The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2735: Military Settlement Worlds

Upon returning, the first thing Sotha Nul did was summon all companies of the Star Phantoms back to the Brakato System. Two years had passed since he left Naysan IV, and the companies must have completed their missions. It was time to hold a legion meeting he had been planning for a long time.

While waiting for the companies to return, Sotha Nul began to handle other matters, such as meeting with Bangula to discuss his 'Grave Robber' project. He also handed over some Necron devices and weapons to Ulan Huda, as well as the sages and priests who assisted in the expedition, as a reward to the forge world that had always supported the Chapter.

Bangula wholeheartedly supported Sotha Nul's decision and gathered all the xenology sages and those interested in studying Necron technology on the forge world. Soon, numerous research labs began construction on the tomb ship, which was named 'Grave Robber'.

The second matter was to send invitations to various forge worlds to hold the second auction. It should have been held long ago, but it was delayed for several years due to the Great Maelstrom expedition. The Chapter had accumulated a lot of things during this time, including some spoils from the Maelstrom and the Necron relics obtained recently. These needed to be converted into strength as soon as possible—Sotha Nul was not a miser. Useless wealth piled up in the warehouse was worthless. Warships, armaments, and even production lines were truly valuable to him.

However, it would take some time for the news to reach the various forge worlds and for them to send representatives. After all, information transmission was too slow, and a round trip could take a year or two. Sotha Nul only started the auction after confirming that there was nothing else to do. After all, in another two years, he would have to take over Alaric's position as the leader of the Covenant of Ruin and would not be running around for the time being. The location of the auction this time was chosen at the orbital station of Naysan V, and after it was over, he would go directly to the Scar of Victory.

The rest were some trivial matters, such as the recruitment of the White Templars, the repair of damaged ships, pointing out some command and tactical issues in the combat reports of the various company commanders, and conducting tactical simulation training against the Necrons.

In addition to this, there were the management affairs of the Brakato System. Pasargadae was a knight world and did not need to be managed. Ramdom was already a recruitment world for the White Templars and should maintain its original state. Drozod was also a recruitment world for the Star Phantoms' various companies, including the Saber Company and the Eleventh Company, so no major changes were needed. Therefore, the ones that Sotha Nul needed to manage personally were Yazd, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, and Susa, these five immigrant worlds. Parallel to the administrative management was the reform and adjustment of the mortal auxiliary army.

The social structure formulated by the Many Minds Collective had gradually spread across the five planets over the past two years. One advantage of immigrant worlds was that they were easy to manage. No deeply rooted interest groups had yet formed on the planets, and the residents were relatively scattered, making them suitable for planning and adjustment. However, the reform had not yet been completed. The underlying structure and order had been established, but the upper layer had not.

Taking Yazd as an example, according to the design of the Many Minds Collective, a total of 212 regiments were formed, with a total population of about 12 million. Fifty-five brigades and 18 divisions were set up on top of them. Relying on the early investment and the mechanical equipment assistance provided by Ulan Huda, basic agriculture, industry, and commerce had been established, but the development of each division and even each regiment was not coordinated, and localism began to emerge. Divisions often had conflicts over water sources and boundary divisions. Although no conflicts had broken out, all kinds of complaints and accusations had filled Sotha Nul's office in Avesta.

This was because the planet had not established a unified management agency.

Not only Yazd, but Ahvaz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, and Susa also had such situations. Moreover, Ulan Huda's mechanical agents had reported a considerable proportion of division and regimental-level personnel being corrupt, engaging in bribery, and secretly cultivating personal power. These people were basically officers who had established military merits in the Great Maelstrom expedition and did not intend to serve in the Imperial Guard. Sotha Nul also sympathized with their merits in fighting on the battlefield.

Sotha Nul could only sigh at this. There were many things that could not be said. A brave warrior might also turn into a greedy parasite after being at ease, which was obviously not related to the Warp.

So he immediately appointed legion commanders for the five worlds, who were also the planetary governors. These five worlds also had a unique name—military settlement worlds. This was an ancient system title that Sotha Nul found in the history books, because the positioning of these five worlds was different from the fortress worlds of the Imperium. Fortress worlds only provided military functions and often needed other worlds to transport resources to support them, while these five worlds had to undertake military functions, support and develop themselves, and even provide certain outputs.

Military settlement, these two words were the most suitable.

Then, Sotha Nul made personnel adjustments according to his ideas. The governor of Yazd was Wang Rajic, the Second Company Commander of the White Templars, the governor of Ahvaz was Balez, the Third Company Commander of the White Templars, the governor of Shiraz was Mithridates, the Seventh Company Commander of the White Templars, the governor of Kermanshah was Orodes, the Eighth Company Commander, and the governor of Susa was Surena, the Ninth Company Commander. At the same time, administrative power was drawn from the White Templars' Chapter serfs and Ulan Huda to form planetary management agencies, especially to form an anti-corruption bureau. These people were all composed of cold mechanical cult enforcers. The first thing they did when they came up was to arrest a batch and kill a batch, but they did not engage in implicating relatives. Sotha Nul almost copied the laws of the Naysan System here, including the education and public affairs system.

Of course, since militarized management was carried out, it would naturally become a part of the Chapter's military power. The past Chapter auxiliary forces would be expanded into the Chapter auxiliary army. Therefore, the residents of these five worlds would also have to bear military service and form new Vashti and Pushtiban. Each world had to provide 80-50 regiments of Vashti and 30-10 regiments of Pushtiban, and this data was only current. Sotha Nul's future expectation was to strive for each world to provide 300 regiments. According to the Vashti standard of about 3,000 people per regiment, it was equivalent to one world providing about 1 million soldiers who could be expeditionary, and five worlds were 5 million. Cooperating with the sporadic troops provided by other worlds in the system, there would probably be six or seven million soldiers. Cooperating with the source of troops in the Naysan System, the entire Chapter auxiliary army should have a scale of about 20 million.

Although it seemed insignificant compared to the scale of the Imperial Guard, considering the equipment level of Vashti and Pushtiban, it was completely enough to fight a large-scale battle alone with the Astartes. Unrestricted expansion of military power would put too much pressure on the civilians.

Soon, a large-scale recruitment campaign was launched on several worlds.