Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

"Since you all want to represent, then stop representing."

These were the giants encased in steel, conveying the Primarch's words outside the meeting room.

Moore recalled the scene just at the door of the conference room and couldn't help but shuddered again.

The group of Anglican priests were stopped by the Gray Knights, and the way they were embarrassed, angry and afraid to leave is still vivid in my mind.

The conference room was warm, but his heart was extremely cold.

Because he knew the significance of this meeting, he also knew that the fate of those who were absent would probably not be much better than that of the Rogue Traders on the other side, waiting to be executed.

"There are no problems with the Astra Militarum here."

Moore exchanged glances with his left and right, and finally stood up under pressure to express his position.

There was no expression on the face of the original body, but 11-25, as a friendly force with external support, had set an example for everyone. Under the eyes of everyone, the Astra Militarum, as a soldier with the same tactical positioning, naturally felt an indescribable, But the pressure is coming.

And in fact, because the Imperial Navy has been suppressed within the galaxy, the Astra Militarum, which can only carry out local defense operations, has not suffered much structural damage.

A lot of people must have died, but compared to the nearly a hundred regiments of the Astra Militarum in the galaxy, the high-intensity battlefields are still a minority among the few.

Blackstone Fortress, garrison asteroids, space weapons platforms, capital hive city defense circle; at most, there are a few mining worlds on the edge.

The troops that could be deployed in these positions were fully calculated, but only less than 40% of Moore's men were used; it was not that he was stingy no matter how many, but that the width of the battlefield was so wide that it had reached the limit of the marginal effect of troop projection.

Therefore, the Astra Militarum suffered losses in the defensive battle, but compared with their huge number of legions, these losses were only an "illusion" reflected in the reports.

Did he dare to use this reason to reject Calvin?

Moll subconsciously recalled the conversations he had with several other big shots before coming here.

He dared to say that there must be a brave man under a heavy reward, not to mention that a statement here affects the interests of an established star region.

Moreover, he had no intention of confronting Calvin head-on. There were too many reasons for him to reasonably refuse the order of a big shot, even if it was a Primarch.

But this was before 11-25 came along.

Colleagues are not necessarily enemies, but at least the position of an enemy is gone.

Looking at the 11-25 on the opposite side, even though Moore had all kinds of calculations, he finally put away his tricks and was the first to spit out his words honestly.

On both sides of him, although his original allies looked worried, no one dared to refute him and stand up to be the first to take the lead.

So the agenda of the meeting continued, and with a smile on his face, the Primarch quietly made a check mark behind the label of the Astra Militarum in his mind.

It was a difficult meeting, but the difficulty was not in the meeting itself.

Because the first half of the meeting is a celebration that everyone loves to see.

Dramas similar to thanking the Emperor, thanking Terra, and thanking the great Primarch have been performed countless times in the past within the Empire, and will continue to be performed.

The difference between them is nothing more than the name of the person being thanked and the person being thanked. Life, family, honor, and even descendants of countless generations can all be promised at this stage without any money.

Anyway, this is destined to be a bad check that both parties know very well, and there will be no chance of being held accountable or cashed.

The second half of the meeting was quite the opposite.

Because of all the communications before the meeting, everyone already knew that the next step of the original target was an expedition in the true sense.

Based on the irrefutable truth of "I really have a cow", many forces became silent at this time.

Because every decision (promise) here is directly related to their own development and the expansion and contraction of power.

It was against this background that the Tindaros Army, headed by 11-25, drove Moore to the edge.

He used his own statement to narrow the path of the Astra Militarum, which should not have expressed its stance in advance.

Therefore, More's small movements before getting up were not surprising in Calvin's eyes. Because Goth's local forces most likely had their own plans before coming.

In their original plan, they should first throw out the least important Imperial State Church as a bargaining chip in the first exchange with Terra.

Facing the pressure from the original body, as long as the core interests of the Imperial State Church are not touched, as a "sustainable renewable resource", the population in the diocese can of course "donate" at will.

Based on the results-oriented analysis afterwards, the seating arrangement of this meeting also confirms this situation.

The upper left side of More was supposed to be the seat of the bishop of the Imperial Church in this diocese, but after Archbishop Matthew died in the battle, his seat was filled forward.

The person sitting on his left was the casting director of Gothic Casting World. And his next position "happens" to be the Imperial Navy Admiral assigned to the galaxy itself.

As for the empire’s governor in the Gothic sector? Calvin calmly shifted his vision slightly sideways.

Opposite the casting general (director)'s seat, a seemingly honest middle-aged man was wearing a red marshal's military uniform covered with medals, maintaining his weak sense of existence with an awkward look on his face.

Well... Judging from the appellation, the origin of the governor of this planet is not high. He is just the retired leader of the eldest son of a certain Terran noble.

If this identity were on another planet, it would certainly become the cornerstone of an absolutely powerful monarch.

But putting him in a place like Goth, where the Four World Wars took place, with the family resources and the few retired soldiers he has in his hands, he can only serve as a rubber stamp of personality for an established casting world like Goth.

Well... maybe he lived long enough, and in order to satisfy the family interests of the Terran nobles behind him, a little bit of inconsequential permission from the Rogue Traders became the proper meaning of the question. (But the current situation is that among the Rogue Traders standing outside the conference room waiting to be executed, his part is definitely the majority.)

Being able to survive until now only shows that he is sensible enough.

In Calvin's eyes, this "sensible enough" means that it is impossible to win over and not worth winning over.

Then, some issues will become clear.

Maul's seat is, in a sense, a reflection of the ecological niche of the Astra Militarum behind him:

Recruitment of troops, rationing of weapons and logistical supplies;

The training and assembly of the army, as well as the delivery and transfer after the real battle begins;

And after the real battle begins, as the most expensive asset of the Astra Militarum - the maintenance of the armored forces, as well as the air defense force of the Hainan Aviation Group.

These factors that are crucial to the Astra Militarum should be firmly controlled by themselves, but due to various special circumstances of the Empire, they are all in the hands of the Forge World and the Imperial Navy outside them.

Therefore, at a major military meeting, the representative of the Astra Militarum was clearly the main force in the battle, the executor of the final occupation, and even the one who sacrificed the most people.

But they are often constrained by one or another reason, and without their own will, let alone being unable to fight for the interests of their soldiers after the war, it becomes a problem of understanding.

They have never been independent, so how can they talk about higher fame and fortune.

But actually that's not all. Because regarding the specific local recruitment matters, representatives of the Imperial State Church, which actually holds the belief in this ideological weapon, were not able to attend smoothly.

But that's another story.

The position of bishop of the Gothic Diocese was vacant. The previous Archbishop Matthew died due to the infiltration of the Eldar.

At this time, the internal affairs of the diocese were in chaos. The bishops of various sub-dioceses, and even Matthew's original assistants, all had unabashed ambitions for the position of bishop.

They are either the leader of a certain faction in the church, or they simply represent external forces such as the Imperial Navy and the Forge World.

But in any case, when the battle for the only crown of the Gothic diocese. At the most intense moment, a freshly minted living saint who can unify consciousness and win over the battle nuns naturally becomes a powerful weapon that all parties want to get their hands on.

At that time, after the news of Calvin reached Gothic, there were several priests who came to the star port and wanted to represent the Gothic diocese and pick up Padilla.

The original body obviously saw through their thoughts and did not personally appear to endorse any careerists; it was even more guarded and guarded, causing the Gray Knights to reject any of their applications to board the ship.

So, there was the initial conversation.

"Since you all want to represent, then stop representing."

This was the exact words conveyed to them by the Gray Knights, and it was also the reason why these priests endured the cold and were left hanging outside the meeting room of Blackstone Fortress.

As for the Order of Battle Sisters stationed within the galaxy, they have received Calvin’s edict issued through the Order of Rebellion and are on their way to the Gothic capital;

A living saint with clear origins and innocent origins is nothing less than a gift from the emperor to them; and in Calvin's eyes, the battle nuns headed by Padilla will be integrated, and then the entire Gothic diocese will be cleaned up. It is naturally what the title should mean.

Power, wealth.

The former in today's meeting, like all its interpretations in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, represents a re-division of interests;

The latter, at Calvin's level, is no longer obsessed with a certain thing, let alone has personal desires that are not fulfilled, so at this level, it will have another explanation - resources.

But this is something to talk about later, and many representatives of the forces present do not know this yet.

It is conceivable that the financial resources of an established imperial sector (diocese) are very strong. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are as rich as the country.

And after thousands of years of operation, it has been intricately connected with other forces, and it is not something that Calvin could easily shake in the past.

So when they fell into internal chaos, Calvin naturally would not miss the opportunity.

He didn't intend to fight for power, but the facts forced him to do so.

As a young man in a war zone, apart from being a primarch, he was incomparable to his brothers who were in charge of an expedition fleet in terms of material and manpower.

In his previous life, he also served as a company commander and participated in several large-scale training camps. He knows:

Whether a leader is incompetent has little to do with his ability. Whether he can dig into the pie and get resources for his subordinates is the real decisive factor!

And just a few Rogue Traders... Calvin's mouth curved in a sharp arc.

What makes them think that they will be silenced by this "floating wealth", and what makes them mistakenly think that they will be satisfied by this little charity?

He glanced at the crowd with his slightly narrowed eyes, and a group of local Gothic dignitaries put aside their rigidity of looking at their noses, noses, and hearts, and showed him obedient smiles.

But they didn't know that Calvin had already targeted them, and these local natives who wanted to repay their lost land but didn't want to spend money became even more ugly in his eyes.

Hmm... Thinking of this, Calvin couldn't help but start to calculate the administrative efficiency of Terra.

His seemingly serious eyes, but in the eyes of his subordinates who are familiar with him, there is a hint of chicken thieves in the twinkling, and a bit of murderous intent in the chicken thieves...

The news of the Gothic Bishop's death was reported as soon as the sector resumed communication with Terra.

But before the arrival of the new diocesan bishop or the letter of appointment, there will be no one with a higher status than Padilla in the entire diocese, and naturally no one will stop the living saint from using the wealth of the diocese to support the emperor's great cause and protect him. Children of the Empire!

The premise of all this is that no one can pursue it afterwards.

So...those priests must die, no matter who is standing behind them!

And when these "Emperor's Daughters" arrive at the capital of the galaxy, there will probably be another bloody storm.

Update, to make up for the update I owed yesterday, the two chapters have been posted together.