Chapter 499

The noble of the Hilin Kingdom shook his head: "Don't mention it—recently, the Hutton Kingdom is suffering famine, and all the Divine Beans have been sent to support Hutton Kingdom."

"What? Then when will Divine Beans be available again?"

The noble of the Hunhe Principality looked astonished, already calculating in his mind how long his family's grain reserves could last.

The noble of the Hilin Kingdom said: "Probably one to two weeks. By the way, our sorghum liquor is selling like crazy in the Eternal Night Empire—the royal family has raised the purchase price to ten silver coins per jin, taking as much as we can supply. Has your sorghum ripened yet?"

"Ten… ten silver coins per jin?"

The noble of the Hunhe Principality wore an incredulous expression, stars nearly sparkling in his eyes.

"Some have ripened—come on, let's go, I'll show you, you'll be satisfied for sure."

The noble enthusiastically dragged the noble of the Hilin Kingdom away, no longer thinking about his grain reserves.

The Hilin Kingdom noble said two weeks—so two weeks it would be; his family's grain reserves could last not just two weeks, but two months.

The sorghum was quickly harvested, bundled, and loaded into the Hilin Kingdom noble's caravan—packed to the brim.

"Next time you come, there'll be even more sorghum!"

After bidding farewell to the other noble, the Hunhe Principality noble returned home, counting the gold coins in his bags, his face beaming.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry—plant more sorghum! Everyone's wages are doubled, move faster!"

The Hunhe Principality noble told the common laborers.

Empowered by money, the commoners threw themselves into their work with full vigor!

That day, every noble in the Hunhe Principality was in an uproar.

Ten silver coins per jin!

At this purchase price, even a minor noble could earn tens of thousands of gold coins a year!

Their income had quintupled!

The commoners who owned land were also in an uproar!

But the five churches had simultaneously sensed a crisis.

The five churches immediately dispatched large numbers of church personnel to every noble's territory, demanding these nobles replant grain crops.

"Plant grain? Why plant grain? Worried the Hilin Kingdom will invade? Pfft—what does it matter to me if they invade? Hilin Kingdom rule might even be better—I heard their commoners each own ten mu of land and pay only one-tenth in taxes."

A commoner who owned three mu of land scoffed.

And the nobles themselves had rarely planted grain to begin with.

What nonsense—just now they'd sold a huge batch of sorghum and made a fortune; now to cut down half-grown sorghum to plant grain? That's fighting against money itself!

Throughout the Hunhe Principality, due to the five gods and five churches, the royal house's control was weak—over half the land was held by nobles; the churches controlled less than twenty percent, and the royal house held only about ten percent.

But now the nobles, who held most of the land, refused to replant grain, leaving the churches helpless.

Even if they issued compulsory orders, the nobles were seasoned veterans—policy from above, countermeasures below; they used every trick, every tactic to drag things out until you were utterly exhausted.

For example, as soon as church envoys arrived, a noble would feign illness, claiming he was too sick to manage his domain.

Another noble, upon seeing church officials, would expel all his laborers, saying the nearby peasants hated him and refused to work for him.

In short, every excuse under the sun was used to delay.

The church's high leadership was frantic, yet had no way to deal with these nobles.

Of course, a few nobles did cooperate—but they were only a tiny minority.

Without the cooperation of the nobles who controlled the vast majority of the land, the churches could only burn their bridges—forcing crop growth with vast numbers of mages on their own lands, while wringing their hands in despair.