Road regime (repair)

Leonard raised his chin slightly. "You're talking about you, right? Are you worried about what political achievements you should make after inheriting the title?"

"Political achievements?" Elena tilted her head. "I haven't thought about that. I just want to make my territory richer. I went out for a walk these past few days and found that my people are too poor."

"Do you want to make your people rich? Ha, what a kind lord and a kind little girl." Leonard laughed, but there was something wrong with the laugh.

Elena was unhappy with his smile, and felt even more dissatisfied in her heart: "What's wrong? Am I wrong?"

"Of course not." Leonard suddenly stopped laughing, his expression suddenly becoming serious. "As a lord, you should be thinking about how to establish your authority."

"Authority?" Hearing this answer, Elena frowned unhappily and complained in her heart, nonsense, of course she knew that she had to establish authority first, but she had no money now, what could she use to establish her authority?

"Yes, a lord without authority is just a wooden man. All plans and ambitions are empty. Don't even think about them." Leonard leaned down slightly. There was an indescribable sense of oppression on him, like a mountain or a sword, heavy, sharp and dangerous.

Elena looked at Leonard in surprise as his temperament suddenly changed. He became like the man who had slashed Eli with a sword, brutal, violent, and aggressive.

Aggressive! She subconsciously cast a wind blade.

Leonard turned sideways and easily avoided it.

Elena immediately cast a protective shield for herself and looked at him with high alert. Her eyes, which were already round, were now even wider, like a frightened cat.

Leonard, who was attacked, did not fight back. Instead, he took a step back, raised his head and laughed. The sense of crisis surrounding Elena suddenly disappeared.

"Yes, it's good that you have this kind of attack awareness. You are not a child who only knows how to retreat and cry." Leonard suddenly praised Elena.

Elena had a cold face and didn't relax at all. This guy who was moody and could change his attitude at any time was not trustworthy at all.

Leonard seemed to realize that he had scared the child. He rubbed his nose and took another step back.

Elena still held up the protective shield and waited indifferently.

"Alright, alright, calm down. I won't scare you anymore, kid. You're really vulnerable." Leonard waved his hand casually, returning to his lazy, unkempt self. "I was just testing you to see if you're ready to become a lord. I won't actually hurt you."

Who believes your lies!

We are not familiar with each other!

Elena still kept her lips tightly closed and did not remove the protective shield.

Leonard didn't care and continued to talk to himself, "You just asked me, what's the first thing to do after becoming a lord? I'll answer you now, the first thing to do after becoming a lord is to establish your authority and ensure that your orders can be carried out unimpeded in your territory."

"Okay, I've answered your question. Now it's my turn to ask you, how should you establish your authority?" Leonard asked his question.

Elena didn't respond to him.

Leonard thought for a moment and took out 10 copper coins. "If you answered correctly, these are your rewards."

Elena's mouth twitched. 10 copper coins, good! A lot! Oh!

Fortunately he has it.

But Leonard's rewarding attitude did make her feel a little relieved. Elena thought for a moment and said, "Test the loyalty of the officials in the Viscount's Mansion and replace those who are not loyal to me? Or, directly drive out the group of side branches who followed Eli to oppress me and wanted to help Eli seize power?"

When Leonard heard Elena's answer, his face showed obvious surprise. Even the big beard that covered half of his face couldn't hide his surprise.

"I didn't expect you to be so ruthless. You're going to drive out all the branches that oppose you? That's an idea." Leonard nodded and asked, "If they go to Earl Barnett to plead for mercy, and Earl Barnett is willing to mediate, what will you do?"

Elena frowned: "Earl Barnett will care about this?"

"Of course, after all, they are members of the Field family." Leonard thought it was strange that Elena would ask this. Isn't this a very normal thing?

"If you do this, you will bring shame to the entire Field family." Leonard kindly reminded the naive little girl.

Elena's brows furrowed even more tightly. She had forgotten this point again. The rules in ancient society were many and complicated. They attached great importance to family honor, which was completely different from her previous world, which cared more about personal achievements and honor.

"Actually, there's no need to be so, uh, ruthless." Leonard casually smoothed his wind-blown beard. "Those people aren't that important. They don't even rank as the first thing you must do after becoming a Viscount."

Elena turned her thoughts back for the moment and continued to think about what to do first.

After thinking for a while, Elena put forward a few more points, which were nothing more than the common starting points in the business game such as planting, breeding, and business.

Leonard rejected them one by one.

"Then what do you say you want to do first? Just tell me!" Elena shouted impatiently after being repeatedly denied.

Leonard scoffed, "Of course it's road construction, idiot!"

Road construction? Elena was stunned.

Why did you suddenly jump to this?

Roads are an important foundation for regime control!

"Thank you. The lecture fee is 3 silver coins." Leonard asked for the money without hesitation.

Elena: ...

Leonard took (snatched) the three silver coins that Elena reluctantly handed over and gave her a good lesson on the importance of roads.

To a large extent, roads can be seen as a visible manifestation of the coverage of the regime. Where there are roads, there are places where government orders can reach. The more roads there are, the wider the coverage, and the more profound the government orders will be.

Similarly, roads can also be seen as a hidden manifestation of the regime's violent apparatus. The closer the roads are to the center of the regime, the longer it will take for the troops dispatched by the regime center to violently suppress a local riot.

Roads may seem to be projects for the people's livelihood, but deeper down, they have an unavoidable core of political rule.

Leonard did not teach boring theoretical knowledge, but directly talked about the events he saw during his travels around the empire, using real examples to enlighten Elena about power.

Elena: ...Oh my god, these examples are so interesting, they can be used to make movies.

After speaking for more than an hour, Leonard had almost finished sharing all the real-life examples in his mind and announced the end of the course.

"It's really wonderful. The tuition for this class is really worth it." Elena couldn't help but applaud Leonard.

Leonard played with the silver coin. "Of course I do. I have a very good reputation, and the service I provide is absolutely worth the money. Okay, you've been listening for so long, why haven't you taken off this cover yet? Aren't you tired after holding on for so long?"

Only then did Elena remember that she was still holding up the protective shield. The two of them were standing on the balcony, one giving a lecture and the other listening. She was so engrossed in listening that she forgot about the protective shield.

"Oh, I forgot." Elena said and removed the protective shield.

As soon as the protective shield was removed, Leonard asked, "What's your level? Are you a formal apprentice?"

What level? Formal apprentice?

Elena didn't know either, she only knew that she was level 20.

Elena quickly searched through the original owner's memories: "Uh, I'm an apprentice apprentice. I just graduated from elementary school."

"Just graduated from elementary school?" Leonard's voice was filled with surprise. He looked Elena up and down. "You've been able to hold on for this long, which shows that you have good mental strength. Didn't you skip a grade?"

Elena shook her head: "No."

"Why don't you skip a grade?" Leonard asked again.

Why? Of course, it’s because the original owner wasn’t her, and her mental strength wasn’t as strong as hers.

Elena simply turned and walked towards the study, avoiding a direct answer: "Why do you want to skip a grade? I think it's fine now."

Leonard looked at Elena's back thoughtfully.