When Kalya returned to Forsbarrow, the whole of Demacia seemed to be immersed in endless glory.
On the surface, this glory is due to the monopoly of Shurima trade that brought astonishing financial income to the royal family. Merchant ships arrived at Xiongdu Port one after another, bringing various Shurima specialties.
Nobles and rich people everywhere have seen what real treasures are.
But at a deeper level, in Kalya's eyes, this glory is in the true sense of flowers blooming and fire cooking oil.
In the past, although the nobles of Demacia lived a luxurious life, there was actually a limit to the degree of luxury. Considering the production and price issues, wine pools and meat forests were not actually too luxurious in Demacia. Nobles
Even if you want to lose your fortune, you can only build castles, buy horses, and expand your private army.
Even the expansion of the private army, the most expensive one, has just been stopped by the royal family. Many Demacia nobles have a lot of resources in their hands, but these resources cannot be spent at all.
However, it should be noted that a large part of the "resources" here are not gold coins, but food collected as taxes.
Yes, in Demacia's traditional taxation, physical goods such as food, horses, and weapons account for a considerable proportion.
The main reason for this phenomenon is the lack of gold coins in Demacia.
Throughout Demacia, mines are mainly located in the north, and mining has always been inconvenient in the past.
What's even more terrible is that among the minerals in the north, the proportion of precious metal minerals is very low, which directly leads to the high price of precious metals in Demacia, and even the minting of coins is not profitable.
Therefore, although noble gentlemen have money, the "money" here should be more accurately defined as assets, not currency.
When it comes to the stock of currency, the nobles of Demacia cannot even compare to the merchants of Vazuan.
When the currency stock is insufficient, internal transactions are fine, but when it comes to foreign trade, things like "thousands of pounds of grain are exchanged for a clockwork desk clock" are very likely to occur.
Insufficient currency quantity, single type of goods, and numerous internal trade barriers are all important factors that hinder Demacia's internal trade; while excessive currency prices and the unpopularity of food as a bulk commodity have led to Demacia's lack of popularity in Runeterra.
have always been marginalized in international trade.
Therefore, overall, in the past few hundred years, Demacia has maintained an internally stable feudal manor economy and played its own game.
But now, the situation is different.
Although Jarvan IV's victory in Tobitsia failed to completely dismember Noxus, it also made Demacia's external environment unprecedentedly relaxed.
At the same time, Jarvan IV's internal centralization reforms eliminated most of the nobles' private armies in the first step, greatly increasing the economic pressure on the royal family and forcing Jarvan IV to seek new sources of wealth.
The external environment has improved, there are more places for money internally, and Jarvan IV himself has been to Shurima. Combining the above conditions, the birth of the royal family's Shurima trade seems inevitable.
Ningwu Dao made food that was not favored in foreign trade in the past become a treasure, which in turn brought a steady stream of gold coins to the royal family.
The astonishing amount of gold coin income not only allowed Jarvan IV to get out of the deficit, but also, together with the northern trade, severely impacted Demacia's old economy.
As mentioned before, in the past, Demacia has always been a country that plays its own game economically. The land here is fertile, the climate is mild, and it is the largest food producer in Runeterra. It is completely economical to carry out a complete internal cycle.
No problem.
However, with the expansion of two trade routes, the northern trade and the Shurima trade, the south and the north, the past internal circulation was gradually disrupted by foreign trade.
Lords from various places were surprised to find that such distant countries actually had such output!
Tea, silk, gems, spices, high-end meat products... these are all good things. Coupled with the promotion of Lux and Jarvan IV, they were quickly recognized by lords everywhere. In Germany
It became popular in the territory of Marcia.
The lords who had various supplies in their hands took out the profits from their territories and purchased these imported goods from the two major trading groups, one in the south and one in the north.
As a result, the manors of the nobles looked more and more "high-end", and the collections in them became more and more diverse. Many things that only a few top nobles could afford in the past soon entered the families of ordinary nobles - as long as they gritted their teeth.
, you can also wear Ionian silk, sip spiritual tea, and turn on the fully automatic aromatherapy machine to fill the room with the fragrance of Icasian iris.
It seems that overnight, the food that could only be used to support private armies and hire farmers to build fortresses and city walls in the past has become a treasure that can bring more enjoyment.
Under such a trend, even some lords who still maintained private armies gradually gave up their military power.
For Jarvan IV, this was undoubtedly a situation he wanted to see very much. The royal power finally completely suppressed the power of the nobility.
Unfortunately, the complacent Jarvan IV failed to notice that underneath this perfect scene, Demacia's society was facing shocking fragmentation.
At first, no one paid attention to the complaints of a group of peasants in the tavern during their off-farm days. These drunken peasants just complained incoherently that the lord no longer renovated the castle. They wanted to make some extra money and had no savings for their families.
Chance.
Secondly, the situation of some handicraft practitioners is becoming increasingly difficult. Every now and then, there are always new technologies from the north or new products from the south that make their business worse and worse. Until they gradually run out of food, they take advantage of the opportunity to come to the north.
When it was time to recruit workers, the whole family left.
Finally, the farmers in Demacia were surprised to find that although the price of food was increasing year by year, their lives were getting tighter and tighter. Even if they wanted to replace a hoe, the price was painfully expensive.
There must be something wrong somewhere.
However, Jarvan IV did not realize anything was wrong.
In other words, according to Demacia's traditional thinking, there is no problem at all - because in Demacia's traditional thinking, the economy is a very simple and primitive thing, and the most technical part of it is just accounting.
But in reality, due to the changes in the economic form and the change in the economic system, everything seems to be getting better and better for Demacia, but one bomb after another has been planted at the grassroots level.
Farmers, who account for more than 90% of the entire population of Demacia, are gradually feeling the decline in their living standards and realizing that they have no way to save money to buy armor and horses for their children.
Demacians are very tolerant of hardship, and Demacians are not afraid of hardship.
But the problem is, now the Demacians find that they have no choice but to endure hardships.
In the past, hard-working Demacian farmers could save a lot of money for two or three generations to buy a horse and a suit of armor, and send their most reliable children to fight in the army.
But now, with inflation, the hard accumulation of past generations has suddenly become worthless. The price of war horses has tripled, and the price of armor has increased by more than five times. In addition, noble gentlemen no longer
Using food to hire farmers to renovate the castle, it seems that joining the army is becoming more and more difficult!
What's even worse is that not only are the conditions for joining the army increasingly difficult to meet, but the number of places to join the army is also shrinking!
The private armies of lords in various places are gradually being abolished. Now if you want to join the army, you have to go directly to the legion directly under the royal family.
Theoretically speaking, there are quite a few legions directly under the royal family, and they seem to be no different from the past. But don’t forget that the aristocratic private armies are recruited locally, and the only competitors are locals; but the legions directly under the royal family require you to bring your own.
Equipment, horses, dry food, and castration are all part of the recruitment!
Although Jarvan IV was also working hard to reform the soldier selection plan, because the number of his troops was too expanded during the Battle of Tobitsia, he had to consciously reduce the number of quotas. Therefore, for ordinary civilians,
The difficulty of joining the army will undoubtedly be taken to a higher level.
Joining the army, working hard, gaining military exploits, and becoming a noble were once a very orthodox path to advancement in Demacia.
But now, this orthodox path has changed, and there are problems with the flow of talents in Demacia.
The hopelessness of the future coupled with the lowering of living standards and the further separation of civilians and nobles, although it seems calm on the surface, has completely overdrafted the stability of Demacia society.
If Jarvan IV can free up his hands later to reorganize Demacia's talent flow system, expand the scale of trade, and include farmers in the trade system so that they can become beneficiaries, then Demacia will soon truly prosper.
.
But unfortunately, Jarvan IV, who had never faced such a situation, did not realize that Demacia was facing serious economic problems at this time.
In his opinion, he has reformed taxes, reduced the tax rate for farmers, and restricted the taxation of nobles. The lives of common people should be getting better and better.
But he didn't know that if his policies were placed in the internal cycle environment of Demacia in the past, it would indeed make the farmers rejoice and shout for the wise king. However, in the current situation where the old and new economic orders are intertwined, it would only make the farmers happy.
Farmers feel there is no hope for the future.
……………………
On the contrary to Xiongdu, Fosbairo also ushered in unprecedented prosperity, but these prosperity actually fell on most people.
The foundation of Forsbarrow's prosperity is also trade, but it is different from Hexiongdu. Here, everyone is a participant in trade.
In Forsbarrow, in the north, some people are producers of trade goods, some are service providers who provide life services to these people, some are participants in the trade itself, and some are managers of the trade order.
From the farmers who grow red sage and hazelnut mushrooms to the workers in the fur processing factories; from the chefs who gather in urban residential areas to the small vendors blooming everywhere; from the trackers and porters at the port to the shipwrights on call at any time; from the people at the dock
market administrator, to the first generation of municipal engineers who began to do urban planning on their own...
Everyone is a link and participant in the northern trade.
Similarly, although the degree is different, everyone in the North is a beneficiary of the North's trade - although the North's trade also includes luxury goods, most of them are general commodities that most people can afford.
There are Ionian spiritual teas for sale here, but more are ordinary teas and tobaccos.
There are expensive Nasheramai silks and more expensive Ionian silks, but more cheap cottons.
There are expensive Hex imported fully automatic aromatherapy machines for sale here, but more of them are fully automatic clockwork desk clocks and pocket watches.
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The starting point of Forsbarrow was very low. Compared to other places in Demacia, the people of Forsbarrow had to do their best to have enough food at first.
But with the arrival of Lux and the development of more industries, the lives of the Forsbarrow people have undergone earth-shaking changes. Even the Demacians who later immigrated here from relatively wealthy areas have felt the leaps and bounds of progress in their lives.
.
More importantly, compared to the congestion of upward channels elsewhere, Forsbarrow is quite active in cultivating and utilizing talents.
Large-scale basic education and annual batch of intensive literacy programs provide basic talent training.
The assessment and promotion mechanism for clerks and Northern Walkers has a clear path for advancement.
Living in Forsbarrow not only has advantages in terms of living standards, but is also extremely attractive to people who want to realize their self-worth.
Every spring and winter, Count Laxana will give speeches in Forsbarrow and New Fortune City. Here, she will review the development and gains of the past year without any pretense, and look forward to the plans and plans for the next year.
Looking forward to it, countless people got the information from her speech and soared to the sky.
Different from the increasingly lifeless south, although the climate conditions in the north are not very good, it always gives people a kind of vigorous vitality and expectation.
Even many people who immigrated to the North in the past two years can't help but complain after being drunk. If only Jarvan IV had the ability of Count Laxana outside the battlefield, maybe they wouldn't have to leave their hometown.
So much...
I am afraid of comparison in everything.
It also opened up external trade routes. Jarvan IV used them as a tool to amass wealth and centralize power, corrupting and weakening the power of the nobility through the trade in luxury goods; while Lux relied on the emerging trade routes to completely change the fortunes of Ford.
Sparrow's old order fundamentally completed a centralized reform of big government.
When Shyvana returned to Fosbairo after a long absence, when Ino finally ended this dizzying learning journey, and when Kalya finally returned to Fosbairo, which he had planned for a long time.
Jarvan IV in the capital is thinking about the next specific goal of centralizing power and making a list among the nobles.
Forsbarrow's Laxana is studying the investigative report on the life of farmers in the south sent back by the intelligence team.