Propaganda's Point of Leverage

While the north was battered by wind and snow, Golden Bean Port on the Southern Coast of the Inner Sea basked in sunshine. People were wearing shirts and still found the weather a little hot.

Paul pushed open the shutters in his second-floor room at the inn, and the distinctive salty tang of the sea rushed in.

The Stork Times had enjoyed excellent sales in recent years. As its editor-in-chief, Paul had put a great deal of effort into that success, so this winter he had decided to bring his family south on vacation and enjoy a change of scenery.

Golden Bean Port was a remarkable place. Three years earlier, it had been no more than an obscure river mouth on the Southern Coast of the Inner Sea, with marshland on both sides.

Then people from the United Fruit Company arrived.

In just half a year, they had leveled several nearby hills, filled in the marshes, and dug canals and reservoirs.

The following year, soybeans were planted in the fields plowed by tractors.

The shareholders decided that selling the soybeans straight back to the Rhine Alliance would not bring in much profit. So, drawing on the local supply, they built an oil-pressing plant, used the soybean meal to raise livestock, and sold canned meat.

In two years, the soybean fields had spread for nearly ten kilometers along the coast. Now was harvest time for half the fields, while rice was being planted in the other half.

The port had begun to take shape. Warehouses, taverns, repair shops, and a newly opened "Institute for Tropical Diseases" lined the main street.

A large number of prisoners of war from the north had been sent here this year, easing the labor shortage. After nearly a year of living here, many had lost any