Chapter 8 Bad news, lost contact with the empire

"Why, do we have a fourth level of tax exemption?"

Ron couldn't believe that those who could obtain tax exemptions were planets or regimes that had made significant contributions to the empire.

Urth is a low-level hive planet, and it doesn't look like it can get tax exemption.

"Your Majesty the God Emperor, it seems that you have really forgotten a lot of things." Bayev looked a little heavy: "This matter starts from five years ago."

He pointed to the assessment report on the table: "Five years ago, the Ministry of Interior of Holy Terra raised the tax level of Erth..."

As Bayev told it, Ron finally knew what happened that year.

That's the story about Ron's father, Grant Sr., the former governor of Erth.

The planet Erth is a typical mineral-producing planet with developed mining industry.

Under the rule of former Governor Grant Sr., mineral resources were developed in an orderly manner, and after paying the imperial tithe, there was still a lot of surplus.

Compared with other extravagant, violent, and incompetent planetary governors, Old Grant is still kind. He is at least willing to care about the lives of his people.

Under his leadership, the planet thrived.

The people of Erth don't have to work in the mines day and night, and they don't have to worry about starvation. They can occasionally eat some bread mixed with sawdust.

In this cruel universe, this is a magical day.

Such days continued until the arrival of officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Holy Terra.

They assessed Urth as a planet with greater tax potential.

They miscalculated the affordability of Erth Star and abruptly raised the tax level by three levels!

Old Grant tried his best to appeal, but nothing happened and he could not get any response.

The tax period was approaching, and after receiving continuous warnings, Old Grant had no choice but to mobilize all his forces to exploit resources.

However, reckless mining caused huge damage to the environment, frequent mine accidents, and millions of people died.

"Is there no other way?"

Although he knew the result, Ron couldn't help but ask this question.

"Do you mean to resist?"

Bayev shook his head: "Resistance is unwise and meaningless."

"That is a betrayal of the empire. The star of Erth will become a battlefield, and the people of Erth will shed the last drop of blood in their homeland!

No one can refuse the Empire's orders.

The Imperium has thousands of massive fleets, hundreds of billions of soldiers, and millions of powerful Space Marines.

Simply sending a fleet or a squad of Space Marines can easily destroy the planet Erth.

The consequences of not paying taxes are severe.

"The tithe is loyalty to the God-Emperor. It is the greatest obligation of citizens of the empire. It is aimed at everyone and no one can refuse it."

Bayev sighed: "Your father knows this truth very well, but his heart is not cruel enough...

The result was that he failed to collect the corresponding materials and the tax was delayed.

Your father begged the Ministry of the Interior to give him more time, but those damn officials in the Ministry of the Interior only have tax revenue in their eyes and don’t care about the suffering of Erth!

They believed that Eth Star was resisting taxes, so they directly sent magistrates from the Ministry of Justice to investigate.”

Ron's heart tightened. The intervention of the magistrate meant that the matter was getting serious.

"What was the result of the investigation?"

"The Magistrate's team was attacked by Chaos Heretics. The Magistrate himself was slightly injured, but a female investigator died. It was an accident..."

Ron sighed. He was attacked as soon as he came to investigate. If you said it was an accident, who would believe it?

Bayev seemed to know what Ron was thinking and continued: "As you can imagine, the magistrate did not believe that this was an accident.

He was so angry that he took the matter to the Inquisition, claiming that Chaos had eroded the planet Urth and needed a comprehensive cleansing! "

Good guy, is the magistrate so angry that he dares to involve the Inquisition?

The Inquisition was the Imperium's most powerful secret agency during the Horus Heresy, tasked with identifying and destroying all threats to the Imperium and humanity.

The Inquisition's powers are extremely broad, with no formal hierarchy or centralized leadership, and are accountable only to the Emperor.

This means that the Inquisitor is free to maintain the survival and continuation of the Empire in any way he sees fit.

When left unchecked, Inquisitors often turn into fanatical and ruthless lunatics, even killing their own people when they go mad.

As Ron expected, the inquisitor was very unlucky and met a manic inquisitor.

The Inquisitor's important ceremony was interrupted, and he endured his anger and came to the planet Erth.

When he arrived at the place, he first investigated the magistrate.

After finding relevant criminal evidence, the magistrate was executed on the spot for accepting bribes and abusing power.

The Inquisitor later investigated the planet Erth, but no problems occurred. It was really just an accident.

Old Grant thought the matter would come to an end, but the inquisitor believed that paying taxes was a sacred obligation and the cornerstone of the empire.

Tax evasion is not allowed on any planet, no matter what the reason.

If everything were like the Eth Star, the empire would have an unstable foundation and risk collapse.

Therefore, Euse Star must fulfill its obligations, not only to pay back the tax arrears, but also to pay fines!

Old Grant begged the Inquisitor to think of the people of Urth, who could not bear such a burden.

"Life is the emperor's coin, and sacrifice is the cornerstone of the empire!" said the almost crazy judge.

In this way, under the supervision of the Inquisitor, the planet Urth launched an inhumane taxation, and anyone who resisted would be executed.

Tens of billions of people on the planet work day and night, billions of people die in the mines, and a large number of people are sent to the Astra Militarum to fight on the front lines against the aliens.

By the time the taxation was over, the planet Erth had lost half of its population, the planet's surface had been extensively destroyed, and there was deadly pollution everywhere.

"After paying such a price, the people of Urth finally collected the taxes required by the Inquisitor."

Bayev said with tears in his eyes: "Those are the blood and tears of Erth!"

"When the Inquisitor left, Lord Grant begged him to help him appeal. The planet Erth really couldn't bear such a heavy tax.

I hope he can tell the Holy Terra Interior Ministry the true situation of Urth, so that they can reassess Urth and lower the tax level of Urth."

"Did you agree?"

Bayev's eyes were red: "He, he cut off Lord Grant's head, and blood splashed all over everyone...

He declared that Lord Grant was a heretic and said he smelled of chaos!

But Lord Grant is so kind, how could he be a heretic? "

Ron clenched his fist slightly: "What's the name of that judge?"

"It doesn't matter, he is already dead"

What?

Ron was incredible.

The Inquisitor is a powerful being that can fight against Chaos, aliens, and any potential threats, and can even fight Chaos Demons in single combat.

How could he die so easily?

Bayev answered Ron's doubts: "We didn't kill him, it was the subspace storm..."

As soon as the Inquisitor's ship set out into the Warp, an accident occurred.

The powerful subspace storm tore the ship apart, and the wreckage was thrown out of the subspace along with human body parts and fell to the ground.

"A small part of the Inquisitor's body is gone. He is lying on the ground unable to move. He ordered us to treat him immediately!"

Bayev said, seemingly relieved: "We were able to save him, but no one moved, they just looked at him.

Watch him lower his head and beg for our help, watch him gradually become desperate and begin to curse our blasphemy...

Everyone watched helplessly as he struggled on the ground until he died! "

Ron sighed and patted Bayev on the shoulder.

"Old Mike may be right..." Bayev wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes: "We have desecrated the God-Emperor, and we have been abandoned!"

"Why?" Ron was confused.

"The inexplicable subspace storm destroyed the shipping lanes, and the only astropath on the planet also died. We have severed contact with Holy Terra, until now..."

Astropaths are important intermediaries between the Empire's territories and Holy Terra. Under normal circumstances, warp storms will not affect them.

A warp storm powerful enough to kill an Astropath?

Ron suddenly stood up: "Is it a big crack?"