Warhammer 40k: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 129: Compete! Once the Rat Race Starts, You'll Know You Were Wrong!

Rebecca sat at her desk, suffering a headache from the massive volume of administrative work.

Her lord had made it clear he wanted to be a hands-off boss, and the immense amount of governance had been dumped on Rebecca's head.

Only now did she truly understand Lucan's intention in enhancing her, but she had no choice but to accept it.

Previously, she could handle the administrative affairs of a single planet, Agathos, with her enhanced body. But when the territory of the Mongorte Dynasty suddenly quadrupled, the daily volume of paperwork reached tens of thousands of pages. Just flipping through it took a long time; even her body couldn't handle it all.

She, who had once liked to handle everything personally, now had no choice but to delegate the work to the officials under her.

The massive expansion of the population had caused food to become insufficient again.

However, according to Lucan's requirements, Mushroom-men had begun to be transplanted from that initial planet. The Dynasty's agri-world, Omiron, would also begin to cultivate this species.

With their reproductive speed, they would soon be able to provide sufficient food for the extra population.

A nutrition team and a medical team were assigned to serve Rebecca and her administrative team. But even so, while she could endure it, her team was clearly struggling. Many had to rely on stimulant shots to maintain their current work state.

Rebecca even had to pull Verre, who had also been enhanced, into the administrative processing team.

There was no time to worry about the system of separating military and government affairs now. Fortunately, both Verre's and Rebecca's loyalty to Lucan was sufficiently guaranteed.

"Governor Rebecca, I really shouldn't be involved in these administrative decisions! We agreed on the separation of military and government affairs; this isn't appropriate!" Verre said with a bitter expression.

"Lord Verre, don't make any more excuses. The able should do more work. I believe that even if the Lord Captain finds out, he won't say anything to you! Everything is for the Dynasty!"

"Ai… by the God-Emperor, I suddenly feel that being a Purser by Lord Lucan's side was much easier."

The existence of quantum communication was a good thing for the entire Dynasty, but for Rebecca and Verre, it had severely increased their burden.

Previously, administrative matters from within the planets might have taken a long time to arrive. Now, they were real-time. And the fragile administrative frameworks on these planets meant that a large number of decisions required Rebecca's final say.

And looking at some of the communications sent from the former worlds of the Winterscale Dynasty, Rebecca's already short temper flared up at once.

"These dregs! The Dynasty saved them, and this is how they repay the Dynasty?!"

"What's wrong, Rebecca? Why so angry?!" Verre asked.

"See for yourself!"

Verre took the report from Rebecca's hand and knew why she was so furious.

On those few planets belonging to the Winterscale Dynasty that Lucan had occupied, both the construction progress and production capacity had shown a significant decline during this period.

They couldn't even reach the standards set by the Dynasty.

They had overestimated Lucan's benevolence, thinking they could receive all kinds of supplies from the Dynasty without having to perform such arduous labor.

In Rebecca's eyes, these people were just parasites eating the Dynasty's food for free.

Even on the capital world of Agathos, despite being well-fed and well-watered, the people's work was exceptionally saturated. The people here had a sense of belonging. At Lucan's request, the Dynasty had always propagated the idea that the Mongorte Dynasty needed everyone's contribution.

And on these occupied planets, the tone Lucan had set was also to let the people eat their fill, wear warm clothes, and not be arbitrarily abused.

To guarantee a person's basic human rights.

After all, facts had proven that oppression was the hotbed of Chaos corruption.

However, Lucan's orders had, in turn, become a protective charm for these people. This was something Lucan had not expected.

"I have mentioned to Lord Lucan before that his measures are sometimes too merciful. Human nature is greedy, and these insatiable individuals are even more detestable!"

Lucan's policies towards the common people were arguably second to none in the entire Warhammer universe.

But coming from a peaceful era, he had ultimately underestimated the ugliness of human nature. Lucan had originally thought that at least after being well-fed, they would all cherish their current lives.

What Rebecca thought of was to immediately punish and suppress these ingrates. The ringleaders and their followers would all be executed.

Nothing could make people submit more than death and fear, and the Mongorte Dynasty of the past had also done so.

Let alone Rebecca and Verre feeling angry, even Lucan was exceptionally furious when he received Rebecca's message.

"It seems I have thought too simply of human nature. However, execution and punishment… the ringleaders can be executed, but there is no need to inflict cruel punishment on everyone!"

After all, what Lucan needed was a population that could contribute to the Dynasty's output. If everyone died, who would work for him?

An idea suddenly popped into Lucan's mind.

At this moment, on the mining planet Agalos, there were still a large number of Genestealers!

These "model citizen" level Genestealers had long since caused the output of Agalos to exceed its set targets.

Throughout the entire Dynasty, you couldn't find people more hardworking than them.

And under the influence of Kerrigan's will, these Genestealer cultists completely obeyed Lucan. Most importantly, almost every Genestealer had undergone chemical castration.

Under chemical castration, the possibility of these Genestealers reproducing due to their genetic issues, and after a few generations evolving back into Purestrain Genestealers, was completely eliminated.

This thoroughly eradicated the possibility of these Genestealers reconnecting with the Hive Mind.

And Lucan's idea was precisely to disperse these third and fourth-generation Genestealers, who looked no different from humans, to those occupied planets.

He intended to establish a new system.

His original world had a large number of villainous capitalists. Lucan planned to also become a villainous capitalist for once.

The labor standards of these Genestealers would become the assessment standard for the commoners on those planets.

Without implementing a policy of iron-fisted suppression, Lucan planned to use this group of Genestealers to make the people on these planets compete among themselves.

When most of the people around you are slacking off, you won't feel any pressure, thinking that since everyone isn't working, everyone can still eat and drink their fill.

But once some "kings of competition" appear around you, the surrounding people will unconsciously begin to feel a sense of panic.

These people work harder, and do a better job. What's most hateful is that this group of people, after doing the same amount of work, demand shockingly low remuneration. Normal humans could never compete with these Genestealer cultists for living rations.

They were truly without desire.

When people discovered that one of these individuals could do the work of two, three, or even four people, and then the living rations for those unwilling to work were appropriately and continuously reduced, these people who were trying to be lazy would begin to be afraid.

They would lose their current lives. They would know that the Mongorte Dynasty would not be affected without them; there were plenty of people who could work.

Lucan's ultimate goal was not for these people to die, but for them to be able to complete, and even exceed, their work quotas.

Excessive oppression would ultimately breed Chaos corruption. Lucan didn't want Chaos cults popping up on his planets all the time.

And soon, Rebecca also received Lucan's orders. Although she remained skeptical of this so-called "involution," she still carried out Lucan's command.

Hundreds of thousands of Genestealers began to board warships to travel to these planets. And soon, the people on these planets would feel the terror of the rat race.

(End of Chapter)

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