Trajan understood Noah's meaning, but he didn't directly withdraw all the Custodes defenses, instead leaving 1,000 Custodes on standby for any unforeseen circumstances.
After all, he still had to prepare the necessary defenses.
Noah also didn't leave the Webway; he remained standing in place, waiting for his army to arrive.
Time passed minute by minute as the two waited, until the sound of neat footsteps echoed from within the Webway.
Accompanying it was the sound of large machinery.
Although it was impossible to discern exactly what kind of machinery it was, there were indeed large war machines.
This time, Trajan didn't react with alarm; it was obvious that even a fool could figure out that those Chaos fellows couldn't march with such synchronized footsteps.
The source of such neat footsteps could never be Chaos Daemons; it could only be the reinforcements Noah had mentioned earlier.
A smile also appeared on Noah's face; finally, the reinforcements had arrived, and now there would be enough troops to deal with the Daemons on Terra.
After all, he was ultimately a Sun Lord of the Imperium of Man, responsible for war affairs, so he had to take responsibility for the war. Since there were Daemons here, he had to take responsibility for wiping them out.
Amidst everyone's eager anticipation, the first to emerge were two warlord-class titans, followed by 20 venomcrawlers.
And this was just the beginning.
Following the 20 venomcrawlers was an entire regiment of the PDF, clad in standard power armor, carrying gauss rifles, and with power swords at their waists.
Each of them also carried three magnetic-nuclear grenades as a supplement to their firepower.
It was far from over.
Behind this PDF unit were 40 unique combat tanks from the Terran Federation.
The Annihilator combat tank, once a main battle tank in the Terran Federation, could operate in any terrain and environment.
More importantly, it had no energy issues; if the tank's self-carried energy was completely depleted, the four fellow humans inside the tank only needed to sleep well for four or five hours at night, and the energy would be fully recharged.
The technology used inside was like the bed Noah had previously distributed, capable of collecting various energies they emitted and then undergoing subtle changes to transform it into the energy required by the tank.
The main cannons of this tank were diverse; for sieges, a Disintegration Cannon could be chosen.
For precision strikes, it could be modified to use a main battle tank with a lance weapon.
Gravity cannons, plasma cannons, gamma-ray burst cannons, and orbital plasma cannons could all be mounted on this tank.
It could be said that this tank was like the Leman Russ tank in Noah's hands; it was a versatile chassis.
"Space Marines!?"
"Mobilizing Space Marines here shouldn't be very useful. Their numbers aren't enough; they can't solve Terra's problem. Terra's current problem requires a large army."
Trajan was somewhat puzzled by what he saw.
What was the point of mobilizing Space Marines here?
Even with the assistance of warlord-class titans, peacekeeping operations were clearly not fought this way.
Peacekeeping required the precise elimination of resistance forces and the preservation of buildings as much as possible. What good would large-scale destructive weapons do, even if they were brought in?
It couldn't be that the titans were going to directly demolish homes, could it? That was clearly unreliable.
Noah, who was watching his army appear, naturally heard the Commander of the Custodes' words behind him, but he didn't turn his head.
"You've misunderstood. These are not Space Marines; these are just ordinary PDF. You should know what the PDF is."
"Of course I know that Terra's problem requires a large-scale mobilization of troops to counter it, which is why I mobilized these PDFs, a total of 28 million."
"With these troops, combined with Terra's original forces, it will be much simpler to eradicate these cultists and Daemons."
"Are you serious?"
Trajan looked at Noah with an expression that said, 'Are you kidding me?'
You're telling me those guys in power armor carrying weapons are ordinary PDF?
Where do they look like PDF?
Trajan had personally witnessed Noah's PDF during the Battle of Lion's Gate.
Those guys were indistinguishable from Space Marines at the time, drawing their power swords and clashing directly with Chaos Daemons.
Ordinary Ultramarines were even less powerful than these guys in combat; they would charge into the Daemon hordes and unleash a massacre.
Now Noah came to tell him that these guys were really PDF.
To be honest, where did these guys resemble the PDF? If the PDF was this strong, what about the Astra Militarum?
What about the Space Marines?
Trajan's expression was difficult to compose; he was still immersed in Noah's words, while the army from within the Webway continued to pour out.
Equipped with the power armor Noah had configured for them, they directly received orders from Noah.
After exiting the Webway, these PDF units already understood their respective missions. They quickly began advancing towards their mission objectives, using regiments and brigades as their basic units, preparing to eliminate all remaining Daemons and cultists.
Under normal circumstances, a company of PDF would typically face thousands of gangs or traitors.
If Daemons appeared, or rebels numbering over ten thousand, Noah would mobilize a battle group of the PDF.
The warlord-class titans also fought alongside them, these titans were used to deal with large Daemon units that couldn't be handled otherwise.
As unit after unit emerged, Trajan kept watching them. He noticed that these armies were marching out in a continuous formation.
Each unit's composition was 3,000 PDF soldiers, 20 venomcrawler tanks, two warlord-class titans, and 40 Annihilators.
From this composition, it seemed that each of these units was a PDF infantry regiment.
"Bullshit PDF infantry regiment!"
Annoyed by his own thoughts, Trajan couldn't help but curse, then fell silent as he watched the endless stream of troops emerging from the Webway.
From the first unit's composition that emerged until now, he had already seen 30 regiments worth of troops come out.
And even now, this force showed no signs of depletion. Could it really be the 28 million PDF Noah mentioned?
If the Emperor hadn't solemnly told him before not to interfere with Noah's actions, he would already be anxious.
He was certain that Noah in front of him was a highly moral big shot and he didn't need to worry about him doing anything to the Imperium of Man.
Or rather, the Emperor was eager for him to do something to the Imperium of Man.
In their previous conversation, the Emperor had directly said that if Noah wanted the Imperium of Man, he should give it all to him.
Therefore, Trajan's mindset at this moment was still relatively stable; he was just pondering a question in his mind.
28 million Space Marines to purge those Daemons and cultists?
The cultists and Daemons are so miserable—
The Space Marines, formed into Chapters, began to execute their combat plans.
On this day, even the soldiers on Terra, the capital world of the Imperium, witnessed a spectacle they had never seen in their lives.
An IG infantry regiment, paired with a PDF, paired with a Space Marine Chapter, fighting alongside them.
The IG had never imagined they would receive such treatment; the Space Marines advanced with them, eliminating all enemy resistance.
Their enemies, though slightly more numerous, were only marginally so.
An IG infantry regiment, supported by a Space Marine Chapter, jointly Encirclement and Suppression about 100,000 gangs or Daemons.
At the same time, warlord-class titans would also assist in combat at any time.
This filled the IG with an unprecedented sense of joy.
The Emperor's Angels, the demigods of the Imperium of Man, were always by their side, fighting alongside them, looking just like ordinary soldiers.
Of course, while it was called a Space Marine Chapter, it was clear that the Space Marine troops Noah had allocated were completely different from what was specified in Guilliman's Astartes Codex.
A Chapter of 3,000 Space Marines, by no means, seemed to align with the Astartes Codex, which stated that a Chapter could only have a thousand men.
But Guilliman was sensible enough not to seek out Noah to enforce his Astartes Codex.
Because Noah defined this force as PDF.
After all, he had met the Emperor with Noah, and the Emperor trusted Noah one hundred percent, so why should he worry?
The Custodes also didn't worry at all, but besides them, one faction was very worried: the High Lords.
It was evident that the High Lords were quite displeased with Noah's actions, especially when Noah came to the Adeptus Arbites to find Guilliman last time and completely ignored them.
Although the mortal High Lords Council were a bunch of insects, they had their merits, which was their continuous service to the Imperium, and thus they had learned some lessons from history.
For example, the Horus Heresy.
At the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Horus was also appointed Imperial Warmaster, and thus he launched a grand rebellion.
How similar the situation then was to now! Noah was also appointed solar lord imperial warmaster, so what did that mean?
Didn't that mean the Imperium of Man's former Warmaster position was revived?
Even more terrifying, Noah had violated the Astartes Codex; he actually had so many Space Marines.
The appearance of a massive number of Space Marines on Terra was the greatest concern for these High Lords.
Do not assume that these High Lords know only work day in and day out, dedicated to the Imperium of Man until death; in reality, this is only a small number of outstanding individuals.
Most High Lords represent the interests of their respective families, and Noah's appearance meant their interests were threatened.
Noah did not engage in any exchange of interests with them; he was directly parachuted in, which meant he had no vested interests with the local nobility.
This was completely different from the High Lords' long-standing practice of exchanging interests, and Noah's sudden appearance also meant he needed to carve out a share of interests.
How much interest would an Imperial Warmaster need to carve out?
On this point, the High Lords could not specifically deduce, because they were unsure of Noah's ambition. But what was certain was that the interests required by an Imperial Warmaster and Sun Lord were enormous.
However, currently, the interests were basically in the hands of these High Lords, and the overall interests of the Imperium had already been largely distributed among their respective families.
Noah's appearance meant depriving them of a portion.
At the same time, besides Noah, there was also Guilliman's existence.
Guilliman's appearance also meant they would lose the power they held, and the loss of power also meant the loss of family interests.
The High Lords were already somewhat displeased; even without Noah, Guilliman would still need to use his powerful political ability to suppress the High Lords' opposition.
Now, due to Noah's presence, the High Lords' resistance became even more fierce.
The Custodes could intervene and finely chop all these people into pieces, but the Imperium could not do without these people.
Because the Imperium was too vast and required enough administrative officials.
Apart from the families of these fellows, the Imperium could not produce so many administrative officials.
A single Imperial Palace required 10 billion administrative personnel.
The administrative personnel on Terra, even if all the people from Noah's entire colony world were extracted, would not be enough.
The families of these people could not be easily moved by the Imperium, because the Imperium of Man in warhammer is itself an abstract existence.
They lacked a sufficient compulsory education system; who would believe that an interstellar empire still needed to talk about literacy rates?
Some High Lords had long felt dissatisfied with the combination of Noah and Guilliman.
Now, after Noah mobilized his PDF to fully wipe out the rebels on Terra, giving them a bit of peace,
the greatest inherent flaw of the human race, infighting, was fully displayed among these High Lords.
On Guilliman's second day entering the High Lords Council, as he was preparing to address a topic, Grand Marshal Avrilisa Drahkma of the Adeptus Arbites stood up and challenged Guilliman.
"Lord Guilliman, I believe it is necessary for you to place some restrictions on Lord Noah.
He has severely violated the Imperium's Astartes Codex, and now the number of Space Marines under his command has far exceeded the Imperium's limits!"
"The Codex stipulates that an Astartes Chapter can only have 1,000 men, but what about Noah now?
As the Sun Lord, he actually mobilized so many Space Marines; his Chapter has over 3,000 men!"
"Such an act undoubtedly violates the Imperium's legal provisions, and you must restrain him."
Although these fellows wanted to target Noah and Guilliman, they clearly understood that it was impossible to target Noah with their own strength.
At the same time, their qualifications were completely insufficient.
Noah was the solar lord imperial warmaster personally appointed by the Emperor; how could a few High Lords have dissenting opinions?
They needed Guilliman to do it.
They needed Guilliman, who was also directly chosen by the Emperor and declared imperial regent, to personally act and restrict Noah.
It was clear that these High Lords were merely mortals, so they did not understand Noah's true status. In their opinion, Guilliman, as the imperial regent, should have the authority to manage Noah.
After all, Guilliman was the Emperor's 13th son; they might not be able to do anything to Noah, but they believed Guilliman could.
Unlike the various thoughts in the High Lords' minds, Guilliman looked at the group of imbeciles before him with some disbelief.
His head was full of question marks.
At this moment, Guilliman began to question what he had thought when he previously promulgated the Astartes Codex: was it truly right to let mortals govern mortals?
Did this guy have any brains left?
At this time, Terra's crisis was not over; if Noah hadn't brought in troops, who knew how long the fighting would have lasted.
Even before the crisis had ended, these fellows actually planned to target Noah.
They didn't even consider that all those troops belonged to Noah; could they succeed in targeting him?
Guilliman felt like he was about to laugh out of anger, but considering that these insects were still needed,
now was not a good time to replace these High Lords, so Guilliman decided to skip over it for now.
Guilliman still took a deep breath, suppressing his inner anger.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear about this matter. Don't bring it up again. Now, let's discuss other issues regarding food rationing."
Guilliman now wanted to skip this matter; he didn't want to argue with these High Lords here and waste his time.
However, it was clear that Grand Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites Avrilisa Drahkma completely misunderstood Guilliman's intention. She did not follow Guilliman's lead and move past the topic.
Instead, she stood up even further, hands braced on the table, like a righteous person, and spoke to Guilliman again.
She was determined to force Guilliman to address Noah's issue today.
After all, she did not represent anything else.
Grand Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites Avrilisa Drahkma represented the interests of the nobles on Terra.
Before Guilliman's return, Drahkma condoned the Adeptus Arbites in imposing high-pressure rule on hive city civilians and misappropriating enforcement resources to protect noble interests.
At this time, the Adeptus Arbites was no longer the Adeptus Arbites Guilliman and his companions knew ten thousand years ago, but an Adeptus Arbites composed of noble scions, with corruption rampant throughout the Imperium.
Their primary goal was to protect the interests of the nobility and oppress the common people at the bottom.
Even though the civilians on Terra actually held little value, they were still fiercely suppressed.
They sought to extract further profit for themselves from the hands of civilians who couldn't even feed themselves.
Theoretically, his actions should not have caused any conflict with Noah.
But Noah was a person from the Terran Federation, and as a moral person, he treated those at the bottom very well.
Noah was not a traditional Imperial person, and because of this, he would not treat the common people at the bottom in the same way Imperial nobles did.
To resettle these people, Noah could be said to have greatly harmed the interests of those Imperial nobles.
Land on Terra was very valuable, and these Imperial nobles controlled most of the land on Terra, so Noah was bound to come into conflict with them to resettle these civilians.
Under his command, Noah's PDF completely ignored these nobles; either these nobles handed over their land so the common people could be resettled, or they were directly killed without mercy.
During Noah's resettlement of the people at the bottom, over 1.84 million Terran nobles had died at his hands during this period.
This was no longer a small number, and the meaning it represented behind it was even more astonishing; it meant that Noah did not care about these traditional nobles at all, killing them at will.
As a representative of noble interests, Avrilisa Drahkma received a joint request from several other great noble families.
They demanded that he teach Noah a lesson, to make Noah negotiate with them for some exchange of interests.
These traditional nobles on Terra were still thinking of using an exchange of interests to deal with this matter, completely unaware that Noah was an existence outside of their rules.
Avrilisa Drahkma insisted that Guilliman produce a resolution to restrict Noah, which greatly displeased Guilliman.
His brows also furrowed; this Son of Guilliman, who had always maintained his rationality, showed his displeasure on his face at this moment.
It was not what a qualified politician should do, but Guilliman still did it, which naturally made its meaning clear.
However, this represented the final warning.
But it was clear that even though Avrilisa Drahkma had seen the change in Guilliman's expression, she was still unwilling to back down.
Now was her best opportunity, because Guilliman was still new to this place and unfamiliar with its ways; he couldn't possibly obtain evidence of their crimes and then deal with them.
At this time, Guilliman absolutely could not kill them, so this was the only time he could force Guilliman's hand.
Since Guilliman couldn't kill him, why should he back down? Therefore, not only did he not retreat, but he made himself appear even more righteous.
Avrilisa Drahkma's eyes met Guilliman's directly, not backing down an inch.
Such a situation was very rare; the representative of the Adeptus Arbites High Lords actually confronted the Regent.
The other High Lords did not intervene in this dispute.
Instead, they continued to watch from the sidelines, wanting to see how Guilliman would handle this matter.
This would determine their subsequent attitude towards Guilliman.
Feeling the attitude of the other High Lords around him, the anger on Guilliman's face intensified, and his face immediately darkened.
Was this not trying to undermine him, Guilliman, right here?
Simply outrageous.
Guilliman slowly scanned the High Lords around him, observing the expressions on their faces, trying to analyze the meaning they represented.
However, these individuals were all qualified politicians, so no one revealed their true feelings.
After looking around and not getting the answer he wanted, and finding no difference from what he had expected, Guilliman stopped pretending.
He extended his hands and clapped them a few times in the air.
"Clap, clap, clap..."
Immediately following, outside the High Lords Council, a large number of PDF, Ultramarines, and Custodes appeared within the council chamber.
Upon entering, these Ultramarines and Custodes immediately apprehended Avrilisa Drahkma.
Several Ultramarines directly grabbed the Grand Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites and pressed her to the floor, while the Custodes guarded Guilliman.
The sudden scene stunned these High Lords; they had not expected Guilliman to drop all pretense and order action without a word.
Restrained by the Custodes who had appeared around them, these High Lords made no further moves, instead remaining in their seats, ready to see what Guilliman would do.
Guilliman, of course, would not disappoint them. He left his seat and slowly walked forward to stand before Avrilisa Drahkma.
He did not speak to the Grand Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites before him, but instead declared loudly,
"Drahkma condoned the Adeptus Arbites in imposing high-pressure rule on hive city civilians and misappropriating enforcement resources to protect noble interests."
"Such actions have caused immense loss and impact to the Imperium. The reason for the Chaos invasion during the Battle for Terra was due to your complicity. Therefore, your crimes are corruption, heresy, and treason."
"Your family will be disgraced by your actions!"
"You are hereby removed from the High Lords Council, and your family will be subjected to a hefty fine. You must atone for your sins."
"Regarding your judgment, the Adeptus Arbites will present a specific plan in three days, followed by a public execution!"
Guilliman loudly announced her final fate, not speaking another word to him.
If he couldn't appreciate courtesy, then he shouldn't live. He should just die.
He now had not only the Ultramarines but also Noah's support, 28 million Space Marines plus the Custodes, and even the Emperor's endorsement.
If he were afraid of a mere Terran High Lord, he might as well die.
Eliminating a representative of a High Lord without cause would indeed cause dissatisfaction among a great family.
However, if he could throw all the evidence in his face, then the other party would not be able to say a word.
After being burdened with so many charges, if her family still tried to take any action, other families would be very willing to step in and eliminate him.
Political struggle sometimes only requires a reason, a plausible reason.
But as mentioned before, the Imperium is too vast and requires sufficient administrative personnel.
But still, the Imperium is too vast, and the Imperium has enough administrative personnel.
For the Imperium of Man, except for a few irreplaceable individuals, everyone else was expendable.
Watching the Custodes take away Avrilisa Drahkma, the Grand Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites Military Police, Guilliman stopped pretending and laid his cards on the table.
He now had the support of the Custodes, as well as Noah's support.
Since the deed was done, he might as well go all the way, purge all those elements, and leave only his own people.
Besides this fellow from the Adeptus Arbites , the two High Lords from the Inquisition and the astronomican were also taken away.
One was directly defined as treason, while the other was defined as extremism and abuse of power; in any case, both were immediately taken out for white phosphorus execution.
Furthermore, under the suppression of Noah's powerful Titan Legions, Guilliman directly forced the resignation of Fabricator-General Lasky of Mars, who had previously opposed Guilliman's plan to aid the Space Marines.
He intended to support someone who was willing to help the Primaris Space Marines to take office.
Guilliman, who had originally only intended to hold a small meeting to discuss food rationing, instead carried out a major purge of the entire High Lords Council of Terra that day.
With the talent he had acquired from Noah, the talent he had accumulated himself, and the talent he had promoted from Terra itself, he successfully updated the entire administrative system of Terra.
This action undoubtedly cleared all obstacles for the upcoming Indomitus Crusade; the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars, under the suppression of Noah's several Titan Legions, naturally had no objections.
After all, wasn't the current Fabricator-General of Mars still alive?
What was wrong with replacing him? Everyone originally belonged to different factions anyway.
Since Guilliman did not go to extremes and merely used "political" means to replace people, there was no need to betray the Imperium.
Or you could try to see what would happen if you betrayed the Imperium. Those 28 million Space Marines weren't air-dropped onto Mars, were they?
Those thousands of warlord-class titans and the small war machines that performed incomparably in the Battle of Lion's Gate weren't thrown onto Mars, were they?
By cooperating with Guilliman, they could have Noah teach them a portion of his knowledge.
It was clear that this new Sun Lord possessed technology that even the Adeptus Mechanicus coveted.
If they did not cooperate with Guilliman, then Noah's fleet and army would air-drop onto Mars and completely destroy the entire planet.
The Adeptus Mechanicus would not be a match for 28 million Space Marines.
This was a land unit exceeding the Great Crusade era; if the Adeptus Mechanicus' Mars were not in the Solar System, they might have been able to resist.
The Imperium currently did not have enough warships to deal with them.
Unfortunately, Mars was right next to Terra.
With the help of the Custodes, those 28 million Space Marines could easily reach Mars and destroy the entire Adeptus Mechanicus headquarters.
The bodyguard robots, which had briefly intervened to eliminate Daemons in the Battle of Lion's Gate, were certainly noticed by the Fabricator-General and some people on Mars.
Such powerful strength...
They had no doubt that even the Fabricator-General, with his massive size, would likely be utterly destroyed by a single punch from a bodyguard robot.
Of course, because the bodyguard robots used stellaris' simulated skin, in the eyes of these people, those fellows were just ordinary infantry units.
The Adeptus Mechanicus' judgment of those bodyguard robots was that they were the Emperor's newly created, entirely new Custodes.
In their view, that was a powerful force that truly warped the laws of physics.
The great political purge on Terra had begun.
However, these matters were Guilliman's concern; Noah would not interfere. He was still guiding his several colony planets to develop vigorously.
At the same time, he brought out a fleet that he had painstakingly assembled.
Excluding the fleet he brought from the Terran Federation, he had managed to assemble a usable fleet for himself during this period.
It was a small fleet group consisting of two cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 8 frigates.
But being able to field such a fleet group in this limited time was already quite good.
Noah planned to command them to explore surrounding star systems and reclaim more colony planets, preparing resources for future development.
This action was not known to Guilliman; although Noah was a very moral person, he still had the intention of keeping a trick up his sleeve.
His lofty moral compass led him to regard the fellow human beings of the Imperium of Man as his own kin.
He would do his best to save them, but as a leader of the Terran Federation, he also had to consider his own interests.
It was impossible for him to entirely help the Imperium of Man without developing his own independently controlled armed forces.
Therefore, this conquest was carried out directly without the Imperium of Man's knowledge.
In any case, due to the appearance of the Great Rift, the Imperium of Man was now completely divided, with one side being the Imperium Nihilus and the other being the Imperium's sanctuary.
In the Imperium Nihilus, no matter what Noah did, the Imperium would not detect anything; this was the benefit brought by technology.
While Guilliman was handling the Imperium's internal affairs, Noah dispatched his troops to attack two neighboring star systems.
The two Imperial Worlds in these two star systems were once again brought under his control, and he carried out comprehensive construction and defense engineering on them.
The most important task was to create planetary shield generators for each planet, using super shields to block Chaos energy outside the planet.
In addition, purifiers would be used to cleanse all Warp energy, allowing it to return to its pure state, so as not to adversely affect the Psykers on the newly reclaimed planets.
Noah had many things to do; he was very busy now.
During the day, he needed to research his technology, and at night, he had to command his troops to fight among the stellaris.
Although with the powerful combat effectiveness of his PDF, ordinary Daemons could hardly stop him.
However, Noah still adhered to the idea of reducing casualties as much as possible.
Sacrifice was the cornerstone of forging an Imperium, but the Terran Federation could not accept meaningless sacrifices.
The Terran Federation could accept sacrifice and could accept giving their lives for the federation, but all of this had to be meaningful.
In the face of any unnecessary or meaningless sacrifice, this was something the Terran Federation could not allow.
Noah was indeed just a scientist, but being a scientist meant he had a powerful brain, and commanding some ordinary battles was still within his capabilities.
Under Noah's command, after suffering over 200 PDF casualties, he once again brought two colony planets under his jurisdiction.
As of now, he already had 4 planets and three star systems that could provide him with resources and development.
And as Noah completed his expansion plan, Guilliman also completed the purge of the High Lords of Terra.
Concurrently, the Emperor's astronomican once again shone brightly, and with the help of the PDF mobilized by Noah, Terra returned to the hands of the Imperium of Man.
All the initial stages seemed to have been completed.
Things were looking up again.