Chapter 36: New Governance of the Luo Sen Empire

Time came to February 11th, 1147 of the Red Moon Calendar. After eight months of investigation and analysis by the Eye of the Curtain, the report on the various capabilities of Emperor Gruen of the Luo Sen Empire appeared on Sakavi's desk.

This report directly concerned whether Sakavi would decide to eliminate this emperor. With a larger territory, many things had to be handled with caution; he could no longer charge in head-first like before. Moreover, professional matters should be left to professionals: the Drow were responsible for investigating and collecting information, while the Deep Gnomes were responsible for data analysis.

According to the results analyzed by the Deep Gnomes, this could be done, but the risk was too high, and there was nothing worth looting. Since the professionals said it could be done, it was worth a try. If he didn't go, he feared his subordinates wouldn't be willing to work hard next time. No one would be happy if the intelligence they collected with such hardship was treated like toilet paper.

When this investigation report was delivered, Vilna mentioned an interesting thing, saying that when she was first able to escape from the city of Sodapesier, she relied on her fiancé, Sened Obsidian, who was the Intelligence Minister of the Luo Sen Empire at the time.

She promised that she and her subordinates would serve Sened, on the condition that the Luo Sen Empire provide a place for her and her subordinates to stay. Originally, such cross-species marriages were not too rare, but who knew that Sened intended to overthrow Gruen's rule, only to be reported by a subordinate who wanted to climb the ladder.

Vilna, who was in Skullcrusher City at the time, paid the price of half her subordinates to send her fiancé out of the city. Later, seeing that she couldn't stay in Skullcrusher City, she had no choice but to run to Grand Duke Last in Weilincheng. Grand Duke Last, ambitious but talentless, mocked the disheveled Drow Matron, was extremely disdainful of Vilna's dark and despicable style of conduct, and was even less willing to take her in.

It was precisely because of this that Vilna came to serve under Sakavi. At that time, Gruen's people had already come to the door, demanding she hand over Sened. With no other options, Vilna could only seek refuge with the Black Dragon. This was also the reason why Sakavi saw someone looking for her in Weilincheng later.

By rights, this was someone else's family business, and Sakavi shouldn't interfere. However, Sakavi believed that since Vilna was his subordinate, he had an obligation to resolve all her worries. So Sakavi asked her if she needed to continue fulfilling this unfinished marriage.

Vilna's answer was very straightforward: the kindness from back then had already been repaid in Skullcrusher City, and there was no need to pay attention to him anymore. As a collateral branch of the Obsidian family, Sened's family power was great, and Vilna indicated that it was only because she didn't dare to offend their family that she hadn't revealed Sened's whereabouts.

However, thinking about it, Vilna was already over four hundred years old and had already given birth to three children in the Underdark, while Sened was likely no more than fifty this year; the two were indeed not very suitable. Sakavi felt that since Vilna brought this up, it definitely wasn't for fun, as this was inconsistent with her past personality.

"Vilna, do you think we should support Sened to be the next Emperor of the Luo Sen Empire?"

"Samokoro's ability to control the Luo Sen Wang Ting is insufficient, and he has no powerful family support behind him; this does not align with our interests."

"But Sened is younger and poses a greater threat to us. Vilna, you must understand that we are not planning to kill Gruen just to create trouble for ourselves."

"The troublesome ones are Wendisha and Puglin; this is also why they are more willing to support Samokoro. Someone without family support is hard-pressed to put too much pressure on them, and all we need is time."

"You are right, Vilna. It is I who was too anxious. We built this territory because we lacked people; now that our wings are full, we have the ability to face any threat."

…………

On May 19th, somewhere in the suburbs of Skullcrusher City, two green figures seemed to be arguing fiercely about something. Gruen said angrily: "Grovelian, what do you mean? Do you know who you are talking to?"

Wendisha suddenly flew over from afar and said loudly: "Why are you wasting your breath on him? We don't have much time; the people from the War God Church are already on their way."

Subsequently, two more figures flew over from different directions, blocking Gruen's escape route. Perhaps not expecting that he would encounter danger even here, Gruen did not bring many guards this time, nor did he carry a weapon.

The three dragons didn't say much and started fighting directly. Gruen only had the sword he often carried and was beaten by the three dragons until he was unable to parry. Seeing him just block Sakavi's dragon claw, a flame dragon breath rushed towards his face. Having no time to dodge, Gruen could only activate the Martial Art: Steel Formation to resist.

"Fidemina, I'm going to be roasted. Can't you watch where you're aiming your fire?"

Wendisha laughed from the side: "Don't be afraid, you are all bones, there isn't a bit of meat on you; no dragon would be willing to eat you, hahahahaha!"

Taking advantage of the three dragons' teasing, Gruen turned and flew towards Skullcrusher City, when suddenly a bolt of lightning pierced his heart. Then came another claw, shattering his skull.

Grovelian watched Sakavi chasing the guards from the side and asked in confusion: "This place is within the monitored range; whether you kill the guards or not, won't the people of the Luo Sen Wang Ting know it was us? Is there still a need to kill them?"

"It's been a long time since I've fought anyone; this time I'm just having some fun."

What Sakavi didn't say was that the truth didn't matter; what mattered were the interests of those who were still alive. Gruen was covered in burns, and his chest had been struck by lightning; this point was hard to cover up, and these were all areas that could be used to lower the price in subsequent negotiations.

The people of the Luo Sen Wang Ting had to concoct a story based on where Gruen died and the wounds on his body to perfectly explain to the public why their emperor died. In order to better reap benefits later, Sakavi never dared to use necromancy, engaging in close-quarters combat the whole time. He looked like he was putting in a lot of effort, but in reality, he was just coasting.

On August 20th, the coronation ceremony for the new Emperor of the Luo Sen Empire, Sened Obsidian, was held as scheduled. The princes and ministers of the Luo Sen Empire gathered together to discuss the problem of bandits ravaging the territory. Sakavi indicated that he could send 10,000 troops from the Grand Duke's Rapid Response Division, led personally by the Grand Superintendent of the Security Bureau, Lady Tali.

To others, those were bandits, but to Sakavi, they were rare population dividends. No matter what kind of people they were, Sakavi's management institutions could always arrange suitable work for them. Increasing the population while also training troops—Sakavi was all for such a good opportunity.

In the previous few months, Puglin had conducted dozens of rounds of negotiations with the Luo Sen Wang Ting and its church regarding the candidate for the new emperor of the Luo Sen Empire, and finally had to adopt a compromise: Sened Obsidian would serve as emperor.

The Luo Sen Wang Ting kept insisting that Puglin's work was too rough, leaving Gruen covered in wounds and killing him in the suburbs, which made things very difficult for them, so they wanted to change the candidate. Puglin, on the other hand, insisted that his own people had taken a great risk to do the deed and could not change the candidate.

In fact, as early as when Sakavi intended to support Sened, he ordered the Eye of the Curtain to bribe the high-level officials of the Luo Sen Empire to introduce Sened at the appropriate time. The War God Church coming forward to stand with the Luo Sen Wang Ting was also because Sakavi had sent the Red-Robed Patriarch Klausuna to attend the meeting at the Saint Lucard Cathedral in advance to convey Sakavi's stance; of course, he didn't say that the one he supported was Sened.

However, this newly inaugurated Emperor was also a ruthless person. Less than five days after ascending the throne, he ordered the introduction of a series of reform plans.

"Decree on Military Merit Titles and Land Redemption": It was announced that part of the old nobility's fiefs would be reclaimed by the state for "failing to fulfill the duty of protection during turbulent times." If nobles wanted to retain their titles and land, they had to pay a huge "loyalty tax" or provide a large number of young adults to enlist. At the same time, "military merit titles" and "contribution titles" were opened to commoners and merchants, using money and war achievements to exchange for land and noble titles.

"Legislation on Legion Reconstruction and Border Defense Strengthening": Abolish the old, loose military system composed of noble private soldiers and establish a "New Legion" directly commanded by the Emperor. The source of troops for the New Legion would be obtained through mandatory conscription, and officers would be professional soldiers appointed by the Emperor.

"Decree on Local Militia and Bandit Suppression Redemption": Authorize and encourage towns and villages everywhere to form their own "militia forces," with expenses initially covered by the locality, and later reimbursed, tax-reduced, or even granted noble titles by the Empire based on the results of bandit suppression (calculated by the heads or ears of bandits). At the same time, announce an amnesty: as long as ordinary bandits put down their weapons and accept reorganization, they could be pardoned and join official engineering teams or frontier reclamation groups.

"Imperial Post Road Security Guarantee Act": Designate several core "Imperial Post Roads," rebuild fortresses at key nodes along the route, and station new troops. At the same time, establish a "Merchant Protection Tax Police," a force with both tax collection and military functions, specifically responsible for the safety of the post roads, with its funding coming directly from the "security tax" on merchant caravans.

"Merchant Route Revival and Franchise Act": Announce that within the next three years, merchant caravans traveling on all designated "Imperial Post Roads" would have their tariffs halved. At the same time, implement "franchise operations" for the most profitable commodities (such as salt, iron, and magical materials); only "franchised merchants" who had paid huge deposits to the Empire could operate them.

"Decree on Abandoned Town Revival and Colonization": Announce that anyone with the ability to recover and operate all towns and land abandoned during the turmoil could obtain a ten-year tax exemption and de facto ownership of the area.

Looking at this Emperor's reform measures one by one, Sakavi felt that he seemed to have supported a remarkable figure, but Wendisha and Puglin were not kind souls either. By the time this new Emperor's reform measures showed results, Sakavi's side would have already stabilized.

However, since they wanted to engage in the monopoly of strategic materials, he would follow along and sign a new trade agreement. This model was still a good thing for Sakavi's territory in the short term; Lap has been worried for the past few years because he couldn't buy enough grain. ===== CHAPTER 37 =====