The steward hesitated for a moment, and finally, under the gaze of the Space Marines, he tremblingly revealed the matter.
"Sir, there have been no new qualified workers here for three months. The people who came off the transport ship are all women, children, sick and disabled. We, we have nothing to do -"
With that said, the Controller handed the data pad to the Space Marine.
"Accidents caused by unqualified workers have also increased sharply recently. We have tried our best..."
The results only lasted for a minute. Ustad immediately closed the data pad worriedly, then turned to the foreman and said:
"On behalf of the battle group, I would like to thank you for your efforts. This situation will not continue, I promise."
"Sir, yes, with your words, we can rest assured."
After obtaining the data he wanted, Ustad quickly returned to the Chapter Monastery.
At this moment, Soshyan was also busy in the chapter leader's room.
"If necessary, the Eighth Legion's gene seeds can be used to form a secret company."
Soshyan examined the message that Brother Said left before entering hibernation.
This idea must be said to be too bold, and the Astral Knight, who is already on the edge of heresy, can almost be completely characterized as a traitor, but he knows that this is due to practical considerations.
After all, they were more than a hundred precious gene seeds, and they were genetic seeds that had been strictly inspected and confirmed not to have been contaminated in any way.
Although Valier is a damned heretic and traitor, it must be said that his skills in preserving and processing gene seeds are first-rate, much better than any pharmacist Soshyan currently has.
But he must also assess the risks of doing so.
Soshyan turned the pen in his hand and fell into deep thought.
"Let's wait and see."
It was difficult to make a decision for a while, so he planned to postpone the matter for now.
Another thing is to hire professional explorers to find the planet Talos described - there are countless worlds in the empire, many of which have similar characteristics, so professionals are needed to find them.
After handling this matter, Soshyan, who was not wearing armor, sat back on the chair and let his body relax for a moment.
But on the desktop, there are still mountains of case files and approvals waiting for him to read them one by one and write down his opinions.
So he only allowed himself to relax for ten seconds, and then picked up the pen again.
The room was very quiet, and through the two huge dark glass windows behind it, one could see the soldiers gathering in the open-air training ground outside.
They were conducting tactical coordination training, and Soshyan wanted to see it in person.
But there are so many things at the moment that Soshyan can only be forced to do work that he is not very good at.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and then the servant's voice came from the brass trumpet.
"Your Excellency, Chapter Master, Captain Ustad has requested a meeting."
"Let him in."
Thirty seconds later, there was a knock on the room door.
"Come in."
The door was pushed open, and Ustad strode in, then stopped one meter in front of the desk, put his legs together, and saluted a standard military salute.
"Report to Chapter Commander, Second Company Commander, Ustad, that we have completed the task you assigned, went to the star port to build the shipyard, and learned about the reasons and details for the delay in progress. This is the data I got, and what I have
The report is also inside."
After speaking, he handed a data pad to the table.
"Thanks a lot."
Soshyan smiled at him, then leaned out to take the data pad into his hand and activated it.
Ten seconds later, the smile on his face disappeared.
Five minutes later, he put the data pad on the table and leaned back, looking very frustrated.
"It seems the problem is with us."
Ustad still stood upright.
"You did a great job. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to understand that things had reached this point."
Soshyan forced a smile and waved.
"Let's go back to the company first."
"yes."
After Ustad left, Soshyan let out a long sigh, covered his eyes with his right hand, tilted his head back, and leaned on the back of the chair.
In fact, the data and reports collected by Ustad can be summed up in one sentence——
The rapidly growing Astral Knights Chapter is about to drain this planet dry.
Soshyan had already had a premonition about this very early. Nessun 4 was his home, and he knew it very well. Although this planet has a long history, it is by no means the kind of world with very developed productivity - just look at it.
You know the natural environment.
The planetary governors of the past generations did not aim to vigorously develop industry, and the planet does not have many minerals locally. The main trading products of Nessen 4 are mostly small commodities, such as the textile industry, which is the main economic pillar.
As a military organization, the Astral Knights' demand for materials and manpower is naturally boundless. It would be fine if it were a normal full-scale war group, as it would not put huge pressure on the planet in a short period of time.
But the current Astral Knights are a broken and recovering battle group. A recovering patient naturally needs much more than a normal person.
To make an inappropriate metaphor, the Astral Knight is an injured warrior lying on a cow, squeezing the milk, cutting the meat with a knife, and eating the meat to restore strength and wounds.
The materials needed to maintain a war group and to rebuild a war group are completely different in magnitude.
A long time ago, the Planet Governor had hinted to Soshyan that in order to supply the war group, he had repeatedly raised taxes on civilians and nobles.
Moreover, many of the Adeptus Astartes' daily supplies and equipment maintenance materials required by Nessen IV cannot be produced at all, and must be imported from other planets and foundries at high prices. This has led to the near collapse of the planet's original trading system, and a large deficit has reduced the government's finances.
The deficit keeps soaring.
But this is not the end. If it were a normal home planet for the war group, Nessen 4 would not have such a big burden - according to common practice, a normal colony planet is enough to support a war group.
According to imperial law, once a world becomes a Chapter's home planet, it will receive special tax exemption rights and be exempted from all tithes.
The key is that although in fact, Nessin IV became the home planet of the Astral Knights Chapter, the Astral Knights were removed from the Terra Council long ago, and they are no longer in the active chapter's records.
Naturally, it is impossible to apply for special tax exemption rights.
This means that the people of Nessen IV have to bear imperial taxes and support the war group at the same time.
Ustad's report shows that the planetary government has not even been able to collect the large number of qualified workers needed by the shipyard, and can only use women and teenagers between twelve and fifteen years old to make up the numbers!
In this case, even if the working hours are increased, the progress will inevitably slow down.
Not only that, because the planet's taxes have increased again and again, the trade deficit has become larger and larger, and the government's financial redness has continued to rise, causing the rations that can be provided to workers to decrease instead of increasing!
Ustad transferred the ration quotas for shipyard workers before the arrival of the Astral Knights, and found that the current ration quotas were nearly 40% less than before.
Many workers died due to hunger and fatigue, which also led to many accidents and more serious casualties.
Moreover, he also investigated the death of some child laborers, which was extremely shocking.
The manpower and material resources of Nessen-4 have been pushed to the limit.
Even if the Starport Shipyard is like this, Soshyan dare not imagine what the surface of the planet looks like.
"What have I done..."
Soshyan, who covered his eyes, muttered in pain.
The photos of children who were injured and disabled, the sad faces of women who lost their husbands, the numb and desperate expressions of workers... all of them were like sharp knives piercing Soshiyang's heart.
As the Chapter Leader, he naturally hopes that the Chapter will recover as soon as possible, because this is his responsibility.
But this is also his hometown, and he never wants to see his beautiful home in the past turn into a hell on earth.
Soshyan began to reflect, and he realized that he was too impatient. Many things that took twenty, thirty, or even fifty years to complete, he wanted to complete within three to five years.
Such a leap forward came at the cost of layers and layers of corpses of the people back home.
After about ten minutes of silence, Soshyan put down his hand, straightened up, picked up the data pad on the table, and wrote down a series of commands.
"All battleships with less than 70% construction progress have been suspended, the collection of materials has been suspended, the recruitment of mortal auxiliary forces has been suspended, the armory has been maintained at a minimum combat readiness level, all exercises that have not entered the execution stage have been cancelled, and the ration quota for mortal servants and auxiliary forces has been reduced by one-third.
, distribute excess rations to workers as remuneration for overtime work, and all those who are disabled due to work are accepted into the Chapter monastery as servants and only engage in low-intensity labor..."
After writing this, Soshyan almost collapsed in his chair. He realized that the Astral Knights must have a more stable source of supplies.