Chapter 70: Opponent or Teacher

Although the day’s events made George realize that his understanding of this world was far less deep than he had originally thought, he was still quite confident about the Commercial Republics in The South.

George had borrowed some ideas from them when developing certain aspects of his Territory at the beginning.

For this reason, he had sent many people to conduct on-site investigations; there were specialists in charge of everything from politics and economics to culture, diplomacy, and even military affairs.

Unlike the era of information explosion before his transmigration, where the obstacle to information spread was slow circulation caused by poor transportation, the most effective way to gather news and learn about other countries here was to send people to collect intelligence on the spot.

Even in that era before transmigration when spy wars were hot, the information collected and summarized by embassies from open channels was still the main source of intelligence.

Of course, this required great ability in intelligence screening and analysis.

Furthermore, in an era where awareness and measures for secrecy were still primitive, and the target was a Commercial Republic with a loose political structure, as long as they did not touch the technical secrets of the monopolistic guilds, the information about the entire Republic was basically one-way transparent to George for just a little money.

“Although most of the laws of those Commercial Republics restrict people’s behavior, they are always full of loopholes when it comes to restricting behavior that harms others. This provides a certain degree of cover for acts like fraud to plunder others’ property. Under such a big background, they could never allow the Church of the Just Lord to participate in the revision of legal articles. And they could not let them interfere in the judicial process either, after all, there were too many tricks in there. As for the right of supervision, it was a joke in their hands. Can supervision that cannot be bought with money in a Commercial Republic still be called supervision?” George clearly looked down on the legal construction of those Commercial Republics.

As for why he wanted to get news and intelligence from those Commercial Republics, it was naturally for George to develop industry and commerce in his Territory. “Without agriculture, there is no stability; without industry, there is no wealth; without commerce, there is no life.” These twelve words clearly explained one side of a strong nation. Among them, agriculture is the foundation of society; without a stable supply of agricultural products, society cannot be stable. Industry is the main industry for creating social wealth; if industry is not developed, the social economy cannot be developed. Commerce is the carrier of economic circulation; without commerce, the economy cannot circulate.

The original Bolerum Territory, with its fertile soil and basically flat terrain, combined with the rich fresh water resources brought by the mouth of the Portel River located within the Territory, had always had a relatively developed agriculture.

The excellent deep-water port and the meteorological environment similar to the Mediterranean climate made the trade of cash crops like olive oil possible.

Combined with the relatively short distance to the capital Karada and the relatively good roads, this place had a basic foundation for commerce and handicrafts.

But in George’s opinion, this was far from enough. It was a waste of heaven’s gifts to have such a good geographical environment and natural resources without utilizing them.

However, developing industry and commerce could not be done just by shouting a slogan. The related policies and conditions could not be decided by a snap of the fingers. Although George also understood some common knowledge in economics and management, whether it fit the objective laws of this world was still unknown.

After getting the specific policies and systems of the Commercial Republics in The South, George selected the useful parts that fit his own interests. After combining them with the situation in Bolerum Territory, he developed a preliminary outline and norms for industrial and commercial development with Bolerum characteristics.

In the subsequent process of continuous implementation and revision, from the initial suggestions to small-scale promotion, and finally to a full-scale rollout after he took over the power of the Lord.

It took a total of six years to turn Bolerum, originally a raw material supply and caravan transit point, into an economic hub in the central region that integrated manufacturing and commerce.

At this point, George could finally start buying some of the cultivation supplies he needed without holding back.

Of course, George could not implement something as brainless as a democracy on his own Territory. There was a saying: “If you don’t try to die, you won’t die.” George was living well himself and did not want to try so soon if he could transmigrate again.

Not to mention that doing this brought no benefit to the House Bolerum as a Lord. Even if there were some other benefits, they would be attacked by the surrounding Liege Lords together.

However, while developing industry and commerce, George also encountered two very severe problems.

The first was the biggest bottleneck for development—insufficient population. Of course, George had no good solution for this either. He could only hope that the continuously improving living standards of the people within the Territory would attract more Freemen to settle. At the same time, he needed to improve basic medical levels to increase the survival rate of children. Of course, it would be best if he could participate in foreign wars to plunder some population for supplementation at some point. But the premise was not to get involved in the standoff between two powerful nations, and even a struggle between three powers was not allowed; being cannon fodder was the most annoying thing.

The second was a food problem somewhat similar to those Commercial Republics. The development of industry and commerce brought a large number of floating populations, and the development of the alcohol industry also consumed a large amount of extra grain. In addition, industrial transfers caused the number and proportion of the agricultural population to decrease year by year.

Fortunately, under the feudal lord system where nobles had high control over land and subjects, the factories within George’s Territory were his private properties. By borrowing some ideas from the state-owned enterprises of Tianchao, the conversion between agricultural and industrial populations was brought under his control. At the same time, giving certain subsidies to the agricultural population ensured that the wealth gap between craftsmen and farmers did not become too large. This basically solved the problem of food security for the time being.

Even so, the grain in Bolerum Territory could only be described as just enough. If the population continued to grow, George would have to reduce the planting area of cash crops and increase the planting of grain instead.

After all, under the guidance and promotion of the Druids George invited, the dry weight ratio of seeds and grain in Bolerum Territory had already reached the astonishing 1:5 to 1:6 of this era. If production was to be increased further, relying solely on manure and the three-field system could not guarantee the fertility of the land.

The so-called three-field system roughly divided the arable land into three parts: spring plowing, autumn plowing, and fallow, which were used in rotation for spring sowing, autumn sowing, and fallow. After continuous cultivation for two years, each piece of land could be left fallow for one year to plant grass and raise livestock to restore soil fertility.

Without chemical fertilizers, trying to increase the yield per unit area further could be described as drinking poison to quench thirst. Therefore, the main contradiction in the current stage within Bolerum Territory was between the constantly and significantly growing demand for labor and the somewhat stagnant population growth. It was also between the constantly increasing grain loss and the difficult-to-increase grain yield. All other contradictions belonged to these two major contradictions.

For the latter, George had once thought of promoting the planting of potatoes to partially replace grain supplies. At the same time, he planned to increase the fishing of fish and aquatic products as a supplement of protein. This version of the national diet of the “Dark Cuisine Country,” fried fish and chips, quickly failed in its first attempt. While the commoners were happy to see an increase in fish on their tables, using potatoes as a staple food met with strong resistance. For the stability of the Territory, George had to temporarily abandon this plan.

Although Viscount Bolerum knew that George had previously sent people to investigate the Commercial Republics like Tutkel, he still felt a bit unsure seeing such a confident answer: “It shouldn’t be as serious as you say, right? It sounds like if the Church of the Just Lord interfered in their judicial system, it would pose a huge threat to those Commercial Republics.”

“It is not just a threat. If they really opened their judicial systems to the Church of the Just Lord, within a few years, the noble class of those Commercial Republics would undergo a large-scale reshuffle. The rebellions and possible invasions from other countries that followed would very likely lead to the collapse of their nations.” George spoke very definitely. To strengthen his persuasiveness, he explained further, “If the Lord of Justice belonged to the Lawful Neutral Righteous Camp, large-scale cooperation between them would be possible. But if he were Lawful Good, the contradictions between the two would seem irreconcilable. The most critical point is that the Priests and Paladins under the name of the Lord of Justice are good at Detect Evil and Detect Lies, two Divine Arts. The other side could never hide their dark side in front of them. Moreover, the Paladins who follow their own path would never sit idly by. So conflict was inevitable. This is the reason why heretics are considered more hateful than infidels.”

“So, according to your words, even if other places besides us were willing to cooperate with the Temple of the Lord of Justice, it would only be on a small scale and with restrictions, right?” Viscount Bolerum seemed to have grasped the key point in George’s previous words.

“You are truly smart, Father!” After saying something that could be either praise or sarcasm, George analyzed, “To be precise, within a certain period of time, only we will cooperate with the Temple of the Lord of Justice in all aspects. After the cooperation is successful, some observers will gradually appear. As time passes, these observers will seek cooperation with the Church of the Lord of Justice one by one after feeling the rationality and feasibility of this new system. It is like the sea spider, which is very delicious, but its terrifying appearance makes most people dare not try it. What we need to do now is to be the first person to eat it.”

Viscount Bolerum said naturally: “Without such a smart father as me, would there be such a smart son as you? The first person to eat a sea spider? Although this saying makes a lot of sense, why do I feel something is a bit strange? Then it depends on how much benefit you can fight for for the Territory in the upcoming negotiations?”

This was a world where bloodline was supreme, so no one would foolishly refute Viscount Bolerum’s words.

“Don’t worry, Father. Do you think your son George is the type of person who would lose out?” George winked at Viscount Bolerum.