zhao Zheng himself. It does not require an extremely high-pressure environment, but can achieve the directional growth of fiber crystals under conventional smelting conditions through specific catalysts and temperature cycles.

Zhao Zheng integrated this approach into his original ceramic steel formula, spent three days adjusting the proportions and parameters, and then conducted the first formal trial firing.

When the furnace door was opened, the test piece lay in the cooling tank, its surface covered with an extremely thin oxide film, with clean and crisp edges, without any visible pores or cracks.

Zhao Zheng took it out of the cooling tank and tested it on a hardness tester for three sets of data. The results were even better than he expected, with the impact toughness exceeding the standard index by nearly 10%.

The material that had been holding the Qin Empire back was suddenly discovered and the bottleneck was broken.

The current issue is mass production.

The manufacturing process of ceramic steel is much more complex than that of ordinary alloys. The synthesis of ceramic fibers and high-temperature sintering require precise control. At present, Qiankunxing's smelting capacity is far from sufficient to support large-scale production.

The mineral output is easy to say; it's simply a matter of production capacity.

However, Zhao Zheng was not worried about this. On his way to the bridge, he kept thinking about the allocation plan of the existing production capacity, and planned to convert part of the production capacity of 30% of the main smelters in Qiankun Star and some core star systems to ceramic steel, while accelerating the expansion of ceramic steel smelting furnaces.

Zhao Zheng never expected that he would receive an encrypted communication from Kongming the moment he returned to the Lishan.

"Your Majesty, the Central Geological Survey Team of Qiankun Star has discovered a brand new mineral vein approximately 140 kilometers north of Chiyang City. It is relatively shallow, and preliminary drilling indicates the mineral composition..."

Kongming paused for a moment, seemingly confirming the accuracy of the data.

"The main components of the raw materials in the ceramic steel formula you just submitted to the foundry are completely consistent."

Zhao Zheng paused for a moment while holding the communicator.

Another automatic generation? Did Qiankun Star really print out what he wanted directly from deep within the planet?

Could it be that Qiankun Star is actually a giant 3D mineral vein printer?

Zhao Zheng remained silent for a moment, offering no comment, only replying with one sentence.

"Send me the survey report."

After hanging up the call, he leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the deep starry sky outside the porthole.

He no longer wanted to think about the matter of Qiankun Star; the planet was helping him in a way that could be explained.

As long as his needs have a clear material form, a corresponding mineral vein will appear beneath the surface at the appropriate time.

Mineral types, depth of distribution, abundance, and superior quality...

Moreover, the difficulty of their extraction is just right.

Zhao Zheng had considered the possibility that this was a subspace creation or a contingency plan left behind by the Dragon Kingdoms, but he never found anything unusual during the inspection.

Do not doubt Zhao Zheng's current spiritual energy strength, nor do you doubt the Great Qin Empire, which has almost dug out the entire Earth's core.

Qiankun Star seemed to be the natural production and forging center of the Qin Empire.

This also made Zhao Zheng have higher expectations for Qiankun Star, because some of the materials are very precious.

For example, there's the Radiant Gold needed to forge the Imperial Army's power armor, and the Adamantite, the preferred material for Imperial Titans, though still used in small proportions. More importantly, there's the Eldar's Spirit Bones and the Necromancer's Living Metal.

If these materials can be generated on Qiankun Star, then this place will truly be the absolute core of his Great Qin Empire. Zhao Zheng will fight anyone who dares to come here! Not even an emperor!

Just as Zhao Zheng was ordering the excavation of the ceramic steel ore vein on Qiankun Star as soon as possible, his spiritual senses detected a golden light coming from afar that was rapidly increasing in intensity.

The light appeared in the direction of the Milky Way's solar system neighboring star system, suddenly shining from a relatively ordinary dense area of ​​stars, originating from a very ordinary planet.

On that barren planet, Zhao Zheng's psionic senses detected the presence of a "brother," an emperor's son undergoing a trial that would determine his future position in the Great Expedition.

Kosonia is a mining planet, its surface covered with endless layers of garbage, waste, and polluted sediment. Thousands of meters thick layers of industrial ruins lie beneath, each telling a story of the madness that followed the collapse of the Old Night era.

Zhao Zheng's psionic energy followed the guidance of the golden light, penetrating down to the planet's surface, passing through thick layers of polluted clouds and continuous ruined mountain ridges, until finally, at the bottom of a sealed garbage recycling pit, he saw the figure.

It was a boy, already taller than a person, surrounded by a group of armed gang members in front of an abandoned mine entrance.

His physique was exceptionally robust for his age, with strong bones, short dark golden hair, and a rugged face that Zhao Zheng had never seen before, but his light gray eyes possessed a sharpness that was inconsistent with his age.

He was analyzing the weaknesses of the surrounding forces, from the spacing between their positions to the blind spots of their weapons. Every detail was quickly simulated in his mind, and then he moved.

Zhao Zheng did not continue watching, because the golden aura of spiritual energy had already traveled tens of thousands of light-years to reach this place. It landed on the surface of the waste in this garbage dump and condensed into a thin figure.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a simple cloak, his face obscured, but Zhao Zheng knew who he was.

The aura carried in that golden psionic energy was exactly the same as when they had crossed the subspace and locked eyes last time. However, at this moment, he had concealed all his sharpness and was quietly observing his first offspring whom he had found.

The Emperor did not speak, nor did he unleash his overpowered psychic charm; he simply stood there, watching the boy who was tearing his enemy apart.

so weak.

This was his first impression of his son, which was incomparable to that of Magnus and Zhao Zheng.

There was an extremely thin gap between Zhao Zheng's spiritual perception and the golden light. Both sides sensed each other's presence, but neither of them actively broke the balance.

A moment later, a straight, low-frequency psychic language came from the direction of the Emperor, and the content was very brief.

"This is your brother, his name is Horus."

Zhao Zheng knew this moment would come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to come so soon. In official history, Horus's return did indeed occur before him.

"He doesn't seem to be doing very well; he's still a bit worse than you."

There was no fluctuation in the Emperor's psionic star language, but Zhao Zheng could sense a very faint trace of approval behind it. The Emperor was indeed praising him for his efficiency in conquering.

"You must be busy expanding over there. Don't delay the progress. We still have a lot of things to deal with."

Without waiting for Zhao Zheng's response, the emperor turned and walked towards the boy. The edge of his cloak left a blurry mark on the rubble-covered ground. His figure gradually faded in the golden light and finally disappeared into the golden radiance.

When Zhao Zheng withdrew his spiritual senses, the bridge of the Lishan was as quiet as an empty cabin in deep water.

The holographic star map was still slowly rotating, and along the pale blue edge of the imperial territory, the new coordinates marked "explored" were extending into more distant star regions along the expanding arrows.

His gaze lingered on the star map for a moment, then moved away.

Horus.

This name occupies a special place in Zhao Zheng's memory: a war commander, a traitor, and the beginning of a great rebellion.

The Primarch who, in the official canon, killed Saint Gilles and the first Warmaster Orpeson, severely wounded the Emperor, and was ultimately erased by the Emperor himself.

But the Horus he saw at that moment was just a boy trapped deep in the junkyard, still using his fists and teeth to fight for his survival.

Zhao Zheng did not know how the emperor would mold this young man, just as he did not know how he would face this brother who might become the greatest threat in the future.

But at least for now, Zhao Zheng still didn't take this "brother who was most valued by the emperor" to heart.

This is normal, because he is confident that once his strength increases after a while, not to mention Horus, even the Emperor himself would have to think twice before taking action.

However, Zhao Zheng was not that arrogant. An emperor is still an emperor, the ruler of the human empire, a god among men, the Warhammer Dragon Aotian, a super strong man who could seal the Martian dragon in the Middle Ages of Ancient Terra.

I'm probably no match for him right now, so it's best not to confront him head-on.

As he thought about it, he casually pulled up the mining progress report of the ceramic steel vein on Qiankun Star. The data board showed the latest production capacity assessment. The first mining team had arrived and it was expected that the first batch of ceramic steel would be officially delivered to the workshop in a week.

As for the rate at which that mineral vein formed, the geological team has yet to find a reasonable explanation, but Zhao Zheng has decided not to pursue the matter any further.

The secrets of the Qiankun Star are important, but now is not the best time to focus on them.

His descendants are still fighting on the edges of the territory, and the marshals are still constantly reclaiming those worlds, fighting for the expansion and rule of the Qin Empire.

What worries Zhao Zheng the most is Bai Qi, this murderous offspring. If Zhao Zheng hadn't been certain that Chaos could not corrupt his offspring, Bai Qi would definitely have been targeted by some dog-headed man who wanted to make a name for himself.

How much effort, resources, and time will his worlds have to spend cleaning up the alien skeletons and bloodstains when they immigrate in the future?

Zhao Zheng wasn't entirely sure, because he wouldn't interfere with the decisions of the frontline commander, since that was a matter for the frontline.

While he can command, it's only at the normal level of a Primarch; when it comes to commanding large-scale operations...

He's not afraid of being embarrassed to say it; he probably isn't even as good as his offspring.

Zhao Zheng shut down the data panel, stood up from the command chair, and walked to the observation porthole. Outside the window, the Qiankun Star, whose underground area was covered by the Taogang ore vein reserves, was slowly rotating, and the starlight shone on the planet's surface, forming a long arc of light.

Zhao Zheng looked at the band of light for a while, but still did not delve deeper into the essence of Qiankun Star.

He now has two more practical things to deal with.

First, there's the mass production of ceramic steel and the design of matching power armor. He needs to quickly come up with the finalized design for the first Astartes standard battle armor using ceramic steel as the armor base material.

Secondly, there are the offspring who are undergoing the second phase of the psionic pulse field experiment. If all goes well, the first batch of offspring who have completed "convergent evolution" will be released from the capsule in six months. At that time, he will need a complete evaluation system to determine whether their evolutionary achievements have met the expected standards.

If the desired effect is achieved, his legion will undergo another transformation.

Zhao Zheng turned around and walked towards the main control panel.

The communication channel lit up in front of him, displaying multiple signal sources waiting to be processed. One of them was an update from Hua Tuo's experimental log. He clicked on it and glanced at it, confirming that the experimental data for the second phase was still stable and there were no abnormal fluctuations.

Another message came from Kongming, concerning a plan to adjust the administrative structure of the new colony. Zhao Zheng quickly skimmed through it and added a brief reply at the end.