It seemed some people were already dissatisfied with the division of post-war benefits between Jin Qiang and Lin Chen.

Lin Chen, of course, had no complaints.

He was exempted from taxes for six months.

These taxes were the kind you had to pay with your head bowed under someone else's roof.

Now that he could get them waived, why wouldn't he?

What's more, after killing the De's father and son, Jin Qiang didn't take a single one of Lin Chen's spoils of war.

These soul crystals were all Lin Chen's!

So what did Jin Qiang want?

Or rather, what did the forces Jin Qiang represented want?

Clearly, it was land!

Only now did Lin Chen realize that the fief of a Marquis of the Dragon Spirit Kingdom was 30,000 *qing*!

How big was 30,000 *qing*?

Well, before the game invaded reality, 30,000 *qing* of land was about the size of a county.

And how many Marquises were there in the Dragon Spirit Kingdom?

At least a hundred.

There were eight great Marquis families in Zhenhai Province alone.

Furthermore, these didn't include the nobles of the Imperial City.

How much land would that take to occupy?

Moreover, the above only accounted for the Marquises.

Above the Marquis was the Duke.

Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron.

With all levels of nobility taken into account, even if Blue Star had expanded hundreds of times and the Dragon Spirit Kingdom's territory was extremely vast, it couldn't withstand the long-term erosion by these nobles... At this point, conflict arose.

And Jin Qiang was sent by the King to Zhenhai Province as the Provincial Governor.

What he had to do was reclaim land.

To reclaim land and mines for the Dragon Spirit Kingdom.

Therefore, Jin Qiang wasn't simply admiring Lin Chen or helping the people of Blue Star.

It was all about interests.

What he wanted was the De family's 30,000 *qing* of land, including the population and mines!

What kind of person was Lin Chen?

A Blue Star native!

In the history of Blue Star, some dynasties had a very profound memory of the issue of land annexation.

So, when these Marquises of Zhenhai Province expressed their dissatisfaction with Jin Qiang's handling of the post-war benefits distribution, Lin Chen keenly realized... things were bad.

He was being used as a pawn!

The De family was dead.

But the nobles representing the 'De family's' interests were still around.

When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold.

Just like what Jinghai Marquis Huo Zhijin had said earlier: The De family is ending up like this today, maybe one day, it will be our seven families' turn, right?

The nobles would definitely try to stop the Dragon Spirit Kingdom from taking back the land.

Because they couldn't allow the King to set such a precedent.

Once the precedent was set, it would be like Pandora's Box, unstoppable. If it became a smooth undertaking in the future, would the Empire, having tasted the sweetness, let these nobles go?

Clearly, this was a class conflict within the Dragon Spirit Kingdom.

But now, Lin Chen had been directly dragged into this conflict by Jin Qiang.

Lin Chen, and the entire Sky Moon City, were being used as pawns!

Huo Zhijin.

The patriarch of the Huo Clan.

Also the Jinghai Marquis of the Dragon Spirit Kingdom.

It could even be said that he was the leader of the nobles of Zhenhai Province.

Once he left, the others followed.

This was undoubtedly a protest.

Expressing their dissatisfaction.

But the nobles could only do this on the surface.

They couldn't possibly attack Jin Qiang on the spot.

If they did, that would be rebellion!

So, these nobles would definitely take action next.

Would they...

Make a move against Sky Moon City?

Everything was unknown.

At this moment, Jin Qiang looked at Lin Chen and said, "Sky Moon City Lord Lin Chen, listen to the decree! The De family was tyrannical, harming the people, and ignoring the decisions of the King and the Council, launching an attack on the recognized Sky Moon City. Afterwards, the entire De family was wiped out, which was their just deserts. Now, by decision of the King and the Council, Sky Moon City Lord Lin Chen is granted the title of Viscount... and awarded 30,000 kaleidoscopic soul crystals."

Huo Zhijin and the others hadn't gone far when they heard Jin Qiang's powerful voice.

"Humph!"

Huo Zhijin quickened his pace.

Once outside the City Lord's Mansion, Dong Hu Xiao, the patriarch of the Eastern Fox Clan, said to Huo Zhijin with a smile, "Marquis Huo, this Lin Chen has been promoted again. Moreover, this time, the conferral only includes soul crystal rewards and no land rewards... What exactly is Governor Jin trying to do? Could it be that they really intend to break with convention?"

Convention!

What convention?

The convention was that since ancient times, the Dragon Spirit Kingdom's awards of nobility must be accompanied by a fief.

However, Lin Chen had been ennobled twice.

Both times, there was no land award.

Clearly, this was deliberate again.

It wasn't just deliberately targeting Lin Chen alone.

But targeting all the nobles!

In the future, when the King wanted to reward other nobles, he could point to this precedent, saying that Lin Chen was a Blue Star native who brought hundreds of thousands of people to submit to the Dragon Spirit Kingdom, and he didn't want any land when he was ennobled twice... So, everyone else shouldn't want land in the future either!

Upon hearing this, Huo Zhijin frowned and said sullenly, "After returning, contact the people in the Imperial City. I also need to ask the Grand Elder what the Council is doing and why they are tolerating the King's actions again and again!"

Judging from Huo Zhijin's words, it seemed the relationship between the King and the Council of the Dragon Spirit Kingdom was also very delicate.

These uninvited guests had finally left.

Lin Chen also quickly saw Jin Qiang off.

At the time of parting, as Jin Qiang boarded the airship, he said to Lin Chen, who had come to see him off, "City Lord Lin... oh no, Viscount Lin Chen, come to Fallen Leaf City when you have time. I have many people to introduce you to. In this new era, the King has high expectations for 'newly advanced' nobles like Viscount Lin Chen."

Clearly, Jin Qiang's words had a deeper meaning.

Having been used as a pawn once, Lin Chen, though late to realize it, couldn't help but be wary.

After Jin Qiang left, Lin Chen returned to the City Lord's Mansion alone.

He came to the Hundred Beast Garden.

This was where he kept his pets.

But Lin Chen wasn't here to choose a pet.

After all, there was nothing with a higher pet grade than the three he already had.

Moreover, the formation spirit of the ninth-level God-Slaying Formation couldn't be found here either.

In fact, Lin Chen felt that the best choice for a formation spirit was the Vermillion Bird.

After all, it was a mythical pet!

Its attributes and growth were extremely powerful.

The formation's bonus would also be huge.

However, Lin Chen didn't want to transform the Vermillion Bird into a formation spirit yet.

He had a lot of things to think about and do right now.

At this time, Zhang Chunlin and Liu Quan, as well as Liu Mengyao and Bai Shuyi, also came.

"What's up?"

Lin Chen asked.

Zhang Chunlin reported, "The rewards after this battle have all been distributed, and all the traitors have been thrown into the Azure Python Pool. Also... the Azure Python Boss first devoured Demile's corpse, then leveled up ten times in a row. After devouring the corpses of Demiga and Dela, it also ate those traitors. Now it's at level 130."

"As expected, these demon beasts are all raised in captivity."

Lin Chen said in a deep voice, "You can form a team to kill the level 130 Azure Python. After killing it, bring the Azure Python Pool's Secret Realm to Sky Moon City and put it in the square. You can treat the Secret Realm as a dungeon to farm. Also, the monsters in the Azure Python Pool will still respawn very quickly... Not just this Secret Realm, there are many Secret Realms outside the city that can be set up like this."

"Okay, we'll go right away." Zhang Chunlin nodded.

At this time, Bai Shuyi asked, "Is Mengyao coming with us too? Then... what are you going to do, Lin Chen?"

"I have things to do."

Lin Chen looked at Bai Shuyi and said, "I plan to go to Dragon Sea and Demon Sea to take a look... Has Winter returned yet?"

"No, I heard he went to handle some Chamber of Commerce matters. He also needs to promote this Commercial Exchange Conference. He told me it might be postponed for a few days because there might not be enough time. It's estimated that it will have to wait until the day of the Beast Tide attack." Zhang Chunlin quickly responded.

In Sky Moon City now, Lin Chen, the City Lord, actually doesn't manage anything.

Bai Shuyi, the Valkyrie, also doesn't manage much.

Ling Xiaoya just arrived, and besides, she's not the type to manage things.

As for Liu Mengyao...

She now has to live in the territory chosen by the Bright Saintess Clan.

She only came today because Sky Moon City had a major battle.

However, Liu Mengyao's parents do have a house in the city.

Liu Quan can also help Lin Chen manage the army. Those soldiers have now become Sky Moon City's garrison and are under Liu Quan's jurisdiction.

As for the rest of the matters, such as the arrangement of the mines, the production of minerals, the arrangement of residents' leveling batches, and the handover with Winter the merchant, almost all the trivial matters are handled by Zhang Chunlin alone.

It could be seen that Zhang Chunlin was sometimes overwhelmed.

Zhang Chunlin then said, "Boss, I forgot to tell you about this, but it's not that I deliberately forgot. It's just that there were too many things, and there was also the threat from the De family before..."

"I know."

Lin Chen glanced at everyone. Old Man Liu Quan had things to do, and as for Bai Shuyi and Ling Xiaoya, they were still focused on leveling up and cultivating their souls. These girls wouldn't manage things, so Lin Chen said to Zhang Chunlin, "If you feel like you can't handle it alone, then you can examine everyone more and then recommend some reliable people to come up and help. By the way, find me a secretary, someone absolutely trustworthy, who can help me handle things here in the City Lord's Mansion in the future."

Lin Chen didn't have much time to manage the city's development.

Therefore, he could only find someone to share this responsibility.

Only after finding the right person could he leave Sky Moon City with peace of mind.

Not just killing monsters and leveling up.

Lin Chen also had to find a formation spirit for the God-Slaying Formation.

In addition, Lin Chen had to go outside to find suitable undead.

At the very least, he had to find those Undead Bosses and directly snatch the undead controlled by those Bosses. It was estimated that it would save him a lot of detours!

"I can recommend someone, someone absolutely trustworthy... How about Jiang Tingting?"

Zhang Chunlin said to Lin Chen, "I'm also recommending someone based on their merits, regardless of personal relationships. She's Youyou's older sister, and Liu Hai and Wang Shangfang, those traitors, also planned to co-opt her, but it was because of her that I knew about their rebellion in advance. Besides, she used to be the president of the Journalism Department in school, and she has good management skills."

Speaking of which, Jiang Tingting did have merit.

After thinking about it, Lin Chen said, "Okay, let's just treat it as rewarding merit. Go promote it and then arrange for her to take office in the City Lord's Mansion!"

...

ps: The donkey in the production team has rested well, everyone come and see!

(End of Chapter)