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Chapter Ninety-Five: The Empress of the Empire (Part II)

Although more than three years have passed since Empress Pinna ascended the throne as emperor, the fate of the empire is still struggling on the verge of decline. When the scepter, a symbol of supreme power, was held in the hands of Empress Pinna, she felt the first thing she felt was the fear of immenseness rather than the joy of getting what she wanted.

At that time, the legacy of her father, Emperor Molt, had been destroyed by several of her brothers and uncles in infighting.

Although she was supported by the Imperial Senate and a considerable number of great nobles before ascending the throne, and there was the support and support of those otherworldly people in the Arnus Hills, it is undeniable that the empire when Empress Pinna took over was already a standard mess - no stable taxes, no reliable army, a drastic decline in population, deserted fields, most of the provinces in the East were still controlled by rebels, the once subject vassal states no longer paid tribute, and the magnificent imperial capital of Ulabyanka was in ruins. And the heart of the empire and the royal family, the once fertile land and abundant agricultural resources of Gyeonggi, has also been soaked in the otherworldly sea water from the other side of the "gate" for several months, turning into a desperate saline-alkali land......

However, there seems to be a magic power in power, so that those who possess it are absolutely unwilling to give it up, and try to consolidate it and expand it - in the face of such a crazy desperate situation, even Empress Pinna, who had not much political skill before, seemed to be instantly activated by the ruler instinct hidden in her blood, and she withstood countless hardships and hardships, and began to build the government and army of the empire from scratch on the basis of a blank field, gradually repairing ruined cities, dredging blocked irrigation canals, and restoring barren arable land and pastures. And with flexible diplomacy and big political concessions to stabilize the princes on all sides, and at the same time begged for all kinds of material aid and technical support from the Aliens of the Arnous Hills almost in vain.

After three years of dismal business and countless setbacks of blood and tears, she finally temporarily stabilized the collapse and decline of the empire at home and abroad, defeated several counterattacks by the rebels in the east, and allowed the dying empire to barely survive, but at the same time paid a heavy price: the empire now under the rule of Empress Pinna is only a quarter of its pre-war heyday, and the population is less than a tenth of that of the Moult era.

Although her eldest brother Sochar has been dead for three years, the remnants of Sochar's puppet emperor still entrenched in the eastern territory of the empire, refusing to recognize the throne of Empress Pinna. The rebel generals who supported their own troops either divided the territory and established themselves as kings, or supported a distant relative of the royal family to act as a puppet, so that Empress Pinna, who returned to the palace, could not leave the imperial capital for a time. Although through several years of hard work and assassination, Princess Pinna finally surrendered some of the rebels and recaptured Delta, the second largest city in the empire, but it is still far from completely quelling the civil strife. Thanks to these rebel generals, they are also divided, hostile to each other, constantly clashing, and cannot form a joint force, and they cannot pose a mortal threat to the empress for the time being.

To add insult to injury, the border and colonial governors who had been neutral during the Empire's Civil War saw that the current royal family and court had been weakened to such a level, and they also began to think differently, stopping paying taxes and paying tribute, and began to seek self-reliance. Some of them have officially rebelled, while others have become invisible, but they have not shown their banners, which has led to the further shrinking of the empire's territory.

The house leak happened to rain overnight, and the vassal states that had been prostrate and fearful in front of the imperial iron cavalry, faced with the sudden collapse of the empire, also turned their faces in an instant, and began to counterattack, not only stopping the tribute, but also invading and occupying many border territories of the empire in turn. Empress Pinna, who lacked both army and wealth, had no way to resist this, so she could only retreat step by step, shrink the border, and abandon large tracts of land that were already difficult to hold. Today, there are few cities and fortresses left on the original borders of the empire, and the flag of the empire is still flying.

Even the territory of the Empire, which is now under the rule of Empress Pinna, has been in a rather miserable situation in the past few years - these places are either the main battlefields of the previous Empire's civil war, or the disaster areas that were once inundated by the "Otherworldly Flood", where villages are deserted, outcasts are crowded, and bandits are rampant...... Villages that have been burned and abandoned by the war can be reaped once again by uprooting the weeds in the fields and replanting the seeds. But the lands that had been soaked in the waters of the Atlas had become saline lands that made all the peasants despair: Empress Pinna had consulted the Otherworlders on how to improve the saline lands, and the reply was that there were ways to improve them, but they were either expensive or slow. Instead of spending so much money and trouble, it is better to hope for nature's ability to restore itself, and wait for the rain to gradually wash away the salinity year after year.

Finally, the people of the other world entrenched in the hills of Arnous, although they are the greatest help for Empress Pinna to ascend to the throne, and the most important foreign aid for the crumbling empire at present, are also one of the culprits that have brought the empire to this point: if it were not for the fact that they annihilated the 300,000 army of the puppet emperor of Sochar in Itarica City in one go, and wiped out almost all of the empire's field troops overnight, the empire that once dominated the Falmatt 6 with military power would not be overstretched in military power and passively beaten everywhere, even the homeless people are difficult to suppress.

Of course, without this devastating catastrophe, Pinna would not have been able to sit on the throne of the divine capital, but could only go incognito and wander the world.

In addition, the hills of Arnus and the territory of Count Fomar, where the Otherworlders are currently entrenched, are themselves like a fishbone stuck in the throat of the Empire, almost cutting off the territory of the Empire from the center into two halves. Although the Empire's troops, officials, and merchants were able to travel through this land due to their alliances, it still worried many people of insight throughout the Empire......

- If it were not a last resort, what country would want to see its territory cut in half?

Fortunately, the Empire doesn't have to endure much longer for this kind of pain in the throat...... Thinking so, Empress Pinna turned and sat down at the table, took up the silver bowl with the hot porridge, and instructed the clerkess, Hammidon, who was standing beside her, to tell her about the day's schedule.

“…… As for today's scheduled itinerary, we will go to the Senate in the morning to attend the first regular meeting of the Senate this month, focusing on how to deal with the plague in the desert city of Tigray, and about the headhunter queen Tiyuret leading her troops to occupy Lendel City and send an emissary to ask for the canonization of the empire. Then we will go to the mansion of His Excellency Cicero, and have lunch with the cabinet members such as Cicero, Catilin, Mac, and Lebida, and discuss by the way how to deal with the marriage requests made to His Majesty by the monarchs of the Eastern countries......"

“…… Plague in Tigray? Headhunters take over Lendl City? My marriage? Hey, it's all a headache......"

Empress Pinna drank wheat porridge with bacon and diced fruit, and involuntarily furrowed her delicate eyebrows.

Although in the past three years, Empress Pinna thought that she had worked hard and worked hard, but unfortunately, all kinds of disasters still followed, leaving her and the rebuilt Imperial Senate anxious. One of the most inexplicable plagues is the strange plague in Tigray.

- The city of Tigray, plagued by a strange plague, is located at the northernmost tip of the Romanian Mountains, on the southeastern edge of the Western Desert. After the entire Earldom of Vermar was taken over by the Otherworlders, Tigray City on the edge of the desert became the last transportation artery in the hands of the Empire, which could connect the remnants of the Empire's territory in the eastern and western parts of the Great 6, and its strategic position became extremely important.

However, shortly after Empress Pinna ascended the throne, a strange plague appeared in Tigray, which appeared to have been infected with a storm in the desert and was only targeted at women. Any woman who is infected with this plague will quickly get hot and sweat like pulp, and then the heat poisons the brain, turning into a walking corpse that will whine and move slowly and attack other humans: the Otherworldly people will see it and call it a "zombie" for some reason...... The scholars and magicians of the empire tried their best to concoct a medicinal soup that could cure the sick woman before the epidemic spread on a large scale. But if it is a woman who has become a "zombie", there is no way to save it.

(The original plot of "Fantasy Self-Defense Force", a female magician failed to study the art of eternal life and died, and the biochemical potion leaked and caused a disaster.) ）

In order to investigate the origin of this strange plague in Tigray, the empire organized several groups of reconnaissance teams, including elite scouts in the army and well-known adventurers among the people, but unfortunately nothing was found. What's worse is that at the same time, this zombie plague specifically for women is still breaking out from time to time in the edge of the desert, making people smell and change, and soon no woman will dare to live in Tigray City, and the remaining men also feel that they have nothing to love, and they have moved or fled, seeing that the entire city and a large area around it are about to be abandoned.

If it were another city, encountering such an irresistible natural disaster, the Imperial Senate might have pinched its nose and acquiesced. But the problem is that Tigray's status as a transportation hub is too important. Once it is lost, the eastern and western territories of the empire will be completely severed and separated from the original threads...... But when the zombie plague can't be solved, it's really difficult to keep the city. Therefore, even though they knew that the abandonment of Tigray City was a foregone conclusion, no one dared to agree with it, lest they would be responsible for losing the western part of the empire.

Obviously, Empress Pinna has no intention of carrying the black pot for no reason, so she can only continue to shirk responsibility and blame each other with the senators.

Then, the Queen of the Headhunters, Tiure, led her people to leave the territory of the Otherworldrs and crossed the Romanian mountains to occupy the city of Lendl without authorization, which was also a headache. In fact, if it was just the loss of Lendl itself, it would not be a serious loss. The city, once known as an intellectual capital, was devastated by the Empire's Civil War. By the time the civil war ended, the city of Lendl was almost in ruins, and the damage was even worse than that of the imperial capital, and the scholars and magicians who had once gathered there had naturally fled. When the rebels stationed there were surrendered and taken away by Empress Pinna, the city of Lendl fell into a state of anarchy and semi-abandonment.

Although the Senate sent several mayors there later, they could not control the situation, and either they were killed by bandits, or they could not collect any taxes, so they had to flee back in despair. After a long time, the Senate had no choice but to let it go, and until the empire recovered and had the spare strength to send troops to suppress it, it could only leave this bandit-ridden abandoned city alone for the time being, and wait until it was free to speak.

From an economic and financial point of view alone, the capture of Lendel by the Headhunter Rabbit Tribe is equivalent to replacing the city with a group of entrenched bandits, not to mention any loss. But even so, even if it was just for the sake of face, the Senate could not allow an alien race to arbitrarily steal the territory of the empire, and then give it recognition and canonization. Otherwise, the external image of the empire will really change from a feared beast to a coveted pig!

However, the Empress and the Senate did not dare to actually send troops against the Headhunters - it would not be difficult to defeat this small tribe of only a few thousand people, even with the current broken army of the Empire. But the real problem is that everyone in the empire now knows that the Headhunter Rabbits have a lot to do with the Otherworlders of the Ernus Hills, and who knows if they were sent by the Otherworlders to act as the vanguard of the expansion of the territory? What if you hit a headhunter rabbit and attract people from other worlds? The current empire in danger will definitely not be able to provoke the people of the other world, in case of a falling out, as long as they take out their weapons and support a few powerful princes at will, it will be enough to subvert Empress Pinna's ******! But if you really don't want to pull down your face and admit the domination of the headhunter rabbit over Lendl City, it is also likely to cause disadvantage in public opinion. In short, no matter how you choose, it is the same dilemma.

But fortunately, although the headhunter rabbit warriors have stolen the city of Lendle, they have no plans to continue to expand, and their attitude towards the empire seems to be relatively restrained and polite, so they can be put on hold for the time being - anyway, this matter has been delayed for a long time, and it doesn't matter if it drags on for a while.

Next, there is Empress Pinna's own marriage...... Whenever she thinks of this, Her Majesty Empress Pinna can't help but feel her eyes, headaches, stomachaches, and body aches - as an obvious thing, since Empress Pinna ascended the throne as emperor, she has automatically become the most tempting marriage partner in the eyes of all careerists in the whole big 6, as long as you can marry her, you can become the "co-ruling emperor", and share the most dazzling imperial crown on the Falmatt big 6: although the current empire is in decline, it still has a unique imperial throne law on the entire big 6. Even after losing three-quarters of its territory, the empire is still the most powerful country in the entire Big 6, how can it not be rushed?

In this case, even if Empress Pinna is an ugly monster with crooked melons and cracked dates, just for the crown on her head, there will definitely be a large number of kings, princes and dukes chasing and proposing. What's more, Empress Pinna's appearance is actually not bad, she can be regarded as a heroic red beauty?

Thus, in the past few years, on the one hand, the vassal states have stopped paying tribute to the empire and declared their independence; On the other hand, there has always been an endless stream of foreign envoys who have come to propose to Empress Pinna with precious gifts. Some of them were the messengers who proposed marriage on behalf of their masters, and the other part were even the kings, grand dukes and princes who came to propose in person, and every day they longed to see a piece of delicious little fragrant meat around Empress Pinna, scrambling to flatter each other, and playing with each other in words, so that Empress Pinna, who was already tired of government affairs, could not help but have a big head.

As a princess born in the royal family, Pinna knew from a young age that since she enjoyed the highest glory and wealth in the world, she naturally had to be arranged for political marriage. But the problem is that even if it is also a political marriage, there is a huge difference between passively obeying the arrangement of her father and brother and making a choice with herself—after wearing the crown, she must now consider for herself whether a political marriage with a certain king or prince can bring certain benefits and contribute to the unity and revival of the empire; Or will it lure wolves into the house and cause a monstrous disaster for the empire?

As a woman who is naturally romantic, being able to coldly put her marriage on the scales and measure it as a piece of goods or bargaining chips, completely ignoring her own preferences and happiness, and only considering the interests and gains and losses of the country, which in itself is already a great sacrifice. If this is still because of the wrong choice, and the country's luck is lost, Empress Pinna estimates that she will definitely die of shame in the future.

However, there are too many considerations and intricate nuances involved, and the situation between countries is unpredictable, so Empress Pinna has to think about it, but she is always undecided. In addition, there were many nobles and senators who hoped that Empress Pinna would not marry a foreigner, but a distant relative of the royal family in her own country, so as to avoid the outflow of imperial power...... So it added more variables to this marriage proposal battle.

To this day, as soon as Empress Pinna heard about the marriage proposal, she had a splitting headache and a feeling that the sky was dark, but she instinctively wanted to continue to drag it out...... But even if you have the idea of delaying time, you have to come up with the right reasons and words—she sighed and shook her head, gesturing to Hammidon, the personal clerk holding the scroll, to continue explaining the day's booking schedule:

“…… Then, today's dinner is a royal banquet for the Earth Tours, and after the banquet, we will entertain these guests from another world to spend the night at the palace. As for the period from lunch to dinner, I hope that Your Majesty will personally lead the guests on a tour of the Imperial Palace, which was specially instructed by Mr. Li Wenchang, the diplomatic consul of China in the imperial capital, according to him, there are a few generous fellows among the tourists this time......"

Just as the female clerk Hammidon was reporting the booking schedule to Empress Pinna in this way, a female knight in armor hurriedly burst in and whispered something in Hammidon's ear, which immediately made the female clerk's face change greatly. Then, Empress Pinna, who had just finished her breakfast, unsurprisingly heard the latest bad news relayed by the female clerk Hammidon:

“…… Report to Your Majesty, Lord Gepole of Hemoster. Crumb. Hypor rebelled late last month! Claim to be the king of the Grasse Peninsula! The Imperial Southern Fleet, which was previously scattered in various ports on the Grasse Peninsula, was almost all captured by this traitor! After this news reached the imperial capital today, the Senate has temporarily changed the agenda of the day for this reason, and asked His Majesty to move the Senate to the meeting......"

PS: Recently, news broke out that evidence of large-scale organ trade was found in Syrian refugee camps on the Turkish border, and the number of organs that have been cut off alone is as high as 16,000, and it is said that there are even more in Aleppo. Many of the humanitarian organizations active in the Middle East have been exposed as vests and white gloves for illegal organ intermediaries, and even fake Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and fake Red Cross rescue teams (which may not be fake) have emerged to trick refugees into death shelters to have their organs cut. It's a world where you can compete against each other!

(End of chapter)

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