Compassion for the Farmers

Hong San took office that same day.

After the turmoil in grain prices and the economic crisis, the most urgent task for Distant Harbor was to stabilize prices and protect people's livelihoods. Accompanied by Han Zezheng, he spent several hours reviewing the city's economic structure and industrial distribution, and then convened an emergency meeting in the evening, summoning the anxious dignitaries to the meeting.

In the Justice Hall, again in the Justice Hall, the new ruler of the Distant Harbor offered a merciful suggestion to the fish on the chopping block: an opportunity.

Today is the fourteenth day, and the free food distribution program is about to end. People in the Distant Harbor must return to the days of earning food and clothing through labor, which requires sufficient job opportunities and stable prices.

However, most of the industries in the entire Distant Harbor are still controlled by these powerful and wealthy individuals.

Hong San's request was simple: start work immediately, stabilize prices, and maintain stability.

Given the heavy losses suffered by these people due to the grain price incident, Hong San offered to provide a low-interest loan, suspend the collection of the loan, and temporarily stop calculating the previous usurious interest.

In the past, if Hong San had made such a proposal, the nobles would most likely have taken it as a sign of weakness, and would have felt that the national economy and people's livelihood in Distant Harbor still depended on them, the "pillars of the nation," and then they would have become shrewd again.

But now they have been beaten into PTSD by Kang De's repeated iron fists of dictatorship. Originally, they could not escape the death penalty, but now they have been given a reprieve. The relief after despair is indescribable. Brother De syndrome quickly takes effect, and in an instant, they have developed a great liking for Mayor Hong.

Even if some people are fully aware that this is just a charade put on by this newly rich man from the Distant Harbor and his master, with two paths before them—one of which is the confiscation of property and extermination of the bloodline, and the other of which is a severely weakened but still viable option—they can't help but exclaim, "It's so tempting!"

Yes, all of this came at a price.

From now on, all commercial activities in the Distant Harbor, including business dealings among the nobles, will be subject to the supervision of departments such as the Price Bureau. In addition, their outstanding loans must be settled with their various properties, and the West Goth Company has the right of first refusal.

And, needless to say, loyalty, service, and donations, the nobles present must prove themselves worthy of His Highness Kang De's mercy through their actions. From this moment on, they must actively respond to all the calls of the Dragon of Cathay, including diplomatic and domestic actions such as war.

In short, Kang De was their new lord, governor, and king.

"Or, you may choose to die an unyielding death, but I can assure you that it will be neither glorious nor regrettable. This land may lack anything, but it will never lack nobles, nor will it lack those who aspire to be nobles."

"Even if all of you die here today, your bloodlines extinguished, and your titles revoked, tomorrow just as many will emerge, acquiring your wealth, fame, and status, becoming the new nobility."

"I assure you that this is entirely in accordance with the law. The Grand Guild will grant these new nobles formal titles, and will not care that they were peasants just a day ago. The Emperor of the Empire and the Phoenix King of Twilight Moon will even send their congratulations. This is an honor recognized by the most orthodox and noble monarchs in the world."

"Ultimately, this world is good, because loyalty and following the strong can bring seemingly sacred things. I hope everyone can understand this."

"Otherwise..."

Hong San's smile was gentle and kind, "We need to erect more poles in front of the city hall."

Now, the nobles of the Distant Harbor have all their bones broken.

They would find it very difficult to say no.

They even finally understood Hong San's subtext.

As they looked around and saw the familiar faces with changing expressions, more and more of the powerful and wealthy discovered a terrifying truth—several of the most noble, wealthy, and prestigious officials were absent.

"Those gentlemen who agree with my proposal and are willing to apologize to His Highness Kang De and the people of the Distant Harbor may step forward to sign the agreement and swear an oath. In the name of the Sula, the Sun God, Eye of Horus, your words will be imprinted in time and space in the form of light and electricity, forming the highest covenant."

Hong San chuckled and said, "Furthermore, I need the kind and righteous gentlemen of Distant Harbor to draft a joint statement condemning and scorning the culprits who, for their own selfish interests, instigated the price war, disrupted the province's economy, abused innocent civilians, and slandered His Highness Kang De, and to support the new Distant Harbor government's decision to try them."

He stretched out his arm and pointed to the door.

Those who have objections may now leave.

These words, though plain in language, resonated like thunder.

Joint statement.

Another joint statement.

The nobles exchanged bewildered glances, recalling that afternoon more than ten days prior, when Kang De intended to punish the ringleaders of the riots in the Distant Harbor and demanded that the nobles of the Distant Harbor issue a joint statement agreeing with his punishment. This aroused their resistance and resentment, leading to their protests and opposition, which ultimately escalated into an economic war against Kang De, resulting in the current situation.

Now, after a crushing defeat, another joint statement is demanding their attention.

As one of the conditions for letting them off the hook, they must become Kang De's lackeys, and the first pledge they must make is to issue a declaration to the entire continent, agreeing to punish the Distant Harbor tycoons who are not present today, those noble leaders who possess the most wealth, power, foundation, and connections.

This is perfectly reasonable.

Only...

They all wore bitter smiles.

If only I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place.

But... there's no going back.

Day 15.

That's it? That's all?

This morning, Hong San, who had been busy for half the night, returned to the Sound of the Tide Manor and had breakfast with Kang De.

He brought a stack of land deeds and more acquisition plans. Yesterday at the Justice Hall, not a single person left. Everyone chose to compromise. Under the threat of death, extermination of their clan, and the extinction of their bloodline, no one dared to resist to the end... because any resistance would be meaningless.

So, compromise seems to be the only option.

Heeding Kang De's command, he sold his properties.

Kang De only glanced at the land deeds that Hong San brought before tossing them aside.

Lily, with her dragon's instincts, smelled the glittering scent of money. She picked up the pieces of paper symbolizing wealth and examined them one by one—to be honest, she now regretted it a little, because these properties all belonged to the West Goth Company. If only she had accepted Kang De's offer in the first place...

Pshaw, fifty percent? He's dreaming.

The Dragon Girl flipped through it a few times, then looked astonished. "That's it? That's it?"

Kang De turned to look at her. "What?"

"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'? Hey, do you know how valuable properties in prime locations in Distant Harbor are? Do you know how much wealth and influence these Distant Harbor elites have accumulated over hundreds of years? What's most valuable? Land! Houses! And the Chamber of Commerce! And the fleet of ships and the workforce!"

"Oh... here, sculptors, alchemists, heralds scholars, mining consultants, exploration teams... and that's it? Brewers, master dyers, top tailors... why not get a little of those?"

Lily's eyes were filled with disappointment, as if she were looking at a spendthrift. She waved the land deeds in her hand, making a loud cracking sound, "What have you been buying up? Farms, farms, and more farms! You should at least buy some vineyards and plantations! Don't you have plenty of grain? Why are you buying up farmland?"

Kang De and Hong San looked at each other and smiled.

Lily said blankly, "... You guys are disgusting."

Kang De reached out and pressed the Dragon Girl back into her chair, then flicked her forehead. "Eat."

Lily continued to glare at him with displeasure.

Although the money had nothing to do with her, seeing Kang De squander it so much, letting the gleaming gold coins slip through his fingers and abandoning a huge gold mine to pick up stones on the ground, was a shameful waste that she couldn't accept—those shops and caravans were worth a thousand times more than these dilapidated farms!

"Alright."

Kang De put the steamed bun he was probing with his chopsticks into his mouth and explained, "I don't lack money... The values recognized by the secular world on the continent and the values I consider to be are two different things. What you think is valuable is insignificant from my perspective..."

Hong San tapped the table lightly, and Lily's eyes widened. "You guys?"

"... them."

Kang De changed his tune, saying, "They think merchant ships are valuable, but to me these slow, low-capacity, risk-averse, and weak-defense little wooden boats are worthless. They think trade routes are valuable, but I can open up even more valuable trade routes at any time, selling the wonderful goods that I have a monopoly on."

"The same principle applies to housing and land prices. In reality, those plots of land and shops are worthless. What's valuable is my finger. I only need to point on the map and say that I want to build a new city here, and wealth will immediately flow into that wasteland. Opportunities and riches will follow. Countless wealthy people will beg and plead to offer me huge sums of gold coins, just to buy what was once a barren wasteland."

He blinked and smiled at Lily, "Don't you think that makes sense?"

The Dragon Girl blushed and stared blankly at Kang De: "You were so handsome just now..."

... Grass.

Kang De retorted, "Isn't he handsome now?!"

Lily immediately flashed a fawning smile, "So handsome! So handsome!"

She stood up and began to massage Kang De's shoulders and back solicitously, asking ingratiatingly, "So, where do you plan to build the city? Do you need any initial investment? When will you start selling land...?"

Kang De glanced sideways and said, "I know all about these things, and I know that the property prices in the new city I'm about to build will skyrocket. Why do you think I'll sell the land so early?"

"... cut."

Lily's face immediately turned cold, and she sullenly sat back down in her chair.

After a moment, unable to contain himself, he asked again, "You said those things weren't worth much, so you collected a large amount of farmland from these nobles—do you think those things are very valuable?"

Kang De shook his head and said, "No, those aren't worth much either."

"... Then what are you going to do with all this?"

Because people are valuable.

"People?"

"Yes, people are valuable."

Kang De said, "In this world, roughly 80 percent of the farmers still support the remaining 20 percent of the population. The majority of the population is tied to the farmland. This is cruel exploitation and shameful waste. The tools of production are backward, the productivity is low, the farmers' lives are hard, their homes always smell bad, they farm and herd livestock, they work Four Seasons, and sometimes they can't even feed themselves..."

The Civilization in this other world is relatively backward.

Even with magic as an advanced productive force, it had little to do with ordinary people.

Druids can cultivate superior breeds and increase the yield and quality of food, while elemental mages can manipulate celestial phenomena and make the land more fertile. However, spellcasters have always been a rare resource.

These agricultural spellcasters certainly take care of agricultural production themselves, but because their numbers are extremely limited, they usually only serve the top estates of royalty and nobles. The high-quality grains they cultivate and produce not only have a larger yield and better taste, but can also provide consumers with more nutrition, making them stronger and more mentally agile.

However, due to limited production, it could only be enjoyed by a very small number of privileged individuals.

The same principle applies to livestock breeding.

One of the Element why the Elven Army is unparalleled in the world is its advanced mastery of nature magic and its large number of druids.

Because they excel at farming, their grain yields are excellent and of high quality. The large number of druids means that they can produce on a large scale to supply soldiers. Naturally, they can create a powerful army with extremely high-quality soldiers. It is only natural that their army can sweep across the world and be invincible.

However, these advantages did not drive the progress of the Civilization as a whole.

This, on the contrary, exacerbated the gap between commoners and nobles.

The benefits that the people gained from agricultural development were probably only the improved varieties developed by the druids, which would increase yields to some extent, and the water conservancy projects built by the earth-based mages of the National Civil Engineering Corps in accordance with national orders, which would also increase food production.

--But these will obviously prioritize the estates of royalty and high nobility.

Ordinary people rarely benefit much from such privileges.

Because using water from national water conservancy projects requires paying taxes to the lord.

"So, I want to liberate them from the land."

Kang De said, "They could do something easier, more rewarding, and more meaningful; they could leave the remote, impoverished countryside, leave the stinking thatched huts where they even shared with livestock, and go to the city to do better things, have days of rest, live in bright, spacious houses, have more entertainment, more rewards, and no longer be numb, no longer be ignorant... no longer be farmers."

People should not be confined to the Tanaka.

Hong San and Lily both seemed to be deep in thought.

Even Hong San couldn't immediately grasp the profound meaning of Kang De's words.

He was merely following Kang De's orders to collect land deeds for estates and manors from the powerful figures in the Distant Harbor to offset usurious loans and pay apologies. The reason was easy to understand: the establishment of the new city and the development of the underworld both required a large amount of manpower, and where was the most manpower? In the countryside.

But now it seems that His Highness's actions have a deeper meaning beyond mere self-interest.

He simply couldn't understand it.

After all, we live in this era.

Farmers growing crops and producing grain is their natural duty; if they don't become farmers, what else can they do?

Just as Hong San was about to ask a question, he heard Kang De recite. "Hoeing the fields at noon, sweat drips onto the soil; who knows that every grain in the bowl is the result of hard work..."

The Cathayan exclaimed, "What a beautiful poem!"

"Yes, it's a good poem. Even if the author is a bastard who becomes arrogant and extravagant after getting rich, who preys on the people, who kills hundreds of chickens to make soup with their tongues for a single meal, and who is even associated with the phrase 'commonplace'... it's still a good poem."

"But those were good poems of that era; they shouldn't be considered good poems now."

Why isn't it a good poem?

It's a very simple principle.

If you go to an ordinary rural village in China and recite these four lines of poetry, everyone who hears you will surely say that they are good, correct, and that what you say makes a lot of sense.

But if you go to rural United States and tell United States farmers, "Every grain of rice on your plate is the result of hard work," most Yankees will roll their eyes and say, "Hard work my ass, it's just that it uses a lot of oil, that's true."

Yes, why does it have to be so hard?

Kang De stirred the porridge in his bowl, thinking, "Every grain of rice in the bowl is the result of hard work." This is a poem we all memorized as children, but it's not about treasuring every single grain...

He wanted to make it less strenuous.

"A farmer, using a broken and inefficient plow, with oxen, sweat, and an extremely short lifespan, toiled day and night cultivating dozens of acres of land, only to end up earning no money or even going hungry. He was treated like a consuming commodity or even a slave, numb and without hope... I want to end this era."

He picked up the land deeds from the table.

"By consolidating scattered farmland, using better seeds, better irrigation, more efficient fertilizers, and more powerful machinery, we can increase yields per acre and allow one person to manage more and more land. Then, through continuous development and innovation, we can eventually reduce the need for human intervention in agricultural production."

"Let machines solve everything."

"Then, the countryside will disappear."

"The profession of farmer will also disappear from the history of Civilization."

"No longer will anyone need to be rooted in the land, supporting others with sweat and toil, growing wheat that can only sell for a little over a dollar a kilogram, while gazing at and imagining the city's scenery on television and mobile phones."

"I don't like the countryside, and I'm not interested in the so-called idyllic scenery. Only city dwellers filled with unrealistic fantasies would sing praises of the charm and simplicity of the countryside. But no farmer is obligated to cater to these people's imaginations and sentiments and stay in a remote village for their entire life. Everyone has the right to pursue a better life, to live in a modern city, and to enjoy the convenience of technology..."

"Saying that rural people prefer the simple and peaceful rural life and dislike the congested and noisy big cities... Don't be ridiculous."

At this point, Kang De smiled apologetically at Hong San and Lily: "Sorry, I've talked too much."

Lily hesitated, then slowly shook her head.

For some reason, although I don't quite understand Kang De's words...

But I always felt he was even more handsome than before.

Hong San smiled slightly, "You seem even more like a saint than yesterday."

"It's just talk, but if one could actually do it, one could truly be called a saint."

"Then let's set a goal..." Kang De clapped his hands and said, "In my lifetime, I will eliminate the agricultural population, so that in this vast world, among all living beings, no one will have to farm for a living."

￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥

PS1: Update... These are my reflections on rural areas and farmers, which I've had over the past two years.

PS2: Personally, I don't think anyone is born to farm—of course, the kind of big landowners with endless fields and combine harvesters are another story.

PS3: But in reality, the vast majority of China's agricultural population still maintains an inefficient farming model. We have 2 billion mu of arable land cultivated by hundreds of millions of people, while the American Empire has 2.8 billion mu of arable land with only a few million farmers. This difference in productivity is indeed overwhelming, and it's a long road ahead for us...

PS4: In fact, since the Jianguo, the country's current strength and prosperity are due to the silent sacrifices and contributions of countless agricultural workers. I am glad that the country has not forgotten them—this can be seen from the proposals submitted to the National People's Congress this year.

PS5: As for me, I can only indulge in distant fantasies in books. I'm afraid the hope is slim in my lifetime, but I still hope that one day, no one will have to farm for a living.

PS6: And finally, a preliminary judgment: if anyone disagrees with my point of view, I can be fairly certain that they have never worked in the countryside.