industrial lord

Chapter 598: National Bond

Human resources have always been an important resource, both in the agricultural age and in the industrial age.

The key to freeing the serfs on the land is to make it profitable for the landlords.

The "sheep eating people" that Frederick was familiar with was not as simple as enclosing the fields and driving the farmers originally on the land into the city.

Prior to this, Britain's agricultural revolution greatly increased crop yields, providing food security for subsequent social changes.

At this time, the landlords no longer managed the land as they did in the past, planting the same thing next year. Instead, they were guided by the market and trade and planted whatever made money.

It was precisely because of the change in agricultural thinking and the surge in demand for wool at the time that the enclosure movement of "changing grain for sheep" emerged.

Today, the Duchy of Mainz and the Duchy of Bavaria have greatly increased their grain production thanks to the high-quality seeds, fertilizers and agricultural machinery from the Duchy of Wessen.

And because the Duchy of Wessen was a bottomless pit of agricultural products, the landlords of the two duchies naturally would not miss the opportunity to make money, and began to grow cash crops on a large scale in addition to grain.

It seemed to Frederick that something could be tried.

"Serfs can no longer keep up with the times." Frederick continued to teach his two allies, "Nowadays, fewer and fewer people are needed for farming. More people means lower efficiency."

"At the same time, the newly built factories need a large number of workers, which requires people to leave the farmland and go into the factories."

Grand Duke Bain thought for a moment and asked, "You mean, drive them out of the farm and send them to the factory?"

Frederick nodded and replied: "That's essentially the case, but there are many ways to do it."

"For example, now that workers have high incomes, some serfs want to work in factories. We can let them redeem their feudal obligations and leave the farm."

Grand Duke Bain frowned.

The Grand Duke of Mainz pinched his chin and said, "Redemption? The scale is so large, it's unprecedented."

The Archduke of Bavaria said to Frederick earnestly: "Feudal obligations are the cornerstone of society. If they are destroyed, our society will collapse."

The Grand Duke of Mainz also thought of this and nodded.

All nations today are held together by the bonds of feudal obligations.

Feudal obligations existed not only between serfs and landlords, but also between small and large landlords, except that labor was transformed into force.

If feudal obligations disappear, how should the relationship between small nobles and great nobles, and between great nobles and the royal family be handled?

This is a problem that must be faced. If it is not resolved properly, then as Frederick said, war will break out.

“I have been looking for a bond that would replace feudal obligations, such as taxes,” said Frederick.

The two old landlords were shocked and looked at each other.

Frederick had for years been emphasizing the contract between tax payers and tax collectors, and they had no idea that this was intended to replace feudal obligations.

Grand Duke Bayen murmured, "Money instead of land?"

The foundation of feudal obligations is land. Vassals pledge allegiance to their lords, and lords give land to their vassals.

"Land is also part of wealth," Grand Duke Mainz told him. "Giving land is a one-time solution. Giving gold coins will cause trouble. If the vassal runs out of money, he will run away."

Archduke Byrne nodded.

He has many vassal states. Why would they pledge allegiance to him? The world is in turmoil, and everyone is after profit.

Only a very small number of people would pledge loyalty to the feudal lord out of gratitude or other reasons.

Frederick also nodded and continued, "Wealth is a material bond, but in addition, a spiritual bond is also needed."

The Grand Duke of Mainz immediately said: "That's a good point."

He understood what Frederick meant, which was to engage in nationalism, and Frederick was not yet born when that idea came up.

Grand Duke Bavaria thought of another question: "What about power?" The feudal relationship based on land comes with the power over the land, and the landlord is the local tyrant.

If money is used to replace land, it means losing this part of political power.

"I haven't thought about that yet," said Frederick.

This is the biggest challenge of reform. It is absolutely impossible to ask some people to give up the power in their hands. They want both money and power.

Unless there is a bloody war and all the landlords who block the way are killed, the only option is to compromise with each other.

Moreover, Frederick is not the king now, so he has no right to make big promises in this regard, so he chooses to avoid talking about it.

He also wanted to wait and see how the royal family and local nobles in the Kingdom of Sardinia exchanged interests so that he could have a reference.

Superstructure design takes a long time because the cost of trial and error is too high, and once the internal structure is in chaos, the surrounding neighbors will take a bite.

In the end, the Grand Duke of Mainz and the Grand Duke of Bavaria decided to try to allow serfs to redeem their freedom under certain conditions by making installment payments.

In this way, the landlord could get a sum of money to invest in factory construction, and then let the people who were freed from the land work in the factory.

For the serfs, they were simply being exploited by being moved from one place to another.

However, the personal dependence on the factory is not that strong, so it can be said that we have enjoyed some of the benefits of the progress of the times.

Frederick chatted with the old men here for two days and then returned to La City.

After returning to his residence, he thought quietly for a few days, reviewing his actions over the years from beginning to end, and evaluating the corresponding results and impacts.

Many things cannot be rushed. Even if he has the knowledge from his previous life and can see a few steps further than others, it does not prove that all decisions are correct.

The key is that the world's top supernatural powers play a political role similar to that of nuclear weapons, changing the political logic.

Therefore, Frederick did not dare to carry out reforms in a radical manner. He needed to win over and cultivate allies to increase his own strength.

This kind of gradual reform from top to bottom was bound to be incomplete, but Frederick was limited in his ability, and he knew very well that he could not just show off his tyranny and make everyone obey him.

Everyone has his or her own thoughts. Unless they are in dire straits, few people can make up their minds to make drastic reforms.

All he can do now is to set a good example so that others can see his success and then imitate him.

Even if this path fails, it can provide inspiration for future generations.

Perhaps it was because of the distance, this was the first time in all these years that Frederick re-examined himself so deeply.

When he finished this work, he found that he had written a thick stack of manuscript paper without realizing it.

He listed all his decisions in chronological order, summarizing each decision into five parts: significance and necessity, expected goals, implementation plan, completion results and subsequent impacts, forming a long table.

After he stuffed the form into the file bag for confidential documents, Maria brought a glass of juice over, put it on the desk, and asked, "When are you leaving?"

Frederick said, "A few days later than you."

Maria also has her job as Minister of Culture of the Principality of Wessen and will be returning to Wessenburg in two days.

Susan will stay for a while to help set up the bacteriological laboratory.

Frederick was going to the Kingdom of Tarago, where the 3rd Division had been deployed, to see if there was anything that needed to be coordinated with higher-ups, and also to visit one of his students on the way.

He suddenly remembered something, and after drinking the juice, he asked Maria: "Have the Venetians looked for me recently?"

Maria thought for a moment and said, "No, not even anyone wants to do business with us."

Frederick shook his head and said, "Then leave them alone. We have more important things to do now."

After saying that, he stood up and picked up Maria.

(End of this chapter)