Chapter 160 : New, Astal!
Chapter 160: New, Astal!
Tina walked along the bustling and noisy street. Merchants in coarse linen, nobles in ornate robes strolling around, all kinds of carriages—everything gave her the illusion of returning to Seris thirty years ago.
The neat and refined sea-blue military ceremonial uniform on Tina also drew much attention from the passersby. Other than the fact that anyone could tell from the fabric that the uniform was made of high-quality material, there was an even more eye-catching reason—her gender.
A woman dressed as a military officer—and not just one, but a whole group—in their eyes, this scene truly felt somewhat magical.
A port official responsible for reception walked beside them, tirelessly introducing the specialty products of their country. From time to time, he sneaked glances at the expressions of Tina and the others, trying to see whether anything caught their interest.
Tina and her group had requested docking under the name of being the vanguard escorts of a merchant caravan. With the added advantage of their female identity—plus the fact that their steel warship had very few gun barrels—the other party had only reluctantly agreed.
Except for the countries that had actually been beaten by the Alliance or had seen the Alliance beat others, most regions still held the mainstream belief that the more cannons a warship had, the more intimidating it was.
Moreover, their gun barrels looked extremely slender. Compared with the mighty and robust cannons of the Empire’s navy across the sea, these looked practically like water pipes.
Ordinary people had little concept of caliber; they had no idea that cast-iron cannons, once stripped of their thick barrels, might not even exceed 180 mm in actual diameter—let alone compare with Seris’s 210 mm main guns.
So when Tina said they were the escort ship of a large merchant caravan, no one really questioned it. It indeed looked the part~
‘Our New Astal Free Port has extremely rich fishery resources. Our premium salt and various specialty preserved products are popular goods in other countries. And we also have a unique gemstone, beautiful in appearance…’
“Wait! What did you say this place is called?”
Tina suddenly spoke, cutting off his endless introduction.
The port trade officer appeared confused: ‘New Astal Free Port… Our royal capital is also called New Astal…’
The officers following behind Tina all paused and exchanged glances. In each other’s eyes, they saw the same shock.
Although hardly anyone in the Alliance mentioned that surname anymore, how could they possibly be unfamiliar with it?
Tina forced herself to suppress her wildly pounding heart: “This is the surname of your country’s royal family?”
‘Yes…’
Tina quickly reviewed the Empress’s family line—that less-than-one-page genealogy. In the generation of her grandfather, aside from Ackerman, there had also been a great-uncle, Murat, who died young.
The recorded explanation for his death stated that decades ago, while serving as a member of the escort team protecting a princess from Ovinia during her marriage alliance, their fleet encountered a sea-beast attack, and the entire escort team perished at sea—so he was naturally declared dead.
Now it seemed—was it possible that he hadn’t died?!
It wasn’t just Tina who thought of this; everyone else did as well.
Nowadays, citizens within the Alliance might even be more familiar with the Empress’s own history and family background than the Empress herself, which was thanks in part to the Empress’s own actions.
When she first rose to power and wanted to solidify her slogans and declarations to eradicate the old aristocratic class—using their massive wealth to pave the way for her continuous expansion—she had to thoroughly sever her ties with the traditional nobles.
Nothing was truly impossible to sever because anything could be reinterpreted—such as dividing nobles into “new” and “old,” and then redefining the distinctions between them.
This included, but was not limited to, publicly releasing her family genealogy and later allowing her personal industries to be subjected to public supervision.
She had never claimed to live frugally, nor spouted nonsense about an emperor of a nation being so poor that the household could barely keep its pot from going empty. If one could not do something, it was best not to pretend from the beginning—overly high expectations always resulted in backlash.
Thus, from the beginning, she had legitimately surrendered most of her lands to the Federation in exchange for the manor estate, and after founding the nation, invested in several state-owned enterprises.
Such things—there was no need for anyone to dig into them. She directly made them into reports and posted them publicly for citizens to read: what she invested in, what earned profit, what lost money, what assets she possessed—allowing citizens to have a clear picture of her situation.
No need to guess—look, everything was right here.
Compared to the concealment of the past, her unconventional openness turned out to be surprisingly effective.
This was also the primary reason why, to this day, her public image had not suffered problems and even appeared very down-to-earth.
Fair, just, and open. What is what, and what is not, is clearly stated. If the citizens lived well, she lived well too.
Many officials followed this pattern as well. For example, provincial-level cadres also had transparent genealogy and asset disclosures. This even subtly became a trend—thought to be beneficial for future advancement.
Mitia’s approach to their compensation was extremely clear: everything was pooled together, and including her own family, they all invested jointly into state-owned enterprises.
They received a portion of virtual shares from the national companies, guaranteeing stable dividends. During their time in office, their families were prohibited from investing in private enterprises.
In other words, newly promoted mid- and high-level cadres, aside from fixed wages and benefits, also enjoyed annual dividends from state-owned enterprises—making the income of mid- and high-ranking officials extremely substantial.
Although shares would be reclaimed upon retirement, the earnings accumulated during their tenure were already enough for their family to pursue other ventures—and at worst, they could ensure generations of prosperity.
This seemingly unreasonable iron-rice-bowl system was actually widely accepted—and even strongly supported—by most citizens.
Because within the Seris governmental structure, anyone might enter, and anyone might rise. In theory, everyone had the opportunity to enjoy these benefits.
Many times, ordinary people were not upset that someone was wealthy. What they truly could not accept was opacity and unfairness.
They even hoped officials were wealthy—otherwise, poverty would make them walking time bombs. Whenever someone was arrested for corruption, citizens often remarked that it was “just as expected.” In essence, it was a psychological expectation problem.
Mitia’s integrity-cultivation system addressed the fundamental conflict between the two groups. As long as the Alliance did not collapse development-wise, the chances of major corruption at high levels remained extraordinarily low.
Once food and the family’s future were secured—and their interests bound to the nation—most people holding public authority were willing to work toward the country’s future.
During the rest of the journey, Tina occasionally asked indirect questions, trying to learn more about the royal family of this country. But she did not dare to ask too directly.
Discussions about royal families were sensitive topics in most countries and could easily trigger suspicion.
However, the trade officer—perhaps eager to sell something—responded to anything Tina brought up.
Gradually, Tina learned from him the legends surrounding this royal family.
In the beginning, there had been only one nation on this continent. Later, the king suddenly died without leaving a will. Normally, this would not have been an issue because the new king would undoubtedly be the crown prince, following the aristocratic tradition of eldest-son inheritance.
But the younger prince had long been training with the navy, responsible for the kingdom’s external military operations and clearing out pirates—deeply loved by naval personnel and coastal residents.
Given the size of this continent, their military development inevitably prioritized the sea over the land. So when the younger prince refused to relinquish his military authority, the newly crowned king boldly launched a campaign to encircle and suppress the “rebellious forces.”
Yet as the fighting continued, he realized he had no viable way to deal with the situation. That was the nature of naval warfare—he might not be able to defeat you, but if he wanted to run, you truly could not stop him.
Furthermore, their numerous battleships had cannons with tremendous firepower—sufficient to threaten the land while simultaneously blocking the sea.
The excessively high additional war taxes soon triggered riots in the rear, causing the new king’s forces to fight with increasing difficulty and gradually be pushed back.
In the end, both sides signed an agreement dividing the territory under their governance, allowing the new king to withdraw his main army to quell the internal rebellion.
The leader of the uprising that formed this branch—Astal I—had documented records stating that he and his wife had fled here from the Main Continent and were among the first leaders of the riots.
This was because the couple could use powerful magic, the kind only nobles typically used.
If a child from a commoner family was not accepted into an academy, magical talent was useless, as it required systematic study.
The new king’s army had originally retreated from the frontline battlefield in defeat, their morale extremely low. During the subsequent suppression campaign, they fell for the ambushes set by guerrilla fighters who had learned their tactics without formal training.
This allowed the region to successfully achieve de facto independence, establishing their own new kingdom.
Well, both of these kingdoms were not recognized by the Kingdom of Rotra, and even now the two sides frequently clashed.