After the bloody, crazy, and painful slaughter, the air of the entire man-made world was filled with a suffocating smell of blood, a feeling that mobilized many madmen, cultists, heretics, mutants, and outlaws here, and at the same time, the baron left behind a huge fortune that more than doubled Alan Bair's wealth in the short term, and it is hard to imagine how rich a family business that has been in business for thousands of years can be.

That kind of wealth is the accumulation of countless flesh and blood, time, and it is not great, and even the baron himself is constantly spreading his children outward, praying to get rid of this cursed place, but with little success...

Now that he doesn't need to worry at all, it's gratifying, but at the same time, people often overlook one thing, which is that the Imperial Guard has never been a good guy, which is often forgotten to the citizens of the Empire, and in this dark universe full of betrayal and distortion, many ordinary people don't realize that the enemy of the Empire may even be itself.

The final landing of the laser gun's projectile on someone's head does not depend on whether they are religious, but on whether they are loyal and capable enough to be involuntarily, and there are too many such things in this universe.

There were not many people favored by the emperor, but there were too many loyal men and women, and in the end, countless tragedies began, and finally ended in chicken feathers, cruel and tragic.

For example, in the city of this fortress, in the dark corners of this fortress, there are evil people who twist their mutated bodies to pay tribute to the shrines of the gods, and there are also the most unruly people who make them violently coerce the people.

Sin is naturally like moss buried in this world of metal, which is smaller, stronger, more compact than normal nests, but also more filthy and of all sorts of unexpected value.

Now that the Imperial Guard is secretly in control of this place, the lord's documents are still coming out, and some people who are worried about their relatives working in the castle are suddenly silent, but the lord's majesty they dare not trample on it, so they can only swallow their anger.

The many atrocities of the Baron have become the best cover for the Imperial Guard, the ships are still in and out, smuggling is continuous, and the filth is still there, and the large amount of money brought at the same time is exchanged for those fuel, food and other items, one for the livelihood of the lower classes, the second for the march, the war, and the third for a disgusting, vicious, and tragic plan.

In general, the situation inside the castle is similar to usual, when the corpses are cleaned up, the blood is wiped out, the Imperial Guard changes into the clothes of servants and guards, and pretends that it is still lively, but now the hall inside the castle is not the baron alone, but the Imperial Guard, all the high-ranking members of the 4th Infantry Regiment of Skady, and they are also quite "defiled" here.

Complex communication lines covered the ground, makeshift signal stations were erected high above the castle, beautiful marble floors were stained with war oil, and large strategic plans covered with elegant landscape ink paintings.

The once graceful and luxurious here is completely gone, and the warriors who crawl out of hell love practicality more than elegance and comfort, because they don't know when this land will turn into purgatory on earth.

Pragmatism is both the greatness and the tragedy of empires, and those who rightly propagate people to hell under the banner of sacrifice are quite "practical", and those sacrifices are the cornerstone of the establishment and continuation of empires, but this huge polity of 10,000 years has gradually been distorted over such a long period of time.

Many effective long-term investments were dismissed as impractical, short-term nurturing became the mainstream of the empire, and the only systemic institutions that could devote a lot of time to changing a person today were religion and the military, which now looked like a deformed child, and although the emperor still loved it, such a child would eventually face a harsh reality.

Alan Bair could change it, but the vast territory of the entire empire made this unlikely, his nearly ten years of war career was not even a tenth of the extreme star field, if it was enlarged to five hundred years with the life extension device, the scale would be increased to the limit, and the flickering life and soul of a mortal would only be as bright as a candle for this ancient empire.

But he chose his own way, and now was the time to fulfill those methods, he didn't want to be a hero of the empire, he just wanted the living people he could see in front of him to live better, he sat down at the long table, and the heroes of Skadi were lined up in order of seniority, from the most familiar faces to slightly stranger friends, but everything here Alan Bair was so familiar that he could reach out and grasp it.

The strangest thing here was not the people, but the female pirate standing beside Alan Baier, who was also the Cold War agent on the ship, and many veterans wondered why she was there, but they did not say anything due to Ailan Baier's acquiescence.

The lord sat on it, and the people were facing him, and like the Knights of the Round Table in ancient legends, the violent military organization had achieved a considerable degree of independence at this time.

With this Alan Barr spoke, he offered his needs to those who were loyal and powerful, and he trusted that the Skadian would continue to fulfill them. "We're going to have a period of rest, the soldiers are going to be in the best shape, stocking up on food, ammunition, fuel, and I have another plan that will take time."

"Speaking of this strategy, I have to mention the cold trading broker who advised me, Miss Agnis Morissette for inspiring, advising, and helping me a lot." His tone was a little strange, as if he didn't like it.

After he finished speaking, the woman who was not polite bowed respectfully, but compared to this somewhat awkward bow, she looked more charming with a pistol.

"The lord has won the prize, I just sacrificed my modest strength to the powerful Skadi Legion, and my plan does not work without your combat effectiveness."

After listening to it, Alan Baier only felt that the polite words were almost there, he was not a court here, it would not be so complicated, constantly kicking the ball and playing code words. "So, first of all, let me explain a little bit about the main goal of the next step, which is to reduce taxes here, this commercial port, the previous tax revenue is about 20 percent, quite a windfall profit, in exchange for equivalents or throne coins."

"And there are about two ports in the roaming port from here, which are reduced in turn, and the tax, which the merchants commonly call here is the payment of half, and such a high tax is the basic guarantee of safety and the extremely high return on reaching the destination."

Alan Baier looked at the second lieutenant. "Second Lieutenant, how much is a loaf of bread on Skady's most difficult days?"

The second lieutenant replied like a few treasures. "Almost 9 credits issued by the lord, that is, 112 large pieces of bread can be exchanged for an entire throne coin, this is in winter, if it is in good season or if a cargo ship has just dumped it, it is 6 to 7 credits, compared to brown bread or starch fast price can reach only one credit."

Alan Baier nodded. "That's right, there is a class distinction in the empire, the price of what the poor eat and the rich eat is nine times the price, if you are a merchant, you must have pulled natural food and dumped it on those who are rich and powerful."

"And such a bag of high-grade flour can be exchanged for a throne coin in Roaming Harbor, which is equivalent to a high-explosive projectile in Riemanus!"

"A Throne Coin?" The Leterin kid had never seen a lot of money in his life, and he couldn't help but read it excitedly, as if this word was incredible, but under the premise of the huge lord's trade monopoly and the transportation difficulties of the universe, the status of food in the roaming port was like this.

The chief of staff was more concerned about another matter. "So, the civilians there..."

"I have tasted the food myself for many years, and it will never be forgotten." The agent next to Alan Baier spoke, she was a roaming Hong Kong person, crawling out of the ground, and the recycled food was that the excrement was reshaped by high temperature and high pressure...

At this moment, the officers here were silent, they knew very well what such a hell was like, this was the nest capital, but the roaming port was obviously superior.

Alan Barr spoke now. "If we relied on the huge wealth accumulated by the lords here to buy a large amount of food, and earn it at the price of one-sixth of a sack of throne coins, except for the remaining two fortress trips of about two months and transportation losses, as well as layers of exploitative taxes, even one-sixth of those merchants would gladly accept it!"

The Chief of Staff spoke. "But this will cause irreversible damage to the fragile food industry here, and at the same time lead to a terrible famine, and the lords of all places will also seek out the barons here because of that hunger..."

Alan Baier nodded. "And although our powerful Imperial Guard warships can't deal with the situation of the lords cooperating, they are not afraid of a single lord coming at all, if we go to attack other areas, not to mention the fortification, it is enough trouble to say that after we are exposed, the lords here will be in the same breath."

"In contrast, the purchase of food on a large scale will cause the lords everywhere to start to doubt each other and fight among themselves, and the more intelligent, capable and able people who have discovered our existence will also rely on the so-called agreements of the nobles to come and ask for an alliance or make us abandon the current matter, because they think we are the hapless baron."

The Lettling Kid was still a little pitiful, and he spoke up when the crowd was silent about the plan. "That would have starved a lot of people to death... Boss..."

Alan Bair replied. "So I put forward this opinion, but also just to propose, obedience is the basis of the military, but I only do not ask you to obey, we have thousands of plans, or even more, although I can't think of more to reduce losses, but I think your ideas are also very important."

"Second Lieutenant, how many battles have you fought with me, you should know that I don't like to make things difficult for the citizens of the Empire, Chief of Staff, you have been serving since before my training, you should understand what the most precious treasure in this world is."

"Master Chief, Leterin Kid, Captain, you are all powerful Imperial heroes, and you should know that it's not just the Empire that needs us."

"I'll ask again, does anyone disagree?"

Silence, on one side are the brothers of the Imperial Guard, on the other hand are the billions of lives they don't know, in this cruel universe the Skadian people have little conscience and humanity left to bind them, and now the people killed by this plan, they can't see or feel, is it a frontal war, or is it a better war with the blood of innocents?

They are not saints, brothers and people who have betrayed the Empire, this basically does not need to be chosen, only the Leterin Kid firmly says you. "Boss, no!"

And when this short rat-man looked at the others expectantly, there was only silence, but he didn't quite understand, did those ordinary innocents make mistakes, why did his own leader punish them so much?

He was a little stunned and hesitated, but after a few seconds of silence, he shouted again. "I say, I'm against it!"

He knows better than anyone what hunger feels like, he loves peace more than anyone else, his personality is chic and casual, but he understands it better than most people in the empire, but he is not destined to be a big thing, but unfortunately...

But before he was utterly disappointed, his best friend here spoke, Sergeant General Katachan, a man as lonely as he was, who could be called "subhuman". "I don't agree, sir..."

"Ape and nezumi." Alan Bair smiled at the same time, but even so, the others did not continue to speak, obviously death and sacrifice, the Skadian people have had enough, and as a lord, Alan Baier always prioritizes his own people...

"Miss agent, go get ready." He opened his mouth a little helplessly, he naturally has a sense of responsibility for the people in the world, but this sense of responsibility can only go around in front of the only "family" in this world, for the sake of Skadi, he can be a demon, once and again, until the stars go out and the universe dies.

And this pirate broker is very happy, because she can directly become a high-ranking charter captain through this large gathering of strange goods, and at the same time a lucrative business, and even form her own business empire, and even become the lord of a fortress, completely changing the class, and at the same time helping the Lord of Skadi bring her even more benefits than those combined.

Even if this would leave her with tens of trillions of souls, countless families torn apart, and corpses of several worlds strewn across the wilderness, so what?

She only knows that one will succeed and ten thousand bones will wither.

However, the Lettling kid is not happy, of course, this plan is also beneficial to him, here will be the next to get all kinds of food in the entire Extreme Star Field, and even reach the point of exaggeration, his hobbies, cooking, will be better, to the next level, but is this right?

He tried not to think about it, as much as he could, because no one in this dark universe had the energy to think about anything other than to survive, even if it was an emperor...

This meeting dispersed unhappily, the Skadi people have a conscience, this is good, it is not good, they are a little unable to adapt, but in contrast, the Inquisition, the State Church, and the Space Marines can start all kinds of terrible methods to exterminate the world one at a time, they are too kind, they are both strong and weak because of this.

But now it seems that there is no turning back, and they can only bear the scorching heat for the emperor, until their souls are scattered and their flesh and bones rot.

(End of chapter)