Xu Li’s red cape is tarnished by countless mud stains, his horse has countless leeches on its legs, while he could be seen clearly irritated at the dampness of his clothes.

Behind him is the fifteen men that he had brought with him to negotiate with Li Ming, they appear to be in even worse conditions than their lord.

Xu Li had no way to vent his frustration, and could only curse his sister, yet the horseman behind him seen used to this behaviour.

“Pure villainy, pure trickly, pure pettiness,” Xu Li cursed as he looked at the sky.

“Not only did that traitor manage to deceive me into thinking she was surrendering, but at the same time, she had offered herself for me to be brought to the emperor resulting in my mental fortitude becoming lowered, furthermore, she had managed to hide the canons under the sunlight to destroy the dam, resulting in Dongan being flooded, in a measly amount of time of a meal, she manages to crush my entire force of one hundred and fifty men, leaving me with only fifteen men remaining,” Xu Li continued, tightening his fist, but knows not where to place it, he gradually releases his grip.

The people behind him thought,” If it weren’t for you executing all generals that oppose your ideas leaving no one in command of the city if you were gone, at least the soldiers would put up a resistance.”

But they did not speak of and continued to road solemnly.

The road leads to Longjing.

Li Ming does not have her usual smile on, instead, a rather indifferent face appeared, while hints of sorrow could be seen in her eyebrows.

Despite the fact that a number of civilians of Dongan had fled, the majority had remained within the city. The resulting flood had killed thousands and destroyed innumerable houses.

This was why Li Ming did not express her usual benevolent smile, as she does not deserve to show such a face after killing innocents.

Regardless, Dongan had fallen, and along with that, the countless towns and villages under its control, it could be said that Huxi, a province with more than twenty million people, is under Li Ming and the revolutionaries control.

The first course of action was to remain the damage they had done, for this, Li Ming had temporarily instructed much of the army to focus on the reconstruction of the dam, while the remainder had gone downstream, in an attempt to relieve the impact made by the flood.

It could be assured that Li Ming would not inform the public that she had destroyed the dam, instead, she had purposefully spread rumours while hiring scholars to inform the public that the dam had been destroyed due to funds allocated to the dam disappearing due to corruption.

While Li Ming would not like to use such tactics, it would greatly reduce her popularity among the masses if the truth spread out.

“The old city is truly grand,” Li Ming thought to herself, staring at the soldiers still in their brown-red uniform working on the reconstruction of the dam, her hands held behind her.

Shifting her gaze toward Dongan, the water could no longer be seen, while the city itself is covered in an atmosphere of mourning, partly due to the recent tragedy, but also the death of their governor.

The governor of Huxi had been known to be mediocre and rather old, as he was appointed when the Emperor was still sane, his ability was atleast capable. Li Ming had originally planned to allow him to remain in power after inspection, as she currently lacks anyone experienced with governing a city, she would attempt to integrate anyone possible.

Yet the old governor had killed himself as a form of silent protest. In the end, Li Ming could only put up a front of respect, and leave the city to mourn, while she sent a message to Bingjiang for them to send her someone experienced with the governance of a city.

Ling Ping had acted surprisingly quick, sending the woman behind the old governor of Bingjiang. The person in question is currently standing beside Li Ming.

Other than possessing a pair of large eyes, she looks could be considered average while a scholarly air could be sensed surrounding her, holding her hands behind her back, perhaps to imitate Li Ming, she too looked toward Dongan.

Indeed, Ling Ping had sent a female to Li Ming, which had surprised her greatly, considering the patriarchal system in place within the Sui Dynasty, a woman would usually remain illiterate.

The two had yet to speak, as the female scholar had just arrived, and Li Ming had not asked her any questions.

“Greetings lady Li, my surname is Chen, while my given name is Ju, as in chrysanthemum,” Chen Ju took the opportunity to introduce herself, giving a slight bow, she smiled toward the silver-haired girl.

Usually, Li Ming’s warm smile would make anyone feel approachable and at ease, yet it was not here, causing her to give off a slightly icy air, looking at Chen Ju, who appeared to be in her late thirties bowing toward a girl in her adolescence, the scene that developed seems slightly humorous.

“Are you not married?” Li Ming, noticing Chen Ju’s hairstyle, suddenly asked.

Chen Ju’s already large eyes became even largely, before she replied,” Indeed, I have a history of working in the brothel industry,” she explained, it was at this point a wind blew toward Li Ming, who noticed she had a rather strong smell of perfume.

Despite not putting on any, the smell of pleasure house in ingrained within her bones.

Slightly frowning, Li Ming used her sleeves to cover her nose, before asking,” Why has Ling Ping sent you?”

“I had originated from a scholarly family, given education about the classics in secret, and later sent to the old governor as a concubine,” Chen Ju seems to not take any notice of Li Ming’s reaction.

“During those days, I had managed to eliminate the majority of his other concubines, and essentially gain control of Bingjiang,” Chen Ju said with a face of yearning.

“At some point, I had offended the old governor, causing him to sell me into a famous brothel, as my looks are rather average, I would not be able to repurchase my independence in a lifetime,” once she had finished speaking, Chen Ju took a deep bow toward Li Ming.

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“It is thanks to you that I am able to be free today, after you had organised the brothels to only allow free women to operate in sex work, due to this, I am deeply grateful,” Chen Ju remained in a bow.

“Furthermore, you have ousted the owner of the brothel, allowing my other sisters still working in the brothels to control their own fate,” Chen Ju stopped bowing and looked toward Li Ming.

Li Ming was quite surprised that Chen Ju had such a complex history, and even more surprised that she had gained such a valuable subordinate she when had offhandedly reorganised the brothel system.

Why reorganise instead of destroying? Xu Xiaomeng had asked this question to Li Ming countless times, to which Li Ming would simply smile and reply,” That is because they have no other choice in life, they only know how to please others, even if we were to educate them, some of them would still remain in the industry, the best I can do is to free those who do not desire to remain in this industry, while allowing those who remain greater control over their autonomy.”

“Furthermore, if I outlaw brothels, a system of underground brothels would surely appear, causing more harm for its workers, allowing a state-mandated brothel that protect the workers is the best option.”

Of course, Li Ming does not intend for brothels to run forever, when women in society become educated, they are free to pursue more noble aspirations.

Regardless, Li Ming had forcibly lowered her sleeves and put on her typical smile for the first time since she had flooded the city, appearing akin to a spring blooming, Chen Ju awed by the beauty of Li Ming.

“I am sure you would be famous if you were a courtesan,” Chen Ju accidentally let the words within her mind slip out, upon noticing what she had said, she quickly lowered herself in apology.

Li Ming did not pursue this matter further, approaching Chen Ju, the silver-haired girl lifted Chen Ju from her position. Patting the back of Chen Ju’s hands Li Ming said,” Lady Chen, I am not so petty that I would become bitter from a slip of the mouth.”

Chen Ju perhaps due to her days as a prostitute had developed a subservient nature, regardless, an air of intelligence could be seen around her, gaining the approval of Li Ming who appointed her as the governor of Dongan.

Distributing mass amounts of notices, she introduced Chen Ju as the new governor of Dongan. The content of the notices were rather extensive, as Chen Ju is not only the first female governor, not even to omit that she is the first from such a low status, therefore requiring a large amount of reasoning for her to be generally accepted.

Regardless, the civilians were not too bothered, and the nobles had long fled the city, causing little opposition for her appointment.

The city of Dongan had suffered shockingly little civilian casualties during the conflict, as the majority that had suffered from the flooding had been rescued, along with Li Ming’s lenient and swift take over of the city causing only a few thousand deaths aside from those of soldiers.

Thus, prosperity could be still seen in the ancient city.

As Chen Ju took the role of governor, Li Ming had relocated the administrative capital away from Bingjiang, into the city of Dongan, partly due to the historical importance of the capital, gaining her new revolution legitimacy to oppose the Sui Dynasty. Another reason for Li Ming’s relocation to Dongan is due to its vast network of roads and it’s a massive amount of people.

Yet the greatest benefit of Huxi is the absence of higher class, which had fled the province during its siege, while those who had remained in the province had their powers stripped, their servant’s independence granted, and their land redistributed into collectives, leaving them only in possession of their home.

As Huxi had a deep history as the historical capital of the Zui people, the amount of land revoked was quite extensive, the remaining nobles have remained in influenced this province for thousands of years.

Naturally, those in power would not peacefully give up their powers, and had resulted in the mass burning of crops and the slaughter of livestock in an effort of protest.

Yet shockingly to them, Lin Ming had completely anticipated this action. Soon after the crossing of Beixi bridge, countless skirmishes were led to gain control over much of the countryside of Huxi, where countless stalks of rice and grain were planted using the same collective system, in preparation to nullify this event, and the earliest batch being planted eight months ago.

While rice takes five months of maturation, the environment of Dongan is largely not suitable for its cultivation, resulting in relatively small yields. Yet the grain that had been harvested allowed enough food to sustain the twenty million inhabitants of Huxi.

In the end, the landlords and nobles that had burned their grain had all their properties revoked, and sentenced to forced labour in the fields as a consequence for the incalculable quantities of rice and grain they had burnt.

Ultimately, Li Ming had avoided a potential famine, mainlydue to foresight from her previous world.

Strands of silver-coloured hair could be seen in the governor’s manor in Dongan, which had originally been the Imperial Palace in the previous dynasty.

The building give off a regal aura, where the history of the previous dynasty could be seen, massive clusters of governmental buildings, residences for the imperial family, it’s servants along with countless artificial gardens and lakes could be seen.

The palace, built atop a hill, had largely escaped the effects of the flood, yet years of negligence as the imperial power moved into Longjing had made its buildings decays.

The servants within the palace could be seen busying themselves repairing the building. Perhaps they could no longer be called as such, as Li Ming had granted them independence from their status of servitude, replacing it with a contract that grant them a salary for their work, thus, they are more similar to someone employed by the state in her previous world.

The residence, which had formerly housed the old governor and his family, is empty say for a silver-haired girl and a lady with rather large eyes. Li Ming, holding her hands behind her back, she seems to be wandering aimlessly.

Li Ming nodded her head, expressing a great deal of appreciation for the architecture of the building, the floor constructed of marble showed the vast expenditures place in its construction, the dougong system of interlocked wooden structures showed the planning that had been placed for the palace, while the garden and ponds give off a tranquil atmosphere.

The dougong construction had become rather redundant after the introduction of cement and nails from the Far Eastern lands, with the current palace lacking the intricate system of construction used in the previous dynasty.

Giving off a slightly peculiar smile, unlike her typical smile, she gradually walked toward the main administration building, where Chen Ju is currently at work.

The former courtesan, upon seeing Li Ming, hurriedly bowed, yet once more Li Ming had stopped it, lifting Chen Ju with her slender arms, Li Ming saw a massive stack of paperwork and a still wet inkstone.

“Lady Chen, it is not appropriate to work at this hour,” Li Ming slightly frowning, reprimanded.

“Sorry, sorry,” Chen Ju replied with a slightly obedient smile, before going back to her table. Reorganising her documents, she proceeds to bow toward Li Ming, then afterwards left the room.

A slight smile broke out from Li Ming’s petite face, as she observed the documents Chen Ju had completed.

Clearly satisfied with her subordinate’s work, Li Ming placed her hands once more behind her and proceeded to wander aimlessly as before.

“Sir, it seems rather hypocritical of you to reprimand Lady Chen's overworking,” Xu Xiaomeng suddenly said.

“Why is that?” Li Ming asked as she arrived at an artificial lake, crouching down, she swept her fingers against its surface.

“Sir, naturally that is because you work for far longer hours than Lady Chen, while she had been working since dawn till midnight, your typical schedule is composed solely of paperwork, many days, you do not even sleep,” the silver bell-like voice once more rang out.

“Of course, lady’s body is immortal, therefore I no longer have the need to rest,” Li Ming replied with a smile, it appears that observing the dedication Chen Ju has for the city had lifted a portion of Li Ming’s guilt, resulting in her smile appearing much more carefree than before.

“Sir, unless I remind you, you would forever remain within your study,” Xu Xiaomeng spoke out once more.

Changing her smile to a hopeless once, Li Ming proceeded to return back into her studies, during which, Xu Xiaomeng continued to reprimand her.

Carefully closing the door behind her, Li Ming brushed her silver hair, afterwards, took a cold bath, and began to pick up her pen once more, leaving the room quiet except for the light sound of the pen against paper.

The unfamiliar moon hung over the night sky, while countless stars in unfamiliar arrangements could be seen as they reflect within Li Ming’s black eyes, the rather cold light shines over her fragile figure sitting by a mahogany table, causing Li Ming to look rather tired.