You call this the god of etiquette?

Chapter 133 The Beginning Letter

"land?"

Osval and Boyce looked at each other.

Does land matter?
Of course it matters.

Because farming can be done on the land.

For a city like "Talek", which is located in the northernmost part of the kingdom and has limited food production, even if it is a "barren land" in the usual sense, it is a resource that cannot be easily discarded.

Therefore, as soon as the city lord's palace decided to open up land this time, everyone from top to bottom supported it.

However, support is support, and everyone’s demands are different after all.

Or more accurately, everyone hopes that they can get a little more advantage in land distribution.

The current situation is a little simpler, because the only purpose of this pioneering operation is to expand cultivated land, and the City Lord's Mansion does not intend to allow land owners to change the use of the land or leave it idle.

If there were no such restrictions, I'm afraid the land grab would become even more intense——

Who would think that they own too much land?

In the past, Tareks, whether rich or poor, powerful or not, basically focused on the fur business.

Even if you are not engaged in the fur industry, you will often work in the fur industry: opening a hotel, doing warehousing, working as a guide, etc.

Now, with the Ministry of Agriculture officially starting to accept applications for land development, people regard this land development as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a comeback.

From the perspective of the gift of black clothes, it is natural to hope that the "bigger cake" action such as pioneering can bring general benefits to the people of the whole city, rather than just enriching the assets of a few individuals.

Therefore, land distribution has been the focus of discussion at several pioneering meetings these days, and it is also an issue that must be treated with caution by the Ceremony in Black.

Osval was the first to become unable to sit still:

"Lord Mali, do you mean to allocate land to those who join the painting club?"

According to the first draft decided upon in previous discussions, the share of land to be reclaimed this time was comprehensively measured from two aspects: the applicant’s enthusiasm for participating in the painting club meeting and his family situation.

At the same time, a small portion of the quota will be allocated to reward workers who work and perform well in Black Rock Leather Factory and other religious properties of Black Clothes Ceremony.

Although this plan is not perfect yet, the most difficult to determine the criteria for judging has been finalized, and the rest are basically some details.

Now, if the members of the painting society are given more privileges in land allocation, it would be equivalent to changing the original standards.

If you give more here, someone will naturally want less.

Ma Li was not flustered by Oswald's questioning because she had already been fully prepared.

Since becoming a priest of the Black Rite, she has been constantly learning.

It's not that studying makes her happy, it's just that as a member of the church and a servant of God, she needs to have her own dignity.

After all, as a commoner, Ma Li has no self-cultivation, and at most it will only affect the Drake family.

But as a priest of the great god of etiquette, if Mali has no self-restraint, she will bring shame to the black-clothed etiquette and even the gods.

Mary would not allow such a thing to happen, and whenever she had free time on weekdays, she would read and study works on the history of the Kingdom, the history of the Kingdom Church, etc.

Coupled with the supervision and encouragement of a teacher like Ige, she has made rapid progress.

This is why Martha almost didn't recognize her sister when she returned to "Talek".

Knowledge did change Mali.

It also allowed her, a girl born as a commoner, to speak freely when faced with doubts:

"Lord Osval, I can understand your concerns."

“After all, this time of pioneering is just our first attempt. There is still a lot of arable land to be opened up on both sides of the Prosperity Road, especially on the west side of Lake McCaton.”

"So we must set the standards and rules as well as possible in this 100-hectare land trial. In this way, we can get twice the result with half the effort when we expand the scale of cultivated land and further develop the land."

Osval and Boyce nodded in unison.

There is nothing wrong with saying that.

What are you all working so hard for these days?
Isn't it just to set a standard that can be used for a long time?

Seeing the two pastors nodding approvingly, Ma Li smiled confidently:
"And we held four church meetings and discussed it at two painting club gatherings, and finally decided on the current land distribution plan."

"I think that the plan that has been discussed in such a careful manner should not make too many adjustments."

Osval nodded again.

But doubts arose in my heart.

Since you don't plan to change the original plan, where will the additional shares of the painting club members come from?
The answer to the mystery was soon revealed.

"So I propose that we use the established evaluation system to examine applicants for the painting club instead of allocating land."

"Taking the enthusiasm for participating in the painting club meeting and family status as the highest priority indicators, we can select suitable candidates from the painting club applicants, and allocate land quotas to outstanding workers who work in the church property, which will be transformed into joining the painting club." The club’s quota.”

“Considering that there is a high degree of overlap between land applicants and applicants for joining the society, in actual operation, it is equivalent to letting these people become members of the painting society first and then obtain land.”

"The identity of the painting society is tied to land distribution, and its importance is highlighted, and our goal is achieved."

Osval's brows frowned slightly:
"But in this case, those wealthy businessmen from other places will lose their qualifications to purchase land."

"There are currently [-] foreign businessmen interested in purchasing our newly expanded farmland. As far as I know, [-] of them have not applied to join the painting club."

"And these people who have not applied to join the painting club are basically powerful wealthy businessmen. Many of the representatives sent by them have made it clear that they are willing to spend large sums of money to purchase land close to the outpost."

"The highest one even offered a price of 45 farnic silver per acre!"

According to the current planning of the City Lord's Mansion, most of the newly opened land will be allocated free of charge.

Only a symbolic [-]% land tax is collected from the allocated land every year.

This is because the City Lord's Mansion has never intended to rely on land transactions or food for profit. Instead, it prefers to make the people rich through land distribution.

Because of this, mergers are also prohibited.

The City Lord's Mansion would rather see the fragmented farmland of each small farmer, with relatively reduced farming efficiency, than see a large landowner owning a large stretch of farmland with batches of tenants under his command.

Of course, those who apply for land, except those who are farmers themselves, generally have sufficient family conditions: either sufficient manpower or sufficient wealth.

Otherwise, even if there is cultivated land, there will be no one or no money to hire people to cultivate it, and the abandoned land will be taken back.

This is why family situation is one of the two core indicators when reviewing applicants.

Considering the base issue, according to this standard, most of the people who will be allocated land in the end will be civilians.

If these common people become wealthy and serve as an example, more and more people will naturally follow the painting club and obey the government's orders from the city lord's government.

At the same time, the extra wealth among the people will eventually flow back into the pockets of the city lord's mansion——

As a northern city that has basically caught up with "Wasdok" in terms of development, the wealth of the people of "Talek" will always be consumed in the city.

The "Talek" is filled with the religious properties of the Black Rite, and many non-religious properties also have the participation of the painting club.The people's surplus funds drive consumption, and consumption in turn promotes urban prosperity.

form a perfect closed loop.

In every link of this closed loop, the city lord's palace can get tax revenue, it's just a difference in tax type.

Of course, this does not mean that the city lord's palace must shut out those wealthy businessmen who are willing to use their money-making ability.

Therefore, Ige also knew about and agreed to Oswal's contact with foreign businessmen.

But now that the distribution plan has changed, of course the original plan will not count.

Should we still open this special case? If so, how should we define the standards?
Ma Li turned her attention to Ige.

She couldn't answer Oswald's question, and it wasn't her place to answer it.

Ige pondered for a moment and took over the conversation:

"Oswal, among the businessmen who have not applied to join the painting club, how many are from the Church of Balance and Father Earth?"

Oswald was already familiar with this information and blurted out:

"Seven of them are believers of the God of Trade, and one is a believer of the God of Fertile Soil."

Hearing this, Ige tapped his index finger on the table and made the final decision:

"After all, the Balance Church and the Earth Father Church are allies that we have cooperated with for several years."

"Their believers will follow the original arrangement and give each person a subscription share of up to 8 acres of land."

"Others who are neither followers of Friendship religions nor willing to join the painting club, you don't need to contact them anymore."

"As for the subscription price, it is still based on the minimum base price of 30 farnic silver per acre. It is up to you to negotiate based on the specific location of the farmland."

"The places we have chosen to open up this time are generally good. If the price is lower than this, there is no need to negotiate. I would rather leave more self-cultivated land for the guards at the outpost."

Oswal quickly nodded in agreement and promised to maximize the proceeds from the land sale.

In fact, Ige agreed to sell a small part of the land, not mainly because of the income from the land transfer.

To be honest, even if the unit price is high, after all, the total acres are there, and the overall amount is just that.

If he really wanted to make money from this, Ige would not give out land to the people for free.

The agreement to sell part of the land to religious friends was actually more for the purpose of claiming ownership.

People who buy land will naturally obtain the title deed from the City Lord's Mansion, which is equivalent to a disguised recognition of the "Talek" City Lord's Mansion's ownership of the unclaimed land on both sides of the Road to Prosperity.

Especially considering that Iger just received a report from Eric yesterday, saying that a pioneering operation was also announced in "Fue".

The issue of ownership becomes even more critical.

Ige hopes that the two sides can jointly develop the land on both sides of the road to prosperity in this way of private businessmen holding each other's land to avoid disputes.

For the smooth implementation of the development plan, a good external environment is undoubtedly beneficial.

At the same time, this is also out of consideration for friendship and friendship.

Of course, the weak should be grateful if they receive a little kindness from the strong.

If Father Earth and the Church don't understand such a simple truth, then Ige doesn't mind giving them a little help to prevent others from being shameless.

Now that the topic has come to this point, Ige motioned for Ma Li to sit down, and then he mentioned another thing:
"This time, with the land allocation and the expansion of the painting club's membership, we can just promote the identity card as well."

"Although the cost of special pulp is still quite high, I have contacted the 'Tune of Psalms' and asked them to transfer a batch of pulp from Doxian."

After the meeting, Mary, Oswal and Boyce left one after another.

Ige stayed in the conference room to record and summarize the results of the meeting, then got up and left, preparing to return to the office to handle today's official documents.

As soon as he walked out of the door, he was stopped by Quinton, the newly promoted messenger bodyguard.

Lambert went to the guard station in the north of the city in order to convey Iger's instructions on the military training of the militia.

Quinton, who was prepared, naturally stepped forward.

He had previously performed heroically when capturing Rodney and was shot by him.

Although in the end he lost consciousness due to the strange attack of the Fifth Light, he let Rodney go.

However, both Lambert and Boyce strongly recommended this loyal and brave bodyguard to be promoted to the order's bodyguard.

Ignatius is invincible.

After all, Rodney didn't run away in the end.

It is still placed on a low cabinet in his office as a light holder.

"What's wrong, Quinton?"

Ige glanced at the bodyguard standing in front of him.

The burly Quinton looked around carefully, and after confirming that no one was around, he took out a letter from the bag on his waist:

"Lord Ige, this was sent to the City Lord's Mansion by Pastor Donahue of the Balance Church earlier."

"You were in a meeting at the time, so I didn't disturb you."

"Pastor Donahue?" Iger took the letter from Quinton in surprise.

The wheat ear stands proudly in the center of the pale yellow envelope, with its long and soft stems extending to all sides, showing vitality to the observer.

Every particle shines like a mirror, lifelike, and the details are impeccable.

More importantly, Iger felt some extremely weak divine intention from the envelope.

This is obviously a letter from the Golden Wheat Church.

Eagle's brows frowned slightly.

After his preliminary confirmation, the Prayer Chamber of Commerce did have traces of activities in "Belstad".

And it is impossible for Golden Wheat Sui not to know the information that he can find out.

Therefore, it is indeed possible for the Fifth Light to say that the Prayer Chamber of Commerce has a cooperative relationship with Grand Duke Eden.

In addition, the information revealed behind the letter sent by the Tianping Church to Golden Wheat.

Golden Wheat's apparent strength is already considerable.

Not to mention that Golden Wheat and the Balance Church themselves have many friendly forces and vassals, as well as allies that Iger may not know about.

At such a delicate time point, think again about what Fifth Light said before, that the Praying for the Sun Chamber of Commerce has a solution to the "Long Stage of Order"
After thinking about it, Ige opened the letter.

As I read, my brows furrowed even more tightly.
　Thank you for your monthly vote!
　　The preparation for this volume is basically over, thank you book friends for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)