Upon hearing Elashia mention the [Goblin Emperor], Cecilia immediately switched to an extremely serious expression.
"Your Majesty, if your descriptions are all accurate, this war will be very difficult for us."
Elashia, who had already prepared herself mentally, also nodded seriously:
"I know. Now analyze the general situation for me."
Although Elashia knew of the [Goblin Emperor]'s existence and power, she actually didn't understand the specific details of the upcoming battle very well, because in the game she could only see a few units moving around.
But real war wasn't about moving pieces and pressing skill buttons.
Cecilia replied:
"First, according to your intelligence, the [Goblin Emperor] possesses basic strategic ability, so it will definitely choose to act at night, because goblins' night vision far exceeds ordinary humans'."
"Then, since you say they will definitely choose to directly attack the Imperial Capital, they must possess siege equipment. The combination of goblins and siege warfare is unheard of, so we have no response experience and can only deploy defenses based on imagined scenarios."
"Also, in terms of combat units we're at a severe disadvantage. According to your description, the enemy will have roughly two hundred thousand troops, including several thousand variant goblins."
"But the Imperial Capital only has twenty-five thousand Imperial Guards. Responding will definitely be very difficult, so we'll absolutely need to issue imperial summons to the northern lords later."
"But now all the northern lords are conducting goblin extermination, and regional banditry hasn't been resolved yet, so we can't have them bring too many troops to help the Imperial Capital."
Hearing this, Elashia nodded heavily.
Northern Elasia was still not peaceful now. The armies in the lords' hands couldn't possibly be mobilized in large numbers, or the bandits everywhere would cause chaos.
Cecilia continued:
"So my plan is to call ten thousand people from the lords' hands. Any more might create very serious hidden dangers."
Elashia nodded in agreement.
Cecilia finally said:
"That's roughly the battle situation, but there's one very important matter I don't know how to handle..."
Hearing her question, Elashia's expression became even more grave as she asked in a low voice:
"Are you asking about how to handle the civilians between the Imperial South Mountain Range and the Imperial Capital?"
Cecilia nodded heavily.
"Yes, Your Majesty. When the [Goblin Emperor] acts, they will definitely pass through the plains there, and the civilians will suffer."
"But if we issue evacuation orders, how should we resettle these nearly ten thousand people?"
Elashia nodded heavily.
"This problem is indeed thorny and involves many issues. I'll discuss the specific method with Candice first."
After speaking, Elashia no longer lingered on the city walls and headed directly to the Government Affairs Hall.
It was about time to consider this matter.
Most game guides basically recommended ignoring these people and letting them fend for themselves.
The reason was simple—resettling these people not only cost money but was also very troublesome.
As plains under the Imperial Capital, the plain region from the Imperial South Mountain Range to the Imperial Capital was extremely prosperous, with at least ten thousand people needing evacuation.
Moreover, most people didn't believe the government and were unwilling to leave their prosperous homeland, even thinking the government was deceiving them.
Getting these people to move required coercion and inducement, taking considerable effort.
Furthermore, population migration of this scale could cause many problems—what would tens of thousands of people eat, how to ensure it didn't affect public security, where to arrange them... these were all thorny issues.
So in the game, it was better to just issue notifications and then ignore everything—this saved money and effort.
Anyway, once these people died in goblin attacks, there was no need to worry about them anymore.
But the current Elashia couldn't do this!
Elashia, who would be eliminated if ten percent of Elasia's population died unnaturally, absolutely couldn't accept this number of casualties!
Even if they were troublesome citizens, she had to save them!
So this problem really couldn't be avoided.
Soon, the troubled Elashia arrived at the Government Affairs Hall.
Under guard escort, Elashia entered the Government Affairs Hall, walked to Candice's office door, and knocked.
"Please come in."
Hearing Candice's calm voice, Elashia pushed open the office door, walked in, and sat across from Candice.
"What's the matter?"
Candice was still buried in work, not looking up.
"Candice, it's me."
Elashia's voice didn't sound as cheerful as usual, but rather seemed somewhat troubled.
"Your Majesty?"
Candice looked up somewhat surprised.
Elashia had hardly come to this place since completing her coup.
Her Majesty Elashia before her obviously looked troubled, as if she had important business to discuss.
What matter could make Elashia, who completely ignored government affairs, specially come to the Government Affairs Hall to find her?
Candice immediately understood what it was about.
"Your Majesty, are you asking about the civilians in the northern plains?"
Candice understood Elashia too well. In this girl's eyes—someone who didn't care about her own reputation or power—only one thing was truly important: life.
After hearing Candice's words, Elashia nodded heavily again.
"Aunt, no matter the cost, I hope to save these people. Do you understand?"
"I know that in these people's eyes, leaving the land they depend on for survival means they have no way to live, so they'll definitely strongly oppose our evacuation orders."
"But I want every single one of them to survive, even if it means using violence and conspiracy..."
In the game, Elasia had experienced years of tyrannical rule, and most people didn't trust the government.
Moreover, in their eyes, leaving the land they depended on for survival meant only death.
So the result was that almost no one obeyed evacuation orders.
The final outcome was that these people unwilling to evacuate all died at the hands of the goblin army.
If she wanted to save these people, there was only one method—have the army and guards forcibly use violence to drive these people to evacuation sites.
However, doing this would definitely cause Elashia's popular reputation to deteriorate greatly.
But now Elashia couldn't care about that much—she had to ensure every single one of these people survived!
Looking at the resolute-faced Elashia, Candice showed a relaxed smile.
She was after all a political veteran of over two hundred years. If this were really something particularly difficult to handle, someone as meticulous as her would never let it drag on until now to resolve.
Since she hadn't started handling this matter yet, it meant—in her planning, this matter had no difficulty whatsoever.
Looking at Elashia with meaningful eyes, Candice showed a somewhat playful smile.
This Her Majesty the Empress seemed to still not know what she represented in the eyes of Elasian people.