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, 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 Star..."

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.

Billions of people worked day and night on the planet, billions of people died in the mines, and a large number of people were sent to the Star Army to fight against the aliens on the front line.

When the tax was over, Ers had lost half of its population, and the surface of the planet was widely damaged, with deadly pollution everywhere.

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

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

"When the Inquisitor left, Lord Grant begged him to help appeal. Ers really couldn't bear such heavy taxes.

I hope he can tell the Holy Terra Ministry of the Interior the true situation of Ers, so that they can re-evaluate Ers and lower the tax level of Ers."

"Did you agree?"

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

He claimed that Lord Grant was a heretic and said he smelled the smell of chaos!

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

Ron clenched his fists slightly: "What's the name of the Inquisitor?"

"It doesn't matter, he's 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 against chaos demons.

How could he die so easily?

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

After the Inquisitor's ship set off and entered the warp, an accident occurred.

The powerful warp storm tore the ship apart, and the wreckage and human body parts were thrown out of the warp and fell to the ground.

"A small part of the Inquisitor's body was gone. He lay on the ground and couldn't move. He ordered us to treat him immediately!"

Bayev said, seeming to be relieved: "We can save him, but no one moved. We just watched him.

See him bow his head and ask for our help, see him slowly despair, and start to curse our blasphemy...

Everyone watched him struggle on the ground until he died!"

Ron sighed and patted Bayev's shoulder.

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

"Why?" Ron was puzzled.

"That inexplicable warp storm destroyed the route, and the only astropath on the planet died. We have been cut off from Holy Terra until now..."

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

A warp storm that is so strong that it kills astropaths directly?

Ron stood up quickly: "Could it be a big crack?"