You became an emperor by letting me AFK.

Song Jingyun tilted her head and leaned closer, the scent of incense wafting from her body making her sneeze.

"Oops."

In her nervousness, she couldn't help but be impolite. Just as Jiang Bai blushed and covered her face with the wide sleeves of her official robe, a handkerchief was handed to her. She took it without hesitation and thanked the handkerchief.

“You’re not only a newcomer, but it’s also your first time here. After all, the temple is filled with incense.”

"In the teacher's vision, the temple should have a feeling of soaring through the clouds, like a palace in the heavens, so welcome to the number one smoking center in the Great Qian Dynasty."

A joke eased the tension.

"...Could it be that you are a disciple of the Great Prophet?"

"I guessed it too. Someone from Nanqiu who rose to become a high-ranking clerk must be Lord He's student?"

The two nodded with smiles.

In a sense, we were classmates, but we only met now because we belonged to different institutions. However, meeting today is a kind of fate, and under the witness of the temple, it is probably a kind of luck.

Their initial tension vanished, and they decided to walk side by side.

"Speaking of which, I think Song also has a scholarly air about him, so why didn't he choose the outer hall?"

“I’m an only child, so I can’t be a clerk. Instead, I’m more suited to the inner sanctum, which values ​​psychic abilities and theological knowledge.”

"……Feel sorry."

"It's alright. In short, if you want to work steadily at the temple, you must also take good care of your family. This is the experience of many predecessors. Be careful not to fall into trouble because of an arrogant and domineering clan."

"Could it be that he was implicated in a crime?"

"Yes. Not only do they have to avoid accidents, but they also have to maintain family harmony. This is a test in the eyes of the high priest. So many adults often take their families out for fun, and even when they are performing, they have to put on a part of the show."

"ah? "

Jiang Bai was quite surprised after hearing about the temple's workplace experience.

It wasn't really a comment, just a feeling of peculiarity and a deep sense of doubt: "Why?"

"The High Priest favors men from good families in personnel appointments. For example, a traditional family where the husband and wife are harmonious and have no criminal record, actively involve their children in activities, and educate their offspring to be loyal to the monarch, love their country, benevolent and righteous, and respect their elders... that is the kind of talent Your Majesty desires."

Previously, she required a large family; now, she not only requires a large family but also good families. Clerks who fail in this regard will be dismissed.

"His Majesty believes that the environment for cultivating good families is of paramount importance; this is a red line."

"For example, if some landlords drive away their tenants and turn them into vagrants, they are undermining the foundation of the Great Qian Dynasty, and it will be our inner palace's turn to punish them."

Song Xuyun's tone gradually became serious.

Jiang Bai took a deep breath and quickly expressed his gratitude: "I've learned a lot."

"Although I entered the temple earlier, we are considered to be in the same class in terms of academic level. After all, I have only just passed my probation period and become the district priest. Don't be shy, I will tell you everything I know."

The two chatted amiably and entered the outer hall together, becoming quite at ease with each other.

-------

Far away in the city of Wangjiang.

Even a city at the southernmost tip of the Southern Blessed Plain felt a clear sense of pressure, not from the military.

Instead, it is a continuous loss of population.

The Great Qian Dynasty had long since ceased hostilities and even erected high walls to adopt a defensive posture. However, this did not mean that the open and covert struggles had ended. Countless people from the Wangjiang City-States flocked to the Great Qian Dynasty, drawn by the call of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

As the city lord, Lin Jian received a flood of statistical lists, with a large number of household registrations disappearing.

"This is outrageous!"

He slammed his hand on the table in frustration, leaving a dull thud and his seal firmly on the table. The officials who heard the commotion shrank back, falling silent in fear. Who wouldn't be angry? It's understandable; he was indeed upset.

Population equals wealth, and the relocation of these people is weakening Wangjiang.

Behind this lies a rejection of Lin Jian, a rejection of the entire City Lord's Mansion Group, and a questioning of their legitimacy.

There are an increasing number of reports of population loss.

In fact, everyone knows that Da Qian was secretly pulling the strings. But flies don't land on eggs without cracks; ultimately, life in Wangjiang wasn't good enough, as the rumors among the people made it quite clear:

“It’s too dangerous to fish along the river all day long. I don’t want to live that kind of life.”

"There's hardly any land along the river at the mountain pass here."

“There is plenty of land in Daqian. We have been encouraging everyone to reclaim wasteland. Have you heard? The High Priest has signed the ‘Land Law’, which stipulates that the tiller owns the land.”

"What the hell?"

"In short, you pay very little money and keep cultivating an area, then it's yours. What are you waiting for?"

"Then what are you waiting for? I'll set off immediately."

"Daqian is awesome!"

...Not to mention that the spread of the Heavenly Dao Sect's faith did not stop due to the cessation of the war; on the contrary, it spread far and wide. Its influence is growing, all thanks to the recent phenomenon of the Heavenly Dao's descent.

With the miracles of the true God right before their eyes, how could they not believe? Countless people converted on the spot.

At the time, they concealed their stance because Wangjiang City was under martial law. Now, they've dropped the pretense and are fleeing in a grand and unrestrained manner, without a moment's hesitation.

This made Lin Jian lose face and was extremely annoyed.

He intended to intercept them, and even imprisoned some believers, forcing them to do hard labor to make up for the losses.

But that won't work.

What if the Great Qian Dynasty launches another war on this pretext?

The last crushing defeat has demoralized the army of Wangjiang City-State, greatly reducing their strength. Besides, how many people can maintain a decent level of combat capability in the face of an army protected by the Heavenly Dao?

That's a question mark, which is why the city lord's higher-ups dared not easily start a war.

We had no choice but to accept it.

Lin Jian sighed and said, "Let's try to rest and recuperate. Also, speed up the process of dredging the waterways with Qingzhou."

One reason for the decline in quality of life is that the waterways are not yet unclogged.

The King of Qingzhou, who occupies the southern coastal area, has actually been paying close attention to the situation here. He regards Wangjiang as a strategic foothold and will not give it up easily. This is Lin Jian's opportunity. To resist the Great Qian, he can only rely on the strength of Qingzhou.

Small city-states are either chessboards or chess pieces; they are utterly insignificant in the face of powerful nations.

There's not much more that can be done.

He had mentally prepared himself, and all he needed to do was defend as much as possible. Moreover, Lin Jian had a vague guess: Feng Tianyin would be well-behaved for a long time. These ten years would probably go smoothly.

Everything was for the purpose of accumulating the potential energy that the high priest envisioned.

The trend has taken hold.

A new bloody storm is destined to sweep over the small city of Wangjiang. What choices will everyone make then?

-------

Xia He returned to her loyal workstation once again.

On the screen, gears symbolizing the in-game time flow in the beta version of "Civilization Evolution" spin rapidly.

Extremely high acceleration.

The next round is not far off; another decade will come to an end for the Great Qian Dynasty.

She first looked at the status bar, and surprisingly, there were no glaring red war warnings. Had things been peaceful for so long? Were all the monsters around her peaceful and docile? Upon closer inspection, she discovered that numerous camps had been uprooted.

"Then it's not surprising."

Xia He understood that Da Qian had taken the initiative to clear out the surrounding area, leaving no space for wild monsters to run rampant.

The threatening city-states were subdued and obediently stayed indoors, not daring to cause trouble. They were better at defending their homes than attacking, and could only watch helplessly as the Great Qian continued to set up camps around them.

Qingzhou, which had the ability to stop them, was separated by hilly terrain.

Both sides remained wary, yet trade continued to increase, and there were even missionary exchanges; cooperation still outweighed wariness.

Not at all.

Qingzhou cannot be viewed as a single entity; each country has various elements present.

The business community still welcomes the Great Qian Dynasty.

Xia He took a closer look and found that the trade between the two sides was quite substantial, including but not limited to grain, salt, handicrafts, silk, and tea, resulting in a win-win situation. Handicrafts, in particular, accounted for a large proportion, and some of the porcelain pieces made with superb craftsmanship were breathtaking.

"How come the firing techniques of Daqian have suddenly become so advanced in just a few years?"

"Material?"

In a flash, she realized it was related to the furnace, and improvements to the furnace inevitably involved material improvements. Sure enough, a quick check of the logs and a search of the technology section revealed numerous clues:

Daqian has developed a "high-strength iron" material.

The "steel forging" technology has been successfully tested.

[Exploration and research on "high-concentration preparation and purification" is underway]

...A dense bar of research notifications flashed in the status bar, and in recent years, they have mainly revolved around the college.

Xia He almost forgot to order:

[Feng Tianyin's Leader Skill: "Enlightenment of Truth" increases the progress of scientific research by 50%, with a chance to directly complete the technology] Back in the city-state era, Xia Yi quickly completed the agricultural revolution because of this skill.

Afterwards, the little robot actually sealed this skill, keeping the number of people on leave and suppressing the progress of scientific research, so as to prevent a serious mismatch between scientific research level and population.

Moreover, it is of paramount importance in a world with psionic abilities.

Advanced research on Terra could indeed lead to subspace knowledge contamination, so caution is advised. In Feng Tianyin's view, the Great Qian Dynasty is now powerful enough, hence her strong support for science.

[Currently, population is under effective control.]

[402 million]

Having surpassed the four million mark, it was undoubtedly a major power in the early Classical period.

"According to the game's rules, once navigation-related technologies and industries have been initially developed, it will be considered the mid-class period."

Once the classical period is over, the development will snowball. Therefore, the strategy of the Great Qian Dynasty is definitely to defeat Qingzhou and Minyue to completely gain control of the northern coast of the sea between the mainland and even to enter the southern coast.

It has an inland sea; that's Rome.

Xia He looked forward to that scene and couldn't wait for the Great Qian Dynasty to move faster, and it was indeed accelerating now.