Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1657 The National Policy of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Three short days passed in the blink of an eye, but they completely changed Charman's understanding of the Great Zhou.

Although Charman was once the emperor of the Saint Laurent Empire, his knowledge of the Great Zhou Dynasty was not much greater than that of his people.

He had heard of steam trains, but had never ridden one before.

When he traveled to Blackmoon City on the steam train, the experience along the way was a shock to his original worldview.

The impact of what he saw after arriving in Blackmoon City was relatively less significant, but for Charman, it was still full of new things.

The living conditions of the people of Da Zhou far exceeded his expectations.

Barlem found it merely novel, but Charman saw it differently; he saw in these things the development strategy and political structure of the Great Zhou.

As a country continues to develop, issues such as class stratification and wealth inequality become almost unstoppable.

Those who initially gain power and status are inevitably those who have contributed to the development of the country.

But who can guarantee that they won't use that power for the sake of their own descendants?
In some ways, this is already a tacitly accepted privilege.

The same applies to those who possess wealth.

Human nature is greedy and insatiable. There are very few people who have the ability to acquire things but choose not to. It is no exaggeration to say that they are extremely rare in the world.

People who possess wealth only want to acquire more wealth, letting their wealth snowball and grow bigger and bigger.

Ultimately, this results in a small group of people holding onto 70% or even more of a country's wealth.

The remaining 30% will be distributed among everyone else!
Even on this basis, the rich will continue to exploit the poor, leading to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

The original Saint Laurent Empire was like this; even after hundreds of years of development, there were still people who couldn't get enough to eat.

After Charlemagne ascended to the throne, he consistently sought to change this situation.
But how easy is it?

These guys are deeply intertwined with the development of the Saint Laurent Empire. To mess with them is to shake the very foundation of the Saint Laurent Empire, and could bring about a devastating impact if we're not careful!

In addition, his annoying ancestor kept holding him back, leaving him with no way to start.

But things were different in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It's not that the Great Zhou Dynasty doesn't have the above problems, but rather that the problems on the Great Zhou side are much smaller.

Even Charman considered him to be very healthy.

The people of the Great Zhou Dynasty live in a healthy environment where as long as they are willing to work, they can earn money, and that money is enough to ensure they have enough to eat and drink!

This is already a very good situation.

Labor itself is not terrible; what is terrible is that you labor but do not earn money, or that your effort and income are disproportionate, and then you are exploited day after day.

This can make people lose hope and gradually lose their enthusiasm for life.

Zhou Xu gave Charman three days, and Charman spent less time dealing with trivial matters and more time getting into work mode ahead of schedule.

For the past three days, he has been conducting social surveys on the streets of Black Moon City, almost handing out questionnaires to passersby.

Charman's actions were quickly reported to Zhou Xu, who simply let him do as he pleased, considering them minor matters.

In some ways, it's a good thing that the other party is even willing to learn about these things.

During this process, as the investigation progressed, Charman gradually gained some understanding.

The Zhou Dynasty was able to develop into its current form mainly due to two factors.

On the one hand, land, buildings, and even various facilities belong to the state, not to individuals. These things are undoubtedly important components of property, and also important means of accumulating wealth and making it snowball. In their Saint Laurent Empire, every noble class owns a large amount of land, and each of them is a major landowner.

This situation did not exist in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

All land belongs to the state, and so do buildings and structures.

Because these were all funded by the state, which arranged for engineering teams to reclaim and construct them.

You can pay rent to rent it and thus gain the right to use it, but there is absolutely no possibility of buying it.

Of course, you can choose to rent long-term, which offers better prices, but the maximum rental period is 30 years. If you want to rent again after 30 years, you have the right of first refusal to renew the lease.

However, if it violates the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the state has the right to revoke it in advance.

These policies allowed Zhou Xu to firmly grasp the dominant position.

On the other hand, there is taxation.

This is a complex topic involving many aspects, but if it can be summarized in one sentence, it is that the more you earn, the more you pay.

While restricting the most effective means of accumulating wealth, the Great Zhou Dynasty continuously reclaimed the wealth from the rich through taxation, thus creating the current situation.

Having sorted out his thoughts, Charman also wondered whether the Saint Laurent Empire could have actually implemented these policies back then.

The answer is impossible.

Even before he ascended the throne, the powerful and influential figures within the Saint Laurent Empire already held significant positions.

Such a policy, which is clearly unfavorable to them, simply cannot be implemented.

In contrast, the Great Zhou Dynasty was different.

According to his current understanding, the current emperor is the one who founded the Great Zhou Dynasty. He established the rules early on, which meant that those who followed him had no choice but to abide by them.

Simply put, the best way to achieve this is to have a sufficiently wise founding emperor.

Unfortunately, the Saint Laurent Empire did not have that.

Upon comparison, Charman couldn't help but feel even more respect for Zhou Xu, and his loyalty also increased accordingly.

On his first day as his aide, Charman got up very early and fussed over himself from head to toe.

Then I looked at the neatly folded work clothes next to me.

Officials of the Saint Laurent Empire typically wore brightly colored, embroidered, and lace-trimmed luxurious court attire, but the Great Zhou Dynasty was different.

Their work uniforms are a low-key, understated black, and the design is exceptionally simple.

The black trousers and black leather shoes had no extra design elements, except for the four large pockets on the coat, which made it look slightly different.

Charman was not unfamiliar with this outfit, after all, the person who had been responsible for introducing them to the group for the past three days had also been wearing the same thing.

During those three days, Charman had already felt the practicality of those four large pockets just by looking at them.

This also made Charman realize that the clothing of the officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty was basically based on practicality.

Under these circumstances, the only way to distinguish their departmental affiliation is by the color of their clothes and the badges pinned to their collars.

Facing the mirror, he earnestly pinned on the metal badge that symbolized his status as an aide, and then Charman looked himself over from head to toe.

"Okay, no problem, let's go!"

(End of this chapter)