Chapter 503: Grand Blueprint

Akalande's such enthusiastic agreement instead made Lei En feel strange.

The Soul Eye also saw that Akalande's emotions were far more intense than they appeared, extremely excited and lofty, as if a long‑unattainable wish had finally been fulfilled, as if participating in the construction of the Augustus Duchy was the highest honor.

"What's the situation?"

Lei En muttered to himself, surprised, "You can speak for the Mechanical Guild? That's no small matter."

He meant that Akalande should at least go back and report to that mysterious chairman.

Akalande froze for a moment, as if covering something, and explained, "If you give the Mechanical Guild such a huge contract, the chairman certainly won't refuse; my prior agreement with you isn't a problem."

There is indeed a problem!

Lei En's mind was as clear as a mirror, though his face remained impassive, "You'd better communicate with the chairman first, then give me a definite answer."

"Alright!" Akalande nodded repeatedly.

Nevertheless, the Soul Eye saw clearly that despite Akalande's outward calm, he was still very agitated, eager to leave at once and return to the Empire.

Next, Lei En roughly outlined his plan.

First, the initial item is road construction.

To become rich, build roads first! This is a well‑known maxim from the previous life, and countless people have escaped poverty by these six words, the resulting economic benefits spurring regional development.

Lei En intends to provide the seven cities under the Duchy with top‑standard highways, all interlinked. The city streets will be replanned and centralized, and new districts outside the city will be opened to accommodate more population.

At the same time, a railway will be built through the Giant Dragon Forest, reaching the port docks of Jinse Lan.

The second item is universal education and worker training.

This requires cooperation with schools and factories, freeing labor from the land, raising individual productivity, and fully tapping human resources.

The third item is establishing an entirely new governance system.

The Augustus Duchy will no longer be a backward feudal state; aside from Lei En himself, there will be no titled nobles, and all land will belong to Lei En personally. He will select capable officials, appoint a mayor for each city, establish a city hall, and be fully responsible for each city's development.

Mayors will be judged not by birth but by ability, with their performance reviewed annually.

Lei En already has a set of ideas, roughly copying the municipal management system from his previous life, with departments of finance, education, industry‑commerce, health, public security, judiciary, and so on; an initial plan of a dozen bureaus. For these key posts, the mayor only has nomination rights, while the final appointment rests with him.

Each bureau chief, like the mayor, must pass the Soul Eye's screening; the unqualified are replaced immediately.

Human hearts are hard to gauge, especially in politics.

In the previous life, even the wisest ruler could be deceived, with rot appearing among the ranks, corroding morale, ultimately ending in tragedy.

But in Ai Lun E Si it is different; no mortal, however clever, can resist the Transcendent.

The Soul Eye can pierce the heart, easily distinguishing loyalty from treachery.

Lei En is confident no major slip will occur; any small move cannot escape his scrutiny.

Moreover, he will later select a group of the most loyal Extreme Warriors as the backbone, supplement them with personnel from the Gunwing Knights, and form a "Judgment Court" that obeys only his orders, patrolling the entire Duchy, cleansing degenerate beings and monsters, while also possessing authority to oversee officials, root out illegal elements hidden among nobles and commoners, and, when necessary, execute before reporting.

Lei En's goal is to build a powerful industrial nation, not a capitalist that crazily squeezes surplus value.

Most of the profit from the Duchy's citizens' production will be turned into welfare for them; the newly built factories, schools, hospitals, and public facilities will all be owned by Title: Duke of Augustus, i. e., Lei En personally, effectively resembling a state‑owned enterprise of his previous life, distributing benefits uniformly.

A stable, orderly nation where the people's lives are relatively happy, even with only a few million inhabitants, can provide an immensely considerable faith power, far surpassing that of a scattered missionary model.

Lei En will also reap abundant benefits from it.

First is wealth, second is population; these are essential Elements for building a massive army.

The Gunwing Knight Corps will be greatly expanded, with future main troops drawn from the Augustus Duchy, selecting the most gifted among the millions as one of his firmest backings, second only to the Extreme Warrior Corps.

There is also a third benefit.

The Augustus development model is like a test field; if the results are pleasing and gain the goddess's approval, He will decide to scale up, and then…

Lei En's mouth twitched upward, a flash of light seeming to flicker in his eyes.

Akalande listened to his plan, becoming increasingly surprised yet more excited, and impatiently said, "Lei En, I'll go back right now to contact the chairman, wait for my good news."

Lei En had long seen that he couldn't sit still, so he nodded.

He personally escorted Akalande into the teleportation array, then turned to enter the main hall of Dragon Ridge Castle, where many had been waiting for a long time.

"Greetings, Title: Duke."

Lei En took the main seat in the hall, while a crowd below bowed in a sea of black.

These people are the upper echelons of Dragon Ridge City—nobles, merchants, Transcendent, and representatives of all trades—all prominent figures in the city. During this period of power vacuum in Dragon Ridge City, they united to form a Transcendent Guard to maintain order.

Of course, seizing the opportunity to control the city, they did not forget to manipulate things for their own gain.

They were suddenly summoned by the Gunwing Knights, unaware of what the newly arrived Title: Duke intended, each feeling uncertain and uneasy.

Lei En's gaze swept over everyone, reading the thoughts of the over‑hundred people, and said calmly,

"No need for formalities, everyone, please sit down."

After a clamor of shuffling, Lei En continued, "I have invited you all to Dragon Ridge Castle today to announce several matters."

The people below perked up, knowing the forthcoming words would affect their futures.

"First matter."

Lei En raised one finger, "Dragon Ridge City will become the capital of the Augustus Duchy," then raised a second finger, "The Augustus Duchy will have no more titled lords besides me."

As soon as the words fell, a wave of astonishment rippled through the hall.

Dragon Ridge City was originally the domain of Viscount Filton; that family has been uprooted, yet beneath Filton remain several vassal lords alive, six in total, each holding a knightly fief no larger than a town in area or population, belonging to the lowest tier of minor nobility.

Nevertheless, even a single knightly fief is land that countless people dream of but cannot obtain.

Those six lords reacted most intensely; they are Transcendent and the only legitimate nobles remaining in Dragon Ridge City. They once served Viscount Filton, but did not follow him when he abandoned the city, nor participated in the usurpation war, thus escaping Emily's vengeful purge.

One lord began to voice opposition, but Lei En's gaze fell upon him, instantly like a bucket of ice water poured over his head; his face turned pale, unable to utter a word.

The other five noble lords also trembled.

"I will allow you to retain your lordly titles and the castles your families reside in," Lei En said in an undisputed tone, "Beyond that, all land ownership, tax collection, and law‑enforcement rights within your domains will revert to the Augustus family."

"After the fiefs are stripped, your family's private armies must disband on the spot; each family may recruit no more than ten Transcendent guards."

"Anyone with objections may voice them now."

Lei En's every word is like a knife, stabbing into the hearts of six noble lords, depriving them of their fiefs and glory; without land, how can a family survive?

Yet facing a Legendary Peak transcendent, the regicide who personally slew Marke, with two squads of Extreme Warrior eyeing them, no matter how much opposition there is, no one dares to speak up.

Everyone fell silent as cold crickets, the hall was hushed for half a minute.

In the end no one dared to stand up and oppose.

"Very well." Lei En smiled and said to the six noble lords, "I give you three days to hand over jurisdiction over your territories."

Then he raised his third finger, "Longridge City will appoint a Mayor to manage this city. The Mayor's background, age, or gender does not matter; anyone confident enough to take the post may apply."

"If during the mayoral term the performance assessment is excellent, I may consider granting a noble title."

"There are also a dozen positions just below the Mayor, each responsible for a sector, with different rights and benefits."

Many people's eyes lit up.

They were unfamiliar with the title Mayor; only a few had heard that many cities in the Empire have a Mayor. Although, according to Title: Duke's words, a Mayor is only a position, not a fief, but the power it wields is comparable to that of a City Lord.

Managing the hundreds of thousands of people inside and outside Longridge City is certainly not an easy task.

But compared with the power one can obtain, what does that matter?

Someone immediately stood up and asked, "Title: Duke, what are the requirements for becoming Mayor? What counts as excellent performance?"

This is what everyone wants to ask.

Lei En took out a stack of documents and handed them out; they were the procedures he had prepared earlier, and said, "Each of you take one home to read; I will also have notices posted in the city, giving everyone equal opportunity. One week later, those who sign up will be scheduled for an exam, the content of which I will set."

"The exam content differs for each position; each person may apply for only one position."

"The top five scorers will qualify for a second interview. I will choose the final winner among those five for the corresponding position."

"Oh, by the way." Lei En smiled at the crowd below, "All interpretation rights of this process and the appointments belong to me."

The people in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment.

An exam?

They had lived most of their lives without hearing of such a recruitment method; Kangjiatuo doesn't even have a decent school, let alone an exam.

This novel approach made some shake their heads, thinking the new Title: Duke was simply fooling around.

Yet some were eager to try, as if they saw a chance to rise.

Lei En had no patience for further explanation, and dismissed everyone to go home.

In less than half a day, word spread through Longridge City; almost everyone heard that Title: Duke would appoint a Mayor through an exam to manage the whole city.

At once, both upper‑class nobles and common folk were buzzing with discussion.

Streets, taverns, inns—everywhere people talked; the city bulletin board was packed, choking the passage.

And the mastermind, Lei En, already headed to Stream City with Borchi and Extreme Warrior. He spent three days traversing Augustus Duchy, repeating the same procedure seven times, stripping the remaining nobles of their fiefs, and announcing his policy plan.

Under his overwhelming force, no one dared to oppose.

At the same time, Lei En used the Soul Eye in each city to select loyalists, recruiting a group of transcendent beings into a temporary security squad to execute his Willpower.

The duchy has seven territories, two in the Great Dragon Forest north: Longridge City and Stream City.

These two territories have the largest populations, accounting for two‑thirds of the duchy, with flat terrain, and will become the economic hub.

The five territories south of the Great Dragon Forest originally belonged to Laoberdil Duchy; although larger in area, the terrain is rugged, mainly hills and mountains, and the population is scattered, making governance difficult. However, the region is rich in mineral resources, including several gray coal mines and iron mines; once transportation is solved, it can supply abundant industrial raw materials.

Lei En gradually formed a development blueprint in his mind.

When he returned to Longridge City on the fourth day, stepping onto the teleportation array back to Glamoreng, Akaland brought good news: the president of the Mechanical Guild had agreed to cooperate and presented an initial plan.

Lei En flipped through the Mechanical Guild's proposal: manpower, material, machinery, and various preparations, massive sums, most shipped from the Empire by ships and airships to Augustus Duchy, even preparing a distant teleportation array at Glamoreng's airship landing field.

This lavish spending shows the Mechanical Guild's wholehearted support.

Lei En pondered for a long time; the Soul Eye occasionally observed Akaland, detecting hints from his eager attitude.

It seemed the Mechanical Guild cared about building the duchy more than itself.

This was somewhat unusual.

He hesitated briefly and asked, "May I have the honor of meeting the president personally?"

"Sorry." Akaland forced a smile, "The president's whereabouts are uncertain; I only managed to contact him after much effort. He asked me to tell Title: Duke that the Mechanical Guild harbors no ill will; on the contrary, the Mechanical Guild wishes to achieve deeper, comprehensive cooperation with Title: Duke."

"To demonstrate the Mechanical Guild's sincerity, the three million Gold Shield investment in the motorcycle factory will be funded by the guild, while Title: Duke will retain a ten‑percent share."

"The president also said that when the timing is right, he will meet Title: Duke."

Lei En grew even more curious.

The Soul Eye confirmed Akaland was not lying; the Mechanical Guild's terms were unbelievably generous—money, goods, and personnel. There is no free lunch; clearly, that mysterious president either seeks something from us or has ulterior motives, and such a massive favor may later prove troublesome.

But it was also hard to refuse.

Moreover, the Mechanical Guild is a massive force in the Empire, especially financially unrivaled, and Lei En also needs their support.

After much thought, Lei En finally nodded, "Please convey my thanks to the president, and may our cooperation be pleasant."

(End of chapter)