Greycastle, Neverwinter City.

Castle Meeting Hall.

With the growing size of the Administrative Office, the once-adequate hall now seemed somewhat small. Many key officials from various departments had to move small stools and sit behind their main and deputy ministers. More secretaries and assistants had to stand against the wall, packing the room with nearly two hundred people.

It seems necessary to build a dedicated assembly hall in the castle area to meet the needs of future meetings, Roland thought. These are just the senior officials of Neverwinter City. When the managers of other cities in the kingdom come to the new capital to report on their work, the entire first floor of the castle might not be able to accommodate them.

After recording this idea in his notebook, he clapped his hands gently, and the meeting hall immediately quieted down.

"I believe everyone is aware that the Torch Operation, which lasted nearly ten months, has been a complete success. Now our footprints have extended to the Fertile Plains hundreds of kilometers away from Neverwinter City, and the threat from the demons has been completely eliminated. From this moment on, the area west of Neverwinter is no longer the difficult and dangerous wilderness it once was, but a fertile land that can provide us with abundant resources!" Roland paused and raised his voice, "That's right, this plain, larger than all four kingdoms combined, will be the main direction of Greycastle's expansion for the next hundred years!"

The hall immediately erupted in thunderous applause.

Expanding territory is the achievement most valued by monarchs and the easiest way for officials to gain benefits. Even ordinary commoners can get a share of the great expansion. Now that there is suddenly a territory large enough to accommodate several Greycastles, its significance is self-evident, and no amount of praise is too much.

"I'm afraid the term 'Four Kingdoms' will become history in a few years," Barov said with a chuckle, stroking his beard. "Whether in terms of size or strength, they are far behind Greycastle."

"That's right. If history and biographies are still written as before, I'm afraid they will be laughed at by future generations."

"How about 'One Big and Three Small'?"

"Three Small Kingdoms is too awkward. It's better to come up with a new title."

"Agreed... I think Empire is very good."

The ministers discussed enthusiastically, and the atmosphere in front of the long table seemed somewhat high.

Roland didn't deliberately stop them, but left a blank period for them to enjoy the afterglow of victory before bringing the topic back to business. "However, I hope everyone realizes that this victory is only the beginning, not the end! Expelling the demons from the Fertile Plains only wins us a relatively safe living space. It doesn't mean they will stop fighting and give up their conquest of humanity. The real threat is the legendary Divine Will Battle. Only when the Red Moon is about to descend will the enemy show all their fangs! For the arrival of that day, the kingdom must now be fully prepared!"

"In other words, not only can you not have the slightest slack, but you must also put in twice the effort, understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Everyone roared.

Roland looked around the hall and nodded to Nightingale beside him.

The latter turned around and pulled open the curtain hanging on the wall.

The location where the Western Region map was originally hung was replaced by a large blackboard, and the blackboard only had one word: People.

"This is what I want," Roland said, word by word.

With the Western Region stabilized, the internal affairs unified, the army returned, and the people's hearts available, he had too many plans to implement, but none were more important than increasing the population.

To promote this policy as soon as possible, he even put the war summary and other matters behind.

It can be said that the population has become the biggest bottleneck restricting the development of Neverwinter City.

If the First Army of the Torch Operation had an armored unit, even the most rudimentary infantry fighting vehicle could foil the demons' ambush traps.

Although the completed first-generation piston engine had many reliability problems, these were minor issues for war. Having it or not was the primary concern.

It wasn't that Roland didn't know this, but that Neverwinter City's production capacity had reached its limit.

Whether it was steel production or the capacity of various factories.

A single decisive battle basically exhausted the accumulated artillery shells.

A railway spanning the plains used up most of the steel reserves.

Agatha's cooling separation method gradually became insufficient for the nitric acid required by the chemical plant.

The production line for individual grenades even occupied a portion of the already stretched explosive output.

It can be said that Neverwinter City has reached its ceiling in many areas.

Expanding production scale requires people.

Adding new production projects requires people.

Turning ideas and blueprints into reality requires the cooperation of multiple departments and a large number of people.

The population of Neverwinter City is still growing steadily, and has now exceeded 200,000. For other cities, this is already an incredible number. If another ten years pass, this place will inevitably become the core of the entire continent, and breaking through one million people will not be a problem.

If there hadn't been the unexpected turn in the Northern Expedition War, he might have been able to accept this result. But the fact is that the demons' actions deviated from everyone's predictions. Although the reason is still unclear, Roland felt a trace of unease. Even if the enemy gathered a large army and fought the First Army in Taqila, causing more than half of the soldiers' casualties and taking half a year to capture the city, it would be more reassuring than this.

Long-term operations were originally a contingency plan written in the plan.

But the demons didn't do that.

The deviation of strategic intentions means that changes have taken place in some invisible places. The unease brought about by this unknown makes him unable to be satisfied with the existing growth rate. Coupled with the return of the army, he decided to take some extraordinary measures to shorten this process.

"Your Majesty, this has always been the focus of the Administrative Office," Barov stood up and replied. "According to statistics, the influx of foreign population has not only not stopped, but the trend is steadily increasing. It is expected to double in five years—"

"I can't wait five years," Roland interrupted him. "If possible, I hope to achieve or even exceed this goal within this year."

Everyone couldn't help but gasp.

"Two hundred thousand people a year? Your Majesty, this is probably difficult to achieve..." The steward hesitated. "To achieve the influx trend you mentioned, unless there is unrest or famine, it is possible for such a large-scale migration to occur."

"You are talking about natural changes, and I am talking about administrative orders. If mandatory measures are implemented, this is not a difficult goal to achieve. In short, this long-term plan can be divided into three parts."

Roland held out three fingers and said in turn.

"—Equal migration, cross-border recruitment, and encouraging childbirth. This is what you need to do next."