Emperor's Bane

Chapter 600 Corax's Corner

Ever since he accepted the olive branch from the Emperor on the sands of his Redemption Planet and joined the great crusade to restore the civilization of the human race, Corax felt that his originally smooth and straight life seemed to have fallen into unpredictable ups and downs.

Fate slipped out of his control and swallowed him whole.

Now is no longer the time when one can turn the tide with just two sharp swords and a determination. The Emperor's kingdom and ambitions are so vast and boundless that any changes or truths hidden therein can tear the Primarch's life to pieces: and what the Empire lacks the least is tragic changes and cruel truths.

Corax feared them: not because he was afraid that these changes might harm him physically and mentally, but because he was afraid of the shock these truths would bring to his soul. Whether it was the bloody means within the empire or the slim possibility of a great restoration, these existences were much more terrifying than the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield.

It’s like climbing a cliff whose top is out of sight. The difficulty of the process is self-evident, but what is truly frightening is the scenery after reaching the end: if behind the mountain there are still only mountains, or simply endless wasteland, then what is the meaning of the arduous climb?

Is it because of the war ten thousand years later?

Like Conrad implies?

At this moment, Corax was caught in this ideological dilemma.

The ones who brought the Savior of Redemption Star into this predicament were none other than his blood-related descendants, the 19th Legion that had just been given the name of "Raven Guard": to be more specific, it was those stubborn Terran veterans in the Legion.

"Hey……"

When he thought of these warriors, a sigh came from under the scattered black hair of the Raven King. He threw the documents in his hand aside, then released all the strength in his body and lay down on the seat: the hard metal seat came from the mine of Redemption Star, and arrived together with the first batch of Redemption Star warriors who had completed transformation and training.

An interesting point is that it was not the veterans of the Legion who helped this new batch of Raven Guard to complete their transformation and training, because Corax still could not fully trust any of the Terrans under his command, so long before he officially reunited with his Legion, the Raven King secretly sought help from his Avalon relatives.

Fortunately, Corax still has a group of trustworthy brothers: Morgan, Conrad and Guilliman. They are all willing to help him at all costs and without asking for anything in return. The friendship between blood brothers is the best answer.

This might be the friendliest side the Imperium of Man has ever shown Corax.

At his request, the Lord of Avalon used his power: Corax provided a batch of the purest gene seeds, which were then transported to Redemption by a group of carefully selected Dawnbreaker and Night Lord veterans, and then joined forces with the mechanical priests stationed in the Forge World of Ryza to hold a rather secret recruitment campaign.

Morgan and Konrad contributed the most experienced instructors of their respective legions, Ryza sent the most outstanding biological magi, and Malcador on Terra, under the Emperor's orders, provided several unknown but hidden worlds with complete training facilities: with the joint help of the three giants, 8,000 lively recruits arrived at the Primarch's side three days after Corax reunited with the 19th Legion.

They became the Crow King's greatest confidence.

Then, the Raven King completely disrupted the original organization of the 19th Legion, mixed the Terran veterans with the new recruits, promoted a group of veterans who were relatively submissive to him, and remained tolerant of the original command level, not launching a purge immediately: by using both kindness and force, he was able to gain initial control of his Raven Guard.

By the time all this was completed, the news about the Ullanor Expedition had already been placed on the Primarch's desk: it was not until this moment that Corax suddenly remembered the advice his brother Conrad had inadvertently given him when he had stayed on the Nightveil.

"Purging..."

The word lingered on the Primarch's lips: all his brothers would say so, even Sanguinius was no exception. It was like a recognized gray area that no one advocated, but was indispensable to everyone. The return of the Primarch seemed to mean a cleansing of the original legion structure.

Even the Dawnbreakers are no exception.

The Crow King thought for a long time.

Finally, he announced to everyone that he would participate in the upcoming Ullanor Expedition, and used the power in his hands to forcibly suppress the opinions of the Terra veterans: although these old guys supported joining the Ullanor Expedition, they wanted to join Horus' main attack fleet.

However, the Primarch neither wanted to join Horus' main attack fleet nor planned to take these stubborn Terrans with him. He simply divided his fleet into three groups: the most trustworthy ones would return to Redemption to continue recruiting soldiers, and the scope of recruitment would be expanded to the entire star region where Redemption was located, and even further, which would be the future responsibility of the Raven Guards.

As for the veterans who needed to be examined and the new recruits who needed fighting experience, they were taken to Ullanor by Corax, intending to train their obedience with blood and fire: the Primarch placed his troops under Morgan's command, and he believed that his sister would never harm him.

What surprised him was that Guilliman made the same choice as him: although the strength brought by the Macragge people was enough to form a separate front, he still recognized Morgan's command in this war because he had to obey the orders of the Spider Queen. No one knew what the Lord of Five Hundred Worlds was thinking.

But Corax knew very well that Guilliman was not such a complicated character: he might just think that because this battlefield was close to Avalon and was a defense operation of Avalon's homeland, then his friendly forces coming to support should naturally obey Morgan's orders. The Macragge people's thinking was sometimes that simple.

How Corax wished he could have such a simple state of mind.

With a sigh, he separated out the third force of the Legion. Those old soldiers who were recruited from the Asiatic Desert on Terra and were descendants of slave owners were accustomed to tyranny and bloodshed in their daily lives. All of these guys were kicked out of the main fleet by the Primarch.

Corax identified these Terran veterans as a task force and asked them to reinforce the Imperial army that was fighting hard in the Baratrum star field: this rebellion war had been going on for a full five years, and although the Raven Guards had received letters requesting help a long time ago, they had never paid any attention to these mortal armies.

Corax decided to put an end to this behavior.

The two main commanders of the task force are Alkahas-Far and Nerat-Killin: the former is the former Shadow Lord of the 19th Legion, the commander of the legion before Corax returned. This Terran ruled the entire 19th Legion for thirty years. This guy has an unshirkable responsibility for the legion's current morbidity and decline.

The latter was the shadowy captain of the Ash Claws Company in the Legion, one of Alkahas's most important supporters, and a notorious figure: in the decades before Corax returned, the mortal army under his command suffered the most casualties.

Faced with this kind of stuff, Corax's two closest blood relatives: Morgan and Conrad both hold highly similar opinions.

Conrad once lazily suggested to Corax that his Ghoul Stars expedition was just lacking some friendly assistance from the 19th Legion: Midnight Haunter didn't mind sacrificing his personal reputation to help Corax solve these minor troubles. After all, anyone who died in the Ghoul Stars was not news.

Morgan did not comment on this, but enthusiastically introduced Corax to a jungle death world called Catachan under the influence of Avalon: The Spider Queen values ​​her reputation more, so she will use her connections on Terra to help the Raven King get a formal military order and make those guys disappear from the galaxy in a reasonable way.

The Raven King thanked them for their help, but he still rejected the suggestions.

He gave these rebellious sons more opportunities: the Primarch had met with Alkahas three times and had a private conversation with Nelat on the bridge, but the results were all unsatisfactory. What awaited the Primarch was only silence and stiff prevarication. Even Corax could not tolerate this kind of stubbornness.

He gathered together these bastards who were always unwilling to bow their heads and assigned them a suitable goal: although Corax never said it explicitly, the rebellion war in Baratrum would be the last chance for these Terrans. If they failed to seize it, the Raven King would take back the father-son relationship between them.

The Ghoul Stars need more garrisons and expeditionary forces.

Corax was happy to help.

But apart from that, there was also good news coming back during this period.

The trusted team that went to Redemption Star has already brought back good news: although the gene seed of the Raven Guard is not particularly excellent, there are no obvious problems. After the recruitment scope was expanded to more than a dozen star systems, the number of people who passed the review has already exceeded 20,000. As long as these people arrive at the legion, Corax will no longer need those Terra veterans.

Lack of experience, so what? If these Terran slavers can only bring experience of tyranny and slavery to the Legion, then Corax does not mind starting from scratch and personally building a team that meets his ideals: just like he did in the cage of Redemption Star.

“I would rather endure hardships than compromise.”

The Raven King whispered these words, drawing new strength from this old slogan. He grabbed the report from the other side of the crime scene and carefully considered the meaning between the words and numbers, especially those from the Savior Star: This was not easy for Corax, but the education he received before the Morgan case enabled him to shoulder the responsibility of a ruler.

And most importantly: enlightenment.

At least now, Corax is willing to rule one side.

He knew that this was not his right: it was his duty.

"Sorola..."

The Raven King's eyes swept over the signatory at the bottom of the letter, and a new smile crossed the Primarch's pale mouth. This typical Redemption Planet name felt familiar to the Raven King: He still remembered when he and his companions pulled the entire Redemption Planet out of hell, this Sorolla was just a child. Now, not only was he able to join the legion and fight alongside him, but he also showed such outstanding talent.

Nothing could comfort Corax more than the good news that the future generation was growing up and that all his efforts had not been in vain.

The Emperor's dream was still far away, but a new generation of life did grow up under the protection of Corax and grew up in a better environment: countless such encouragements would support him until the last day of the Great Crusade.

(Sorolla is a real person who existed in the official history. He is considered the youngest commander of the Raven Guard. That is to say, if he had not died in the landing site massacre on Isstvan V, he would have been more outstanding than Sharokin. Perhaps Sharokin was right. Those who were better than him just died in the landing site massacre.)
After realizing the extraordinary talents of a newcomer like Sorolla, Corax boldly handed over thousands of people to him. Sorolla did not disappoint him and completed all the tasks of the Primarch perfectly: with Redemption Star and Lycasis as the core, intelligence on the entire southern part of the Storm Segmentum was placed on the desk of the Raven King for his careful thinking and planning.

Among thousands of civilized worlds, the Raven King needs to choose his future territory. This is the task given to him by the Emperor and Morgan: when the expedition to Ullanor is over, Corax must return to the Storm Segmentum, where his Raven Guard needs to establish their own sphere of influence and help Terra guard the frontier of the galaxy.

Guarding... and collecting taxes.

This is also the reason why the Raven King is so eager to purge the Legion. He will not tolerate those Terran slave owners bringing their preferences into his new country: although Corax has not yet figured out what method he will use to rule this galactic kingdom, it will definitely not be the method of these slave owners.

Thinking of this, Corax turned his gaze to the countless reference materials he had listed next to him, including those from Avalon and the Five Hundred Worlds, Conrad's Ghoul Kingdom, and Luther's Caliban Alliance.

In the eyes of the Raven King, Luther's method is particularly valuable for reference. After all, he knows that he is not a natural king like Morgan and Guilliman: although the two blood relatives shared their experiences very enthusiastically, Corax just couldn't learn.

For a newcomer like him, Luther's method is more useful: In fact, it is not only Corax who thinks so. Many of the Primarchs who intend to carve out territories and implement their own rule in the missions given by the Emperor have set their sights on Caliban under Luther's rule.

After all, by now almost everyone in the Empire knew what a great statesman the old knight on Caliban was: everyone, except perhaps Jonson, had noticed the limitless future of the Caliban Alliance and the role Luther played in it.

As a mortal, he is so outstanding that it is frightening.

The Raven King shook his head, somewhat regretting that he did not have such a person around him, but at least he could extract some useful parts from Luther's ruling methods: it was said that the old knight's colonization speed and wealth extraction in those remote areas had even reached a level that would make the officials on Terra dumbfounded.

Let him see it.

Home rule, supervisory bodies, parliamentary and military councils, federation or confederation...

Uh-huh?

"The Colonial Stock Company?"

"What is this?"

"Conrad has a comment next to it... The East India Company... What is this?"

“… Never mind, let’s just take a look.”

The Primarch rubbed his temples: How outrageous could it be? He had even seen the execution squads of tyrants.

"Um, um...huh?"

"..."

"Um!!!"

(End of this chapter)