Emperor's Bane

Chapter 1022 Ambition in the Mud

Chapter 1022 Ambition in the Mud
"What on earth is Typhon up to?"

"How long has he been gone? How come he couldn't even handle a small Taran!"

"I gave him an army of fifty thousand, fifty thousand!"

In the bridge command room of the Resilient, decorated with spiked ring skulls, Mortarion's unpredictable rage was enough to silence the entire warship.

In the Fourteenth Legion, no one dared to defy the will of the Lord of Death: even though under normal circumstances this would not bring real death, but only punishment.

Mortarion was somewhat reasonable in his dealings with his offspring, although his temper remained as unpredictable as ever, often oscillating between tolerance and rage. Overall, however, he had a high psychological threshold for each Death Guard.

Since the Primarch reunited with the Legion, there have been very few warriors who have been executed by Mortharian's order.

The wrath of the Lord of Death may be wrathful, but it has never truly burned through the resilient armor of the Sons of Barbaros.

That is why, when yet another unexpected whirlwind of anger sweeps through, there are always braver individuals willing to brave the headwinds, stand beside the father of genetics, and bear his unwarranted rage, offering their heartfelt advice.

Prior to this, such honors always belonged to the seven company commanders who held prominent positions in the legion.

For example, Typhon in the first company, Grugor in the second company, or Garo in the seventh company.

But now, due to the war and various coincidences, all seven company commanders are temporarily separated from their genetic father.

Garo of the Seventh Company and two other company commanders who were closer to Terra were left behind in Barbaros. They led a garrison that comprised about two-fifths of the Death Guard’s total strength and were ordered to ensure that their own homeland would not be attacked while the Legion was out fighting for galactic dominion.

Glogor of the Second Company, along with several other company commanders, were under the command of Mortarian. These company commanders were now leading their respective elite forces, conquering and seizing territory in the southern region of the entire Solar Sector, planting Mortarian's flag in one world after another.

Meanwhile, Typhon, leading his almost complete company and reinforcements drawn from various companies by Mortalian, launched an overwhelming attack on Taran, defended by the remnants of the Imperial Fist, in an attempt to eliminate the Legion's threat in the southern galaxy.

Originally, this was a battle that was expected to end in a few days to a few weeks, but in reality, the bloody fighting on Taran has lasted for more than two months, and there has been no news of a decisive victory.

Typhon's own battle reports were fragmented and his descriptions of the front lines and results were vague. If this was not enough to anger Mortalian, then when the other independent commanders on the Taran front could no longer tolerate their embarrassing situation and, behind Typhon's back, submitted more detailed battle reports to the Primarch.

Even the most mild-mannered father of genes probably couldn't suppress his anger.

Concealment and deception are secondary. The friendship that emanates from Barbarossa is sufficient to handle such a small situation.

But what truly enraged the Primarch was the fact that he was losing troops in a world that offered almost no resistance (at least in his view), and the front lines that had never made any decisive progress.

"That idiot Karas!"

In front of his other two offspring, Mortarian showed no respect for his old friend.

"Look what he's done!"

The secret battle report, which had been specially brought back by the most astute Death Guard, bypassing Typhon's spies, was angrily swept off the ground by the Primarch. The two remaining Death Guard warriors in the room exchanged glances, then quietly looked at the deadly piece of paper.

The phone screen was filled with a dense list of numbers and unit numbers, along with some insignificant reports of battle results and front-line conditions. It even included a rough map of the entire Taran surface. At the bottom, there were three or four rows of names, from the various commanders who participated in the battle.

At the very bottom, the two vaguely glimpsed what appeared to be the word "Vox".

The Primarch stood in front, with the statues beneath his feet, unfortunately struck by his rage and reduced to fragments. He muttered to himself, his words filled with the detailed and painful losses recorded in the battle reports.

"Casualties exceed 40 percent."

"Half of the technical officers were lost."

"More than half of the detachment commanders and company commanders have been lost, and thirty-one of the fifty battalion commanders have been lost!"

(These three organizations only came into existence in the Death Guard during the 40th millennium. I couldn't find any other organizations besides Dalian during the Great Crusade. Anyway, according to official statements, there are almost no formal organizational ranks or branches within the Death Guard. Heaven knows how they manage it.)
"Even the targeted virus, which was considered a secret weapon, was exposed prematurely."

The Primarch was particularly heartbroken about this.

He had to stop, take deep breaths, and pinch his forehead tightly. It took him a while to regain his composure under the worried gazes of his children.

But the resentment in his voice remained.

"But after giving so much, what have we gained?"

"A rainforest reduced to ruins?"

"A few cities that are almost completely useless?"

"Are there new fronts spanning half the world?"

"The Imperial Fist has not yielded; they still hold half of Taran in their hands."

"Yes, Typhon's targeted virus killed thousands of Imperial Fists in the rainforest."

"But there will only be more left."

"There will likely be even more!"

The Primarch suddenly turned around, and surprisingly, a trace of fear of external things appeared in his eyes, which were always filled with resentment and blaming others.

"My brother..."

"He won't let this go so easily!"

"What do you think?"

Faced with this critical question, the two Death Guards standing in the room, Dulac and Kagalo, who served as the chief and second-in-command of the Armory respectively, simply lowered their heads and dared not even breathe loudly.

(Note: Kagaro and Garo are not the same person.)
They certainly knew who the brother their genetic father was talking about was.

Within the Deathguard Legion, the Armory Master holds a high position of power, and the Chief Armory Master even has the honor of commanding the Queen of Glory's Fortitude when the Primarch is absent: anyone who can climb to this position is certainly not a fool.

Whether it was Typhon's frequent hints in his vague military reports or the direct points made by Vox and others in this secret report, it all indicated that the resistance on Taran did not come solely from the already exhausted Sigismund army in the eyes of the Death Guard.

Another, more powerful adversary, a nation capable of confronting the entire Fourteenth Legion head-on, is gradually amassing its most elite forces in the world.

And this country was all too familiar to them.

A targeted virus specifically designed for Raven Guardians will naturally only be effective against Raven Guardians.

It's that same old neighbor again.

From this perspective, Typhon's failure is quite tolerable: after all, the enemy was far stronger than expected.

But the Primarch was still furious, because regardless of whether the Nineteenth Legion participated in the war or not, there was no doubt that there were less than 20,000 Ascat defenders on Taran: using 50,000 men to attack 20,000 men, using every means, suffering nearly half casualties, and still failing to take the city after a long siege was enough to enrage anyone.

If there is any reward, it is probably the lives of those thousands of Dark Raven Guards.

Judging from their reports, they are all elites.

Even Corax would probably be heartbroken by such a horrific loss.

Vox's report also made this point very clear.

After the targeted virus was deployed on a large scale, rampant plague and death soon followed as expected: hundreds of Imperial Fists died painfully in their rainforest bunkers, and the survivors had to abandon their comrades and evacuate overnight from the areas marked as dangerous.

The Death Guards easily seized the underground fortifications they had previously been unable to locate, and the hundreds of corpses they found inside that they couldn't take with them. Out of the final respect among the Astartes warriors, they buried these bodies with dignity near the battlefield and held funerals for them with the courtesy due to heroes.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that these Raven Guards had caused Typhon's men to lose countless fighting brothers and army colleagues in previous wars, the Death Guards had no complaints about this courtesy towards their opponents: apart from reminiscing about the past, their attention was mostly focused on the gradually collapsing front lines of the Taran garrison.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Death Guards stormed in and captured Sapphire City, the administrative center of Taran, until the Imperial Fist organized a new defensive line to stop them.

This is the current situation in Taran.

The Death Guard suffered heavy losses, but they were confident of victory.

Despite the growing discontent with Typhon, Vox and the others did not deny his contributions: the Fourteenth Legion had occupied most of Taran, and their fleet was gradually squeezing the living space of the defenders in space. Moreover, after suffering from the Targeted Virus, the elusive Raven Guards had not launched large-scale attacks for a long time.

They are still active, but the sudden decrease in numbers and the gradual increase in cases have left them without enough manpower to snipe the Death Guard.

Although some individuals, as terrifying as death itself, continue to hunt down officers on the front lines like madmen, the few strong ones are still unable to conceal the overall decline.

Now, the only thing that can delay Tiphon is the lack of troops caused by the heavy losses in the early stages.

This prevented them from maintaining a temporary front and from diverting troops to cut off the enemy's supply lines.

All of the above was clearly written down by the patient Vox in his report.

He even mentioned something else.

That is: considering the elite status of these Raven Guards disguised as Imperial Fists, and their heavy casualties under the targeted virus, it seems inevitable that the Raven Lord in the South will continue to intervene.

His willingness to deploy such a well-trained force demonstrates his firm resolve to enter the game.

The heavier the casualty figures, the more it fuels Corax's belief in revenge: the master of the Redemption Star is not someone who will be frightened by mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Mortarian naturally understood this principle.

Therefore, after his anger was released, the Lord of Death gradually regained his composure.

The two arms dealers secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, just like before, their father's anger came and went quickly.

However, this means they now need to focus on dealing with the Primarch's inquiries.

as predicted.

"What do you think?"

Realizing that his trusted company commanders were not by his side, Mortarian turned his gaze to the Armory Master, who was second only to the company commanders.

The two Death Guards exchanged a glance.

Drucker, who held a higher position, took the lead.

He first saluted the Primarch, then humbly picked up the intelligence report from the ground and read it carefully.

After reading it twice, he pondered for a moment.

"grown ups."

Finally, Drucker spoke.

"I think Vox's suggestion is reasonable."

"His letter made it very clear."

"Typhon's command was indeed problematic. He made a serious mistake of underestimating the enemy and being reckless in the early stages of the war. But at the time, no one could have imagined that the Raven Guard would also be involved. Corax's sudden disruption was one of the important reasons for the heavy losses. We cannot put all the blame on Typhon."

"Similarly, Vox also pointed out that although Typhon's command in the early stages was somewhat inappropriate, and his actions of releasing the targeted virus to the Raven Guard were also difficult to evaluate, his actions did indeed turn the tide of the war: the Taran garrison was unlikely to hold out any longer, and as long as we could send enough reinforcements in time before the Raven Guard, we could crush the last line of defense of the Taran garrison in one fell swoop."

"At that time, as long as Corax and the Nineteenth Army do not want to go to war with us, they will have no choice but to accept our occupation of the entire Taran."

"Ah."

Mortarian found a chair and sat down.

“Vox said the same thing in his letter.”

"He also told me that, given that Corax had asked his men to conceal their identities, he himself was probably unwilling to fight."

"However, let's not jump to conclusions so quickly."

The Lord of Death shook his head.

"Vox's entire report was almost perfect, but on this particular point, he was a bit too arbitrary."

The two Death Guards exchanged a glance.

They then realized that their genetic father had indeed emerged from his anger: reason and thought had resumed functioning in Mortalian's mind.

The Primarch, on the other hand, continued to talk at length.

"While Vox's reasoning is logically sound, he made a mistake."

"He doesn't know Corax well enough."

"It is wrong of him to judge a Primarch by the values and logic of ordinary people."

"But my intuition tells me..."

"Corax is not afraid to fight."

"It is more likely that he is not prepared to fight at this time for some practical reason."

“But he has already become hostile towards us.”

"If the fighting in Taran continues, Typhon's situation will certainly get worse."

This time it's not "Idiot Callas" again?

The Death Guards muttered to themselves, "This company commander is really favored."

With nearly 20,000 casualties, how could such a command error be so easily overlooked?
Really...

Before they could even express their feelings, the Lord of Death's gaze had already turned to another Lord of Armaments.

"And what are your thoughts, Kagalo?"

"Lord Durak is right. We must send reinforcements to Taran immediately, my lord."

Kagalo also took a step forward.

"But the problem now is..."

Which troops should we send?

This question silenced Mortarian.

Yes: Which unit should we send?

Without a doubt, the main force of reinforcements against Taran must be composed of Astartes.

But this has created problems.

In the fifty years since the end of the Great Crusade, Morthari has been dedicated to expanding his army. The Death Guard has grown from less than 100,000 to 330,000, demonstrating the Primarch's hard work and dedication.

Even so, when the battle lines expanded to the scale of the galaxy, even 330,000 Death Guards were stretched thin.

Sufficient troops must be left on the homeland. Not to mention the Word Bearers further west, at least the Raven Guards further east have already shown clear hostility. Corax alone has no less than 200,000 elite troops under his command. So, sending a few hundred thousand Death Guards to defend the homeland to ensure that the main army can return to reinforce Corax if he attacks is only barely enough.

In this way, Mortarion would only have 170,000 to 180,000 Astartes.

Typhon took another 50,000 and lost 20,000.

In addition, garrison troops must be left behind to defend the various pivotal and resource worlds attacked along the way.

After careful planning, the Death Guard's manpower has returned to an awkward state of over 90,000 but less than 100,000.

Even the Primarch would frown at this.

"But that's not the most important thing."

Kagalo continued.

"We must also pay attention to the selection of personnel, sir."

"There is no doubt that Captain Typhon's command has caused widespread discontent within the Tarant Task Force."

"Even the mild-mannered Vox mentioned in his letters that Company Commander Typhon was intentionally diverting his direct forces away from the front lines, causing more losses to be suffered by troops from other companies at the front."

"If this news spreads throughout the legion, it could trigger a violent reaction from the entire legion."

No, it won't.

Mortarian shook his head without hesitation.

He looked at his two subordinates with a serious gaze that could send chills down the spine of anyone being stared at.

"This news will not be spread."

"..."

"Yes, my lord."

Dulac and Cagallo lowered their heads.

“Even so, Primarch, we must also consider the importance of choosing a leader for the reinforcements.”

"His position must be high enough to create some kind of check and balance with Company Commander Typhon."

"This is not a lack of trust in Tiphon's capabilities."

"It was to reassure the other commanders at the front."

"I know."

Motalian nodded, his mind racing as he considered various suitable candidates.

The faint pain and the sticky sound from the distant stars still irritated him.

"so……"

“I’m going to send Grugor.”

"The second company commander?"

Kagalo hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

He didn't think this was the right person: Grugel was arrogant and short-tempered, and had frequent conflicts with the Terrans in the Legion, and his relationship with Typhon was also often on the verge of war.

Conversely, his loyalty to Mortarion is also beyond question.

In Garo's words, Grugol always wanted to do something to attract the Primarch's attention, even if it meant taking risks.

"I will personally entrust this to him."

The Death Guard waved his hand dismissively.

“Grugor knows what’s important and what’s urgent; he would never disobey my orders.”

The master of arms can only be called the master.

"Then... how should the troops be deployed?"

This question is clearly more important.

Mortarian also took longer to think.

“I will give Typhon... another 30,000 to 40,000 people.”

"Have Grugel concentrate his forces from the various fronts and fleets near Taran, and gather an army of 70,000."

"Send it to Tiphon all at once."

"We are closer, so we can definitely send reinforcements earlier than the Dark Raven Guards."

"Let Typhon commit his entire army at once: completely destroy Taran's defenses at all costs."

At any cost.

This word made the two arms dealers hold their breath for a moment.

It sounds easy, but it's almost half of the legion's total mobile forces.

After sending out this reinforcement, Mortarian will only have fifty to sixty thousand men left.

Although with the Primarch in charge, even 50,000 to 60,000 Astartes would be a formidable force, but such a pitiful number is clearly insufficient to participate in larger-scale wars.

Whether it's going to Minerva to support Horus, or going to Betangamon to support the Khan and the Phoenix.

They even took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Terran army was tied up in Minerva and Betangamon, and marched straight into the solar system from the undefended south.

Fifty or sixty thousand people are still not enough.

The two Death Guards muttered to themselves, and the Primarch clearly saw the subtle changes on their faces.

"Don't worry about that."

Mortarian scoffed.

"Anyway, I never intended to send the main force north for any further time."

"what?"

The masters of arms raised their heads.

They stared at the Primarch with blank expressions.

What does it mean to stop heading north?

"grown ups."

Even though Drucker was of higher status, he still spoke first.

"According to the plan made before the war, shouldn't we concentrate our forces after entering the Solar Starfield and support the War Commander and the others as quickly as possible?"

"Whether it's Minerva or Betangamon: perhaps all we're missing is this fresh force."

"I know."

Mortarian looked out the porthole at the boundless void.

As he gazed into the abyss, the light of the abyss seemed to reflect back onto his face.

"That's exactly what the plan says."

"But how to implement it is a more practical question."

Looking at the two children who were still somewhat bewildered, the Lord of Death revealed a profound and unfathomable smile.

To put it more bluntly.

"If we consider everyone's perspective, it would indeed be a better option for our army to immediately march north to help Horus defeat Dorne, or to help Chagatai defeat Lemanrus. I have never doubted that our army can have a decisive effect."

"but."

The voice changed.

"If we stand on our own side."

The Death Guardian countered.

"Then let Shadowmoon Wolf, Son of the Emperor, and White Scar, these allies who will share the cake and meat with us after the war, shed a little more blood before heading towards the final gift."

“For us.”

"And what's the downside?"

"..."

The owners of arms could only remain silent on this issue.

The Primarch's voice still echoed.

Like a seductive devil.

"After all, by then..."

"The one holding the knife, the one responsible for cutting the meat."

"Not necessarily the one with the greatest merit, but certainly the one with the biggest size."

"Whoever preserves the most strength will have more say in the division of spoils after the war."

"Of course, it seems that Horus is the biggest one right now."

"But if there's a chance."