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

Can you expect a tyrant to be without his own ambitions?

The emperor had already brought them under his control, so he naturally had no reason to spit out the meat he had already swallowed.

Of course, this was only a choice Zhao Zheng made after weighing the options and deciding that he couldn't completely break ties with the emperor.

If only there were a way to secretly transfer these legions to his own command, Zhao Zheng would be very eager for them.

It can rapidly produce troops, is powerful, and possesses comprehensive capabilities. Combined with its own legion's special ability to attack the warp, it is honestly a perfect fit.

Should we try to bring Guilliman and his men under our command?

However, plotting against one's own brothers and their legions doesn't sound like a good thing.

Zhao Zheng stood at the edge of the airport for a while, but ultimately decided not to push his thoughts any further.

The idea of ​​plotting against Guilliman and Saint Gilles is just a thought; putting it into action, even if it succeeds, would trigger an uncontrollable chain reaction within the imperial system.

The fact that the Emperor was willing to transfer four of his legions was already a very obvious sign of favoritism. If he were to push his luck any further, the Emperor's attitude would likely shift from tolerance to vigilance.

Moreover, even if he could win the spiritual allegiance of these Space Marines, things might change once Guilliman and his forces returned.

The blood connection to the father of genetics is not fake.

Even in official history, the Nineteenth Legion, which was most deeply afflicted by Horus, would still rush back to save Corvos when he was in danger.

This is the Primarch's special attack against Astartes; there's simply no way to counter it.

Besides, Zhao Zheng couldn't possibly scheme against his own brother, could he?

My own legion is also very strong, so I shouldn't be so greedy. There's no need to cause trouble later.

Moreover, Zhao Zheng was well aware of why he felt such a strong possessive desire for these four legions deep down.

Ultimately, it's because their original forms haven't returned to their rightful places yet. These four legions are still in a state of "no master." By creating a time gap and using sufficient battle merits and logistical support, they can be bound to the Qin Dynasty's war machine. Once their original forms appear, this legion will already be in the shape of the Imperial Dragon Legion.

This is the subconscious, instinctive behavior of a capable tyrant. He desperately desires to possess everything within his sight; he is greedy and wants everything.

Zhao Zheng forcefully suppressed this instinct, withdrew his gaze, and turned to walk towards the elevator shaft.

"Father, the meeting is scheduled for three days from now. By then, the first batch of troops from the four legions should have completed their registration and handover of supplies."

Zhao Zheng nodded without saying much, but he was already thinking about how to build enough trust and camaraderie with his cousins.

Horus is likely to make a big move soon, and it remains to be seen whether the Emperor will change his position as the chieftain. However, Zhao Zheng believes that his Imperial Dragon Legion will definitely become the Emperor's "trump card" in terms of legal authority.

Let Horus be the emperor's top propaganda star; Zhao Zheng doesn't care.

Three days later, in the joint training ground on the fifth underground level of Qiankun Star, the first batch of officers and company commanders from the four legions gathered in the same space for the first time.

Zhao Zheng stood on the observation platform on the side of the training ground, his gaze sweeping over the several rows of Space Marines lined up below.

On the left is the Fourth Legion. After arriving, they completed their initial change of clothes and training, wearing the standard training armor issued by the Great Qin Dynasty. Their ranks were arranged in an extremely neat manner, with the distance between each person accurate to the centimeter, and even the angle of their gaze was kept uniform.

It must be said that the Fourth Army Corps was really well-suited to be incorporated into Zhao Zheng's military system.

While it may seem a bit rigid and dogmatic, if arranged properly, it can serve as an auxiliary force for the Imperial Dragon Legion, working well together with the "good brothers" on the battlefield.

To the right front was the Ninth Legion, their formation slightly more spread out than the Fourth Legion's. They exuded a violent aura, their crimson eyes filled with fierce brutality and bloodlust. Only the two commanders at the very front maintained a calm gaze.

Zhao Zheng noticed that many of them had old scars on the sides of their necks and jaws, some of which had healed, while others still had faint white marks.

His once handsome and sunny face has been completely disfigured by years of bloodlust and conquest.

The Thirteenth Army Corps occupied the central area of ​​the training ground. When they were lined up, they displayed a typical "waiting for orders" posture, full of spirit but not yet in combat readiness.

Zhao Zheng observed that their discipline was not the uniformity forged through rigorous training, but rather a rational choice based on the understanding that "I know this matter must be taken seriously, so I take it seriously."

Zhao Zheng was somewhat surprised. He had thought that these sons of war would not possess such rationality without Guilliman's tutelage, but in fact, the situation was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

As for the 19th Army Corps, they stood at the very back and were the quietest.

The leading officer stood at the very front of the column, his gaze calm yet alert as he surveyed his surroundings.

Zhao Zheng stood on the observation platform for a while, then walked down the steps and headed towards the center of the training field.

When his figure appeared on the training ground floor, the Space Marines from all four Legions simultaneously focused their attention on him.

Zhao Zheng stood in the center of the training ground, his gaze sweeping over the four legions in turn, before speaking.

“I know what you’re thinking. You were transferred from your familiar war zone to this place you’ve never heard of before, and you’ve been assigned to a legion that you’ve almost never had any contact with before. It’s normal for you to have doubts and distrust.”

"I'm not going to give you any nice words here. The only way to build trust between brothers is to fight side by side."

"Once you fight alongside the Imperial Dragon Legion on the battlefield, enjoying the same treatment as the Imperial Dragon Legion members, and witness firsthand the extent of our logistical support, and are treated equally by our medical teams when injured, you will be pulled back from the front lines without discrimination..."

"I believe that when that time comes, you will naturally make your own judgment."

He paused, his gaze lingering for a moment on the face of the Fourth Army Commander, Fricks, before shifting towards the direction of the Thirteenth Army.

"There will be a joint adaptive training exercise in three days. All companies will be mixed together, and the Brotherhood of the Imperial Dragon Legion will fight alongside you."

"After the war, you can decide for yourselves whether to switch to a mixed formation mode to continue cooperating. I will not force you to do so; it is up to you to decide."

"Also, the Imperial Dragon Legion is about to head towards the heart of the river, where there is a powerful enemy, the Space Dwarves. You need to be prepared."

After saying this, he didn't linger and walked along the passageway at the edge of the training field toward the exit.

The four legions were more or less puzzled. Unlike Lord Horus, this lord did not give them a powerful speech at the beginning. Instead, he gave them equipment as soon as he arrived and even scouted out their power armor color schemes in advance.

These tangible benefits left the Space Marines of various legions somewhat bewildered.

But it doesn't matter, they exist for the sake of war anyway.

When Zhao Zheng walked out of the training ground, the four legions behind him remained silent.

But he could sense the change in those gazes, from initial scrutiny and wariness to the current silence.

He paused at the corner at the end of the corridor, turned his head and spoke to Kongming who was beside him.

"Have the logistics department prioritize equipping the Fourth and Thirteenth Legions with their equipment. Double the sedative consumables quota for the Ninth Legion. And reissue a set of stealth equipment to the Nineteenth Legion according to the standards of the Emperor Dragon Legion's reconnaissance company."

Kongming responded and quickly swiped his finger across the data panel to input the command into the system.

On the third day of the actual combat, the Imperial Dragon Legion and four allied mixed forces arrived at a planet in the B-89 system in high orbit through the forward route of the supply handover station.

Han Xin stood on the bridge of the flagship, a holographic star map unfolding before him. The planet marked as the "cleanup target" was covered with a large area of ​​dark jungle and rolling hills.

According to data transmitted from outpost reconnaissance units, a rudimentary Greenskin empire is entrenched on this planet.

Zhao Zheng stood to his side and slightly behind him; he had come to observe this live-fire training exercise that he had personally initiated.

"According to the plan, the first phase will involve the Red Guard Battalion of the Imperial Dragon Legion and the armored forces of the Fourth Legion launching a frontal offensive in the planetary equatorial plains to draw the main force of the Greenskins into open areas."

Han Xin spoke calmly, his finger tracing an arc on the star map.

"The Thirteenth Legion will flank and cut off the Greenskins' retreat route to the mountains. The Ninth Legion will launch an airborne assault from high altitude after the frontal offensive begins, penetrating the Greenskins' core. The Nineteenth Legion will operate independently, responsible for infiltrating Greenskin air defense nodes throughout the planet's surface to pave the way for our subsequent orbital strikes and airborne troops."

Zhao Zheng nodded. Han Xin still maintained accurate judgment and clear objectives in troop deployment. Even the four legions he had just incorporated were assigned the most suitable tasks under Han Xin's overall planning.

One day later, the ground offensive was launched as scheduled.

All participating legions confirmed their arrival at their designated positions within an hour, after which the first round of artillery fire on the front lines shattered the silence on the planet's surface.

The Red Guard Battalion and the Fourth Army Corps' heavy armored vehicle groups deployed in neat battle formations on the equatorial plains, their steel tracks crushing through scorched earth and gravel, tearing gaps in the green-skinned defensive lines.

The 13th Army Corps' infiltration forces advanced rapidly from the flanks while the frontal artillery barrage commenced, precisely cutting into the Greenskins' retreat route to the mountains, forming a pincer movement with the frontal forces.

Subsequently, the Ninth Army's airborne troops landed on time behind the Greenskins' core stronghold, and immediately engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Greenskins' main force.

Upon landing, they immediately demonstrated extremely high combat efficiency, quickly clearing out the surface defenses of the core stronghold amidst extremely chaotic close-quarters firefights.

The 19th Army Corps' ground infiltration operations were the most precise.

Eighteen hours after the start of the ground offensive, they successfully cleared all the designated air defense nodes and then moved deep into the planet's surface to mark the ventilation shafts and supply routes of the Greenskin underground lair for subsequent forces.

The battle lasted only thirty-one hours before ending in the complete collapse of the Greenskin core stronghold.

It happened so fast that even the Astartes of these four legions could hardly believe it.

The Imperial Dragon Legion and the four allied forces did not make any major mistakes in their first combat cooperation. The action sequence and fire coordination of each legion met the expected standards and fully met the requirements of actual combat.

While Zhao Zheng was receiving real-time data from the entire battle aboard the Lishan, his psionic senses were also constantly tracking the status of the four legions of space warriors.

Zhao Zheng nodded. Not bad. With a few minor adjustments to their weaknesses, they can be deployed together to the river region.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Assault!

After months of silent shadows hanging over the star map, the Qin Empire's vanguard fleet finally broke through the first layer of the veil.

Han Xin stood on the bridge of a command ship on the flank of the Lishan, where a set of images transmitted back by the forward reconnaissance unit forty-eight hours earlier were displayed on the holographic tactical panel.

The images were of high resolution, clearly showing a space dwarf outpost located in a star system on the outskirts of the river's core region.

The planet's surface was mostly covered by gray alloy armor, and hundreds of turrets and anti-aircraft arrays stood on the surface, each exhibiting a typical heavy industrial style.

It was crude but very practical, and extremely powerful.

Thick armor plates, rudimentary and haphazardly piled-up turrets, without a single superfluous decoration...

Han Xin's fingertips paused at several key locations in the image, and after roughly estimating the data of those turrets and arrays, he incorporated it into his tactical calculations.

He turned around and looked at Li Jing, who was standing to his side and behind him.

"The outer fortresses have a higher defense density than expected. Their air defense arrays overlap, and orbital bombardment alone cannot effectively suppress them. Ground troops need to break through from the flanks, establish a landing zone, and then gradually advance inward."

Li Jing nodded, his gaze quickly sweeping over the images.

"We and the Fourth Army can serve as the main output point in the frontal assault. Our heavy assault capabilities are best suited for tearing through the frontal armor of this fixed defensive line. However, we may suffer significant losses in tanks and ground-breaking artillery this time."

"My suggestion is to send the 19th Army Corps down first to find out the layout of their underground tunnels and identify the structural weaknesses beneath the fortress, and then arrange for our siege forces and the 4th Army Corps to advance."

"Once we and the Fourth Army have broken through their lines, and the Ninth and Thirteenth Armies begin their charge, we will also send assault teams and vanguards to charge alongside them."

Han Xin tapped his knuckles twice on the edge of the control panel, agreeing with Li Jing's suggestion.

He then marked several new paths on the tactics panel and ordered the commanders of each legion to complete their respective formation deployment plans before they joined forces.

Zhao Zheng did not interfere with this tactical deployment.

After reviewing the entire operational plan aboard the Lishan, he marked it with an "Approved" annotation at the end and then instructed the communications officer to forward the plan back to the strategic command center on Qiankun Star for filing.

The plan to recapture the central river area was officially launched, and the war broke out immediately.

The battle for the outer fortresses of the river center area officially began eight hours after the operation plan was approved.

The commanders of the various expeditions began to launch attacks from different directions.

Instead of choosing the traditional orbital bombardment approach, Han Xin focused his first round of firepower on the structural seams of the gray armor plates on the planet's surface. He used high-precision kinetic energy projectiles to repeatedly chisel at those seam areas, peeling away the connecting parts between the armor plates layer by layer.

This is an extremely time-consuming tactic, but its effects begin to appear in the third hour after the start of the attack.

The gray armor that covered most of the planet's surface had several structural cracks at the seams, exposing the alloy foundation and supporting structure that were originally being protected underneath.

Li Jing issued the landing order immediately after the rift appeared.

The 19th Army Corps' infiltration formations cut into the shadowed area near the armor gaps by individual airborne drops, completed formation dispersal in the air, and landed with high precision in the shadows of the supporting structures at the edge of the gaps.

Their advance was rapid; the time between landing and entering the fortress's underground structure entrance was less than twenty minutes.

Due to the unique nature of the Nineteenth Legion, the dwarven defense systems were unaware that this infiltration force, which had crept in from their blind spots, had begun to vanish like ghosts, destroying their defensive nodes.

The Nineteenth Army Corps advanced through underground tunnels using a method of continuous assassinations.

Every marked dwarven outpost was cleared in a very short time without triggering any alarms. The connection points between the logistics passages and pipeline corridors beneath the gray armored structures were marked one by one and transmitted back to the tactical panel of the ground command.

After receiving the underground structure map from the 19th Army Corps, Han Xin overlaid the data with the orbital scan images and quickly calculated the location of the energy hub of the dwarf defense system.

He then distributed the tasks for the third phase to the terminals of the various legion commanders.

The Fourth Army's ground forces will advance through the frontal breach and establish a foothold in the support layer beneath the armor plates.

The Thirteenth Legion followed closely behind, using mobile fire formations to suppress and eliminate the dwarves' mobile defensive forces within the support layer.

The Ninth Legion will not enter the underground structure for the time being, but will maintain a blockade line at the cracks in the surface armor plates to cut off the passage between the dwarven underground defenders and the surface supply nodes.

The plan is being executed smoothly.

Within fifteen minutes of entering the rift, the Fourth Legion's ground forces encountered the first wave of underground counterattacks from the dwarves.

The dwarven warriors, clad in gray armor, poured out from the bunkers on both sides of the passage. They were much shorter than the human auxiliary troops, but their power armor was extremely thick, with large areas of multi-layered composite armor plates covering their shoulders and chests. Each impact caused noticeable force fluctuations in the Fourth Legion's lines.

Leviathans and Colossi quickly joined the battle, creating a gap in the Fourth Army's lines. These giant war machines had a significant advantage in ground warfare.