Chapter Forty-nine: Domain of [Rule]!
2015-10-02
Author: Floating Tower
(Today I slept all day and feel much more energized.)
Overseas Islands, Modo City.
The sturdy city walls have been reinforced once more due to the increasing population. The main gate of Modo City has been expanded, and two side gates have been opened beside it. Now, Modo City is a large city with a population exceeding fifty thousand, but this population count differs from other cities. There are only about thirty thousand citizens recorded in Modo City, of which around twenty thousand are Half-Elves and about ten thousand are human citizens, mainly consisting of pirates, merchants, and the army.
At this moment.
A large crowd has gathered at the city gate of Modo City. Even with security teams maintaining order, the scene is still a bit chaotic. Modo City has developed its own order, and people are gradually adapting and assimilating into the daily life here. Naturally, significant matters are attracting so many people, as aside from the residents of Modo City, merchants from Modo Harbor have also been drawn here.
Notices are posted on the city walls.
Someone nearby is explaining the notices since there are still relatively few literate people, but most merchants can understand. Many merchants’ eyes have lit up after reading.
The first notice is about a population census.
Modo City will conduct its first population census, and all citizens will be registered. Those who have made significant contributions to Modo City will be awarded the title of Honorary Citizen, which grants them priority access to various welfare and educational resources in Modo City, as well as eligibility to run for official positions in Modo City. The census covers a broad scope, including Half-Elves, humans, indigenous slaves, and for the first time, civilians will also be included in the statistics, which is beneficial for the future management of Modo City.
The second notice is about colonial development.
As previously mentioned, Modo City, under Soren’s arrangements, is clearing out the nearby indigenous people. Soren has already achieved significant results, having acquired substantial land around Modo City.
Soren is currently very busy.
Although Modo City has its own operational system, the momentum needed to support further colonial expansion is still insufficient. Both the population and resources are hard to organize for large-scale expansion in the short term. Moreover, Soren’s focus remains on Modo City itself. Instead of blindly expanding territory, it would be better to advance the technological development in his stronghold, improving agriculture, irrigation channels, and so on. According to Soren’s vision, the agricultural model of Modo City must be that of large farms, leading the world by over a century.
However.
The occupied land cannot be wasted. Instead of letting it lie fallow, it is better to develop it for colonization.
The decree issued by Modo City is to lease this land to others at an outrageously low price. They will receive Modo City’s resources and protection for just one Silver to rent an acre of land. If these lands are farmed for ten years, then these individuals can gain permanent usage rights, and upon reaching the term, they can obtain the land deed at City Hall. All tools needed for colonial development can be purchased or rented from Modo City at cost price, and Modo City even subsidizes the transportation fees.
Any colonizer can gain Modo City’s protection. After all, the Overseas Islands can be a bit dangerous.
It can be said that this colonial expansion plan offers everything except convenience regarding population; all other resources can be tilted toward Modo City.
In fact, even if you have no money, it’s fine!
As long as you have made enough contributions to Modo City and express your willingness to engage in colonization, you can immediately rent land, tools, and resources from Modo City. You can even have debts or borrow money at very low interest rates.
Of course.
This privilege is only for those who have made sufficient contributions to Modo City, such as soldiers with wartime merits.
The land reclamation will be tax-exempt for one year.
For the next three years, only half of the taxes will be required. According to calculations by merchants, if a person has over 100 points of contribution in Modo City, he will only need 10 Ginds to possess around one hundred acres of land.
For 10 Ginds, you can become a small landowner.
Although this might require starting from scratch in development, Modo City will provide the necessary tools and resources, dispatch armies to protect their safety; they only need to make initial investments and manage their land well for ten years.
The merchants have sensed a huge business opportunity.
For these merchants who can operate overseas, one or two hundred Ginds are nothing. By investing around one hundred Ginds, they can secure over 1000 acres of land. After ten years, this land will fully belong to them. Even accounting for various reclamation investments and resources required in the first two years, they realize the immense profits to be made.
However.
This policy is only open to citizens of Modo City. Those without Modo City’s citizenship cannot enjoy any of this.
But where there are policies, there are countermeasures. Merchants are finding ways to obtain Modo City citizenship. Some merchant guilds from the Southern Coast are even donating money to Modo City in exchange for contribution points, swiftly acquiring over 1000 hectares of land. Other small merchants have no choice but to find creative ways to share in the spoils, entering into contracts with Modo City citizens; they invest funds and share profits with the contractors, striving to gain enough benefits from this major event in Modo City.
The entire Modo City is buzzing.
Even the news has reached the Southern Coast in a very short time. Even the Temple of Wealth feels the allure, secretly mobilizing their controlled merchant associations to acquire over 10,000 hectares of land in Modo City’s colonial plan.
……………
Lord’s residence.
Soren sits at his desk, surveying the map before him, next to a thick stack of documents adorned with many seals. Small-scale land applications can be submitted to City Hall, but when the numbers exceed a certain scale, Soren must personally approve them to prevent other forces from rooting too deeply near Modo City.
Common interests are what can bind others to Soren’s war chariot.
Before Soren, the map shows Modo City in the center, with three red dots marked nearby; these represent the first batch of colonization land, covering over three hundred square kilometers, planned to develop into three medium-sized towns surrounding Modo City. The second phase of the plan will further expand, ultimately establishing twelve towns near Modo City, forming a ring of settlements.
Overall, Modo City is incurring losses with the plan. The initial investment alone has resulted in a nearly three thousand Gind loss for Modo City. If it weren’t for the desperate Southern Coast merchants trying to get in, bringing Soren over twenty thousand Ginds, he would likely need to invest even more resources now.
This is a losing plan.
Except for Modo City itself, all participants are beneficiaries; as long as they can obtain land, they can exchange it for huge future profits at a very minimal cost.
With Soren’s god-level computational ability, he arrived at a general conclusion once the final statistics were completed.
If the current colonization plan is successful.
Modo City will incur a loss of about one hundred fifty thousand Ginds, with the only income during this time being the meager taxes.
However!
This money-losing plan will also bring a huge benefit: it will attract a large population here. Once merchants obtain land, they will naturally find ways to manage it. Such large tracts of land certainly need trusted individuals to manage them, but Modo City no longer has a labor supply for them, so they will have to spend money to hire labor from elsewhere or buy slaves to work.
Currently, the land is all barren.
Transforming barren land requires a significant amount of labor and tools. Modo City will provide the tools for reclamation, but other resources still need to be prepared by individuals.
Everything requires investment, and the most critical investment is population.
Lord Soren’s credibility is renowned far and wide. Although some merchants calculated and realized Modo City has been losing money, they ultimately could not resist the temptation and chose to believe in Soren’s promises.
The whole plan is about losing money for development; Soren directly brings about Modo City’s second large-scale expansion by spending money.
However, this time.
He has distributed the benefits among the common people, allowing the citizen class of Modo City to share in the profits while Modo City’s own interests and the surrounding fertile lands remain firmly in his hands.
This is an opportunity.
It is also a signal sent to the outside world. Modo City, which is close to saturation in expansion, has suddenly attracted countless people’s attention.
Modo City is essentially an independent small kingdom.
And the population here is Soren’s population; for a deity, the number of people is never too many.
……………
On this day.
After Soren arranged all plans, a line of data unexpectedly appeared before him:
“Understanding of the Law!…”
“Transformation of Divine Power!… You have acquired partial information of the domain of [Rule]!…”
“Ability enhancement!…”
“You have automatically comprehended a new domain—[Rule]!…” (To be continued ~^~)
