Chapter 482: Planning

The night was deep.

Wushan Castle, which had been bustling all day, finally quieted down, and along with it, Luoning's wedding chamber.

Blanche had already fallen into a deep sleep in Luoning's arms.

Although she was an Advanced Mage and a Transcendental, a mage's physical constitution was not inherently strong, and after a busy day, she was already too tired to keep her eyes open.

Luoning felt the smoothness pressed against him and looked at her exposed, fragrant shoulders; a faint smile could not help but appear at the corners of his mouth as the scene of their recent passion surfaced in his mind.

He kissed her forehead lightly, then rose gently and walked to the window.

Outside, the starry sky was brilliant, as if it were within reach.

Luoning took a deep breath, feeling the chill of the night and the faint floral fragrance permeating the air, and a surge of ambition rose in his heart.

"Now, I can finally say I have truly gained a foothold in this other world."

Although his strength was only at the ninth level, it was impeccable, at least on the Orland Continent.

And besides his strength, he not only held the status of a Kingdom Marquis and a King's son-in-law, but he also had allies who supported him.

There was no need to mention the small and large nobles of Wushan Territory; they were Lulansi's steadfast supporters. Now that Lulansi fully supported Luoning, they were naturally no exception.

As for the small nobles surrounding Yueguang Valley, although they had good relations with nobles like Feilunsi, fence-sitting was always the characteristic of small nobles.

As long as no major changes occurred on Luoning's side, they would not easily tear their faces with him; after all, who would turn their backs on money and resources?

And regarding top-tier nobles, Luoning also had supporters and collaborators.

First, the Kingdom's most powerful Archmage, Beiluola, had already agreed to cooperate with Wubei Territory, and in subsequent conversations with Suofeiya, she even revealed thoughts of going to the New Moon Continent and the City of Dawn.

Second, thanks to Aierlong's visit, the Jistana Duchy had also reached an agreement with Wubei Territory on the project of jointly planting flame grass.

Moreover, under Aierlong's suggestion, the Duke of Valjisi had already agreed to entrust his physically frail grandson, Jianuo, to Aierlong for personal care and had arranged for several Knights to go to Wubei Territory to look after him.

This kind of action signaled the intimacy of the relationship between the two parties to the outside world.

With these situations combined, the Feilunsi Gong Guo, Vila Principality, and Screaming Island would likely no longer act as recklessly as they had before.

With the situation stabilized, Luoning could devote himself wholeheartedly to development.

In the early days, he focused his attention on porcelain and silk; now that these two items had appeared on many occasions and had won the favor of the nobles, he could completely leave the subsequent promotion and sales to the Shangyeguan in his territory.

At this stage, compared to these commercial matters, Luoning was more concerned with the application of the Steam Engine.

This was the foundation of the industrial revolution and the beginning of the territory's industrialization.

In addition to the Steamboat, Steam Train, and Railway transport that were already confirmed for construction, the application of Steam Power in textiles, mining, and metal smelting also needed to be explored.

It was not that Luoning had to do everything himself; after all, the ideas were there, and the first Steam Engine had appeared. Ximeng, Suofeiya, and even those mages and scholars from Shuijing City could propose improvement suggestions on this basis.

Most of the lower-class commoners were illiterate, but the upper-class elites still had brains.

However, the only difficulty was that the Core components of the Steam Engine could currently only be manufactured by Luoning, Suofeiya, and Kaierluosi; Ximeng or other craftsmen could not yet perform precision machining.

Only after the craftsmen's technical level and manufacturing equipment were developed could Luoning and the others be liberated.

Besides development, preparations for war also had to be put on the agenda.

For Luoning, sending troops to the Telixiya Kingdom was not only to raise his noble rank to gain Attribute Points and lay the foundation for establishing a kingdom in the future, but also to eliminate the alien races that had already taken root in the enemy country.

To deal with the threat of the latter, Luoning had already discussed it in detail with Ruidar and Suofeiya, deciding to let Knight Hameng, who possessed the ability to conceal his tracks and was skilled in gathering intelligence, leave Yueguang Valley and travel far to the Molten Duchy to investigate the specific situation, while simultaneously establishing an intelligence network for Wubei Territory in the Telixiya Kingdom.

In this way, if there were any situation, Luoning and the others would not be left in the dark, relying entirely on the royal family to provide intelligence.

Lulansi had already suffered once from false intelligence, and Luoning did not want to suffer a second time.

"Luoning, why aren't you sleeping yet? What are you thinking about?"

Blanche's soft call pulled Luoning's attention back from his thoughts.

He turned and saw the beauty on the bed sitting up, the large expanse of snow-white skin exposed being particularly attractive.

"I was thinking about when we might have a child."

As he spoke, he walked over, "How about we... plow the fields a bit more?"

Blanche lowered her head shyly, tugging at the bedsheet, and said, "I... I'm a bit sore, I can't really... how about tomorrow? Let's do it tomorrow?"

"Hahaha~"

Luoning returned to the bed and lay down, embracing her, "I'm just teasing you. We have Along life ahead of us; let's wait until you've recovered."

The two fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, after breakfast, Daianni took Blanche and the Steward to inventory the congratulatory gifts sent by the nobles.

Luoning had always left this kind of work to the territorial officials to handle; he only needed to know the final result.

But now that there was a mistress in the territory, it was only right for her to oversee financial matters.

Moreover, Blanche was born a Princess of the royal family and had received an education from childhood that was far superior to anything in the outside world; her abilities in all aspects were definitely not inferior to those who had entered the field halfway, like Wilson or Chahaer.

Since she was willing to manage these matters, Luoning was both reassured and happy to be at ease.

As for Luoning, accompanied by Lulansi, he held a territorial assembly at the Wushan Castle fortress.

Come to think of it, the banquet last night was not only to celebrate the marriage of Luoning and Blanche, but also to build a platform for the many nobles of Wushan Territory to interact with Luoning.

What they sought was nothing more than to cooperate with Luoning.

After all, Yueguang Valley was so large, with so much idle land and housing; since Luoning could open his arms to cooperate with other nobles, he surely wouldn't exclude the small and large nobles of Wushan Territory.

Regarding this, Luoning naturally agreed.

To him, who he cooperated with didn't matter.

In any case, what he ultimately needed was more food and more labor; as long as the people arranged by the nobles could obey his commands and mobilization, there was a basis for cooperation.

It was just that after some negotiations, Luoning felt more and more that this social situation, where nobles controlled all affairs and even the populations of their respective territories, somewhat limited his development.

Just imagine, if the population of all the towns in Wushan Territory could be mobilized at will, how good would that be?

In the end, it was this model of noble enfeoffment that limited operations.

Therefore, after much thought, Luoning decided that if he were to enfeoff in the future, some powers would not be devolved.

It would be best to adopt a system of fiefs, granting nobles or meritorious officials a certain amount of land, allowing them to enjoy the income from the land, but not granting them political rule or administrative power over the region.

However, reform is not something that happens overnight; for now, Luoning can only follow the existing social framework, and wait until his strength is more stable in the future, or until he establishes his own kingdom, to gradually push forward these deep-seated changes.

In any case, time is very abundant for him; after all, a Blazing Sun Knight theoretically has a lifespan of two centuries, so he is in no rush for quick success. (End of chapter)