"No?" Serinda put her hands on her waist, narrowed her eyes and looked at Xiao Chen, waiting for him to give an explanation.
"I can't break my promise to those slaves. I told them that as long as they follow me, they can have a better life and become free citizens after several years. If I sell them now, I will go against my words. I have to be responsible for them!" Xiao Chen said.
"Are you kidding? Since when did a lord, a magician, have to be responsible for some slaves?" Serinda's voice immediately rose. She was not a lady, otherwise she would not have run away from home and sneaked into the enemy camp. So Xiao Chen's words made her angry. She felt that she was fooled. Her anger was not because the other party did not sell her slaves, but because the other party actually used such a ridiculous reason to prevaricate her. This was simply treating people as fools.
"This is not a joke. If I have no credibility, why should they listen to me? If I have no credibility, why should others believe what I say in the future?"
"Credit? Who rules with credit? Strength is the foundation of rule! Aren't these slaves subjugated to your sword and magic? If you are unwilling to give me slaves, why say such nonsense?" When Serinda was arguing, she did not look like a little bird when she was dressed as a country girl. She was clearly a powerful knight.
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Serinda, Xiao Chen is definitely not trying to put you off. He must have his own ideas. Just listen to his explanation." Li Jia held her back and put his hand on her shoulder, looking like he was saying something nice. Serinda glared at him, stopped talking, and listened to Xiao Chen's explanation.
When Xiao Chen saw Li Jia's expression, he knew that Serinda had him in his hands. He sighed and said, "Force is of course very important. A founding leader of my hometown once said, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'"
"regime?"
"Just understand it as the group of people who rule."
"That's a good point, and it sums up what I want to say very clearly. But I prefer to use a sword." Serinda nodded in agreement.
"Why can power come from the barrel of a gun? Not only because you can destroy your enemies, but more importantly, you can protect your subjects. The reason why your subjects pay taxes to you is because they believe that you can protect them from thieves, wild beasts, and harassment from other lords. If you want them to believe that you can do this, you must keep your word. Otherwise, can you really expect a lord who doesn't keep his word to protect everyone in times of crisis?"
Serinda was silent for a while, then asked, "Do you think the farmers in Montenegro are resisting taxes because they don't trust the Arias family?"
"At least you have increased taxes recklessly and failed to keep your original agreement, pushing everyone to the limit of tolerance."
"But if you hadn't shown up, these farmers would have been easily suppressed. They would have eventually handed over the grain and learned a lesson. What does this have to do with whether they believe in us or not?"
"If we fail this time, there will be another riot." Xiao Chen affirmed.
Serinda smiled disdainfully. "With these people, no matter how many times they revolt, they will be suppressed. When faced with swords and spears, how many people will choose to resist to the end? How many people will surrender and accept their fate? I don't need to explain more, right?"
"This... this seems a bit too rough." Li Jia whispered.
"Rude? From south to north, from west to east, which lord is not like this? If someone really does things based on the wishes of the people, he doesn't need to be a lord anymore. Such a weak person will be sent to the gallows by the neighboring lord if he is not overthrown by the people."
"Wouldn't it be better to be a little more merciful?" Li Jia's voice became even lower.
"Kindness is a little honey spread on the barbecue. Without a knife to kill the cow, where would the honey come from? Master Xiao Chen, you are not really going to treat those slaves like this, are you? If so, I really have to think carefully about the value of cooperating with you." Serinda's face was stern, and she didn't look like she was joking at all.
Xiao Chen suddenly realized that he had made a mistake. All his ideas and opinions, whether socialist or capitalist, came from the era after the Industrial Revolution. At that time, the feudal aristocracy had already collapsed, and the relationship between people had changed dramatically. But the earl's daughter in front of him was a real feudal aristocrat. If such a noble could easily accept his ideas, there would be no French Revolution.
Serinda's kingdom and territory are not modern countries. Serinda's nobles and subjects are not politicians and citizens. Therefore, the previous remarks are almost irrelevant. Xiao Chen thought for a moment and said, "It is useless to say more now. We are already discussing the territory issue, and it can be resolved in other ways. We have money, technology, and goods. As for slaves, I can make some concessions. You can set your conditions and go to the camp to ask. You can take away those who are willing to go with you."
Serinda knew that the conditions she would offer to the slaves would definitely be far less than what Xiao Chen promised. Those untouchables were not fools, so who would go with her? She snorted coldly and said, "Let's just forget about this matter and pretend I never mentioned anything."
After saying this, she walked away on her own, and Li Jia followed her in a hurry.
"Li Jia, this guy, will suffer in the future!" Xiao Chen said to himself as he watched the two people walking one after the other. However, he immediately became a little worried. As a lord, he had such a concept, but what about these slaves? Would their thoughts be even worse? Would they be completely unable to fit into the framework designed by them, the earthlings
He stood there stroking his chin, thinking hard, but suddenly he found a figure in robes appeared in front of him.
It turned out to be Luo Ling.
"Did you hear everything?"
Luo Ling nodded and smiled, "You talked about the social contract with the feudal landlords. She has been very kind to you by not hunting you down."
"Alas, I just realized how difficult our path is. How incompatible we are with this world. I now have doubts about whether we can really settle these slaves. What if these people can't adapt to our arrangements at all? Do we really have to treat them like those lords?"
"It's actually a very simple matter. Productivity determines production relations. With these people in the school, what are you afraid of?"
“Productivity? I’ve been repeating this phrase every year since middle school, and I’ve heard it so many times that I’ve gotten calluses from hearing it.”
"New words may be fallacies, and old-fashioned words may be truths! Think about what this means in today's context."
Xiao Chen pondered carefully and seemed to have figured out something. He analyzed, "You mean, the productivity here is insufficient, so we can only use slaves and serfs to deal with production relations. But our school has technology and ideas, and the same people are at our disposal, so our productivity will be much higher than those feudal lords? So, our production relations don't have to be like that at all?"
"Isn't it? We have agricultural technology and better farm tools for farming. We have factory management systems and better equipment for manufacturing. We have systematic drill manuals and better weapons for the military. Our goods are popular and can be sold at high prices, so we can afford more and more professional administrative personnel. Let them manage and train these people more effectively. As long as they are human beings, no matter what era they come from, as long as their own interests are involved, they will not be fools. Why don't they yearn for a better place? Why don't they support a better government?"
"Yes, that's it! They'll side with us, just like those people in Floro!"
"Xiao Chen, don't underestimate the power of production relations. The school is just a microcosm of modern society. Even so, the power it unleashes is not something that ancient society can contend with. So, why do you have to explain so much to her today? Things are done, not argued. When she sees that you have turned these slaves into farmers, workers, soldiers, students, and even engineers, doctors, teachers, and judges, will she still be qualified to debate with you?"
For some reason, Xiao Chen was suddenly moved when he heard Luo Ling say this. Something called an ideal began to stir in his heart. He nodded and said, "Yes, I can't let them down. We should be able to bring some changes here. If we don't change this place, then we will be changed by them."
"That would be a tragedy! As modern people, we have to have our own persistence when we come to this place. Although our world has not yet found a perfect system. But the way many things are handled is undoubtedly much more civilized and tolerant than the society here, and most people's lives are much happier. Our moral bottom line is different from Serinda's. Although sometimes we have to break our own bottom line in order to survive, if we give up even our own values, then what do we have left? Are our only connections with that world a few dilapidated houses and rotten clothes?" Luo Ling's voice was a little low when she said this.
Old world, old world.
The memory of the old world is both a concern and a burden.
Perhaps it was because men's nerves were more rough, Xiao Chen did not have much resonance in this regard, but he remembered the various things that happened in the slave camp, and now thinking about it again, the taste was a little different: "This incident of dealing with slaves gave me the opportunity to face some choices. I think I didn't bring shame to us. I now understand that there are many things. If we just go along with them and compromise with them just because the feudal lords around us do this, and those mercenary warlords do that, then we are really lost. I don't want to be a slave, so I don't want to be a slave owner!"
"What if people around you don't want you to do this?"
"Then try to change them. If that doesn't work, then fight."
"If you want to understand, then I have to remind you of one thing. When you deal with these nobles in the future, you don't have to plan to stay with them for a long time. Everything is for us to have a temporary stable environment and let our world grow slowly. When it is ripe..." Luo Ling raised her head and sneered.