Chapter 484: Rural Experts: Robbery
Jie and Shen rose into the air and flew into the sky following the evil soul breath.
The two of them quickly flew out of the city of Weili and headed for the vast countryside outside the city. One village after another flew past them at high speed, and finally:
"It's just ten miles ahead." Shen reminded accurately this time.
"Ten miles ahead...where is the evil spirit?" Jie's expression revealed a trace of solemnity visibly.
"What's wrong, Jie?" Shen turned to look at his friend: "Is there some important place ten miles ahead?"
"Yeah." Jie answered carefully, "That's Nanmu Village, a very ordinary village in the past."
"But now, it is one of the first important pilot villages set up by the Ionia branch in Navoli Province to verify the feasibility of rural collective enterprises."
"Pilot program for rural collective enterprises?" Shen was slightly stunned.
He knew what this so-called rural collective enterprise was.
To be precise, it should be called a collectively-enterprise rural area.
Or to put it bluntly, it is a collectively owned village community, but it is operated according to the logic of a business in a market environment.
This concept is not unfamiliar in Ionia today.
Because when Levi was encouraging his Ionian comrades before the war , in addition to firing off a bunch of empty words about "comprehensive modernization under balance", he also proposed a beautiful idea of "rural collectivization and enterpriseization".
The reason why he proposed this idea was not because he was ready to rush into the main force of Janna. Otherwise, he would not have emphasized that this was just a collective enterprise under the market economy environment.
The reason why Levi came up with this idea is simple and very reasonable.
Because in the future of Runeland, the intensification of agricultural production will definitely be the general trend.
Agricultural intensification facilitates unified management, scientific planting, continuous operation, and large crop planting areas, thereby improving agricultural production efficiency, resource utilization efficiency, resource allocation efficiency, improving product quality, ensuring food safety, and increasing grain production.
In contrast, it is difficult for small and scattered farmers to concentrate their efforts on transforming agricultural facilities and to concentrate capital on importing agricultural machinery and fertilizers. Not only is their production efficiency low, but their ability to resist risks in the face of market fluctuations is also very insufficient.
As the world becomes connected in the future and industrialization gradually advances in Runeterra, a large number of Ionian farmers will surely leave their villages, emigrate overseas, and move to cities to work and settle down.
The rural labor force in Ionia will be greatly reduced, and the phenomenon of land abandonment will become more and more serious, which will cause a waste of land resources.
If these Ionian farmers who moved to the city did not want to leave their land idle, they could only rent the land use rights to large grain growers and agricultural companies in their hometown.
The result is still a disguised move towards agricultural intensification.
However, large grain growers would definitely have a headache looking at the fragmented pieces of land they rented from small farmers - these fragmented lands that are difficult to manage in a unified manner would drag down agricultural production efficiency.
"That's why President Levi thought it would be better to do it all at once from the very beginning." Shen recalled what he had seen and heard more than a year ago.
At that time, the Leader was vigorously carrying out social transformation in Ionia.
While Levi hopes to fight the local tyrants and divide the land in Ionia, he also tries not to divide the land in some areas, but to directly transfer the right to use the land to the collective ownership of the village community, and manage and operate it in the manner of a collective enterprise.
Under this model, villagers are no longer loosely independent small farmers, but shareholders of a collective agricultural company.
Everyone voluntarily unites, manages democratically, shares risks and benefits, which not only achieves agricultural intensification but also protects everyone's personal interests. It seems to be the best of both worlds.
The managers of collective enterprises are also leaders elected by the villagers themselves.
With faith in guaranteeing the purity of corporate managers, there is no need to worry that the collective enterprise will change as it goes on, leading to huge losses for unknown reasons, bankruptcy and sale for unknown reasons, or becoming the family property of the company managers for unknown reasons.
"It's a good idea, but..." Today, Shen still thinks that Levi's original idea was good.
But something went wrong in the first step.
Because it is easy to conquer a country, but difficult to keep it.
The leader had been building his empire, and everything had gone smoothly, with almost no major setbacks along the way.
They can always gain the welcome and support of all the grassroots people in the most perfect and most satisfactory way.
In addition, Levi himself has been relying on Goddess Cana to win all the way. He has not been trained enough and still has the habits of a petty citizen. He is hesitant about what to do. He wants to reform, but he is afraid to face the side effects of the reform...
Therefore, the leader's overall governing strategy before was to cater to public opinion as much as possible and win as much praise from the masses as possible.
They regard themselves as the ideal and perfect rulers and cannot bear to hear any dissatisfaction.
Therefore, the first principle of the rural collective enterprises that the leaders tried to promote was:
Voluntary association.
But are the farmers of Ionia willing to unite?
Of course not!
The biggest dream of farmers is to become landlords.
Now the "neighboring village" is dividing the land, and everyone has their own land.
Why can't they own their own land? Instead, they have to hand over the land to some "collective enterprise" for unified management?
These Ionian farmers, who had just emerged from the old society and had received no prenatal education, could not understand the concepts of "company", "shareholders", "equity" and "dividends"...
In the eyes of the Ionians, the collective enterprise that the Leader wanted them to establish was the new landlord who oppressed them.
Without direct control of the land in their own hands, they would still be tenant farmers.
Everyone is unwilling to unite, and the leaders want them to unite but are unwilling to break the rules of voluntary union.
The result of this is...
None of the rural collective enterprises that Li Wei envisioned were realized.
Not only did the leader fail to accomplish anything, but he also caused public outrage and resentment.
“Wasn’t this plan stopped a year ago?” Shen looked at Jie in confusion, “Why is the pilot program starting again now?”
“This…” Jie looked helpless: “It’s a long story.”
Shen has been busy with environmental assessments for more than a year, so naturally he doesn't understand the situation in rural areas.
The land distribution policy implemented at the time did indeed help the vast majority of Ionian poor peasants to rise up overnight, and made the poor peasants who were originally forced to work for the landlords have a high level of production enthusiasm.
"But do you know, Shen?" Jie asked, "Our Leaders Association has only completed less than 70% of its grain procurement plan in Navoli and Baruo provinces."
"The amount of food exported overseas from Ionia this year is actually less than the Noxian statistics from previous years."
"The price of food on the market now is almost the same as during the war."
"Huh?" Shen was slightly stunned.
As a master, he certainly wouldn't buy food and cook for himself. He really didn't notice the abnormal food prices this year.
"How is this possible?" Shen couldn't understand.
The war was over, and the Leader distributed land to the vast Ionian farmers.
This year, Ionia also had good weather and not only did it not suffer any major disasters, but it also had a bumper harvest.
A stable production environment far from war, the enthusiasm for production brought by the distribution of land, and a bumper harvest brought by the good weather, this set of positive buffs stacked up...
"Shouldn't the grain output this year be greater than in the past?"
How can grain exports decrease, grain prices go up, and the official grain purchasing plan of Leader be unable to be completed?
Shen really couldn't understand.
"Because farmers' lives have improved." Jie gave an unexpected answer.
"?" Shen was still confused.
Isn't this a good thing? How can it lead to rising food prices?
"This is certainly a good thing for Ionian farmers."
"In the past, they were oppressed by the landlords and the Noxian invaders. They could only eat a pitiful amount of wild vegetable porridge and coarse grain steamed bread every day. They could only eat white rice every few months, and they could not eat meat all year round."
"They barely managed to survive. The food they produced through hard work was plundered by the landlords and colonists as much as possible and sold on the market for their personal wealth."
“But now, they’ve turned over.”
"They can eat white rice and refined flour every day, and they can use the surplus grain to raise pigs and chickens, so they can eat meat every month."
In the past, the poor peasants of Ionia could only eat the minimum life-sustaining meals.
But now, they eat more and better, and they are able to stockpile surplus food.
"This..." Shen gradually realized that something was wrong.
Suppose an Ionian tenant farmer produces 1,000 kilograms of grain a year.
In the past, they were severely exploited by landlords and colonists, and 800 kilograms out of 1,000 kilograms had to be paid as rent to the masters.
A master may have hundreds of tenants under him. He receives 800 kilograms from each tenant and keeps a small portion of it for stockpiling, which is already a large amount.
So when the landlord receives 800 kilograms, he will hoard 200 kilograms for himself and sell the rest.
There were 600 kilograms of grain in the market;
Now that the Ionian farmers have turned over a new leaf and divided up the land, their enthusiasm for production has increased, and one person's annual output is 1,200 kilograms of grain.
Assuming the leader only collected 200 kilograms of tax, they would eat 300 kilograms themselves and use 100 kilograms to raise pigs and chickens to improve their food.
Because they were afraid of starvation in the past, they had to stock up another 300 kilograms in case of emergency.
In the end, there were only 300 kilograms of grain left to be sold in the market.
then……
Although the output has increased, the commercial grain on the market has actually decreased significantly.
In a market environment, what will happen if there is less food supply on the market?
"So speculators heard the news and joined forces to stockpile grain and speculate on it."
"When farmers saw the sharp rise in grain prices, they were even less willing to accept the official purchase price given by the leaders, and began to spontaneously hoard grain in the hope of selling it at a higher price."
As commercial grain becomes scarce, grain prices rise. When grain prices soar, no one is in a hurry to sell grain.
Finally, the Leader was unable to purchase food, and Ionia's food exports to overseas were greatly reduced.
"This..." Shen understood.
To put it bluntly, compared to the sustainable exploitation of the local gentry and Noxian colonists in the past, the Leaders took too little from the Ionian peasants.
The benevolent policy of distributing land and reducing taxes instead triggered a wave of grain speculation, causing difficulties in the supply of commercial grain.
"But we are the leaders." Shen hesitated and said, "The Ionian peasants have finally turned over a new leaf. What's wrong with them wanting to have enough food and a better life?"
"Alas..." Jie sighed: "Ideals and reality are always different."
"Realistic problems are very complex, and it's not always possible to find a solution that satisfies everyone."
Just like now: the living standards of Ionian farmers have improved, but Ionia's exports have plummeted.
And Ionia cannot earn enough money on its own... No matter how much health big brother Zaun has, and no matter how selflessly they support us like a real brother, it is impossible for such a large and backward agricultural country to develop relying solely on their transfer payments.
"As a backward agricultural country, if Ionia does not extract enough surplus from agriculture, it will not be able to quickly achieve the original accumulation of seed benzene, and it will not be able to develop industry and enter modernization as soon as possible."
"We can certainly 'rule by doing nothing' and let everyone drink wine and eat meat now, and live an idyllic peasant life."
"But if we don't move towards industrialization and modernization, and people continue to farm in the countryside, then over time , as the population continues to grow, the per capita arable land area will continue to decline..."
"The living standards of Ionian farmers will only get worse."
“Within two generations, the so-called pastoral idyll will turn into unsolvable systemic poverty.”
To avoid this hopeless outcome, collectivization of agriculture became imperative.
The administrative cost for individual small farmers is too high. Leaders cannot visit every household and persuade small farmers to reduce their grain hoarding and sell their surplus grain as much as possible.
But if hundreds of small farmers were integrated into one large collective enterprise...
The leader only needs to send someone to deliver an official document on "cracking down on grain speculation" to corporate managers, and he can easily stimulate companies to sell their surplus grain, stabilize grain prices, and solve the market-wide grain shortage.
Only when Ionia's grain exports increase can it obtain more capital to invest in modernization.
"I see..." Shen nodded with mixed feelings.
But he thought about it and said, "But there's no need for us to rush, right?"
Unlike Levi's previous life, the leader of this world is invincible.
Ionia is protected by the goddess Janna. If it does not immediately develop its industry and enhance its comprehensive national strength, it will be hunted and strangled by the international community surrounded by wolves.
To the Ionians, the land across the sea was not an enemy but a brotherly land where each of them could freely go and settle.
This greatly reduces the need for rapid industrialization.
"Zed, didn't you also say before that the Association has changed its work direction and only intends to build a 'limited modernization with balance as the priority' in Ionia?"
Since Ionia's future positioning is already a tourist destination with not much industry + the world's granary.
Then wouldn't there be a need to build so many factories and no need to rush to extract surplus from agriculture and increase exports to generate revenue?
"You're right." This time, Jie nodded and acknowledged Shen's question.
Because of the chaos in the grain market, some people within the leadership have been calling for full collectivization of rural areas.
But due to the same considerations as Shen, the top leaders of the Leader finally decided to let Ionia speed up its pace slightly and take a more gentle approach to modernization.
"That's why we have only set up a number of pilot rural collective enterprises and promoted them in some parts of Ionia. We are not in a hurry to promote this model across the board."
"Moreover, even if the pilot is successful in the end, we have no intention of using direct administrative means to implement this law."
This pilot project is not only for the leaders, but also for the general Ionians.
Rural collective enterprises that engage in intensive and large-scale production, under the effective management of leaders with faith, will definitely have higher production efficiency than loose small-scale farmers.
Coupled with Ionia's relaxed international environment and limited demand for modernization, the surplus that Ionia needs to extract from agriculture and the burden it imposes on rural areas are not as exaggerated as imagined.
The output is high, so there is not that much to take away.
Therefore, even if rural collective enterprises comply with the policy and sell their surplus grain, the living standards of their village members will not necessarily be much worse than those of the individual Ionian small farmers.
"We hope to turn these pilot enterprises into successful examples of agricultural collectivization, so that Ionian farmers can see the benefits of rural collective enterprises and get rid of the mentality of small farmers working independently."
"We will introduce some more policies to provide targeted subsidies to villages that are willing to set up collective enterprises..."
If you are willing to work in partnership, you can buy fertilizers, pesticides and agricultural machinery from Zaan at subsidized prices.
Partnership means the concentration of capital. When everyone's labor is concentrated together, there will naturally be money to buy agricultural machinery that is very expensive for individuals.
Over time, when the partners all drove tractors, seed drills , and combine harvesters, the small farmers working alone were still digging the land with hoes and driving oxen to pull plows...
Then everyone will naturally see the gap and invest enthusiastically in rural collective enterprises.
"In short, we will first withstand the dissatisfaction of some people and use administrative means to achieve partial collectivization in Ionia to ease the pressure on commercial grain supply."
"Once these batches of rural collective enterprises have been successfully managed and the Ionian farmers' ideas have changed, we can use subsidies as incentives to promote them on a large scale."
Let some people unite unwillingly at first, and then the first ones will lead the others to unite, so that more people will unite voluntarily.
This is the goal of the leader.
As he spoke, Jie looked at his old friend seriously, "Shen, now you know why this small Nanmu Village is so important, right?"
This is one of the first pilot villages and will be a benchmark that will influence the implementation of the leader policy. Its significance is of course important.
"I see." Shen nodded secretly.
"But..." As he flew with the wind, he looked towards the village whose outline was gradually taking shape in front of him.
The breath of the evil spirit is in that direction.
"But this evil spirit can't be coming for this policy, right?" Shen was a little confused.
The collectivization reform policy of the leaders at most caused dissatisfaction and vigilance among small farmers.
But the small farmers are at most temporarily dissatisfied.
They were rescued from the local gentry and Noxian invaders by the Leader more than a year ago. They would not summon evil spirits to attack the pilot village just because of this little dissatisfaction, right?
Even if there are madmen who can really do this, do they have the ability to do it?
Anyone who possesses such extraordinary powers must be either a sect elder or a powerful clan leader.
But these people hate everything about the leader, and they will not specifically oppose this policy.
"Yes." Jie nodded: "So what I am worried about is that the other party is not coming for the pilot village, but for the leader."
Since Nanmu Village is the only collective enterprise pilot in Wali District, it also gathers a considerable number of leading grassroots cadres.
But this place is not like the Waili city area, where there is a strong man like Jie personally in charge.
In other words: "If someone wants to retaliate against the leader indiscriminately, then..."
Using his rich experience in indiscriminately attacking Noxians over the past few years, Zed made a solemn judgment:
"Here is the best target!"
