After Jeno left the Immortal Fortress, he summoned the army of the undead back to the Underworld to stand by, and as long as Nightfall was still in his hands, the undead would not dissipate.

The army of the underworld is used by Jeno as the ultimate means of counterbalancing Noxus, but after the death of Maude Caesar, the souls that later arrive in the underworld will dissipate normally, filling the spirit world and maintaining the balance between the material realm and the spirit world.

But the scales have tipped and Jeno must do something to remedy it, so he has a plan to get Tamu to take him back to Fukuko Island.

……

After he left, the Trifali Council convened in the Audience Chamber, but only the Noxian Commander and the Faceless were present, and Darius, who was far away in Navoli, was naturally unable to attend the meeting.

The two sat on a high platform at the foot of the throne, facing each other at a simple marble table.

In addition, there was not even a single guard in the huge audience hall.

LeBlanc didn't wear a mask because Svein had seen her for what she was. And this is the first time she has made a voice since she acted as the Faceless.

She pushed a scroll to Svein and said to him in an unquestioning tone, "From now on, I will continue to play the role of the Faceless One, delivering orders to the Lord of the Underworld, the Council of Trefali will continue to exist, but if a major decision is wrong, the Lord of the Underworld will intervene." ”

LeBlanc smiled a scornful smile as she watched Svein look at her with complicated eyes, and for the first time in ten years, she felt like she had the upper hand.

Jeno had promised her that he would return his soul and freedom to her when he no longer needed the armies of the underworld to deal with outside threats.

Svein took it and opened the scroll, and found that LeBlanc had prepared an order for the Noxian soldiers in Ionia to retreat, and it was exactly in his handwriting. And she had already filled in the name of the Faceless One, which meant that she agreed to the decision.

Now, all it was for Svein to fill in his name.

He stretched out his arm and grabbed the quill with his rough knuckles, but he couldn't put it down for a long time.

Svein knew that the Trifali Council, which he had founded, was dead in name, and that under the threat of the Underworld's army, any decisions that did not suit Jeno's wishes could not be passed.

"Do you have any objections? I've made it very clear. ”

LeBlanc's deep purple manicure struck on the marble tabletop, and the crisp crash echoed through the empty hall like the rush of the second hand turning one by one.

"Isn't it enough that everything I do is to make Noxus stronger?"

Svein knew how much turmoil he would cause in the country once he signed the agreement, and he could suppress the news that the underworld army was pouring out, but how could he suppress the news of giving up the march with a big advantage?

At that time, under the impetus of people with intentions, public opinion that is unfavorable to him will fly all over the street, how will he sit firmly in Diaoyutai at that time? After being forced to leave this position and have no real power, how can he bring prosperity and strength to his homeland?

"Don't you see a more terrible threat in the eyes of that demon? The descent of the star spirit to earth means that the world is in turmoil, and the void has been deeply planted in this land, which of these is not a more feared threat than Maudecaesar? ”

There was darkness flowing from LeBlanc's pale face, but the real darkness is not what you see in front of your eyes when you close your eyes, but what you see when you open one eye and close one eye.

That is the darkness of the void, the darkness that cannot be perceived, the nothingness.

"Empire above all else." Svein said the oath with force, and a drop of ink shook off his knuckles and stained the scroll black.

Svein's obsession caused LeBlanc to exhale a cold breath, and she patiently explained:

"It doesn't have to be a war to make a country strong, but does the subjugation of all the other countries prove that a country is strong? Oh, that's just the illusion that there is no opponent. If you want a country to become strong, you must first become rich, and to become rich and strong, you need drastic reforms. ”

"Reform?" Svein raised an eyebrow, and the owl's eyes looked at LeBlanc.

He knew the word reform best, and the establishment of the Trifali Parliament was a huge change in the political structure.

And the results of this innovation are also very remarkable.

There is no more faint king on the throne, the empire has become strong, and the black rose has withered.

A person who can sit on the throne may not be able to rule the world, it just means that he has a well-sized ass.

"The biggest problem in Noxus right now is the shortage of food. This stubborn disease has been around for a long time, and it is difficult to cure it through a single policy, which is why countless centuries of brutality have forged the idea of an empire. ”

LeBlanc has witnessed the establishment and development of Noxus, and she knows these conditions very well.

In the final analysis, it was Mordecaesar's evil deeds that dried up the rivers of magic here, and wherever Noxus conquered, the land became barren.

"How do you reform that?" Svein had heard similar rhetoric countless times, but no one could really put forward constructive suggestions, it was all on paper.

"Since the population is large and the mortality rate of the bottom residents remains high, then family planning. If the population is reduced through late marriage and childbearing, and fewer births, the country's demand for food will naturally be greatly reduced in just 10 years. The output of the land is limited, and the less people eat, the more livestock can eat, more meat will be distributed to fewer people, and there will be no need to see human beings in the slums eating rats or even the corpses of their own kind. ”

Born in the slums, Karthas had three older sisters, whose parents could not afford to raise so many children, and who died of illness after eating unclean rat meat, and he buried them with his own hands and heard the revelation from their deaths.

LeBlanc doesn't say that everyone can eat healthy meat, but at least more people will be able to eat meat.

"But how are we going to get through this decade? There is no replenishment without war, a form of constant expansion that has become life. In the cold winter of the past ten years, I am afraid that a large number of people will die again, and the tragic situation is no less than losing an ancient war. ”

Svein hit the nail on the head when he pointed out the flaws in LeBlanc's approach.

LeBlanc's novel ideas shook Svein enough—could this be a way of governing a country that a woman who had been dead for a thousand years?

But what he didn't expect was that bigger and more shocking news was still waiting for him.

"Reform also needs to be accompanied by openness, low peasant taxes, reduced conscription, and encouragement of colonization and agriculture. The curse of the Shadow Island has been removed, and the land is fertile everywhere, and the owner of the island has agreed to colonize the island in a designated area, plan experimental pastures and experimental farmland, improve livestock and crop varieties, take the essence of it, remove its dross, and become more productive. I've picked all the candidates for you, and you can hand them over to Elise and Vladimir respectively, the former is the mistress who unites the two families of Kythera and Zaafan closely, and has strong connections and assets; The latter has plenty of experience and patience, and has a unique insight into crossbreeding to breed new species. ”

Unexpectedly, LeBlanc didn't just talk, she even took action, and she sent Svein to issue a new decree to revise the national policy.

He knew that Elise was LeBlanc's man, and it wasn't hard to understand LeBlanc's motives for giving the big cake to his men, but what good would it do her to send Ferradimir to the frontier? Is there really a break between them?

Svein knew that Vladimir was about to make a comeback to disrupt the government, and the grand ball was the opening of his appearance. He was very jealous of Svein inciting the old-school nobles to make a big fuss about the withdrawal of the army, and if he was demoted from the Immortal Fortress at this juncture, it would definitely do more good than harm to him.

LeBlanc seemed to be sincerely helping himself, even taking his own situation into account, but Svein was suspicious by nature, and he felt that he had to do more to test and find out LeBlanc's intentions.

Even if a moth turns into a butterfly, she is still a pest.

Svein's perception of LeBlanc had solidified, and he didn't believe that LeBlanc would really think about the country.

"And at what cost? He doesn't give us these things for nothing, and Noxus doesn't have a good reputation internationally. And the short time you added won't help us survive this winter. ”

Svein knew that Noxus had a bad reputation, and was actually notorious.

The robbers of Freljord plundered Demacia and Noxus, the pirates of Bilgewater plundered the ships guarding the sea, and Noxus plundered the people and lands of the four nations.

If you want to list the crimes that Svein has committed since taking office, you can suffocate people to death.

But he knew that people were always calling for heroes, but in reality what they really needed was a villain, and he Svein acted as the villain.

"Minerals, he took a fancy to the rich and good mines of the Iron Thorn Mountains, and asked us to exchange them for food."

Yes, as long as food is imported, it can help Noxus survive the painful period of reform.

LeBlanc said flatly, as if he didn't realize that he was exchanging his lifeblood in Noxus.

The reason why Noxus is a military power is that in addition to the iron-blooded military discipline and bloody growth environment, excellent armaments are also factors that cannot be ignored.

Reducing armaments is a rule that cannot be compromised even to death, because Noxus is a country of war, and its soldiers can go without food, but once they have to be equipped with the best weapons and armor.

But after learning about LeBlanc's so-called comprehensive reform and opening up, it has become not unacceptable.

Because once the conscription is reduced, the excess minerals will naturally be idle. For example, the black iron ore in Fort Wo can be used to create a new steel smelting production line that can feed tens of thousands of people, and these pig iron can be processed into cooking utensils and agricultural tools for self-production and self-sale, and can also be forged into weapons for export to other countries.

Although the owner of Fuguang Island asked for pig iron that had only been preliminarily refined, the last thing Noxus lacked was ore, which was still more than enough to meet the other party's requirements.

"You came up with these ideas? It's not something that can be thought up with the heart, and such an avant-garde and bold idea probably doesn't come from this world. ”

Svein's blunt words upset LeBlanc, was he questioning her IQ?

However, it is true that she did not come up with these things.

"That's what the Lord meant." LeBlanc admitted nonchalantly.

LeBlanc himself is a dead man, and he is extremely selfish, where will he care about people's lives and deaths, and he is too lazy to worry about these things.

Because Jeno left in a hurry and couldn't attend the meeting, she naturally became the microphone, and she just thought it made sense to explain to Svein in a good voice. Now Svein is just a mortal, and if it weren't for Jeno's intentions, she wouldn't have bothered to talk to him.

In short, after Morde Caesar's death, LeBlanc's mentality drifted a little, and he didn't even act.

"Sure enough, the owner of Shadow Island, I can only think of him."

Hearing LeBlanc answer, at some point, Svein had the idea of messing with Jeno.

After confirming the feasibility of these proposals, he sincerely admired Jeno.

At the same time, Svein was also keenly aware that if he did what Jeno wanted, then the intensity of this reform would be unprecedentedly huge, even large enough to change the nature of the country, and he could completely use this reform to suppress the negative news that flew around the streets after the withdrawal of soldiers, and the credit was offset by the demerits.

No, it's not a credit offset. Victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, and they have already lost once in their newborn land, and it is not unacceptable to fail again, but this kind of reform that benefits the whole country is unprecedented.

Svein no longer worries about the future of the Empire, although he himself has lost his demons and his voice.

But LeBlan, who is opposite him, has lost his desire to control Noxus while losing his right to speak.

"The thorns of the flowers are like a fish in the throat, but your rose is the beauty of the world."

He finally made up his mind to sign the scroll, along with a word of praise from LeBlan.

Although he lost his left arm again and the Demon Eye, he saw ...... The tomorrow of the empire is no longer filled with blood and darkness, and a new star is rising over the immortal fortress, radiating its light to all corners of the empire.

……

After the new decree was promulgated, the whole country of Noxus was boiling.

Among them, the most enthusiastic response was among the people from the lower classes.

Many teenagers who were waiting for a new round of conscription resolutely decided to abandon the army and join agriculture after hearing that there was a policy of subsidizing grain for farming.

If what is grown in the field can feed itself, who has to go to the battlefield and work hard.

So the question is, where can Tian find the manpower? The answer is state-issued.

Elise has assembled in the harbor of the Immortal Fortress, and even used warships to carry them, so that all aspirants can follow the fleet across the ocean to colonize a small island isolated and fertile after passing the plague test.

Since this is not a gathering for sowing, the first priority for these colonists to go ashore is to build a colony base and reclaim wasteland in preparation for planting in the spring of the following year.

Elise knew that the country had given her this task and made herself the leader of the colony because of Jeno's arrangement.

After the curse on Shadow Isle was lifted, Genor said that she could build a ranch near the Lair of the Despicable Throat and then never have to worry about sacrifices.

And now Jeno has fulfilled his promise and set up an ecological farm on Fuguang Island for her to manage, so that she can use her power to sacrifice her livestock to the Despicable Throat in exchange for eternal beauty.

And she doesn't have to stay away from the Immortal Fortress all the time, after the initial guidance is over, she can be a hands-off shopkeeper, and only need to come back every once in a while to sacrifice to keep her youth forever.

This couldn't be better for her, after all, this is a woman who lives for beauty.

But Vladimir, who accompanied him, was depressed.

He was ready to turn the political world upside down, but because of the great change in the situation, he lost the opportunity to appear.

After the new law was enacted, the old-fashioned aristocrats who were dancing happily were a quiet group.

Because this new law reform was issued for the people at the bottom, unlike the previous military merit promotion system, which directly cut off their way to promotion, not many people spoke out against it.

And these new laws have little to do with them, and they can ignore even the only two-child policy that has an impact.

Just because the rich are capricious, the rich can afford to raise multiple children, and they are not afraid of the harsh and heavy fines for the common people.

The military decision to abandon the invasion of Ionia, which was announced with the new decree, deprived the military nobles of the battlefield of performance, and greatly reduced the chances of these old-school nobles being replaced, which they were naturally happy to see.

To sum up, the old-school aristocracy is the biggest beneficiary in this change in addition to the common people's wishes, after all, it is a great luck to stand firm now from the previous precariousness.

And the officers and aristocrats did not completely lose the opportunity to perform, at least on the battlefield bordering Freljord, where battles were taking place every day, and the icefield people, who were more savage than the Noxians, were basically unreasonable.

Now the political scene in Noxus has calmed down after the initial sensation, and Vladimir, who was aiming at the turmoil and wanted to fish in troubled waters, is as uncomfortable as a superstar in troubled times who is about to make his debut, and is told that the stage has been demolished and the audience has dispersed.

Everyone unanimously pigeoned him, which made him very depressed, and the blood he drank in the last few days also felt tasteless.

However, the best thing for immortals is to channel their emotions, otherwise how could a depressed patient who thinks about suicide every day get a thousand years.

It soon became clear to Vladimir that among the many roles he had played in his life, there were princes, generals, magnates, artists, but peasants that he had never tried.

If you think about carnival in the political turmoil in every life, it is too repetitive and boring.

For him, life was nothing more than a costume party that lasted for a hundred years, and he could have taken a lifetime out of his life to try out the new role that the empire had given him to play, and to experience what it was like to be needed.

It is inevitable that an aristocrat who goes to the countryside to work in agriculture to help the poor will be ridiculed by the upper class, because they believe that the superior should not be in the company of the inferior, let alone serve the inferior.

But...... He would soon silence the laughers with his amazing talent, and then call him an artist in the field.

"It's not planting season yet, but I can put in the fertilizer first. It's not my first time visiting Fukumitsu Island, it's a rich place, unlike the eastern part of Valoran, where the land is so barren that sacrifices are required to grow plants. But since you want to do it, do it to the best, that's how I, Vladimir, do it......"

Standing on the deck, Vladimir's soliloquy was carried away by the oncoming sea breeze.

……

"The promulgation of the new decree, the compromise of Svein, the retirement of the black rose, everything is getting better, does this mean that my father is also coming back."

In her own house, Caterina rubbed Cassiopeia's plump and delicate thighs, and the yearning in her eyes was overflowing.

One of the happiest things for her was that the curse on her sister was lifted, and the latter did not hide the fact that it was Jeno who lifted the curse, which caused Caterina to become more and more resentful of Jeno.

In addition to the assassination attempt, the man had stolen her sister's heart.

"Maybe." Cassiopaia let Caterina do what she wanted, and her mind was completely unfocused on the two of them.

After getting rid of the ugly snake body, Cassiopeia is back to being a human being, but she no longer has a nostalgia for the wind and snow, and she no longer spends her mind on how to make those men jealous of her. Because she doesn't look down on anyone else now, and she doesn't even have the heart to take advantage of them.

To put it simply, the goddess licked the rich and handsome, and the spare tires were blacked out.

Caterina had mixed feelings about it.

It's a good thing that Cassiopeia no longer makes enemies for her family, but she is looking forward to seeing it now, and sooner or later something will happen.

"Damn, what kind of magic does that man have to make Cassiopeia, who has a very high vision, so obsessed." Caterina hated.

Actually, it's nothing, it's just that Jeno gave Cassiopeia a romance at the ball that no one else can give. The sense of luxury of being watched by everyone and dancing sweetly on the dance floor is really not something that those who have mundane things in their minds can give.

However, after that dance, Jeno said goodbye, and she has not heard from him so far.

Suddenly, Cassiopaia sighed.

"Sister, how did I become like this, am I old enough to get married?"

"Originally, yes, but after the introduction of the late marriage policy, it was not." Caterina was a little depressed, patted her sister's thigh hard, and hugged her arm angrily.

"But he's still a man I can't get."

Cassiopeia felt sorry for herself, and Caterina was so angry that her chest hurt, and she pressed her sister's face and looked at each other, and swore to her:

"If you want, I'll bring his body back to you, and find someone to resurrect him with necromancy and turn him into your slave once and for all."

"Don't, don't go to him, just let me fall alone."

Cassiopeia was serious, and Jeno had only done two things to make it impossible for her to forget him. If you change Caterina in the past, it is estimated that the consequences will be similar.

If two sisters in a family are jealous of an unattainable man, then their family may really be a pill.

"......" Caterina had nothing to say, only that her sister had gone crazy.

ps: This chapter is written a little floating~ For the sake of consistency, I will integrate tomorrow's chapter together, which means that today is actually four more, and tomorrow two more.

I'm going to take some time to go back to my hometown tomorrow, so I've made some updates and changes, forgive me.