The Emperor’s Angel of Death

In addition to announcing a series of future plans and the establishment of new institutions, Shoshyen also held several large-scale meetings in the Governor's Spire on Nayshan V, convening representatives from all aspects of the hive city to consult and discuss how to ensure the basic survival, health, and job allocation of the city's residents.

Although he announced so many beneficial measures, Shoshyen was never a blind idealist. He was well aware that the price a manager pays for being a 'benevolent person' is often extremely heavy. In fact, the planet's bishop subtly advised him, telling Shoshyen that the Ecclesiarchy has always been involved in disaster relief for the common people (though Shoshyen was quite skeptical of this), and that even on a periodic basis, it still requires an extremely large expenditure.

It's not just a few million soldiers eating military rations; it's tens of billions of mouths to feed. Even if you temporarily satisfy them, they will only demand more in the future, and once there is a reduction or termination, they will become even more angry and more violent than before.

The Minister of the Interior also expressed similar views. He spoke to Shoshyen from a management perspective, sharing many of his principles—such as that only by keeping the common people in a state of semi-starvation can they be better managed, only by depriving them of the ability to resist can they be more easily suppressed when something goes wrong, and only by making them numb through heavy labor will they not engage in wishful thinking.

Some 'clever' nobles even suggested that Shoshyen not waste precious food and supplies, but instead appropriately increase the supply of alcohol or addictive drugs to the common people, allowing them to occasionally enjoy the 'Emperor's grace' in their short lives.

Shoshyen was not surprised by these remarks. In the Imperium, the difference between people is often greater than the difference between people and aliens. Many of these upper-hive dwellers have not stepped outside the protective walls for more than a dozen generations. They have become accustomed to living high above the clouds and have never regarded the people below as their equals. It is only when disaster and war strike that they will try to awaken everyone's 'human spirit' and call on everyone to sacrifice themselves for the Emperor—

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Similarly, Shoshyen also elaborated on his views.

He doesn't need a scarred, slave-filled world. He needs a world with highly developed industry and cities, capable of providing a stable output of resources and a high-quality source of soldiers, and one that is also relatively stable itself. For possible military needs, it even needs to be fortified and militarized to a certain extent, requiring the integration of every individual in the hive city into the social mobilization system, and this goal is absolutely impossible to achieve with the current situation.

Shoshyen stumped them with one sentence at the time—

"I now immediately need ten million soldiers who are healthy, have steadfast faith, possess a certain level of knowledge, and can quickly learn to operate all infantry light and heavy equipment, and who need to face the most terrifying enemies, even demons, on the front lines. Are you willing to hand over your children?"

No one said a word at the time.

However, this does not mean that Shoshyen convinced them, but at least they understood the reason why Shoshyen was doing this, and that was enough.

As for what to do specifically, Shoshyen didn't expect to rely on them to say it all.

Of course, Shoshyen also understood that to turn ideas into reality, some compromises would always be necessary. When giving benefits to the common people, these upper-class people who never let go of any benefits must not be left out. It could even be said that for every bit of benefit given to the common people, they must also be given nine bits of benefit, so that they would cooperate steadily with Shoshyen's series of policies—although a batch of people would still have to be executed as a warning in the middle.

In short, to deal with these vested interests, Shoshyen still used the same approach as during the Crusade, a combination of carrot and stick.

So he also promised the upper echelons of Nayshan V that they would also obtain a portion of the resource development rights in the future star system development process. If new hive cities were established, they would also have the opportunity to take priority in holding various management positions in the hive cities. At the same time, officers in the newly formed army would also be selected from various noble academies as a priority.

This promise naturally stabilized the hearts of the upper echelons of Nayshan V, which had been uneasy due to Shoshyen's series of shocking decisions. They also understood the attitude and style of this renowned Astartes Chapter Master—not harsh but not easy to fool, and with an incomprehensible concern for the common people, but not the kind of boundless idealist.

On the second day of arriving on Nayshan V, Shoshyen summoned a group of very special and inconspicuous people—

Teachers, principals, the heads of the planetary education system, and the heads of the Ecclesiarchy.

Whether it was Nayshan IV or Nayshan V, their education systems basically inherited the most traditional model of the Imperium, on the one hand, it basically only covered the mid-hive, and on the other hand, the types and affiliations of institutions were very diverse.

Taking Nayshan V as an example, the education of the entire star system is basically divided into four parts—

First, there is the religious seminary system led by the Ecclesiarchy, which is also the most common education system in the Imperium and one of the very few that can reach the lower-hive. The Ecclesiarchy's seminaries are established on a parish basis, and the bishop of a parish usually also serves as the dean of the seminary in that area, but due to heavy religious affairs, they are usually unable to directly manage it. Therefore, the position of precentor was created. This position is usually held by a senior priest in the parish and is often regarded as a path that must be taken to climb to the position of bishop, and the precentor is the main manager of the seminary.

Due to the support of the Ecclesiarchy's strong financial resources and the drive of a strong desire to evangelize, although the lower-hive is chaotic and poor, seminaries are also established in the parishes of the lower-hive. It can be said that it is one of the very few places where ordinary hive dwellers can receive education, and the main purpose of this institution is naturally to cultivate loyal priests for the Ecclesiarchy and to continuously inject fresh blood into the bloated and huge Ecclesiarchy.

Ecclesiarchy seminaries are usually divided into two parts, the clergy school and the convent. The former mainly trains various clergy and missionaries, regardless of gender, while the latter only recruits women, mainly to train scribal nuns, medical nuns, and other non-combat nuns. The recruitment age for both is basically the same, 7-10 years old children.

In addition to religion, the Ecclesiarchy's education also teaches High Gothic, history, art, logic, and other courses. Missionaries are even taught certain natural, astronomical, and scientific knowledge. Moreover, seminaries do not charge any fees, and even food, clothing, housing, and transportation are completely covered by the Ecclesiarchy.

Of course, the price is that once you enter, you are part of the Ecclesiarchy for life, and you must endure an extremely harsh, rigid, and even abusive student life. Seminaries often make students sleep on hard bed boards without blankets to 'sharpen their faith' and can only use cold water to bathe in temperatures close to zero. Whipping is also commonplace. At the same time, mentors and matrons have absolute authority over students, and ordinary beatings and scoldings are hardly considered punishment. Some people even joked that seminaries consume the most not scripture scrolls, but whips.

Seminaries are not just educational institutions, but also religious places, and any mistake can result in very severe punishment.

But even so, it is still a place that many people yearn for, especially for the children of the lower-hive. Seminaries are basically their only, unique opportunity in life to stay away from dirty factories and labor that can drain people's lives. At least, being able to eat enough, drink clean water, and wear decent priest robes is already their ideal state of life.

But the recruitment of seminaries is also strict. Any new student must be guaranteed by a church presbyter in their street. This is not an easy task. Often, such opportunities have long been divided up by street managers or other bigwigs. After all, for families with slightly higher status, being able to send a child to a seminary also represents a very good opportunity.