Volume 8: The Sword Points to the Far East Chapter 256 Mr. Sean’s Decision (Part 2)
Mr. Sean still has some moral integrity.
Ignoring Xiao Yun's crazy suggestion, Mr. Sean thought seriously for a while before saying, "I have something that I haven't finished yet."
"Just that?" Hodgson said.
"That's right." Mr. Sean nodded.
Hodgson couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is so important that you are willing to abandon the dignity of a spellcaster?"
Even the humblest goblin would not consider it an honor to be someone else's slave. The so-called deep friendship between a wise master and a loyal servant is nothing more than a joke made up by the superiors to fool people in order to meet their own needs.
At least the Moon of Vengeance herself could never imagine herself becoming a slave controlled by someone.
Mr. Sean hesitated, shook his head, and smiled awkwardly: "I have spent most of my life doing meaningless and stupid things. When I found that I could do something less stupid, I didn't have much time left. I... am unwilling to accept this."
Pointing out the window, Mr. Sean looked directly into the black pupils of Revenge Moon and said very seriously, "I hope that towns and cities like Robbins Knight Territory where most people can be self-reliant will be all over Kroning."
Revenge Moon opened her mouth in astonishment, without caring about her image.
The Knights' Territory cannot be said to be wealthy. There is not a single luxurious mansion in the entire Knights' Territory. Even the Knights' Mansion looks more like a farmhouse than a mansion.
The Knight Territory could not be said to be prosperous. Most passers-by wore the cheapest linen clothes. The accessories sold in the shops on the busiest streets were also quite cheap, mainly wood carvings and shell woven items. There were no jewelry or jade at all.
But the Moon of Vengeance would never think that the Knights were poor, for a simple reason... There was a red glow on the faces of people walking on the street, and no beggars were seen in the darkest corners of the alleys.
Before this, Vengeance Moon had not thought deeply about it, nor had he pondered why there were no beggars and street children in such a small town, even in the capital. It was not until he heard Sean say the words "self-reliance" that he suddenly realized -
Yes, the knight's territory, which is neither rich nor prosperous, has unique advantages compared to those big cities with luxurious mansions and streets full of silk and satin: the cost of living in this place is very low, and even an ignorant peasant woman can find a job within her ability to earn a living and live as "decently" as possible.
So why can't other cities do this?
This is the blind spot of Revenge Moon's knowledge... He stared at Sean blankly, unable to react for a long time.
"The cheapest food in Valentine is pancakes, which are sold in many stores." Xiao Yun knew that he couldn't rely on Sean, so he stepped forward and said, "It's made of 50% bran-containing wheat flour, 20% soybean flour, and 30% potato flour. When it's baked in the oven, a thin layer of animal fat is brushed on the outer layer. One pancake weighs six pounds and costs two copper coins. It doesn't taste very good, but it's quite filling and can make an adult half full."
"If you have extra money, you can add a copper coin to buy the cheapest vegetable soup with big bones. If you don't have money, you can just make do with the free vegetable soup with plain water."
"The minimum cost of living for an adult in a day as a knight is four copper coins. As for work, whether it is doing odd jobs on a construction site in District 3 or doing odd jobs in a store, the minimum income is ten copper coins." Xiao Yun looked at the somewhat dazed Moon of Revenge, and counted on his fingers to give the great magician an account that he probably had never heard of. "If it is an ordinary family with two adults and two children, and both parents work and can eat one meal at the workplace, plus one meal at their own expense, the minimum is sixteen copper coins to buy food for the children."
"In a single-parent family, where the mother or father raises two children independently, the income can at least feed the family and save a few copper coins for emergencies. If the family has the conditions to cook by themselves, then the investment in food can be even less."
"Giving people the opportunity to work and earn money, while ensuring that the money is enough for them to live, so that people's hearts can be stable and they don't have to worry about where to eat lunch tomorrow. To achieve this, it is necessary to provide enough cheap daily necessities."
"The Knight Territory is poor in land and does not produce any food. If the lord relies on purchasing all the food from outside, he will not be able to afford it no matter how wealthy he is. So Isaac tried his best to reclaim the arable land and build plastic greenhouses that can produce food all year round. He also rented land from villages outside the territory and raised pigs to meet the needs of meat and animal fat. This is the only way to ensure that the Knight Territory can feed thousands of families and tens of thousands of mouths that depend on it under the most difficult conditions possible."
"This is what we see in the Knight Territory. Even though it is not rich, it can make people live a better life. This is the effort that the lord must make."
When Xiao Yun was halfway through his speech, Revenge Moon's gaze turned to him. When Xiao Yun finished speaking, Revenge Moon's eyes were directly glued to him and couldn't be removed...
"This, this..." Hodgson swallowed and subconsciously denied what Mr. Sean had said before, "This is impossible. How many Isaac Robbins can there be in this world?"
Xiao Yun and Mr. Sean couldn't help but smile at each other.
People who do not have a comprehensive understanding of the world will easily attribute a certain phenomenon to a certain person. This is the reason why the public has such a deep belief in heroes.
Not to mention this world, the same is true on Earth...
Xiao Yun would not mock a local native for his narrow-minded personal heroism. He used a more euphemistic statement: "Mr. Hodgson, being able to attract and retain people with a relatively low cost of living and a rewarding work environment does not require a wise and intelligent lord to succeed."
Seeing Hodgson's confused expression, Xiao Yun looked at Sean with a smile.
Sean, the indigenous magician, had more in common with Hodgson and knew how to persuade his kind. He smiled and said the key part: "Another most critical condition is... there must not be too many unearned gainers in this territory who plunder the fruits of labor, so that the labor output of the people in the territory can truly return to the people."
Hodgson turned to look at Sean with a very strange expression on his face. There were too many unfamiliar words in the words, and even he needed some time to sort them out; after sorting them out...he became a little stiff.
"The main sources of income for the Knights' Territory are the merchants attracted by overseas goods, the audiences attracted by the Grand Theater every three days, and the people attracted by the war ball game. These people enter the Knights' Territory, and the money they pay for consumption flows into the pockets of merchants. The lord collects a commercial tax of one-tenth from food stores, and a commercial tax of three-tenths from clothing, hotels, taverns, and hotels. These taxes are the wealth of the Knights' Territory." Mr. Sean smiled and said, "This wealth is invested in construction, hiring workers to build the territory, reclaiming wasteland, and renting farmland. The process of 'spending money' is the process of building the Knights' Territory, and it is also the process of giving back to the people. After all... if it weren't for the people building the war stadium, the Grand Theater, repairing the hotels and restaurants, and improving the docks, it would be impossible to settle the guests who come to the Knights' Territory."
Hodgson looked surprised. Although he was relatively poor, he was more frugal. He was not completely without any economic knowledge. Mr. Sean explained it to him in such a simple and easy-to-understand way that he would not fail to understand. It was only because he understood that he was so surprised...
"Investing as much of the territory's income as possible into territory construction to form an internal virtuous circle can be done in the Robbins Knight Territory because there is only one Knight Lord. And if the Knight Territory becomes a town or even a big city in the future, with more nobles and a larger group eligible to share the territory's tax revenue, then... apart from anything else, can the tax on food stores in this territory still maintain the minimum standard of one-tenth?" Mr. Sean said meaningfully.
Hodgson was stunned, his mouth slightly open.
As a great magician, he had no respect for the royal family, and he certainly didn't buy into the nobles' boasting about their surnames and bloodlines. He didn't feel disgusted by the contempt hidden in Mr. Sean's words; this made him feel that his worldview had been refreshed... It seemed that for the territory, the nobles were not only not noble beings, but parasites? !
"With the increase in taxes on food stores, merchants will inevitably pass the costs on to consumers, so the price of the cheapest pancakes that can fill you up with two copper coins will inevitably increase... Even if the minimum cost of living increases by only one copper coin, the pressure on the people will double." Mr. Sean smiled and said, "Not only that, because the group that has the power to share the tax revenue of the Knight Territory has increased, the tax revenue that could have been invested in the operation of the territory will inevitably decrease. After all, who is willing to use their own money to build public areas belonging to the territory? With fewer construction projects, people can no longer easily find jobs to make a living, their incomes will decrease, and the cost of living will increase..."
Mr. Sean sighed and shook his head, "Don't even think about hoping that more cities can be like this. I'm afraid the current vitality of the Knight Territory won't be maintained for many more years."
Hodgson was dumbfounded.
If he had just thought Mr. Sean's "wish" was a little bit whimsical, now after listening to Sean's words, he just felt that it was hopeless...
"...Since you know this so clearly, why are you still willing to have such an idea - even if it means becoming a ghost?!" Hodgson was puzzled.
"It's because it seems impossible that I'm unwilling to rest in peace." Mr. Sean smiled calmly, "If it's something that can be easily achieved, why would it be worth it to try so hard?"
Things that are not challenging enough are not enough to attract spellcasters!
This group is so proud!
Hodgson stared at Sean in silence for a long time.
They were spellcasters who entered the Ivory Tower in the same batch. Although they had no friendship with each other, they were not completely ignorant of each other. When he was madly seeking revenge against the Church for the hatred of Moon City, Sean Illusion's End was doing his best to assist King Cronin in his reforms. Although he failed, Hodgson knew what kind of person Illusion's End was.
Sean, who sat in front of him and spoke frankly about his inner wishes, reminded Hodgson of "J" and the others.
Moon of Revenge had dealt with "J" before, but he didn't think that "J" could succeed... Although that was a good ideal, even Melville failed back then, so how could "J", who was far inferior to Melville, succeed?
But now... just after listening to Sean's words, Hodgson couldn't help but feel that compared to "J", the End of Illusion was much more reliable - "J", who tried to unite with the nobles but was used by them, and Sean, who could see the ills of human city rule clearly, the latter was undoubtedly very convincing.
As a survivor of the Moon City, Hodgson did not have feelings for a particular country like Sean did, but Sean's ideas were attractive to him. He was curious about what Sean, who was wiser than "J", could achieve. He nodded and said, "...I agree to your request, but there is a condition."
Sean looked at Xiao Yun, and Xiao Yun quickly agreed. Mr. Sean was willing to pay a huge price to forcefully "extend his life", and Xiao Yun would not play tricks in this regard.
As expected, it was Xiao Yun who made the decision for Hodgson. His particularly deep black pupils stayed on Xiao Yun for a moment, and he stated his conditions.
Soon after, there : "What? 'J' is on the same side as you guys?!"
"'J' training on the prairie?!"
"'J''s people are doing business in the Federation?!"
Xiao Yun stared at the Vengeance Moon who couldn't hold back his composure with a very nagging look, so...when you don't have money to earn, you just stay at home and play by yourself, right...
Hodgson no longer tried to hide his curiosity about Xiao Yun, and his particularly deep black pupils stared at him intently.
"Mr. Hodgson?" Xiao Yun quickly took over the conversation.
Vengeance Moon looked away in a split second.
Xiao Yun had a blank expression on his face. What the hell are you doing, you old man? You're hesitant to speak!
Afterwards, Mr. Sean privately told Xiao Yun about the origin of the Moon of Revenge and the situation of the Moon City. Only then did Xiao Yun understand what was going on with that deep look in his eyes...
Isaac worked until the early morning and came back sweating all over.
After returning home and closing the gate, Isaac prepared to take a bath and catch up on his sleep. When he passed the living room, he found that the light was on inside.
"Mr. Sean, are you still awake?" Besides him, Sean was the only one who needed to light a lamp in the Knight's Mansion. Isaac was a little curious about what had happened that made Mr. Sean still not rest so late, so he prepared to go over to take a look.
Before he could get close, the living room door was pushed open from the inside, and two spirited spellcasters walked out one after the other...
"I need to go back and prepare some materials. If nothing unexpected happens, I will be back in thirty hours." The strange spellcaster said to Mr. Sean while putting on his cloak.
"Thank you for your help." Mr. Sean said with a smile.
The spellcaster, whom he had never seen before, seemed to be a very decisive person. He nodded to Mr. Sean and strode out. He didn't even bother to glance at Isaac when he passed by him.
"This, this is...?" Isaac pointed at the stranger who walked out of the yard in the blink of an eye.
"The Moon of Revenge, Webb Hodgson," said Mr. Sean.
"Moon of Revenge?!" Isaac, who was a little sleepy, suddenly woke up.
"I have to go and rest. I'm so tired..." Mr. Sean pinched his sore shoulders and walked to the other side of the corridor. "By the way, Isaac, Ayun has fallen asleep in the living room. Carry him back to his room."
"When does the Moon of Vengeance come?!" Isaac looked confused.
Mr. Sean didn't have the energy to explain to him: "You can ask Ayun yourself tomorrow."
"Wait, Mr. Sean, since the Moon of Vengeance is here, are you...?" Isaac hurriedly chased after him.
Mr. Sean smiled, as if he was talking about someone else's business: "Yes, I am going to die."
Isaac: “…”
