"The Frost Harbor Polar Economic Demonstration Zone Construction Working Committee held an unveiling ceremony today. Comrade Udyr, the president of the Freljord branch of the Leader, and Comrade Ashe, the vice president, attended with all team members..."
"The first League of Legends Sports Competition was successfully concluded in Zaun. The Ionia Swift Swordsman team won the 5V5 team championship..."
A distant voice came over the Hex radio.
Fiona listened attentively, her expression focused so much that she seemed to forget that she was sitting in a bumpy carriage, rushing on the way back to the country estate.
"Fiona, turn it off." She listened carefully.
But her father, Sir Sebastian, the head of the Laurent family, frowned slightly when he heard this.
"Father." Fiona was wearing a ladylike aristocratic dress, but her tone was naturally as sharp as a swordsman's.
Not only did she not turn off the radio, but she also asked thoughtfully: "Father, who do you think is stronger, our Laurent family's swordsmanship or the Gale Sword School's Gale Swordsmanship?"
"If I had gone there..."
"That's not something you need to consider." Sebastian interrupted in a deep voice: "Sword fighting is the most sacred and ancient noble tradition of our Demacia. Only the barbarians of Zaun and Noxus would regard it as a show of tricks performed in the arena."
As he spoke, he reached out and turned off the Hex radio.
As the blue magic light gradually dimmed, Sir Sebastian's expression became more gloomy and serious: "Fiona, don't forget your origins. Don't listen to these Zaun people's radio programs anymore."
"I can choose not to listen." Fiona responded sharply: "But father, times have changed. We can't just bury our heads in the sand and everything will stay in the past."
" The Wind Leaders have even reached Frost Harbor now. Do you think they are still far from Debang?"
"..." Sebastian remained silent.
But he still answered in a rigid tone: "Enough! How to fight against the potential threat of the Wind Leader is naturally for His Majesty Jarvan and the great nobles like the Crown Guard family to worry about. We just need to do our duty as nobles."
Sebastian wasn't completely without confidence when he said this.
The well-informed and far-sighted nobles of Demacia have long been unable to sleep or eat uneasy because of the existence of the Leader.
On the one hand, they secretly sent their family members to contact the leader, ready to bet on both sides;
On the other hand, he was extremely resistant to the coming of change, and constantly instigated King Jarvan in the court, hoping that King Jarvan would take the lead in the charge as soon as possible and eliminate the deadly threat posed by the Leader.
In order to win this war, some extremists even proposed a crazy plan to "let bygones be bygones" with their old enemy Noxus and join forces with Swain to fight against the Wind Leader.
Faced with the increasingly radical war factions in the country, in order to maintain the old social order and prevent it from collapsing prematurely, King Jarvan had to come up with a set of rhetoric to appease the people.
He announced that Galio was actually the final weapon that the Winged Guardian had passed to Demacia through the hands of Master Durand. Its power was so strong that even the goddess Janna, the leader of the wind, could not compare to it.
However, this "Gundam" has just awakened, and it will take some time to fully recover its magic power.
Considering the unfathomable power that Galio had previously demonstrated, and King Jarvan himself was the greatest noble in the country, it was impossible for him to dug his own grave... everyone just believed it for the time being.
"As long as Galio launches the attack, everything will be fine." With such confidence, Sir Sebastian finally suppressed the hidden worries in his heart.
He raised his head and continued to lecture in the tone of a patriarch: "Fiona, I know what you are thinking."
"But you'd better not do it. Don't bring shame to the Laurent family, son."
This story has to start from the beginning.
Like other noble ladies of Demacia, Fiora was born to be a tool for political marriage.
But unlike other noble ladies, Fiona is not a weak lady who can be manipulated by others. She is a genius swordsman, an unparalleled swordswoman, and a rebellious girl who gives her parents a headache.
Despite this, after Fiona's eighteenth birthday, she was eventually arranged to marry a relative of the Crownguard family, a stranger she had never heard of before.
Considering the family's honor and the possible serious consequences of breaking off the engagement, Fiona finally accepted the arrangement silently and did not resist for the time being...
But the situation changed subtly after Prince Jarvan's reforms.
Demacia opened its doors to the outside world, initiated official trade, and generously accepted the existence of mages and magical creations.
This series of measures resulted in the various novelties brought by the Zaun people quickly occupying the town markets of Demacia at an incredibly astonishing speed.
For example, this Hex radio.
Those leaders even set up branches of the "Voice of Zaun" radio station in Debang to broadcast radio programs from Zaun.
At the same time, they also sold radios in Demacia at extremely low subsidized prices, so that every Demacia citizen with a little extra money could hear the sound from Zaun at home.
As a result, the residents of several major cities in Demacia were fully exposed to the outside world and the advanced industrial civilization of Zaun and Piltover.
Many old nobles who were conservative even scolded Prince Jarvan for doing business with the people of Zaun, while happily riding the Hextech gate from Xiongdu directly to Zaun to go to the Twin Cities to eat, drink and have fun.
For young people like Fiona, the boring dinners and aristocratic salons in the upper circles of Xiongdu are even more unattractive compared to the amusement parks, cinemas and shopping streets in the Twin Cities.
And the attraction of material entertainment is not the most terrifying thing.
What is terrifying is the highly infectious culture and ideas of the Zaun leaders.
Many young nobles, some of whom yearned for the leader's great ideals, some of whom wanted to escape the shackles of feudal rules, and some of whom had both, began to move closer to the leader.
Some of them secretly joined the Wind Leader's organization, while others simply crossed the Hextech Gate under the pretext of traveling and stayed in Zaun without returning.
This kind of thing that brought shame to the nobles and dishonor to the family has happened several times in Xiongdu.
Sir Sebastian had every reason to believe that his rebellious youngest daughter, Fiona, also had the intention of escaping to Zaun.
Just like those trendy young people in the capital, she has become a loyal supporter of Zaun's cultural leaders.
The League of Legends matches were broadcast live in Zaun, and she, a German from thousands of miles away, attended every game.
The cultural infiltration brought about the infection of thoughts. Sir Sebastian gradually discovered that Fiona had already revealed some dangerous signs in her words since he did not know when.
What's worse is that... Fiona was already rebellious enough, and her family had arranged a political marriage for her that she didn't like.
Whether from the perspective of personal motivation or ideological inclination, Fiona had every reason to run away.
This made Sir Sebastian very uneasy.
Considering his daughter's abnormal fighting ability, if Fiona was really determined to escape, it would be difficult for him to stop her...
After his stern warning, he couldn't help but add in a softening tone, "Fiona, I hope you can consider the overall situation."
"The Mianwei family is not someone that a small family like us can mess with, and they will not tolerate such naked humiliation."
"If you secretly break off the engagement and flee to Zaun, then I, your mother, your brothers and sisters... the entire Laurent family will bear the wrath of the Crown Guard family for your selfish behavior."
"I know." Fiona sighed softly, as if she had heard it, but also as if she didn't care much.
She looked out the window at the ever-changing countryside and said seriously, "This is my home. I won't leave."
"That's good." Sebastian finally got the answer he wanted.
He also looked out the window, at the gradually familiar scenery: "We are almost at our family's territory."
"Fiona, you should stay in the countryside these days and learn from the housekeeper how to manage the manor for your future husband's family. Then return to Xiongdu when the wedding is held."
"Understood." Fiona's lips curled up slightly, and her attitude was unusually cooperative: "I will work hard in the countryside."
"This..." Sir Sebastian frowned slightly.
The girl suddenly stopped talking back to him, which made him feel a little uneasy.
Fortunately, they have now moved away from the "smoky and chaotic" capital and returned to the countryside with simple customs.
There are no Hextech flying gates here, no trendsetting propagandists parading around, no rebellious young people gathering together to sing Zaun pop music, only a country manor that has not changed in hundreds of years.
Even if Fiona wanted to run, she couldn't get far in a short time.
Thinking of this, Sir Sebastian finally felt relieved.
"But, father." Suddenly, Fiona asked him in a subtle tone: "By the way, why did you want to go back to the countryside with me? Are you worried that I might run away on the way, so you want to monitor me personally?"
"No..." Sebastian denied this statement. Although this is indeed part of the reason.
He frowned and explained: "Something happened in the territory and I had to come back to deal with it."
"What's going on?" Fiona asked.
"Some restless guys are causing trouble." Sebastian said in an unhappy tone.
"Oh?" Fiona became more and more curious: "Why? Aren't our tenants always very well-behaved?"
"This..." Sebastian hesitated for a moment.
Considering that his daughter would have to learn how to manage the family affairs after she got married, he patiently explained: "This matter has to start from Miyin City."
"You know, King Jarvan is now encouraging nobles to invest in industry. And the Crown Guard family is the first to take the plunge."
"They have established many factories in Miyin City, including a number of wool textile mills . These textile mills are very profitable and have a huge demand for wool materials, so..."
"So, the price of wool has gone up?" Fiona answered without being asked.
Sebastian looked at his daughter with some surprise before saying, "Yes."
"The price of wool has now soared several times compared to previous years, and will rise even higher in the future."
"So I decided to take back all the land from the tenant farmers and turn the estate into a pasture specifically for raising sheep."
He deliberately slowed down his tone so that his daughter, who had never been involved in household affairs before, could understand.
But Fiona's reaction was much faster than he expected: "Father, this is a big change. How did you make the decision so quickly?"
Market transmission has a lag.
If the price of wool had not gone up, the noble landlords who had grown grain for hundreds of years would have immediately and boldly transformed themselves into agricultural and animal husbandry farmers and bet their entire fortunes on it.
Compared with those aristocratic landowners who were still obsessed with land annexation and financial lending, Sebastian's progress was indeed fast enough.
"It's not me, it's the Crown Guard family." Sebastian sighed, "Our territory is relatively close to Secret Silver City, and the Crown Guard family is related to us by marriage."
The Laurent family was originally a younger brother of the Crown Guard family.
Now that the Mianwei family has started a textile industry, they are short of raw materials and need high-quality and reliable suppliers.
Then the Laurent family and other "subsidiary families" would naturally respond to the call of the eldest brother and "change wheat to sheep, and rice to mulberry."
This business was profitable and was guaranteed by the long-term needs of the Crown Guard family, so Sir Sebastian boldly went along with it.
"Isn't this a good thing?" Fiona asked delicately, "After the manor was converted into a ranch, the income increased and everyone's life became better. Why are the tenant farmers still making trouble?"
"This..." Sebastian had a strange expression.
Why? Of course it’s because…
His high income has something to do with his tenant farmers?
In fact, because he changed his career to animal husbandry, the lives of those tenant farmers became even more miserable.
Because for the same piece of land, animal husbandry requires fewer people.
There may have been 1,000 tenant farmers who worked for the Laurent family, but now only 100 households are needed to take care of the sheep for the estate.
So where should the remaining 900 households go? Of course...
Go as far as you can, go wherever you want.
"Did you drive the tenants out?" Fiona's tone seemed to be questioning rather than asking.
"Yes!" Sebastian didn't like his daughter's attitude: "So what?"
Fiona looked at him as if he had done something wrong.
But what did he do wrong?
"The land didn't belong to the peasants, but to our Laurent family. I can rent it out if I want to, and I can take it back if I want to. Is there a problem with that?"
Yes, legally speaking, Sebastian did nothing wrong.
Because this land was the legal territory earned by his ancestors through military merit and was the private property of the Laurent family.
The ownership of the land originally belonged to him, but he was unable to cultivate such a vast land, so he rented it to tenant farmers.
"But they have lived here for hundreds of years, generation after generation." Fiona said: "This is their home."
"No!" Sir Sebastian retorted. "This is our home. No matter how long they have been farming here, they are only our tenants."
"If the landlord wants to take back the house, does he have to follow the tenant's opinion?"
"But where can they go if they leave the land?" Fiona asked again.
"Where are you going?" What does this have to do with me?
Sir Sebastian thought so, but due to his noble dignity, he couldn't say it directly in front of his daughter.
"They can come into the city," he said.
Indeed, these tenants were not serfs, but legally free persons.
Although due to the invisible personal dependence on the land, they had no ability to leave the countryside and could not get rid of the tenant's contract with the lord.
The lords would also use various private decrees to prevent them from leaving, in order to avoid excessive loss of labor in the territories.
And now, although they had nothing, they were truly free.
"Miyin City is building large factories right now and needs a lot of workers. Can't they just come to the city to make a living?" Sebastian felt that he had done his best for the tenant farmers.
If you drive them away, they will have nowhere to go.
Life in Miyin City is so good. He is still helping these tenant farmers to seek progress.
"But can Secret Silver City really accommodate so many people?" Fiona said, revealing the fact that her father did not want to mention.
A factory is not a bacteria that can grow out of thin air with just some nutrients.
Can the speed at which the Mianwei family builds factories really keep up with the speed at which landless tenants move into the city?
What should so many tenant farmers do if they lose their land in their hometowns and cannot find jobs in the city?
"Noxus has taught us a lesson, father."
Where do all these slums in the Immortal Fortress come from?
Where do the refugee camps and orphan corps in the imperial army get their constant supply of manpower?
Where are all the many exiles that Noxus sends to various colonies every year captured from?
This is the side effect brought about by the barbaric development of seed benzene.
Factories cannot perfectly accommodate the large number of landless farmers who move to the city. These "redundant populations" will be "optimized" and eliminated in various cruel ways.
At least Noxus still has colonies to serve as pressure relief valves, and years of war to divert conflicts.
If a Noxian refugee is lucky, he might even be able to go to the colonies and become a superior person.
What about Demacia? What should the landless peasants of Demacia do?
"You're forcing them to die, father," Fiona said in a serious tone.
"You?!" Sebastian was choked.
"Yes! But so what?" He finally said impatiently: "Those tenant farmers were originally just our tenants. I hired them to farm the land out of kindness, so that they could have a bite to eat."
"Now they are unable to find food elsewhere, do I have to continue to support them?"
"Of course!" Fiona glared back in response.
She asked, "Father, if I'm not mistaken, when the Mianwei family approached you to cooperate in running the ranch, they should have put forward additional conditions to you, right?"
"This..." Sebastian was slightly stunned: "How do you know?"
Yes. Compared to him, the Mianwei family is the real good people.
Lux had already considered the problem of refugees caused by "changing wheat to sheep".
So she made a special agreement with the Laurent family and other partners, requiring them to reserve a small piece of land for the tenants and their homesteads in the countryside after converting the manor into a pasture.
In this way, the tenant farmers who came to the city to work at least had roots in the countryside and a way out.
If they couldn't find a job in the city, they could go back to the countryside and live there. Even if they couldn't make a lot of money from their piece of land, at least they wouldn't starve to death.
This was a good thing for the tenant farmers.
Compared with the original seed benzene main sprout in Noxus, it can still give people a way out.
But in the eyes of a lord like Sebastian...
"This is simply nonsense!" Sebastian felt that the request of the Mianwei family was simply unbelievable: "That land originally belongs to our family. Why should I reserve a share for those peasants?"
This is not called reserving land, this is simply robbing the rich to help the poor, and it is a disguised way of distributing land to tenant farmers!
He is not a leader, so why should he do such a good thing?
"You can make a lot of money by co-operating with the Crown Guard family to run a ranch." Fiona advised: "Why are you still unwilling to leave a way for those tenant farmers to survive?"
"Fiona, you...how can you think like that?" Sebastian felt that his daughter was indeed deeply poisoned.
"This is not a matter of money! This is a matter of reason and law! Private property is sacred and inviolable. That land originally belonged to us, so why should it be distributed to those tenant farmers?"
"Just because they are weak and pitiful, they can get something for nothing?"
"They themselves are incapable, what does it have to do with me?"
Sebastian was very resistant to this.
He felt that this outrageous request was entirely due to the childishness and naivety of that girl Lux .
So he agreed to the conditions of the Mianwei family on the surface, but secretly instructed the housekeeper to start forcibly evicting the tenant farmers.
He didn't reserve any land or housing plots for those poor people.
Anyway, the Mianwei family is high and mighty, so they probably don’t really care about the fate of those tenant farmers.
"So, the tenant farmers revolted. Right?" Fiona asked suddenly.
"This..." Sebastian's emotions calmed down again in an instant: "Yes."
This is actually quite incredible.
Because of the absolute gap in military strength between people in the extraordinary world, the tenant farmers would never be able to resist the lord unless they were driven crazy.
"Besides, the housekeeper can't handle it, so you have to come back and handle it yourself?"
"Yes!" Sebastian was once again touched by his daughter's words.
Not only did his tenants resist, but miraculously, they frightened his housekeeper and his thugs so much that they dared not move, forcing him to do it himself.
How is this done?
"How did a group of tenant farmers defeat Laurent's swordsmen?" Fiona asked in a subtle tone.
"It's all because of those damn leaders!" Sebastian was indignant.
Of course, the tenant farmers could not defeat the swordsmen of the Laurent family.
But when these swordsmen were about to strike hard at the tenant farmers, the tenant farmers actually said:
"You guys do such a heartless thing, aren't you afraid that the leader will come after you in the future?"
As soon as I said this...
"These idiots dare not move!" Sebastian said bitterly, "Those peasants even said that the leader has come to Debang and the goddess Janna is watching us from the sky."
"They will also send inspectors to the countryside to supervise us!"
"You still need to keep a record of our red and black accounts so that we can settle accounts later!"
This is a naked threat.
A group of tenant farmers, with just a cry of "Janna", were able to scare the lord's lackeys so much that they dared not move!
This is really the collapse of etiquette and music!
"Oh, I won't be scared by them!" Sebastian said bitterly, "The Leader is still thousands of miles away in Zaun, how can he control these country folk?"
"What inspectors, what red and black accounts, what liquidation..."
“It’s all true.”
"Eh?" Sebastian's face froze.
"I said, it's true." Fiona smiled and said, "I am the inspector."
Sebastian: “…”
There was a delicate silence.
"Father." Fiona sighed, "I'm afraid I'll have to record one more black account of yours."
Sebastian: “???”
"Wait..." He finally reacted in shock: "You, you are already the leader?!"
"Yes."
“……” Another silence.
Sebastian quietly tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"You can't beat me, father." Fiona said without even raising her eyelids. "Besides, if you continue to be so stubborn, I really can't save you."
Sebastian's hands trembled slightly.
"Also, do you know who introduced me to the club?"
"……who?"
"Your 'master', Miss Laxana. Otherwise, why do you think the Crown Guard family put forward those additional conditions?"
Sebastian: “…”
He thought his daughter was trying to scare him. But when he thought about it carefully... thinking about the various unorthodox and great good deeds that the Crown Guard family had done in Misty Silver City, and their close relationship with the Royal Family of Jarvan... he felt something was wrong.
The most important thing is, Demacia’s so-called “decisive weapon” Galio... the pilot of this Gundam has always been Lux.
If this is true…
"She, she really is..." Sir Sebastian couldn't even speak clearly.
"I can take you to see her anytime you want. Anyway, this place is not too far from Secret Silver City."
“…”
"Now, can you reserve allotments for the tenants?" Fiona asked.
"I..." The old father's voice was hoarse.
He hesitated for a long time before saying, "Um... can you please record less of the black account... I am your father after all..."
"Hmm?" Fiona frowned.
"I'll keep it, I'll keep it!" Sir Sebastian immediately "improved" and said: "From now on, if I have a bite to eat, those tenant farmers will have a bite to eat!"