My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 75

Main resident population: Infected (100%)

Planning includes: residential area, industrial area, rest area, hospital area, and school area.

Review: It looks like an ordinary residential area, but all the residents are infected...

Current regional measures: Infected individuals must undergo testing and registration before leaving the area, and all vehicles entering or leaving the area must undergo thorough disinfection and treatment.

The infected cluster area is a special area that Yang Hao intends to use to highlight the advantage of the Kosie territory over other territories, and also as an important area to attract infected immigrants from outside.

how to say?

It's like how you only consider settling in a city after seeing an advertisement that says a property near a subway station costs only 2000 yuan per square meter. Similarly, infected people from other areas only consider coming to the Duchy of Kosiché after learning how good life is for infected people there.

Furthermore, Yang Hao did not intend to persecute the infected. On one hand, his wife treated all infected people equally, and on the other hand, his experience in Colombia and Margarita's job as a messenger of natural disasters—a high-risk infection with Oripathy—made it impossible for him to hate the infected. He decided to at least provide the infected with a standard of living not much different from that of ordinary people, but he also knew that he could not give all the infected the same life.

He wouldn't concern himself with how the infected individuals competed internally. After all, internal competition is a good thing, as long as it doesn't escalate into cutthroat competition through unethical means. Healthy competition can actually ensure the vitality and ambition of the infected residents. Moreover, in some ways, it's not that difficult to have infected individuals live alongside ordinary citizens.

All we need to do is raise the literacy rate of residents, then teach them basic common sense through the policy of compulsory education, make them understand the prerequisites for normal people to be infected with Oripathy, and finally grant infected people the status of ordinary people through policy. Basically, there shouldn't be any problems.

Ah, there might still be some problems. But the problem is, Yang Hao's [Puppet Stage] can silence anyone who has doubts, or force them to rebel. The former is straightforward; you just need to keep quiet and accept the future policies of the Duchy of Kosiché. The latter is even less of a concern—corpses can't speak, the rebels' property and land can be confiscated, and their corpses can be used to make starch for pig feed—isn't that wonderful?

"Um..."

In short, Yang Hao had already finalized his administrative plans. He deeply understood that he could never treat everyone fairly, and as a lord, he couldn't possibly treat everyone equally. Therefore, he made his decision.

All his justice, kindness, compassion, and good feelings are reserved for his people, his friends, his family, and future citizens. Yang Hao will strive for every ordinary citizen, infected citizen, or even disabled citizen in his territory—those from impoverished backgrounds who, though ruthless, ultimately repent and try to reform.

His people should be happy and hopeful for the future. In the future, his people should be superior to people in other countries and regions, and proud of their identity. Children in his territory will receive education from a young age and have the possibility of changing their social class through education—unlike in other regions or countries where it is fixed.

While people elsewhere struggle to survive due to their lord's neglect, his subjects live happily in the vicinity of the city under the duke's rule and his leadership.

While infected people elsewhere suffer from hunger, persecution, and are even used as materials for Originium Arts, living a life worse than humans, in his territory, infected people will enjoy the same rights as ordinary people—of course, if you have Originium fragments in your palm, it's appropriate to use a stick instead of shaking hands to avoid causing trouble for other normal citizens.

Perhaps in the future Duchy of Koschche, the bodies of infected citizens will also need to undergo degradation treatment. But at the very least, Yang Hao is willing to give them a dignified funeral and to provide them with care and dignity before they die. He doesn't believe there will be much conflict between the infected and normal people; after all, strictly speaking, while Oripathy is a terminal illness, it is not incurable.

Many infected individuals could live to old age with adequate medical care. The infected are not entirely without merit; they are merely a disruptive group. With proper guidance, education, and the creation of external enemies, they can bring a continuous stream of wealth and generations of loyalty to the Duke of Koschche.

Furthermore, given the ability to create the [Puppet Stage], the social conflicts between the infected and ordinary people can be resolved in various ways. Therefore, Yang Hao isn't worried about whether his actions will cause many social problems. He's only concerned about whether, in order to achieve rapid development, he might frequently launch wars to plunder resources.

After all, while Ursus has a vast map, its important resource-producing areas have already been completely divided up. If Yang Hao later wants to buy Victoria's clothes, and Ursus doesn't have any regions producing the feathers used in Victoria's clothing, then launching a war to acquire those resources would be perfectly reasonable, wouldn't it?

Of course, he'll gain not only the feathers, but also the city and its population. But that's alright; Yang Hao will guarantee the happiness of all his subjects, even the refugees who joined the Dukedom of Kosiché after the war.

As for whether doing this will cause trouble for other people's subjects, other countries, or other regions? Who cares! After all, it's not necessarily true that the lords of those places would protect subjects who don't belong to them, right?

"Like it?"

"I really like it. I love the color, the weight, and the decorations on it."

"Hehe, that's good. But have you been thinking about a lot of things again?"

"You found out?" Yang Hao slightly raised his cane, then smiled and tapped it down, making a crisp "knock" sound as the metal base of the cane struck the ground.

"After all, I'm your wife, aren't I? Tell me. What were you thinking just now?"

Standing beside Yang Hao with Monica, admiring his figure, Koschke smiled as he looked at his husband's face, which seemed somewhat mature for some reason.

Faced with Kosiché's questions and requests, Yang Hao simply smiled and shook his head.

"It's nothing, I've just calmed down a bit."

"is it?"

“Of course. Well, we still have time today, let’s go for a walk—Monica, take us to the courtyard.”

It wasn't that I intended to keep it from Kosichek.

Yang Hao simply couldn't bring himself to explain to Kosichrie that his selfish thoughts, which seemed incredibly petty and selfless compared to her ideal of selfless love for all Ursus people, were nothing short of petty.

But that's just how he is. If he really had to choose between protecting the country of Ursus and protecting Kosiché in the future...

He'll only choose Kosic. Really.

Chapter 162

5 month 12 day.

Three days remained until the nobles' arrival. While Yang Hao was still getting used to the convenience of his new cane and learning noble etiquette and conversation under Kosiché's guidance, the Creed ponies had already returned from the Duchy of Nikolai.

They had established a secret communications network in Duke Nikolai's city, and those who returned now did so partly to avoid attracting attention and partly to transmit the new intelligence they had gathered.

To confirm the information, Yang Hao, accompanied by head maid Monica, had no choice but to go to the Lubyanka Grand Hotel to see what was going on...

...

At 10:00 AM on the 12th.

As Theresa sat in her office, staring blankly at the desk where she used to hunch over, while organizing the intelligence documents in her hands, she raised an eyebrow and heard a sound she had never heard before: a cane tapping the ground.

Knock knock. The crisp sound made Theresa subconsciously prepare herself to meet an important person—although she didn't know who this important person was, she just had to be ready.

Just as Theresa thought she was about to see another important person, Yang Hao, carrying a cane and accompanied by his head maid, casually and expertly opened Theresa's door and said to the bewildered Theresa:

"Little pony, where's the information I asked for?"

"...Here it is. But speaking of which, boss, when did you start using a cane?"

Is it because her legs are not functioning properly? Theresa thought to herself as she handed over the information that she and her sisters had painstakingly gathered from the Duchy of Nikolai.

"It was a gift from my wife, so I'm using it—hmm...you've already infiltrated the city? And built a base? Not bad. What's the rest?"

"There's also some intelligence on military factories. But then again, how should I put it... their reign of terror is a bit too much."

"That's a bit too outrageous. Tell me more about it."

Under Yang Hao's curious gaze, Theresa recounted the events surrounding the "Reign of Terror" in the Duchy of Nikolai.

In the Duchy of Nikolai, their curfew policy during the economic crisis was stricter than that of other duchies. While the curfew in the Duchy of Kosice was limited to the period from midnight to 5 a.m., the curfew in the Duchy of Nikolai began at 10 p.m. and lasted until 7 a.m.

And it wasn't just a simple curfew; soldiers and police patrolled the streets tirelessly every night. They would arrest anyone wandering around at night; on the very first day, one of Theresa's sisters almost got arrested.

"Fortunately, the little girl was quite skilled and managed to escape, only sneaking back the next morning."

"I've already told you to be careful. So, what's next?"

"What happened next was rather absurd... Due to the economic crisis, trade within the Duchy of Nikolai had virtually ceased. Aside from a very few caravans, almost no merchant fleets traveled to the Duchy of Nikolai..."

"Well... then what?"

"With bread being hoarded by nobles and sold at exorbitant prices by big merchants, many people who cannot survive in the city either flee the city, eat sawdust, or have even started cannibalism." Theresa shrugged. "It is estimated that more than 1 refugees will walk from the Duchy of Nikolai, and they will arrive here in about a week—of course, they lack guards and security, so it is unknown how many will make it here alive."

"Did you send them the message?"

"How could that be? It was the caravan that sent the message to the refugees. The gist of it was that the economy of the neighboring Duchy of Kosiché is recovering, and anyone who joins the Duchy of Kosiché can have enough to eat and a job."

In short, during the economic crisis, when commercial communication was almost completely cut off, and when nobles and big merchants in the city hoarded daily necessities and food and sold them off at exorbitant monopoly prices, the lower classes of the Duchy of Nikolai were in unbearable pain and had lost all hope of continuing to live.

In despair, some chose to leave the Duchy of Nikolai, intending to walk to the Duchy of Kosice while they still had strength and some food reserves, hoping for a better future. Others, having nowhere else to turn, were forced to survive on flour mixed with sawdust, and some even resorted to cannibalism out of hunger.

Yang Hao was unaware of the dire straits the lower-class residents of the Nikolai Duchy were currently in, but when he realized that the residents who had escaped from the Nikolai Duchy were actually former residents of the Kosiché Duchy who had fled from the area claimed by the core of the Kosiché Duchy, he immediately made a decision.

“Monica, issue orders in my name to the garrison troops—have them take ample food supplies and proceed to the border between our territory and the Duchy of Nikolai, where they will await the arrival of the refugee influx.” He turned to Monica and said, “This labor force cannot be wasted. Moreover, we need them as propaganda material—materials to promote the idea that the Duchy of Kosice is now economically improved and has begun to attract outsiders.”

"Yes. And what about Lord Koschche?"

"You should tell her first, and I'll talk to her about it in detail when I get back."

"I understand."

Monica temporarily left Theresa's office to take care of her own work.

Meanwhile, Theresa obediently played dead, not uttering a single word, until Head Maid Monica left. Only then did she purse her lips, sit in her chair, and stretch.

"So, dear boss, how are you going to utilize those refugees?"

"That's none of your business. Just focus on your intelligence work." Yang Hao shrugged and continued reading the intelligence report below. "However, you've done a good job, so your reward will be increased—of course, if you have any personal requests, I'll try my best to accommodate them."

"Really?"

"Really. Just don't go too far."

Yang Hao answered this subconsciously, and then in the next instant...

When Yang Hao noticed that Teresa had stood up and her face looked a little flushed for some reason, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"I heard there's a nice place around here. Boss, I think you'd be willing to come with me to buy some things, right?" She winked and grinned mischievously, indicating that she wouldn't need her share of the payment.

Chapter 163

...

When Monica returned, the perceptive woman noticed that something seemed off about the atmosphere in the office.

She looked up and saw Lord Yang Hao looking at the intelligence in his hand, seemingly deep in thought.

Miss Teresa had somehow started slumping over the table, rummaging through things and eating snacks.

...

There seemed to be nothing wrong. Monica was a little confused, but the serious and earnest head maid decided to come over and give the master a proper report on the mission first.

Thinking of this, Monica walked behind Yang Hao. Just as she was about to speak, the head maid's expression changed, and she strangely sensed something odd.

what is this?

She shook her head thoughtfully, dismissing the unseen thing as her own illusion.

"My lord, everything has been arranged."

"Really? Then let's head back first. We still need to talk to Koschche about this—"

"I have already informed Lord Koschche. He said that she... hopes you can explain things to her properly tonight."

I will explain this matter—

"What you mean, sir, is that you need to explain why you rushed over here as soon as you heard that the spies from the Creed had returned."

"..."

Yang Hao's face turned pale instantly.

However, he didn't say much. After hurriedly placing the intelligence he had on the table where Theresa was lying, he quickly left with the bewildered head maid, Monica.

It was only after they left that Theresa, who had seemed calm and ordinary, but whose face was now inexplicably red, muttered a few curses under her breath, thinking, "It's so hard to hold back my blushing," while covering her buttocks with her hand.

…………

"Sir? May I ask what you and Miss Theresa did while I was away?"

"No, no. It was just normal information review, and I asked a few questions about some details."

"Is that right?"

"Really... Monica, don't you trust me?"

On the way back, Yang Hao sat in the back seat, enduring Monica's questions while a bitter smile appeared on his face. Was it because he really hadn't done anything that he was showing this bitter expression after being wrongly accused? No, of course not.

He did do something, but it was just patting the other's butt and teaching that arrogant little pony a lesson... Besides, Monica was back soon, and no matter how fast he was, he couldn't possibly finish in just a few minutes, right? Not to mention the time it would take to clean up.

When Yang Hao questioned her, Monica simply frowned. She said, "I absolutely trust you, sir," but then added, "It is precisely because I trust you that I am so clear that your obsession with the Kuranta people is not trustworthy."

The head maid's words, a mixture of trust and distrust, deeply wounded Yang Hao. However, given that he had indeed concealed the truth first, Yang Hao simply patted Monica's hair and then shifted the topic to Koschei—after all, this was the first time Koschei had so eagerly wanted him to explain why he had gone to the ponies so quickly.

"Lady Kosichä seems to be jealous... How should I put it? Perhaps it's because your importance to Lady Kosichä is simply too great. She doesn't want you to have any thoughts of ignoring her."

"Oh dear, how could I possibly ignore her... I'll explain things to her properly when I get back. But speaking of which, why didn't His Majesty text me today? Is it because she's bored with her?"

Monica blinked at Yang Hao's mutterings, recalling the date—May 12th. She thought it was probably because it was the Emperor's weekly meeting that day. That's why the Emperor hadn't bothered him.

"It means..."

Please be understanding tonight.

"...Ouch."

Yang Hao sighed with a worried look on his face, wondering how he should deal with Her Majesty Ekaterina.

Your Majesty, Your Majesty—it's definitely not right to curse him myself, but just hiding like this isn't quite right either...

Fighting them wouldn't work either, since the Duchy of Koschei doesn't have the capacity to confront the entire Ursus Empire. However, the Ursus Empire is currently in an economic crisis. Leaving aside the entire empire, the Imperial Rubles held by the Duchy of Koschei are, in a sense, worthless right now—if the Ursus Empire recovers, then the Imperial Rubles might regain its original credibility and purchasing power. But the question is, how long will that take?

Yang Hao frowned and thought for a moment, then felt he had a bold idea:

1. Take advantage of the current economic crisis to acquire imperial rubles from other territories, which are practically worthless.