In fact, at the very beginning, neither Mars, nor the casting general, nor Rand himself paid too much attention to Morgan, the newly returned imperial bloodline.

In less than sixty years after the start of the Great Expedition, fourteen primordial bodies have returned one after another, and the mysterious and mighty images of these emperor's heirs have gradually been understood by all forces of the empire: even many of the huge shortcomings of the original body itself have also been placed on the desk of the casting general.

Like Horus, the wolf shepherd god on Kthunia, the sensational return of the original has long been a thing of the past: so when Morgan, as the sixteenth returning primordial, became known to the various factions of the empire, Mars only routinely put her name on the intelligence department's key list.

According to the original development, this name will only quietly eat dust on the so-called key list: Mars, as the emperor's most important ally, generally does not have much interaction with the genetic protogen, and they are not afraid of these imperial nobles with a heavenly constitution.

…… It was like this.

It's just that just a few months after Morgan's return, when the name of the Lord of Avalon and the [Tianzi No. 1 Great Anti-Thief] within the Mechanicus Cult: Reza, appeared in the intelligence at the same time, the Casting General realized that the situation seemed to be a little different from what he imagined?

After all, as we all know, loyalty and filial piety have always been the two pillars of the human empire's livelihood, and as the other head of the empire's double-headed eagle, the human lord is nominally an important ally rather than a subordinate, the Cult of the Mechanica, especially Mars, naturally cannot get rid of these two great attributes.

So, one only needs to look at the family relationship between the Lord of Humanity and the Genetic Prototype to deduce the relationship between Mars and the worlds that are cast under its rule: it is really a mingling, nothing to talk about, and a lot of fun.

All along, just as the Emperor considered himself the leader of the Primitives, Mars has always regarded himself as the leader of the Casting Worlds, and the Casting Worlds are as loyal to Mars as the Genetic Primordials are to the Emperor.

Similarly, just as the Emperor claims to be the father of the Primitives, Mars also claims to be the origin of all the Casting Worlds, and the Foundry Worlds have also stated that they will honor Mars with the filial piety that the Primordials treat the Emperor.

How can such a scene not make people look forward to the future of the Cult of the Mechanicus? How can you not let the casting general who is in charge of Mars toss and turn every day, sighing and having trouble sleeping?

When I think of a group of loyal and filial sons such as Ruiza, Xana, Steel Ball, and Huangquan No. 8, who have different positions, different specialties, and different environments, but have faintly disobedient and chaotic hearts, but are too similar, the big men on Mars feel that the mechanical gears on their bodies are all sour, and even the gifts of the gods of all machines are not fragrant.

And among these Tianzi anti-thief series that make the Martian magnates uneasy, Ruiza may be the only bastard who can be compared to Huangquan 8.

……

No, Reza is even better,

After all, Huangquan 8 is also located on the western edge of the solar star field, not far from Mars, and the fleet of the casting generals can monitor their movements at any time and carry out necessary intervention and deterrence.

And the [Furnace of Binding Stars], located in the eastern part of the Milky Way, in the Great Vortex region, is far away from the true Heavenly High Emperor: although this does not prevent the rulers of Reza from sending their disdain for Mars across thousands of mountains and rivers to the sacred solar galaxy.

Originally, if things went on like this, it wouldn't be a big deal: after all, Mars's loyal servants and filial sons were like the bald heads in the Astarte warriors, and it was already a strange thing, and instead of spending time arguing with this group of bastards, it was better to care about the internal productivity placement problem.

It is true that the alliance with the Emperor and the Great Expedition have brought unprecedented prosperity and countless orders to Mars, but these orders have also quickly drained the production potential and technological reserves of Mars itself, so that it no longer has the power to stand alone within the Cult of the Mechanicus.

The Glorious Queen-class flagship of the White Scar Legion alone, the Blade Storm, consumed 4.5% of the entire Martian production, and underwent many modifications and replanning, and the main engine of the battleship alone was changed three or four times.

Not to mention Vogram's flagship, the Pride of the Emperor, which took twice as long to build as its other sister ships, was supervised by the Casting Admiral himself, and many of the parts were even hand-built, and endured the perfectionistic and whimsical ideas of the Maharaja himself: Mars refused to accept orders from the Third Legion for a long time after the ship finally sailed out of the dock.

In addition to these masters, the Human Empire has also been trying to win over other worlds, erode the autonomy of Mars, and prohibit Mars from researching higher technologies, and at the same time, the Lord of Humanity has also secretly hidden a lot of ancient knowledge that Mars does not know in his Astarte Legion: and all this is diametrically opposed to the original covenant between the Emperor and Mars, and naturally caused large-scale turmoil in the field of thought within Mars.

It was in the midst of this disadvantage that the news that the newly returned Lord of the Dawnbreaker Legion had signed an offensive and defensive alliance with Reza was obtained by the Martian intelligence service: this was not a victory on the dark front, because Reza itself did not want to hide the existence of the Alliance, and they raised the banner symbolizing the Lord of Avalon in their own casting world, and since then they have happily become the nominal enclave of the Second Legion.

However, at the beginning, this news did not attract the attention of the Casting General or any of the Great Sages of Mars: after all, as the number one thief within the Cult of the Mechanicus, it was not a day or two that Reza wanted to fight against Mars, and their search for allies for themselves had never been cut off since the day they joined the Empire.

What's more, the Casting General has no reason to blame Reza, what reason can he have to blame a diligent Foundry world that paves the way for the Empire's great expeditions: accuse it of wanting to rebel, or accuse it of allied with the Genetic Prototype and the Army?

The former is a joke: anyone who can be called a large casting world, who doesn't want to create a Martian rebellion: the casting world wants to rebel is like the overlords of space necromancy want to kill Tarasin, it is an unbreakable truth in this crazy galaxy.

As for the latter point, it is a topic that cannot even be touched: after all, every genetic prototype in charge of their own legion will choose a long-term partner with a stable relationship in many casting worlds, which is already an almost open invisible rule in the empire.

For example, the Death Guard Legion cooperated with the nearby Forge World Glaier, while the Iron Warrior Legion, under the leadership of the Primordial, brutally occupied the Forge World Impadinion next to its home planet Olympia, and even the Thousand Sons who remained transparent in the Great Expedition also crossed most of the galaxy and signed a contract with Zhao-Arcada, the southernmost Forge World of the Empire.

Not to mention the Ultramarines: Otlama has several casting worlds in its own right, and with its peripheral collaborators, Killiman has some industrial power in his hands, including big guys like Steel Ball.

So, Morgan and Reza's cooperation is perfectly in line with the rules, and if Mars wants to oppose this, it will have to oppose almost all of the Astarte Legions at the same time: the Forge World will not be on its side.

Besides, at that time, the Dawnbreaker Legion was just a group of fragmented and almost desperate settlers, and their genetic prototype Morgan was recognized by the whole empire, weak and introverted, not at all as decisive as her blood brothers, who were able to rule the eight directions: perhaps it was for this reason that Morgan was able to get extra care from the emperor, and promised her an autonomous right to open up territory for herself in the poor mountains and rivers of the galaxy East, so that the Second Legion would not continue to be at the end of the road.

At the very least, in the eyes of the vast majority of [Imperial factions], this is how things are, and Mars is naturally no exception: Morgan, the master of the Second Legion, is weak and pitiful and helpless.

In the face of this combination of weak primordial body and ruined legion, even Ruiza himself at that time knew that the offensive and defensive alliance they signed was completely a big gamble, betting that the second legion would be able to make achievements in the eastern part of the galaxy: and the casting general of Mars naturally laughed at the gambling behavior of this number one thief, and secretly looked forward to the opposite result in his heart.

With the Second Legion officially entering Avalon, it began the so-called "Frontier March", which was invaded in the Far East, where there was little information, and then became involved in the northwestern part of the galaxy, which had become a forbidden expedition in the Empire: the Dawnbreaker Legion was silent for more than ten years, and Mars no longer paid attention to this ally of Reza.

It wasn't until the Lord of Avalon had ended the expedition and arrived in Terra that the Forge General, who had heard the news, had a whim, sent someone to inquire about the current situation of the Dawnbreaker Legion and Reza, and then ......

Then he discovered: a behemoth entrenched in the east of the galaxy, a behemoth that is enough to confront Mars head-on, and it is clear that he wants to confront Mars head-on.

Far Eastern Industrial Complex.

In fact, this organization has a longer and more unknown full name, which is as rotten as the emperor himself, but under this ordinary name, it is a huge volume that is enough to make Mars break out in a cold sweat.

Salem, Thrace, Corinth, Annvirus, Steel Ball, Gulgrad, Omega Furnace......

Looking at this casting world, which is either familiar or unfamiliar, they are all members of this parliamentary organization, and suddenly, it has included almost all the believers of the Ten Thousand Machine God in the entire Far Eastern border and the Great Vortex region.

Looking at the northern part of the Far Eastern Star Field, although the Casting Worlds led by Swinging Star and Markand have not joined this organization, they are also [Observer States] that will actively participate in its various large-scale activities and meetings.

And in the south of the Far Eastern Star Field, those casting worlds that are in the hands of Gilliman have become the [strategic partners] of the industrial complex, sharing honor and disgrace, and their names have appeared on the list of large-scale events or conferences of the industrial complex many times.

In other words, almost all of the Foundry Worlds in the Far East, which encompasses about half of the empire's territory to the east of the Maelstrom region, have joined the Far Eastern industrial complex: the total number of members, observer states, and strategic partners alone has reached twenty-three.

Look at these twenty or so guys, Mars knows them well: at least half of them are thieves who have confronted Mars head-on and unabashedly want to rebel, while the remaining half are well-trained thieves who are humble on the face and can actually use any insidious trick in private.

In the past few decades, the Martian fleet alone has been folded in the hands of these loyal and filial sons, and it has reached double digits: although Mars has never mentioned why it sent a fleet to these loyal and filial sons.

And who is the chief speaker of this huge [parliamentary organization] that can nominally mobilize more than 20 anti-thieves and well-trained anti-thieves?

……

It's Reza!

As soon as the name was seen, the main engine of the casting general was immediately overloaded.

Let him hold his body, and then look down, seeing the rapid expansion of Ruiza's industrial scale over the years, the dotted mining world, and the Titan Legion, Knight Family, and Cathar Army that have swelled to the point that they can completely compete with Mars, plus the [sweet words] that the Flame Blood Sect sent to Mars through thousands of stars, finally, his sixteen auxiliary engines also exploded.

Even this capable and strong man who can command the entire Mars may not be able to understand this extremely simple question: how many years have passed since Morgan officially returned to the empire and signed an alliance with that No. 1 anti-thief Ruiza?

Full Count......

Twenty-five years?

…… It's only been twenty-five years!

How exactly do they do it?

How did the Lord of Avalon manage to win over so many casting worlds in less than thirty years?

...... is she? What's the secret?

——————

【The secret?】 】

Hearing this, the Lord of Avalon, who had completed the second phase of the clinical trial, finally couldn't help laughing, she looked at Rand who was standing beside her, who could tell the story eloquently and movingly, and at the same time could record the data without leaking, and couldn't help but nod in her heart.

This time, the [gift] given to her by her old father is something that can be seen: that old guy can occasionally be her Morgan's own father.

Anyway, the Spider Empress didn't expect her position in the Emperor's heart to surpass that of his eldest sons, Horus, Dorne, Foggrim, or Mortarian: no less than Perturabo would be considered a success.

Thinking of this, Morgan slowly withdrew the blade, only to see that Anglon's brain had been scratched by the Lord of Avalon with the back of the knife, and around the butcher's nail, every inch of space could be used: the next thing to do was to turn Angron over and deal with those areas on his back.

So, while Morgan drove his psionic energy and turned Anglon's body, he looked at Rand who was about to talk next to him: Obviously, this Martian genius and his casting general have the same question, Rand is actually very good, what is the method used by the Lord of Avalon to win over so many allies?

[Interests. 】

Seeing Rand's doubts, the Spider Empress took a deep breath, accumulating the state for the third phase of the next clinical trial, and answered the doubts of the Martian genius, which was all about relieving her boredom: this private laboratory of the Emperor was built entirely for experiments, and staying here for too long would be very depressing even for the mind of the genetic prototype.

"Interests?"

Instinctively, Rand chewed on the word, and his brow furrowed high: Rand didn't understand the word, on the contrary, he understood it too well, all the actions of the Mechanicus Cult were out of faith or profit, but if it was pure profit, it would be absolutely impossible to establish such a behemoth as an industrial complex.

[Because the benefits are not enough.] 】

Morgan smiled: Rand's suspicions were like a mirror in front of her.

Do you know how rich I am? Lord Rand? 】

"Well, ...... for the primitives"

[Well, to put it another way.] 】

Morgan blinked.

[Do you know what kind of size the Far Eastern Frontier, which I have opened up by adhering to the emperor's orders and completely obeying my orders alone, now has? 】

“…… I don't know. ”

[Then let me briefly describe it.] 】

The Lord of Avalon spread out a hand, her voice proud.

[If we take the five hundred worlds of Otlama as the standard, my Far Eastern Frontier now has about three hundred and fifty worlds, and with these worlds as the radiation center, I can also directly or indirectly control tens of thousands of raw material worlds, military worlds, and colonial worlds. 】

[In other words, in terms of volume alone, the current Far Eastern frontier is about 40% the size of Otlama: although my territory is even larger than that of Gilliman, many of them are very barren and far less rich than Otlama has always been, so they are not so large. 】

[Moreover, three hundred and fifty worlds is indeed the limit of my current expansion, and in the time after that, I do not plan to expand the borders of the Far Eastern Frontier on a large scale: it is probably the limit of Terra's patience. 】

[Nevertheless, judging by the current population growth, and the degree of prosperity of those emerging worlds, even if I concentrate on the internal affairs of the Far Eastern Frontier itself without large-scale expansion, then at the latest in fifty TEDA standard years, the Far Eastern Frontier will become a veritable four hundred worlds: if it were a century later, it would not be impossible for it to become the second five hundred worlds in the eastern galaxy. 】

[So, by now, you should know, Lord Rand.] 】

The original body lazily took off his sweaty gloves, tossed them aside, and took a new pair.

[I am very rich, very rich, and the materials and orders I can take out are among the best in the entire human empire, probably second only to Terra and Macurag: therefore, the interests of my mouth are not the same as those of other people. 】

Rand listened quietly, and he actually heard a hint of heroism in the words of the original body.

[So, my way of winning over allies is actually very simple, Rand: Since you Mars have begun to secretly study the Far Eastern Industrial Complex, then you should know the purpose of the establishment of this consortium in the first place, right? 】

"Of course."

The genius of Mars nodded.

"At the beginning, this consortium was because with the rapid expansion of the Far Eastern border, the demand for military and civilian industrial goods gradually swelled to an astronomical amount, an astronomical amount that even if Reza used all his productive forces, it would be impossible to satisfy."

"In this case, Reza chose to sit down with the various small foundry worlds of the Far Eastern Frontier to discuss cooperation and to discuss the distribution of orders for the Far Eastern Frontier: after a few years of business talks, it naturally evolved into cooperation in other areas, culminating in the industrial complex it is today."

Rand told all this from the perspective of a standard outsider, but his eyes looked at the original body without fear: The genius of Mars knows very well that although the genetic prototype picked itself clean in the story of the establishment of the industrial complex, but without Morgan's help, it would be absolutely impossible for Reza to do all this, otherwise, this [Furnace of Binding Stars], which aims to replace the status of Mars, has already begun to unite the casting world in the eastern part of the galaxy, so why wait until now?

But......

"Your Excellency Morgan, given your position in the industrial complex, is only the Honorary Vice-President and the largest investing shareholder. Mars couldn't find a formal reason to criticize: and I remember that Reza's Techno-Sage was the honorary chairman, and the other two legions were the genetic protogens, and Killiman and Conrad were the second and third largest shareholders, respectively, and you did have a lot of power. ”

[Yes.] 】

Morgan nodded, she was not afraid to reveal her identity, because any political move of the Spider Empress would abide by an eternal principle: no matter what role she played in these activities, on the surface, she would always abide by the laws of the empire, and people would not be able to catch her, and the identity of the genetic prototype could ensure that Morgan could ignore those accusations that could not be held up.

[Do you know, the reason why I was able to attract so many casting worlds is contained in the story of the establishment of this industrial complex. 】

The fingers of the Lord of Avalon slowly drew circles in midair.

[As a member of Mars, I think you should know very well what kind of terrifying power Reza's production capacity will be when it is fully exerted: but even so, the huge size, abundant resources, and strong demand of the Far Eastern Frontier can still make Reza have to spit out some of the benefits to cooperate with other casting worlds, because it really can't eat the benefits I feed it. 】

Can't eat......

Rand sighed silently.

What a blissful pain.

[Now, you get it, right? 】

Morgan continued to laugh.

[This is my interest strategy: with my back to my Far Eastern Frontier, I can give any foundry world a huge order and a huge amount of wealth that they can't even imagine, and I can easily squeeze out all their production capacity with these excellent quotations, and when the vast majority of their production lines have become the appearance of serving the Far Eastern Frontier, even if they want to decouple from me, the huge sunk cost will prevent them from doing so. 】

[What's more, I have always been generous to these allies of mine: they have no reason to decouple from me at all, but their own privileged situation will attract me more and more potential friends, and the huge needs of the Far Eastern frontier itself have prevented these allies from fighting for food, so that my industrial complex can snowball. 】

[Then, when I brought the Five Hundred Worlds and the entire Nostramo region into this system, I said, to be honest, that even the industrial complexes could not produce enough to supply the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of the burgeoning emerging world. 】

[Make the cake bigger, so big that everyone can eat it with a mouthful of oil, this is the magic weapon I must win when I win allies: economy, friends, in this crazy galaxy, in this glorious expedition, the economy is a small problem that is ignored by everyone, but when a good economic system begins to operate, no matter how many contradictions and disputes can be diluted or even melted by the expanding cake. 】

[As long as the Far Eastern Frontier remains at peace under my protection, it will continue to prosper and grow, and as long as the population of the Far Eastern Frontier continues to grow, the world continues to colonize, and the demand for production continues to increase, it will naturally bring more orders and wealth: the various foundry worlds of the industrial complex can naturally sit down calmly and continue their intimate cooperation with each other. 】

[As their ally, although I have given them a lot, I can gain more from other places, and I will not break our friendship because of this more: because what I have given them is already the upper limit of their own needs, or even surpassed. 】

"I don't doubt that."

Rand nodded.

He knew that the Lord of Avalon was right: what was more, Morgan's words. In fact, it is the second and main reason why Mars hates her.

As an ally of the Forge World, the Spider Empress is exactly what any Forge World Lord could dream of: watching Morgan become a rival ally makes it even more uncomfortable than killing Mars.

Take a look at Reza, after cooperating with Morgan for twenty-five years, this [Binding Stars Furnace] has already gone from being the leading casting world in the Maelstrom region to vaguely becoming the leader of all casting worlds in the entire Eastern Galaxy, and even the daily swear words they send to Mars have become a lot more confident.

In the past 25 years, Ruiza has increased its market orders dozens of times, expanded the raw material world more than ten times, and began to gradually penetrate the huge influence of the entire Far Eastern Star Domain.

"The generous conditions you gave to Reza even caused a storm of public opinion on Mars."

Rand's tone was a little sour.

"We've heard about the hunt for Ulanhuda, and it's a great joy for any Foundry world, even for Mars: I've heard that the Ryza got the most out of that incident, and they're even starting to work on their own planetary warship propulsion system."

[That's not the most.] 】

The original body hooked the corners of his lips.

[You know, Rand, I once participated in an expedition in the northwestern part of the galaxy that has been erased in the history books: the Titan Legion of the Militants of Reza actually participated, they joined the expedition in my name, and lost about forty percent of the strength of the entire Titan Legion in the expedition, but they still fought to the death. 】

[Do you know what kind of compensation I gave to Reza after that? 】

The original body was sharpening his knife and preparing for the third phase of the clinical trial, and next to her, Rand took a pen and paper, his brow furrowing: he had a hunch that it would be a series of data that would make his jealousy kick in.

Morgan began to tell.

[I gave Reza a Glorious Queen-class battleship, which was loaded with secret technologies from all over the galaxy, each of which the Empire did not have, and Reza had plenty of time to "rebuild" it. 】

"Hiss......"

[In addition, I also gave Reza more raw material worlds, and those raw materials in the world only need a few years of mining to help Reza build another army of warmongers: their technocrats even swore that from now on, except for the most basic guard forces, the entire army of warmongerents will be under my full command. 】

“…… Gollum ......"

[After that, it's actually some bits and pieces, such as in this Nukeriyah operation. I have harvested about twenty new technologies on Nukeria, none of which are available in the Empire, and their drawings and finished products are now loaded on ships, and they are almost arriving at Reza: I have heard that they have built fifteen new large warehouses to store the small gifts like this one that I have been giving them all these years. 】

“……”

Rand was silent.

He was silent for a long time.

“…… I want to ......"

The genius of Mars opened his mouth and couldn't help but lick his dry lips.

"I can finally understand something, Lord Morgan."

"I finally understand why the fanatical Flame Blood Cult lunatics on the Ryza have recorded their close cooperation with Avalon in their most sacred sect tomes."

“……”

"Seriously, Lord Morgan."

"Don't you really think about cooperating with the real orthodox Mars of the Mechanical?"

[Mars? 】

Morgan laughed.

[If I'm not mistaken, your Martian Foundry General once declared in public that I was assisting the Reza heretical world...... What about the Great Heresy. 】

"I am the head of the heresy in your Martian mouth, Morgan. 】

"It's okay, sir."

Rand's eyes narrowed.

"As long as you want, transfer the terms of cooperation with Reza to Mars, and attach the conditions you mentioned: I believe that our Casting General, will gladly announce it to all of Mars early tomorrow morning."

"From now on, ......"

"And he was converted to heresy."

(End of chapter)