Chapter 462: The Freljord’s Development Dilemma

Under Lux's gaze filled with sincere expectation, Tryndamere read the article with doubt.

The article is not complicated either.

After all, the Leader had never conducted a detailed social survey of the Freljord before. The backward social structure and harsh natural environment of the ice field also meant that no political entity here could collect statistical data on the social information of the Freljord.

How many people are there? How many tribes? How much area? How many exploitable resources? ... No one knows.

Therefore, Levi could only make a few general analyses in the form of miscellaneous talks based on everyone's general understanding of the Freljord.

Therefore, the quality of this article is not very high. It is just like listening to a middle-aged boss bragging and giving advice in a snack bar in Zaun.

But the good thing is that it's simple enough.

Even a "barbarian" like Tryndamere, who is new to modernization, can see it clearly.

"Why the Freljord will never be united for long?" To Tryndamere, this subtitle is a thunderbolt at the beginning.

Ashe's ideal and the goal of the Avarosan Alliance are to unify the entire ice field and bring peace to this chaotic land.

But these leaders told him right away that this was impossible.

The ice sheet will not unite. Even if it does, it will soon fall apart.

"Why?" Tryndamere became angry.

He couldn't accept this argument.

Because the Freljord has never been unified in history. Perhaps the Icemen had a brief period of unity during the reign of the three ancient sisters, but the history of that period has long been deliberately concealed by Lissandra and has been almost forgotten by later generations.

So... unification is actually an unprecedented attempt for the Ice People.

Ashe believes that this attempt will definitely bring a bright future to the Icemen.

Tryndamere also wholeheartedly agrees with his wife's ideals.

But now, they haven't even tried yet, and a bunch of people from a distant place say they can't do it! Why?

"Because productivity determines production relations." The article first gave him a sentence that he couldn't understand.

Then there was some plain language that even Tryndamere could understand: "Because the land of Freljord is too barren."

"The barren land meant that most people in the ice sheet could only engage in primitive production activities such as hunting, gathering, and nomadism, unlike the warm and tropical agricultural peoples who could settle around the land on a large scale."

"Everyone can think about this question - how large a hunting ground is needed to support a hunting tribe of 1,000 people?"

Li Wei doesn't have detailed information, so it's not easy to talk nonsense in the article.

But Tryndamere is a local.

He knew at a glance that these Zaan people really knew nothing.

Levi believed that to support a hunting tribe of 1,000 people, a vast land several times the size of Zaun and Piltover might be needed.

If a county were established on the ice field based on population size, the area of this county might be larger than the entire Kingdom of Demacia.

But Levi was wrong.

The real situation was a hundred times more serious than he had guessed.

Levi is still talking about "hunting grounds", but the Freljordans don't actually have the fixed hunting grounds that these southerners imagine.

Because it is difficult for not only people to survive on the snowy plains, but also for animals.

If you plundered an area the size of Zaun City, you might only be able to hunt a few hundred snow rabbits.

The ice people mainly hunt large animals such as Enuk bulls, Juvask boars, and mammoths... Their huge appetites cannot be sustained by any piece of land for a long time.

Therefore, the herds of animals on the ice field are always chasing water and grass and migrating continuously.

Therefore, the tribes of the Ice People must always chase the herds and migrate continuously.

Only the Avarosa Alliance, which occupied the "fertile" land in the south, could grow some cold-resistant plants such as barley and potatoes in the summer, and use these precious foods to make up for the lack of prey, and settle outside a roughly fixed area...

The vast majority of other ice field tribes have nothing to do with the word "settled".

So how far do they migrate on a daily basis?

This can be referred to as Sejuani's Winter Claw.

In the original world line, the Claw of Winter not only robbed Noxus in the east and fought with Darius, but also plundered Demacia in the west and invaded the capital with Sylas as the guide.

In terms of distance, this is almost equivalent to robbing all the way from North China to Western Europe.

Even though the Winter Claw is so powerful, people are still starving to death in Sejuani's tribe.

"The annual output of a fixed piece of land is not enough to meet the survival needs of a large tribe."

"This means that the Freljord people cannot settle in one place, and can only live in a large hunting ground."

"..."Tindamire gradually understood something.

A piece of land cannot support too many people, which means that the ice people are destined to be unable to settle in one place on a large scale.

There are no large-scale settlements ...

"It is impossible to establish a mature administrative system or a centralized power structure, and it is only possible to form a nominal unified alliance of countless tribes, but not a substantive unity."

"This kind of rule is doomed to be loose and short-lived."

As the saying goes, the emperor is far away.

The Icefield tribes migrated everywhere at any time. It was difficult for the royal court to contact them, let alone to implement effective rule.

If you can bring benefits to everyone, then everyone will give you face and call you "big brother" from afar.

If you need any help from your brothers, they will come from far away to help you.

But if you can't bring me any benefits, don't blame me for being rude.

Anyway, this ice field is so big. I'll run away, can you catch up with me?

"This..." The more Tryndamere looked at it, the more he broke out in a cold sweat.

He knew that this was the actual situation on the ice field.

But the former Avarosa Alliance has been growing stronger and stronger, and life is thriving. Everyone has benefited under Ashe's protection, so they are more loyal than each other.

So unknowingly, Tryndamere ignored the hidden dangers.

He believed that as long as Avarosa continued to develop, the people of the Icefields would only become more and more united.

But now...

"He was right!" Tryndamere put down the chicken bone in his left hand and swallowed the meat in his mouth.

Demacia only slightly opened its borders, and the unbreakable Avarosa Alliance was immediately in danger of collapse and disintegration.

Who would want to follow Ashe and starve in the snow when you have the delicious alchemical roast chicken to eat?

Unity?

The Icemen have never united!

The unity and solidarity that Ashe pursues is only this superficial unity and solidarity.

Since this unity and solidarity are only superficial, how can Ashe guarantee that the unified Freljord can get rid of this long-term chaos?

Can she control those tribes from all over the world and stop them from plundering and killing each other like they are doing now?

Impossible.

"No..." The more Tryndamere thought about it, the more frightened he became.

But he still tried to remind himself not to waver: "Ashe's ideal is by no means a joke. Even if it is superficial unity, it is better than disunity... With Avarosa's leadership, the ice field will always get better, right?"

That's what Tryndamere was thinking.

He saw in the article: "After completing the unification of Freljord, a greater chaos will soon come."

"Because as the leader of this huge tribal alliance, the future Ice King must answer a question - how should he feed his subjects?"

The ice field tribes killed each other like wild beasts, and it all came down to the fact that the land was barren and there was not enough food.

Even if Ashe unified Freljord, the land would not become warm and fertile, and food would not become abundant.

In the past, the Ice People optimized the "surplus population" by continuously killing each other.

Now, Ashe is unwilling to let her compatriots kill each other, but she has no way to feed them. What should she do?

"There is only one way, go south to plunder!"

“Once a unified regime emerges on the ice field, the flames of war between Freljord and the southern nations will inevitably be ignited.”

"And the scale of this war will be unprecedentedly powerful, and the fighting will be unprecedentedly tragic. Because this will be a war between millions of organized ice people and tens of millions of Valoran people."

The Ice People are not afraid of war.

If Ashe said she would lead everyone into the pass, they would definitely follow her excitedly.

But the problem is...

"Can they win?" Tryndamere's heart sank.

The south of Freljord is not some weak and vulnerable Southern Ming in another world.

Here there is only the powerful and arrogant Noxian Empire, the impregnable Demacia Kingdom, and the various vassal states and allies that follow them.

Still entering the customs? Can you beat them?

Unless the Freljordians can call upon a deity such as the Volibear, they will be defeated if they dare to invade the southern territories.

"The so-called King of the Icefield is actually the leader of a large robbery gang. This is not a disparagement, but an unavoidable fact."

"Only a leader who can lead everyone to grab spoils is a good leader. Once you are unable to grab resources from the outside world and fill everyone's stomachs, the result will only be desertion by everyone."

The more Tryndamere looked at it, the more he broke out in a cold sweat.

He seemed to have seen that day, seeing Ashe unify the ice field after going through numerous hardships, but in the end she was forced to go to the battlefield and step into a war with no chance of winning.

After paying countless blood and sacrifices, she could only watch her ideals shattered and witness countless betrayals and scorns.

Even if Ashe could defeat the southern kingdoms, she would not be able to change the outcome.

Because robbery is a very risky business with unstable returns. I succeeded this time, but what about next time?

Once the southern countries are able to withstand the invasion for a long time, the ice regime will inevitably fall into civil strife.

So there are only two possibilities for an ice sheet regime:

First, they unite to rob, and when the robbery fails, they riot. Then the cycle continues indefinitely.

Second, eliminate the southern countries in one fell swoop, enter the pass to establish a regime, completely get rid of the ice field, and get rid of the identity of the ice field people.

Considering the strength of Germany and Noxus, and the rise of the Leader... the latter will almost never be possible.

Therefore, the Freljord will never be unified for long.

"..." Tryndamere's hands were shaking slightly. Seeing this, he almost squeezed the booklet until it was deformed.

He had never considered the things mentioned in the article before.

And now, following the ideas of this article, he discovered that... it turned out that Ashe's ideal was impossible to achieve from the beginning.

She was just heading towards an inevitable, great and tragic failure.

"Is there really no other way?" he asked himself.

No!

Tryndamere immediately thought of a way out of the situation.

"Industrialization! Industrialization can save the ice sheet!" he thought.

At this time, Tryndamere already knew that technology could increase steel production and grain yields.

Now that the ice field has been unified, the biggest problem is still food.

So, if they just learn from Miyin City's industrialization and use technology to increase land production and income, wouldn't they be able to support themselves and not have to go south to plunder?

As Tryndamere was thinking this, he saw the second part of the article: "Why is it difficult for Freljord to achieve industrialization through its own strength?"

"..." This time, Tryndamere was not in a hurry to stack the rage bar.

He controlled his temper and read on patiently.

The article only said: "It's the same reason. Freljord is too poor."

"Any industrialization cannot avoid the original accumulation of seed benzene, so how to complete the original accumulation of seed benzene?"

“There are only three ways:”

"First, like Noxus and the early Twin Cities, they relied on foreign colonization and plunder to complete the primitive accumulation of industrialization."

To put it bluntly, it's robbery. But as mentioned above, the Freljord doesn't have the strength to do that.

"Second, the vassal regions of Noxus, for example, rely on the transfer of part of their national sovereignty and the foreign investment of their suzerain country to complete the primitive accumulation of industrialization."

This was something that Tryndamere didn't want to accept either.

Ashe is the queen of the Freljord, not a dog of the southerners.

“Third, extract surplus from agriculture, services or resources and the environment.”

Simply put, it means doing everything possible to get money from your own people and save up the money to develop industry.

So is this route possible in Freljord?

"No." Just as Tryndamere was expecting it, the article gave a cold conclusion.

Agriculture, services, and natural resources are three ways of making money that Freljord cannot do.

First, agriculture:

We are engaging in agriculture in such a freezing cold place and still dreaming of extracting surplus from agriculture to support industry?

Just kidding. Only a part of the southern part of Freljord has the conditions to carry out cold-zone agriculture, and the food they grow is not even enough for their own people to eat, and they have to rely on grazing and hunting to supplement their food sources.

The people of the ice field don’t even have surplus food, so where would the agricultural surplus come from for you to extract?

Even if someone were to be a philanthropist and provide free support for agricultural machinery and fertilizers, and help them use industry to feed back agriculture, this problem might not be solved.

Because the effect of science and technology on increasing grain production is also limited.

It's not that Levi can grow corn in the cold Freljord by just hitting his forehead and pushing agricultural machinery and fertilizer upwards.

The leader's organizational form is very efficient, but it is also prone to making this mistake.

Fortunately, Janna's faith test ensures purity, ensures that grassroots cadres dare to give feedback when they find problems, and ensures that there will be no such things as deceiving subordinates and superiors for the sake of political achievements, or falsifying production, so that good governance becomes bad governance, which in turn hurts money and people...

“Agriculture doesn’t work, and the next best thing is the service industry.”

This is even more unreliable. The service industry must rely on strong primary and secondary industries to achieve scale.

If we expect to develop the service industry first and then let that castle in the air-like service industry in turn nourish the industry, the effect will only be a drop in the bucket.

After all, just think about it:

It's icy and snowy here, and the road is so long and dangerous. Who would have nothing to do and go to this vast ice field to create service industry consumption?

There aren't even any tourists. Ashe can't organize a group of strong men from the tribe to sell themselves in the bars of Noxus to make money, right?

Even if she can really make money, how can she ensure that everyone will send the money back to their hometown instead of emigrating?

“If agriculture and the service industry don’t work, what about selling natural resources?”

"Can I sell resources such as trees, ores, and animal hides?"

This seems ok at first glance.

Freljord has no shortage of forests or minerals, otherwise there wouldn't be a developed hand-forging industry here.

These resources are valuable and needed by the outside world.

"But what about the cost of transportation?" Just when Tryndamere saw a glimmer of hope, he was hit on the head with another blow.

Logistics costs are also costs. Having resources is not enough, you also need to be able to transport them in a time-saving and labor-saving way.

However, the terrain conditions of the Freljord Icefield are extremely harsh and hopeless.

If you use a God's perspective, you will find that this ice field spanning thousands of miles is actually an extremely huge basin.

There is a large ice field in the middle, with mountains to the north, mountains to the south, mountains to the east, and mountains to the west.

It was as if Prince Jarvan used a big move and sat down on this land, causing the endless rising mountains to surround the entire continent.

The Ice People mainly lived in the huge basin between these mountains.

Only the Frost Harbor in the far west, a small coastal area, has convenient transportation and is a good place to engage in side jobs such as piracy.

"It's already very difficult for a caravan to travel on the permafrost."

"Add to that the vast mountains... no matter how good the Freljord's bulk goods are, how can they be shipped out?"

The distance from Demacia's capital to Ashe's capital, Rakstak, takes dozens of hours by train.

Besides, there are no trains now. There are only hopeless mountains and glaciers.

"This..." Tryndamere was speechless.

yes.

Their Avarosan Alliance often does business with the Demacians, and he knows very well how difficult this trade route is.

Caravans carrying heavy goods often had to travel across the ice for months before they could reach the border mountains.

Crossing the mountains is also not an easy task. Throughout history, countless merchants and pack horses have died on the snow-capped cliffs.

The extremely bad transportation conditions meant that what Avarosa could sell to the Germans could not be bulk commodities such as timber and minerals, but only small, easy-to-carry items such as animal skins , gemstones, and iron products.

“Agriculture doesn’t work, the service industry doesn’t work, and even selling natural resources is fraught with obstacles.”

"This means that the Freljord cannot complete industrialization through its own strength..."

“It must rely on external forces to enter modern civilization.”

There are three methods of primitive accumulation: one is to plunder others, the second is to exploit yourself, and the third is to exploit yourself while finding a good father.

The first two have been proven to be impossible.

In that case...

Thinking of this, Tryndamere was completely desperate.

He found that he could not find a way to realize Ashe's ideal without betraying her.

"So..." Tryndamere looked at Lux with mixed emotions: "Is this so-called leader the new master you recommended for Freljord?"

“Um…” Lux had a strange expression on her face: “What you said is a bit harsh, but… the principle is similar.”

Tryndamere was silent.

Should I choose Ashe, or choose the good life in Freljord?

"No! The Freljordians will never be slaves!" Tryndamere chose the former in anger.

Because: "I don't believe there is a free lunch."

Well, except for the immigrant canteen that he bankrupted.

"Those Zaun people will not help us for nothing. They will only try their best to squeeze more profits from us!"