Despite feeling helpless, Perfikot still had no great ideas to change the current situation before her.
Aside from sending telegrams to Langton inquiring about the recruitment progress and urging them to come swiftly to the Northern Territory, she really had no better solutions.
Under her hand, there were only a few people left, the rest being fighters, who excelled in battles but could hardly be relied on for research or internal affairs.
Perfikot felt it was a mere self-inflicted torment.
If it were in the feudal era, perhaps it would be manageable. After all, knights were somewhat literate and had learned basic document writing and territory management.
During the feudal era, knights were essentially the lowest level of lords, needing to grasp both military and administrative control over their fiefs.
However, their management skills were only sufficient, and expecting substantial capabilities from them was purely wishful thinking.
After all, the knight’s fief was basically just a village, with not many aspects needing management, as long as taxes were collected, disputes in the territory resolved occasionally, and peasants were conscripted as cannon fodder during wars—that was sufficient.
Hence, when knights acquired larger fiefs and higher titles, they typically hired several civil servants to assist in managing their territories.
The Brandlis Clan had such arrangements originally, but after the death of the old Baron, Perfikot’s parents’ indifference to territorial matters resulted in these responsibilities gradually falling into the hands of the old steward, who managed them.
By the time Perfikot took over, she dismissed all the household maids, let alone those assistants. Content originally comes from novèlfire.net
Moreover, following military reforms in the Empire, nobles lost their military power, consequently diminishing their control over their territories.
Small fiefs like those of the Brandlis Clan no longer had their own administrative rights. Although everything within the territory remained under the lord’s management, and taxes were still collected by the lord, the independence was significantly reduced.
As for those large noble territories, they had long been taken over by the Empire, managed by specially appointed administrative personnel, and taxes were uniformly collected by the Empire’s official tax department, with only a part of the revenue going to these large nobles.
This was one of the reasons Perfikot’s pioneering rights were so valuable, as she possessed full military and administrative autonomy.
Simply put, as long as Perfikot didn’t rebel or publicly declare independence, even if she extorted in the territory or revived archaic feudal customs like initial night rights, neither the Empress nor the Empire’s government could intervene.
The ability to train her own army and levy taxes, with the Northern Territory far away from the Empire’s heart, quite frankly, Perfikot had the capacity to establish her own Independent Kingdom.
Thus, she had to personally handle many tasks herself, rather than stick to her original plan of solely managing the apocalyptic disaster response, leaving military and administrative matters to the Empire’s government.
In fact, she could currently delegate everything to the Empire’s government, allowing them to send internal affairs officials to manage everything in the Northern Territory, but that would mean relinquishing all autonomy and becoming subject to others.
In Perfikot’s initial plan, this was not a problem.
Or rather, her initial plan only considered how to survive, without taking other aspects into account.
But after Eldest Princess Annie approached her and promoted the so-called Arctic Expedition Plan, Perfikot’s trajectory began to increasingly deviate from her original path.
Now, reflecting on her past self from a few months ago, she couldn’t have foreseen things evolving to their current state.
However, if Perfikot were to give up now, and revert to her initial plan, focusing solely on her survival, she still wouldn’t be willing to.
Despite the massacre in New Shaker City, suggesting she may be brutal, Perfikot was actually quite kind-hearted, merely choosing to sacrifice a small portion of people for the survival of many.
Now, abandoning the Northern Territory’s promising pioneering initiative, reverting to just her survival, Perfikot found such selfish or thoughtless acts untenable.
Because she discovered from the steam turbine issue that she couldn’t entirely detach from society.
Since mankind entered the industrial age, production and manufacturing were no longer individual endeavors.
With industrialization, production and manufacturing had increasingly systemic development, forming new industrial chains, no longer accomplishable by an individual.
Like Perfikot’s Flying Airship, while it seemed like she completed its design and manufacture alone, reality was different.
Upon reflection, the engine was purchased, crucial components custom-made, even the materials for the hull and balloon were bought.
This demonstrated her inability to detach from society, as these were deeply intertwined with society as a whole.
If society’s overall industrial level hadn’t progressed to a stage where such products were available, even with all her genius ideas, she wouldn’t have been able to actualize them.
It’s like impossible to create a computer in the primitive era or a spaceship in the steam era, lacking industrial capability means it can’t be made.
Even though alchemists might use their skills, without underlying theoretical knowledge, they couldn’t make things they didn’t comprehend.
For instance, the turbine blade material needed for Perfikot’s steam turbine would’ve been unobtainable without someone discovering chromium, as it’d be impossible to create chromium stainless steel even if alchemists racked their brains.
They might produce other materials with similar characteristics, but it wouldn’t be chromium stainless steel, since extracting chromium or discovering natural chromium alloys is essential for related technical research.
Let alone the significant impact of metal materials’ thermal treatment on their properties, meeting technological demands requires social and technological progress.
While alchemists are strong enough to compensate for some technical deficiencies, industrial production isn’t achievable through mere craftsmanship.
Even if Perfikot could manufacture a usable steam turbine herself, creating a fully functional one would take a considerable amount of time and effort, let alone mass production.
"So, should the factories be established first?" Perfikot stood somewhat disappointed atop Eagle’s Beak Cliff, overlooking the base below, sighing, "Still short on people!"
However, as she turned to leave, she noticed a small black dot appearing on the distant horizon.