Maintaining world peace and promoting social progress. These words were easy to say, but not easy to do.
The former was easy. It was nothing more than stopping others from fighting. Every time a war was about to happen, they would support the invaded or resolve the grievances between the two sides. Although it was difficult, there was always a way to go, and there was a general direction to work towards. But the latter was really a bit vague. Even though most of the higher-ups of the Church of Void Mask were quite smart, they could not come up with any good plans.
"Let's not talk about maintaining world peace for now. The battle on the Day of Dying Sun was horribly tragic. It is estimated that all the major forces in the world — at least the countries on the Main Plane — will not want to fight for a long time," High Priest Leon Igor said thoughtfully. "That is to say, at present, we should focus our attention on promoting progress. So, Your Majesty, what do you think is progress? "
Sui Xiong nodded. He pondered and said, "The so-called social progress should first be reflected in the improvement of people's living standards. That is to let people eat, drink, wear and live well. We should also protect their legitimate rights, let them live rich, safe and dignified lives, promote democratic construction, protect personal freedom …"
He said as he thought. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. "Yes, I remember now! It is like this … to build a rich, democratic, civilized and harmonious country, to build a free, equal, just and law-based society, to promote patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness. Damn! Fortunately, I did a promotional comic for the community, otherwise I would not be able to carry it! "
Leon and the others listened and looked at each other. After a long time, it was the simple and straightforward giant Gerrard who spoke first. "Your Majesty, what you said … I don't really understand."
"This is nothing. I can explain to you one by one. In fact, it is quite simple."
"But Your Majesty, if you want to promote social progress, do you have to set such a high goal?" Leon asked. "I can understand what you said, but that standard … isn't it a bit too exaggerated?"
Sui Xiong was stunned. "Is it very exaggerated?"
He looked around the conference room and saw that everyone had similar expressions as Leon.
Surprise, helplessness, and hopelessness.
"Uh … it does seem a little exaggerated …" Sui Xiong wiped his sweat and said with a bitter smile, "Then we can lower the standard a little bit …"
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, for society to progress, the most important thing is to ensure that the people have food, clothing, and a place to live. If they can have a stable income, they can save some money after a year of hard work. If you live like a human when you're alive, you won't have to worry about going to hell after you die … don't you think so? " Olian Geerteng, one of the two lords of the church, said, "If these are the goals, I think we can try."
"… This goal is too low," Sui Xiong muttered.
"It's not low!" Olian sighed. "Your Majesty, do you know? Before the master's stationery workshop was built, more than a dozen people in our Geerteng territory would die of cold and hunger every winter because of lack of clothes and food. This is also because this is a pioneering territory. The commoners have more land, a higher income, and a slightly more solid foundation. If it were those who had been exploited by different families for a long time, it wouldn't be strange for hundreds or thousands of them to freeze to death in one winter … "
Sui Xiong frowned and asked, "Why not provide disaster relief?"
"It's easy to help the people in need, but it's hard to help the poor!" Olian sighed and said, "Those 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 an income. How much can they earn by relying on women, children, and the elderly? In the past, the Geerteng territory itself was poor, and everything was expensive in winter. Although I would send food and some clothes to these families, the winter in the Geerteng territory was still cold after all … "
"But this situation is gone now. Since the stationery workshop was built, the territory's finance has been much better. I simply moved these landless families to the vicinity of the workshop, and let them do some odd jobs for the workshop. On the one hand, they have a relatively stable income, and on the other hand, it's easier to provide relief in winter. " Olian said with a smile, "In these years, except for some sick people, and some drunk people who fell on the roadside, those who really froze to death and starved to death are gone."
Sui Xiong nodded slightly and looked at Leon.
Although Kalisa Riley was the Lord of Gars City, everyone knew that Leon was 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 of the Geerteng territory. After all, it is a commercial town, and there are more job opportunities. Even if there is no farmland, or no strong laborers, you can still find a job that can make a living. It's just that Gars City and the surrounding areas have a large population, and there are many things to manage. In terms of helping the poor, I just did some general work, and I'm afraid that the detailed work is not as good as that of the Geerteng territory. "
Sui Xiong frowned slightly and looked at Madame Teague again.
Over the years, the Void Mask Amusement Park had been developing, and the people in charge were also making adjustments. Some time ago, Lic, who was originally in charge, finally couldn't stand being stuck in the office all year round. She shouted that she wanted to resign, and ran out to form an adventure team, which had been active in the northern ice field during this time. At present, the main administrator of the amusement park was Madame Teague. She was originally in charge of civil affairs, and had a lot of prestige among the residents. Now it was just a little more work, and she could cope with it.
"The situation in our amusement park is much better," Madame Teague said. "But, this can't be used as a basis."
She said, "Our income is too high, so high that we can ensure that every resident does not have to worry about food and clothing. In this case, of course, I can ensure that everyone eats well, dresses well, and has a good place to live. But if we want to promote our experience here, that's impossible. "
"Why is it impossible?" Sui Xiong asked.
"Your Majesty, do you know? Our amusement park is the largest and the highest level of entertainment in the whole Main Plane. Many rich people come here to spend money, and it is not rare to see rich people spending money here. Not only that, we also have a huge financial source, which is the auction of the longevity potion that is held once every ten years. That is simply a great plunder for the wealth of the entire Main Plane … "Madame Teague said with a smile." Just these two financial sources are enough to support a small country. But how can other areas have such opportunities? Your Majesty, you want to promote social progress, and we can't just make progress ourselves. "
Sui Xiong nodded. His dream was not to learn from the desert tycoons on Earth, who closed their doors on oil and lived a carefree life. What he wanted was to promote social progress in the whole world, or at least in the whole Main Plane. As Madame Teague said, the two financial sources of the Void Mask Amusement Park could not be learned or obtained by others, so it was meaningless to use them as a reference.
Thinking of this, his eyes lit up, and he thought of Baron Keane in the Duchy of Thunder.
Compared with the stationery base of the Main Plane, the Geerteng Territory, and the commercial town of Garth City, the situation of Baron Keane Territory was much more ordinary. It didn't have any special products, nor did it have convenient transportation. It was just an ordinary little territory. If such a territory could be developed, and people could live and work in peace and contentment, then the experience could be spread.
… And he did not have to wait for the development of Baron Keane Territory, he could first find another place to build!
Thinking of this, he made a decision.
"Summon some adventurers who have traveled far and wide," 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 have found the direction to promote social progress!"
A few hours later, more than a dozen adventurers who were not young were summoned. Sui Xiong transformed into an incarnation of an aristocrat and met them accompanied by Madame Teague.
"Want to find a relatively ordinary territory that is close to the Void Mask Amusement Park?" An adventurer whose hair was almost all white said, "Isn't that the Pyroxene Town or the Gold-Rush Town?"
Sui Xiong was stunned. To be honest, although the Void Mask Amusement Park was located in the northwest region, he really did not know much about the situation of the four northwestern towns.
In his impression, the Rye Town was the largest transportation hub in the northwest region. Because the land was less polluted, agriculture was quite developed; the Pyroxene Town had gem veins, although very low-level, occasionally produced some high-end ones; the Gold-Rush Town had gold, copper, and iron mines, which attracted a large number of people who pursued wealth, and the copper and iron mines were the main sources of income; the Dragon-roar Town relied on the mountains, and its main income came from hunting magical beasts.
To be honest, he felt that the four northwestern towns had their own characteristics and could not be regarded as ordinary territories. Why did the old adventurer think that the Pyroxene Town and the Gold-Rush Town were ordinary territories?
When he asked this question, the old adventurer laughed and said, "Sir, you overemphasize the 'ordinary' point. What is ordinary? The income is ordinary, the resources are ordinary, and the transportation conditions are ordinary. This is ordinary. The transportation conditions of the Rye Town are too good. The Dragon-roar Town is close to the amusement park to the north, and the mountains infested with magical beasts to the east. It has unique resources, so neither of these two places can be regarded as ordinary. But what about the Pyroxene Town and the Gold-Rush Town? "
"The Pyroxene Town has gem veins, and the Gold-Rush Town has gold mines."
"The Pyroxene Town has gem veins, and the Gold-Rush Town has gold mines." "The Pyroxene Town's gem veins are very low-level, and the Gold-Rush Town's gold mines are even more low-level." The old adventurer said with a smile, "You only see that they 'have' these resources, but you don't see the income these resources bring to them … These two towns are so poor that they can't even afford to support an army. How can they be considered special?"
Sui Xiong pondered for a moment and understood what he meant.
Unlike Sui Xiong himself, the old adventurer looked at the problem from the perspective of geographical location and income level. It was true that the Pyroxene Town had gem veins, and the Gold-Rush Town had gold mines, but the output of the gem veins and gold mines was not high. The two towns simply did not have the ability to rely on these two veins to get more income.
In contrast, the commerce and agriculture of the Rye Town and the hunting of magical beasts in the Dragon-roar Town were reliable sources of income, and they were truly "extraordinary" territories.
"What is the specific income level of the four towns?" he asked.
"You shouldn't ask us about this," the old adventurer said. The old adventurer said, "We are just ordinary adventurers. You should ask the Thieves' Guild about this kind of thing."
Sui Xiong nodded and gave them some consultation fees, especially to the old adventurer. Then he sent them away and went to find Rode.
Rode was almost 70 years old this year. Thanks to the longevity potion, he now looked like he was less than 60 years old. Because of his good strength, although his hair was all white, his spirit was still very good, and he had a feeling of being old but vigorous.
When Sui Xiong came to find him, he was guiding a group of young people from the Guild of Thieves to learn antique identification. This was his specialty. In the past, he had even been nicknamed "Gray Eyes" because he was good at identification.
For thieves, "Eyes", "Hands", and "Daggers" were very special titles. "Eyes" meant that this thief was particularly good at identification; "Hands" meant that this thief was good at kung fu, or was good at setting and dismantling traps, or was good at stealing; "Daggers" meant that this thief was a master of fighting.
"Quick Hands" Ryan, the former president of the Guild of Thieves in Pyroxene Town, who had tried to plot against Gerrard and Palin, was a master of traps. After him, Rode, who succeeded as the president of the Guild of Thieves in Pyroxene Town and later became the president of the United Guild of Thieves in the entire northwest region, was a master of identification.
Once, when he was drunk, he once said that he used to be a great appraiser in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. He had even competed with a few other appraisers for the highest honor in the field of "eyes" in the Thieves Guild, "Golden Eye." But his skills were not as good as others, and he was unlucky enough to offend a very powerful person, so he had to go to the northwest to avoid trouble.
Of course, now that Rode himself was already a big shot, he didn't even bother to seek revenge on the "big shot" who forced him to go to the northwest — because in his view, that person forced him to run away, although he suffered a lot, but also provided him with a great opportunity. If he hadn't run to Pyroxene Town because he couldn't survive in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, how could he have met His Majesty the Void Mask, and how could he have had the subsequent opportunities?
Although he would not thank the guy who persecuted him, he would not specifically seek revenge. In his view, all this was fate, and what happened in the past was nothing more than a little trick by the God of Fate.
Now Rode had retired from the position of president of the United Guild of Thieves in the northwest region. He took the title of consultant. Every day, in addition to dealing with some financial work of the Void Mask Amusement Park, he taught young people to learn identification knowledge. It could be said that he was living a peaceful life in his later years.
"Your Majesty, do you want to know the income of the four northwestern towns in detail?" Hearing Sui Xiong's request, he was slightly stunned, recalled for a moment, and then told Sui Xiong the specific income and expenditure of the four northwestern towns in recent years.
This information could be regarded as a secret, but one of the main businesses of the Guild of Thieves was to inquire and sell information. This level of information was really nothing to them, and even Rode, a semi-retired high-level official, knew about it.
In fact, Rode had always been concerned about this information, because he was in charge of finance.
After listening to Rode's report, Sui Xiong finally understood why the old adventurer felt that Pyroxene Town and Gold-Panning Town were ordinary. Although these two towns had mineral veins, in fact, they didn't get much income from the mineral veins. Gold-Panning Town was a little better, because it had copper and iron mines, so it could have a stable income. Pyroxene Town didn't have much income, and it mainly relied on entertainment consumption and the like. Since the opening of the Void Mask Amusement Park, their income level had been declining, and they had now fallen from their original position as the core of the four towns to the lowest position in the four towns.
In fact … Pyroxene Town was now somewhat abandoned.
The output of the so-called gem vein was very low, and it didn't need too many workers. Occasionally, some high-level gems appeared, and they would be sent to the Void Mask Amusement Park for sale. At present, there were not many people living in Pyroxene Town, except for some workers and small vendors who provided services for them. Even the churches of the God of Aristocracy and the God of Law had evacuated there, and only the church of the God of Wealth still maintained a small temple there.
Sui Xiong pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind to draw a circle on the map where Pyroxene Town was located.
"In this case, let's start from here and carry out some reform!"
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