Chapter 1425: Chapter 1, Capital of a Destroyed Nation_3
Even the smallest Noble Lord in the Kingdom starts with a thousand acres of land. Anything less and there’s no point in being a noble.
The reform docunt, loud in thunder but small in raindrop, leaves the Conservative Faction unsure of how to vent their pent-up anger.
Spring grain yields are already low, and even if you lose everything from a re acre, it’s just a loss of a hundred or so pounds of grain.
Even if all the Noble Lords across the country suffer losses, it won’t be significant. It neither shakes the foundation of the nation nor depletes everyone’s vitality — it’s completely negligible.
Such a trivial matter being used to attack Marshal Hudson, a figure of Prestige and Respect, is clearly unreliable.
Even if they find “fertilizer” unreliable, people rely joke about it over after-dinner conversations.
The command has been issued, but its implentation still depends on how they choose to act.
Casually select an uncultivated land unsuitable for growing grains, and arrange for the Serfs to experint for a year; this would suffice as doing Marshal Hudson a favor.
This is still the reaction of nobles near the Capital, where they must demonstrate so action under the eyes of the Kingdom Governnt. If the territory is more remote, ignoring the order would go unnoticed by those above.
The Alpha Kingdom is typical in that royal power does not extend to noble domains, and only Hudson’s prestige is high enough, with his reform steps small enough.
Otherwise, the Conservative Faction would have jumped out to tear him apart over “the issue of governnt public power and noble rights and obligations.”
No one causes trouble, and Hudson leaves once the order is given. The implentation details fall onto the Agricultural Departnt Bureaucrats.
Expecting everyone to follow the trend is unrealistic. As long as one in ten nobles listens and attempts the change, composting technology could be promoted in the Kingdom by next year.
They were forced into this. If not for the brink of bankruptcy of the Kingdom’s economy, Hudson wouldn’t be so diligent in promoting new agricultural techniques.
He has no choice but to remain pessimistic about the Kingdom Governnt’s reforms, yet he doesn’t want to see the Kingdom collapse.
Since traditional thods can’t solve the problem, directly increasing productivity is the answer. In an agricultural society, as long as grain yields rise, many issues will resolve themselves.
Hudson never considered the Kingdom Governnt’s “debt problem” a major issue. Looking at history, he has not seen a strong nation collapse solely because of debt.
Internally, the Noble Lords will not demand debts. Those eligible for governnt IOUs are at least Interdiate Aristocracy and above.
Seventy percent of the dostically issued governnt debt has been subscribed by Major Nobles. The Kingdom’s banks and chambers of comrce are also held by these Major Nobles.
Conveniently, these creditors are major stakeholders in the Kingdom Governnt. To prevent their shares from becoming worthless, when the governnt reaches the brink of bankruptcy, they can only grit their teeth and continue funding the governnt to let it survive.
This kind of operation has occurred countless tis in the past three hundred years.
The noble consortium of the Alpha Kingdom is not yet decadent; they still have brains and wouldn’t do sothing suicidal for money. Reform failure is rely history repeating itself.
Hudson is not boasting about external debts. Who dares to demand ard collection from the Alpha Kingdom these days?
Without violent collection, as long as the governnt can thick-skinnedly negotiate well with creditors, everyone should understand.
The only hassle is the loss of governnt credibility, making future interactions in international society difficult. But that’s a future concern; the current priority is solving imdiate problems.
With grain in hand, no worries linger in the heart.
The greatest benefit of the serfdom era is: labor costs are approximately equivalent to food provisions.
In the feudal small peasant economy era, mass conscription of civilians would lead to social collapse, but not in the serfdom era.
Production materials belong to the Noble Lords, and so do the corresponding risks. Labor is uniformly deployed by the Lord, preventing any household from losing its livelihood due to the shortage of able-bodied workers.
Even orphans and widows receive no reduced treatnt, and may even gain more resources.
This isn’t due to high ethics among Noble Lords; primarily, they need the Serfs to work hard. If they don’t care for the workers’ families, how can they ensure people work diligently?
Under this system, as long as Noble Lords don’t suffer large-scale bankruptcies, the social economy won’t collapse.
With the Kingdom’s mobilization capacity, if the yield per acre is increased by twenty pounds, capital for an expedition against the Orc Empire becos available.
If the yield per acre is increased by fifty pounds, Hudson could drive the Orcs out of the Great Plains, relegating them to struggling in impoverished corners.
If the yield per acre increases by a hundred pounds, Orcs beco rely a term in history books!
Perhaps a lucky few may escape to the World of Ice and Snow, joining the Alliance of the Ancient tribes, but it won’t form a climate.
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