Chapter 1125: Lending

"Thousands of years ahead? I'm afraid I can't guess that, why don't you tell me about it yourself?"

Once the topic turned to his own ingenious ideas, Yu became a bit excited: "This one of mine, it didn't originally have a good name, but the King said it could be called 'lending'. It means that as long as we feel a young person has the ability to earn enough through their own efforts in the coming years to pay for this house, we can let them live in the house first, and then, by deducting from their wages or raising their tax standards, have them pay the required portion of grain from their monthly or annual income."

Whenever they have paid off the owed grain, that is when their normal wage payments are restored, or when the tax on their farmland is restored to the normal level; only then does the house truly belong to them.

Before they have paid it off, this house still belongs to the Lema City government. Then, to avoid everyone doing this and increasing our fiscal pressure, something called interest was added: every three years, an extra month's worth of the repayment amount is collected; six years means an extra sixty days, which is actually good enough.

For a hundred-square-meter house like this, letting them pay off the grain in six years is very easy. Three years would be a bit stressful, after all, young people just starting out have a hard time earning grain, but six years makes it much easier.

If they don't have the ability, like those tenant farmers, they don't qualify for this installment plan because they don't have stable jobs or stable sources of grain. It's impossible to deduct all the grain from their family's stores on the day the grain is due; whether to deduct more or less depends on how much grain their family has in storage. In any case, it must be ensured that their family can survive."

Ayuduo's mouth hung wide open as she listened, and she was even a bit unable to understand what Yu was saying. After reacting for a few seconds, Changle couldn't help but exclaim: "Oh my, Yu, this idea of yours is indeed too extraordinary. A normal person wouldn't be able to think of such a method. You are truly worthy of being Father's former helper. You should be the one to be City Lord; if I were to do it, I certainly wouldn't be as good as you."

Yu also laughed out loud: "Hey, this is only because I've stayed by the King's side for a long time that I was able to learn such methods. If I were still a savage, I'm afraid I wouldn't even know which grass is edible and which is not."

Changle pointed to the opposite side of the residential area and said: "Then this, I see, must be the industrial area. Such houses, and those chimneys that have been built, and the dust is still so thick over there—is there major construction going on?"

"Yes, that is the industrial area, just a road away from the residential area. However, the King warned me that in between, it must be built into a green belt with trees. And look, hasn't the soil there been dug up to be so loose?"

"The plan is to wait until next year, when the season is right, to directly transplant large trees over and fill the place up. I've already found a few types of good trees, and by planting them to a depth of about a hundred meters, the industrial area and the residential area can be completely separated."

"My original plan was to just not have this, just a road to divide them. The current re-planning is to build several vertical roads in the middle of this forest, and to use public ox-carts during commuting hours."

"This public ox-cart is also an idea of mine. The initial plan was already reviewed by the King, and the names were all chosen by him. During the daily commuting hours, the ox-carts move back and forth between the residential area and this industrial area, which can save a lot of walking time, so it doesn't matter even if the place where they work in the factory is a bit far."

"This also requires paying grain annually. The amount is not much, but with so many people, as long as there are enough people, it will be possible to support the drivers and the feed for the oxen. After calculating, there will still be a lot of surplus."

"The surplus part will be arranged for other places that are not as cost-effective, opening up public ox-carts to help those in need travel back and forth between their workplaces and their homes, such as the farmland areas on several sides."

Yu paused for a moment and continued: "This concentrated residential area is mainly for workers and officials to live in. The residences of the farmers are more scattered, located in all directions, mainly in the farmland areas, living next to their own fields. This way, it will be better and more convenient for them to farm."

"This is a drawback of our Huaxia City. In our Huaxia City, farmers have to walk too much to farm, but they are unwilling to give up their residences in the city center to live in the farmland areas. This is a problem that the King urgently needs to solve in the future. He might solve it at the root, which is to have no more farmland in Huaxia City, directly letting the farmers move out of the city and live next to the farmland."

Changle nodded slightly to show affirmation: "Everything you said is correct. I have never thought about these things myself before. Indeed, the way of looking at problems is different."

"Sigh, this is also a difficult problem. To farm for grain, one has to give up living in the city. At the same time, the children's schooling, medical care, and their safety will be threatened."

"But the income from farming is the highest. The current farmers are all especially wealthy. How should this problem be solved when the time comes?"

"You still say you have no experience and don't understand these things? Didn't you just ask about the core of the matter right away?"

"This, the King has also talked to me about it. This is something Huaxia must experience in the future, and it is also necessary for stabilizing Huaxia's rule: the village and town model. A village is smaller than a town, with fewer people, completely agricultural, and without industry."

"In the village, a Village School is opened, and then there is a village doctor; that's it. The King hasn't talked about the governance model, but there must be his own way. Above the village is the town, which has some basic industry, can also exchange for some industrial products, and has slightly better education and medical care."

"The future Huaxia will surely have countless small villages distributed across the territory. After there are more villages, a relatively large village will develop into a town. Everything should be natural; the current Lema City already has such a trend."

"By then, the land in various regions of Huaxia will be able to be developed, and everyone's survival will not be so crowded, it's just that the conditions might be far inferior to those in Huaxia City."

"Villages, towns, and cities should all appear through natural gathering, rather than being artificially built like this. This is unreasonable. I didn't understand before, but now that I have taken over Lema City, I have gradually come to understand."