Chapter 65: The Millennium Never-Sleeping City Project

The old Jarl slowly nodded, his voice tinged with a trace of helplessness and awe. "Very well, I am willing to submit to you and your house. I hope you will keep your promise and safeguard the status of my family."

He gently took Margaret's hand, knelt on one knee, and solemnly pressed a kiss upon her oath ring. "It is my honor to meet a great monarch like you in my lifetime. May I ask your honored name, my liege? I, Florent, hereby swear my allegiance to you."

Margaret’s voice was firm and powerful as she proclaimed her sovereign rule: "I am Margaret Robertsdotter, the Sovereign of Gotland!"

The soldiers on both sides were shocked by this scene, whispering and murmuring among themselves. The soldiers of the old Jarl's territory, in particular, could hardly believe their eyes. Could the old Jarl have surrendered so easily?

Margaret smiled slightly and said to Florent, "Very well, Florent. Go back now, gather your soldiers, board your warships, and join my fleet. We shall set sail together for Eastern Europe, where the winters are milder, the lands more fertile, and there is a greater abundance of people and treasure. The domain I promised you shall be fulfilled there."

She watched as Florent boarded a small boat to return, and then she went back to the fleet alongside Ralph.

While waiting for old Florent's return, Margaret did not idle away her time. She fetched a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to sketch and write intently. What she was conceptualizing was the design blueprint for the new royal city.

Although the conditions were crude and she could only draw a rough sketch, she had already planned to discuss and refine the design with craftsmen later on.

In her grand blueprint, this new coastal town would be located three kilometers inland from the coastline. This would leave enough space for the surrounding residential areas while remaining convenient for maritime trade and defense.

She also had an even bolder plan: to artificially heap up a massive mountain, atop which the royal palace would stand proudly. In this way, the palace would overlook the entire landscape of the town while symbolizing supreme and absolute power.

However, this design also brought a prominent drawback, namely the issue of water supply. Once the royal city was besieged by enemy forces, the palace situated atop the mountain would face a severe shortage of drinking water.

For this problem, Margaret already had a preliminary concept. She considered collecting rainwater and then purifying or condensing it to obtain clean drinking water. Of course, all of this required further research and experimentation.

Yet, she also understood that if the royal city were truly encircled deep within enemy lines, the destruction of the kingdom would not be far off. By that time, resistance might have lost its meaning. Therefore, she was now more focused on how to build and develop this new royal city, turning it into a powerful trading hub in Northern Europe and even the entire Eastern European region.

Margaret's design of the royal palace was full of vision and creativity.

She planned to lay out four spacious grand avenues on the peak of the mountain, symmetrically distributed along the southeast, northwest directions, which would not only be aesthetically pleasing but also functionally practical.

She also intended to establish friendly relations with the distant Great Tang through the Silk Road, hoping to persuade the Tang court to help her find the rare "Luminous Trees" and "Lantern Trees."

However, she was well aware that in this era, the Tang emperor would not easily agree to such a request, as China held a condescending attitude toward other nations. Even beggars, nurtured by such national self-confidence, considered accepting charity from foreigners to be a humiliation.

Though Margaret came from a later era, she could well understand the national pride possessed by those ancestors of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. It was probably the mindset of "a starved camel is still bigger than a horse"—contempt was contempt, even if one were reduced to begging.

Luminous trees were mainly distributed in northern Africa and the Jinggang Mountains of Jiangxi, China. The phosphorus in their leaves, when reacting with oxygen in the air at night, would emit a cold glow, making the nighttime scenery exceptionally bright.

As for the other plant she yearned for—the "Queen of the Night" (black tulip)—it grew in Cuba in South America, its pistils rich in phosphorus, glowing like fireflies at night.

Regarding South America, Margaret felt somewhat conflicted. Although the land in South America was geographically more fertile than that of Eastern Europe, the population at the time was sparse and the region isolated, making the difficulty and cost of conquering it quite high. Even if it were given to her for free, she was somewhat reluctant to develop such a place.

In Margaret's vision, this town would be rendered breathtakingly beautiful by its unique luminescent plants. She planned to search for luminous mushrooms growing in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. These mushrooms emitted a green glow at night and were known as "green terrestrial jellyfish."

By using fertilizers rich in bone meal, she hoped to create a mysterious, glowing town. However, she also considered that if the phosphorus content in the soil was too high, it might produce massive will-o'-the-wisps, making the town somewhat eerie, resembling a real-life underworld. This thought made her chuckle despite herself.

Aside from luminous mushrooms, she also intended to look for a fungus called "Star Chrysanthemum." This fungus, which would later be found in the Australian grasslands and Brazilian tropical forests, had mycelium that glowed at night. Through special chemical substances within their bodies, such as phosphorus or luciferin, these plants created unique light and shadow effects at night.

Although ethereal ghost fires constantly flickered in her mind's eye, she believed that as long as the amount of bone meal used was well-controlled, no problems should arise.

She looked down at the rough sketch in her hand and decided to refine the details later. Margaret imagined using Gothic-style architecture to impart a minor ancient shock to future generations.

She thought with excitement that perhaps one day in the future, the future royal city existing in her mind could be listed among the ancient architectural wonders of the world, alongside the world-famous Egyptian Pyramids and the Great Wall.

Margaret knew deeply that time was her greatest ally. She could, like the old man moving mountains, realize her grand vision bit by bit. Even if she only laid one earthen brick a day, continuous reincarnation would eventually allow her to construct a magnificent town.

She even imagined casting a palace out of precious metals; she had enough time to plunder the wealth of the entire world. By then, her fortune would probably make the camels of later generations pale in comparison.

Just as Margaret was immersed in her delightful fantasies, old Florent's fleet had set sail to rendezvous with hers. She frowned, noticing that the number of men brought by old Florent seemed somewhat small, numbering no fewer than four hundred. She surmised that due to the sudden turn of events, the soldiers from other villages on the island of Faeroe had not yet gathered.

However, she did not intend to let this delay her journey. Margaret decided to wait no longer, directly ordering the fleet to untie and set sail.

Standing on the ship, she grabbed the rigging with her left hand as the sea breeze whipped her hair backward. With absolute confidence, she proclaimed in her heart: "Villages of Eastern Europe, prepare to welcome your future sovereign!"

Margaret's declaration was not merely the unrealistic, second-syndrome outburst of an edgy youth, but the display of future ambition by a chieftain and a monarch. Her status and strength made her declaration solemn and powerful, fundamentally different from ordinary boasts—much like how "Old Wang" and "Wang Old" both share the surname Wang, but the former sounds more like a joke.

The Curonian tribe of the Eastern European region was an important group active along the Baltic coast. They maintained close ties with the Scandinavians and borrowed the behavioral patterns of Viking raiders from them. Between the late seventh and tenth centuries, they began to form gang-like relationships centered on plunder and trade. This gang dynamic gradually evolved into a social structure during the ninth century, reaching a mature stage between the tenth and eleventh centuries, becoming a group with significant social influence.

However, the social structure of the Curonians was unstable. Although they formed tribal alliances, they never formed a unified state or a strong royal authority. The nature of these tribal alliances made them relatively vulnerable when facing external threats, such as when they were conquered by the Teutonic Order in the twelfth century.

This was precisely why Margaret regarded them as soft targets. In her eyes, pirated Vikings lacking the combat buffs of Norse religion were, after all, still pirated Vikings. She believed that in the face of her formidable military might, the Curonians would submit to her just like the ancestors of the Rus, Prince Rurik—the founder of Kievan Rus—who would later voluntarily ask to submit to him.

Margaret also planned to bring the faith of the gods to the Curonians, completely destroying their Druidic nature worship, altering their beliefs, and thoroughly assimilating them. Through this method, she would not only consolidate her rule but also enhance the combat capabilities of the Curonians, enabling them to play a greater role in her future conquests and expansion.