Chapter94

Leif was clearly on good terms with her. His Zhaiyun Pavilion was also listed in her friendship column, with 1100 points of favorability. Their relationship was quite good.

After Elara returned this time, she planned to focus on developing the economy and military of the Plumera Kingdom. Naturally, she would need support from Leif's Zhaiyun Pavilion.

Although Leif held positive feelings toward her and the Plumera Kingdom, he was still the heir of Sargassum.

The royal family of Sargassum had stood with Salvia Kingdom and its subordinate nations before the war began. They had even tried to force Leif into a political marriage with an old woman from the Jiasi Kingdom, hoping to hand him over to her to seize control of Zhaiyun Pavilion.

Through Zhaiyun Pavilion's connections with the Plumera Kingdom and Prince Yu of the Dahlia Kingdom, they wanted to disrupt the trade routes of Plumera and Dahlia. By causing internal unrest, they hoped to distract them and create an opening for Salvia Kingdom and its allies to invade from the south.

Ha!

In fact, the initial reason for Elara and Prince Yu's northern expedition was because Prince Yu discovered this sinister plot after Sargassum colluded with northern Jiasi Kingdom.

Since the royal family of Sargassum was so desperate to destroy itself, and Leif was the only one among them who had favorable feelings toward her and the Plumera Kingdom, she might as well replace the whole royal family.

She could let Leif take the throne and become the new emperor of Sargassum, replacing those who tried to force and humiliate him.

The more Elara thought about it, the more she liked the idea.

If Leif became the new emperor of Sargassum, not only would he avoid being bullied again, but Zhaiyun Pavilion could also operate openly within Sargassum, benefiting both him and the Plumera Kingdom.

In short, letting Leif ascend to the throne would bring far more benefits than drawbacks.

As long as Leif himself didn't reject the idea of becoming emperor.

...

After reading all the stats on the panel, Elara immediately wrote a letter to Prince Yu — about how to deal with the Sargassum Kingdom and her wish to have Leif crowned as the new emperor.

When the black hawk took her letter and flew toward the Dahlia Kingdom, Elara had already returned to the city closest to the three vanished counties.

General Qi, Damon, Egbert, Senior General Duanmu, General He, and the others had already regrouped the army and were waiting for her in the main city.

Salvia Kingdom's western region and the combined lands of the other nations totaled more than one million square kilometers, which was twice the size of the Plumera Kingdom's original territory.

Such a vast area was too far from Plumera City. Since it had just been reclaimed from other nations, Elara had to leave enough military force behind to intimidate and stabilize the region.

Then she would send loyal and capable ministers from the capital to act as governors over the vast Northern Frontier, making sure this newly gained land was fully integrated into the Plumera Kingdom.

Fortunately, as the northern expedition was nearing its end, she had already written to the capital earlier, informing Benedict, Kristof, and Scholar Fu to select a group of competent and loyal ministers to send over.

Those three worked very efficiently and quickly replied, saying they had selected twenty-one people with strong abilities and good character.

However, because the Plumera Kingdom was already short on talent, even after Elara held a national exam after ascending the throne, that single exam wasn't enough.

The talents chosen then weren't even enough to manage the original lands, and now she had acquired twice as much territory.

Sometimes, expanding too fast didn't just bring satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. It also brought new problems and new worries to solve.

As she read the end of the letter, Elara saw that the most outspoken of the three, Kristof, had already begun complaining that the court was running out of capable people.

These twenty-one officials had only been scraped together after doing everything they could, shamelessly overloading existing ministers with work, making nearly every official in the court take on multiple roles, and work overtime night after night.

After crying about it, Kristof started begging her to return to the capital and organize the second national exam as soon as possible. Otherwise, some officials might actually drop dead from overwork one day.

Elara: ...

Although the crying complaints sounded a bit too tragic, Kristof was indeed right. The Plumera Kingdom had always lacked various kinds of talent, and now with over a million square kilometers of vast new land, the shortage would only grow worse in every area.

The second nationwide imperial exam did need to be prioritized.

Elara picked up her pen to write a reply, instructing Mathias and the Ministry of Education to prepare all matters related to the second national examination in advance. She would begin the test as soon as she returned.

But just after writing it, seeing Mathias's name on the letter, Elara suddenly remembered that it had been nearly three months since she left the capital.

Was Mathias's health still holding up?

She wanted to add a few lines to ask more, but then remembered this was an official letter.

Never mind. She would finish things here quickly and return to see him in person.

In the following days, Elara stayed in the Northern Frontier, waiting for the arrival of the twenty-one new talents while also assigning General Qi, Damon, Egbert, Senior General Duanmu, and General He to lead troops to various cities and counties to eliminate the remaining rebellious forces.

A few days later, once all remnants in the Northern Frontier, including the former Periwinkle Kingdom and Salvia Kingdom's major cities, had been purged and settled, the twenty-one talents finally arrived.

Elara glanced over them. Many looked familiar. Most had been personally appointed by her after the last major exam in Plumera City.

These twenty-one young officials clearly recognized Elara. Even though they had traveled day and night with barely any rest and looked pale from the bumpy journey, with some even close to vomiting bile from motion sickness, the moment they saw Elara, the one who had lifted their burdens and past identities and given them hope and new lives, they couldn't help but become emotional.

Each one of them respectfully knelt before her, full of admiration, reverence, and gratitude in their expressions and actions.

Elara took each of their "personal records" to examine.

These "personal records" had been created after she established the Ministry of Household Affairs and personally taught the officials there how to compile personal profiles.

However, due to the sheer size of the population and the Ministry's lack of staff, there still weren't any officials ranked above the third grade. The two highest were the uncle and nephew Puwai and Puzhi, whom Elara had met by chance during the last exam in Plumera City, arriving together with Mr. Gong.

Both had performed well in the exam. Elara had appointed them to fourth-rank and fifth-rank positions in the ministry. Since there were no higher-ranking officials, the uncle and nephew temporarily managed all affairs of the household registry.

The Ministry's personal files could not yet include all citizens nationwide, but before leaving the capital, Elara had emphasized to the two that while the records of the general public could be delayed, the personal profiles of all key officials had to be completed as soon as possible. The information had to be detailed and clear, according to her standards.

Now, looking at the neat, thorough profiles in her hands, even including detailed information on three generations of each candidate's family background, Elara was quite impressed with the uncle and nephew's capabilities. She planned to visit the Ministry upon her return and promote them both if possible.

After reviewing the twenty-one profiles and understanding each candidate's abilities, Elara immediately appointed them to suitable city and county governor positions.

And due to the shortage of personnel, most of them had to take on multiple roles, even serving as acting governors of two or three neighboring regions.

"Ahem. Don't worry. Once the second nationwide exam concludes, I will immediately send more officials to ease your workload. For now, bear with it for a few months. Each of your salaries will be paid at three times the normal rate according to the positions you're covering."

After arranging everything for the excited young officials, who didn't seem to realize how exhausting the upcoming responsibilities would be, Elara asked General Qi to assign twenty-one loyal junior commanders from the military. Each would lead five thousand troops to accompany the newly appointed governors to their posts.

With that, Elara's main purpose for staying in the Northern Frontier was complete.

Once the governors departed for their respective cities, Elara also set out to return to the capital, taking General Qi, Damon, and the others with her.

On the road back to the capital, it felt as if the experience she had accumulated over the past three months had reached a threshold. A series of mechanical sounds rang in Elara's mind again, notifying her that the tasks issued by the System before she left the capital had all been completed.

[Beep. Congratulations! Mission Ten: "Use five million bricks to construct at least one basic ancient structure" has been completed. Reward obtained: Encyclopedia of Basic Ancient Tool Manufacturing.]

[Beep. Congratulations! Thanks to the efforts of your Ministry of Works officials sent to the Carnation Kingdom, the two major natural disasters within its borders have been significantly improved. The Empress of Carnation now believes even more firmly that you are the one chosen by divine will. Favorability from the Carnation Kingdom toward the Plumera Kingdom has greatly increased. This has improved the surrounding diplomatic environment. You have gained 570 national fortune points. Current total national fortune: 28,744 points.]