"Deprive the nobles of their privileges, break the wheel of history, and establish a Kingdom without oppression?"
Daenerys answered with slight hesitation. This was the goal she had dread of day and night, but even she understood it was a general aim, not a specific policy.
"Very good." Seeing the Queen's expression, Aegor knew she had realized the problem, but it did not matter. "Your thinking is clear. Let analyze it. You believe the suffering of the common people cos from exploitation and persecution by upper-class nobles and slave masters. As long as equality is achieved and these social parasites are eliminated, the people will live well. But reflect on your experience ruling in Slaver's Bay and answer this. Did the living standards of the residents in the three major city-states you ruled rise compared to before you arrived? If so, by how much?"
…
A quick blush of sha rose to the Queen's face. Fortunately, the room was dim, so it was not obvious.
Her terrible experience ruling Slaver's Bay had always been a pain in her heart. Due to her own poor strategy and lack of experience, Astapor and Yunkai fell into chaos or saw their slave masters restored soon after she left. Because war intensified conflict and consud resources, life actually beca worse. Only ereen, when she took the city, saw Littlefinger co under her command. By adopting his suggestions and policies, and by staying to rule personally instead of rushing on, the situation only slightly improved.
Even then, ereen avoided collapse only by a cold-blooded thod, preventing refugees from the first two cities from flooding in with hunger and plague.
Not until she mastered dragonriding in Asshai, fully repelled foreign intervention, and subdued Yunkai and Astapor again, bringing them under her rule and unifying Slaver's Bay's eastern coast, did she finally stabilize the situation and complete preparations to strike back at Westeros. Only then did she barely achieve the goal of restoring the residents' living standards to their forr level. This ca after Yunkai and Astapor's populations had fallen by seven tenths, and the entire eastern coast saw a decline of nearly half.
This was clearly not an achievent to boast of.
"It did not increase," Daenerys answered honestly, then added a small cover. "But regardless, at least they are free now."
"There is no denying that liberating Slaver's Bay was a great achievent," Aegor said, resisting the urge to show an untily expression. He needed to persuade Daenerys to act in ways that served his interests, not slap her face and drain the goodwill he had just built. "But you must be cautious in Westeros. The Seven Kingdoms abolished slavery long ago, and everyone is free. Here, if you cannot give the people better lives, they will not confess that you liberated them from noble oppression. They will only shout, 'Back then, under such-and-such a Lord, we lived this or that much better.'"
Daenerys felt even more ashad. Though his words were not disrespectful, they sounded more and more like mockery to her guilty ears. The proud Queen's look vanished completely, replaced by the humility of one seeking guidance. She heard confidence in Aegor's tone. If this Night's Watch man truly had a sound plan to reach her ideals, she did not mind lowering her stance.
Under the Queen's expectant gaze, Aegor did not tease her further. After a pause, his tone changed. "Let hazard an inference. Even if you eliminated all nobles in Westeros now and divided all resources equally, you would still find that most people would be barely fed, with only a little surplus. When disaster struck, when Winter lasted longer than expected, or when wars ca, the situation would still be terrible. Not to ntion, to maintain fairness and ensure your policies are executed, you would need to greatly expand the ranks of officials, using a bureaucracy to replace Lords and knights. Such a system is unproductive and yields no advantage. Furthermore, everyone has selfish desires and their own drives. Once they gain power, they quickly beco new oppressors, which would force you to establish regulatory departnts."
Daenerys frowned. "Are you saying nobles and Lords are irreplaceable, and my ideal is a joke?"
"No. I an that Your Grace wants the people to live better lives. Besides changing institutions, it is more important to make goods more abundant. Productivity and relations of production must develop together for the world to truly improve."
To explain productivity and relations of production in detail would require another large book. Even if Aegor had all the knowledge, giving textbook lectures was neither necessary nor aningful in this era. He had already ntioned the concepts briefly in the first half of his revised treatise on monarchy. Now, invoking them again, a little extra explanation would suffice.
"What Your Grace calls 'breaking the wheel of history' is essentially changing the distribution in the relations of production. There is nothing wrong with that. But you overlooked one point. No matter how you distribute, if productivity does not change, there is only so much to distribute. No matter how good the structure, it will be quickly overwheld by population growth and unexpected shocks. Therefore, the correct approach is comprehensive reform, so productivity and relations of production develop together and promote one another."
"Of course I want that. But the land only grows so much grain, and forests and seas provide only so many resources. How can the advancent of 'productivity' be achieved?"
"To explain that in full would take another large book. And the most critical thing is, it is a book I cannot write." Aegor spread his hands, now certain she had taken the bait and he could not drive her away even if he wished, so he relaxed. He pulled out the chair opposite, poured warm wine for both of them, sat, and continued after a sip. "But although I cannot write it, I am sure it can be done. If Your Grace knows anything of the Night's Watch Industry, you will know it is not rely a large production organization. The staff of its research institute also conduct experints in their spare ti, either at my instruction or on their own. Among them is farming."
"Do not tell the grain eaten by the Night's Watch Industry's workers is grown by themselves."
"That is impossible, but the als are mostly cooked by the affiliated canteens. The staff only prepare two als a day, and in their free ti they plant vegetables in the many empty spaces between the great factory buildings, both to pass ti and to supplent the canteen's food. When I learned of it, I ordered the research institute to intervene in this amateur work, exploring ways to grow more on the sa land through tools, changing thods, trying new fertilizers, and every ans they could imagine."
"Was it successful?"
"The yields of various plots differed, but all were higher than the Seven Kingdoms' average," Aegor said. "So, with no disrespect intended, I must correct a statent Your Grace made. The land is not limited to growing only so much grain. By making it grow more through agricultural reform, that is the advancent of productivity."
"How was it done?"
"Carefully cultivated seeds, sturdy and convenient tools, sound and reasonable thods, sowing, irrigation, fertilization. Are you sure you want to hear the details now? As I understand it, Dragonstone cannot grow grain."
"I understand." Daenerys had given up thinking. All she wanted was the next chapter, no, the next passage. "What then?"
"We agree that technological progress drives productivity. If you have questions, ask now. If not, we go on." Aegor was generous with the knowledge Daenerys desired, because what he spoke today was not his true trump for the future. Even if he beca her enemy one day, she would not be harder to face because of what she heard now. "After productivity develops, which region of the Seven Kingdoms benefits most?"
"Benefit most… will not everyone benefit?"
"That is right, but I want Your Grace to answer through your own thinking. Which region benefits most?"
This was not Aegor playing coy. He wanted to complete the brainwashing quickly and guide the Queen to think along his lines, but the question was sensitive. If he led every step, it might provoke awkward suspicion.
Daenerys painfully switched from learning to thinking. Fortunately, this was not hard.
"The Reach, because it has the warst climate, the largest cultivated area, and the largest population."
"Correct." Aegor nodded. "But given your understanding of the Seven Kingdoms is rather shallow, I should give more detail. The Reach's cultivated land is twice the Riverlands, which ranks second. Its warm, humid climate allows three harvests in long sumrs, and its grain output is half the Seven Kingdoms' total. Its population is not as exaggerated, but it still exceeds the combined population of the North, Westerlands, Riverlands, and Vale. That is only the official count. We do not know how much is hidden. Have you heard clearly?"
"I must admit, I did not grasp it that clearly."
"Now we can return to the concept we introduced earlier. It is easier to conquer a Kingdom than to rule it." Aegor breathed out. The first part was finally finished. "The ideal would be to be enemy to the whole world, defeat the Seven Kingdoms, and rule all of Westeros. But Your Grace surely does not want to spend your life on war. Therefore, the reasonable solution is compromise. Win over so nobles, be enemy to the rest. To retake the Iron Throne requires the power of great nobles, and trying to break the wheel requires being their enemy. To achieve your ideal while facing resistance, you must have sufficient control of the Seven Kingdoms. Suppose your dragons' fighting power equals one Kingdom. If you must now win over three Kingdoms to fight against the remaining four, how would you choose?"
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
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