Above The Sky
Chapter 1071: 141: Mortals and Sages (10,000-character , Xiawei Territory storyline concludes, thanks to the leader Feixin Sizian!)_7

Chapter 1071: Chapter 141: Mortals and Sages (10,000-character chapter, Xiawei Territory storyline concludes, thanks to the leader Feixin Sizian!)_7

Ian patted Scott on the shoulder: “And Gu Ying is the head of the research institute, the representative of scientific research.”

“But whether it’s military or scientific research, they inherently have no ‘purpose’. They can only serve our territory and domain residents, no matter how powerful or intelligent they are, they must serve the needs of the territory and residents, and optimize themselves to solve these needs and formulate future development plans.”

“Qing Chao and Gu Ying can’t even think of this. They don’t know what ordinary people need, what they need to learn… But you’re different, Scott, you clearly understand what ordinary people need.”

“I saw how you handled the pioneering strategy in the Western Marshes. How many pioneers are paired with how many guard squads, sending Qing Chao and other knights to expel dangerous magical beasts before pioneering, the distribution of defense facilities in settlements, the reserves of physicians and drugs within the settlements, and the rules for internal management of pioneers… these designs are all very good, almost perfect.”

“Don’t you think this is a form of strength? Knowing what people need and being able to solve problems is a very impressive capability!”

“I…”

Scott opened his mouth, and in the end, he just whispered: “I just saw before how people died without understanding, so I don’t want these things to happen again…”

A flash of the scent of rhododendron crossed his mind, along with a moment of stabbing pain and sadness.

He didn’t want it to happen a second time.

“Indeed, and you have empathy.” Ian smiled: “True empathy that will act and strive to change, not just glance away after a sting—this too is a rare ability.”

“The third advantage—you are one of the very few who can understand what society means.”

Scott sat up.

Honestly, if not for Ian, he himself wouldn’t have known he was so exceptional.

He was clearly just an ordinary person… how could he have so many advantages?

“I noticed that recently, you decided to slow down resource exports and increase the production of various goods, while diverting a significant portion of funds to education.”

Ian looked earnestly at Scott, calmly saying: “At that time, I directly agreed to your decision, but now, I want to hear the reason.”

“…Because demand has limits.”

Scott pondered silently for a moment before slowly speaking: “Whether it’s the mountain people’s demand for iron tools from the Xiawei Territory, or various alchemical products, or the western front’s need for alchemy plating agents and various prismatic, magnetic storm weapons, all are limited—as long as the war continues, orders won’t be scarce.”

“But conversely, will there still be orders when the war ends? Will they still flow in continuously?”

“Expanding production lines certainly allows us to make a lot of money immediately and quickly absorbs unemployed immigrants within the territory. They will quickly learn how to make these products after basic education, and the territory can quickly recover substantial funds.”

At this point, Scott took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said: “But my former neighbor was a gatherer… I know that one year the gatherers harvested all the herbs in the mountains that were easy to pick, without leaving even a single seed… as a result, the following year, herbs became extremely scarce, simply unattainable.”

“That year was a disaster, many went bankrupt, many needed others’ help… the whole city was crying.”

“So I understood that even with endless herbs, some seeds have to be left, so you can harvest one crop this year and continue next year.”

“What is the significance of making a quick buck for us? With agricultural buildings and Radiance Grass, stepping out from the shadow of a food shortage, the territory is certainly not short of money.”

“After the war, orders will disappear, blindly expanding production is like the gatherers not leaving seeds—while education is the process of cultivating seeds, making next year’s herbs even better quality.”

“Sir, this is what I think… now we are leaders, not ordinary people anymore, so we need to focus on the future and the future employment of our domain residents… and this requires solving issues of education, healthcare, transportation, fertility, and housing.”

“The last two are relatively simple in the Xiawei Territory, there’s enough land, and everyone is willing to have children.”

“In terms of transportation, the mountain people need to cooperate with the road building, but it’s not a big problem, healthcare can also be addressed with alchemical potions, so fundamentally it’s education.”

“Our goal is not to earn more profit, that’s a merchant’s mindset, we are rulers, what we need to ensure is that the economic cycle can continue, then leverage a good economic cycle to build the foundation, increase the number of educated people, and raise the average quality of the domain’s populace.”

“That’s the reason I think it’s necessary to slow down production expansion and invest funds into education.”

Clap, clap, clap.

Ian applauded.

As the Iron Folk’s amber eyes almost lit up and his face flushed like red-hot iron, the young man chuckled softly: “Do you think Qing Chao and Gu Ying can reach this level of thinking?”

“Impossible!”

Ian shook his head exaggeratedly, sighing: “Qing Chao has no economic mindset at all, and Gu Ying only asks me for funds—Old Farrel can manage personnel, but he doesn’t have the mindset of ‘education first’, and Roland, being an engineer, cares little for humans and is more concerned about his engineering complex.”