A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 407 Bundled Rental and Sale

The fields outside Kempson are starting to crawl with giant, four-legged tin spiders. They are being used to clear new land, equipped with shovels that resemble spider claws, which can turn the soil and uproot trees as they do so.

Looking down from the sky, one sees a group of eerie four-legged insects devouring the earth, turning the boundless green of spring into brownish-black soil awaiting sowing.

Even when controlling these new agricultural implements, Rorschach encountered cost issues because the Taling was now in the "borderland" and needed to control these big machines. Not only did he have to place a core in each tiller as a terminal, but he also had to add additional computing units to reduce the burden on the Taling.

That's right, they also consume computing resources, especially now that the Talings are controlling the large armies in the factories and fields.

Finally, Caroline provided a solution: "The so-called 'computing core' has now changed from a container for artificial souls to a 'terminal' for the Tower Spirits to descend from the 'Boundary'."

"Then you don't need to create a complete core for every receiver. Instead, from the perspective of constructing ritual magic, design an abstract system to connect with the tower spirit."

Using symbols and simplified symbols to invoke the law of similarity is something the Church of Order often does. In the past, mages would also use this to borrow power, but after the Great Extinction of Symbols, this skill gradually fell out of favor.

Now, Rorschach is reconsidering due to practical needs. Under Caroline's guidance and through telegram communication with Kanotton, he has obtained a new "terminal"—a schematic diagram of the computing core architecture outlined by loops, and its shape is fitted through a special wiring method. Overall, it looks like a tree that is constantly branching out.

External computing units are still necessary, but costs can be further reduced by installing them on a single motherboard and having the motherboard control the surrounding components.

These are all technical challenges. For these large vehicles to replace draft horses and oxen, Rorschach would need to vigorously promote their use. The first step was to establish a new company: the "Zwillinger" Agricultural and Commercial Company. The second step was to sublet the reclaimed land to displaced people.

Most of the refugees had already been organized and put into factories, while a small number became tenant farmers. Since they arrived in winter, all they could do was tend pastures for wealthy farmers and lords.

Now, the refugees' good fortune has returned! After the agricultural structures are completed and the land is cleared, all refugees can claim land. Why is it called "claiming"? Because there's no upfront cost; all costs, from clearing and seeds to subsequent fertilizers, are recorded in the agricultural cooperative's account. They only need to pay in grain at harvest time.

If the harvest is good and the grain payment is made, the land will belong to the claimant, and the Special District's Autonomous Committee will issue a title recognized by the Kingdom. If these "debts" are not paid, no social activist groups will come to collect them; it will simply be Rorschach reclaiming the land.

Such favorable treatment, practically free land, has led to a strong demand from both displaced people and local residents for the right to cultivate the land. Although reclamation is not yet complete and the specific plan has not been finalized, people everywhere are inquiring about the situation, and even estate owners from other areas want to claim the land.

Kempson is currently holding a joint meeting, which is attended by Frey, the first president of the Zwillinger Agricultural and Commercial Company, the half-elf Andrei representing the steel mill, Gopper from the fine mill, and Horn from Basif.

"Sir, the amount you set for remittance is too high. Based on the harvest of previous years, I'm afraid it won't be reached." Frey had farmed before, and he was astonished when he saw the draft proposed by Rorschach. According to Rorschach's standards, even if the farmers who took over the wasteland died, they would still have to hand over all of their final harvest to pay off the debt. If they failed to do so, they would have worked for nothing.

"Small farmers don't want to do it, but big farmers will." Horn was familiar with the middle class of the Kingdom of Bain, and he spoke from his own experience: "For ordinary farmers, it's naturally not feasible to treat new land as their means of survival. But for big farmers, it's a worthwhile investment."

"We handle everything from land reclamation to seeds, to the structure of the farmland and artificial fertilizers. Large-scale farmers only need to provide one season's harvest to redeem the land ownership. Where else can you find such a good deal?"

Goppert and Andrei echoed, "We're losing money on the farm tools and fertilizers we're providing right now."

Rorschach can provide land reclamation and subsequent packaging services. It is foreseeable that for landowners who crave land, they only need to provide manpower. Even if the harvest does not meet Rorschach's requirements, they are happy to pay money and grain to make up the difference and then acquire new land.

When Rorschach drafted these proposals, he did not fully consider that if such a plan were implemented, although there seemed to be no threshold for claiming ownership, it would turn into a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions by large corporations.

"First, we need to introduce purchase restrictions to at least give priority to migrants in acquiring land. Second, we need to adjust the grain procurement plan, reducing the proportion of grain procured in the first year and offering contracts for three, five, or even ten years."

"However, the agreements between the Special Administrative Region and the Royal Family and the City Hall are still in effect, and we cannot reduce the amount of grain we requisition. Therefore, we cannot lower the price too much, and we need to publicize the agreement to convince small farmers:"

"If we just bury ourselves in farming, the harvest won't be enough to buy back the land. But if we use our agricultural equipment and our synthetic fertilizers, and follow the guidance of the agricultural and commercial cooperative, we can have a bumper harvest and pay off the loans the cooperative has given us."

There is a harsh truth: Rorschach's "industrialization" can increase agricultural income, but it only makes farmers go from being half-full to being seven-tenths full. The majority of the increase is taken away to feed the ever-growing non-agricultural population.

He added, "We also need to promote the new farming tools and artificial fertilizers to local farmers. Spring plowing is coming soon, so we can let them compost base fertilizer first and plant the land that was previously fallow."

With chemical fertilizers, simply abolishing crop rotation and fallow can create double the growth. As for soil compaction, salinization or acidification, and eutrophication of water bodies, Rorschach didn't mention it, and no one here could be ahead of the curve to realize it.

Andrei frowned: "Now that draft horses have been requisitioned by the army, and many laborers have also joined the army, the labor shortage should make the implementation of our constructs go smoothly. However, the fertilizer issue... not everyone will necessarily accept it immediately. After all, it's the first time it's appeared, and most people will have doubts."

"Then let's do a good job of publicity to dispel doubts." Rorschach's shrewd business sense was burning brightly: "Also, adopt a bundled rental and sales approach. If you want to rent a construct for farming, you must buy our fertilizer. The policy is the same; you can use future harvests to pay for it."

After the meeting, Andrei had one last question: "Teacher, why not just let the newly established agricultural and commercial corporation take charge of everything? There's no need to transfer land ownership; the agricultural and commercial corporation can just hire migrants to cultivate the land."

"Heh, what do you mean by doing this to His Majesty the King?" If Rorschach had accepted the fiefdom, he could have done this, but now they had to be business. Besides, Rorschach wasn't particularly concerned about the land; giving refugees space to settle down was more important.

(End of this chapter)