For Lorence, in the year 1783 of the standard calendar of the Galentea Continent, there were truly only two major events worth his attention. The first was the coronation ceremony of the
The second major event was the completion of Bear King Palace, located east of the gates of Ragebear City. After three and a half years of construction, the dedicated labor of nearly two hundred thousand workers, and the meticulous craftsmanship of thousands of skilled artisans, the magnificent Bear King Palace had finally been completed. In this world of the Galentea Continent, there was no feudal taboo against overstepping one's station—so long as a landed noble had the wealth and the power, they could freely construct a palace that surpassed even the imperial palace as their own residence. This was both a display of their family's strength and a way to leave behind a famous ancestral legacy for future generations, while simultaneously carving their name into history. The Handerla Family's Mercurby Palace and the Fulondo Family's Summer Palace were examples of such endeavors.
What made Lorence laugh and cry at the same time was that when he had originally decided to build Bear King Palace, his intention had never been to create a great palace that would go down in history. His original purpose was to solve the problem of overproduction in the factories, mines, and workshops across his family's territories—simply put, shifting production from an export-oriented model to one driven by domestic demand. At the same time, he wanted to give the commoners of his territories a chance to earn money during the agricultural off-season, so they could use their earnings to purchase the surplus consumer goods stockpiled in warehouses across the family's lands, allowing the territory's economy and trade to circulate and develop, while breaking the bad habit commoners had of burying their money the moment they earned it...
As a result, Bear King Palace had an enormous scope, but in terms of details, its layout and decoration were neither elaborate nor lavish. For Lorence, the so-called palaces of this Galentea Continent world were essentially nothing more than several richly decorated castles combined with a few gardens—a composite structure that utterly lacked the grandeur and magnificence of the imperial palaces from his previous life. Moreover, the construction period was short. The famous palaces of his former world had all taken more than a decade to complete, but here in this world of
Lorence had a hand in the design of Bear King Palace, drawing primarily on the layout he had seen when he visited the Forbidden City in his previous life with that female secretary of his. Though it was impossible to replicate the Forbidden City's individual halls, the vast scope of the design had drawn admiration from
Master Siroba, for his part, had been filled with ambition, intending to make Bear King Palace the finest palace on the entire Galentea Continent so that his name would live on through history. If Lorence hadn't been prudent enough to lock down the palace's name early on, Master Siroba would likely have been willing to abandon all his fame, wealth, and even his title, just to have his own name carved onto the palace. If the palace could have been renamed Siroba Palace, Master Siroba would have died content.
In the construction of Bear King Palace, Master Siroba had poured every last drop of his heart and energy, pursuing the highest quality of workmanship and tolerating not a single flaw. He had practically moved his entire life onto the construction site. Because the project's scope had ballooned so greatly, the original construction budget had been two million gold ferdins with a two-year timeline. But at Master Siroba's insistence, the cost quickly rose from two million to three million, then five million gold ferdins. Finally, lured by the promise of earning the title of the greatest palace under heaven, Director Spell had approved a colossal construction fund of eight million gold ferdins. The construction period stretched from two years to three and a half, and the projected workforce of a hundred thousand laborers had doubled. Every skilled artisan that could be mustered had been mustered.
For Viscount Spell, the family's financial director, spending money on Bear King Palace was not waste but a worthy investment. With the Norton Family's power at its absolute zenith, they truly needed a magnificent palace of such imposing grandeur to complement the family's prestige. Especially now that Lorence had ascended to the rank of Nation-Sword Saint—the greatest honor the Norton Family had earned in three hundred years—a residence befitting that stature was essential. Centuries from now, the family's descendants would be able to walk through this palace and reflect upon the glory of their ancestors and the pride of their bloodline.
When Lorence received the final cost breakdown for Bear King Palace, he was completely dumbfounded—eight million gold ferdins. That was more than three times the Norton Family's annual revenue from just a few years ago. Director Spell, who had always been notorious for his stinginess, had actually agreed to spend such an enormous sum. Had it not been for Lorence's trust in the family's strict financial oversight regulations, with dedicated auditors reviewing every expenditure, he would have been ready to send investigators to look into possible corruption and inflated cost reports.
Fortunately, the family had already opened up trade routes to the central and southern regions of the continent, and the market centered on
In terms of engineering development or the armament plans for the family's military, he would have been reluctant to build such a luxurious and imposing palace. This was truly an unexpected result. The original plan to spend two million on building the Bear King Palace was merely to stimulate internal demand within the family's territory, with no great emphasis on refinement. Perhaps in the future, Lorence could open it up as a public amusement spot or museum exhibition hall, but for now, he could forget all that. Such a luxurious palace could only serve as his own residence.
To a certain extent, Lorence did not enjoy living in such a palatial palace. Contrary to what Princess Sillivia, his four consorts, and the children hoped for, Lorence preferred living in a simple, fortified castle like
A passage he had read online in his previous life had left a deep impression on Lorence. It spoke of imperial palaces, arguing that a splendid palace was nothing more than an ornate birdcage. When an emperor moved in, he was essentially locking himself inside the cage. That was why few descendants of those wise and mighty founding emperors amounted to anything; while playing the Son of Heaven and acting mysterious within the palace-cage, they were invisibly hollowed out by the vast bureaucracy beneath them, cut off from reality, and manipulated like caged birds. The emperors of the later Song and Ming dynasties, for example, had all been raised into useless figures...
In October, Lorence brought his family back from Silova Island to the Northland, preparing to move into the newly completed Bear King Palace. In truth, Lorence didn't like the name "Bear King Palace." Although he had settled on it, the name was the collective recommendation of his retainers. The Norton Family was known as the roaring bears of the Northland, so the retainers' proposed names all revolved around bears. "Bear King Palace" was considered the most fitting name—it carried an imposing and majestic air. After some thought, Lorence felt it was better than calling it the Siloba Palace, and so the name was finalized.
"Your Grace, there are altogether 3,461 statues of demon bears within the Bear King Palace, each with different postures and actions. For this, we commissioned mercenaries to specially capture seventeen demon bears from the Barbarian Plains to observe their living habits, then drew them as reference material. Finally, we selected suitable poses and images for the carvings..." Master Siloba gestured to the adorable, varied demon bear statues lining both sides of the path, proudly introducing his meticulous design and arrangement to Lorence's family.
Well, this is how your money gets spent and spent, am I entering a bear playground or what? Lorence could only silently grumble in his heart. Unlike Lorence's distress over the cost, his wife and children had already been captivated by the Bear King Palace's splendor and grandeur. Princess Sillivia was very satisfied with her new residence, while the children had long gone wild, chasing each other around the demon bear statues in a game. And Andbel, that little bear of a boy, had already climbed onto the largest demon bear statue, proudly showing off his prowess, leaving several of his personal attendants and retinues below, burning with anxiety...
It was both busy and exhausting! After returning to the family's territory, Lorence, besides overseeing the move to the new residence, also had to prepare for the New Year celebration at the Bear King Palace. Since this was the first time it was being held there, he couldn't afford to be lazy, spending his days bustling about to welcome and send off guests who had come to congratulate them on the housewarming. In that moment, he particularly missed the leisurely and tranquil days at the Cherry Blossom Ridge Villa from the previous two years...
After the New Year, during the rainy season, Lorence finally found some peace and quiet. The year 1784 arrived, and the plan for the Norton Family this year was to establish a new province further north in the family's territory, below the Demon Dragon Mountains, centered around the Two Mountain Town in a vast region, giving the family another directly controlled territory. This province to be established was named the Pangshan Province, meaning the province beside the Demon Dragon Mountains.
"I plan to implement a new private land ownership policy in Pangshan Province." Lorence made his decision.
In a sense, the more than three million subjects currently living in the Northland were all tenants of the Norton Family, since every acre of land in the Northland was the private property of the Norton Family. Although the Norton Family's armed forces had forcibly relocated over two million subjects from other regions to the Northland—providing them with farmland, houses, and the means to settle down and live in peace—the fields these subjects tilled were not their own private property. Fifty percent of their annual crop yield served as the rent they paid. Neither the land nor the houses could be bought or sold, though the subjects were permitted to repair, rebuild, and pass them down to their children and grandchildren, provided they obtained the Norton Family's approval and paid a tax or processing fee.
In the Northland, apart from the manors granted by the Norton Family to its Golden Knights, all other land—whether occupied by the
The Noble District, however, was different. The Norton Family had sold the usage rights to that land, and the nobles who purchased it could build manors and castles upon it. These could be passed down to their heirs and freely bought and sold, with no interference from the Norton Family. That said, buyers of such land were required to pay an annual land usage fee. Though the sum was not large, if a noble family fell on hard times and could not keep up with the payments, once the accumulated unpaid fees reached a predetermined threshold, the Norton Family had the right to confiscate the castle and manor on that land to offset the debt.
The property would then be sold at a discounted price, the debt subtracted, and any surplus returned to the original owner. Alternatively, the Family could find another noble to take over, facilitating a transaction between the two parties so the original owner could pay off the overdue land usage fees. But for a noble, leaving the Noble District meant being cast out of the Northland's aristocratic circle—an outcome that was simply intolerable. For this reason, even nobles who borrowed at steep interest or suffered losses in business would cling to the Noble District, because remaining there meant they still had a chance to make a comeback.
Why had real estate developed by the Norton Family in the seven towns of Fengle Plains years ago been in such short supply that prices soared? The answer was simple: those properties came with the same terms as the Noble District, only without the requirement of noble status. For wealthy commoners, this was a rare and coveted opportunity. No matter how you looked at it, those houses were far superior to the standard housing allocated to them. For example, if a farmer who had purchased a house from the Norton Family's real estate development returned his allocated housing, the tax yield from the farmland he cultivated would be reduced by ten percent.
The greatest difference between a family's directly administered territory and its governed territories was that in a directly administered territory, the family itself was the largest landowner. In governed territories, the enfeoffed vassal lords were the true landowners; only the land that remained after their holdings belonged to the family. For this reason, many powerful territorial lords were reluctant to enfeoff their subordinate vassals or were stingy in rewarding meritorious servants, because to them, the produce of the territory was their income, and enfeoffing a vassal lord was tantamount to taking gold coins out of their own purse.
Lorence intended to implement a private land ownership policy in the newly established Pangshan Province, transferring land ownership rights as well. In other words, if the Northland operated under a socialist system of public land ownership, then Pangshan Province's land policy would be capitalist private ownership. It was a last resort born of necessity. Pangshan Province was newly founded and needed settlers, but these settlers could not be the same forcibly relocated migrants as before. Instead, Lorence needed hardy immigrants who possessed martial strength and the ability to fight back on their own. After all, Pangshan Province bordered both the Demon Dragon Mountains and the Barbarian Plains. Beyond defending against the mountain barbarian tribes descending from the Demon Dragon Mountains to pillage, there was also the threat of fierce magical beasts encroaching from the Barbarian Plains. The settlers themselves needed to possess a degree of martial capability for self-defense.
While large-scale invasions by major mountain barbarian tribes or magical beast swarms would be handled by the family's armed legions, small-scale bandit raids and scattered groups of three to five raiders were virtually impossible to guard against, even for the family's military forces. And so Lorence turned his attention to mercenaries and retired family soldiers. The bait to attract them to settle in Pangshan Province was the planned private land ownership policy: every mercenary or retired family soldier who registered as a settler in Pangshan Province would have autonomous rights over one hundred mu of land, including both ownership and usage rights. After ten years, they could buy, sell, trade, or bequeath the land to their descendants entirely at their own discretion, with no approval required from the Norton Family.
"Perhaps these settlers who own their own land in Pangshan Province will become the first free citizens within our family's territory," Lorence remarked.
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