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

"Seventeen items! Treasures left over from the Golden Age, and you just agreed to go out like that?"

"It's just a few treasures. They'll just gather dust in the treasury anyway, so why not take them out and exchange them? Besides, the taxes that Qin can pay are quite substantial."

Makado didn't care about the loss of the vault, since it wasn't his, and he wouldn't be heartbroken by it.

"If you want to continue building your network, then we need an empire like the Qin Dynasty to pay taxes for us. It's a stable and large-scale tax, and just for that, it has already defeated all the worlds under our control."

"Isn't this enough? Anyway, the taxes paid by the Great Qin will increase every day in the future. A little treasure has ensured the continued supply of blood for Number Two and prevented a fratricidal conflict. What are you feeling sorry for?"

It's not yours! Of course you don't care! I snatched it from those barbarians piece by piece!

That's a waste of the old man's strength!

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Ni! O! S!

"What do you mean? You've found another brother?"

Zhao Zheng had only been away from the Emperor's Dream for a short time when the Stormbird returned to the Lishan, and the Emperor called him back.

Zhao Zheng thought the emperor had regretted his decision and was even preparing to ask him about his birth date in front of him. However, the emperor told him that he had found another brother and wanted him to come along to take a look.

"No, why do you keep dragging me along for this? You could easily go by yourself."

Nonsense, I'm socially awkward!

The emperor's expression remained unchanged; he simply looked at Zhao Zheng with his golden eyes.

"You don't have anything to do anyway, so why don't you come with me to find your brother? If there are any problems, you can help him out."

"Then why didn't you call Horus? He's here too. I'm very busy. We just took over a sector, and I still need to organize its development..."

"Stop pretending, are you going or not?"

The emperor interrupted Zhao Zheng, and although his words were no different from before, Zhao Zheng could clearly hear a hint of impatience in them.

"Okay, I'll go, but why didn't you ask Horus to come with you?"

"The Shadowmoon Wolves are preparing to continue their expedition and are about to set off. They want to wash away this humiliation. Horus swore to me that he would not return to reorganize the legion until he has captured a hundred star sectors."

"So ruthless? Does he not want his offspring anymore? Or does he want to take the lives of the rest of his brother legions...?"

"This time, only Shadowmoon Wolf and Star Hunter are there to gather information for them."

The Emperor shattered Zhao Zheng's malicious speculations about Horus, and added a critical blow.

"Remember, you promised me that the logistics for Shadowmoon Wolf would be provided by Great Qin. Given their current military strength, the resources you need to provide may be many times greater."

Damn! I forgot about that!

Huge loss!

Zhao Zheng suddenly realized he was short. Damn it, seventeen treasures weren't enough! This time, he was determined to return to Terra with this newly found brother. He would plead and beg, or throw a tantrum, to get a few more treasures from the Emperor.

If you don't give it to him, he'll cause trouble in Terra's hive! He'll also bother Makado at the Ministry of Government!

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Give me a straight answer, are you coming or not?"

"Of course I'll go! He's my own brother!"

"Horus is also your own brother, so why don't you show him any kindness?"

Zhao Zheng remained silent, turning away from the Emperor's Dream Ship. The Emperor, watching his departing son, felt a deep weariness in his heart.

“I told you before, Apocalypse, that perhaps creating a few female Primarchs among the Primarchs would better coordinate their relationships, but you didn’t take that advice.”

Makado stepped out from the side, looked at Zhao Zheng's massive body with its "rebellious" head, and spoke to the emperor beside him.

“I just wanted to create a bunch of war machines, and the last thing war needs is emotion, you know, Makado, women sometimes do things that are hard for us to tolerate.”

"Not all Primarchs should go to the battlefield. They need to be mediated and have emotional support so that they can better serve the Empire."

“I know, that’s why I created Number Twelve, and also to help Horus unite his brothers. Besides, this wasn’t my original plan…”

"The plan has failed, Number Twelve is missing, Horus has clearly not met your expectations, and Number Two is now showing signs of becoming uncontrollable."

Macardo revealed this truth that deeply hurt the Emperor.

He had gone through so much trouble to acquire the Primarch from the Warp through a deal with those four precious beings, only to have everything ruined by a woman he trusted implicitly.

"It's just some unpleasantness between brothers. I believe they can handle it themselves, Makado."

It would be great if they could handle it well. I'm just afraid that the brothers will fight amongst themselves and cause a major disaster for the empire. That would be quite a sight.

Macardo didn't say those words aloud. He had never liked Primarchs; in his eyes, they were just a bunch of weapons of war, no different from anything else.

He already knew when he was training Alpharis that these monsters in human skin would not possess the emotions that a normal human being should have.

Their best use was to be taken away by the Emperor after the war, or to be destroyed along with the Astartes in the future.

As for the Emperor's grand dream, he fantasized about having certain Primarchs hold important positions within the Empire and ultimately contribute to its development in all aspects. To this end, he even shaped the roles of each Primarch.

Makado didn't want to hurt his friend; such a thing was impossible. Primarchs couldn't be normal people, nor could they hold those important positions.

But these words cannot be said now.

……

Soon, the Lishan followed the Emperor Dream into the nearby Mandeville point and set off for the star system called Chemos.

This place is actually not far from the river region conquered by the Qin Dynasty, but clearly, this short distance still did not allow Zhao Zheng to find his brother.

To reiterate, once outside the star system, without a subspace engine, the Empire's fleet is even inferior to that of the Titans.

Even a single sector can leave the Empire completely unfamiliar with the region, even if it is under its control.

Moreover, there was another reason why Zhao Zheng didn't pay attention to these places: the whirlpool was also located in the middle of the river, which was the place Zhao Zheng was most concerned about.

This is also a massive subspace rift, now almost as large as the Eye of Terror before its continuous expansion, and the monsters and demons inside are no less numerous than those in the Misty Starfield.

However, the resources in the Great Vortex region are also incredibly abundant, with habitable planets readily available. If Qin could conquer this region, it would gain at least hundreds or thousands more casting worlds, millions of production workshops, and countless production lines.

Although this area is heavily polluted in subspace, what kind of empire is the Great Qin? Would it be afraid of such a small amount of pollution?

Empires can conquer regions that have existed for ten thousand years, so why would the Qin Dynasty be afraid of this?

Moreover, Zhao Zheng also had his own plans. He couldn't just send Warhammer and then do nothing in the end, could he?

For example, a counterattack against the subspace!

To launch a counterattack into the subspace, a stable attack channel is necessary. Is there any area more suitable for launching an attack than the Eye of Fear and the Great Vortex?

Astartes is not weak; even in the warp, it can enslave countless demons. If you don't believe me, just look at Iron Warrior and Demon Engine.

The subspace isn't that powerful. Many people like to say how powerful the subspace is, but apart from its polluting nature, the subspace isn't really that powerful.

Only the Four Gods and some of their creatures, such as the Void Whale, are decent. Is the real universe really that bad?

Stop joking. Everything is relative, otherwise Chaos would have successfully invaded long ago. Just because you're powerful in the warp doesn't mean you're powerful in the real universe.

Similarly, you might be taken down by a rocket launcher in the real universe, but in the wretched place of the subspace, you might not even be taken down by a volcano launcher.

Therefore, Zhao Zheng has never had any fear of the subspace, at most he is just wary of the four gods, even though he is indeed no match for them now.

It's too early to talk about all this now, there's no rush, we should wait until we're stronger before saying anything.

"Kongming, you better remember this time. We'll go to the Emperor's treasury and ransack it. If there are more than seventeen items, you can keep taking them. If the Emperor doesn't give them to me, go and bother Makado. If he gets annoyed, he'll definitely take them out."

"You must pick out more good stuff. Whether our Great Qin's technology and civilian measures can be upgraded by one or two levels depends on you."

Zhao Zheng patted Kongming on the shoulder and said earnestly.

As to what Qin needed most at the moment, Zhao Zheng felt that he was certainly not as familiar as Kongming, so he directly transferred this son in charge of logistics.

"Speaking of which, can Hao Zhao guard the Romedo Star Sector well? Should I go to the River Heart Region and swap one of Tian Dan and Wei Xiaokuan for him? This is our future bridgehead in the Misty Star Region, we can't afford to lose it."

It's not that Zhao Zheng doesn't trust his offspring; the main reason is that Hao Zhao is still too young, and there are many strange and unpredictable people in the Misty Star Region. Who knows, an alien empire might suddenly appear. If something goes wrong, the bridgehead will be unstable, and the expansion of the Misty Star Region will not go smoothly.

Kongming simply smiled at this, showing great confidence in the people he had chosen.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. Bo Dao may not be as good as the other generals and marshals in attacking fortified cities, but he is definitely a qualified general in defending cities and building fortifications. In addition, General Wen Chang has also come here, and the expeditionary offensive will be launched soon. Your Majesty need not worry."

"Alright, remember to transfer more Ironborn over here, and also get more production lines from Qiankun Star. I want the Romedo Sector to become a fortress sector completely."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhao Zheng nodded, then looked out the porthole at the Imperial Fist, War Dogs, Twilight Raiders, and the Eighteenth Legion that had set off with the Emperor, and couldn't help but feel a little envious of the Emperor's extravagant entourage.

He also longed to be surrounded by so many legions, which would make him incredibly prestigious when he traveled.

Of course, Zhao Zheng was reluctant to do such extravagant things. His own sons and the army were expanding his territory, and it would be inappropriate for him to do this in the rear.

"I feel like something's not quite right about this place, Kongming, what's your feeling?"

“Yes, my gut feeling tells me something’s not right in this area, but I don’t know where the danger is coming from.”

"Where did these weasels bring us? Is this still the Limitless Starfield?"

Watching the fleet leap out of Mandeville, Zhao Zheng instinctively felt that something was wrong.

This galaxy, which is somewhat similar to our solar system, is really strange. It looks no different from an ordinary galaxy on the surface, but a sense of danger lingers in Zhao Zheng's mind.

"No, I have to ask the Emperor why we stopped here."

After Zhao Zheng finished speaking, he used his immense spiritual energy to arrive on the Emperor's Dream Ship. This short-distance teleportation was not difficult for him.

The Imperial Guards instinctively sensed danger, and even after seeing Zhao Zheng, they did not lower their weapons.

Zhao Zheng ignored them and went directly to the emperor's side.

"Where is this? This isn't the Chemos system, is it? Why did you bring us here?"

"I sensed a familiar feeling here, so I came out to take a look."

"Who is it that made you give up searching for a brother who suddenly appeared here? One of your former followers?"

"I guess so. She should be considered a major contributor to my unification war, but she eventually left us."

"What heinous thing have you done this time? Why are all these people leaving you one by one?"

The Emperor did not answer, but looked at one of the planets, a planet that resembled Terra in some ways, but was ultimately not Terra.

“The Astartes were not my first choice of Space Marines. Before them, there was a type of modified warrior that was only slightly more expensive to build but much more powerful. They could even achieve a 4:1 kill ratio against my Custodians under certain special circumstances.”

"Thunder Warrior?"

The emperor suddenly turned his head, his eyes becoming incredibly sharp. Had he told his sons about the Thunder Warriors? How did Zhao Zheng know?

"Don't look at me like that. If you don't want people to know, then don't do it in the first place. They betrayed us, so it's only right that you eliminate them. But have you ever thought about fixing their own flaws?"

"For example, those Thunder Warriors could also undergo Astartes surgery again. Don't say there isn't such a case; I think there's one War Dog, isn't there?"

The emperor didn't pursue the matter further; he figured if they knew, they knew, and it didn't really matter.

"Hal is a very special case. I have performed similar surgeries on some Thunder Warriors before, but only he was successful. The rest died."

"Their bloodline has too many genetic defects. Aging and bloodlust are just two of the most difficult to solve. There is also the contamination of the warp. Their will is hard to compare with that of the Astartes in this respect."

"So I created you, intending to replace the Thunder Warriors, but I didn't expect that they would discover my intentions."

Your intentions are so obvious, even a fool could see it!

"What does this have to do with us being here? Are there remnants of the Thunder Warriors who escaped back then? Are you trying to kill us all to silence us?"

"It's more serious than that."

Zhao Zheng's expression immediately turned serious.

"What do you mean?"

"If my intuition is correct, one of the creators of the Thunder Warriors is hidden here. You could also say that she was the creator of the Thunder Warriors, just as Lady Astartes created Astartes, even though they both betrayed me."

"So you've come here now just to persuade her to repent and return to the empire?"

The emperor shook his head, his expression also showing a hint of solemnity.

“I’m here to kill her. This madwoman is too unpredictable. You can’t imagine why I would want to drive her away while the Thunder Warriors are still fighting for me.”

"I thought it was because you were a treacherous person that someone betrayed you."

"She is obsessed with physical modification, to the point of madness."

"Back then, I told her that I needed a type of soldier because the empire was just starting out. So I only asked that the soldier be strong enough. I didn't care much about stability. After all, as long as they could fight loyally for me, that was enough."