Chapter 522: Fatty Shi's Schemes

"One hundred and eighty-six years ago, the Morant Grand Duke who occupied the Mana Hill Plains suddenly announced a system reform, abolishing the traditional feudal lord system of the Galentea Continent. He established the Forde Commercial Alliance, uniting the six major guilds—Twin Dragon, Vesia, Mayflower, Livord, Peterson, and Chickadee—to form the Commercial Alliance. Using the Mana Hill Plains as their base, they conducted commercial exchanges with the nations across the continent. The establishment of the Commercial Alliance gave the merchants, who had long been oppressed by territorial nobles, a force they could rely on and trust. It also significantly elevated the merchants' standing, and for the first time on the Galentea Continent, they raised their voices and voiced their political demands…"

The conference room was filled with the Norton Family's current senior civil and military officials in Morant City. This included knight commanders of battalion level and above from the family's four major military corps, as well as Steward Spell and several civil officials. They had all been urgently summoned by Lorist to discuss the plan submitted by Fatty Shi—a plan that virtually concerned the future prospects of the Norton Family's armed forces in Morant City for the foreseeable future.

Fatty Shi was standing at the lectern, lecturing the large group of family seniors seated in the conference room, explaining the history of the Commercial Alliance and Morant City so that these family leaders could understand why he had proposed such a plan, and what impact it would have on Morant City, the Commercial Alliance, and the Norton Family's future.

For Lorist, Er, Fatty Shi, Yuri, and others who deeply understood Morant City and had lived in this city for over a decade, explaining to the uninformed family officials why they were so cautious in dealing with the city's million-plus residents proved extremely difficult. Just as Ross the Fierce Tiger failed to comprehend, he had puzzledly asked Lorist why he didn't simply relocate half of Morant City's million residents by force to the family's territories—like the newly acquired Yungeshandra Province, where the population was sparse and labor for development was urgently needed.

Ross the Fierce Tiger's thinking was straightforward: move half the population elsewhere, and you solve Morant City's livelihood problem while adding several hundred thousand subjects to the family's domains. Wouldn't that benefit everyone? Those unwilling to relocate? Heh—didn't they know that the Norton Family's forces were best at forced relocations? All it would take was one order from Lorist, and he and the Flying Tiger Corps would handle everything smoothly.

Lorist smiled bitterly. If only things were that simple. The century-long war of resistance that the Commercial Alliance fought against the former Krisen Empire after its founding had filled the blood of its people with concepts of independence, freedom, and equality. The residents of Morant City, in particular, took tremendous pride in the notion that they were free citizens. This pride was the reward for the blood and tears they had shed over more than a century—freedom and dignity won by their ancestors through countless lives and heroic deeds for their children and descendants.

Relocating them to the family's domains as subjects would be something only a noble who had lost his mind would do. One could well imagine that if these Morant City residents were actually transferred to the family's territories, every single one of them would become a spark. They would incite all the subjects to fight for freedom and equality, organizing groups to resist their lord… Just thinking about it gave Lorist a headache. As a member of the territorial nobility, let alone relocating these Morant City residents—even if they simply wanted to come to the family's territories to trade or work, Lorist would have to carefully consider whether he should refuse their request.

"The Commercial Alliance's founding, its unique system, and its merchant-centric policies made its initial phase extremely arduous. The surrounding nations viewed them with skepticism and hostility, imposing all manner of obstacles on their commercial transactions—even sealing their borders and refusing any dealings whatsoever. At this time, the former Krisen Empire saw it as a heaven-sent opportunity, planning to swallow the Mana Hill Plains whole while the Commercial Alliance was isolated and helpless.

But Krisen IV forgot the most crucial point: compared to the Commercial Alliance—a weak, fledgling power—the Krisen Empire, ranked first among the Galentea Continent's three great powers, was far more feared by the nations of the continent's central and southern regions. Those kingdoms and duchies feared most that once the Commercial Alliance, which stood at the forefront as a buffer, collapsed, the Krisen Empire's iron cavalry would sweep through. When that happened, everyone would be finished.

So the surrounding nations threw their full support behind the Commercial Alliance's war of resistance against the former Krisen Empire, hoping it could hold the line. In the century-plus of warfare that followed, the Commercial Alliance grew stronger with each battle. Not only did they defeat the former Krisen Empire, but they won an excellent reputation among the central and southern nations, while opening trade routes in every direction across the continent. They rose to become the most powerful force in most of the central-southern regions.

Although the people of the Commercial Alliance paid an enormous price to win their freedom and avoid enslavement by the former Krisen Empire, they also gained confidence and pride. When Her Highness and I were studying in Morant City, the phrase we heard most often—the one the Morantians were proudest of—was: 'I am a free citizen.' A newspaper once published a survey showing that Morant City's residents were the least suited to become subjects under a territorial lord. They would see themselves as equals to their lord, not only refusing to obey his commands but subconsciously opposing his rule over them.

In short, Morant City's residents are a unique breed on the Galentea Continent. They would never become loyal subjects of territorial nobles, but they would gladly kneel before gold coins. In other words, the Commercial Alliance's commercial culture had created a distinctive Morantian people—one that scorned authority yet worshipped money and wealth, willing only to be servants of the purse.

The great mistake was deciding to implement the baronet system. This was likely the political demand of the leadership of the ruling merchant guilds within the Commercial Alliance. Although they were the ones governing the Alliance and wielding great power, during commercial dealings with surrounding nations they were looked down upon by the nobility for lacking noble titles. Merchants are profit-seeking and vain—they could not bear such contempt, so they decided to implement the baronet system to elevate their status and standing.

Originally, the Commercial Alliance had intended to obtain noble fiefdoms from the fragmented former Krisen Empire. But the unexpected Glass War upended the close relationship between the Commercial Alliance and the surrounding nations. Through war, the Commercial Alliance annexed seven countries including the Trinbo Kingdom, adopting an expansionist policy of launching wars against neighboring nations. From the protector of the central-southern continent, they became an aggressor.

Although the Commercial Alliance's major guilds all gained benefits from this expansion war—acquiring their own guild territories—this war was ultimately more loss than gain for the Alliance. Externally, the central-southern nations came to view the Commercial Alliance as a destroyer of order. They responded by sealing borders, severing trade routes, and cutting off commercial dealings, dealing a devastating blow to the Alliance's commerce. External trade never recovered.

Internally, the various major guilds, having obtained their own territories, relocated their production workshops and storage facilities from Morant City to their respective guild lands to reduce costs and increase profits. These measures delivered a fatal blow to Morant City. A thriving commercial metropolis of over a million inhabitants began its descent into decline.

To deflect blame, the ruling guild leadership pinned all the fault on the surrounding nations' sealing of trade routes, spreading propaganda that Morant City's plight was caused by those neighboring countries. They once again went to war against the allied kingdoms of the central-southern regions, leading to the current strategic situation on the continent…"

After thoroughly introducing the history of the Commercial Alliance and analyzing the current state of Morant City, Fatty Shi finally turned to the crux of his scheme: "Our Norton Family seized Morant City and the Mana Hill Plains to stop the hopeless, three-year blood war between the Commercial Alliance and the Andinak Kingdom. We intended to use this to force the Commercial Alliance to sign a ceasefire agreement with our kingdom and restore peace.

But the Commercial Alliance's response caught us completely off guard. They bluntly abandoned Morant City, leaving us with a mess and saddling our family with the burden of supporting over 1.3 million residents. Although we have yet to receive a formal reply from the Commercial Alliance regarding peace negotiations, we must prepare in advance against whatever schemes and tricks they might devise. Past experience has proven that these Commercial Alliance merchants, despite holding various noble titles, remain unprincipled and faithless.

A few days ago, our family conducted a preliminary survey of the twenty-four districts of Morant City's outer city. During this process, I was astonished to discover a fact that is almost impossible to believe." Fatty Shi smacked his lips, drained a glass of water in one gulp, then picked up a thin wooden pointer to indicate a map of Morant City hanging on the wall. "Our family's forces swept away all of the Commercial Alliance major guilds' influence in Morant City. The ration-based distribution system for food and daily necessities that had been in place for over a million residents went up in smoke along with them. The heavy responsibility of sustaining these million-plus residents now falls on our Norton Family.

If we exclude the various major guilds' armed forces that retreated to Mawefu Lin Province from the Mana Hill Plains, treating them as a foreign power—then take a look at present-day Morant City. Doesn't it look just like the newly founded Commercial Alliance from over a hundred and eighty years ago?"

What did Fatty Shi mean by this? Apart from Lorist, who already understood, the assembled family leaders exchanged bewildered glances, unable to make sense of it. But soon someone connected this to the Commercial Alliance history Fatty Shi had opened with and grasped his meaning: he intended to cast aside the Commercial Alliance's major guilds and noble leadership that had abandoned Morant City, and build an entirely new Commercial Alliance in the city…

It was a truly incredible notion—using the million-plus urban residents of Morant City's twenty-four outer city districts to re-establish a new Commercial Alliance. Was that even possible?

"Of course it's possible," Fatty Shi said with absolute conviction. "When the Morant Grand Duke established the Commercial Alliance, the total population of the Mana Hill Plains was less than a million, the majority of whom were freshly liberated serfs. Only through over a century of resistance against the former Krisen Empire did the Alliance's people gradually develop concepts of freedom, independence, and equality. Now, without needing a century of war, we already have over a million urban residents who share those same values. What could possibly be impossible?"

Fatty Shi's words stunned most of the assembled attendees. After all, the people in this conference room were either territorial nobles or candidates about to become them—all beneficiaries of the feudal lord system. And here they were, sitting together in dead earnest, discussing how to help Morant City's million residents establish an egalitarian, free, and independent new Commercial Alliance. The irony of it all was absurd. Lorist found it absolutely hilarious.

"B-But the original Commercial Alliance had the six major guilds. They possessed wealth and resources, which was how they helped the Alliance gain a foothold on the Mana Hill Plains. The current Morant City has nothing besides these million-plus residents, and virtually every guild has become an enemy. It's really hard to believe a new Commercial Alliance could sustain itself…" Bodfenger stood up to voice his skepticism.

"A blank sheet of paper makes the best canvas," Fatty Shi smiled. "It's precisely because those guilds are gone that Morant City is now a blank sheet, ready for us to paint upon as we wish. Gone are the guilds, but we have community organizations. The Commercial Alliance's guilds had restricted Morant City's residents in virtually every aspect. Without those restrictions, I believe these residents will quickly unleash astonishing creativity and bring us a miracle."

Fatty Shi's scheme focused on several key areas. First, he advocated having the dozen or so community organizations responsible for the outer city's twenty-four districts, together with representatives from the Temple District and the Academy District, elect delegates to form a council governing all of Morant City's public affairs. All previous guild restrictions on various industries should be lifted, and the residents should be encouraged to engage in all manner of commercial activities. Where the Commercial Alliance had placed the council under the authority of the guilds, Fatty Shi was reversing the relationship—letting the council govern all commercial activity.

Regarding the surrendered prisoners, Fatty Shi proposed that the hundred thousand or so conscripted soldiers the Commercial Alliance had raised in the southern provinces and left behind on the Mana Hill Plains could be transferred to Yungeshandra Province as development labor. Meanwhile, the hundred and ten to hundred and twenty thousand Morant City soldiers who had surrendered could have their elite elements selected to form four or five regiments, replacing the family's armed forces in garrisoning several key fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains. After all, the family's four main corps were all concentrated on the Mana Hill Plains and in Morant City, leaving the family's home territories dangerously undefended.

On the matter of public livelihood, Fatty Shi suggested starting with shipbuilding and fishing—two industries that had previously been monopolized by several major guilds, which prohibited private involvement. Even private fishing had been restricted to the waters of Hidden Gold Bay, with no permission to venture into deep-sea waters. Most of Morant City's seafood had been shipped in from the Chickadee Guild's catches in the Sunlight Sea. Now that Morant City had fallen under the Norton Family's control, the seven or eight shipyards in Hidden Gold Bay had all become spoils of war.

Fatty Shi recommended putting those shipyards and their reserve materials to use—repairing warships and building fishing vessels—and recruiting crew from among Morant City's residents. They could even sell the ships to the residents. Fishing would enrich the people's tables, while the rough hemp materials seized from warehouses could be used to hire residents to weave fishing nets. It would be a win-win.

Finally, Fatty Shi also suggested initially hiring residents to level the land and establish farms in Thomas City and Gypsy City. The three years of brutal fighting on the Mana Hill Plains had driven nearly four hundred thousand farmers from the plains to seek refuge in Morant City. Now that the fighting had subsided, they could first restore the farmland surrounding the two fortress cities closest to Morant City, setting up farms of various sizes for agricultural production and reducing the number of unemployed residents in Morant City…

All of Fatty Shi's plans were highly effective strategies, but the sole problem was the enormous financial backing required. Steward Spell furrowed his brow and raised the issue: "Where will this funding come from? The family cannot and does not have the money to spare…"

"We don't need the family's investment," Fatty Shi laughed. "Morant City is actually quite wealthy. We just haven't been able to access it."

……