Removing mages from the battlefield, then coaxing or even half-forcing them into the magic industry sector, was only the first move in Xu Yi's campaign to develop that sector vigorously.
The magic industry sector encompassed an extremely broad range of fields. Developing it comprehensively required not only mages, but indispensable support in other areas as well.
After announcing the "Mage Peace Pact," Xu Yi turned his attention to his next objective: the large industrial workforce necessary for industrial development.
Limited by the level of productivity in the past, humans on the Sains Continent had failed to grow their population significantly, despite having ruled the continent for thousands of years. Even now, the entire continent's human population totaled barely under two hundred million.
For the vast Sains Continent, that population was undoubtedly sparse.
And for the comprehensive, mature magic industry system Xu Yi hoped to establish, the labor that population could provide was likewise far from sufficient.
Naturally, Xu Yi had no way to increase the Sains Continent's population dramatically overnight. That required a great deal of time.
So, within the existing constraints, Xu Yi chose two approaches to solve this problem.
The first approach tackled the root of the issue.
About a month after the "Mage Peace Pact" was announced, the Xinfei Merchant Guild made another major move.
On May 3, the Xinfei Merchant Guild held another press conference, announcing its decision to provide farmland magic machinery assistance to twenty-six countries.
This assistance included not only complete sets of farmland magic machinery, but also a new farming model based on that machinery, which had already become relatively mature in the Lampari Kingdom. The guild would help these twenty-six countries master and become proficient in what it called a "modernized" farming model as quickly as possible, thereby substantially increasing their grain