The giant corporations that started from Night City

Chapter 452: Horus's Broken Heart! A New Government System!
"Horus, what is wrong with the position of Imperial Regent? Why are you so resistant? You'd better tell me the truth, otherwise I will never agree to your request."

Guilliman is not an idiot who can be easily fooled. He knows that there must be some unknown tricks involved, but as long as he can help, he is willing to deal with it even if there are traps.

But if Horus wanted to deliberately conceal his words, then he would never accept Horus's order.

"Okay then, I'll tell the truth."

With both sides showing their cards clearly, Horus no longer intended to pretend and simply explained to Guilliman everything that had happened on Terra during this period.

The intractable corruption problem, the team of high lords and councillors left by Malcador, the numerous government documents, and a series of historical problems...

These accumulated hidden dangers and booby traps have long turned the Human Empire into a powder keg that could explode at any time. Perhaps all it takes is a single instigation or temptation from the evil god of the subspace to trigger a series of riots and accidents.

At first, Horus wanted to use thunder-like means to reshape the political landscape of the empire with a wave of reforms that would overwhelm the old and destroy the old, but he had no idea where to start.

Every feasible path was blocked, and the reform routes he took for granted were all illusions, castles in the air, and there was no way to solve the problem at all.

"Now I finally understand my father's painstaking efforts. I thought that after I became the regent of the empire, I could inherit my father's ambition and change the world."

"As a result, I now find it extremely difficult to handle even the most basic government documents. If this continues, the empire will be destroyed in my hands sooner or later."

"Guilliman, this is not the place for me, so I need you to run the Empire for me until my father and Malcador return."

After listening to Horus's true words, Guilliman finally understood the whole picture. It was no wonder that Horus had made such a surprising move.

This kid is driven crazy.

Guilliman could understand why Horus's heart was broken. A long time ago, he was also a passionate young man who longed for reform and the establishment of an advanced order.

But when he first entered the political arena, some of the dark and obscure activities still made Guilliman sick and uncomfortable for a long time. It was not until his father taught him how to deal with such things that Guilliman slowly learned how to survive in the political arena.

There is always a long process of learning and understanding from being a participant to being a person in power, which requires both guidance from experienced predecessors and excellent comprehension ability on one's own.

After all, in the political arena, any mistake or fault will lead to one's never being able to make a breakthrough, but it is different for the Primarchs with backgrounds like them.

Guilliman also made many political mistakes, which brought some negative effects to Macragge, but with the support of his father, the Governor, he was able to continue to participate in political work and keep learning.

If this is the case in Macragge, what about Terra, the center of power of the Empire?

As a pure political newcomer, Horus's ability to achieve this can be considered a gifted achievement.

He even thought of forming a cabinet to compete with the high lords, which was indeed not an easy task.

"I have made the warriors of the Luna Wolves suffer during this period. Now I just want to take them back to Cthonia. Guilliman, the only advice I can give you is to let nature take its course."

"All reforms have been in vain. Only by relying on the High Lords and Councillors left by Malcador can the Empire's political system be maintained."

"In many cases, the words of me as the regent of the empire are not effective. Once problems arise due to my decisions, I will be the one to blame."

Horus shook his head with a wry smile. He had just kicked a group of high lord councilors, which soon led to the shutdown of the empire's government system and a large amount of government documents piled up.

Fortunately, the Great Crusade has ended, otherwise, his actions would have missed countless opportunities and caused the deaths of many Astartes.

After these days of political experiments, Horus finally understood that being the regent of the empire did not mean monopolizing power. The foundation of power came from the trust of his subordinates in him.

The Imperial bureaucrats and high lord councilors only believed in the Emperor and Malcador, and did not take Horus, the airborne leader, seriously at all.

Horus was very unhappy with these imperial bureaucrats. He believed that their corruption caused serious internal friction in the empire and that they were the empire's biggest enemy.

But at the same time, these imperial bureaucrats also looked down on Horus. These Primarchs themselves were the vested beneficiaries, and now they were calling it reform, but they just wanted to keep the big pot of rice for themselves.

Where do so many corrupt elements come from? Isn’t Horus just trying to stir up internal strife?

Most Terra officials looked down on this reckless warrior from the bottom of their hearts, believing that he simply did not know how to complete political work and allocate resources.

Why can Russ's Space Wolves Legion make so much money and ignore the laws of the Empire? What's wrong with these poor mortals asking for some hard work pay?

So the current situation is that Horus's cabinet and the High Lords' Council are fighting fiercely, and the entire political environment of Terra has been turned into a mess.

On the surface, Horus has gained a firm foothold on Terra by relying on the disruption of the cabinet, but in fact the cabinet may collapse at any time. If he does not run away at this time, the blame for internal strife and delaying government affairs will fall on his head.

Horus had calculated the timing. If he fled from Terra now and said that he was also a victim who had been deceived by those treacherous people in the cabinet, and resigned and returned to Cthonia now, he could get rid of the blame and escape successfully.

This move is absolutely impeccable!
"Guilliman, after I leave, you can use the heads of the cabinet to express your views to the High Lords and win their favor so that they can help you handle government affairs."

"With these mortals to assist you, I believe you can achieve the same political and social success as Malcador."

Horus had already prepared a retreat for Guilliman in advance. Although this was a bit too insidious, the transfer of power always came at a price.

Even if it means killing some people and causing rivers of blood, it is worth it.

Horus knew very well that once he did this, no mortal would be loyal to him from now on, and even his own political career would be blocked.

But he doesn't care.

From now on, he would take his wolf cubs back to Cthonia, and it would be enough for him to be an imperial war commander and command the three armies.

Guilliman sighed. Why bother? He would try his best to protect those mortals in the cabinet. It would be enough to imprison or exile them. There was no need to kill them all.

It won't be long before the human empire will usher in a real purge and a new era. He believes that these people will find their place in the new era and start over.

Guilliman lowered his head and thought for a while, then nodded and said, "I understand. Now you can issue a notice to let everyone know that I am the acting regent, and then you can lead the Luna Wolves back to Cthonia."

Judging from Guilliman's past experience in governing, taking over and handling Terra's government affairs was not that scary. He had no idea of ​​letting the Ultramarines take control of Terra.

He had no intention of taking action against mortal bureaucrats or carrying out major reforms. As long as everything remained the same as before, he believed that no major trouble would arise even if he temporarily took over as regent of the empire.

If what Horus said was true, then all Guilliman had to do next was to continue processing government documents and building good relations with the High Lords and Councillors, with both sides not interfering with each other and everything going on as usual.

Although Terra's political affairs would certainly be more numerous than Macragge's, Guilliman believed that with his own abilities, he should be able to hold on for a while until the Emperor and Malcador returned.

"That's great. I'll arrange for someone to take over your work."

Horus was overjoyed, showing an excited look of seeing the light of day again. "The power of the Imperial Regent is very great. Although there will be some constraints, you have absolute freedom in personnel transfers."

"Now that the new waterway project has been basically completed, the passage through the empire is now smooth. If you want to make some reform measures, you can also work with the high lords to do it."

“This credit is almost within reach!”

Horus also reflected on his mistakes. If he had established good relations with the high lords and councilors from the beginning, he could have used the new navigation system to reorganize and optimize the existing government system.

If we vigorously develop people's livelihood, allow the people to recuperate, support commercial trade, and promote economic development and prosperity, the situation will definitely be a hundred times better than it is now.

At least the political environment on Terra would not be as tense as it is now. Now, these free political achievements can only be left to Guilliman. Horus believes that as long as Guilliman is willing to cooperate with the High Lords and give some benefits to the mortals, these senators should not refuse Guilliman.

After listening to Horus's warning, Guilliman couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. If he had known this would happen, he would not have done it in the first place. It could have been easily resolved, but now it has turned out like this.

But it’s a good thing this way, as it allows me to pick the peach.

No politician would refuse political achievements that come to him, including Guilliman. After taking over as regent of the Empire, he naturally hoped to make some achievements to impress the Emperor and his primarch brothers.

Now is a good opportunity to demonstrate your abilities.

Immediately, Horus left the study with his Luna Wolves officers and quickly set out to flee back to Cthonia, leaving only Guilliman in the study waiting for the handover of work and dealing with unfinished government documents.

Watching Horus leave happily and easily, Guilliman didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for him to take over the regent. In case Horus didn't explain some things honestly, he was afraid that he would fall into the trap of some high lord councilor.

"The regent of the empire, second only to the emperor, has fallen into my hands so easily."

In the huge study, Guilliman was still a little dazed, feeling that the scene before him was a little unreal.

In his impression, the throne of Imperial Regent should be the ultimate reward that can only be obtained by a seasoned veteran who has experienced the test of politics, defeated countless political enemies, and achieved countless political results.

But the reality is that the Imperial Regent has become a despicable person who is abandoned by everyone, and even Malcador is trying to trick Horus into being deceived.

Putting aside his chaotic thoughts, Guilliman came to Horus's previous position, flipping through the government documents on the desk, and checking the endless stream of information emerging from the holographic screen.

He first wrote a decree for himself as acting regent of the empire, and then continued to complete the work that Horus had previously unfinished.

After five hours of processing government documents, Guilliman finally realized that something was wrong.

How come these files keep increasing as we process them?

When he was in power on Macragge, Guilliman could handle the affairs of the day in six hours at most, but when he arrived on Terra, the pile of affairs was too much to handle.

As an outstanding politician, Guilliman's ability to handle government affairs is naturally far stronger than Horus's, but he felt the difficulty as soon as he started to handle the documents.

This is not only because the empire's government documents are numerous and complicated, but more importantly, many of the documents contain redundant and boring content. In order to get things done, some local governors actually directly uploaded files from several years ago.

Then there are the factions and conflicts of interest within the empire hidden beneath the text, and it is easy to make a wrong judgment if you don't look at it carefully.

Seeing this, Guilliman realized what kind of torture Horus suffered every day. No wonder he was eager to reform the system and optimize the organizational structure.

The government agencies of the Empire are too bloated and deformed. The governors of various star regions either "declare themselves kings" and perfunctorily implement the Empire's decrees, or act like giant babies and insist on waiting for specific decrees from Terra.

"It will probably take several years to process all these documents, but new documents appear at any time. At my current processing speed, it will take me a lifetime to finish them."

Guilliman shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He simply left his seat and temporarily distributed the documents to the high lords and cabinet members, while he himself was thinking about how to improve the administrative efficiency of the empire.

There is no doubt that institutional reform of the empire is imminent, especially the optimization of the government system. Otherwise, if we rely solely on ourselves and continue to work with the existing system, we will only tire ourselves to death.

Guilliman's thinking is different from Horus'. As a sophisticated politician, he pays great attention to methods and efficiency. When one way doesn't work, he must find another way.

But the question is how he should do it...

How could he deal with a problem that even the Emperor, Malcador, and Horus couldn't solve after racking their brains?

Guilliman initially thought about replicating his experience in governing Macragge, but he soon realized that this was not feasible, as Terra's governing structure was ten thousand times more complicated than Macragge's.

Even if it is reproduced, it will not help.

"Is there any other political system suitable for the human empire?" Guilliman pondered in his mind, recalling the political systems he had learned about in different alien civilizations over the past two hundred years.

However, after thinking for a while, he discovered in despair that the existing imperial system was already the best political system that mankind could choose, and no political system would be perfect.

Even a completely new political system will inevitably have a trial phase of crossing the river by feeling the stones, and this process may bring great pain to mankind.

If you can get through it, you may not necessarily see light, but if you can't, you will definitely fall into endless darkness.

The human empire at this moment is indeed a shithole, full of loopholes and flaws, but these loopholes are just right to maintain the balance of the overall system.

Destroying or modifying any of them will trigger a series of destructive effects.

At this balance point, the Emperor and Malcador have made modifications to the extreme. If the original system is followed, the status quo cannot be changed.

But not changing is equivalent to waiting for death!

"No... there is another form of government, the Cosmic Corporation!" Guilliman pondered, and suddenly everything about the Utopia popped up in his mind.

His eyes lit up, as if he saw the true future of the human empire.

The power gap between the Universal Corporation and the Human Empire is completely orders of magnitude. Whether it is advanced scientific and technological research and development institutions or magnificent super fleets, these are not comparable to the Empire.

Compared to giant companies, empires are like antiques from the Middle Ages, relying on the farming machines passed down from their ancestors and transforming them into war machines to fight wars.

How can it compare with the various AI combat devices of the universe's giant companies, from sentinel robots, temple guardians to AI Chimera chariots and fully AI-automated Sojourner Dreadnoughts.

In the human world ruled by the giant corporations of the universe, there is basically no need for ordinary people to fight on the battlefield. Only a small number of extremely powerful psychic warriors and Astartes warriors serve.

These people have tempered their bodies and spiritual powers to the extreme, completely surpassing the limits of ordinary people.

The human empire also needs mortals to serve on the battlefield and ensure the transportation of logistical resources.

Peace is always the best gift a ruler can bring to his people, without a doubt. Only rulers who take the lives of their people seriously can be said to be people-oriented.

From this point of view, the governor of the giant company undoubtedly scored full marks.

In addition, it took the Human Empire two hundred years to rule the Milky Way, but the Universal Corporation took only a hundred years to integrate nearly ten universes and tens of thousands of star systems.

Just from the brief information Guilliman had learned, he was sure that the number of planetary colonies under the Universal Corporation camp must be counted in the billions.

With numerous colonies and countless alien civilizations, facing different cultural differences and racial conflicts, the global giant corporations were able to suppress these troubles and tightly bring different forces together for their own use.

It is obvious that the political system of the World Corporation is countless times more advanced than that of the Human Empire.

"Father and Malcador must have left the Empire and visited the Universal Corporation for this very reason!"

The more Guilliman thought about it, the clearer his thoughts became. Now that the envoys and troops of the Universal Corporation were here, why should he turn a blind eye to them? He might as well go directly to Paul for advice.

With his current status, it would not be difficult for him to summon the executives of the world's largest companies.

'Yes! That's it.'

After finalizing the idea for optimizing the Empire's political system, Guilliman immediately set about having people prepare the spacecraft. He wanted to personally go and discuss this important matter with the envoys of the giant corporation!
(End of this chapter)