Maintaining world peace and promoting social progress are easy to say, but not easy to do.
It's easy to say that the former is nothing more than preventing others from fighting, and whenever a war is about to happen, support the invaded, or resolve the grievances between the two parties. Although it is difficult, there are still traces to follow, and there is generally a direction in which to work hard. But the latter is really a bit vague. Even though most of the top leaders of Masked Void Church are quite smart, they can't come up with any good plan.
"There is no need to talk about maintaining peace for the time being. The Battle of the Day the Sun Dies was so brutal that it is estimated that all the major forces in the world - at least the countries in the main plane - will not want to fight for a long time." Priest Leon Igor said thoughtfully, "In other words, at present we should focus mainly on promoting progress. So, Your Majesty, what do you think is progress?"
Sui Xiong nodded, thinking about it, and said: "The so-called social progress should first be reflected in the improvement of people's living standards. That is to say, the people should have good food, drink, clothing, and housing, and their legitimate rights should be protected. , let them live a prosperous, safe and dignified life, promote the construction of democracy, and protect personal freedom... "
He was thinking and talking, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind: "By the way, I remembered it! That's what it said... Build a prosperous, democratic, civilized, and harmonious country, build a free, equal, just, and rule-of-law society, and advocate The atmosphere of patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendliness. Damn! Fortunately, I made promotional cartoons for the community, otherwise I really wouldn’t be able to memorize them!”
Leon and the others looked at each other in shock. After a long time, it was the honest and straightforward giant Gerald who spoke first: "Your Majesty, what you said... I don't quite understand."
"It's nothing. I can explain it to you one by one. It's actually quite simple."
"But Your Majesty, if you want to promote social progress, do you have to set your goals so high?" Leon asked, "I understand what you are saying, but that standard... is it too exaggerated?"
Sui Xiong was stunned: "Is it an exaggeration?"
He looked around the conference room and saw that everyone had expressions similar to Leon's.
Surprised, helpless, no hope.
"Well... it does seem a bit exaggerated..." Sui Xiong wiped his sweat and said with a wry smile, "Then we can lower our standards first..."
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, social progress is nothing more than letting the people have food, clothing and shelter, a stable income, and the ability to save some money after a year's hard work. When you are alive, you can behave like a human being, and you don't have to use it after you die. Worried about going to hell...are you right?" Orian Gelten, one of the two lords of the church, said, "If you take these as your goals, I think you can still give it a try."
"...This goal is too low." Sui Xiong muttered.
"It's not low anymore!" Orian sighed, "Your Majesty, do you know? Before the teacher's stationery workshop was built, more than a dozen people in our Gerten Territory died of cold and hunger every winter due to lack of food and clothing. This is also because Our area is a pioneering territory, and the people have more land, higher incomes, and slightly stronger family assets. If we put it in those areas that have been in business for a long time and have been exploited by several different families, hundreds of them will freeze to death in one winter. It’s nothing rare…”
Sui Xiong frowned and asked, "Why not provide disaster relief?"
"It's easy to save the emergency, but it's hard to save the poor!" Orian sighed and said, "Those people who will freeze to death and starve to death are usually poor. They often don't have farmland, and their families don't have strong laborers who can earn income. How much can you earn just by relying on women, children, old and young? In the past, Gertenland itself was poor, and everything was expensive in winter. Although I would send rations and some clothes to these families, the winter in Gertenland was still cold after all. ah… "
"But this situation is no longer the case. Since the stationery workshop was built, the territory's finances have become much better. I simply moved these landless families to the vicinity of the workshop and asked them to do some odd jobs for the workshop. 1 On the one hand, I have a relatively stable income, and on the other hand, it is easier to provide relief in winter." Orian said with a smile, "In recent years, in addition to some sick people, there are also people who are drunk and fall on the roadside, and some are really freezing to death. Those who starve to death are considered dead.”
Sui Xiong nodded slightly and looked at Leon again.
Although Carissa Riley is the lord of Gars City, everyone knows that Leon is really in charge of the government affairs of Gars City.
Leon immediately understood what he meant and replied: "The situation in Gars City is better than that in Geltenland. After all, this is a commercial town with more job opportunities. Even if there is no farmland or strong labor, I can find a job that is enough to make a living. However, there are a large population in Gars City and the surrounding areas, and there are many things to manage on a daily basis. In terms of assisting the poor, I have only done something roughly, and I am afraid that the details are not as detailed as those in Gerten. "
Sui Xiong frowned slightly and looked at Mrs. Teague again.
Over the years, Mask of the Void Amusement Park has continued to develop, and the people in charge have also made adjustments. Some time ago, Liv, who was originally in charge, finally couldn't bear to work with documents all year round. She shouted that she wanted to resign, and ran out to form an adventure team. During this time, she has been active in the northern ice field. The current administrator of the amusement park is Mrs. Teague. She was originally responsible for civil affairs and was very prestigious among the residents. Now the workload has just increased, but she can cope with it.
"The situation at our playground is much better," Mrs. Teague said, "but that cannot be relied upon."
She said: "Our income is so high that just the disposable liquidity can ensure that every resident has food and clothing. In this case, of course I can ensure that everyone is well fed and clothed. That’s good. But if you want to generalize our experience here, it’s impossible.”
"Why is it impossible?" Sui Xiong asked.
"Your Majesty, do you know? Our amusement park is the largest and highest-level entertainment venue in the entire main plane. Many wealthy people come here to spend money, and it is not uncommon for high rollers to spend a lot of money. Not only that, we also have a huge Her financial source is the auction of longevity potion once every ten years, which is simply a big search for the wealth of the entire main plane..." Mrs. Teague said with a smile, "These two financial sources alone are enough to support a smaller country. . But how can other regions have such opportunities? Your Majesty, if you want to promote social progress, we cannot just make progress ourselves."
Sui Xiong nodded. His ideal was not to be like the desert tycoons on earth, lying on oil and shutting up and enjoying themselves. What he hopes is to promote the social progress of the entire world, at least the entire main plane. As Mrs. Teague said, the two major financial resources of Masked Void Amusement Park cannot be learned or obtained by others. It is completely meaningless to use this as a reference.
Thinking of this, his eyes lit up, and he thought of Baron Keen, who was far away in the Principality of Thunder.
Compared to the main plane stationery base Gerten Territory and the commercial town Garth City, the situation in Keen Baron Territory is much more ordinary. There is neither any special output nor particularly convenient transportation conditions. It is just an ordinary small territory. If such a territory can be built up and the people can live and work in peace and contentment, then the experience can be generalized.
... And he doesn’t have to wait for the development of Baron Keen to come to fruition. He can find another place to build first!
Thinking of this, he made a decision.
"Gather some adventurers who have traveled north and south." He said, "I want to find a place as ordinary as possible and build an ordinary territory."
"If I can manage an ordinary territory well, then I will have found the direction to promote social progress!"
A few hours later, a dozen or so young adventurers were summoned. Sui Xiong transformed into an aristocratic avatar and received them accompanied by Mrs. Teague.
"Want to find a territory that is relatively close to Mask of the Void Amusement Park and is relatively ordinary?" said an adventurer whose hair was almost completely white and was currently working as a janitor and pensioner in a library at the amusement park. "Isn't that right? Pyroxene Town or Gold Rush Town?”
Sui Xiong was stunned. To be honest, although Mask of the Void Playground is located in the northwest region, he really doesn't know much about the situation in the four northwest towns.
In his impression, Rye Town is the largest transportation hub in the northwest region. Because the land is less polluted, agriculture is quite developed; Pyroxen Town has gemstone veins. Although it is very low-grade, it occasionally produces some high-end gemstones. ; Gold Rush Town has gold mines, copper mines and iron mines. The gold mines attract a large number of people who pursue wealth, and the copper mines and iron mines are the main sources of income; Longhou Town relies on the mountains, and the main income comes from monster hunting.
To be honest, he felt that the four northwest towns each had their own characteristics and could not be regarded as ordinary territories. Why, in the eyes of this old adventurer, are Pyroxen Town and Gold Rush Town ordinary territories
When he raised this question, the old adventurer smiled and said: "My lord, you are putting too much emphasis on 'ordinary'. What is ordinary? The income is average, the resources are average, and the transportation conditions are average. , this is ordinary. The traffic conditions in Rye Town are very good. Longhou Town is adjacent to the amusement park to the north and the mountains where monsters are infested to the east. It has unique resources. Neither of these two places can be considered ordinary. But Huishi Town and Gold Rush Town What’s not ordinary about it?”
"There are gemstone veins in Pyroxene Town, and there are gold mines in Gold Rush Town."
"The gemstone veins in Pyroxene Town are very low-grade, and the gold mines in Gold Rush Town are even grader. There are not even a hundred or eighty such veins on the mainland." The old adventurer said with a smile, "You only saw that they 'have' these Resources, but they didn’t see the income these resources brought to them... These two towns are so poor that they can’t even support an army, so how can they be considered special?”
Sui Xiong pondered for a while and understood what he meant.
Unlike Sui Xiong himself, the veteran adventurer views the problem from the perspective of geographical location and income level. It is true that there are gemstone veins in Pyroxene Town and gold mines in Gold Rush Town, but the output of gemstone veins and gold mines is actually not high. These two towns simply do not have the ability to rely on these two mineral veins to obtain more income.
In contrast, the commerce and agriculture in Rye Town and the monster hunting in Long Roar Town are reliable sources of income and can truly be called "extraordinary" territory.
"What are the specific income levels of the four towns?" he asked.
"You shouldn't ask us about this," said the old adventurer. "We are just ordinary adventurers. You should ask the Thieves Guild for inquiries about this kind of thing."
Sui Xiong nodded, gave them some consulting fees, especially the old adventurer, and then sent them away while he ran to find Rhodes.
Rhodes is almost seventy years old this year. Thanks to the longevity potion, he now looks like he is less than sixty. Because of his good strength, although his hair has turned completely white, he is still in good spirits and feels like he is getting stronger with age.
When Sui Xiong came to him, he was instructing a group of young people from the Thieves Guild to learn antique appraisal. This was his specialty. Back then, he even got the nickname "Gray Eyes" because he was good at identifying people.
For thieves, "eyes", "hands" and "dagger" are all very special titles. "Eyes" means that the thief is particularly good at identification; "hands" means that the thief is very skilled, or good at setting up and dismantling mechanisms, or good at stealing; "dagger" means that the thief is a master of combat.
"Kuaishou" Renn, the former president of the Thieves Guild of Huishite Town who once tried to assassinate Gerald and Palin, is an expert in traps. And Rhodes, who succeeded him as the president of the Thieves Guild of Huishi Town and later became the president of the entire Northwest Thieves United Guild, was a master in identification.
Once when he was drunk, he once said that he was a powerful appraiser in the Gold Coin Federation, and he competed with several other appraisers for the "Golden Eye", the highest honor in the "Eye" of the Thieves Guild. It was just that his skills were not as good as others, and he was unlucky enough to offend a powerful person, so he had to go far to the northwest to avoid trouble.
Of course, now that Rhodes is a big shot, he doesn't even bother to seek revenge on the "big shot" who forced him to run away to the northwest - because in his opinion, that person forced him to run away, although It caused him a lot of hardship, but it also provided him with huge opportunities. If he hadn't been unable to survive in the Gold Coin Federation and had gone to Huishite Town, how could he have met His Majesty the Mask of the Void, and how could he have had the subsequent encounters he had
Although he would not thank the guy who persecuted him, he would not go out of his way to take revenge. In his opinion, all this was an arrangement of fate, and what happened back then was nothing more than a little trick played on him by the God of Destiny.
Now Rhodes has stepped down from the position of president of the Thieves United Guild in the Northwest Region. He serves as a consultant. In addition to handling some financial work at Mask of the Void Amusement Park every day, he teaches young people to learn appraisals. Knowledge. It feels like spending your old age in peace.
"Your Majesty, do you want to know more about the income of the four northwest towns?" Hearing Sui Xiong's request, he was slightly startled. After recalling it, he recounted the specific income and expenditure of the four northwest towns in recent years.
To be honest, this information can be considered a secret, but one of the main businesses of the Thieves Guild is to inquire and sell information. This level of information is really nothing to them. Even Rhodes, a semi-retired senior executive, Know.
In fact, Rhodes has always been concerned about this information because he is responsible for finance.
After listening to Rhodes' report, Sui Xiong finally understood why the old adventurer thought that Pyroxene Town and Gold Rush Town were ordinary. Although these two towns have mineral veins, the income from the mineral veins is not much. Gold Rush Town is a bit better. It has copper and iron mines as a base, so it is possible to have a stable income. Pyroxen Town does not have much income in the first place, and it mainly relies on entertainment consumption and the like. Since the opening of Masked Void Amusement Park, their income level has been declining steadily. It has now dropped from the core position of the four towns to the lowest position of the four towns.
In fact... Huishi Town is almost ready to be abandoned.
The output of so-called gem veins is very low and does not require many workers. Occasionally, some high-end gems appear and are sent to the Mask of the Void amusement park for sale. At present, there are not many people living in Huishi Town except for some workers and the small traders who provide services to them. Even the churches of the God of Nobility and the God of Law have evacuated there. Only the Church of the God of Wealth still maintains a small temple there.
Sui Xiong pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind and drew a circle on the map at the location of Huishi Town.
"In this case, let's start from here and carry out reforms!"