Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Danda's brow twitched slightly: "You misunderstand, sir, we had no such intention."

Lawson's gaze then turned to Frank.

"You just said that as long as there are enough psionicists, the Star Torch can continue to burn?"

"Theoretically, that's correct."

Lawson nodded.

"So, how long can those 19 billion people you sold to the Dark Eldar last?"

The air in the meeting room froze.

Frank said coldly, "Master of the Seals! The matter of Kirill 9 is a top-secret operation to repair the Golden Throne, and has nothing to do with Star Torch!"

Lawson laughed: "But in my view, these two things are logically consistent. Yesterday you could sacrifice 19 billion citizens of the Empire. So today, in order to keep the power in your hands, you can also gamble with the entire economy of the Empire."

"You're talking to me about the Charter of Merchants, about contracts, about risks. Very well, let's have a proper discussion today."

A cornerstone member immediately placed several thick documents on the desktop.

"Someone reported it."

Lawson opened the file.

“Some of you have used your high lord positions and family influence to monopolize the core shipping routes in the Solar Starfield for a long time, artificially creating transportation barriers, raising prices, and making huge profits.”

"The report also states that some of you colluded with the Starlight Court to resell strategic materials that should have been used on the front lines to traveling merchants and even some alien races that are hostile to the Empire."

"The most interesting thing is..."

He picked up the last document and looked at Frank and Danda.

"There are also reports that you two, along with several others present, are suspected of concealing the Empire's highest-level security incident, illegally contacting the aliens, and attempting to conduct an unauthorized and dirty deal in exchange for the sale of the Empire's population."

"Your Excellency, the Master of the Seal!"

Frank suddenly stood up.

"This is slander! It's a baseless accusation!"

"That's right."

Surprisingly, Lawson immediately agreed with him.

"Therefore, we need to investigate."

Frank suddenly couldn't continue.

Lawson continued, "When did I say that whistleblowing is equivalent to a conviction?"

“The Empire has laws, and you are also high lords. Of course, you should follow the proper procedures.”

"Suspend him from his post first, then investigate."

Danda's expression finally changed.

"My lord, do you know what this means? If the position of merchant representative becomes vacant, the entire empire's commercial shipping will be thrown into chaos!"

Lawson gave a playful smile.

"Therefore, I have prepared the list of successors."

The side door of the office opened, and a tall figure walked in with twelve members of the battle group.

"A44".

"Starting now, launch the highest-level military, political, and judicial investigation into Leopold Frank and Kania Danda. Detain them first."

"All private communications are cut off, all assets under his name are frozen, and all files of his directly affiliated institutions are sealed. Investigate! Don't miss a single item related to Kirill 9, the Comoros deal, the Starlight Black Budget, or the unusual merchant ship contracts!"

"clear."

Jia 44 waved his hand.

Danda and Frank were terrified.

They envisioned countless possibilities.

Lawson might compromise, might bargain with them, or might even get angry.

But they never imagined that Lawson would use such a brutal method to overturn the entire poker table.

Arrest of two current high lords?

Without any warning or parliamentary process?

This is absolutely insane!

You can't do that!

Danda cried out in a hoarse voice:

“Do you know what it means to shut down my system? Many merchant families will interpret this as Terra preparing to seize their Merchant Charter! If they stop cooperating because of this…”

Lawson looked up at her.

“That’s perfect. Investigate anyone who tries to negotiate political terms with me using the food supplies of the imperial civilians and the army’s supplies.”

Lawson glanced again at the navigators and trading nobles who had already fallen silent in fear.

"You've been telling me all along that the Empire can't do without you."

"I have a problem."

"Hearing something like that always makes me want to give it a try."

"Let's see if the empire can't do without your work, or with people like you."

"Arrest them all!"

…………

The Seal Keeper's Office did not begin its audit until the day after Frank and Danda were imprisoned.

At first, many people on Terra didn't even take this seriously.

Audit?

In which year did the empire not conduct investigations?

The Executive Yuan investigates, the courts investigate, the Ministry of Military Affairs investigates, the Merchant Marine Administration investigates, and the National Education Commission also has its own internal audit.

Every few decades, a few unfortunate nobles would be caught, a few quartermasters would be sent to the gallows, and a batch of supplies that should have been sent to the front lines would be found in a family warehouse.

Then the matter ended.

The empire is too big.

So large that any investigative agency trying to trace a cross-sectoral trade may first be overwhelmed by documents.

If even one person changes the numbers during the journey, it will be very difficult to catch up once you reach Terra.

Not to mention that many trade chains have continued for thousands of years.

Families hold shares in each other, nobles intermarry, and there are even chambers of commerce behind chambers of commerce; those who actually take the money never sign off on it themselves.

The empire wasn't unaware of the problem; rather, no one had been able to unravel the entire chain at once.

But this time, it was Lawson who was in charge of auditing the accounts.

With a single order from the Sealholder's Office, one million key personnel, proficient in finance, auditing, logistics, and administration, were directly transferred to Terra and integrated into the swarm intelligence framework.

Merchant ship records, grain production, storage, shipping routes, military supplies, transportation losses, noble assets, local taxes—all data already integrated into the imperial administrative system—began to be cross-checked simultaneously.

Accounts that might have taken decades to uncover in the past are hard to hide from a swarm of bees.

A batch of grain was reportedly damaged by a subspace storm, resulting in a 40% loss.

The swarm retrieved the navigation, loading and unloading, and storage records and immediately discovered that the goods had not been lost at all. They had simply gone through eleven companies and more than seventy contracts, and were sold back to the Empire six months later at six times the price.

Similar accounts were dug up one after another.

Lawson only glanced at the first batch of results.

"Continue the investigation."

“Follow the money, dig out all of the top pieces.”

And so, Terra's dreadful week began.

By the end of the first day, the swarm had locked more than 120,000 abnormal trading nodes.

The next day, the number dropped to 37,000.

Many transactions that initially appeared suspicious were proven legitimate after full data access was provided.

There was a merchant shipping family that had been in business for over three thousand years, but it suffered huge losses on its books for seventeen consecutive years.

It was initially even listed as one of the highest-risk items.

As a result, the bee colony continued its investigation.

Seventeen years ago, this family took the initiative to take over a food transport line near the Zerg war zone.

Four hundred and ninety-one transport ships were lost over seventeen years.

More than 70,000 crew members died.

All three of the family's direct heirs died on the flight path.

They kept pouring money into it with profits from other safe routes, just to maintain the food supply for the seven frontline hive worlds.

Although the accounts were messy and the losses were real, there was no embezzlement.

The government directly removed the family from the investigation list.

They even made up for a war transport payment that had been overdue for 26 years.

After the news was announced, many businessmen who were originally planning to flee were stunned.

They finally realized that Lawson wasn't going to use the audit to condemn all the old merchants.

The person who actually does the work not only doesn't move, but is even willing to pay extra.

Another navigator-affiliated transport family, which had monopolized a single route for the past two centuries, was also included in the review.

After checking, it was discovered that the subspace environment along that route was extremely poor.