He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 178

Became the Crazy Emperor – Episode 178

Became the Crazy Emperor 178

“As of today, there are no more serfs in the Empire! I am enacting the Serf Emancipation Decree!”

“People, farmland isn’t the only path to prosperity. Go to factories and mines; your labor will set you free.”

“Education is the foundation for a hundred years. Send your children to school! Anyone with the will can knock on the school doors anytime!”

Immediately after the Emperor returned to the Imperial Palace, he pushed forward with reforms that some might consider radical.

What Empress Sarah had already begun to implement gained rapid momentum.

“So, does this really mean I’m not a serf anymore? But I owe a debt to the local tyrant….”

“That debt is handled. If it is a just debt, the state treasury will cover it. Instead, you will repay the original amount in installments over several years without interest as taxes.”

“I, I can’t understand such complicated words….”

“It means your debt is gone. You just have to pay back the original amount without interest through your taxes.”

“Oh, why are you suddenly bestowing such grace upon us, sir….”

“It is all thanks to His Imperial Majesty.”

“Long live His Imperial Majesty!”

First, the serfs were liberated. This was to secure a larger workforce.

“We can’t develop by just focusing on agriculture. We need to develop industry right now.”

Like a typical medieval world, the Empire had largely regressed into an agricultural society.

It wouldn’t be so bad if all we thought about was feeding people, but the Empire couldn’t afford to stagnate like that.

As long as there were enemies or potential threats all around, the Empire had to become stronger quickly.

To do that, it needed ‘workers,’ not just farmers.

And when the number of workers increased, there naturally needed to be jobs for them to do.

“Encourage merchants to build factories in each city. Accelerate the research into steam-powered magic engines.”

“Your Majesty, but this year’s budget is not sufficient.”

“Get investments from the merchants. I will grant them priority sales rights for new products. Those who invest more will get more rights.”

Those who provide jobs for workers are, of course, entrepreneurs. It was time for medieval-style merchants to become entrepreneurs.

The knowledge and technology gained from the Vault of Prosperity became bait to elicit voluntary investment from them.

“I must win this business right!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll be first!”

The merchants, transformed into entrepreneurs, rushed to put forward their investments. In fact, the new products created with new technologies were sure-fire hits that made money.

The new things created in factories and mines were creating a virtuous cycle of generating more wealth.

All of this was easily achieved thanks to the effect of the throne.

[The Serf Emancipation Decree is progressing smoothly.]

[Successfully attracted investment from entrepreneurs. The progress of the next projects increases by 30%.]

[The ‘Blessing of Abundance’ spreads throughout the Empire due to the Throne of Prosperity. The probability of a good harvest this year increases sharply.]

The ‘Throne of Prosperity,’ controlled by Kessil, was also linked to the system I had been given, amplifying the policy effects as well.

Thanks to that, even policies like the ‘Serf Emancipation Decree,’ which would have had significant side effects, were being passed without difficulty.

“Oh, a bumper crop is expected this year.”

“I know, isn’t it nice that taxes are much lower now?”

“Of course, it’s not very low… but it’s definitely more livable than before.”

“Isn’t it all thanks to His Imperial Majesty’s care? My son and his wife went to the city and are working as laborers….”

The morale of the people was high. The vast majority of commoner subjects had absolute loyalty to me.

“Tch, if you liberate all the serfs, what are we supposed to live on!”

“Now, even if we want to lease land, we can’t charge high tenancy fees.”

“Rather, they’re making us hire agricultural laborers! Ha, really!”

Of course, there were some complaints. Among the old vested interests, the local tyrants and landlords who had not yet been swept away were still dissatisfied.

“So, are you all dissatisfied with His Imperial Majesty’s will?”

“Ahem! Who said that?”

“It’s just a saying, a saying. W-we are also satisfied with His Majesty’s benevolent rule.”

But no one could openly express their dissatisfaction.

Because they didn’t know when or where the Emperor’s eyes might be.

The Emperor’s eyes referred to the Imperial Intelligence Agency, but now it was also a literal meaning.

[You can directly monitor various parts of the Empire by activating the ‘Emperor’s Eyes,’ an additional function of the throne.]

[Depending on your sensing ability, you may discover lurking conspiracies, hidden resources, or talents.]

“A convenient function. But this is essentially a surveillance state. Well, it’s not much of a flaw in a monarchy.”

This was also a function that the throne could use in conjunction with my Imperial Soul.

I could enhance my vision in all places where my will reached through the throne, and I could find people plotting specific conspiracies.

Bang!

“It’s the Counterintelligence Knights! Quietly accept your arrest, you traitors!”

“T-this! We’ve been found out!”

“For the Dark God!”

Thus, traitors plotting conspiracies in various places were easily caught.

Mostly demons, they cleverly infiltrated among the dissatisfied, who were constantly increasing rather than decreasing.

But by using the throne’s function to ferret them out, all the ‘corrupted’ were rounded up.

[Due to the iron-fisted rule, ‘fear of the ruler’ within the nation has increased significantly.]

[If fear rises excessively, side effects may occur, so be careful.]

“Is my notoriety increasing? But there’s no other way for now.”

Modernization is accompanied by discontent and corruption. To suppress them, some side effects had to be tolerated.

Fortunately, things were relatively lenient for farmers and workers, so the total amount of dissatisfaction was not high.

Originally, industrialization required the implementation of enclosure policies [the process of consolidating land to make it more efficient for raising livestock or crops] to gather workers en masse, but now that kind of desperate measure was not implemented.

Unlike England, which had a narrow island homeland, the Empire had enough land, so if there were enough workers, large-scale grazing was possible without enclosure.

If it didn’t work out, the vast prairies of the Western Territory could be invested in as pastureland.

“Continue to grow, my Empire!”

The Empire was growing tirelessly under the sunlight of prosperity.

* * *

But there is always a shadow on the other side of the light.

“Well, has everyone gathered?”

“We’ve been waiting for the chairman.”

“Ahem, thank you. Now all the members of our Dawnlight Society are here.”

Men in suits that had just become fashionable.
The appearance of wearing gentleman’s hats, neatly trimmed beards, canes, and monocles was the latest fashion that had begun to spread rapidly in recent years.

But unlike their seemingly normal appearance, they were all gathered to whisper sinister conspiracies.

“Thanks to His Imperial Majesty’s benevolent rule, we have accumulated wealth. But in my opinion, His Majesty cherishes the commoners too much.”

“Who doesn’t think so? Even though we could squeeze them more, he keeps talking about labor welfare… tsk!”

“And the countryside. It would be more efficient to just shake down those ignorant farmers and create large farms. Ugh, no flexibility, no flexibility.”

As the chairman of the Dawnlight Society started the conversation, the members each expressed their dissatisfaction.

It would have been difficult to bring up in other places. The Counterintelligence Knights came so quickly.

Knowing that some kind of magical surveillance was spreading throughout the Empire, they hired a magician to defend themselves before holding this meeting.

In the world, they were just respected entrepreneurs.

That was one aspect of them, but they were full of thoughts of sucking the Empire’s blood.

“Ahem, everyone, restrain yourselves. We are not gathered here to be disloyal to His Majesty.”

“O-of course. We have no complaints about His Majesty’s benevolent rule. It’s just that it’s too excessive.”

“That’s right. Moreover, there seem to be only treacherous subjects in the court who block His Majesty’s eyes and ears, so our loyal words don’t reach him. What should we do?”

Surprisingly, they nominally claimed to be loyal subjects of the Emperor.

Perhaps that’s why their location was not detected by the throne.

Thanks to that, unlike those who openly committed illegal acts, their leaders were not easily caught.

“Of course, we must remove those who tarnish His Majesty’s sacred grace.”

“But… the children of Her Majesty the Empress and the consorts are just newly born. His Majesty is too young to expect a transfer of the throne….”

“Of course, we’re not aiming for that. We’ll be too old to do anything if we do that.”

“Then what are we going to do? Surely… not treason…?”

When one member said that, the room became silent.

Those gathered here were all dissatisfied with the current situation, but they had no intention of committing treason.

No, at least they had absolutely no intention of openly committing treason. Even ten heads would not be enough.

“Hmph, that can’t be. ‘We’ will never commit treason.”

“That sounds like… are you saying there are traitors besides ‘us’?”

“You’re sharp. But to be precise, ‘treason’ itself does not exist.”

“What does that mean….”

While the members were wondering what he meant, the chairman handed out several documents to them.

“What is this? It looks like a list of companies….”

“These are the places we need to invest in now.”

“Invest? Let’s see… Western Territory, Northern Territory, Eastern, Southern… they’re all evenly distributed. What are these companies?”

The members could not find the commonality between the companies.

Of course, they shouldn’t be able to find it.

“Speaking of them, they are all companies with capital and influence from orcs, elves, demons, and even beastmen from across the sea.”

“Huh, gasp! So, they’re spies!”

“You could say that.”

“To invest in such people, are you crazy? This is treason!”

The members’ faces turned blue. What happened to the traitors during the previous emperor’s reign?

Their heads were literally physically cut off by the Emperor’s sword.

No matter how much they plotted, no matter how much they schemed, the Emperor simply broke through them.

With force that did not spare his body. In addition, the Emperor’s schemes and machinations, which were no less than theirs, were enough to make the opponent die of frustration.

“That’s right, it’s treason. ‘Only if we get caught.’ So, if we don’t get caught, it’s not treason.”

“……!”

“Do you understand? We are innocent victims who invested without knowing that these people are ‘spies.’”

Even the Emperor would have a hard time figuring this out.

It was an inevitable method since the introduction of ‘capital’ into a medieval-level market.

It is not easy to find out whether the investors who provide capital are innocent.

“We will remain loyal subjects of the Empire and, at the same time, try to change the Emperor. That is our goal.”

Under the prosperity of the Empire, lurking shadows were emerging.