Chapter 162 Public opinion war?
With Levi in charge and Seraphine in charge of the interrogation, the Leader Association's "precise liquidation" of Takeda's remnants proceeded in an orderly manner over the next few days.
Those who should be shot will be shot, and those who should be sent to labor camps will be sent to labor camps. No one will be wrong.
Those small property owners who were innocently affected in the chaos were released and compensated in a timely manner.
Not only did they not feel disgusted with the leader because of this unfortunate encounter, but they all had a good impression of the leader -
Because there is almost no other organization like the Windleader in the entire Rune Land that has to go through trials and investigations to settle accounts with enemies, and will voluntarily compensate the people when problems arise...
In the more than 200 years of Zaun’s history, this was the first time that Zaun had seen such a reasonable “Alchemy Baron”.
So even though the process of "changing dynasties" is also somewhat chaotic, they are still full of recognition and expectations for this new "gang" that calls itself the Leaders Association.
At the same time, the leader's work of expropriating the bourgeoisie of the former Takeda territory was proceeding smoothly at an unexpected speed.
This is because Zaun’s social structure is extremely distorted.
The social structure of ordinary benzoic city-states is pyramid-shaped.
The number and scale of the poor at the bottom of the pyramid are the largest, followed by the middle class, and the elite bourgeoisie are the smallest, firmly occupying the top of the pyramid.
A developed socialist city-state like Piltover would be a healthy olive-shaped society if we don't count the Zaun people who actually work for Piltover as human beings.
And Zaan is awesome.
This is a "flagpole-type" society that is rarely seen on Earth.
The number of people in the ruling class standing at the top of the flagpole is extremely small, and the number of people in the middle class is also extremely small.
The remaining almost 95% of the population are the "base" at the lowest end of the flagpole, and are the absolutely impoverished proletariat.
This is because, in this world where extraordinary powers exist, the power gap between the strong and the weak is too great, and the cost of ruling for the strong is too low.
Just like Takeda Saito, he was able to achieve iron-fisted rule over hundreds of thousands of territory residents with just a few hundred cybernetic warriors.
Because of the pressure from the Zaun independence movement, Piltover is often attacked by "nationalist chem-barons" like Vandel and Hilko, so it needs to rely on excess profits to win over the people and cultivate a stable and reliable base.
But Takeda Saito doesn't need it.
Of course, there were many people who resisted him, but these Zaun people had no theoretical basis and no strict organization. Their strength was scattered and they could not be united as one, so they could not achieve anything.
Therefore, Takeda Saito did not even need to cultivate a stable middle class as a base, he only needed to hold the gun tightly and continue to do whatever he wanted.
Whether it was the extremely poor or the middle class, they were all the targets of his wanton exploitation .
In this way, the wealth within his territory would naturally be concentrated infinitely on Takeda Saito alone.
He is no longer even an ordinary property owner, but is infinitely close to a "final property owner".
Therefore, in the Zuan Coast area, the territory of Takeda Saito, apart from the various subsidiaries of the Takeda Group, there are almost no other large-scale and influential enterprises.
And because there is no government in Zaun, this giant company called Takeda Group is the de facto "government" of the Coast Region.
So it is inappropriate to say that the people of Zaun have always lived in a society where "the state-owned economy occupies an absolute dominant position" - it's just that their "country" is not owned by the whole people, but only by the shareholders of the Takeda Group.
This greatly facilitates the work of leaders.
The leader does not need to capture the bourgeoisie all over the world. He only needs to confiscate the land and companies of the Takeda Group and send staff to move in, and the deprivation of the bourgeoisie here will be almost complete.
Once the remnants of Takeda were liquidated and branches were established in various communities and factories, the initial social transformation of the base area would be almost completed.
So with the demise of Takeda Saito, the Leader Association quickly completed the digestion and absorption of its territory.
The leader's business is booming.
But new problems also emerge:
"Under the instigation of the Leaders Association, the thugs, under the banner of the so-called Goddess Gana, rushed into Mr. Takeda's estate like an uncontrolled beast tide - they killed, set fire, robbed... committed all the evil deeds that humans can imagine."
"Sandalwood from Ionia, night-light pearls from Bilgewater, rune sculptures from Demacia, treasures and relics from Shurima, clocks, pianos, books and music scores made by masters from Piltover..."
"Everything precious and civilized was destroyed in the hands of these thugs."
"This is a regression of civilization, a carnival of barbarism, and a shameless trampling of freedom and human rights—"
"Alas! Our 200-year-long enlightenment movement for Zaun has finally failed today."
"Let us pay tribute to Mr. Takeda, a renowned Zaun entrepreneur, philanthropist, scientist, and social activist, and observe a moment of silence for this poor and unfortunate gentleman."
"Below are the messages from the children of the orphanage that Mr. Takeda sponsored during his lifetime..."
“…”
In the Midalda family's mansion, Miss Mel handed Levi a copy of the Piltover Daily.
She asked Li Wei to come over to discuss something, which was also related to this newspaper:
"This is the article that was published on the front page of the Piltover Daily today."
As she spoke, Mel picked up the exquisite gilded porcelain cup and took a few sips of tea with the elegance of an aristocratic lady. After Levi finished reading the article, she asked leisurely:
"Mr. Levi, what do you think?"
"It's too hard to be used as toilet paper and is not suitable for wiping butts." Levi smiled.
"Haha." Miss Mel, who came from a noble family, was also amused by his vulgar Zaun language.
But she still said very seriously: "Mr. Levi, our war with them has already begun - in public opinion."
"It's okay." Levi was very confident.
He is not afraid of engaging in a public opinion war with the Piltover tycoons.
The leader has already started his own newspaper.
The Wind Leader Daily is distributed for free in Zaun. The people of Zaun are extremely poor, so they will definitely take any free stuff they can get.
Even if you have no interest in reading it after buying it, it is still good as toilet paper.
If you use newspaper as toilet paper, even if you have no interest in it, you will always have time to take a look when you are squatting on the toilet.
Therefore, the popularity of "The Leader Daily" in Zaun is already very high.
In Piltover, although the Daily Leader is not distributed for free, a random Yu-Gi-Oh card is included with the newspaper for free.
In other words, you can draw a card by buying a newspaper.
It’s a huge profit to draw the limited edition Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Therefore, this newspaper is not only read by many people in Zaun, but also has explosive sales in Piltover.
Even within just one month after its launch, the sales of the Daily Leader surpassed the Piltover Daily, which had existed in the Twin Cities for nearly 300 years.
In addition, Levi also set up a tabloid in an unofficial capacity.
He privately called this tabloid "The Leader's Shock Department."
It is not responsible for promoting Jannah thought and its content is not so serious.
Instead, it follows the routine of the liberal media, being only responsible for collecting all kinds of negative information about the Piltover Parliament and acting as an opposition party that opposes everything and is a professional curser.
Not only are the contents themselves explosive, but the titles are also more sensational than the last, catching people's attention.
If it catches people's attention, sales will naturally be high.
After reading this kind of newspaper that only reports bad news and only shows the bad things but not the good things, the people of Piltover will naturally dislike the Piltover Council.
When this aversion accumulates to a certain extent, their thoughts will naturally tend towards new ideas and new systems.
Anyway…
With these tricks, Levi not only won the war of public opinion, but also made a lot of money by selling newspapers.
Especially the innovative combination of entertainment and gambling, which made the old players in Piltover exclaim that the young people are formidable.
They even began to secretly imitate Levi's tactics and repackaged traditional lottery tickets that were no longer selling well, making them look like two-dimensional krypton gold card draws.
"But they have to create a mature, reliable and attractive IP first."
"If we just blindly review our methodology but fail to empower the product with cultural aura to achieve brand sedimentation and penetrate the user's mind with high-experience cultural packaging, then this combination of punches will not be able to create a detonating point and influence..."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Levi was chatting excitedly, but Miss Mel held her forehead with her hand and interrupted him.
She was also very curious about where this biggest enemy of the bourgeoisie learned so many novel business ideas.
"Even if you are not chosen by Goddess Janna, you will definitely become a big business owner, Mr. Levi." Mel smiled.
Li Wei is a natural born seedling of the Ziben family.
Not to mention her, she was born into the Noxus Empire, and was sent out by her family to be a "coolie", doing the work of the Piltover family.
“I never thought that the two of us would sit together as leaders,” she sighed.
"Because we have ideals," Li Wei said, "ideals are the highest pursuit of mankind, which is more fascinating than all luxurious material enjoyments."
"Yes..." Miss Mel nodded in agreement.
Then she said, "But I'm afraid our ideals will soon be put to the test."
"This newspaper is just an appetizer. The real problem is, Mr. Levi, what we did to Takeda Saito in Zaun has scared those people in Piltover."
"They threw out this article as a mild test. They are still hesitating."
"But next, the great families of Piltover will come to test your true attitude."
Mel has a dangerous message.
Levi was curious: "How are they going to test it?"
"Shares of Takeda Group." Mel said: "You should already know that Takeda Group is not entirely the property of Takeda Saito - behind him, there are many Piltover Capitals that hold shares of Takeda Group."
"Yes, I know that." Levi nodded.
There is no need to think about this.
The waters of the Twin Cities are completely controlled by Piltover.
How could Takeda Saito be able to set up such a large-scale smuggling fleet right under Piltover's nose without the support of the Piltover chaebol and capital behind him?
"Now the Leaders Association has confiscated all of Takeda Saito's property, which naturally includes their share."
"And what those Piltover people mean is that they need you to return their shares in the Takeda Group and recognize all the vested interests of Piltover Capital in Zaun..."
"If you don't admit it, then you are actually achieving Zaun's independence in disguise."
"I'm afraid the guise of 'non-violent non-cooperation' will no longer be able to scare them."
