Chapter 1973 God's Wealth
Seeing Veronica, Alex took off his military cap, revealing a head of white hair.
"Excuse me, Ms. Veronica."
With a warm smile on her face, Veronica pulled back the large chair belonging to Soshyan some distance.
“It should be done.”
Breakfast is very simple. Each person has a bowl of oatmeal, some dairy products, eggs from certain animals, and freshly baked bread. Knowing that Alex no longer drinks alcohol or tea as he gets older, it is specially prepared for him. A glass of warm water.
Then Soshyan personally peeled an egg for Yarick who only had one hand, which surprised Yarick. On the one hand, he didn't expect that a giant's fingers could be so flexible. The egg looked so flexible. It was the size of his thumb, and on the other hand, an Astartes did it for himself. No one would believe it if he told it.
“It’s been a hard life these days.”
Looking at the jade-white cooked eggs that were handed to him, Alex stood up and carefully folded them with his only remaining hand. Hold it in your fingertips.
“That’s very kind of you.”
After taking two bites, Yarick suddenly put down the half-eaten egg.
"Commander-in-Chief, there is actually a group of people. Although this expedition has done some good, they only sent a bunch of fanatic believers who are difficult to command to cause trouble on the front line. In fact, they have a huge amount of money in their hands. Their wealth and supplies have always been devoid of money, and no taxes have been collected from them.”
Hearing what Yarick said, Soshyan immediately realized what it was about.
State religion, only state religion.
However, the state religion is the topic that Soshyan is least willing to touch. After all, in the political and legal systems of the empire, the state religion is a very independent force, although it was deprived of it during the Apostasy Rebellion. Their military strength and political status have also been weakened, but their economic status has never been shaken. No one can force the Ecclesiarchy to hand over the "dedication" of believers to the Emperor, not even the Space Marines.
And from a practical point of view, in the vast territory of the human empire, the state religion is one of the very few things that can connect humans on different planets within several light years. It has a stabilizing effect on local places even more powerful than the institutions and governors of the empire. Any Small fluctuations will have a huge impact on the local area, which is why Soshyan would rather demand unlimited resources from the nobles than turn his attention to the state religion.
If the nobility is a mound, then the state religion is a mountain, and it is also a mountain that the empire has to rely on. The same is true for the expeditionary army.
“Although my job is all in the military, I can also learn from the local officers of the Maelstrom the great influence of the state religion here. The agricultural world of the Maelstrom and the primitive world have a considerable part of arable land and farmland. It is a 'relief field' belonging to the state religion. In addition, although the teachings of the state religion do not allow them to own specific businesses and industries, many noble families in the Maelstrom have deep connections with the state religion. Many members of the family are senior priests of the state religion. These The family is also known as the priest family. It has huge power and controls a large number of religious groups, many of which are extremist sects. In the name of trial, they occupy territory in the hive capital and extort religious donations, and at the same time use relief and In the name of salvation, many food processing factories in the world are controlled. Although part of the output is indeed used to relieve believers, the destination of most of the products is unknown. At the same time, I also heard something about the hugely profitable sacred relic trade of the state religion. By selling those holy relics that are not known to be true or false, it is said that the guardian of the holy relics can earn enough to buy a world's wealth every month. The state church does not pay tithes or war taxes. Even trade taxes and No commercial taxes were paid, yet countless believers were struggling to survive.”
Although during the Apostasy Rebellion, the original corrupt system of the church was ended, Sebastian drastically restructured the state church. , accepting new ideas, advocating frugality and self-discipline through personal practice, and turning from the Illuminati concept to an idea with the ultimate goal of gaining favor from the emperor, emphasizing the spiritual purity of believers, taking compassion and self-sacrifice as creeds, rather than the past focus on material and Unrestricted political demands, but as the aftermath of the apostasy era subsided and religious reformers such as Sebastian passed away one by one, many of the old bad habits soon returned again. Sebastian The self-censorship institution of the state church established by Tian gradually became ineffective, and the decadent clergy who had been struggled and purged began to fill all strata of the state church.
After more than four thousand years of ups and downs, the state religion seems to have returned to the old path before the apostasy era. As Soshyan said, everyone knows these things, but no one seems to be able to do anything about it.
Listening to Yarick's narration, Soshyan calmly took a sip of water, put down the cup and said softly:
"I understand, I will talk to the patriarch. "
Yarrick nodded and stopped talking.
After breakfast, Soshyan told Yarick about the previous battle in Angstrom. Yarick was stunned for a moment. After all, his main business is the land battlefield. , not proficient in naval warfare.
However, he still heard some clues.
". So after taking Angstrom, it means that we have gained the strategic initiative? Now as long as Badab's enemies are eliminated, we can launch a comprehensive attack on the Red Pirates. Attack and bring the war to the area occupied by the heretics, but this also means that we have to fight on the enemy's home ground. The battle will probably be more intense and the casualties will be greater."
Soshiyang nodded.
"Commissar Yarick, do you think more troops are needed?"
After thinking for a moment, Yarick said:
"The fifth theater now has about 300 million troops, the sixth theater has 400 million troops, the Badab theater has more than 500 million troops, and the third and fourth theaters have about 200 million troops. Judging from the current situation, , basically enough, but the progress in the fifth and sixth war zones is not very fast. The war zone led by Arash launched an attack on the Lamptan system four months ago, but it has not yet completely captured the enemy stronghold. , the Salamanders' attack in the Crow System was not very smooth. Due to the heavy concentration of troops on the front line, the biggest problem in these two theaters now is logistics, and the continuous harassment of small groups of Red Pirates has also brought great difficulties to logistics and transportation. Due to the pressure, the escort fleet cannot protect all routes. According to the original plan, only by occupying the Lamptan Galaxy and the Crow Galaxy can we march towards the Mago Star Cluster, the core of the Red Pirates."
"What do you think? The problem on the front line is not the strength of the troops?”
Yarrick nodded.
"The problem should not be about military strength, but more about logistics and coordination."
"I understand. I will meet with the Terran envoy later, Yarek Political Commissar You. Come on.”
"Yes."
(End of this chapter)