LOL: Summoner of Goddess Janna

Under Swain's tough attitude, the new Noxus Empire finally spent its first month after its birth smoothly.

One month later, Immortal Fortress.

This used to be the emperor's council chamber, but now it has been changed to the office of the Trifali Council, the highest authority in the empire.

Unlike the Trifali Triumvirate on the "original world line", the Trifali Parliament established by Swain at this time was closer to Piltover's Merchant Republic Council.

Swain serves as Speaker, and Darius serves as Deputy Speaker.

Representatives of reformist generals such as Lester occupied several seats in the parliament.

Amystan represents the old nobles who surrendered, and occupies a seat.

At first glance, Swain seems to have taken a big step, changing the feudal monarchy into an aristocratic republic.

But in fact, the power structure of Noxus has not changed that much.

After all, Swain's personal prestige is unmatched, and his control over the army is extremely stable - at least, for now.

Therefore, his power as the commander-in-chief is almost unlimited.

Everyone can see that this Trifali Parliament is not so much a parliament as it is the "Emperor's Cabinet" led by Commander Swain.

Lester and others are actually his subordinates. And Amystan is a mascot inserted to represent the interests of local princes in order to appease people's hearts and stabilize the situation.

Apart from Swain, the only person in the entire parliament who really speaks with weight is Darius, who holds control of the Northern Army.

Therefore, outsiders jokingly say that the current Noxus Empire is actually "two emperors co-ruling".

Swain is the main emperor, and Darius is the deputy emperor.

The two "emperors" had similar interests and cooperated sincerely, but they always got along well.

But just one month later, this originally stable and solid situation has undergone very subtle changes...

"General Darius——"

Before Commander Swain arrived at the meeting, Lester, Amystan and others took Darius and quietly held a small meeting.

They made no secret of their worries and anxiety, and collectively petitioned Darius: "Now that the power of the Wind Leader is growing day by day, the officials and generals of the empire are uneasy about it, and worry about the future fate of Noxus day and night. .”

"And General Darius, you are the only one who can talk to Commander Swain on an equal footing and persuade him to change his mind."

"We also ask you to help us convey to the commander-in-chief the urgent and unbearable concern of the country at the regular meeting we are waiting for - at least, ask him to reveal some details of the plan to deal with the future threat of the leader."

"This can also calm the restless hearts and relieve everyone's growing worries!"

"This..." Although Darius hesitated after hearing this, he also believed it in his heart.

He knew what Lester and the others were worried about.

A year ago, the Wind Leader Association was just the ravings of a madman written by a Zaun apprentice in a 5-square-meter rental house.

But half a year ago, the Wind Leader Association was already a powerful local force that dominated Zaun, shocked Pi City, and even slightly threatened the Noxus Empire.

At that time, the empire was deep in the quagmire of war, and was frightened by the power of the goddess Janna in the twin cities, so it was still unable to make up its mind to take action.

Then, only half a year later... the leader became a behemoth that united Demacia and Ionia and could defeat the empire on the frontal battlefield.

"Black Rose, who was in power before, was insidious and short-sighted. They were all greedy for self-protection and refused to fight desperately. They allowed the leader's power to grow wildly like weeds, so that they were defeated by the leader in a single battle and backfired on themselves."

"Should we make the same mistake again now?" Lester petitioned Darius sincerely.

"Yes!" Amystan's words were more direct and candid: "General Darius, do you know what the Wind Leader has been doing in the past month after defeating the Empire in Baru'e?"

"They divided the fields in Balu'e Province - taking the fields away from the original owners and giving them to the weak and useless!"

This move really scared the military nobles of Noxus.

At first, Leader liquidated the Ziben family in Shuangcheng, and they were able to accept it. Because they are not from the Ziben family.

Later, the leader liquidated the pirates in Bilgewater, and they were able to accept it. Because they are not pirates.

Now that the leader has begun to carry out land reform in Ionia...these Noxian military upstarts are completely intolerable.

The most important resource in Noxus is land, and land has always belonged to the strong and the nobility.

The dream of every reform soldier who follows Swain is to eradicate the nobles and nobles who bring disaster to the country and the people, and then... replace them.

Now that they have finally succeeded in their rebellion, they are about to obtain a large fiefdom and become a great noble...

As a result, you, the leader, are going to carry out land reform? This is simply the Noxian version of the collapse of ritual and music!

It's tolerable, but what can't be tolerated!

"Hmm..." Darius has no interest in land.

The land reform carried out by the leader even has some merits in the ears of this poor man - after all, you have to provide the poor with some minimum living security in order to allow them to continue to steadily provide new soldiers for the empire. !

But Darius knew that people like him who cared a little about the bottom class were extremely rare in the entire imperial military.

The rare collective statement from Lester, Amystan and others also made him smell a hint of danger.

He reminded Swain a month ago that the thing he was always worried about might... have been slowly brewing in the dark.

This contradiction must be resolved as soon as possible.

"I will help you express your opinions to Commander Swain." So, Darius agreed to the request of Lester and others.

As soon as he finished speaking, a clear and powerful sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside the palace.

Swain is here.

"Well..." Like the evening self-study students who heard the homeroom teacher's footsteps, Lester and others calmed down, stopped talking, and quietly returned to their seats.

Finally, Swain walked into the venue.

"Commander Swain!" Everyone nodded to him respectfully, completely without the excitement shown when they made a private offer to Darius.

"Everyone, please take a seat." Swain seemed completely unaware of their private communication.

He sat down at the main seat of the meeting with a calm expression, and then got straight to the point and got to the point of the meeting: "Everyone, let me briefly report on the recent work progress."

"Yes!" Lester and others nodded.

In other words, Swain was not in a hurry to make drastic reforms after taking power.

Because he was so familiar with Noxus.

Swain knew very well that Enoxus' current rotten and rotten bureaucracy was simply incapable of carrying out any reforms.

For example, if he wants to reduce taxes and reduce the burden on ordinary people——

The local bureaucrats, nobles, and powerful landowners will only maintain high taxes on the people below, and then pay less taxes on the people above.

In the end, the tax cuts turned into tax cuts for the rich, which not only did not benefit the common people, but also indirectly drained the national treasury.

And if he wants to raise taxes on the rich to fill the national treasury and make it easier to do things——

The local bureaucrats, nobles, and powerful landowners will come up with 10,000 ways to squeeze out the taxes they need to pay exponentially from the civilians and tenant farmers who are dependent on them.

So the tax increase turned into a tax increase for the poor. In the end, not only did the people not benefit, but they were completely driven to a dead end.

...

This is just a simple example.

In short, Swain has realized that he is still far from being able to save the people of this country.

The corrupt nature of Noxus has not changed. The more he does now, the more mistakes he may make.

Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes. What's more, Noxus is such a large and seriously ill country.

As a practical person with many years of experience in reform and governance, Swain knew very well that he could not be carried away by his ideals and act haphazardly as soon as he took over the power.

Therefore, in the first month after the new official took office, he only did three things:

The first is to comply with the people's will and withdraw troops from the war:

Under Swain's order, Noxus began to fully reduce its forces on the four fronts, southeast, northwest and northwest, giving the Noxians, who were exhausted from long battles, finally a chance to breathe.

The second is to stabilize the internal situation:

After the fall of Darkwill, there are still many old nobles in the empire who are unwilling to lose the high positions they originally occupied.

And many of them are warlords and princes who own local territories and fiefdoms, and the power they hold cannot be underestimated.

So in theory, this is the hardest thing to do.

What is surprising is:

"In the past month, we have only encountered a few insignificant rebellions. Most local princes and war group leaders have expressed their loyalty to you, Commander Swain."

"And those who held the central power of the empire in the past, those Darkwill, no, the high-ranking officials of the Black Rose faction——"

This group of people is the most powerful and the most incompatible with Swain.

Swain came here to overthrow them. In theory, they should be radical elements fighting against the Swain regime.

"But only some of these people chose to fight with arms. Many nobles did not even make any resistance and obediently accepted our rule."

"This may be because of that woman..." Lester mentioned LeBlanc's name carefully.

As the true master of Noxus, LeBlanc has always secretly controlled the imperial nobles.

There are even some imperial nobles who are simply LeBlanc's clones.

"She is also looking forward to cooperating with you, teacher. Of course she is not willing to waste her energy on internal conflicts with us."

"So, the reason why we can take over power from the old nobles so smoothly may be because LeBlanc is secretly controlling those nobles and cooperating with us to stabilize the internal situation."

"Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain the docility of those old nobles in front of us, like domestic dogs."

Because of the deadly threat posed by the Wind Leader, Lester carefully but eagerly pointed out the kindness shown by LeBlanc and spoke a good word for this once life-and-death enemy.

"Yeah." Swain just nodded noncommittally and didn't make any statement.

His attention seemed to be entirely on the tedious affairs of state: "Go on, Lester."

Moving on, this is the third thing Swain has done this month.

The first two things are to cease fighting and withdraw troops, and the second is to stabilize the internal situation.

This means that the empire no longer transfers conflicts outward.

But the contradiction will not disappear out of thin air.

The most intuitive point is that Noxus has no money in its treasury.

So, who should we shift the conflict to, and who should we get money from?

Of course, in the second thing Swain did, those old nobles who were liquidated by him in the process of internal stabilization.

So, the third thing he did was something that everyone loved to see - ransacked his home.

"Teacher, look, this is the list of properties that we confiscated from the names of 36 noble families in the capital and collected them into the national treasury."

"And the local territories, fiefs, and various industrial investments they occupy have not yet been inspected and counted."

With that said, Lester presented Swain with a thick list of reports.

Most people would never have the patience to read through such a thick document report.

However...

Swain actually took the document from Lester, which was thick enough to be used as a shield, on the spot, and then in the red crow standing on his shoulder, the evil boy's hole suddenly lit up, and a set of "Quantum Wave Speed ​​Reading".

"This..." Lester suddenly felt a little nervous.

But after Swain quickly flipped through the report, he looked very satisfied with him: "Well done, Lester."

"Teacher, you are so complimentary." Lester secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Then I just heard Swain say: "You only destroyed 30% of the house this time, and left 70% for the empire. This is good."

Lester: "..."

The congressmen present broke out in cold sweat, and the atmosphere became very tense.

"You, how did you..." How did he know so clearly!

How did he see that the carefully decorated list of belongings was out of proportion?

Could it be that...the war masons sent by Swain have quietly lurked around them?

"You think-" At this time, Swain pointed to the crow on his shoulder: "Why is it called the 'Secret' Demon?"

"..." There was another terrible silence.

In the shadows around the palace, countless pairs of red eyes quietly opened.

They are both ravens, the embodiment of the hidden evil. And until these crows appeared on their own initiative, no one present could notice their presence.

As a result, the air became more solemn.

"Don't be nervous, everyone." At this time, Swain said sincerely: "I have no intention of pursuing you."

He was really happy.

In the old days of Noxus, if he didn't personally keep an eye on the property when it was searched, it would be good if the imperial official responsible for the search could leave 10% of the property to the treasury.

But now, after Lester and others disappeared, they could still leave a full 70% of their wealth to the public.

This shows that he, the leader of Noxus, still has enough power to rule. At least for now, no one under his command dares to treat him as a fool.

"I won't pursue what you took away this time. But it won't happen next time." Swain quietly revealed the matter.

However, the real problem is yet to come. There is no need for Swain to talk about this issue. Lester and others also secretly realized:

Under the surveillance of the hidden demon, can they... still have secrets?

"Teacher Swain." Lester stood up quickly and took the initiative to admit his mistake to Swain.

"I heard what you just told General Darius." Swain responded quickly: "And... LeBlanc has been trying to win over you, hasn't he?"

"..." No one dared to respond.

Only Darius, after hesitating, advised Swain in a deep voice: "Commander Swain, you can't blame them."

"The Wind Leader is a serious threat to the empire. Even if you don't want to be an enemy of him now, you should still reveal your plan to everyone so that everyone can have peace of mind."

"Yes!" Amystan plucked up the courage and admonished Swain: "It's not that we are attacking the Wind Leader, but the Wind Leader is invading us."

"Did you know? Because of the leader's infiltrated propaganda, more and more middle- and lower-level officers and soldiers have believed in their confusing theories. There are even many senior generals and nobles from aristocratic families. Just like the Myrdalda family, they secretly communicate with the leader in advance!"

"If this continues, the Noxus Empire will be peacefully evolved by the Wind Leader!"

Amystan said it sincerely.

"..." Swain was not in a hurry.

He is not in a hurry, but the generals here will be very anxious.

Finally, just when everyone was eager for a "second reform," Swain said in a calm tone:

"Just wait a little longer."

"This..." Everyone felt inexplicably at ease when they saw the calm look on his face.

Yes, Swain is a wise general. He never does anything stupid.

Maybe...waiting is part of his plan?

"How long?" someone asked uncontrollably.

"One month." Finally, Swain gave the exact time.

"One month later..." Lester asked cautiously: "What will happen?"

Swain smiled and said nothing.

In fact, he didn't know what would happen in a month. Anyway, Levi needed his help to delay.

"General Swain..." At this time, Darius reminded vaguely: "Is the date you gave accurate?"

Giving a specific date will draw a clear psychological bottom line for everyone.

If the time comes and the decisive battle Swain promised does not happen...then there will be big trouble.

"Of course I'm sure." Swain still didn't care.

After all, it was the "big mess" he was waiting for.

The more chaotic the situation becomes, the more people will jump out, and the empire will be cleaned up in one fell swoop.

"Okay." Seeing Swain so confident, everyone finally felt relieved.

"By the way -" Swain looked at Darius again:

"General Darius, I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Darius looked seriously.

Just listen to Swain say meaningfully: "I have received intelligence that a rebellion is about to occur in Besilico."

"That's your hometown——"

"I think you should go there."