My wife is an immortal black snake.

"There's nothing we can do; life is unpredictable."

"Yeah, there's nothing we can do about it."

"And you'll have a long vacation then. You'll really want to see your old friends, won't you? But Monica has to come with you; I don't want you to stay out all night one day, okay?"

"Eh..."

He sighed, vaguely recalling that before embarking on his important mission, he could still meet with his two old friends and have a beer.

That's really great. He hugged his wife, expressing his gratitude for her care.

Chapter 202

6 month 5 day.

The Duchy of Kosiché announced a new list early that morning—the list of nobles from the Duchy of Nikolai, who had been secretly imprisoned by the Serpent Scales for a long time.

The list mentioned these nobles, including accusations of cannibalism, imprisoning citizens of the Duke of Koschei, and abusing and violating their rights. Furthermore, to make the most of them, Yang Hao and Koschei fabricated numerous charges against them.

First, there is the crime of assassinating the emperor, which was supported by His Majesty the Emperor.

Secondly, there is the crime that has already occurred, which, although initiated by another deformed nobleman, has been pinned on them: the assassination of Duke Koschche.

In addition, Yang Hao specifically compared them to the common enemy of all mankind, and Duke Nikolai, who allowed these common enemies to wantonly hunt and kill humans in his territory, naturally also became the common enemy of mankind.

"They are enemies of all mankind! They deserve to die! The great Ursus Empire should not tolerate the existence of these inhuman monsters!"

Under the pressure of various conditions and fabricated charges, these nobles, bound to the execution post and gagged with rags stained with excrement, could only watch helplessly as the surrounding crowd passionately denounced them. They could only watch as the people pushed past the soldiers' wall and threw all sorts of weapons at them: stones, cement bricks from who-knows-where. In short, they endured more than half an hour of agonizing waiting for their trial under the Duke's slow and deliberate pronouncements.

Only when Yang Hao was satisfied that the deaths of these deserving nobles would raise the stability and war support of the people in the Duchy of Kosiché to their maximum potential did he allow the executioner to carry out the executions.

Amidst the cheers of the people, the executioners beheaded these deserving nobles with battle axes. Their heads and bodies were then loaded onto a military vehicle, expected to arrive at the customs gate facing the Duchy of Nikolai in about two hours. There, the corpses would be hung up, publicly displayed, and used to deliver a profound humiliation to the Duke of Nikolai.

...The handling of the nobles is now considered complete.

With nothing else to do, Yang Hao could only try his luck at the military factory area. The four military factories of the Duchy of Kosiché were already operating at full capacity, producing weapons, but the processing of standard armor was still giving the skilled workers there a major headache...

Yang Hao arrived at the military factory at 9:00 a.m. sharp, just as the workers were manufacturing a batch of standard armor for regular army soldiers. He inspected the factory until 11:30 a.m., when the skilled workers had just finished making the breastplates.

"This efficiency is just too slow." He was extremely worried, not for any other reason than that the production of traditional armor was simply too time-consuming. "The production of weapons doesn't take too long, it's just that this armor... I really don't know how to put it."

“But sir, high-quality military weaponry is also a crucial factor in Ursus becoming the world’s leading military power.” Monica, who was accompanying him, nodded. Some workers noticed with astonishment that this woman had no shadow in the metal reflection. “Are you planning to carry out military reforms? Personally, I suggest against it. After all, we have a formidable enemy at hand, and you will be going to Saint-Germain soon and won’t be able to oversee things here... If you want reforms, at least wait until after the war, right?”

"Sigh, you're right... Let's go, grab a quick lunch and then check out the other places. If all else fails, I'll have to give Little Pony and Paul some new jobs."

If possible, Yang Hao actually wanted to simply have the Ursus soldiers abandon their traditional standard armor and replace it with more comprehensive modular bullet-mounted breastplates. However, upon closer reflection, it would be too late to research this now, and if the military factory were to change the design blueprints, the workers would need time to become proficient... In this race against time, it simply wasn't worthwhile. So, all he could do was temporarily maintain the military factory's original output and try his best to gradually increase weapon production.

This is easier said than done, even with the assistance of the [Puppet Stage]. He can temporarily increase the production efficiency of the military factory through political point decisions—but this 10% production efficiency bonus cannot be stacked, which is really not enough to whet his appetite.

He hoped to increase production efficiency more quickly, even if it meant borrowing factories and caravans from other cities. But if possible, he wanted to handle things on his own.

With this in mind, Yang Hao and Monica quickly finished their lunch and headed to the nearest military outpost for an inspection. The army of the Duke of Koschche usually resided in the city, only leaving on military landships to carry out missions in the wasteland when necessary.

When Yang Hao and his group arrived, the military camp was conducting drills for new recruits. Because there wasn't enough training equipment, half the recruits were running, and the other half were doing other exercises. According to the officers present, due to the lack of equipment, they had to extend the recruits' training cycle and implement a rotation system to train as many recruits as possible simultaneously.

“At this rate, even the best batch of recruits won’t officially join our ranks until the end of the year. If we had enough equipment, we should only need three months to complete basic training—but right now, we lack equipment, instructors, and even non-commissioned officers.” The camp commander complained to Yang Hao with a wry smile, “There are just too many people eager to join the army… Sir, if possible, we hope you can at least guarantee a normal supply of equipment—otherwise, when we fight Duke Nikolai, we might have two-thirds of our recruits going to the battlefield armed only with sticks.”

"...I can't guarantee that for now, since the duchy's focus was on the economy rather than the military...but I'll see, and I'll try my best to meet your needs."

"That would be best if we could."

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice, and an officer can't train without equipment. The fishbone choking the military development of the Duchy of Kosice is the sheer quantity of weaponry!

There needs to be a proper way! He frowned and decided to return to the Duke's mansion to convene a cabinet meeting.

Chapter 203

Yang Hao's cabinet, in fact, has a very simple composition.

One is Mr. Grovazel, an Imperial scholar who, as a talent recruited by Yang Hao—no, rather, voluntarily—joined the Dukedom of Koschche. He has always been Yang Hao's most trusted research talent. Without a doubt.

Although he's the only researcher currently working with this field... Yang Hao still quite likes this warm-hearted Wendigo scholar.

...

The second is Pavel the Snake-Scale. As the current leader of the secret force trusted by both Yang Hao and Kosiché, Pavel has always been the man Yang Hao trusts most. To put it metaphorically, it means that Yang Hao is willing to trust Pavel to the point of letting him cut his hair.

Don't underestimate the importance of a haircut. As someone in a high position, Yang Hao was well aware of the risks of rashly allowing a hairdresser wielding sharp scissors to approach him or Koschek. Even with countless people watching, these hairdressers, who come into direct contact with him using bladed weapons, still possessed the ability to trade one life for another.

Under these circumstances, Yang Hao's willingness to let Paul cut his hair was, in a sense, entrusting his life to him. Fortunately, Monica knew how to cut hair, so he didn't have to worry about Paul simply shaving his head bald.

The third member of the cabinet is Mr. Joseph. As the oldest minister of the executive department in the cabinet, Mr. Joseph, who also came from the Serpent Scales, loves the people like his own children. He understands many administrative methods and principles. He will occasionally resort to any means to complete the task. More importantly, he is very capable and is Yang Hao and Kosiché's right-hand man.

Although Mr. Joseph has been very busy lately, he still made time to attend the afternoon cabinet meeting. Yang Hao was very grateful to him and immediately gave him more administrative work.

He accepted it with a happy expression. One would say he truly is a resilient old man with a goal in mind.

...

The fourth cabinet member was Mr. Napoleon of the Knights Templar. As a Gaul, he, like Miss Theresa, seemed out of place among the other Ursusians at this cabinet meeting. However, as the representative of the Gauls of the Duchy of Cosice, a protégé personally promoted by Yang Hao, and a utterly loyal and eternal servant of Yang Hao and Cosice, Mr. Napoleon still had the right to attend this cabinet meeting.

When Mr. Napoleon arrived, he also brought some fine Gaul wine—although it was just two bottles of liqueur left over from a noble gathering, it still effectively enlivened the atmosphere of the meeting.

...

The fifth cabinet member is the head of the Creed department, a defector from Kazimierz, and Miss Theresa, who had been subjected to many unspeakable acts by Yang Hao. Of course, Miss Theresa did not rise to her position by clinging to anyone's coattails. As an elite spy in Kazimierz, she is qualified to attend this meeting, and if nothing goes wrong, Creed will play a relatively important role in the upcoming operations.

Although Monica disliked Miss Theresa's presence, she didn't say anything because Yang Hao had personally invited her. She simply stared at Theresa, who was sitting casually in her seat, for a long time before silently standing behind Yang Hao, displaying her status.

Theresa watched the head maid's actions with utter bewilderment—she still couldn't understand why the head maid was targeting her, and she also noticed that the head maid's reflection in the mirror had disappeared.

Something must have happened after she was abducted that day, right? She smacked her lips, patiently sitting in her seat, waiting for Yang Hao to officially begin the meeting.

However, Yang Hao showed no intention of starting a meeting. He simply gestured for everyone to wait patiently for a while longer. After quite some time, the last prospective cabinet member to attend the meeting arrived.

knock knock knock.

"Hello? Mr. Yang Hao?"

"come in."

Everyone turned around and saw that the person who pushed open the door was a beautiful woman with white hair and red eyes, dressed in strange clothes, wearing a bizarre hat, and carrying a terrifying weapon on her back—Ms. Sonia.

As the head of Yang Hao's newly established [R'lyeh] department, the leader of the Deepsea Hunters naturally has the right to attend private cabinet meetings chaired by Yang Hao.

Moreover, Yang Hao did this to appease the people—after all, as a newly formed department, the morale of the Deep Sea Hunters was still uneven. Although the two older [Chieftains] were quite stable in their morale, the remaining eight young Deep Sea Hunters were still restless... so having their leaders attend the meeting as observers was also a way of showing them that "I value you."

Moreover, after this meeting, Yang Hao would need to formally assign a job to the Deep Sea Hunters and, incidentally, remotely monitor the situation in their hometown. So, in any case, Ms. Sonia had a reason to come to the Duke's mansion.

...

After the last member arrived and settled down at the very back, Yang Hao tapped his cane to signal the official start of the meeting.

At their first cabinet meeting, the first thing they naturally discussed was the issue of the military factory.

Faced with Yang Hao's dissatisfaction with the output of the military factory, the cabinet members present were roughly divided into three parties.

Among them, the more conservative faction, comprised of researchers and administrators, believed that this matter should not be rushed. After all, industrial and military reforms would inevitably affect all aspects of the duchy, and if Yang Hao could wait a while and allow Groivazel and Joseph to develop a better humanistic philosophy to match industrial development, then the two major tasks concerning the transformation of military factories and military reforms could be accomplished much more efficiently.

“But we need a lot of time, and that’s exactly what you, sir, lack… I think our proposal might be a long time before it can be formally implemented. It might take several years.” After finishing his speech, Mr. Grovazel sat back down. Their proposal was excellent, and Yang Hao agreed with it, but as he said, he was short of time.

Then came Napoleon's more moderate idea. After all, as a remnant of the already destroyed Gallo-Gallic Empire, he had many connections that only he knew.

He believed that increasing the output of military factories could be achieved by finding more lost Gauls. After all, as a former empire, the Gauls produced many renowned foundry masters and a large number of skilled workers from military factories. If they could find them, the more skilled workers they had, the greater the output of the military factories would be. Furthermore, once the number reached a certain level, they could even build several more military factories – wouldn't that be wonderful?

But the problem is...

"Mr. Napoleon, do you know where the nearest settlement of Gallic refugees is to the Duchy of Cosice?"

"It's about a two- or three-month journey. And some of them are in the Duchy of Nikolai."

“I’m willing to provide you with the funds to bring your people back starting tomorrow, but the problem is that once your compatriots arrive, the Duchy of Kosiché won’t be able to build any more military factories for you to use… Anyway, give me a proposal tonight and hand it in tomorrow morning. I’ll review it and then decide whether to approve your plan.”

"Yes."

It would take a long time for the Gauls to come over, and even after they did, Yang Hao couldn't find enough space to cramm people into producing weapons, even considering the number of civilian factories converted to military use.

The idea of ​​building a fifth or sixth military factory is utter nonsense—where would Yang Hao get workshops and lathes? Even if the workshops and lathes of this era are subpar, it doesn't mean Yang Hao can ignore them... Without those lathes, equipment production would probably be delayed by several more months!

However, it is a good thing for skilled people to immigrate here, so Yang Hao approved part of Mr. Napoleon's proposal and let him bring the Gauls back first.

...

The radical faction, united by the serpent scales and the creed, is much more interesting...

"My lord, we don't necessarily need to produce our own weapons—we can steal Duke Nikolai's weapons and equipment!"

"Yes, and my sisters have indeed found quite a few of the military landships in the Duchy of Nikolai that are full of weapons and loitering outside the city. Although it will be more troublesome in practice, if I and my sisters infiltrate the Duchy of Nikolai again, and go to their military landships along the way, and then sneak back with Serpent Scale, it will definitely not be a problem to bring back a few landships along with the equipment."

"But the problem is, sir—we're not sure if doing this will cause a civil war to break out sooner..."

"Since we're going to fight anyway, why not break the ice a little earlier—wait, boss, you don't have any other plans, do you? Never mind then?"

Paul and Theresa decided that since their duchy couldn't produce enough weapons, they would rob them—I mean, steal them—from the neighboring duchy of Nikolai, their enemy!

This is not impossible. The key element lies in Theresa's special ability, which is the Originium Arts that plunges people into a state of inescapable illusion, and even produces illusory "physical sensations."

Back then, in that indescribable shop, she used this ability to make countless noble youths mistakenly believe they had enjoyed a passionate night with the Kurantas. Naturally, she also had the ability to make the people in charge of piloting the landships in the Nikolai Duchy mistakenly believe they were sailing back to the Nikolai Duchy's city, when in fact they were sailing to the city of the Kosiché Duchy. With her manipulation, combined with the assistance of the Serpent Scales, stealing the weapons and equipment of several landships would be no problem at all!

However, there are other problems... For example, with the Ursus Empire still nominally unified, their actions might prematurely ignite the flames of civil war. If Yang Hao has any plans that require maintaining a facade of peace within the Ursus Empire, their plan will only sabotage things and fail to bring the expected benefits.

"Um..."

Therefore, after a moment's thought, Yang Hao also frowned. Undoubtedly, of the three options, Paul and Theresa's plan was the most likely to solve the major problem of the current shortage of equipment in the Duchy of Koschche. However, high rewards come with high risks; risking an impending civil war before even burning down the Imperial Council to seize weapons simply wasn't worth it...

But people can naturally rethink these ideas and plans, adding details as needed. So, after careful consideration, the following resolution popped up in front of Yang Hao:

[Resolution: The military factories are not producing enough weapons. What should we do?]

The military factories of the Duchy of Kosichè are producing abysmal output—at least in your eyes, given your understanding of modern factory production efficiency. But what can you do? Advanced technological research is a distant prospect, you only have one research slot, and with industrial research currently underway, perhaps you should first think of ways to temporarily alleviate the pressure of equipment shortages?

Your cabinet has given you three suggestions.

But you have more options.

'keep?'

'The Doctrine of the Mean—I have chosen it.'

'A bit more radical? But I need to burn down the Imperial Council first, right on time...'

'Or perhaps, does Miss Elegy have anything that can help me?'

"..."

Is there anything at the House of Elegy that can solve the current situation? Yang Hao blinked, thinking that he could indeed go there in a few days.

But for now, he still prefers the third suggestion, which is the suggestion made by Paul and Theresa.

This is the most feasible plan, and then again, there's no need for Theresa and the others to take action right now, is there?

“Paul, Theresa, I approve of your plan, but you can delay your actions for a few weeks, or even a few months—our military factories will continue to produce weapons as usual, and I need to go to Saint-Germain to take care of some matters. When I'm ready to handle those matters, you can proceed. By then, once you've stolen the weapons and landships back, the Empire's civil war will have just begun. Our new recruits can immediately be equipped with weapons and go to the battlefield; there's nothing wrong with that.”

"Sir, what business do you need to attend to at Saint-Germain Castle?"

"Help His Majesty eliminate a group of people who are supporters of Duke Nikolai—once my business is done and all pretense is broken, you can then freely steal back the equipment and landships. But I have one request: minimize casualties, understand?"

Yang Hao planned to have Creed and Serpent Scales lie in wait in the Duchy of Nikolai for a few days.

After he burns down the Imperial Council, he will use the ability of the [Puppet Stage] to get them to steal back the landships outside the city.

The plan is fine, but we don't know what the actual variables will be.

He sighed, gestured for Ms. Sonia to stay, said a few more words, and then announced the end of the first cabinet meeting.

Chapter 204

After everyone else had left to prepare for their work, Yang Hao said the following to Ms. Sonia, who remained in the conference room:

"Now let's talk about the problems in your area... Ms. Sonia, your village... I now have a general understanding of the problems in [Kos]."

"Mr. Yang Hao, you truly live up to your reputation. We haven't even explained our village to you yet."

"I suppose that's part of my abilities. In short, your village currently has 627 people, and I still have no clue about the deep-sea monster you're facing... But judging from the terrain, your village has a [protruding] structure."

"what do you mean..."

"Your village will be attacked from three coastal directions to the northeast, and I don't see any defensive facilities near your village. You're all... um... just like that, directly engaging in close combat with those monsters?"

"...yes..."