Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 16 Financial Issues
With only thirty years left, many things become urgent when it comes to developing armaments.

But Chen Xi had no way to hurry up. At least for now he could only be patient and wait for things to go through the process step by step.

After all, even if Olivia is a biological sage of the Mechanicum, she can't make the grapes ripen immediately, then turn them all into wine, and then turn them into money immediately.

At least within a year, Chen Xi should not expect any income from the wine industry.

It was already very impressive that Olivia was able to cultivate enough grape vines within a year and produce the first batch of wine in the first year.

Moreover, new wine usually cannot be drunk directly, but needs to be aged in oak barrels for at least nine months.

Therefore, if Chen Xi wants to make money through wine, he will need at least two years for initial preparation and construction. Considering the various problems that may arise, it is best to extend this time to three years.

The same goes for the combat nuns on the other side. They need to build monasteries, recruit nuns, train personnel...all kinds of preliminary preparations need to be completed, and it will take at least three years for the nuns to be able to stably produce combat nuns.

As for the planetary defense force, they can start training as long as Chen Xi can provide sufficient military funds.

However, at the moment, he really doesn't have the money.

He had already seen the planet's financial status report submitted by the treasurer. Overall, the economic situation of Rostov II was good, provided he didn't make any trouble.

The ten planetary defense forces have a total strength of nearly 500 people. Just paying their salaries alone would cost nearly million throne coins a year, which is enough to buy a moon-class cruiser.

Fortunately, they currently do not have any combat missions, and their overall expenses are mainly daily training losses and food expenses. Including salaries, they can be controlled within 10 million Throne Coins a year.

The money for two Moon-class cruisers.

But this money must be paid. Not to mention the agreement reached between the former governor and Sage Olivia, the planetary defense itself requires Chen Xi to maintain such an army, and even expand its scale if necessary.

Fortunately, Rostov II's current financial income is about 20 million throne coins a year, which is enough to maintain military expenses. Although the remaining money has different uses, there is still a surplus of nearly 2 million throne coins a year.

However, Chen Xi will not be able to use this money, at least not in the next few years.

The previous governor had used this surplus to purchase a protein factory in ten installments to solve the planet's food problem.

The project is currently more than halfway through, and the former governor has already paid for six years. Chen Xi will have to continue paying for at least four more years.

In other words, during these four years, Chen Xi could only make plans, wait for the winery to ship the goods, and then sell the wine for money to see if he could improve the economic situation of the planet.

If he could obtain a stable source of income that could bring in no less than two million Throne Coins a year, Chen Xi would be able to expand the size of the planetary defense force or train more combat nuns.

You should know that a set of equipment for a combat nun costs 16,000 throne coins, and a slight upgrade will cost 20,000. Two million a year can barely equip a hundred bomb girls, not counting the training costs.

"Damn it! Others who travel through Warhammer either slaughter their way through the battlefield or indulge in harem-fueled sex, but why do I have to look at financial statements first?" The possessed Inquisitor angrily tossed the financial statements on the desk before him, then a look of resignation appeared on his face. These were all pressing issues that needed to be addressed. The Great Rift that would open in thirty years hung like a sword of Damocles over his head.

Although Rostov II is a frontier world and is located in the Solar System, it can be said that the years were peaceful before the Great Rift opened.

But once the big rift opens, they will also suffer from chaos. Chen Xi must find a way to increase the planet's armament level and complete the planet's defense construction to resist any possible problems.

There are no hive cities on Rostov II, and if something were to happen, the city wouldn't even have walls to defend it in its current state.

"So we also need to plan a sum of money for city defense construction... Ahhhh, money is needed everywhere! If only I could produce one or two million throne coins right now!" Chen Xi couldn't help but scratch his head frantically.

Fortunately, it was the chess piece's head that was scratched, and his own hair would not fall off.

Currently, Rostov II does not produce anything that can be exchanged for money. Its entire income comes mainly from taxes paid by the more than one billion people in the two cities, as well as the income brought by some state religion pilgrims arriving on the planet.

The former accounts for the bulk of fiscal revenue, while the latter is a tiny part.

If one must say that there is something valuable on Rostov II, the Black Stone resources that have been designated as private property by the Mechanicus are one of them.

However, this part is occupied by the forge world in the star zone. The reason why Olivia is on this planet, at least the official explanation is that the forge world sent her to supervise the mining of black stone.

These black stones all belong to the Mechanicus, and only the Oil Man and the Inquisition want them. Even if Chen Xi secretly organizes people to dig them, these black stones will eventually be sold to the Mechanicus.

It's like walking into a trap.

And generally speaking, there is a grave of the undead under the black stone. If you dig too hard, you will wake up those bastards. With the current military strength of Rostov II, I am afraid it cannot defeat the lowest-level trash lords.

"Wait... the Tomb of the Dead..." Chen Xi suddenly got an inspiration. He might not be able to rely on other things for the time being, but what if he sent a team into the Tomb of the Dead to find some gold?

Just be careful not to wake up the bones in the grave, and bring back something from the outside. Even if it's just a stasis field coffin, you can exchange it with the local Mechanicus for something.

Moreover, this can be regarded as a preliminary investigation of the tomb of the Necrons. Chen Xi needs to investigate the scale of the tomb clearly so that he will not be passive when dealing with it later.

However, Chen Xi was very resistant and wary of exploring the Necromancer tomb itself. After all, if it was an intact Necromancer tomb, it would not be surprising to find anything inside.

The weaker ones might just be a crypt technician and a few necromancers, who couldn't even get up and simply fell asleep in a 60 million year slumber.

And the stronger ones... may even be able to take out the fragments of the Star God. There is no most outrageous, only more outrageous.

"Forget it, let's discuss it with Sage Olivia first and see how much she knows about the Tomb of the Dead!" Chen Xi couldn't make up his mind for a moment and planned to communicate with Olivia first to see if she had any clues and information.

(End of this chapter)