Chapter 3065: Nobles and Merchants (9)

In theory.

There aren't few World Stones.

But among commoners, the number isn't large.

Most of the World Stones the nobles distribute also go to subordinate families.

Zhao Chi hadn't understood this before.

Only now is he understanding it more and more.

Shangguan Ting said, "After being nobles for a long time, the problems they consider are different from ours. They'd rather see the city destroyed than give commoners more World Stones. After all, in their eyes, we're no different from slaves — all of us are lowly people."

Fuyao asked in confusion, "But if the city is destroyed, won't the nobles die too?"

Shangguan Ting laughed and said, "How could they? Those nobles possess vast wealth and tremendous power. They can even go beyond the walls — how could they die here?"

Fuyao said in astonishment, "They… would go to other cities?"

Shangguan Ting nodded, "Exactly. If Snow Plain City is destroyed, so be it — they don't care. Whether commoners live or die, they don't care either. What they care about is being able to keep ruling and keep living carefree."

Zhuang Ya asked, "But if all the commoners die, who do they rule over?"

Shangguan Ting said, "Don't forget — they have World Stones. There are plenty of people who want World Stones. When the time comes, they can just swap in a new batch of people to rule."

Gu Qing said, "Then why do they still bother repairing the World Wall and maintaining the cracks to keep them from spreading? They could just leave."

Shangguan Ting explained, "After all, this is the smallest cost. Sending people to maintain things lets them keep ruling in Snow Plain City, so of course they're willing to do it. Although they could rule somewhere else, that would consume financial and material resources — the cost would be considerably greater."

Li Ruanyu said, "Besides, switching cities isn't all that easy. Every city has its own local nobles, and they're very wary of outsiders."

Shangguan Ting said, "Actually there's another aspect — it's not quite appropriate to say it outright, but… it's also the truth. Zhao Chi, don't take it against me just because I say something like this."

"Don't worry, go ahead and say it."

Shangguan Ting nodded and said:

"Giving World Stones to ordinary people actually doesn't accomplish much — it's even a bit of a waste.

"Ordinary people simply can't develop. Normally, in the first year after an ordinary person becomes a lord, having 1,500 subjects left would already be pretty good.

"Among those 1,500 subjects, there are roughly 300 soldiers, around tier 3, with the elites reaching tier 4.

"In the second year, with rising experience and strength, they can end up with 4,000 subjects and around 1,000 soldiers. There will be a small number of elite tier-6 soldiers, but most soldiers will be around tier 4.

"In the third year, some of the top ones might have a chance to be promoted to county-level lord, but only a weak county-level one. The vast majority of lords will still only be at town level.

"Do you think a lord like that is of any use?

"A lord of three years is only at this level — how much of the magical beasts' pressure can they share?

"Not much at all.

"And these are lords who managed to survive three years. Plenty of lords can't even last three years — either dying outright or having their territory destroyed.

"Giving World Stones to them is, in the nobles' eyes, pure waste.

"Better to sell them and trade for useful items to strengthen the nobles' own power.

"That's the nobles' general thinking."

Zhao Chi fell briefly silent.

He instinctively didn't want to admit it.

But what Shangguan Ting said was the truth.

Without a family's help, without an inherited foundation, an ordinary person who becomes a lord really does develop extremely, extremely slowly.

A normal human race can only replenish 5 people per day — 1,800 a year.

That's the maximum.

A lord can't avoid fighting.

It's an obligation.

Unless they're a purely production-type lord within a family — but that's because other members of the family help share the fighting duties.

Commoners have no one to share it with, so they can only fight themselves.