The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Facing Soshjan's question, Zorg patiently replied:

"Perhaps there is, but it's not important."

"Why?"

"It's simple, it's the conditions you offered before. Everything is free during the immigration process, from food and lodging to medical care. There are no taxes for twenty years after settling down, and lifelong exemption from military service. Each person and household also receives a settlement allowance. Chapter Master, you may not know, the Department of the Interior's immigration may be free, but the food and accommodation during the immigration process are charged. Many people are forcibly immigrated, and as a result, they float in space for two years, directly going bankrupt and owing a debt to the Department of the Interior. In the end, they have to repay it with decades of work. Sometimes, the needs of Imperial citizens are really simple: to be able to satisfy basic food and clothing, to be able to raise children, that's enough. If they can avoid being involved in any war in their lifetime, then they are very happy."

"With such a large-scale population transfer, are there any members of the Department of Justice or the Inquisition investigating?"

Zorg shook his head.

"Inquisitors don't care about such things, their eyes are fixed on terrifying threats, heretics, demons, etc. The enforcers of the Department of Justice are happily beating the 'underhive scum' in their mouths with shock batons. A dozen billion people disappeared in the vast Maelstrom, no one cares. Chapter Master, do you know how many unnatural deaths occur every day in the hive city under your feet, from the underhive to the upperhive? About 150,000, every day, and that's what can be counted. In addition, the Maelstrom itself is a place with very frequent population movement, and a dozen billion immigrants are like clouds of smoke that no one cares about."

Soshjan raised an eyebrow and said nothing, just letting Zorg continue.

"The second batch of immigrants numbered 1.5 billion, with the same population ratio as the first batch. The third batch was 1.8 billion, with a relatively higher proportion of agricultural, forestry, and animal husbandry population, reaching 30%."

"According to the plan, these three batches of immigrants will all be settled on Three Lands Port Star. The Mechanicus adepts of Ulan Huda have been building there for some time, but having a place to live is not enough."

"Don't worry, starting in 963.M41, I have successively transferred more than 20.9 billion tons of various foods and 22.7 billion tons of various daily necessities there."

"Well, building a new colony is a job with huge initial investment but little return, but the Chapter must do so if it wants to develop in the future. The descendants of these high-quality populations will become excellent reserve recruits for the Chapter and the source of mortal troops. How is the preparation for the last batch of immigrants going?"

"It is being transferred and transported in batches, and it will probably take another 5-7 months."

"Very good."

"Chapter Master, there is one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Also thanks to you, since I established the Gray Fox Group, business in all aspects has been smooth, especially after undertaking part of the Expeditionary Force's logistics and the trade general manager position of the Hoyland family, the business has expanded dozens of times, and I have also accumulated some wealth. In addition to being used to maintain all aspects of business, I am willing to dedicate most of it to the Chapter."

Money, to be honest, as an Astartes Chapter Master, Soshjan basically has no concept of it. After all, even the most ordinary Chimera transport vehicle may be worth the labor value of thousands of households for decades. Military equipment itself is one of the most expensive asset types in the Imperium.

However, Zorg's heart was still very satisfying to him.

So Soshjan smiled and refused:

"I accept your intention, but there is no need for those gold and treasures. As long as you maintain the trade routes to Ulan Huda and Naysen IV, you will have contributed enough to the Chapter, especially Ulan Huda. After expanding the dockyard, there are now 13 ships under construction and 4 ships waiting to be built. The demand for resources is very large, and semi-finished materials must also be provided for the dockyard on Naysen IV, where there are also six ships under construction."

"Don't worry, just last year, there were 101 transport ships sent to Ulan Huda, with about 31.4 billion tons of rare minerals alone, and more than 500 billion tons of conventional minerals. Of course, hundreds of billions of tons of weapons, ammunition, and chemical reagent raw materials were also exchanged back. Through transaction and distribution, there is actually a profit to be made."

"Chemical reagents"

Soshjan wanted to say something, but in the end, he couldn't say it. This kind of thing has a wide range of uses. If it's good, it can be made into various cheap medicines to provide the most basic medical care for the underhive and lower hive residents. If it's bad, then it's...

But what could he say?

After all, even the Department of Munitorum would provide soldiers with "combat stimulants."

"Chapter Master, what I want to dedicate to the Chapter is not gold and silver jewelry, but palladium."

"Palladium?"

Soshjan knew about this. It was considered a relatively common "currency" in the Maelstrom. The lady from the Claremont family had also introduced it before. Their merchant families often used this metal for large transactions.

Its main characteristics are high purity, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance. It also has good ductility. It is also a necessary material for the Mechanicus to manufacture precision resistors and catalysts. It also has great uses in the biological field and is a necessity for making high-level wetware. The Maelstrom is one of the Imperium's main palladium producing areas. For example, there are several asteroids in the Bloody Bones star system that are rich in palladium. The Badab Sector and the Croman Drift also have several palladium-rich producing areas. For foundries like Ryza and Ulan Huda, including the Votann League, the main demand in the Maelstrom is also palladium.

In other words, this metal can basically be traded to any forge world.

"How much?"

"Nine hundred million tons."

"Hmm"

This number was indeed quite surprising to Soshjan. Although he didn't care much about economics and business, he knew from previous communications with the squats that the entire Greater Thurian League only obtained 100 million tons of palladium from the Maelstrom in a standard galactic year, and the entire Claremont family only handled 600 million tons of palladium in a standard Terra year.

On the other hand, it can be seen that Zorg's business is by no means ordinary "good."

900 million tons of palladium, I wonder if it can buy a Warhound Titan, or a cruiser?

Various whimsical ideas flashed through Soshjan's mind, but in the end, he blurted out.

"How did you earn it?"

Zorg coughed lightly, and then replied:

"Returning to the Chapter Master, it was mainly through the annexation of the Red Corsairs' businesses. Although many of their industries and storage were seized by the Department of Justice, there were also many who slipped through the net. In addition, there were some projects in cooperation with Imperial departments. Also, in cooperation with the Claremont family, some business on military tickets was carried out, etc."

Soshjan didn't bother to ask further. Some things are better left unseen. Although this is a bit hypocritical and an ostrich mentality, what could he do if he asked for a reason? Zorg is doing very well, and he is also following the most simple, most direct, and operational set of rules of the Imperium for ten thousand years.