Education:Begin teaching Children Basic Concept like Mathematics, Language and Logic or if the Parents give the Schools enough money then the Children can be tought more specialized Professions (Herbalogist, Blacksmiths, Etc.)
Mine Safety:Begin Experimenting with Coal air Filters and once a prototype succeeds in testing begin using them in the mine to reduce deaths from gas leaks, and to also combat this gas issue begin searching for a bird that squawks/chirps when exposed to methane gas. also begin using triangular support beam made of Heat treated wood (heated up over a coal fire to remove moisture) with Stone rods going through them to decrease chances of collaps
Government: Create a second test for morality and anyone who scores too low cannot get into parliament
Education: Start making languages a part of standard education, but disguise it as code-breaking, and use the neighboring civilisation's language as a hypothetical code that they have to decode. Make code-breaking a part of a logic course (code-breaking, basic logic, riddles, maths problems, etc) at further education (military, blacksmithing-idk, etc). make education mandatory (if it wasnt already). i will say how long as soon as i figure out how long the lifespan is for my creatures.
Economy: Create a bank system that is controlled by the government.
Military: Upgrade as many outposts as possible to permanent barracks for the military to maximise defence. Start building a wall between the furthest outposts to block off the main cities. Start fortifying the main cities against attacks. Increase military wages and armor production. Increase scout wages. Make cities self-sustainable (as much as possible) and increase research into better metals.
Interaction: send scouts and linguists (at least the people who we think would be good for it) along the border of the neighboring civilisation to try to decode their language.
Also, instead of having crappy sad arrows that don't burn you, I will set my arrows a blaze when I fire them!
I try to get people to join the military and conquer the southern parts of my continent. I will get this military by using paper as advertisements. If less than 100 come, I will have to make it mandatory.
I will start off by taxing people for money, People will make this money by farming or fishing to make food. With the money, you can buy anything you want if it is on the market.