Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 174: Opening up a new world
Once again sitting at the desk in the Governor's office, Chen Xi was handling the official business at hand.

The sunlight outside shines through the window onto the table, casting a warm spot of light.

His fingers slid quickly across the data pad, browsing various reports and documents.

Although the situation in Rostov has become relatively stable, as the planetary governor, he still needs to pay close attention to every detail of the planet to ensure that everything is developing in the expected direction.

After several years of sorting out and various unexpected events, Rostov's current situation has entered a relatively stable stage of rapid development.

There is not much that can be done to develop the planet itself in the short term. If Rostov II does not want to destroy the fragile ecology of the planet, it is best to control the population.

Chen Xi knew very well that the ecological carrying capacity of this planet was limited, especially before Olivia completed her academic research and transformed this planet into a paradise world, any over-development could have disastrous consequences.

And Chen Xi also has to consider the issue of food.

Although Olivia had completed the protein processing plant that she and the previous governor had agreed upon, and the protein bars it produced were enough to feed everyone on the planet, this "everyone" was limited to the population of Rostov before Chen Xi took over.

After Chen Xi took over, Rostov's population is currently growing rapidly.

Although the population of Rostov has not changed much at present, the newly added knight territory and the city near the nunnery have undoubtedly brought a large number of new population.

Add to that the constant influx of pilgrims who choose to settle in the state religion city, and the population of Rostov II is now approaching the 20 billion mark.

If the protein factory had not been completed and the planet had not been able to enjoy free food supplies from the Ministry of the Interior for more than 20 years, some people would probably be starving by now.

Not to mention that Chen Xi also plans to launch a sub-star region colonization plan, which requires not only a large population, but also a huge amount of food.

The massive amount mentioned here means that at least one agricultural world is needed to support the entire colonization plan. Otherwise, most of them may not be able to establish a colony on the colonized planet and will starve to death.

If Chen Xi didn't care about the source of food, he could just find a planet that could extract promethium.

The Empire's corpse starch is made from the by-products of promethium extraction, which is much more convenient and cheaper than producing protein bars.

Of course, don’t expect this stuff to be nutritious or healthy, and it’s not even clean or hygienic.

It simply solves your hunger problem.

Otherwise, the average life expectancy of the people in the Empire's hive cities would not be less than 40 years old.

Chen Xi is not willing to feed this stuff to his people, so he plans to set up an agricultural world in the sub-star region to supply food to the entire sub-star region.

Of course, building an agricultural world is no easier than building a hive world. Under the current circumstances, Rostov cannot afford the construction of an agricultural world.

However, this problem is not serious. It can be solved by asking the Mariupol Mechanicus for help and paying the money.

Chen Xi and Pavel had already agreed on this part. The State Church also felt that having an agricultural world in the sub-sector was crucial for the State Church's missionary work and the stability of the entire star region, so they readily paid for it. However, even though the State Church paid for it, Chen Xi also understood that he would not be able to squeeze any more money out of it at the moment.

According to the results of the previous negotiations between Chen Xi and Pavel, the construction funds for the Orbital Star Ring and Agricultural World were the last investment of the State Church before Chen Xi launched the immigration plan.

Unless Chen Xi really opens up a new colonial planet, the state religion will no longer provide any large sponsorship.

After all, the State Religion's money doesn't come from the wind. Although it doesn't matter how much money is spent for the Emperor, the State Religion will not spend money without restraint. The Star Region State Religion Council needs to see the results after the money is spent.

The orbital ring is easy to deal with. Construction has already begun. As the orbital ring is built, the state religion will naturally be able to see the role it will play in Rostov after it is completed.

But the agricultural world is just a plan now, and the state religion hopes to see some results that can at least hold up the show.

Chen Xi expressed his understanding of this.

The national religion has spent a lot of money, so Chen Xi should let them see the returns, even if it's just for show.

So after sorting out the current government affairs, Chen Xi went to the national religious city and once again found the old bishop, asking him to organize people to establish a pioneering group and prepare for the first immigration.

The old bishop showed considerable enthusiasm for this. Chen Xi had reason to believe that if he were not too old to personally participate in the immigration, the first bishop of Rostov would probably once again build a church brick by brick on the new colony planet.

But to be honest, if the old bishop could really do this, lead his believers to those planets used for immigration, and once again rebuild the state church brick by brick, he could really be canonized as a saint.

The old bishop obviously knew this, and if he wanted to, he could naturally get a rejuvenation surgery that would enable him to do these things.

He is less than a hundred years old. With the empire's technological level, it is not difficult to restore his health, and he can even live another two or three hundred years.

But the old bishop was a fundamentalist who insisted on natural aging and rejected rejuvenation surgery or any treatment that went against the laws of nature.

Even if he would lose the chance to be canonized, he was unwilling to give up the principles he had upheld all his life.

However, although he himself no longer had enough energy to follow the pioneering group to explore the new imperial world, he could send his own disciples.

The old bishop sent most of the priests of the Rostov II Church to accompany the pioneering group to the new planet and guide the faith of the people of the empire.

In addition, some priests and nuns from the Mariupol sector's branch of the state religion also responded to the call and joined the pioneer group. They will also provide them with various religious services including medical treatment, mass, confession and funerals during their journey to the new world.

Just like that, under Chen Xi's earnest anticipation, the first group of pioneers has set off from the core area of ​​the Mariupol star zone and then arrived at Rostov II. After completing the supply and diversion here, they were divided into two groups and headed for two different imperial worlds.

These two imperial worlds are the first targets for development. According to the plan, one is an ordinary imperial civilization world, and the other is a mining world that has been entrusted to the Mechanicus.

(End of this chapter)