Chapter 1089: Chapter 1076 When the Rice is Ripe, Draw the Swords Chapter 1089: Chapter 1076 When the Rice is Ripe, Draw the Swords “You’re digging canals and building massive reservoirs, irrigating thousands of miles of fertile fields, and now you’re meddling with these things?”

“Is there a problem?” Muria looked towards Ferdinand who was handling state affairs.

“No problem, just feels out of character for you,” Ferdinand replied, reviewing documents.

“Can’t help it, soldiers need to eat. If I want to rely on them to conquer other countries and rule over them, I must fill their bellies; otherwise, everything is empty talk.”

“So, all this that you’re doing is in preparation for war?” Ferdinand picked up a document requesting the digging of canals and shook it at Muria.

“Exactly.”

“If that’s the case, you better make it clear to the soldiers below. The war is over now, but the army is still restless; they crave more war.”

“I won’t launch a war again anytime soon, and no country would dare to invade Gai Nation now.”

“You need to do a good job pacifying them. You’ve transformed the entire country into a greedy monster, but you’ve only allowed it to take the first bite of flesh, then restrained it with chains, preventing it from continuing, which might invite the entire country’s resentment and dissatisfaction.”

“I haven’t chained up this monster, I’m just preparing for its second meal,” Muria said.

Muria, with his hands clasped behind his back, walked to the entrance of the grand hall, overlooking the increasingly prosperous capital city below.

With his own power, Muria had crushed the strong ones who invaded with the armies of three countries, including top military officers, thus firmly establishing Gai Nation’s dominant position among the neighboring countries.

Gai Nation had become an entity not to be messed with. And because Gai Nation had gained a considerable amount of indemnities and materials during the war, it had quickly become one of the richest among the countries in the region.

Since there were no plans for outward aggression currently, Muria began to develop commerce, importing raw materials from various countries and exporting finished goods, leveraging the trade surplus to severely fleece the neighboring countries.

The rulers of these countries were not lacking in wisdom. They could see that Muria’s commercial activities were another form of war, another form of plunder for their nations. But what could they do about it?

Faced with the strength Muria now displayed, all they could do was swallow their grievances and endure while Muria continuously bled and butchered them financially.

This inevitably led to the flourishing prosperity of the capital city Muria looked upon, a prosperity built on the exploitation of other nations.

“What are you watching? Come back and handle the state affairs,” a discontented voice urged from behind Muria just then.

“The state affairs can be managed by you all,” Muria said, still motionless, admiring the view below.

“Enough with the nonsense. Handling state affairs is a duty you must fulfill as a king. As your father, I can help you, even replace you in dealing with them, but you also need to learn how to manage,” the voice behind Muria spoke with a tone of ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ frustration.

“No need, with you and the other ministers to help me, that’s enough. I just need to point out a general direction, and you can handle the specifics,” Muria replied without turning his head. In the hall behind him, the air was heavy with ghostly and deathly energies. Besides Ferdinand, whose face was pale and livid, there were dozens of Corpse Ghosts, heads bowed, reviewing state affairs with their official pens.

These were former nobles and ministers who had opposed Muria’s reforms and had been forcibly transformed into Corpse Ghosts by him.

Though they had opposed Muria, their abilities were beyond doubt, as they were individuals who could achieve what they set their mind to, which was why Muria had targeted them.

In the absence of war now, Muria didn’t leave this group idle. Instead, he made full use of them, pulling them out to review his state affairs for him.

“What is this attitude? Come here,” Ferdinand, enraged, slammed his pen down on the table upon hearing Muria’s words.

“What’s the matter?” Muria turned around, somewhat helplessly.

“Handling state affairs is something a king must do. By handling state affairs, a king can understand the entire country and then govern more effectively. You doing nothing and letting me and these others do it all for you, how is that proper?”

“Isn’t this great? And father, I don’t need to handle state affairs to control the entire country. I can know about anything happening at any moment within this country.”

“I’m done,” Ferdinand, enraged by Muria’s words, rose from his seat.

“That’s fine; it’s a good time for you to rest. Let them do it. With or without you, the speed of handling state affairs won’t slow down much,” Muria said, looking at the hall full of Corpse Ghosts, and smiled.

“You…” Ferdinand, enveloped in a cloud of deathly Qi, trembled with fury upon hearing Muria’s response, but his face didn’t change much in color since he was already among the undead.

“None of you are to work,” Ferdinand, infuriated beyond tolerance by Muria, yelled at the Corpse Ghosts, who had all been his subjects.

Unfortunately, these individuals, upon hearing Ferdinand’s words, remained motionless and continued to bow their heads, dealing with the state affairs Muria had assigned to them.

Upon witnessing such a scene, Ferdinand’s anger soared even further, and he angrily swept his robe sleeve before disappearing from the hall.

“You all do your best, as long as you can fulfill the duties I have assigned to you, I can guarantee that your clans’ bloodlines will continue, and you may even reclaim your families’ former glory.”

After Muria’s words had fallen, the Corpse Ghosts handling state affairs for him began to move their pens even faster, evidently stimulated by Muria’s speech.

Because of Muria’s foresight, these nobles and ministers, transformed into Corpse Ghosts, retained all their memories to the greatest extent, so they remembered everything about their lives quite clearly.

Muria had annihilated their clans and turned them into this undead state; naturally, they all harbored deep resentment in their hearts.

However, after taking everything from them, Muria also left them a glimmer of hope. No matter the clan, during Muria’s purge, he had spared some children here and there.

These children, including some who ended up on the streets, became Muria’s greatest leverage over these nobles and ministers, as well as their only hope.

To ensure the continuation of their clans, they could tolerate Muria exploiting them relentlessly, although what they were doing now wasn’t really exploitation but simply utilizing their inherent talents, which was effortlessly easy.

…

“Uncle, what are you looking at?”

Next to the freshly watered rice paddies, a young child with a burly, scarred man by his side asked.

“I’m looking at these rice paddies,” the burly man replied with a smile, ruffling the child’s hair.

“But aren’t these something we see every day? What’s so interesting about them?”

The child was puzzled by his uncle’s behavior and expressed his incomprehension.

“Kid, your uncle isn’t just watching the rice paddies; he’s waiting for the rice to mature and then go off to war.”

Just then, a young man passing by with a hoe on his shoulder heard the child’s puzzled comment and chuckled in response.

“What does rice maturing have to do with going to war?” the child asked, even more bewildered, unable to grasp the causal relationship.

“It’s a big deal; wars need people to fight them, but soldiers need to have full bellies to fight, so only when the rice matures and there’s enough food can they go to war,” the young man explained with a smile.

“Oh!” The child’s face showed a dawning of understanding.

“Go on, go on, why talk about this to a child?” the burly man with the scar frowned in displeasure.

“What’s the harm in mentioning it early? Look at your lad here, only this tall yet so strongly built; he’s clearly good material. Feed him well, let him grow strong, train him a bit, and then with a good horse, he could directly join the army as a knight—picking up military honors would be easy for him.”

“Nonsense, military honors aren’t that easy to earn,” the burly man scoffed playfully in response to the young man’s words.

“You’ve been out of touch; your nephew’s starting at a higher point than you. Becoming a militar officer shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“Militar officer? Ha, even risking life might not be enough; military honors are something you have to earn with your life,” the burly man said, touching the scar on his face.

“But it’s worth it! As long as you kill enough, even mudsill like us can try and taste what it’s like to be nobles,” the young man argued.

“Nobles.” Hearing the word triggered a longing in the burly man’s eyes, but that longing and desire quickly turned into a bloodthirsty gleam as strands of black-gray hair emerged from his body.

“Hey, easy there, you’re scaring the kid,” the young man quickly cautioned, noticing the less-than-human changes beginning on the burly man’s body.

“Are you alright, Ann?” Seeing his shaking nephew, who seemed almost ready to cry, the burly man quickly suppressed his power.

“I say, you must be nearly going mad with it, seeing you just now, you looked like you were ready to grab a saber and start killing.”

“And aren’t you the same?” the burly man retorted, spotting the deep longing in the young man’s eyes.

“My King said we need to wait for the crops to be fully ripe before we can launch another war, but it’s been five years now, with still no action.”

“It’s coming soon. In recent years, they’ve been digging canals everywhere. Our fields have been yielding more each year, consistently producing bountiful harvests. At this rate, the war will start soon.”

“I wonder if the war will start after this year’s rice harvest matures.”

“It probably will.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read