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

Records of advances in every key battle, kill counts and military achievements on every offensive front, and every dwarven firing point effectively eliminated...

All of these were quantified into standard military merit points, which were then assigned to specific reward levels and resource quotas.

Is the Fourth Legion really that good?

Fricks was somewhat incredulous, after all, he and his men had been pushed to the front lines as cannon fodder.

In the early stages of the Great Expedition, the Fourth Army Corps was mostly assigned to attacking fortified positions and suppressing enemy forces. This resulted in high casualty rates and significant equipment losses. However, the replenishment available after the war was often only enough to maintain basic operations, with almost no extra quotas available for upgrading equipment or expanding the organization.

This is a problem that any non-core legion under the imperial system would face, and he was used to it and had never complained about it.

But it was here that he and his brothers realized that war could be fought in this way.

It is not unreasonable to expect rewards commensurate with one's war achievements after the war; the efforts of a legion can be seen and rewarded!

Those equipment and fleets were tangible and visible, and the Emperor Qin was not stingy at all; they received the exact same treatment as the Imperial Dragon Legion!

When Fricks relayed the message to his brothers in the Fourth Army, there was a moment of silence on the communication channel, and then someone asked a question.

"Are these awards only for this battle, or will they be given in the future?"

His tone carried a hint of cautious inquiry, and also a touch of anticipation.

"It will be the same from now on. As long as we continue to serve under the Qin Emperor, our treatment will be exactly the same as that of the Second Legion."

Frix paused for a moment, then continued.

"We will no longer use tattered power armor to charge into enemy lines."

There was a long silence during the communication.

The Thirteenth Army Corps reacted with relatively more excitement.

In the Battle of the River, they were tasked with infiltration and flank blockade. Their casualties were significantly lower than those of the Fourth Army Corps, which was engaged in a frontal assault, but the requirements for tactical coordination were much higher.

The evaluation report provided an independent performance assessment for each infiltration operation of the 13th Army Corps, noting the execution time, accuracy of completion, and quality of coordination with friendly forces. Based on these indicators, it also provided corresponding resource quotas and fleet resupply priorities.

They have consistently performed well in ground combat and orbital assaults, but in the past their achievements have often been glossed over as part of the overall campaign.

The Astartes of the Thirteenth Army had gotten used to it and never thought there was anything wrong with it until they received this assessment after the Battle of the River.

The feedback from the Nineteenth Army Corps was much simpler and more direct.

The operational characteristics of infiltration units mean that their achievements in conventional campaigns are often difficult to quantify, because many operations are secretive, cannot be publicly recorded, and cannot be evaluated using standard combat reports.

Given the unique capabilities of the 19th Army Corps, many of these military achievements and honors are often simply glossed over.

However, Zhao Zheng had Kongming establish a separate evaluation system for infiltration operations, incorporating indicators such as the coverage of reconnaissance nodes, the efficiency of clearing key targets, and the depth of successful infiltration into independent military merit calculations.

When Far received the plan, he was in his office organizing the equipment requirements list for the next phase of the infiltration operation. He looked up to read the full text sent by Kongming, and then looked down at the panel in front of him filled with suggestions for equipment improvement.

The Ninth Army Corps reacted more quietly than the other three corps.

It goes without saying how bad their reputation was before. They were already infamous during the unification wars, let alone the Great Expeditions.

No legion wants to be brothers with a legion that is so bloodthirsty on the battlefield that it even attacks its own people and uses its auxiliary troops as spare food.

Even the emperor himself abandoned this legion, both openly and secretly.

When Horus was using the Astartes from the rest of the legions as cannon fodder, his favorite method was to use the Fourth and Ninth Legions to charge and fill the gaps.

Quick to replenish supplies, strong in combat, silent as a stone, with an extremely bad reputation within the empire...

Both legions were already fully buffed from the start.

Kongming was puzzled by the Ninth Legion's silence. He had initially thought that he might not have actually investigated the Ninth Legion's situation, which was why the allocation of honor and weapon supplies did not meet their expectations.

In reality, when the Space Marines of the Ninth Legion received those almost tailor-made power armors, they could hardly hold back their tears.

This was certainly not because of a power armor, some weapons, or a fleet. Zhao Zheng had already provided them with ample equipment and a fleet when they first came under his command.

But this time it was different; they were no longer the ones their brothers treated like ghouls!

They too deserve honor! They too are worthy of these weapons and equipment!

Radolon dreamed that such a thing would happen to the Ninth Legion.

He desperately wanted to receive the same treatment as the Warhounds, Twilight Raiders, and Stormwalkers.

However, the Ninth Legion's own genetic defects caused his ideas to contradict reality.

Ladoron stood for a long time in front of the paper data on the battle record assessment, looking at the detailed achievements and death benefits listed on each sheet, his eyes filled with tears.

Space Marines shouldn't have these emotions, but for the first time in the Qin Dynasty, the long-suppressed Radoron and the Ninth Legion Space Marines truly received attention and respect.

These are things they could never obtain, no matter how much they paid or even how many of their brothers' lives they sacrificed.

"Commander, we should go collect the new fleet, and some new recruits from Terra..."

"commander……"

Amit walked in and saw Radolon with tears in his eyes.

He couldn't understand what was wrong with his usually composed old friend, who was almost never driven to madness by thirst.

But Radolon simply blew his nose, stood up, and walked with a light step that Amit had never seen before, a relaxed smile on his scarred face.

"Let's go, let's go welcome our new brothers."

Chapter 44 How about I get some Ironborn too?

When the map of the River Heart region was unfolded on the holographic star map, the area covered by the green marker was almost ten times larger than the current territory of the Great Qin.

Tens of thousands of star systems meander along the inner edge of the Milky Way's spiral arms, from the mining worlds of the outer ring to the fortified planets in the core region that have been covered in gray armor for thousands of years.

Many planets not only bear the industrial traces left by the space dwarves over the long years, but also contain those alien pocket empires.

However, the expansion of territory has also brought new challenges.

While reviewing the resource assessment report on the river center area submitted by Kong Ming on the bridge of the Lishan, Zhao Zheng noticed a series of unexpected data fluctuations.

The mineral reserves in the river's heart region are indeed abundant, a fact confirmed during pre-war reconnaissance. However, during the actual development process, several early settlers reported some problems.

First and foremost: water resources.

The planetary distribution density in the river core region is much higher than that in the star fields previously controlled by the Qin Dynasty, but the proportion of potable water sources is surprisingly low.

In those mining worlds transformed by dwarves, most of the planets' surface water resources have been polluted or depleted during the long process of industrialization. Although the reserves of groundwater still exist, they need to undergo extensive purification treatment to meet the standards for human drinking and agricultural irrigation.

Secondly, there is the issue of grain production. The soil in the river center area is generally infertile, with an imbalance in the proportion of trace elements. Even after standardized biological improvement treatment, the yield per mu is still far lower than the level of the fourth tier of the world under the Qin Dynasty.

In addition, the dwarves did not value agriculture. During their thousands of years of rule in the river region, they devoted almost all their resources to mining and heavy industry, leaving agricultural infrastructure virtually nonexistent.

This has led to an awkward situation.

Although the Qin Empire conquered a region with extremely rich resources, this region itself could not support itself.

Moreover, there is another crucial issue: the environment in the river center area is inherently harsh and unsuitable for habitation. If people want to immigrate here, the living conditions here will need to be addressed.

In other words, in this area, which is at least ten times larger than its original territory, the Qin Dynasty had to spend a huge amount of manpower and resources to build enough capital cities and improve the ecological environment.

Material resources are easy to talk about; that's the last thing the Qin Dynasty lacks, not to mention that the river itself is not lacking either. But what about manpower?

The Qin Dynasty is already facing a severe shortage of manpower; where would it find people to migrate and build these things?

At the end of his report, Kongming summarized the current situation in a simple passage.

“The mining capacity in the river center area will be gradually released over the next three years. Preliminary estimates suggest that the total annual output of metals and alloys will exceed the total existing capacity of Daqin.”

"However, the region's dependence on external sources of water and food will remain high for a long time, and without systematic agricultural and environmental improvement solutions, human and resource costs will continue to rise."

"Moreover, Daqin's human resources are quite strained, and it is very likely that it will be unable to effectively develop the river center area in a short period of time."

Zhao Zheng covered his brow, his face grave, and sat alone on the bridge for a while.

Abundant mineral resources have brought enormous profits, but also an equally enormous burden.

The dwarven industrial facilities on those planets in the river's core region can be repaired and put back into operation, but operating them requires sufficient manpower, water resources, food, and energy.

If the Qin Dynasty wants to truly transform these planets into sustainable imperial assets, it must establish a complete survival support system within that star system, rather than treating it as a mere mining site.

That evening, Zhao Zheng sent an instruction to Kong Ming, adjusting the development priority of the river core area to "dual-track parallel development," with mining and agricultural transformation proceeding simultaneously, and prioritizing the establishment of artificial agricultural stations and circulating water treatment systems on planets with groundwater reserves.

The directive also included a brief plan he drafted overnight, listing several fast-growing and robust species suitable for the soil conditions in the river center area, and marking a list of planets where biological improvement should be prioritized.

After receiving the instructions, Kongming didn't say much. He simply added the corresponding entry to his work log and sent the detailed work breakdown plan to the engineering team responsible for the construction of the river center area and the heads of various agricultural stations the next morning.

In the following weeks, the route map of the transport fleet in the orbit of Qiankun Star was adjusted.

The original one-way route for transporting ore and dwarven equipment to Qiankun Star was redesigned as a round-trip route. While transporting ore produced in the river center region to Qiankun Star, the transport fleet also carried boxes of agricultural equipment, improved seeds, and water purification modules back to the river center region from Qiankun Star.

The equipment was quickly installed and tested upon arrival at its destination, and then put into operation station by station by the agricultural technicians and engineers who arrived with the ship.

At Zhao Zheng's request, the biological laboratory on Qiankun Star simultaneously launched a new crop improvement program, with the goal of screening out varieties that can maintain high yields under the conditions of barren soil and low water resources in the river center area, based on the existing germplasm resource bank.

Jia Sixie's team has accumulated a large amount of data on plant gene expression regulation over the past few years, and has also studied and modified many crops with extremely high yields that are very easy to survive in various environments.

These data were retrieved and compared one by one with the soil analysis reports of each planet in the river core area, and several groups of the most promising directions for improvement were identified.

Zhao Zheng didn't scrutinize every detail; he simply confirmed that the progress of each indicator was in line with expectations when he received the weekly progress report from Kong Ming.

The efficiency of resource conversion in the river center area is steadily improving, and the newly built artificial agricultural stations and circulating water treatment systems showed quantifiable results in the first month after they were put into operation.

The water purification cycle was shortened by two days, and the germination rate of some improved crops was about 10% higher than expected.

These numbers may not be large, but they indicate that the direction is correct.

Zhao Zheng has always been patient with this kind of slow but sustainable improvement process.

Because he knew that in the era of the Great Expedition, these seemingly trivial infrastructure projects were the true foundation supporting the long-term operation of an empire.

But there was only one thing that really gave Zhao Zheng a headache: there were too few people.

Even though Zhao Zheng was urging the remnants of these dragon kingdoms to produce offspring as much as possible, it was clear that population growth would take time.

Even in the star systems that were subsequently recovered by the Qin Dynasty, population growth was quite "slow," really not keeping up with the speed at which the Qin Dynasty recovered these territories.

This also slowed down Zhao Zheng's engineering fleet progress in the river center region, even though he already had two Martian sages constantly building and forging worlds, and was also continuously training mechanical priests and nurses who conformed to the Qin system.

However, it is clear that there is still a shortage of manpower in the river center area.

This also made Zhao Zheng have a somewhat blasphemous thought.

Since the dwarves have been able to get along with the Ironborn for so long, and their relationship hasn't changed at all even in the later 42K, why can't I try it myself?

Anyway, creating the Ironborn isn't difficult; it's just a little bit of artificial intelligence technology. It's something that can be done with a trivial intrusion into the ancestral core, which is a piece of cake for Zhao Zheng.

Zhao Zheng has no shortage of materials, and can even provide these artificial intelligences with the best materials! Making them even more powerful and efficient than the original Ironborn.

Furthermore, Zhao Zheng also wants to instill in their minds the idea of ​​always assisting humans, while restricting the development of their artificial intelligence thinking. In that case, it doesn't seem like it's impossible.

But Zhao Zheng was worried again. After all, everyone knew what the Empire was like now, and the Abomination Intelligence was strictly forbidden from being explored or even used.

The emperor is the kind of person who, once bitten by a snake, is afraid of ropes for ten years. Artificial intelligence is so useful, why should we stop using it just because of one inexplicable betrayal?

Dwarfs use it very well, don't they?

If dwarfs can do it, why can't Zhao Zheng?

This thought lingered in Zhao Zheng's mind for three whole days.

During these three days, he continued to handle the resource allocation in the river center area and the production scheduling of Qiankun Star as usual.

During the day, he would review reports and approve orders on the bridge of the Lishan, and when he returned to the lounge at night, the idea about the Ironborn would seep out from the cracks in his mind, like a thin mist shrouding the edge of decision-making.

He repeatedly examined the feasibility of this idea, trying to set aside the emperor's strict prohibitions and assess its practical value solely from a technical and managerial perspective.

The ancestral core contains complete data on the Ironborn's technology for creating artifacts, a fact confirmed in the initial scans conducted by Zhang Heng's team.

The data was sealed behind an encryption layer. Although it has not been unlocked yet, Zhao Zheng was quite certain that with his current psionic strength and data analysis capabilities, it would not be difficult for him to break through that defense.

The technical path itself is clear, but the trouble lies in its subsequent use.

The Emperor's ban on artificial intelligence was based on the painful lessons of the Dark Ages of technology.

Having experienced the Iron Man Rebellion, which disrupted the course of history and created a time vacuum, human civilization, during its millennia-long healing period, came to regard Abomination Intelligence as a more dangerous enemy than the Xenomorphs and the Warp.

Zhao Zheng's attitude toward this was quite simple and direct.

It's highly likely that Chaos was behind the Iron Man rebellion, and humans certainly played a number of shady roles as well.

Otherwise, if he hadn't been a homebody, had been born at the peak of the Golden Age, and had witnessed the Iron Man Rebellion, Macardo wouldn't have left no word about it.