Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 754 Republic
Isabella was indeed full of energy, and she started handling all sorts of matters as soon as she was released.

She'd been working through the night for several days in a row, which impressed Hughes. She was truly the kind of person who didn't need anyone to manipulate her; she could work overtime on her own initiative.

Drawing power from the furnace didn't elevate her to the extraordinary, but it did give her physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary people, which the Empress used for working overtime.
Hughes has been quite exhausted these past few days. Isabella not only goes about her own business, but also occasionally drags him along. After all, there are many things that require Castel's cooperation in Tiss's military campaign, and only Hughes can finalize many of them.

So Hughes, who had originally started to relax, has been working overtime a lot lately, and he's even developed dark circles under his eyes.

Although he didn't possess superhuman physical abilities, he had a symbiotic contract. When his body couldn't hold on, the banshees could replenish his life force. In other words, Isabella indirectly dragged the banshees into working overtime with her.
There have been results, quite a lot.

Hughes now understands where the prince's management skills come from. Being dragged into high-intensity work by Isabella every day, even a pig would at least learn to work overtime.

Besides, the prince wasn't stupid; he was just straightforward.

After Isabella's busy work over the past few days, the entire Duchy of Tiss has undergone a major overhaul.

The previous bureaucratic system wasn't bad, it's just not well-suited to the current situation.

Simply put, the Principality of Tiss has switched to wartime mode.

Hughes played a significant role in this; he was all too familiar with how an industrial entity could withstand the test of war.

Part of it was learned from the history of Earth, and another part was from Castells' deep-sea wars.

Castells had truly experienced the baptism of war, and Hughes had extensive experience in both frontline combat and logistical organization.

Now, he shares this knowledge with Isabella in discussions.

To be honest, Hughes was also very interested in the political system of the Principality of Tiss.

Hughes believes that the bureaucratic system built by Isabella is closer to a republic than a classical republic; she is very adept at using checks and balances.

Moreover, although Isabella held the highest power in the country, she was actually constantly distributing that power among herself.

She didn't even leave herself much of a way out; almost all the organs of power were elected by vote. Although the right to vote was not extended to all citizens, it was essentially close to a parliamentary republic.

Castells, in fact, was closer to a dictatorship in terms of its system. The power that Hughes had taken back was not truly distributed. If he were to pass away one day, Castells would inevitably have to go through a period of internal struggle and amend the laws before it could return to stability.

Isabella is different. She hasn't been in Bloodharbor these days, but her entire bureaucracy is running smoothly. This has made Hughes think that he should also reform Castell's system.

He wasn't so keen on building a political system; he was more interested in developing technology.

The two men had different focuses and their systems were completely different, but the final results were quite similar.

The reason is that Isabella had too much control over her bureaucrats.

In theory, under this system, the parliament—that is, her cabinet—should be able to check and balance her, but now the Duchy of Tiss only has her as the sole voice.

There's no complicated reason; it's simply because her approval rating is too high.

The entire bureaucracy was largely populated by her fervent supporters. While this was partly due to the purge that occurred upon her return to Bloodharbor, the fact that those who had supported the prince seamlessly switched to supporting her after she was reborn speaks volumes about her political acumen. These bureaucrats were almost all promoted from among the commoners, had received their education in Bloodharbor, and possessed an absurdly high level of loyalty to her.

This allowed all her reforms to be implemented smoothly without much disruption.

The entire Duchy of Tiss is slowly coming to life under her decrees. The former empress has set the war machine in motion as soon as she was born, just as she has just put on her crown.

There have been some recent disturbances in the refugee camps near Blood Harbor.

Every day, it wasn't just the Secret Order followers who came here; soldiers carrying proclamations walked through the shantytown and into the alleys, informing everyone of Isabella's conscription order in the name of Grand Duke Tis.

There are many complainers—they are the people of Tish. The nobles of Tish didn't think of them when they couldn't afford to eat, but now that there's a war, they're being asked to go to the battlefield. How could they possibly be loyal?
But soon, they became loyal.

There wasn't any particular reason; Isabella's asking price was simply too high.
Money can only buy temporary loyalty—but you can keep buying it as long as you have money.

Isabella was not stingy at all; the price she offered the soldiers was frighteningly high, enough for them to risk their lives.

As for where she will raise this huge sum of money...
Hughes has gathered a lot of intelligence through various channels; it seems the empress is sharpening her knives again.

This generous commission not only appealed to the refugees on the outskirts of Blood Harbor, but also tempted many workers.

Isabella offered higher rewards for knowledge, while the only way up from Hughes's factory was to work at the research institute, but many people weren't that interested in research.

The allure of expanding territory and earning military merit was immense.

In schools and factories, for the first time in Bloodharbor, a reverse flow of talent emerged, with Tiss beginning to siphon talent from Bloodharbor instead of the other way around.

Hughes did not stop them; in fact, he sent many people to follow and observe.

The brain drain is only temporary. As long as Blood Harbor and Castells keep moving forward and maintain an academic level higher than other places, there will never be a shortage of people.

The pursuit of knowledge is in a scholar's nature, which is also where the name "moth chasing the flame" comes from.

Isabella took this opportunity to extend Bloodharbor's industry to the entire Duchy of Tiss. She had already built a relatively simple but basically complete industrial system around Bloodharbor.

Now, this industrial system is gradually spreading to the entire Duchy of Tis and even the eastern part of the continent.

Although it was only a very basic industrial system, capable of taking over some of the production capacity eliminated by Blood Harbor and Castells, it was the first step in industrialization.

Once you start moving forward, everything will get faster and faster.

As activity gradually began to spread across the eastern part of the continent, changes also started to occur within the empire.

The Vatican began issuing some strange decrees, and subtle changes occurred in the interpretation of doctrine.

One day, a letter from the Empire was placed on Hughes's desk.

(End of this chapter)