Chapter 483 Environmental Assessment Expert: Careful
Amid the undercurrent, ripples occasionally appear on the water surface.
Ionia, Navoli Province, Waili.
Shen carried the soul blade on his back, controlled the strong wind, and slowly fell from the air to the ground.
There was already someone waiting on the ground to greet him. That person was none other than his old friend, the former Shadow Master, Jie.
"Shen, long time no see." Jie extended his hand to them with the courtesy of a leader.
"Long time no see." The two hands were clasped together tightly.
Their faces were filled with calmness and peace, no longer having the enthusiasm and intimacy of their childhood.
But as the truth was revealed, Ku Shuo died, and the passage of more than a year, Jie and Shen let go of the grudges caused by misunderstandings in the past and became friends again.
However, due to their respective work reasons, the two friends have not seen each other for a long time.
“Jie…” Shen looked at the current Jie.
He had taken off the murderous Shadow Armor and put on a simple Ionian short robe. With a blue bird badge in the style of an old cadre, he looked very upright and sunny.
That stern face that always seemed to be filled with hatred and intimidation now had a more approachable warmth.
"You've changed so much." Shen felt like he could hardly recognize him. "When I first heard that you were the administrator of Waili, I couldn't believe it."
In the past, Jie was seen as a cold-blooded killer and a master of evil ways, but now he has transformed into an administrative official serving the people. This change is truly astonishing.
"It's just an appointment by the organization." There was a hint of helplessness in Jie's eyes.
Although the Leader has so far only carried out comprehensive land and social transformation in provinces such as Baruo and Navoli, in some areas of Ionia.
Other places in Ionia are only nominally under the control of the Leader, but are actually still controlled by various warlord clans and sects.
But even such a limited-scale, localized land and social reform practice still emptied the Leaders' grassroots cadre reserves, forcing the Leaders Association to try every possible means to gather enough local administrative officials.
Therefore, as a knowledgeable intellectual, who had effectively managed a large sect, planned many anti-imperialist armed movements, had organizational and mobilization capabilities, and had administrative management experience, senior talents...
Master Jie, who was originally in charge of post-war bandit suppression, was unfortunately "drafted" by branch president Riven and assigned to Waili to serve as the temporary local chief executive.
He used to be a murderous shadow assassin with a gloomy poker face that would make anyone nervous.
Now it's ok...
In order not to arouse fear among the people of Waili, Master Jie, who had never smiled since he rebelled against his master, had to practice smiling and cultivating his temperament every day, in order to train himself to be the kind of leader and veteran cadre that everyone imagined.
"Don't talk about me." Jie's temperament has changed, but his style is still as decisive and capable.
"Let's get straight to the point, Shen."
Yes. They gathered here not to reminisce with old friends, but for the official business of the Leaders Association.
The role played by Jie in the story is the local chief executive of Weili.
After leading the Order of the Balance to join the Leader, Shen also got a new job - he is now the president of the Ionia Association for Sustainable Balanced Development.
As the name suggests, Ionia needs to develop, but more importantly, it needs to develop sustainably and in a balanced manner.
Development should not excessively damage the natural environment or cause excessive pollution, otherwise it will inevitably lead to physical revenge from nature.
Therefore, how should a region develop in a balanced way? How many factories should be built and what industries should be developed so as not to exceed the carrying capacity of nature? This has become a very critical issue.
The only one who can answer this question is the Ionia Sustainable Balance Development Association, which was reorganized from the original Order of the Balance.
So, in a sense, as the Eye of Twilight who holds the highest authority for interpreting the Way of Balance, Master Shen has now become the most powerful figure in Ionia.
Every factory and every project in Ionia must undergo an "environmental assessment" by him and the Disciples of Balance before they are allowed to be implemented.
"Shen, can you help me take a look at the situation in Wali?" Jie asked hopefully.
"We plan to build a hydropower plant, a thermal power plant, a coal mine, a machinery plant, a cement plant, a textile industrial park and supporting urban infrastructure in Waili next year to help Waili achieve initial industrialization and urbanization."
"You should have seen the detailed information of the project plan when we submitted it for review. The Weili area is in great need of these projects. I wonder if you can approve them..."
“Zhe…” Shen sighed helplessly, “I can only draw a conclusion after I observe with the ability of the Twilight Eyes.”
“Whether a project can be approved and how much can be approved will ultimately be determined by the balance.”
"I understand." Jie also restrained himself and retracted his overly expectant look.
He is also from the Order of the Balance.
He knew that the balance between all things was an objective theorem that could not be challenged in Ionia.
If you cross this boundary, you will suffer the backlash of nature. The balance between the material and spiritual realms will be broken, and you will be contaminated by evil spirits that are difficult to remove.
The Twilight Eye is just an observer and communicator who can see this boundary clearly.
Whether the factory can be built or not is not something that can be changed by just inviting his old friend for a few drinks or saying a few words.
Leaders don’t play that game. And nature doesn’t play that game either.
"I will observe now." Shen secretly formed a seal, ready to communicate with the spiritual realm and enter the observation state.
But before that, he specifically reminded: "Zhe, I advise you not to have too much hope."
"After all... you should have heard about the evaluation results of our Balance Sect in other regions."
"Yes." Jie nodded helplessly.
In order to bring Ionia into industrialization and modernization as soon as possible and change the poverty of this ancient agricultural country, the administrative officials of the Leader in various parts of Ionia are eager to immediately build infrastructure and open factories in their jurisdictions.
However, the industrial construction plans submitted by local officials after research are often ruthlessly rejected by the masters of the Church of Balance during the environmental assessment stage.
Ten factories were submitted for review, and it would be good if only one was approved for construction.
The rapid industrialization of Ionia imagined by the leaders is simply impossible to achieve in reality.
Even in the areas ruled by the Wind Leader, the vast majority of Ionians can only farm in the countryside. Not to mention going to the city to enjoy modern life, even using electricity is a luxury for them now.
"I can't help it. I understand your enthusiasm for progress in building your homeland. But Ionia has its own national conditions. As leaders, we must be pragmatic and respect the objective laws of nature."
The first thing Shen said was a set of words to calm people down. It was obvious that this was not the first time he had said this.
Considering that Zed was an old friend, he added a few more words: "To be honest, Zed, Ionia may not be able to take the path of industrialization at all."
"First, after years of war in Noxus, Ionia's natural environment has been damaged and is very fragile."
"The extinction of too many lives has caused the balance between the material and spiritual realms to shift significantly. The invasion of evil spirits caused by this imbalance has occurred repeatedly in various provinces and regions."
"Building factories and infrastructure on a large scale at this time will undoubtedly make things worse for Ionia." Shen said the bad news in a serious tone.
"Secondly, even if the balance of all things is gradually restored over time, Ionia may not be able to build too many factories."
Industry is not a castle in the air. There is no so-called high-end green industry that can exist independently from basic industry.
If a poor agricultural country wants to build industrialization from scratch, it must start from primary fields such as textiles, coal, electricity, steel, cement, metallurgy, building materials, papermaking, brewing, fermentation, textiles, leather making, mining, alchemy and chemicals.
Among these industrial projects, there is not a single one that is not a highly polluting industry.
Take the textile industry, which is the easiest industry to start and is built by late-developing countries in their initial stages, as an example:
At first glance, weaving and making clothes does not seem to cause much pollution. However, the printing and dyeing process discharges a large amount of toxic wastewater, which is highly polluting, difficult to treat, and has a low wastewater reuse rate.
If these sewage were discharged into Ionia's natural environment, it would poison countless flowers, trees, insects, birds, fish and shrimps.
And it is impossible for Ionia to only produce ready-made clothes and place the printing and dyeing process overseas - the supply chain is separated by the vast ocean, and the extra logistics costs alone are enough to kill this industry, which already has meager profits.
This is true for the textile industry, as well as other industries. There are too many restrictions on developing industry in Ionia.
"So..." Shen said honestly, "Zhe, you'd better not get your hopes up."
"Is that really the case?" Jie sighed secretly.
In fact, these objective opinions raised by Shen have already been recognized within the Leaders Association.
In order to encourage his Ionian comrades, Levi shouted the slogan "There will be Coke, and there will be ice cream too", and also said that he wanted to promote sustainable development and green industry in Ionia and bring modern life to Ionia.
As a result, after more than a year of work experience, I have witnessed the objective reality that Ionia’s industrialization path has been blocked by the “environmental assessment”...
The last time Levi came to Ionia for inspection, he held a meeting with everyone, but it was his own review meeting.
The working direction of the Ionia branch also changed from "modernization of balanced development" to "limited modernization with balanced priority."
To put it bluntly, the plan is to build as few factories as possible, and use foreign aid to prioritize the construction of livelihood industries such as electricity, tap water, cement and building materials, so that the Ionians can first enjoy a semi-modern life with electricity, water and cement roads.
"Now my colleagues in the local area are almost driven crazy by this." Having been a cadre of the Leader for a long time, Jie has completely lost the taciturnity of the former Shadow Lord.
He lamented: "Without other industrial projects generating profits and income, how can we rely solely on transfer payments to maintain people's livelihood infrastructure for a long time?"
"We need to protect the environment and alleviate poverty at the same time. How can we carry out this work?"
"There is no other way. Now everyone is trying their best to find ways to make money from areas other than industry."
Without industry, there would only be agriculture and the service industry.
Ionia does have an inherent advantage in agriculture. The fruits and vegetables here are all spiritual things grown under the influence of magic, and can be sold at a high price several times that of ordinary products when shipped overseas.
Leaders do not need to spend much time on agriculture. As long as they ensure the supply of goods and do a good job in brand operation, they can enable Ionian farmers to earn incomes far exceeding their overseas counterparts.
In the service industry, leaders are also trying their best to find ideas for generating revenue:
Levi once personally wrote an ad in the Twin Cities newspaper, describing Ionia as a holy land, and saying that everyone should go to Ionia once in their lifetime to cleanse their souls in the land of the first birth.
Master Yi persuaded Master Wuji to transform Wuji Village, which was once the base of the Wind Leaders, into an educational base for the history of the Anti-Imperialist War. He planned to launch a Janna-themed tourism program to specifically harvest the Wind Leaders and Wind Chasers who would visit Ionia in the future.
Wuji Village has set its sights on the wallets of Janna’s followers.
Riven, on the other hand, has set her sights on those literary youths who are obsessed with Ionian culture.
With her status as branch president, she successfully persuaded Master Karma to open several outer temples of the Changcun sect, so that overseas tourists could also have the opportunity to see these ancient monuments and pay homage to the legendary "reincarnated living immortal" from afar through the numerous mountain gates.
besides……
Xia and Luo also proposed a plan to build a tourism with Vastaya ethnic characteristics, preparing to use the lovebird legend of their Lothlan people to create an exclusive IP to attract couples in love;
Yasuo Yongen, taking advantage of his reputation as the champion of the first League of Legends 5V5 team competition, plans to open several martial arts competition clubs under the name of "Swift Wind Sword School" to trick overseas fans into coming here to learn from him;
Even the simple-minded Master Irelia passively followed suit and contributed.
She made her debut passively under the strong promotion of the newly established Ionia Tourism Bureau, and became known to the world as "the oriental saint who saved her motherland with her own strength", a girl idol representing the pure beauty of the new land...
"This..." Shen was speechless after hearing this from Jie.
Although Ionia does have beautiful scenery, colorful culture, and no shortage of tourism resources, can tourism alone...help Ionia?
"It can only be said that it has a certain effect," said Jie. "Tourism can definitely bring in more income. But Ionia is so big that I am afraid it will not be able to become a wealthy, developed and modern country just by relying on farming and tourism."
"so……"
So Levi’s opinion is that if you need to run, run.
Anyway, the whole world will be one family in the future. If you can't survive in Ionia, just go to the vast continent of Valoran to work and settle down.
This is certainly not a perfect solution, but it is the best solution under objective reality.
Just like the Wind Leader cannot grow corn in Freljord, Ionia cannot achieve full industrialization. That is impossible. The Wind Leader must also respect objective facts when transforming the world. There is no other way.
Therefore, Ionia’s future positioning may only be a tourist destination and the world’s granary.
"But as long as conditions permit, the more factories the better." Jie said, "Otherwise, we will have to import even the most basic fertilizers and agricultural machinery from Shuangcheng thousands of miles away in the future... All the money we earn from hard work in farming will be spent on industrial consumption."
"Although our comrades in Valoran will make transfer payments to us, it would still be a pity if this money was wasted on the logistics costs of importing goods from overseas."
"I see..." Shen nodded secretly.
He understood Jie's desire for industrialization. Every page of the project information submitted for review was filled with the people of Weili's expectations for a better life.
However, objective conditions are objective conditions, and the equilibrium boundary cannot be crossed.
"I'll start observing now." Shen said, "Perhaps the situation in Weili will be better than other places."
"Yeah." Jie stood aside silently, waiting for Shen's environmental impact assessment conclusion.
I saw Shen chanting spells, making hand gestures, and his eyes emitting a mysterious white-purple light.
He fully activated the power of the Twilight Eye, and his thoughts communicated with both the material and spiritual realms, covering the vast land around Waili.
"Huh?!" Suddenly, Shen woke up with a start.
"What's wrong?" Jie looked over.
Although he hadn't fought for a long time, he could see that the sudden solemnity in Shen's eyes was definitely not because of the environmental impact assessment issue.
"There are evil spirits..." Shen replied, "I sense that there is the breath of evil spirits on this land."
"Evil spirits?" Jie seemed to be thinking: "Is it caused by imbalance? Is it the invasion of evil spirits in the spiritual realm?"
"No." Shen shook his head.
If that were the case, he wouldn't be so surprised.
"I can sense a special aura from it. It's not a spirit from our Ionian spiritual realm."
"It has the power of death magic, just like the undead that survive in the black fog of the Shadow Isles...but its power is even more evil."
Spirits are not supposed to exist in the material world. Their very presence in Ionia is disrupting the balance.
As the guardian of balance, the Eye of Twilight can naturally sense the other party.
"An evil spirit from outside Ionia?" Jie frowned, and the fierce temperament he once had as the Lord of Shadows quietly emerged again.
Why did this evil spirit cross the vast ocean and come to Ionia?
What is its purpose?
"Let's go." Shen had already drawn out his soul blade decisively.
Zed followed without hesitation: "Let's go take a look."
