"Oh, that's right, I almost forgot. There's also your 30 Eternal Coins for the moon of war's maintenance fee."
"We're out of money, Noah. The Imperium currently only has a surplus of 230 Eternal Coins, and the year is only halfway over."
"Of that income, only a paltry 120 Eternal Coins have been delivered to Terra and are considered surplus. Where would I get the supplies for you?"
The Imperium of Man is projected to harvest just over 9,000 Eternal Coins this year, but the year isn't over yet, and not all of their income has reached Terra.
Furthermore, many supplies need to be directly transported to the local Imperial Army and fleets that require them.
Currently, in Terra's treasury, there are only about 120 Eternal Coins worth of supplies that can be freely allocated.
All of the Imperium of Man's previous savings have been used to construct the stargate network and the secondary singularities required for the moon of war.
These 120 Eternal Coins are sufficient to deal with any potential unforeseen circumstances for the Imperium of Man.
After all, unless a large-scale war breaks out, these 120 Eternal Coins will largely remain untouched.
Guilliman has already calculated all regular war expenditures and allocated them to the various fleets and Astra Militarum.
Unless another large-scale war, like a major Ork outbreak, occurs, these 120 Eternal Coins can safely remain in the treasury.
But now Noah has come asking for supplies... and he's asking for 600 Eternal Coins right off the bat. Transporting 600 Eternal Coins worth of supplies would also cost about 0.5 Eternal Coins, making it 600.5.
He only has 120 left in his pocket, and Noah needs 600.5.
He, Guilliman, is just an ordinary imperial regent; he's not a god. Where is he supposed to conjure up so many resources for Noah?
Or perhaps it's a good thing that he is the regent of the Imperium of Man.
If it were the High Lords Council instead...
Heh heh.
With those guys governing the Imperium, do you think they'd have so many Eternal Coins left over each year?
Don't even think about it!
It would be a pleasant surprise if the Imperium had a surplus of 10 Eternal Coins each year.
"No money, I truly have no money, Noah. Why don't you see if the moon of war can be a little cheaper?"
Guilliman glanced at the remaining supplies in his treasury again, then said to Noah with a helpless expression.
"There's no way. I also know you don't have many supplies left, so this time, the moon of war manufacturing plan doesn't even use a secondary singularity as an energy source, only a small singularity energy source."
"Otherwise, 600 Eternal Coins wouldn't be enough. This is already the price after I've compressed the costs to the extreme."
"And the most troublesome part is that the maintenance cost for a small singularity is much more expensive than a secondary singularity. A small singularity's maintenance costs 80 Eternal Coins a year."
Noah also shook his head helplessly. How was he to know that the Imperium of Man had been depleted to such an extent?
Originally, the Imperium of Man was wealthy because their treasury was stacked with supplies accumulated from the Great Crusade until now.
Although the Imperium of Man's productivity was very limited at the time, the Imperium of Man didn't have to be 'human' back then.
The advantage of not being 'human' was that their expenses were slightly lower; ordinary Imperial Citizens could just eat some corpse starch.
Don't underestimate the savings from being stingy with their citizens; each saved coin might be rare, but you have to consider the sheer volume.
This led to a cumulative resource amount that was by no means a small number.
However, the resources accumulated over tens of thousands of years have now been exhausted due to the Imperium's development of the galaxy and Noah's various demands.
The Imperium of Man has transformed from a once wealthy entity into a poor Imperium.
Noah looked at Guilliman with some helplessness, and Guilliman likewise looked at Noah with similar helplessness.
At this point, what else could they do?
In his helplessness, Noah could only start investigating the remaining supplies from his core 28 Worlds and the trade with the Necrons during this period.
Under the internal administration of the Hazy Starfield's core 28 Worlds, a list was sent to Noah.
The total sum of supplies from the Hazy Starfield's 28 Worlds, plus the Necrons' surplus, after deducting the supplies already earmarked for World 108's production recovery, amounted to 373 Eternal Coins.
373 Eternal Coins, plus 120 Eternal Coins.
493 Eternal Coins, and the construction of the moon of war takes time; it doesn't require a massive one-time investment of supplies.
In other words, by emptying his own wallet and then emptying the Imperium's wallet, a new moon of war could be produced and integrated into the Imperial Army's combat system.
This was truly a turning point; finally, there were enough supplies. Noah casually sent this supply list to Guilliman.
"It's fine, theoretically it's enough. I still have some surplus supplies here. You can give me all of the Imperium's stored supplies, and then when subsequent supplies are transported, send a portion over. We can start construction."
Noah was excited, but Guilliman felt no such thing.
The Imperium would likely receive about 120 Eternal Coins in the future.
After deducting what needed to be given to Noah, the Imperium would only have a dozen or so Eternal Coins left for the entire year... Guilliman estimated that the final surplus would be at most around 12 to 15 Eternal Coins. What could that amount of money accomplish?
The Imperial Navy also needs to build warships.
The Navy had also sent a batch of shipbuilding plans to the Adeptus Mechanicus for manufacturing.
If all the supplies were truly given to Noah to build the moon of war, then the Imperial Navy's shipbuilding plan for this year would have to be put on hold.
The Imperial Navy also suffered considerable losses this year; space pirates and other xenos civilizations in the galaxy also harass the Imperium of Man.
The Imperial Navy also needs a large number of auxiliary warships as replenishment.
This amount would require about 100 Eternal Coins, but now, with the construction of the moon of war, these 100 Eternal Coins are completely unobtainable.
More importantly, the new moon of war's annual maintenance fee has soared to 80 Eternal Coins, an astonishingly expensive price.
quasar-class battleships truly live up to their name as the flagship warships of a stellar empire; their maintenance costs are simply unaffordable for ordinary stellar empires.
"Alright, I understand. I will send the supplies to you."
Although there were so many problems, and the Imperial Navy's warship manufacturing plan had to be temporarily put on hold...
But what of it?
Guilliman was not someone who couldn't distinguish between priorities.
Since Noah intended to build the moon of war, he must have an urgent need for it.
Which was more important, Noah's needs or the Imperial Navy's needs, was naturally self-evident?
"Okay, if that's the case, then I'll leave the rest to you. Although this year will be a bit difficult, next year will be better."
"World 108 in the Hazy Starfield only needs two more years to return to its original production state, and the Imperium's income can once again reach 10,000."
Although Noah received the supplies he needed from Guilliman, he wasn't a heartless person; he still saw Guilliman's difficulties.
It was necessary to comfort Guilliman; after all, comfort costs nothing.
After discussing this matter with Guilliman, Noah left the Department of the Interior. Inside the Department of the Interior, only one figure remained, busily reviewing various government affairs, contributing to the development of the Imperium of Man.
He had to continue working hard; even if the Imperium of Man's total economic output could only increase by 0.1% next year, he was willing to put in the effort for it.
Even if it only increased by 0.1%, it would still mean several more Eternal Coins worth of supplies, which was worth it!
If all else fails, he could just collect a little more from the original tithe, maybe 12%?
After Noah and Guilliman reached a consensus, the planetary shipyard once again began its work, and a new moon of war was being manufactured within it.
The galaxy fell into a long-lost tranquility during this period.
Since the Starfish race had no intention of expanding into the Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy, and coupled with their inability to confirm the specific military strength of humanity, they chose to maintain a peaceful distance.
Meanwhile, the Eldar were constantly giving various provocative speeches within the Starfish nations.
At every Starfish world they visited, they promoted the Starfish's strength and what they planned to do to humanity.
More importantly, they also publicized what humanity had done to the Starfish, noting that humans had brought their scientific research station right to the Starfish's doorstep.
The entire Sarthal Empire, under the leadership of their current rulers, was constantly retreating, even abandoning several star systems surrounding the human research station.
The Eldar are a race famous for sowing discord, so their speech was naturally not so direct.
To make their instigation more effective, the Eldar speakers utilized a great deal of sarcasm and rhetorical artistry.
In addition, the Harlequin of the laughing god once again joined this wave of instigation.
The Harlequin are beings capable of bringing laughter to any creature; they showcased various stories of unyielding resistance to the younger generation across the entire Sarthal Empire.
Under their incitement, a storm was brewing within the Starfish Empire, which had previously been a monolithic entity under the rule of the Immortals.
The young Starfish had not experienced the war against humanity, and since the Immortals did not want their own people to lose their fighting spirit, these youths were quite dissatisfied with the retreat policy implemented by the Immortals' leadership.
Every race has its hardliners.
Incited by the Eldar Harlequin and the Spirit Lord's speaking delegation, the youngest and most arrogant Starfish in the Sarthal Empire were extremely unhappy with the lack of reaction, especially when humanity had already reached their doorstep.
If this order had not been issued by the Starfish Immortals, large-scale protests and demonstrations would likely already be occurring within the Starfish territory.
However, no matter how high the prestige of the Immortals, if they continued to back down, their lofty reputation would slowly vanish. The Starfish Empire is completely different from ordinary galactic races.
The civilians on various worlds possess political rights; the Starfish brought the political system from the Stellaris universe into this one.
They chose to grant political rights to their descendants, successors, and citizens, allowing these ordinary Starfish citizens to participate in political activities.
The masses have sharp eyes and know who treats them well, but they are also ignorant; they were easily incited by the Spirit Lords and began to undermine the policies of the Starfish Immortals.
Although the young Starfish at the bottom would not take any extreme actions in the short term.
Yvraine and everyone in the Eldar Reaper Army believed this.
As long as they kept swinging the hoe in their hands, it was only a matter of time before the younger generation of Starfish fell into their clutches.
Although this period might be lengthy, if humanity could not restrain itself and continued exploring toward the Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy, incidents would inevitably occur.
If the Starfish below all desired to resist humanity, the Starfish would launch a war against humanity to buy their race more time to breathe.
Noah now had no time to worry about the events unfolding in the Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy; he was currently focused on finding new sources of income.
He had no money; he truly had no money right now. If it weren't for the massive resources and cutting-edge technology required to construct a megastructure, he would now be itching to find a black hole and completely mine it out.
Black holes possess super strong gravity, and the stronger the gravity of a black hole, the more matter it contains. The resources produced by mining out a single black hole would be entirely sufficient for the production of one moon of war.
However, up until now, Noah had not fully implemented various cutting-edge technologies across the Imperium of Man; even its 28 core worlds did not yet have the capability to install mining equipment near a black hole.
Currently, humanity only had two ways to acquire resources. One way was through the planetary income and trade revenue generated by the Imperium of Man itself.
This income stream was basically exhausted this year. The other source was trade revenue with the Necrons, but the Necrons' trade revenue had also been completely spent this year on the moon of war.
Guilliman would not suffer alone; he also sent Noah a copy of the Imperium of Man's wealth statement and financial expenditures.
The Imperium of Man's financial income was essentially about to turn negative, a situation that made Noah feel very insecure.
Aside from raising taxes, the Imperium of Man seemed to have no other way to further acquire more resources.
However, raising taxes was not easy; even an increase of a mere one percent would cause huge turmoil within the Imperium.
The Imperium of Man could not afford to handle matters of public welfare as abstractly as before.
But an empty treasury with no resources was also unacceptable!
This situation could not withstand the sudden outbreak of any war; once war erupted, the Imperium of Man would lack sufficient resources to cope with large-scale military conflicts.
It was impossible to rely on Guilliman to acquire more wealth; now, the only person they could rely on was Noah himself.
But the problem lay here: even though Noah constantly pondered the issue, he had no way to increase income through official channels.
So far, the Imperium of Man had already intercepted everything that could be intercepted; the only option left was to create new sources of revenue.
So, what was the best way to create new revenue sources in the interstellar era?
Naturally, it was through expansion and trade.
Regarding trade, the Imperium of Man was already engaged in large-scale trade with the Necrons.
On the edge of the galaxy, the only entity capable of trade was the Commander. As for the other ordinary minor alien civilizations, their resources were not enough to fill the Imperium of Man's teeth.
Therefore, Noah now had only one choice before him: expansion.
The Imperium of Man had two potential targets for expansion.
One option was to wage war against the Orks and plunder their resources, and the other was to wage war against the Starfish.
The former target was relatively close, and acquiring resources would not result in a losing trade.
The latter, supported by the webway system, meant resources could be transported back quickly, preventing the problem of greater input than output within the Imperium.
So, who should be targeted first?
The scale of the expansion war absolutely could not be too large; if the scale was too great, the Imperium of Man could not sustain it at this time.
At most, only small forces of Space Marines and Astra Militarum could be deployed to execute this war, supplemented by a few Titan Legions.
Faced with a war scale this limited, the Starfish were immediately dismissed by Noah.
The Starfish possess a massive space fleet and also own quasar-class battleships, perhaps even more in number than the Imperium of Man currently possesses.
Starting a war with the Starfish clearly did not align with the interests of the Imperium of Man at this time; it might even result in the war consuming more resources than were gained.
Considering this point, Noah's target naturally narrowed down to the Orks.
The planets occupied by the Orks have not been over-developed and likely contain vast amounts of resources. More importantly, the Orks themselves are a resource—they are excellent food!
"It's time to start the operation. It is also time for me to fulfill my duty as Warmaster."