Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Ordinary boat owners simply are unwilling to go.

The so-called "monopoly" of this family is actually because no one is willing to take over.

Their fees were twice as high as the safe routes, yet their mortality rate was nearly seven times higher, but they were still allowed to proceed.

Lawson even had the administrative hierarchy recalculate the risk allowance for them.

Many people breathed a sigh of relief after these two results were announced.

Then the third day arrived.

The first batch of accounts were exposed.

Seven hundred and thirty-one noble families, one hundred and ninety-four large chambers of commerce, and more than six thousand officials were all placed on the freeze list overnight.

The first to be revealed was the Valdran family of Terra.

Five thousand years ago, their ancestors obtained the permanent right to transport grain in order to relieve famine.

Today, this privilege has allowed them to control the food storage, transportation, and distribution of more than 300 hives on Terra, and even many regulatory officials have vested interests with them.

The bee colony cleared up the complex accounts accumulated over five thousand years in just six hours.

Over the past 273 years, the Wadland family has artificially created 49 food shortages.

The worst incident occurred 72 years ago when they announced that their transport fleet had encountered a subspace storm and lost 41 percent of its food supplies.

The actual loss was only 6.4%.

More than 100 million tons of grain were deliberately stored in underground warehouses less than 900 kilometers away from grain-scarce areas, waiting for prices to rise. More than 20 million tons of them eventually rotted.

During the same period, more than 3.7 million people died from hunger, malnutrition, and rationing conflicts.

Transportation records, warehousing data, internal quotations, and family secret orders were all made public by the Seal Holder's Office.

On that day, the Bi'an Warband and the combat sequence entered Valdland Manor.

Family members produced a charter from five thousand years ago, a protection document signed by a high lord, and even an imperial medal from a fallen ancestor.

All invalid.

The credit for saving people belongs to the ancestors.

Today we're checking their own accounts.

The Valdran family then ordered their private armed forces to seal off the estate, even deploying heavy armored vehicles in an attempt to force the Sealholder's House to back down.

Once the first shot is fired, the outcome is already decided.

Three minutes later, all armed resisters were shot dead, all core members were arrested, and the family's assets, warehouses, transportation companies, and food rationing system were completely seized.

The bodies of those who resisted arrest were hung on the outer wall of the manor.

Each body had a sign hanging underneath it, which only listed the name, identity, and crime.

Following the Valdran family, the Seal Keeper's Office launched a full-scale investigation.

One by one, accounts that had been hidden by layers of relationships were unearthed by the bee colony from records spanning thousands of years.

Some military supply families intercepted ammunition that should have been sent to the front lines. While two million Astral Army soldiers were besieged by Orks, they stored 1.2 billion laser gun energy cartridges and millions of explosive rounds in their private warehouses, waiting for high-priced buyers.

Fuel merchants deliberately create fuel shortages in six star systems, then sell their reserves back to the Empire at several times the original price through affiliated companies.

Furthermore, the nobles in charge of purchasing cold-weather gear replaced military supplies with cheap materials. They received the highest level of military funding on paper, but the soldiers on the front lines received defective products that cracked after only a few months, ultimately resulting in severe frostbite for 320,000 people.

The Emperor's Office no longer waits for so-called interim summaries.

Once the evidence is confirmed, it will be released on the same day.

The assets involved in the case were frozen on the same day.

The mastermind was arrested that same day.

What truly terrified the Terran nobles were the first public trials.

The empire also killed corrupt officials in the past.

But most of the time, even if a nobleman is convicted, he will disappear silently in a courtroom prison.

Lawson changed the rules.

Those primarily responsible for the mass deaths of civilians or soldiers due to corruption, embezzlement of military rations, and the creation of famine were all publicly executed after the evidence was verified and the trial was completed.

The twelve largest plazas in the upper district of Terra were simultaneously fitted with gallows.

The first group sent up included heads of grain-producing families, presidents of chambers of commerce, high-ranking officials of the military, and ancient nobles who, in the past, even the governors of star sectors had to treat them with utmost respect.

Their fine clothes were replaced with ordinary prison uniforms, and their family crests were removed.

Their names, positions, crimes, and the number of deaths caused by their actions were projected directly onto a giant holographic screen behind them.

The rope was put around his neck, and the pedal was activated.

Following Lawson's orders, after their deaths were confirmed, they were left hanging in the square with summaries of their crimes around their necks.

One gallows after another were hung up.

Many nobles dared not turn on public channels at night.

Because they didn't know if the person hanging there the next day would be a friend they had known for hundreds of years.

Those who dare to violently resist the law don't even get to trial.

This approach quickly taught the remaining people to cooperate.

The first round of survey figures has been released.

More than 400,000 businessmen, officials, military personnel, and local administrators have been formally arrested.

More than three million people have had their assets frozen, pending further investigation.

The amount involved is so large that it is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

So the government in charge of the seal simply changed the way it was announced.

The food and basic supplies found so far are enough to sustain Terra's poorest population of over ten billion for many years with standard rations.

The embezzled military funds would be enough to rearm thousands of Astral Legions.

Once the monopolized and idle transportation capacity is released, the core logistics efficiency of the Solar Starfield can be directly increased by more than two times.

After the announcement, Terra's hive saw its first truly large-scale celebration.

Many people only realized then that the hunger, long queues, and lack of medicine they had endured in the past were not, to a large extent, due to the empire's actual lack of resources.

The goods have been produced and delivered.

It was taken away by someone before it was delivered to them.

What the Terran nobles feared most was that Lawson didn't care about factions at all.

Those who supported Danda were arrested, and Danda's enemies were also arrested.

The old High Lord faction is under investigation.

Newly rich are still being investigated.

Two families that publicly pledged allegiance to Lawson on the day he entered Terra were even raided because of military supply kickbacks.

One of the family heads was being dragged away while shouting, "We support the one who holds the seal!"

On the sixth day...

People are finally starting to escape from the upper levels of Terra.

The ledgers were burned, the witnesses were murdered, and the assets were transferred to Mars and the Moon.

Private airports saw a surge in departure applications overnight.

The nobles gave a variety of reasons.

Meanwhile, the order from the Sealholder's Palace spread throughout Terra.

Before the investigation concludes.

All core members of noble families, heads of major chambers of commerce, senior executives of key trade organizations, and anyone on the investigation list are prohibited from leaving Terra without approval.

Anyone who flees without authorization will be considered as evading a major imperial investigation.

Hundreds of airports simultaneously closed special channels.

The Imperial Navy takes over the orbital exit, and the cornerstone sequence enters the personnel review system.

The Imperial Guards blocked the direction of the palace.

Flying Bear Motorcycles began patrolling along the near-ground routes.

At this moment, those who were sitting in the manor connecting with each other and trying to find connections finally realized that Terra's doors had been closed.

Next, it's time to settle accounts one by one.

Merchant ships, grain, and military supplies are just the most visible layer.

The entity that has truly been entrenched in Terra for ten thousand years is larger than any single merchant guild.

Bureaucratic aristocracy.

A family with a long history of residency rights.

The pilgrimage industry aristocracy.

Administrative hereditary families.

Some families can no longer explain why their ancestors originally obtained that power.

All they knew was that their father possessed it.

Grandfather owned it.

It belonged to my great-grandfather.

Therefore, I should continue to possess it.

A residence permit issued five thousand years ago for the outskirts of the palace can, after being inherited by dozens of generations, become control of an entire upper-class city.

What was originally a license granted to maintain pilgrimage order could have grown into a vast industry thousands of years later, encompassing hundreds of starports, hostels, transport routes, and markets for sacred objects.

The situation is even more outrageous within the Executive Yuan.