Chapter 757: Holy, Roman, and Imperial

"Honestly, Horus."

"I suddenly feel that I can't understand you now."

"Can you understand it before?"

"Before? I didn't even think about you before."

When the Wolf God dragged another bench from the other end of the courtyard and sat down directly opposite Guilliman, suggesting that this private conversation would continue, the Macragge chose to restart their communication with a somewhat rude joke.

If it were in the ordinary world, this sentence would undoubtedly cause a dispute, but if it were in front of the two brothers who were blood thicker than water, such a slightly sarcastic witty remark would highlight the close relationship between the two.

And Horus accepted his brother's kindness with his usual smile.

"That's normal: I didn't think much about you before."

"You mean I thought about it a little?"

Guilliman found the clue, and the Warmaster admitted it generously.

"Yes: sometimes, I will think of your rustling quill with greed."

"Quill?"

Guilliman was stunned.

Is this a hidden metaphor? Or is it referring to some specialty of Macragge?

However, the Wolf God did not give his brother the opportunity to continue to fantasize. Horus leaned on his temporary throne, his back facing the fake clouds and sunlight, and his face was carved with a knife, recalling the previous impassioned speech.

"But, then again."

"Guilliman, my brother: I remember that I am not on the list of your four best friends."

"But you are a member of the Fearless Four."

The Macragge man nodded, not thinking there was anything wrong with this.

"You also classified them specifically?"

The Wolf God raised his eyebrows.

"You can't ignore reality."

Guilliman made a finger: the [eight] symbolizing the Midnight Haunter.

"For example, I would be proud to list Conrad as one of my four most important friends among all my brothers. He, Morgan, Ferrus and Corax form the four best friends in my mind."

"But no matter how much I value my friendship with Conrad, I don't have the courage to put him in the Fearless Four: after all, with Conrad's command level and the large-scale combat capabilities of the Night Lords Legion, I can't be fearless when cooperating with them."

"Is that so."

The Wolf God nodded.

"But with me?"

"Of course, Horus: you and your legion are strong enough."

"And we can be even stronger together."

Guilliman's face was light: he was discussing his alliances with the most powerful military groups and the chemical reactions that these alliances could produce, just like discussing a pebble picked up from the side of the road.

"My Ultramarines Legion can join hands with any of them, including Ferrus's Iron Hands, Morgan's Dawnbreakers, Dorn's Imperial Fists, and your Luna Wolves, to face the most powerful enemy without fear: and I can't think of the possibility of failure."

"Therefore, I will call you four my Fearless Four."

"It can be seen that Morgan and Ferrus are very important in your heart."

The Wolf God nodded, greedily absorbing the information of these words: but after he accepted it, a touch of gossip color that is common to the public began to appear in the depths of the Cthonian's sea-blue pupils.

"But I am also very curious."

"In your heart: Ferrus and Morgan, who is more important?"

"..."

This question made Guilliman silent.

It was rare to talk to one of his most admired brothers in his heart, and the Macragge man obviously did not think about the possibility of perfunctory: he twitched his teeth uncomfortably, frowned, and hesitated for about five or six minutes before thinking and giving an answer.

"How should I put it..."

"Ferus is a nearly perfect warrior and inventor. What I admire most about him is his mastery of engineering calculations and his wild imagination. That is the great power I have dreamed of in my life: he is almost the best among us, and his Iron Hands Legion is also the most versatile and powerful Astartes Legion in my imagination."

"But..."

The Primarch gritted his teeth.

"After all, the cooperation and running-in between Ferrus and I are not enough, and our understanding of each other is not deep enough: if we really want to think from the perspective of the Legion, then whether from the subjective ideas or from the tacit understanding of each other, the Iron Hands are more... um..."

Guilliman didn't finish this sentence, but Horus didn't care: he had already got the answer he wanted, and now it was time to put this topic aside.

"Well, this is very Ferrus."

The Warmaster muttered.

"But I'm more curious about why there's no place for Jonson in either the Four Best Friends or the Fearless Four: you two have cooperated quite a bit over the past few decades, right?"

"Of course."

As expected, the attention of Macragge's people was immediately drawn.

He snorted, his disdain evident.

"And Jonson is also excellent."

"But shouldn't we be discussing friends and comrades now?"

"It's not a list of tamed beasts."

Horus: ...

It seems that the relationship between the two of them is more complicated than he imagined.

"Oh well."

The shepherd god raised his brows, and his body grasped back.

"In any case, I am still glad to hear you listed me in my heart as one of your four first comrades -in -arms, Especially when I also want to cooperate with you: there will be one in our cooperation Cheerful background. "

"I don't deny these."

In contrast to Horus, Kiriman was solemnly leaning forward.

"But before that, I hope you can answer one of my questions, brothers."

"Do you have a lot of questions today?"

"My sigh today is also a lot."

Macrag waved his hand and sighed habitually.

"During this time, there are many."

"Presumably the pressure is too great."

The eyebrows of the shepherd wolf god are somber: No matter what kind of thought he is holding, but he witnessed a bloody brothers who seemed so tired and unbearable in front of him, but when he was unable to do it, Horus still felt like The heart is like a knife.

He had assured his father to protect each brother of his.

"Say, what do you want to know?"

"I want to ask ..."

Kiriman raised his head: Zhan Shuai realized how serious the original body was in front of him.

"Horus."

"Um?"

"In your heart: Do you still think you and Yingyue Wolf are still humans?"

"certainly."

Zhan Shuai nodded immediately.

This shocked Kiriman, not because of the answer, but because Horus's complexion was so indifferent: he seemed to have expected this question of Kiriman long ago, and he had already thought about the answer.

But the most important thing is that his complexion is so shocked.

There are no traces of lying at all.

"real?"

"Why should I lie?"

The shepherd wolves spread their arms, like a senior professor who talked about it.

"I know what you want to say: but think about it, Kiriman."

"On Mars and Ruiza, those who replaced their organs with engines, stuffed parts in their brains, and plasma in the blood vessels. : Are they humans in your eyes? "

"Among the underlying decks of the ships that have been calculated in a century, those crew children who are born and died in the void, those who are caused by gravity, radiation, gene mutations and sub -space distortion. Humans in the eyes? "

"Another example is that in those empires that are flowing, those empire governors who can live for hundreds of years can live for hundreds of years, and people who transform themselves up and down are not ghosts. No one skin and bones belong to their own: Do you think they can be regarded as humans again "" "" ""

"..."

"Since they are all humans: Why are we and our children not humans?"

"Humans are a very narrow concept, but humans are a very broad concept."

"It is subjective and objective."

"More often, it is just a question of a simple sense of self -identity."

"Do you think you are human: then you can be a member of humans."

"So don't be so rigid, brother."

The shepherd wolf laughed slightly.

As Zhan Shuai said, before he went to the Big Vortex, he really thought about a lot of things in private: he made every effort to think of every possibility, and reached a reconciliation with himself as much as possible Essence

In some words, Horus during the Great Expeditionary period is absolutely impossible to say, but now the war handsome can greatly acknowledge it.

"That's right, I am a mortal or human race, but these are just my complaints in private: I never think we should peel off the Astart's large group, after all, fundamentally, Ah Stat soldiers are just humans who have undergone special genetic transformation surgery. "

"If you really want to trace the origin, what are the differences between Astart and the nobles who have been undergoing back -spring surgery, physical surgery or transformation surgery: The difference is that our children may be more noble?"

Kiriman did not deny this.

"But just now, you have been emphasizing how we are going to mortal."

"Especially the sentence: you have admitted that you don't believe in mortals at all."

"Indeed."

The shepherd god looks a little innocent

"This is one ... how do you say ..."

"Some complicated issues."

He stretched out a finger.

"First of all, we must realize that the human empire is a empire that belongs to only human beings, so all residents living in this empire should only be humans: whether it is mortal, mechanical divine religion, Astert, us, we these these The original body and even the emperor are just humans. "

"However, we belong to different small groups in the large group of human beings."

"Can you understand this?"

"Like the same religion, different sects will be evolved, and the same country will differentiate different classes: We and Astart are indeed humans, but this does not mean Conflict on interests ".

"And it happens that the humans who are in conflict with the Astartes group are the largest group of [mortals] under the large group of humans: and their current representatives are the High Lords Council, and they represent the majority of human beings. The most vulnerable group."

"So, I don't trust this group."

"So, you understand, right?"

"A little bit..."

Guilliman was still frowning.

"But I still don't understand something: since you can regard the Primarch and the Astartes as members of the human group, why do you keep emphasizing in your words that there is a difference between us and the human group? Didn’t you say you want to coexist with humans?”

"That's right."

Horus smiled: but his smile chilled Guilliman.

"I want to coexist with them."

"So, I chose to think differently."

"The words I just said are what I thought with my mortal mind."

Suddenly, Horu rushed forward, and he stopped in front of Guilliman like a wolf. The cold wind blew towards his face, and the eyes of the two Primarchs met. Together: In the depths of the sea-blue pupils of the Wolf God, Guilliman saw too many emotions that he could not describe in words.

Cold, fearful, nervous, worried...

"Guilliman, my brother."

"You don't really think that mortals are a very broad-minded group, do you?"

"You don't really think that your lovely mortal subordinates are easy to talk to, do you?"

"Think, Guilliman, think carefully."

"Long before the human civilization could escape the gravitational pull of Holy Terra, they had already learned to kill each other within themselves: just because of the difference in skin color, because of the difference in residence, and even because of some people's If the nose is higher or shorter, they will not hesitate to raise the butcher's knife to their compatriots until they kill those who don't fit in. "

"Mortals fear monsters that are different."

"But they are always looking for those [monsters] that are different."

"Then attack and destroy them, feeding themselves with the flesh and blood of others."

"This is not despicable, brother. It is precisely because of this kind of ferocity and greed that mankind can reach where it is today: to be honest, I actually admire the ruthlessness of mortals in this regard."

"So, I also had to take into account their callousness and xenophobia."

The Shepherd God clenched his fists.

"Trust me, Guilliman."

"I don't want to build the Astartes into a powerful class above mortals. I want to coexist with humans from the bottom of my heart: that's why I think about their views on the Astartes from a mortal perspective." unique look and feel, and the impact that comes with it.”

"And the look and feel is..."

"No matter how close the Astartes are to mortals, in the eyes of most mortals, the Astartes are always a group whose lifespan far exceeds their understanding, whose physical capabilities far exceed their theoretical upper limits, and A minority group that is distinct from them simply in appearance.”

"Or: monster."

"It's a rough word, but that's what many mortals think."

"But none of that matters."

The Shepherd God retreated again, as if he had never been here just now.

"The important thing is..."

The Warmaster pointed to his head.

"We must always remember: no matter how much we want the two groups of Astartes and mortals to be friendly forever, in the instinctive memories of the Astartes and mortals, they know very well that they are not each other, they are not We will treat each other as true compatriots.”

"At least not yet."

"They are different."

"They live in two worlds."

"And now, since we want to merge these two worlds..."

"That's what we have to pay attention to."

"..."

"you mean……"

Guilliman took a deep breath.

"Because we want the Astartes and mortals to truly live in harmony."

"So we have to keep in mind that Astartes are different from mortals?"

"Exactly."

The hands of the Wolf Shepherd drew two circles in mid-air at the same time.

"Look: it's like two groups of mortals."

"If you want two ethnic groups that had nothing to do with each other before to gradually merge into one ethnic group in the following days, what method do you think should be used?"

"Will these two human groups be completely merged into one immediately?"

There is no mistake in every song, one post, one content, one 6 one, one book, one book, take a look!

"no."

Guilliman shook his head.

"This abrupt fusion will only create more internal conflicts between each other."

"That's right."

"But the other way around: is it to keep them separated from each other until they die?"

"No way."

Guilliman shook his head again.

"Distance will bring about strangeness, strangeness will bring about fear, and fear will lead to fights."

"yes."

"Especially when the differences between the two groups are so stark."

Horus was a little emotional.

"So, the only way is to let these two ethnic groups live very close to each other, but not mix together immediately. Instead, they need to get familiar with each other over a long period of time, communicate with each other, actively show goodwill, actively observe and learn to respect each other's customs: only the magic of time can make them completely integrated."

"Now, do you understand?"

The warlord spread his hands.

"It is precisely because we want the Astartes and mortals to coexist completely that we must always keep in mind that the Astartes and mortals are completely different groups: if we unfortunately forget this point and just blindly accelerate the pace of coexistence, it will cause panic among the mortal group."

"Of course, we must never mention these things in the external world: we must do our best to encourage our descendants to develop a truly friendly relationship with mortals, we must do our best to extol the value of coexistence and mortals, we must show goodwill to Terra, and show goodwill that even we ourselves have to believe."

"But only in the depths of our hearts, only in the hearts of us."

"We must remember: the Astartes and mortals are two different groups."

"Only by remembering this can we allow them to coexist successfully."

"The brighter our ideals are, the colder our hearts should be."

"Beautiful ideals and cold hearts?"

Guilliman muttered to himself.

"Of course."

Horus just smiled.

"Idealists are everywhere, but the naive ones among them have long disappeared, and the overly radical ones have also disappeared. The idealists who can really succeed are those who firmly follow their ideals while also clearly understanding the necessity of iron fist and caution."

"If we want the future human empire to become an ideal society, then we ourselves must be a group of ruthless manipulators: if we want the two groups of mortals and Astartes to be completely integrated, then we must first reach a pure exchange of interests with the officials on Holy Terra."

"This is helpless."

"But it is also true."

Horus leaned on his throne, smiling somewhat melancholy.

"To be honest, Horus: I am a little disgusted with these things now."

"Who says not?"

The Macragge man was a little absent-minded.

He was silent for a long time before he suddenly blurted out a sentence for no reason.

"Horus."

"Hmm?"

"You have changed a lot: you would never have had these ideas before."

"What ideas?"

"Compromise, concession, restraint, and empathy."

"Especially when facing mortals."

"..."

Horus just smiled: he didn't think it was praise or sarcasm.

"So, you accept it?"

"Partially."

Guilliman smiled.

"I still need some time to digest what I heard today."

"Just like you, Horus, you must spend more time to completely eliminate the deep-rooted prejudices and discrimination against mortals in your heart, right? Some of your words just now still have the style of the past."

"Yes."

The Warmaster did not deny it, but looked aside a little embarrassedly.

"It's hard, but I'm trying."

"To be honest, the biggest motivation that drives me to do all this is fear: I can't imagine what kind of person I am in this galaxy when my identity is completely separated from humans and mortals?"

"I fear this: so I'm desperately trying to change my mindset."

"And... change more ideas."

"Including giving power to mortals?"

"It's giving power to Terra."

Horus turned back.

"Want to listen more?"

"To make a long story short."

Guilliman glanced at the time.

"In two hours at most, I should go to the Badab system."

"No problem: I'll go with you."

Horus blinked.

"There are some things I just want to talk to the Sigillite Malcador about."

"About your Imperial Federation?"

"This requires his cooperation: although I never liked Malcador."

"But like I said: I'm trying to overcome these things."

"Interesting..."

Guilliman rubbed his chin.

"Then tell me: how do you plan to deal with the power struggle with humans?"

"Still coexistence?"

"Don't you understand yet?"

Horus sighed.

"The so-called coexistence is actually..."

"Balance."

Guilliman uttered the word.

"Balance between the Astartes and mortals, and the balance between the Primarchs and Terra."

"Is that right?"

"Yes."

Horus stretched out his fist.

"The same is true in terms of power."

"We must respect Terra's power, but we must also protect our own power."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"Federation."

The Wolf God was concise.

"In simple terms."

"Terra is the center, and we are the local."

"We respect Holy Terra as the highest authority in the Imperial Federation."

"And Holy Terra must also respect the principle of local autonomy like us."

"The basis of balance lies in relatively limited sovereignty and laws that keep pace with the times."

"As for internal conflicts, they need to be resolved through treaties, meetings and memoranda."

"In a word."

"Even if we quarrel with the high lords at the conference table."

"It is much better than our soldiers firing at each other in the void."

"I agree with this."

Guilliman nodded: the last sentence made him feel emotional and mixed.

"But: do you really think that communication alone can solve all problems?"

"For example?"

"Just for example..."

The Macragge man was stunned for a moment: it's not that he didn't know what to ask.

It's just that there are too many questions to ask: each of them seems to be unsolvable.

"Are you going to hand over the power of the central empire completely to those Terrans?"

"Of course not."

Horus shook his head.

"Since it is the Imperial Federation, there will naturally be a federal parliament, right?"

"Almost."

Guilliman nodded.

"And then?"

"Then we can demand our own seats in this council."

Horus held up two fingers.

"Members can be Primarchs: or they can be powerful families with deep roots in the local area."

"Loyal to us?"

"Not really: they just happen to have a close relationship with some Astartes Legions."

"Interesting."

Guilliman tilted his head.

"Then how do you plan to make Terra accept concessions on seats in the council?"

"Because we can also recognize the privileges enjoyed by Terrans in the council."

"For example, Terra can always have the most seats in the council."

"The central government of Terra is also the unquestionable and absolute authority of the Federation."

"These are not enough: after all, they are just some verbal promises."

Guilliman shook his head.

"They will ask for more practical things: such as taxation and even the army."

"Yes: but everything can be discussed."

The Warmaster spread out his five fingers.

"They want taxes?"

"Yes!"

"As long as Terra can reach a compromise agreement with the local representatives, as long as they are willing to consider the actual situation in the local area, they can certainly exercise their right to collect taxes: if they still have concerns. They can first send commissioners to inspect the actual situation in the local area in advance with our company."

"As for the army..."

Horus hesitated.

"I haven't thought about it yet."

"But I have an idea."

Guilliman laughed.

The Warmaster was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and laughed.

"Look, brother!"

"As long as we are willing to talk, as long as we are willing to sit at the negotiating table."

"Nothing can't be solved."

"Order, rules, compromise, cooperation: this is the future of the human empire."

"It is also the true meaning of imperial federalism."