Volume 10: Our Journey Chapter 325: A certain cloud's routine
"Economics is the knowledge of managing materials. Maximizing the benefits of each link in the production, use and distribution of materials is the main purpose of learning economics."
In the early morning breeze, a huge furry snow wolf was pulling a flatbed truck equipped with rubber spring shock absorbers and trotting briskly on the gravel road extending northward from Huoyan City.
Sitting on the rows of seats made of wooden boards were... sixteen members of the study-abroad group from the Kingdom of Holmes.
Not to mention the royal-born Prince Hain, even the knight's son Vic, who served as his personal valet, had never ridden in such a simple carriage in his life. But at this moment, none of these young talents selected from all over Holmes complained about the hard seats under their buttocks. Even the spoiled Prince Hain listened attentively to the lesson given to them by the carriage driver Chengfeng...
The first-level clerk from the secretarial department who served as their instructor did not let them sit in a spacious and comfortable room for class, but instead transformed into a giant wolf and dragged them out of the city. These young masters and young ladies from good family backgrounds did not protest against such a ridiculous thing, and the reason was this - Chengfeng, who looked more like a beast than a scholar, said something very meaningful!
"Take your human country as an example. The food produced by farmers is material. The process of selling and transporting these materials to urban residents is the economic circulation process. In this process, how to maximize the benefits of everyone in the entire trade chain is the application of economic knowledge."
"All countries and regions pay attention to the production and circulation price of food, because it is the most important indicator of whether the country or region is stable and peaceful. If food is too cheap and cannot be sold at a high price, farmers will be unable to repay the debts for seeds and farm tools borrowed for planting, leading to a large number of farmers going bankrupt, which will in turn affect the food production in the next year. If food prices are too high, urban residents will not be able to afford it, and the city will be in turmoil and a large number of public security cases will occur."
The second-highest ranking student in Holmes's group after Prince Hain was the son of an earl. After hearing this, he couldn't help but ask, "Isn't the change in grain production and prices a problem that even the lords can't solve? What use can economics knowledge be in this regard?"
Chengfeng turned his wolf head and looked at the young earl who asked the question with a smile: "It's not about whether economics knowledge is useful here, but to solve the problem of grain prices, we must rely on economics knowledge."
"In the human social changes we have studied, large changes in food prices tend to occur in two special situations: one is when large-scale natural disasters, such as droughts, floods and locust plagues, cause crop yields to decrease or even disappear in the fields; the other is when there is a bumper harvest."
"Why do grain prices skyrocket in bumper years? Because there is plenty of grain in bumper years, grain merchants will lower the price of grain. In order to repay their debts, farmers can only sell as much of their harvest as possible and exchange it for money. After the grain in the hands of farmers is concentrated in the hands of grain merchants at a low price, citizens can only pay a high price if they want to buy grain."
"...These bastards!" The Earl couldn't help but curse.
This young earl who is over thirty years old does not love his people like his own children, but as the son of the lord, he is in charge of the stability of the territory... The grain merchants' profits leading to turmoil in the territory affect his vital interests, so it is natural that he cannot help but be angry.
"To solve this problem, the local lords need to contribute money and manpower to establish local grain management agencies and affordable granaries to purchase and store the farmers' output in a unified manner. Purchase in good years and sell in bad years, and there will no longer be large fluctuations in grain prices in the territory." Chengfeng continued. The grasslands definitely have a say in this regard. Since the farms switched to the contract system, the grasslands have implemented a unified purchase and marketing policy. "Of course, in addition to the local government's efforts to regulate grain prices and combat hoarding, there must also be restrictions on the outflow and inflow of grain, which involves macroeconomics courses..."
The Earl's eyes began to sparkle after listening to only the first half.
When Prince Hein heard the words "food management agency", his whole body trembled... not because of fear, but excitement. Although Chengfeng said that the official position was to adjust food prices, benefit the people, and maintain overall social stability, to the ears of this prince, it was two clear words: political capital!
In any country or region, those who are qualified to intervene in the grain trade often have an official background. Of course, these grain traders serve individuals... For example, the largest grain trader in the Kingdom of Holmes, the boss behind the scenes is a few bigwigs in the Council of Aristocrats.
The Kingdom of Holmes joined the Six-Nation Alliance and sent troops to resist the federal invasion. King Valentine also needed to go to these parliamentary leaders to buy military rations... It is true that the most affordable military ration is vermicelli produced in the grassland, but the soldiers cannot eat vermicelli every meal.
Prince Haien is not the first in line for the crown prince, but he can also gather a lot of funds because he has a very strong maternal family. Hearing Chengfeng's casual mention of the "parity policy", he couldn't help but think: If he sets up a grain management agency in the Kingdom of Homs and owns a parity granary that stores a large amount of grain, then all his political capital will eclipse his brother!
"Although this will offend the elders of the parliament, they have never supported me!" The little prince of the Valentine royal family made up his mind in seconds. The support of the people actually means little to the competition for the crown prince , but there is no doubt that the food in his hands will determine which side the balance in the king's heart will tilt to.
The most important thing is, if he can lead the establishment of a nationwide food management agency, he will have many people who directly obey him, which is the most reliable competitive bargaining chip.
Thinking of this, Prince Hein turned his gaze to Jeffrey Kenneth, who was sitting diagonally opposite him. He was the eldest son of Earl Kenneth and the first heir to the Earldom of Varudo.
Jeffrey Kenneth met the Prince's gaze and nodded his chin slightly.
When Jeffrey learned that his name appeared in the study-abroad group, he knew that his father had chosen the younger prince Hain over the two princes... The older prince had too many supporters, and even if Earl Kenneth, who did not hold a cabinet minister position, joined in, he would only be icing on the cake.
On the contrary, although Prince Hein has a strong maternal family, he is ten years younger than the eldest prince and does not seem to have much qualifications to be a bettor… In the study-abroad group, the other earls sent are not the first heir. Obviously, the powerful earls except his father only bet on both sides out of the mentality of "not putting all eggs in one basket", and they are not very optimistic about the little prince.
After hearing Jeffrey's statement, Prince Hein's mouth corners curled up slightly.
Chengfeng had no idea that the course he was taking would make a prince have a strong desire to compete for the throne. As a conscientious instructor, when he mentioned the grassland's grain price policy, he naturally went over the details of the policy's implementation: how affordable granaries can streamline costs and ensure a balance between income and expenditure and even generate a surplus while benefiting the general public, the details of the procurement process, the selection principles for grain transportation and on-site storage, the rules and regulations and supervision systems that must be implemented by purchasing personnel and terminal sales points... and so on.
Due to the different "national conditions" between the grassland and the human country, Chengfeng made selective introductions to the students. This was enough to open the eyes of these students - these official-led planned economic knowledge popularization and team management systems, to these young masters and young ladies, sounded like "A guidebook on how to establish a personal force loyal only to oneself, kill brothers and sisters, and seize a higher inheritance order"... in short: "A guidebook for counterattack."
The lady wearing a veil sitting in the row behind Prince Hain was named Vilia Rat, the fifth daughter of the Minister of State of the Kingdom of Homs. She was already over 20 years old. If she had not had a high enough academic qualification to be arranged into the study abroad group, she would be busy with blind dates and socializing at this moment, and her order of succession could be ignored.
Minister Rat has more than a dozen children, and Miss Viriya is not the most favored among them. Because of her excellent academic performance, she has been often ridiculed by her brothers and sisters who are favored by Minister Rat... The mainstream view that too outstanding ladies are difficult to marry also exists in this world. It is a very disgraceful thing for family members not to fully protect the self-esteem and self-confidence of the male head of the family.
Miss Villa, whose ambitions and desire for power were suppressed by mainstream opinion, listened attentively and the eyes under her veil sparkled more and more - this experience in cultivating and managing a team is applicable to more than just terminal sales!
Just by hearing Chengfeng's words such as "group self-inspection mechanism, implementation of responsibility system and comprehensive coverage of supervision procedures", Miss Velia's breathing became heavy... This is not economic knowledge at all, this is teaching others how to become the king!
Master Jeffrey, who had just expressed to Prince Hain his willingness to cooperate with the royal family (Prince Hain) in the grain industry, was a little slower than Miss Vilia in realizing that the content of Chengfeng's teaching contained too much information, and his eyes became wider and wider.
As for Prince Hain himself... he had clenched and unclenched his hands on his knees several times.
Thirteen years ago, Chengfeng was just an ordinary adult member of the Fire Tribe. He had been living a life of herding and starvation since he was old enough to understand things. His life trajectory took a drastic turn only after a cub ran away from home and returned. In other words, he had no idea how to manage a team (group) or how to lead a team (group). In this world, this kind of knowledge was the "supreme power" monopolized by the royal families of various countries...
Just as it is difficult for modern Chinese people on Earth to understand that those long passages that need to be memorized in history books and political textbooks were the "dragon-slaying techniques" that only a very small number of top intellectuals could access in ancient times...the operation of hoarding grain first and then rebelling, raising the banner to win the hearts of the people is something that only the elite class can do. Peasant rebels often have to form a certain force and have scholars join them (the landlord class bets on it) before they know how to imitate.
Prince Haien, who was too young to be taught the political tactics of the Valentine royal family, compared the "Terminal Sales Point Team Training Management Principles" that Chengfeng casually told them with the way King Holmes managed his subordinates that he had seen every day. He was completely stunned - What on earth are you doing? Aren't you teaching us economics? !
Prince Hain was shocked, but Chengfeng, who was talking a lot about team management, actually said, "Economic knowledge must achieve the transformation and creation of value, not just making money. How to transform the act of making money into value creation and replace the price mechanism with the value mechanism as the core mechanism of the market, first of all, we need the primary and secondary industries that actually produce materials, and secondly, we need an executive team that can implement the application of economic knowledge. We will learn a lot in the future, so everyone should work hard to absorb it!"
"Yes, Mr. Chengfeng." Miss Vilia and several students who could keep up spoke excitedly.
Prince Hein swallowed his saliva. He always felt that something was wrong, but he instinctively felt that the knowledge imparted by Chengfeng would be of great benefit to him, so he responded with a hoarse voice.
Master Jeffrey's lips moved, but he finally chose to shut his mouth. This earl, who had much more experience than Prince Hain, keenly realized that the knowledge taught by Chengfeng should be known by as few people as possible... but the authority of his father, Earl Kenneth, was not enough to influence these grassland people, so he wisely shut his mouth.
Vic, who was sitting next to Prince Hain, had no energy to pay attention to other people's reactions. At this moment, he was trying hard to remember what Chengfeng had just said.
Well...the content taught by the "instructors" was naturally arranged by Xiao Yun.
Changing or introducing certain policies to achieve the purpose of convenience and benefit for the people is meaningless if this direction is promoted to those in power. The reason is very simple. If it is inconvenient and detrimental to the people, they are also city lords, lords and kings. So why go to the trouble of creating trouble and offend people who eat from the same pot?
But if this good thing that benefits the people and can also earn political capital is revealed to the "opposition party", the reaction will be different - the opposition party will make a fuss without any reason, and will not jump on the opportunity even if there is a reason!
Four hours later, the flatbed truck pulled by Chengfeng arrived at Farm No. 1... the White Bear Farm that was being reclaimed in the north.
The rumbling pneumatic tractors belched black smoke as they drove back and forth across the land. The huge plows they were carrying turned over large lumps of soil, exposing countless grass roots and insect eggs. Thousands of strong men with white hair and bear ears worked in the fields, carrying water tanks to spray pesticides (mainly to kill insect eggs) on the reclaimed land, picking out large and small stones mixed in the soil, or carrying hoes to break up large lumps of soil...
Seeing so many polar bears, Prince Hain, Master Jeffrey and other international students who had some understanding of the racial composition of the Prairie Kingdom were stunned.
"How come there are so many polar bear orcs? Are there polar bears on the grassland?" Vic said in confusion.
"They weren't there before. They are new. Well, they came last month." Chengfeng, who was getting dressed, smiled.
Prince Haien looked at the busy white bears in the field, and then looked at Chengfeng who had put on his clothes and asked them to follow him. He had countless things to say in his heart - so many Far Eastern orcs appeared on the grassland that was fighting with the Far East, you really don't want to explain a few more words? !
When the group of overseas students arrived, they only took a quick glance at the "welcome team" that appeared as a formality, and then they all stayed in a lakeside hotel far away from the living area in the city. They did not know the racial composition of the current Fire City.
When the students from the Kingdom of Holmes were surprised by the large number of white bears at the White Bear Farm, the Yagalan Principality's study abroad group, led by the human woman Shelda, was also surprised by the large number of Winged workers in the new industrial zone east of Huoyan City, and their jaws almost dropped...
The Winged People are less physically strong than the Humans, but they are dexterous and have good aesthetic tastes. It would be a complete waste of talent to ask them to farm, so they were all arranged to work in the units under the woolen mill in the industrial zone. Shelda, a lecturer who came from the woolen mill, would naturally choose to start his field classes with the industry he is familiar with.
Seeing thousands of Winged People, including the prince, coming and going in the entire factory, the corners of the mouths of the entire Yajialan study abroad group twitched... The news that was widely circulated at the beginning of the year, that the grassland kingdom annihilated the Far Eastern invaders, was still hot!
It turns out that this is how you annihilate people!
Does the routine have to be so deep? !
Xiao Yun said: I'm sorry, we will play tricks as deep as we can, without any hesitation.
While the international students were accepting the baptism of new ideas and refreshing their worldviews, Xiao Yunzheng brought the tiger tribe's chief tent, whose worldview had been completely refreshed, into the lion tribe's battle tree plantation, and asked the chief tent to instruct the lion tribe on how to plant and harvest branches and leaves more efficiently... Although planting this thing does not require much technical content and it is enough to be able to fight, there is still a difference between planting a batch of battle trees and being able to harvest one crop or harvesting continuously.
"Start harvesting from the old leaves near the roots, harvest one every two leaves, and leave the roots at the leaf stubble. New leaves will grow in about thirty to forty days." Yale Dazhang stood beside the battle tree that had grown for five months after it was planted. He casually arranged the fruits that had suddenly been pulled out, and explained to the lion tribe lightly, "For fruits, harvest them after the peels have all changed color to a uniform tone. Only then can these fruits be considered truly ripe. Well, this fruit is ripe and can be harvested." As he spoke, Yale Dazhang reached out and grabbed the round fruit that was pulling towards the back of his head. He twisted his wrist and picked the battle tree fruit with one hand...
"Oh oh——" Even Xiao Yun exclaimed in amazement. Ayi, who was also responsible for planting combat trees in Huoyan City, had to use a machete to harvest the fruits quickly. The upper limb strength of the tiger tribe was really not to be underestimated!
The lion general Gloria was a little unconvinced. She also stepped forward and forcibly picked a fruit with one hand, looking at the Yale tent provocatively: "Is it like this?"
Yale's big tent frowned: "...Your piece is not cooked enough."
Gloria: “Uh…”
Yale's frown deepened: "You broke the stem when you picked it, so no flowers can grow on this vine tip."
Gloria retreated in shame...
The male lions standing by wanted to laugh, but were afraid of being punished by the general, so they tried hard to hold it back.
"According to our observation, after a branch has produced five or six fruits, it will no longer bear fruit, and the branch can be cut off." Yale Headquarters ignored Gloria's provocation and continued to explain diligently, "Cut off the main vine at the root, and the smoother the cut, the better. If the main vine no longer bears fruit, keep the branch with the best growth and cut off the main vine. In this way, next year, the branch of the battle tree will replace the original main vine and continue to grow and branch out."
"How many years can a battle tree be planted?" a male lion asked curiously.
Yale thought for a moment and said, "The first batch of battle trees we planted have continued to grow and bear fruit after being transferred to Bolton Territory for more than five years. As for how long these battle trees can grow, I can't say for sure."
"As long as they can still bear fruit, we'll keep growing them. Anyway, there's never too much rubber raw material." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "Master Yale, do you think we can harvest the stems and leaves of these battle trees?"
"Yes. You can collect the leaves after the first fruit ripens. We all do this." Yale said, "After harvesting, spread them out in the open air to dry for a few days before packing them into bags. They won't spoil easily."
"Well, let's start harvesting, General Gloria?"
"No problem." General Lioness nodded and shouted with full energy, "Stop watching and get to work!"
The land that the Tea Bear and Fox tribe had reclaimed in the spring had already been harvested. Even the money and supplies that the Winged Tribe sent back with the help of the White Bear were several times more than those of the Lion Tribe. Gloria said nothing on the surface, but she was extremely anxious inside... Now that the Lion Tribe could also generate income, she couldn't wait!
Well, influenced by the style of Fire City, General Gloria did not stand by and watch. After the call to start, she took the machete and led the way forward... It was also because she implemented the principle of leading by example in Fire City that when a male lion was lazy, she was particularly justified in beating him up...
Xiao Yun and Yale left the plantation so as not to disturb other people's work. After separating from Yale, Xiao Yun went alone to the planting greenhouse that Ayi was in charge of.
Ayi and his people have a deep historical hatred with the Tiger Tribe. Even the Yale tent would not show up in front of Ayi and the other snow wolves. Xiao Yun naturally would not ask Ayi and the others to be "tolerant, forgiving, and influence the world with love"... He must be bored.
After seeing the one-armed Ah Yi, Xiao Yun asked, "I think the planting experience that Yale Tent shared with the Lion Tribe is pretty good. Are you willing to listen to it?"
Ayi didn't say anything, just stared at Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun nodded, and repeated the experience shared in the Yale tent... If Ayi didn't want to listen, he would turn around and leave, but would not stand here.
The entire tiger tribe was engaged in planting, but there were only a few dozen people on Ayi's side planting combat trees. Although they had been planting for a longer time than the tiger tribe, they had not accumulated as much experience as the tiger tribe. After listening to Xiao Yun's retelling, Ayi showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, and some of the things he didn't understand before were easily solved.
When Xiao Yun was about to leave, Ah Yi suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm. After hesitating for a moment, he turned his head and pointed his ear at Xiao Yun: "Ah Yun, do we cause you any trouble?"
"What are you talking about? When it comes to causing trouble for me, you are not even on the list." Xiao Yun acted angry. "That damned Moss makes trouble in school every now and then. Do you think you are troublesome? How many of you are worth one hand of Moss?"
Hajime turned his head and his mouth twitched slightly.
"Don't think too much. How can we be called a family if we don't cause trouble to each other?" Xiao Yun smiled and patted Ah Yi's one arm. "If we want to never cause trouble to each other, then we have to live in different places and never have any contact with each other until we die. I don't want that, and you don't want that either, do you?"
"Yeah." Hajime nodded heavily, his stern face softening.
"I once told Chief Huoyan that I hope all of our tribesmen can live together, work together and make our lives better and better. In this dream of mine, you and others are all important parts. Without one person, my dream will be incomplete." Xiao Yun said emotionally, "Now my dream is half complete. We all live together, and other races have joined our big family. The next half, which makes our lives better and better, requires everyone to work together, including you and all those who have the same pursuit as us."
"I know that you have a deep hatred for the Tiger Tribe, but I still force you to tolerate the Tiger Tribe appearing around you... Yi, you don't hate me, but worry about causing me more trouble. I don't even know how to express my gratitude for your consideration, so how can I blame you?"
Ayi sniffed hard and said excitedly: "Ayun, I... my tribesmen and I will never forget what the Tiger Tribe did to us. But... but our cubs will not continue to live in hatred. Just like you said, each generation has its own life. We will not blindly imitate our ancestors, and our descendants... do not have to be like us."
Xiao Yun was so moved that he could hardly speak, and he almost hugged Ayi and cried.
When he walked out of the greenhouse and left the greenhouse area, there was no trace of the redness in his eyes...
Pulling out the calendar from his shoulder bag, the emotionless devil cub, who was about to become an adult, scribbled in the notebook coldly: "Today's internal stability work (appeasement) is over... Well, I have to go to the cement factory next. The workers in this batch have been working for almost three months and need to be replaced. This time, the bear tribe will also be included in the rotation list... The last time I inspected the hilly new district was more than 20 days ago. I have to find time to go there and show up... The snake department's schedule must also be arranged..."
In another year, no, in another eight months (the original owner's exact date of birth has been obtained from Uncle Ashan), Xiao Yun will be thirty years old and officially an adult.
Xiao Yun, who had long planned to officially take power when he came of age, has been persevering in his "face-swiping" work in the past few years - that is, to maintain his personal presence in all departments as much as possible, so that the interval between people in all departments contacting him is no more than thirty days.
After all... compared to someone who can't be seen or touched and rarely contacted, people are more willing to trust and support the one who can be seen from time to time and can say even a word - although Xiao Yun is confident that he can complete the power transition smoothly, the preliminary preparations should be as thorough as possible!
Although doing so was extremely utilitarian, Xiao Yun had never heard of the idea that one could gain a large number of die-hard supporters by drinking afternoon tea elegantly in a comfortable room and giving commands remotely... In the feudal era, generals even knew how to show off their "loving soldiers like sons" persona!
