"The Throne has signalled that it has an interest in the matter," Lady Renxiang replied. "But is still to allow the Duchess' lead."
...The concrete benefit we've seen the assimilation of the Cloud Tribes into the White Sky is that the White Sky have acquired a large population of warriors for their colonization projects. We know that the Empress has funded military projects focusing on increasing her military power in the short and medium term. This, I believe is the thread consensus, is preparation for the upcoming Empire-wide Civil War between the Sun and Bai, dragging in the rest of the Empire via alliances and generational grudges.This scholar thus advises that funding would be best allocated to building and fortification projects over the weaponization programs. The parameters provided by Her Divine highness indicate that short and medium short term projects are to be prioritized during this centennial
While the current talks for mutual peace and trade, a military alliance is not off the table in the future, especially if the Crone's winter migration, and thus the reach of the winter spirits of the White Sky, continues to move northward towards the Empire's current borders.
Or, in other words, the Empress is perhaps monitoring the possibility of the Emerald Sea dragging in another polity's armies into their upcoming civil war, I think. Whether she's contemplating using this to harm the Sun's faction or to block a possible increase in the Emerald Sea's military power, though, I can't tell.