Chapter 1651: The Intent of the Cooperative: The Classical Spellcaster

Having arrived at the Cooperative so quickly, Xia Duo noticed that the copy of the "Agricultural Book" on the table had quite a few pages folded; if he combined the book itself with a trace of his memory, he could even identify exactly which pages had been folded.

But at this moment, Master Eriwen's words made Xia Duo realize immediately that the Master might not be ignorant of intensive cultivation, nor was he unaware of how to deal with natural disasters or other such problems.

Perhaps this was merely a pretext to open the conversation, or perhaps he wanted to test the caliber of the author first; what the other party truly wanted to hear about might still be the Cooperative!

While Xia Duo was inwardly surprised, his mind raced, and with an unchanging expression, he asked the Master, "I wonder what aspect of the Cooperative the Master wishes to learn about?"

In the "Agricultural Book," he had already clarified the organizational structure of the Cooperative; if it were merely a question of the Cooperative's details, reading the book would suffice.

"Let's start with why you thought of this organizational method for the Cooperative. You must know that private land ownership has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts. By creating such a Cooperative now, are you trying to reclaim land in disguise through this method?"

Master Eriwen's question was very insightful; he had seen the core of this organizational method almost at a glance.

Admittedly, if one were to establish such a Cooperative in current Netheril, even as farmers providing the means of production, they might not necessarily enjoy all the benefits after the Cooperative was established.

After all, there was still a lord watching over them from above, and in Xia Duo's "Agricultural Book," this organizational method was originally taught to lords so they could organize farmers into Cooperatives.

The process and the result would certainly not be as ideal as Xia Duo had envisioned.

If a lord were to use the form of a Cooperative to reclaim land that had already been enfeoffed or sold, turning formerly land-owning farmers into landless serfs, Xia Duo would not be surprised at all.

So, how should he answer this question?

Master Eriwen might genuinely care about ordinary people, or he might be like most other lords—though born as an ordinary person, he believed he was no longer a member of that group.

Their care and protection might stem more from a classical sense of lordly duty, or it might simply be a form of hypocrisy used to manifest benevolence.

But since such behavior could still be called "kindness," even if it were only hypocritical, it showed that in the perception of most people—or strictly speaking, in the perception of most Spellcasters—they were still members of the ordinary people.

A few of those in power had ultimately failed to break through that layer of window paper, or rather, they had not yet broken through it to this day.

Thinking this, Xia Duo spoke slowly: "Actually, the question the Master asks is, in my view, a bit too distant.

"For me, I am more concerned with whether ordinary people can have enough of a harvest to cope with famine under the current abnormal climate, especially when it is unknown how long this abnormal climate will last.

"The greatest purpose of the Cooperative organizational method I have proposed is not actually to increase crop yields, but to allow many farmers to unite and jointly bear the risks of famine.

"The abnormal climate cannot cause all land to have a sharp decline in production at the same time; there will always be land that maintains a certain yield even under the abnormal climate. The Cooperative uses the output from this portion of high-yield land to cover the output of the land that has suffered a decline."

Of course, in Xia Duo's plan, this was only the first layer of intent; he truly needed to use this method to help more ordinary people successfully survive the natural disaster.

But beyond this layer, he hoped to use this method to improve agricultural production efficiency and generate more surplus population.

And this portion of the surplus population, besides being able to shift to other more profitable industries under the planning of the local lord, could also be recruited by Xia Duo himself.

After all, Netheril had never lacked lords who did not treat their subjects as human beings; once they discovered that the population required for the normal operation of their Territory had decreased, they would always find ways to reduce these burdens that they considered completely unnecessary.

Furthermore, once industries other than agriculture flourished, it might give birth to a new market capable of consuming mass-produced Magic Items.

The Tower of Time's current mass-produced Magic Items were mainly sold to Spellcasters; if the purchasing group were expanded to the broader population of ordinary people, it would undoubtedly greatly reduce the time required for Xia Duo's initial resource accumulation.

The key to this, to a large extent, was to find a way to make wealth flow from Spellcasters to ordinary people.

Relying solely on agriculture, it was basically impossible to achieve; after all, Spellcasters had the ability to build an Arcane Garden, and even if they did not eat a single bite of grain grown by ordinary people, they would not starve.

Only the output of industries other than agriculture—such as fine clothing, gourmet food, and art, which Spellcasters were unwilling to engage in directly—could allow Spellcasters to consume, thereby completing the transfer of wealth.

Of course, if it were in Daxia Territory, Xia Duo would also transfer wealth downward in the name of the official authority, such as by building new public facilities, providing compulsory education, increasing job opportunities, and raising the basic wage.

However, these matters involving the future planning of Daxia Territory did not need to be explained to Master Eriwen here.

In Xia Duo's view, mentioning only "risk sharing" was enough to deal with Master Eriwen, and the actual situation was much as he had thought.

Upon hearing this explanation, Master Eriwen could not help but exclaim in admiration, "You are truly a generous and benevolent lord; in you, I see the shadow of my former companions."

In the era when Eriwen was young, becoming a Spellcaster would certainly be sought after by everyone, but those Spellcasters rarely gained a more transcendent status because of it; instead, it added extra responsibilities.

The Spellcasters of that time might work alongside ordinary people during the day, and at night, they would still have to serve as night watchmen.

To them, Magic was merely a novel gadget derived from the Elves, or simply a tool that could be used for pioneering.

Although there was the reason that Elven Magic was not suitable for humans, it at least showed that most Spellcasters today had forgotten their original intentions and treated Magic as capital to be superior to others.

Thinking of this, Eriwen felt a slight sadness in his heart, because due to his long lifespan, he had personally watched the Netheril Magic System be established and perfected bit by bit, and the power of Magic continuously grow.

It was just that in this process, the Spellcasters had become somewhat lost, no longer as simple and honest as they were back then.

Looking at such an Empire, Eriwen had an unusually strong premonition in his heart: if it continued to develop like this, the Spellcasters of Netheril might completely draw a line between themselves and ordinary people, or even develop into two completely different races!

If he could still live until that time, perhaps it would be better to die at this moment, because such a Netheril would no longer be his country!

Just then, Eriwen suddenly asked an off-topic question:

"Lord Xia Duo, why are you so concerned about the survival of ordinary people?"