My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 234

1. These [planned warlords] are supported by nobles—and those supporting them seem to be... what was it called, a duke?

What was that duke who held the top position in Ursus's Originium mining industry? Oh—the current Grand Duke Baikal? Hmm...

Yang Hao remembered his name. This Grand Duke wielded extraordinary influence in Ursus—especially within the current Ursus Empire, which had lost nearly half of its nobles after the civil war.

Yang Hao can't easily eliminate him right now, and he needs to save his political points for when they're more needed—so let's wait a while. Sigh!

2. Those warlords cannot control the entire army of the Ursus Empire. Apart from Her Majesty Catherine's personal guard, there are several army groups in Ursus that are loyal to Her Majesty. There is no need to purge them, but military reforms still need to be carried out.

3. Also importantly, these warlords didn't actually possess any real territory. Their only real industry consisted of facilities called mines...

...Um?

A mine...?

"Karina—are the mines in the Ursus snowfield all controlled by various army groups?" Yang Hao looked up and asked Karina, who was still busy not far away, "I mean—the mines that mine Originium."

"Huh? You mean this? Well... that's mostly true. But there are a few mines that are controlled by nobles, you know." Karina paused for a moment, then looked up and answered affirmatively.

Who are the staff inside?

"I'm not too sure about that...after all, I've never been to those places. But my father said that the people who work there are very poor, or maybe criminals or something?"

"Oh, I see. Okay, you can continue with your work."

"Yes."

Mines controlled by the military? Yang Hao had assumed that with the Ursus Empire reduced to nearly half its size due to the last civil war, those mines should have been shut down...

But it seems that those mines haven't closed yet, and there's a crucial reason why they can't be closed: they are the lifeblood of a certain group of armies and nobles, or rather, their most profitable industry.

This makes it more complicated to handle...

If Yang Hao were willing to risk another civil war in the Ursus Empire to force those warlords and nobles, both old and new, to abandon their Originium mines, and then find a way to develop unmanned mining machines to replace manual mining of Originium, then fighting another war would be worthwhile—but the problem is, Yang Hao doesn't have that technology now, nor does the entire Ursus Empire, and it could even be said that the entire Terra Empire doesn't have that technology.

While drone technology is gradually being adopted, it can't be used for mining—in most cases, drones are already troublesome enough for delivering newspapers, not to mention that all the technological equipment in this world requires Originium Arts to operate...

The mining drones Yang Hao needs are more advanced, and they must be machines that can be operated without any Originium Arts. Developing them will likely take three to five years. During this time, if Yang Hao rashly interferes with those mines, not only will he not bring any benefits to the Ursus Empire, but he also won't have a technology that can replace them within that period... So that's the troublesome part.

Alright, let's leave that aside for now—but while we can put the mines aside for now, we must deal with the affairs of the old and new nobles, as well as the warlords, right now.

"—Kosich, have Her Majesty Catherine invite those warlords and representatives of both the old and new noble families to come and stay for an extended period in her private capacity. I am currently not in the country, so I can only use hostages to restrain them for now."

"—Okay, I'll go right away. Anything else?" His wife sighed helplessly on the other end of the communicator: "Is there anything else I need to tell His Majesty immediately?"

"Please speak to Ms. Kal'tsit for me and ask if she has any suitable mechanical and electronic engineers she can recommend. We need talent to research drones that can replace ordinary workers in mining. We need to nationalize all mining areas and provide better benefits while weakening those guys' funding sources and increasing their burdens."

"Are you serious? Most nobles who made their fortunes in mining rely on almost free labor and cheap craftsmanship to make money... If you do this, even just letting the news out could cut off their source of income, and might even lead to another civil war in our country."

"Fighting another war would be better than letting these maggots continue to pollute our country—I know I'm being a bit radical, but believe me, I—"

“I’ve always trusted you. I just wish you could be a little gentler. I don’t want to come home exhausted all day, understand?”

"...I see."

Fine.

Since my wife has said so, let's slow down a bit.

Yang Hao sighed softly, thinking that since returning home from Kazdel, the problems he faced were likely to grow increasingly severe...

Chapter 147

Aside from the issues of warlords and the old and new aristocrats, Yang Hao, frowning, spent a long time scrutinizing the statistical data. He realized that for Ursus, the most pressing issue was...

...

It's still a population issue—and not just a population issue, but more importantly, a problem of population structure.

In the previous civil war between the Ursus Empire and the Sherlock Holmes, the Ursus Empire lost almost half of its population—almost half, which is a devastating blow to a large empire.

Moreover, the loss is not just literally half of the population. More importantly, more than two-thirds of the lost population consists of young and middle-aged adults who are capable of working, while the remaining third consists of children and the elderly who are almost unable to work. This has directly led to three particularly serious problems in the population structure of the Ursus Empire: a large number of women, a small number of young people and a large number of elderly people, and a small number of children and parents.

The former can be tentatively called a "gender crisis." In the report summarized by Her Majesty Catherine and her cabinet, the ratio of males to females among the young people in the Ursus Empire is now 1:3—that is, on average, one man corresponds to three women.

What does this mean? Even in Yang Hao's hometown, a certain red superpower that once fought a bloody war with the Hans, after losing tens of millions of male citizens, their male-to-female ratio only reached 1:2.7—and that country spent an unimaginable amount of time and effort just restoring human anatomy after the war, not to mention the predicament Yang Hao is facing now...

hiss...

A 1:3 male-to-female ratio... Even if there's a baby boom after the war and the birth rate skyrockets, given the current family structure of the Ursus Empire...

Sweating profusely, Yang Hao racked his brains, thinking: If the family values ​​of the people of Ursus are not changed, and the normal one-on-one marriage concept is maintained, the population will not be able to increase in the next 50 years no matter what.

Even if it can be improved later, the ensuing—no, the already emerging trend of an aging population problem—would be enough to kill this crumbling empire.

Not to mention that Yang Hao hasn't even had time to deal with that psionic being by changing the country's name yet—and besides, even animals know that reproduction will stop when it's not the right time. Once the Ursus Empire fully enters the era of large-scale industrialization, the population's birth rate will continue to decline during periods of intense competition...

Therefore, Yang Hao needs to solve this big problem as soon as possible...

Hmm... So what should we do? Mr. Yang Hao racked his brains, and after taking a sip of the chilled vodka that Karina thoughtfully handed him, his chaotic mind finally cleared up: He still had a way to take advantage of this good time before the baby boom, and quickly increase the population by changing people's traditional marriage concepts and improving their quality of life!

But is there any justification for doing this? Of course there is!

It is well known that wild animals will stop reproducing when the environment does not allow it—in other words, they will reproduce indiscriminately as long as the environment allows it.

Humans are animals, so if the Ursus Empire creates an atmosphere of "better quality of life," then families that might have only one child or no children at all will have two, three, or even more children—but Yang Hao currently plans to set his sights on the baseline of "almost everyone having only one child."

In this context, a plan to increase the birth rate by improving the quality of life is highly feasible—but the problem lies in...

The population structure and the male-to-female ratio are still a good issue.

so..

"Hey, Koschche, are you still there?"

Yang Hao cautiously mumbled something into the communicator.

"Hmm?" Then he heard his wife respond in confusion, followed by the clattering sound of her high heels on the floor as she walked down the hallway.

"So your wife is on her way to His Majesty's," Mr. Yang Hao asked tentatively after swallowing hard.

"That's right—in the Ursus Empire right now, the so-called 'monogamy' doesn't really have any binding force on nobles, right?"

"...Honey, what are you implying?"

The sudden chilling voice on the other end of the communicator sent a cold sweat down Mr. Yang's spine—he suddenly noticed the head maid's indifferent gaze, seemingly having arrived in that instant, reflected in the mirror in the room...

Not only Monica and Kosichä, but even Green, who was being held by Kosichä, felt the chill emanating from him—so I have to explain quickly, explain quickly!

"The population structure of the Ursus Empire has already collapsed to this extent. I think even if we move forward by a hundred years, with the birth rates of male and female infants being almost equal, it will be difficult to change the reality that there will be more females than males among the Ursus people in the future."

"Ok?"

"So why don't we allow men in the country to have two wives? I mean, if their bodies can handle it... and besides that, we also need to officially allow women to work in their current jobs."

—The Ursus Empire has now reached the point where it has to resort to polygamy to address the gender imbalance as much as possible. If this problem isn't resolved in this generation, then in less than twenty years, Yang Hao will probably see the kind of scenes he'd read in those erotic novels in Ursus: a group of desperate women, unable to find partners, shamelessly crowding around men trembling in the corner of a subway car...

He was just kidding, he really was kidding—but there's really nothing we can do about the population ratio problem right now. It's a fucking 1:3 male-to-female ratio.

Even if polygamy were legalized, there would still be a heartbreakingly high male-to-female ratio in Ursus where women would be unable to marry...

Therefore, it's not just about opening up the system of polygamy; it's also about getting women into factories, becoming highly skilled professionals, or even having them join the military.

This is a predicament that a country that has experienced a brutal war and lost almost half of its population must face—of course, if Yang Hao were willing to [bring in foreign population], it could be solved relatively easily.

But the problem is... he doesn't want to. And his wife and the mother of his child certainly don't want to either. Not to mention, even if Sonia's mother were to unilaterally agree, the influx of people would still be predominantly female, adding another mountain of weight to the already burdened shoulders of Ursus men...

so...

"...I need to discuss this with His Majesty for a while, as well as with the Cabinet."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

My dear wife, the mother of my children—

What do you think?

Chapter 148

After briefly reporting Yang Hao's plans to Her Majesty Catherine, Duke Koschke, holding Miss Green, slowly sat down on the sofa under Monica's watchful gaze.

She looked directly at Her Majesty Catherine, who was sitting on the sofa opposite her, her belly quite large. With Her Majesty's mental state deteriorating and her fatigue increasing, she needed constant care and attention. Sonia's return perfectly filled the void that Monica had been unable to fill.

Now, the clan matriarch no longer needs to take Hela around all day—Hela can take care of herself, and she is also very sensible, often going to play with the other young deep-sea hunters. So Sonia has now become Her Majesty Ekaterina's temporary servant, standing behind her and watching her with concern.

But that's not what Kosichrie cares about; what she cares about is...

"In short, we now need the army group and the nobles to hand over the hostages, right? But Your Majesty, you understand, I am only a Duke. I do not have the right to force them to attend a banquet."

“But I have it, so let me do it—but Duke Kosiché, you and I both know very well that those army groups trying to become warlords, and those nobles who, seeing the empire's temporary decline, still harbor disloyal thoughts, will be very dissatisfied, even…”

"Even before the entire empire had recovered... a second civil war was launched."

“Yes, a second civil war—we need to try to avoid a second civil war, but we also need to be prepared to face one. The return of Ms. Sonia with the vast majority of Ursus soldiers and Sarkaz mercenaries has certainly given us a boost, but... it's not enough.”

"...Even including the infected militia and regular army here, it's not enough."

"Moreover, even if we include the Sarkaz mercenaries of Kazdel, it's not enough—to be precise, it doesn't meet our conditions. We should try to end the war with an overwhelming force and avoid further damage."

What Duke Kosiché and Her Majesty Catherine were worried about was the military preparations for the second civil war—the civil war they now called the "Age of Rebellion."

Their demands were incredibly harsh. Even if Mr. Bozocasti were here, he would only make a relatively "normal" request—that our total military strength be slightly greater than the enemy's. But Duke Kosice and His Majesty the Emperor were demanding—a complete and utter crushing defeat in both quality and quantity, to minimize damage—a truly unreasonable condition...

However, from their perspectives, this is not unreasonable—from the Duke of Kosice's point of view, to prevent her husband's achievements from being destroyed in a second civil war, a complete military crushing victory was necessary. And from His Majesty the Emperor's perspective, to prevent their homeland from being crippled by this civil war, ending it as quickly and with minimal damage as possible was also essential. Their combined views essentially boil down to the same point:

A complete and utter crushing defeat in terms of military strength.

But achieving this is exceptionally difficult: after all, the Ursus Empire is already at the bottom of its decline. Although the birth rate will be guaranteed in the future due to the post-war baby boom, the excessively large male-to-female ratio is in near-irreconcilable conflict with the Empire's labor needs and the current manpower requirements of the Ursus Royal Army: if you want people to develop industry, then military expansion will inevitably be halted. If you want to expand the army, then your industry will stagnate to the point that it cannot provide sufficient products for all cities.

Both of these require personnel, but according to the current worker regulations of the Ursus Empire... Ursus women cannot engage in heavy labor such as factory work or serve in the military—however, the suggestion made by the husband of both Duke Kosichä and Her Majesty the Emperor has solved their immediate problem to some extent...

"...Letting women go to factories and the army is a good plan...After all, there are quite a few female nobles who are heads of households now, not to mention that we have an empress here - this policy should be easier to implement, it should be."

"Not only that, it is also feasible for women to join the army. Although they will initially be logistics soldiers such as medics, it is reasonable if this can help us convert a large number of logistics personnel into frontline soldiers."

"But this requires a long time to prepare, and I'm not sure if we have that much time."

"So, what you need right now is a large number of high-quality... [resources] that can arrive soon, right?"

As she said this, Her Majesty Catherine turned around and looked at Ms. Sonia, who was completely bewildered and had no idea what political matters they were discussing.

Not only His Majesty the Emperor was watching her, but Duke Kosiché and Head Maid Monica were also watching her.

"that?"

Under the gaze of so many people, Sonia's mother became a little nervous for a moment. She took two steps back, somewhat flustered, and then whispered:

"If you want my juniors to come... I should be able to send some of them. But..."

"...Trouble."

"...I see."

Sonia's mother was dragged into this mess by the two powerful heads of the family, and her younger relatives were also involved. Although more than a decade later, an ever-growing city called Agor appeared in the Dukedom of Koschche, she was still in a state of utter despair and helplessness.

Having alleviated the issue of manpower to some extent... Her Majesty Catherine and Duke Kosiché silently moved the meeting to the next item—that is...

“...Duke Kosiché, I said—”

“Your Majesty, you don’t need to say it, I know what you’re thinking—I don’t think he’d dare bring any new girls back from outside. This is probably the best way he can manage the current population structure of Ursus after careful consideration. I mean, if you don’t want to see a bunch of Victorians or Columbians or people from other places crowding us Ursus people into a minority.”

"...Ugh."

While allowing men in Ursus to have two wives, the plan further elevates the status of women in Ursus, who were originally considered to be of lower social standing—to be honest, even His Majesty the Emperor could only manage a wry smile at this contradictory proposal.

And more importantly, in general, the person who proposes the motion has to "test the law" themselves for such things to happen...sigh.

It seems the title of duke was bestowed in vain. Her Majesty shook her head, and under the watchful gaze of Duke Kosiché, who had inexplicably become wary, she began to discuss the future.

Chapter 149

In short, Her Majesty Ekaterina and Lady Kosiché both agreed to Yang Hao's new policy, which in future generations might make almost all married men in Ursus pale, but it would also bring about a shortage of people in Ursus and plug the gap in the population ratio.

Upon receiving the news, Yang Hao breathed a huge sigh of relief—but perhaps to make her tone sound incredibly somber, Duke Kosice still delivered a chilling, teeth-gritting laugh as a warning to him:

"But the problem is, by doing this, you, as the one who proposed this bill, and as the Speaker of the Imperial Council at that, must personally break the law... Ah, do you understand, my dear..."