Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

In fact, at the beginning, neither Mars, nor the Forging General, nor Rand himself paid much attention to Morgan, the newly returned Emperor's bloodline.

The return of just one Primarch was something the Empire had not experienced before. In less than sixty years after the start of the Great Crusade, fourteen Primarchs had returned one after another. The mystery and power of these descendants of the Emperor The fierce image has gradually been understood by all forces in the empire: there are even many huge shortcomings of the original body itself, which are also placed on the desk of the founding general.

Like Horus, the wolf-herd god on Cthonia, the sensational return of the primarch, which attracted the attention of the entire empire, is already a thing of the past: so, when Morgan becomes the sixteenth When the returned Primarch became known to the various factions of the Empire, Mars merely placed her name on the Intelligence Department's priority list as a matter of routine.

According to the original development, this name will only quietly eat dust on the so-called priority list: Mars, as the Emperor's most important ally, generally will not have too much communication with the Primarch. Nor are they afraid of these imperial nobles who speak of the constitution.

…That’s how it was originally.

However, just a few months after Morgan returned, when the name of the Lord of Avalon and the [number one rebel in the Mechanicum]: Reza, appeared in the intelligence at the same time, Only then did General Casting realize that the situation seemed to be somewhat different from what he had imagined?

After all, as we all know: Loyalty and filial piety have always been the two pillars on which the human empire relies for survival. As the other head of the imperial double-headed eagle, the Lord of Mankind is a nominal [important ally] rather than a subordinate, the Machine God Teaching, especially Mars, naturally cannot escape these two great attributes.

So, one only needs to look at the family relationship between the Lord of Mankind and the Primarch to deduce the relationship between Mars and the forge worlds it ruled: it was a real mingling, talking about everything, smoke and fun. .

Just as the Emperor considered himself the leader of the Primarchs, Mars had always considered himself the leader of the Forge Worlds, and the Forge Worlds were as loyal to Mars as the Primarchs were to the Emperor.

Similarly, just as the Emperor claimed to be the father of the Primarchs, Mars also claimed to be the origin of all Forge Worlds, and the Forge Worlds also stated that they would honor Mars with the filial piety that the Primarchs treated the Emperor.

With such a scene, how can we not make people look forward to the future of the Mechanicum? How can we prevent the foundry general in charge of Mars from tossing and turning, sighing, and having trouble sleeping and eating every day?

When thinking of these loyal ministers and filial sons, such as Reza, Shana, Steel Ball and Huangquan No. 8, who have different positions, specialties, and environments, but have the same hidden rebellious and rebellious intentions, the big shots on Mars start to think... It feels like the mechanical gears on my body are all sour, and even the gift from the God of All Machines no longer smells good.

And among these Tianzihao anti-thief series that troubled the Martian dignitaries, Reza may be the only bastard who can be compared with Huangquan No. 8.

…

No, Reza is even better,

After all, Huang Quan No. 8 is located on the western edge of the Sun Star Territory, not far from Mars. The Forge General's fleet can monitor their actions at any time and carry out necessary intervention and deterrence.

And the [Forge of Binding Stars] located in the eastern part of the Milky Way, in the Great Whirlpool area, is the real sky-high emperor: although this does not prevent the rulers of Riza from spreading their disdain for Mars across thousands of years. Mountains and rivers are sent to the sacred solar system.

Originally, if things continued like this, it wouldn't be a big deal: after all, there were as many loyal ministers and filial sons on Mars as there were bald heads among the Astartes warriors. You bastard are talking nonsense, it would be better to pay attention to the internal productivity placement issue.

It is true that the alliance with the Emperor and the launch of the Great Crusade brought unprecedented prosperity and countless orders to Mars, but these orders also quickly emptied the production potential and technological reserves of Mars itself, leaving it unable to survive. He no longer has the unrivaled power within the Mechanicum.

The White Scars Legion's Queen of Glory flagship [Bladestorm] alone consumes 4.5% of the entire production of Mars, and has undergone many modifications and re-planning. The main engine of the battleship alone has been changed three or four times.

Not to mention Fulgrim's flagship [Emperor's Pride], its construction took twice as long as other sister ships. It was personally supervised by the Foundry General. Many parts were even made by hand, and the Phoenix had to endure it during the process. The Maharaja himself strived for perfection and had a whimsical idea: for a long time after the ship finally sailed out of the dock, Mars refused to accept orders from the Third Legion.

In addition to these masters, the Human Empire has also been trying to win over other forge worlds, eroding the autonomy of Mars, and prohibiting Mars from researching more advanced technologies. At the same time, the Lord of Humanity is still in his Astartes In the Legion, there is a lot of ancient knowledge hidden in secrets that Mars does not know: all of this is completely contrary to the original covenant between the Emperor and Mars, and naturally caused large-scale turmoil in the ideological field within Mars.

It was amid the chaos caused by this unfavorable factor that the newly returned Lord of the Dawnbreaker Legion to the Empire signed an offensive and defensive alliance with Reza. The intelligence department of Mars obtained the news: This is not a dark side. Victory on the battlefield, because Reza himself had no intention of hiding the existence of this alliance. They raised the flag symbolizing the Lord of Avalon in their forging world, and since then they have happily become the nominal leader of the Second Legion. enclave.

However, at the beginning, this news did not attract the attention of the Foundry General or any of the great sages of Mars: after all, as the number one rebel within the Mechanicum, it was not for Reza to go against Mars. It has been a day or two, and their search for allies has never stopped since the day they joined the empire.

What's more, the Foundry General has no reason to accuse Reza. What reason can he have to accuse a Forge World that works hard to pave the way for the Empire's Great Crusade: whether to accuse it of wanting to rebel, or to accuse it of having a relationship with genes. An alliance between the Primarch and the Legion?

The former is a joke: Anyone who can be called a large forge world doesn't want to rebel on Mars: the forge world wants to rebel just like the Necron overlords want to kill Trazin. In this crazy galaxy, The irrefutable truth.

As for the latter point, it is a topic that cannot even be touched: after all, every Primarch in charge of his own legion will choose a long-term partner with a stable relationship among the many forging worlds. This is already a close relationship within the empire. Public invisible rules.

For example, the Death Guard Legion cooperated with the nearby forge world Graea, and the Iron Warrior Legion, under the leadership of the original body, arrogantly occupied the forge world Incadignon next to its home star Olympia, even during the Great Crusade The Thousand Sons, who remained transparent, also crossed more than half of the galaxy and signed a contract with Zhao-Arkadar, the forge world at the southernmost tip of the empire.

Not to mention the Ultramarines: Ultramar itself has several forging worlds, plus its peripheral collaborators, Guilliman has some industrial power in his hands, many of which are like steel balls. big guy.

Therefore, the cooperation between Morgan and Reza is completely in line with the rules. If Mars wants to oppose this, it will almost have to oppose all the Astartes Legions at the same time: the Forge Worlds will not stand on its side. aside.

Besides, the Dawnbreaker Legion at that time was nothing more than a group of broken-down settlements that were almost at the end of their rope. Their Primarch Morgan was recognized throughout the empire as a weak and introverted person, not at all as decisive as her blood brothers. , able to rule all directions: Perhaps it was for this reason that Morgan was able to receive extra care from the Emperor, who granted her the power of autonomy to open up territories for herself in the barren mountains and rivers of the Eastern Galaxy, which at least prevented the Second Legion from being destroyed. Continue to the end of the road.

At the very least, in the eyes of most [Imperial Factions], this is how things are, and Mars is no exception: Morgan, the leader of the Second Legion, is weak, pitiful and helpless.

Faced with this combination of a weak original body and a broken legion, even Reza himself knew at the time that the offensive and defensive alliance they signed was a huge gamble, and the bet was that the second legion could perform well in the Eastern Galaxy: The founding general of Mars naturally smiled at the gambling behavior of the number one rebel, and secretly expected the opposite result in his heart.

As the Second Legion officially entered Avalon, it began the so-called "Frontier March" non-stop, conquering the Far East where there was little information, and then became involved in the northwest of the Galaxy. That has become a battle within the empire. The Forbidden Expedition: The Dawnbreaker Legion has been silent for more than ten years, and Mars no longer pays attention to this ally of Ryza.

It wasn't until the Lord of Avalon ended the expedition and arrived at Terra that General Forge, who heard the news, had a sudden idea and sent someone to inquire about the current situation of the Dawnbreaker Legion and Reza, and then...

Then he discovered: a behemoth entrenched in the east of the Milky Way, a behemoth that could confront Mars head-on, and made it clear that it wanted to confront Mars head-on.

Far Eastern Industrial Complex.

This organization actually has a longer, less well-known full name. It's as bad as a name chosen by the Emperor himself. But under this ordinary name, there is a huge size that can make Mars break out in a cold sweat. .

Salem, Thrace, Corinth, Anverus, Steel Ball, Gurgrad, Omega Forge...

Looking at these forging worlds that are either familiar or unfamiliar, they are all member states of this parliamentary organization. Suddenly, it has included almost all the followers of the Myriad Machine God in the entire Far Eastern border and the Maelstrom area.

Looking at the north of the Far Eastern Star Territory, although the forging worlds headed by Sa Dangxing and Markand have not joined this organization, they are also [Observer States] that will actively participate in its various large-scale activities and conferences.

In the south of the Far Eastern Star Territory, the forging worlds controlled by Guilliman have become [strategic partners] of the industrial complex. They share weal and woe, and their names have appeared many times in the industrial complex. on the list of large-scale events or conferences.

In other words, from the east of the Maelstrom area, the entire Far Eastern Star Territory, which includes about half of the empire, almost all the forge worlds in it have joined the Far Eastern Industrial Complex: they are just confirmed members, observer states, and strategic The total number of partners has reached twenty-three.

Look at these twenty-odd guys, Mars knows them very well: at least half of them are rebels who have confronted Mars head-on and unabashedly want to rebel, while the remaining half are openly humble. In fact, he is a well-trained rebel who can use any insidious tricks in private.

In the past few decades, the number of Mars fleets lost in the hands of these loyal ministers and filial sons has reached double digits: although Mars has never mentioned why it sent a fleet to these loyal ministers and filial sons.

And who is the chief speaker of this huge [parliamentary organization] that can mobilize more than twenty rebels and well-trained rebels in name?

…

It's Reza!

At the sight of this name, Forge General's host engine immediately overloaded.

Let him hold himself up, and then looked down, seeing the rapid expansion of Riza's industrial scale over the years, the dotted mining world, and the Titan Legion, Knight Family and Guardians that had expanded to the point where they could compete with Mars. When the teaching army and the Flame-Blood Sect sent those "sweet words" to Mars across thousands of stars, finally, his sixteen auxiliary engines exploded in unison.

Even this capable strongman who can command the entire Mars may not be able to understand this extremely simple question: counting from the time Morgan officially returned to the empire and signed an alliance with the number one anti-thief Reza, the total number of How many years have passed?

Full calculation...

Twenty-five years?

...It’s only been twenty-five years!

How on earth did they do it?

How did the Lord of Avalon do it: win over so many forging worlds in less than thirty years?

What's her secret...?

——————

[Secret? 】

Hearing this, the Lord of Avalon, who had completed the second stage of the clinical experiment, finally couldn't help laughing. She looked at the man standing next to her who could tell the story eloquently and movingly. Rand, who was able to record the data in a flawless manner, couldn't help but nodded inwardly.

This time, the [gift] her old father gave her was something she could see: that is to say, that old guy could occasionally be her biological father.

Anyway, the Spider Queen does not expect her status in the heart of the Emperor to be higher than that of his eldest sons Horus, Dorn, Fulgrim or Mortarion: no lower than Perturabo is considered a success. .

Thinking of this, Morgan slowly retracted the blade and saw that Angron's brain had been carved with deep white marks by the Lord of Avalon with the back of the knife. Around the Butcher's Nail, every inch that could be used was divided. Space: The next thing to do is to turn Angron over and deal with the areas on his back.

So, while Morgan used his psychic powers to turn Angron's body, he looked at Rand who was hesitant to speak next to him: Obviously, this genius of Mars and his forging general had the same doubts. , Rand is actually very good. How did the Lord of Avalon win over so many allies?

【Benefit. 】

Seeing Rand's doubts, the Spider Queen took a deep breath to prepare for the third phase of the next clinical experiment, and answered the Martian genius's doubts, just to relieve her own boredom: This is the Emperor's private experiment. The chamber was built entirely for experimentation, and staying here for too long would be depressing even for the Primarch's mind.

"Benefit?"

Instinctively, Rand chewed the word, and his brows furrowed: it was not that Rand didn't understand the word, on the contrary, he understood it too well. All actions of the Mechanicus were motivated by faith or belief. Interest, but if it is pure interest, it is absolutely impossible to establish a behemoth like an industrial complex.

[Because the benefits are not enough. 】

Morgan smiled: Rand's doubts were like a mirror in front of her.

[Do you know how rich I am? Lord Rand? 】

"Well, for the original body..."

[Okay, let’s put it another way. 】

Morgan blinked.

[Do you know what the size of the Far Eastern Frontier that I developed in accordance with the emperor's orders and completely listened to my orders now has? 】

"……have no idea."

[Then let me briefly describe it. 】

The Lord of Avalon spread out a hand, her voice was extremely proud.

[If the five hundred worlds of Ultramar are used as the standard, my Far Eastern Frontier now has about three hundred and fifty worlds. With these worlds as radiation centers, it can also directly or indirectly control tens of thousands of raw material worlds. , the military world, and the colonial world. 】

[In other words, in terms of volume alone, the current volume of the Far Eastern Border is about 40% of Ultramar: Although my territory is even larger than Guilliman's, many places in it are very The desolation is far less than the historical wealth of Ultramar, so the size is actually not that big. 】

[Furthermore, three hundred and fifty worlds is indeed my current expansion limit. In the future, I will not plan to expand the borders of the Far East on a large scale: this is probably the limit of Terra's tolerance. 】

[However, despite this, judging from the current population growth and the prosperity of those emerging worlds, even if I concentrate on the internal affairs construction of the Far Eastern frontier without large-scale expansion, then at the latest fifty After the TEDA Standard Year, the Far Eastern Frontier also became a veritable Four Hundred Worlds: if it were a century later, it would not be impossible for it to become the second Five Hundred Worlds in the eastern part of the Galaxy. 】

[So, you should know now, Lord Rand. 】

The original body lazily took off his sweaty gloves, threw them aside, and then picked up a new pair.

[I am very rich, very rich. Looking at the entire human empire, the supplies and orders I can produce are among the best, probably second only to Terra and Macragge: Therefore, the interests I talk about are the same as those mentioned by others. The interests are incomparable. 】

Rand listened quietly, and he actually heard a hint of heroism in the original body's words.

[So, my method of winning over allies is actually very simple. Rand: Since you Mars has begun to secretly study the Far East Industrial Complex, you should know the original purpose of establishing this alliance, right? 】

"certainly."

The genius from Mars nodded.

"This consortium was originally formed because with the rapid expansion of the Far East border, the demand for military and civilian industrial products gradually expanded to an astronomical figure, an astronomical figure that Reza could not satisfy even if he devoted all his productivity. number."

"In this case, Reza chose to sit down with various small forging worlds in the Far Eastern Frontier to discuss cooperation and jointly discuss the distribution of orders to the Far Eastern Frontier: after several years of this kind of business talks, it naturally evolved into Cooperation in other areas eventually led to the current industrial consortium.”

Rand told all this from the perspective of a standard outsider, but his eyes looked at the Primarch without fear: The genius of Mars knew very well that although the Primarch put the Primarch in the story of the establishment of the Industrial Complex, He picked it very cleanly, but without the help of Morgan, Reza would never have been able to do all this. Otherwise, the [Forge of Binding Stars], which aims to replace Mars, would have already begun to unite with the foundry in the eastern part of the Galaxy. The world is over, why wait until now?

but……

"Mr. Morgan, given your position in the industrial complex, you are only the honorary vice chairman and the largest investment shareholder. Mars can't find a formal reason to criticize: and I remember that Reza's technical saint is the honorary chairman, and the other is The Primarchs of the two legions, Guilliman and Konrad are the second and third largest shareholders respectively, you have indeed gained a lot of power."

【yes. 】

Morgan nodded. She was not afraid to point out her identity, because any political move taken by the Spider Queen would abide by an eternal principle: no matter what role she played in these activities, on the surface, She will always abide by the laws of the Empire, so that no one can catch her, and the identity of the Primarch ensures that Morgan can ignore those accusations that are simply untenable.

[You know, the reason why I can win over so many forging worlds is contained in the story of the establishment of this industrial complex. 】

The Lord of Avalon's fingers slowly drew circles in the air.

[As a member of Mars, I think you should know very well what kind of terrifying power it will be if Reza's production capacity is fully utilized: But even so, the huge size, rich resources and strong demand of the Far East border can still make Ryza had to spit out some of the profits to cooperate with other forge worlds, because it really couldn't eat the profits I fed it. 】

Can't eat...

Rand sighed silently.

What a blissful agony.

[Now, do you understand? 】

Morgan continued to laugh.

[This is my profit strategy: with my Far Eastern border at my back, I can give any forging world huge orders and huge amounts of wealth that they can’t even imagine, and I can also easily drain them dry with these generous offers. All productivity, and when the vast majority of their production lines have become to serve the Far Eastern Frontier, even if they want to decouple from me, the huge sunk costs will prevent them from doing so. 】

[What's more, I have always been generous to my allies: they have no reason to break away from me. On the contrary, their own favorable situation will attract more and more potential friends to me, and the Far Eastern Frontier The huge demand itself prevents the fight among these allies for food, allowing my industrial complex to expand like a snowball. 】

[Then, when I brought the Five Hundred Worlds and the entire Nostramo region into this system: To be honest, even the output of the industrial complex is not enough to supply those hundreds of thousands or even millions. There are thousands of emerging worlds that are prospering and developing. 】

[Make the cake so big that everyone can eat it and their mouths will be full of oil. This is my magic weapon to win over allies: economy, friends, in this crazy galaxy, in this glorious great expedition, economy It is a small problem that is ignored by everyone, but when a good economic system starts to operate, no matter how many conflicts and disputes there are, they can be diluted or even melted by the ever-expanding cake. 】

[As long as the Far Eastern Frontier can maintain peace under my protection, it will continue to prosper and grow. As long as the population of the Far Eastern Frontier continues to grow, the world continues to be colonized, and production needs continue to increase, it will naturally drive more orders. And Fortune: The various forging worlds of the industrial complex can naturally sit down calmly and continue their close cooperation with each other. 】

[As their ally, although I have given them a lot, I can gain more from other places, and I will not break our friendship because of these more gains: because what I give them is already their own. The demand has reached the upper limit and even exceeded it. 】

"I don't doubt that."

Rand nodded.

He knew that what the Lord of Avalon said was absolutely correct: what's more, what Morgan just said. In fact, it was the second and main reason why Firestar hated her.

As an ally of the Forge World, the Spider Queen was everything any Forge World Lord could dream of being: watching Morgan become an ally to a rival was almost more painful than killing Firestar.

Look at Reza. After working with Morgan for twenty-five years, this [Forge of Binding Stars] has already gone from being the leading forging world in the Maelstrom area to becoming the leader of all forging worlds in the entire Eastern Galaxy. Even the daily swear words they send to Mars have become much more emboldened.

This confidence is due to the fact that in the past twenty-five years, Reza has increased market orders dozens of times like a racing car, expanded the world of raw materials more than ten times, and has begun to gradually penetrate the huge influence of the entire Far Eastern Star Territory.

"The generous terms you gave Reza even caused a storm of public opinion on Mars."

Rand's tone was a little sour.

"We heard about the hunt in Ulan Huda, which would be a great event for any forge world, even Mars: I heard that Reza's share of the profits in that incident At most, they have even begun to research their own planet-class warship propulsion system."

[That’s not the most. 】

The original body raised the corners of his lips.

[You know, Rand, I once participated in the Galactic Northwest, an expedition that has been erased from the history books: Ryza's warmongering Titan Corps actually participated, and they joined that expedition in my name. expedition, and lost about 40% of the entire Titan Legion during the expedition, but they still refused to retreat. 】

[Do you know what kind of compensation I gave Reza later? 】

The original body was sharpening her knife and preparing for the third stage of the clinical experiment, while Rand beside her took the pen and paper, his brows twitching: he had a premonition that there would be a series of events that would make him jealous. The data.

Morgan began.

[I gave Riza a Glory Queen-class battleship. That battleship is loaded with secret technologies from all over the galaxy. Every item is something that the empire has never owned. Riza has a lot of time to "rebuild" it. it. 】

"hiss……"

[In addition, I also gave Reza more raw material worlds. The raw materials in those worlds only need a few years of mining to help Reza build another militant army: Their technical saints even swore, From now on, except for the most basic guard force, the entire militant army will be under my full command. 】

"...Gulu..."

[After that, it’s actually just some scattered things, such as in this operation of Nuceria. I have harvested about twenty kinds of new technologies on Nuceria, all of which are not available in the empire. Their drawings and finished products are now on the ship and are about to arrive in Reza: I heard that they have built a new one Fifteen new large warehouses were built to store the small gifts like this that I have given them over the years. 】

"..."

Rand was silent.

He was silent for a long time.

"……I think……"

The genius of Mars opened his mouth and couldn't help but lick his dry lips.

"I finally understand one thing, Mr. Morgan."

"I finally understand why those fanatical Flame-blood sect lunatics on Reza recorded their close cooperation with Avalon in their most sacred sect tome."

"..."

"Seriously, Mr. Morgan."

"Don't you really think about cooperating with the true orthodox Mars of the Mechanicum?"

【Mars? 】

Morgan smiled.

[If I remember correctly, your founding general from Mars once declared me in public as the... great heretic who assisted the heretical world of Reza. 】

[I am the leader of the heretics in your Mars mouth, Morgan. 】

"It's okay, sir."

Rand narrowed his eyes.

"As long as you are willing, transfer the terms of cooperation with Reza to Mars, and attach the conditions you mentioned: I believe our Founder General will be happy to announce it to the entire Mars early tomorrow morning."

"From now on..."

"He became a heretic."