Although Diefend only brought three hundred Astarte warriors with him, these warriors were the elite of his Guardian Warband. It is a bit inaccurate to describe them as one enemy and one hundred.

The Empire has trillions of Astral Army soldiers, but only a million Astarte warriors. The Astartes are not consumables like the Astral Army, but - high-level consumables.

If the Astral Army is the currency of the Emperor, then the Astartes are the large denominations. Only those expensive, outstanding, extraordinary "goods" are worthy of the use of these precious Astartes.

Astarte tends to be seen on the most dangerous battlefields of the Empire. As a planetary defender, if you're lucky enough to get the help of the Imperial Astral Army, you'll have a good chance of surviving the battlefield. But if the support you're waiting for is Astarte, then keep your dog tag in your mouth so as not to cause trouble for your comrades cleaning up the battlefield.

The appearance of the Astartes often means that the most terrifying and powerful enemies in the stars will appear on the battlefield. In the face of these enemies, the Astartes will also be thrown into the meat grinder of the brutal war as consumables, just like ordinary astral troops. On such a battlefield, the casualty rate of ordinary soldiers will be as high as 70~80%.

Originally, such cultist attacks and planetary governors rebelled as commonplace, but they were not worth the Astartes' action, and these were usually the tasks of the Astral Army.

If an Astarte warband happens to be stationed nearby, or if a passing Astarte ship receives a call for help, some warband that is willing to help ordinary people may send a team or two to solve the problem. But it is not usually like the Guardian Warband, where Astarte with three companies crosses the star sector to support.

The Empire's War Department compares the actual threat faced by each world with a defined threat level - if the threat is deemed large enough, it transmits threat information to the entire sector and mobilizes forces from the surrounding worlds; If the threat increases further, more worlds and even trans-stellar forces will be mobilized.

However, the process was notoriously slow and inefficient due to the size and breadth of the empire and the corruption and inefficiency of the imperial bureaucracy. Requests for assistance may not be implemented for months, years, or even decades. As a result, rescue fleets often arrive to find that the planet they were sent to aid has long been destroyed.

If it weren't for Sivir's summons, it might have been decades before the War Department could find out about Helion's situation in the flood of news coming from all over the empire.

Then, after decades of waiting, after the War Department had dealt with the backlog of tasks ahead, it began to solve the problem of Helion. Then, after decades of registration, review, investigation, project initiation, and discussion, a result is determined. But that's not the end of it, the Ministry of Military Affairs mainly manages the Astral Army and its logistics. The remaining issues are subject to consultation with other departments.

There was a rebellion in Helion, what about the tithes that should be paid for so many years? Someone didn't pay their taxes! The Home Office said I was going to reconcile the accounts and discuss how to get the taxes back all these years.

What! The rebellion was caused by an evil Chaos Faith, and my Inquisition cannot sit idly by. This is no ordinary rebellion, and it must be dealt with a heavy blow! I will send the Inquisitors, and if necessary, the Grey Knights, to come and consult with me.

The legal department can't sit still, what about my legal officer? Shouldn't they oversee those planetary governors paying tithes on time and preventing them from rebelling? Oh, it turns out that the cultists and traitors have taken the stronghold of the Ministry of Justice as their first target, and the law officers have all been killed. Okay, no surprises. But I'm going to send a new jurisprudence to Helion and establish a new base. You wait for me to discuss it internally.

Admiral the Supreme Lord of the Imperial Navy said, "The transportation of your Astral Army, the dispatch of inquisitors and legal officers, and the collection of tithes are all inseparable from our naval ships, so why don't you notify me?" Recently, there are no ships to spare, and everyone's tasks are full, so I'll find you a few ships when I have time.

Well? Your Inquisition and the Ministry of Justice have their own ships, so you don't need to transport them from my navy? Then go on your own. What? You haven't discussed the results yet, so you can continue to discuss it, and when you're done discussing it, tell us about it. We, the Navy, will discuss and discuss again.

The state religion can't sit still at this time, don't you call me when you engage in political power struggles. Looking down on our country's ability to fight for power and profit? Our religion also has to play this political game. Then the state religion said that if there was a rebellion, it must be that everyone did not believe in the god emperor in their hearts, and if their hearts were filled with the god emperor, those evil beliefs would not be able to enter. Our religion must send missionaries to Hyleon to spread the glory of the Emperor.

This is the case with the current rulers of the Human Empire, where twelve high lords are vying for power all day long, and even the most important news will be used by them as a bargaining chip to increase their influence. It doesn't matter if the problem is solved or not, it is important whether you benefit from solving the problem.

The territory of the empire is too great for the cries of those distant imperial subjects to reach the ears of these high lords. Even if it is hundreds of millions, billions, or even tens of billions of imperial subjects, they may not be as important to the high lords as the servants who serve them. After all, the death of tens of billions of imperial citizens will not affect their enjoyment, but if there is no servant, do you want the noble lord to dress and eat by himself?

The High Lords were all selected from the elite of the Empire, and they were all good at playing politics. They are arguably the smartest men in the Empire, and under the leadership of the Emperor, Machado, or the Primordials, they are efficient and action-packed.

However, once they lose their unified leadership, they often only consider the gains and losses of the departments they lead when considering things, and they choose to plant the party for personal gain, and it is difficult for them to reach a consensus on a certain issue. It is often after many rounds of open and secret battles that a government decree is stumbling to be promulgated.

Introductory infighting, outwardly fighting amateurs, is talking about the gang of high lords. During the Beast War, the orcs battle moon had all opened to Terra's face, and the High Lords were still fighting each other, each with their own ghosts. In particular, the Mecha Sect, in order to study orc technology, disregarded Terra's safety, and even had a brief but ferocious exchange of fire with the Archaon Fist warband who came to investigate.

In the end, the Assassin's Court Grand Mentor Vangelic couldn't bear it anymore, and Lin Bei couldn't bear it anymore. He was fed up with the incompetence of the High Lords. Said that since you can't do it, then I'll do it. He assassinated almost all the High Lords, placed puppets in their place, and controlled the entire empire behind the scenes.

Following the fall of Killiman, the empire finally reappeared with someone who held all the power. Efficient and responsive, the old machine of the empire is running fast again as if it had been reoiled. He strengthened Terra's defenses, partially crushed the Beast Tide, carried out the fourth Astarte army, and rebuilt the Empire's military power.

But the good times were short-lived, and Wangerich was eventually overwhelmed by the heavy government work and became insane and ruthless. After Vangelich was killed by the Space Marines, the Ultramarines' Warband Leader re-established the High Lords' Council.

The empire is back to its original state, slow, inefficient, and twilight.

At present, most of the Empire's military power is actually used to counter rebellions, and countless rebellions involve most of the Empire's energy. But in the eyes of the rebellious planetary governors, the Empire is not a worthy object of allegiance. Not once did the tax be paid, but not once did the support come. Rebellions are frequent, and the high lord has an unshirkable responsibility.

Not only ordinary people of the empire, but even the Astartes, who did not care much about politics, had long heard of what the High Lords had done, and many warbands had long been dissatisfied with the High Lords.

If there was a better choice, they would never let the High Lord continue to sit on their heads, which is why when Sivir appeared and showed his excellent ability to lead the Empire, most of the warbands they approached were willing to help him take control of the Empire. The few who don't want to participate won't send a message to the high lord.

The Astartes were undoubtedly loyal to the Emperor and loyal to the Empire, but they were never loyal to the High Lords. Except for a few Minotaurs.

The empire is now deeply damaged, and it will not be broken or established! In the eyes of warbands such as the Fire Barrier, the Bonebreaker, and the Guardians, a bold brain replacement surgery for the Empire may be a bit painful, but it is far better than the current slow death. If the operation is successful, the empire will regain its vitality.

The full power of the Empire will be united in its will to sweep away those galactic threats to humanity. That's what the whole empire expects - a strong ruler!