On December 31, 358 in the year of Pandeh calendar, heavy snowfall.

It's getting colder.

This is the second snow of the year, and it has been going on for three days.

As far as I can remember, Castle White Hart and the Noldor Forest have never snowed so much.

Everything as far as the eye could see turned into a white patch.

His Majesty said that this is the after-effect of the forest fires, and that this winter will be colder than usual, and next summer will be hotter than usual.

I don't know much about the weather, but I know that Your Majesty is right, because Lake Ayrraclai is completely frozen.

This is the first time that Lake Airaclai has been completely frozen.

Aylaclay Lake is a snow-capped mountain lake, and the nearby mountains are indeed very cold, and the snow-capped mountains in the west are even frozen all year round.

However, due to the low lying, the difference between the lake and the surrounding ridges, and the depth of the lake, the southern side of the lake never freezes.

But this year, the entire surface of Lake Araclay was frozen solid, and the ice was three inches thick.

Of course, this may be a good thing – the fire of six months ago left Lake Aylaclay with ash and black charcoal, but now that it is frozen, it is easier to clean up.

Most of the people love cleanliness, and since Lake Araclay is the source of water for the entire forest, His Majesty Leon and Wendy feel that they should take the opportunity to clean up the lake.

The ash and black charcoal are all frozen on the ice, and as long as the ice is broken up and thrown into the forest, it is regarded as watering and fertilizing the freshly planted saplings.

Today, His Majesty has brought a lot of hands to smash the ice - the number of people is too small, and humans are really better at this kind of work like hammering on the ice.

In fact, this is also a way for His Majesty to promote the new currency - the money hired by His Majesty was loaned to Wendy from the Bank of Pande, which is regarded as the infrastructure fund of the Duchy of Noldor, and Wendy divided the new currency into the hands of several elven lords, which is regarded as letting the elven lords hire humans to do this work.

I'm certainly one of the Elven Lords as well.

Every Elven Lord, including Ardarian, could understand why His Majesty was doing this.

Increasing the frequency of communication between humans and elves through co-working and hiring each other is the best way to quickly integrate elves and humans.

It's just that Aldalian is stubborn, he has to say that this is a forced loan arranged by His Majesty to the Duchy of Noldor in order to earn interest......

This is indeed true, for His Majesty has made two larger loans to Queen Amy and Queen Alina, both of which are to be repaid to the Pender Bank with interest.

I don't know much about the workings of banks, but I can at least understand that when all three countries owe a lot of money to Pander Bank, unless all three countries perish together, Pande Bank will definitely not fail......

Of course, I also know that the more important reason why His Majesty brought people to clean up the ice of Lake Aylaclay is to find work for more people during the winter season, which is not very easy to earn.

His Majesty is now vigorously promoting the economic construction of the territory, and has put forward a five-year plan, saying that within five years, there will be no more 'poor people' in the territory.

It's certainly a great vision.

Moreover, the way His Majesty intends to use it is also great—he does not want to give money and food to help the poor, but to give every young man in the kingdom of New Pande a job to work, so that every family can earn money according to their own ability......

In my opinion, this is much more difficult than mere relief.

His Majesty said a very profound proverb, which is called "It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish".

It was probably the same as what he had said to Sir Roland.

In fact, every adult can understand His Majesty's intentions, and can also understand His Majesty's good deeds to all the people under his rule.

Of course, this kind of kindness is only for the people of the kingdom of New Pande......

As His Majesty once said to me, he is a 'selfish' person, he will only help his own people.

Thankfully, we have all become His Majesty's 'own people'.

Seriously, I've experienced poverty myself—when I was exiled by my family, I wandered around the continent penniless.

I spent about a year in the human city starving XZ, and in the wild I had to eat raw meat to survive, until I got a not-so-glamorous job in a tavern in Singal......

I've seen poverty, I've experienced hunger, and I know what it's like to spend the winter hungry in a dark corner wrapped in rags.

I know what His Majesty means by 'the poor'.

Even within the Noldor tribe, there are many people who have fallen into extreme poverty for various reasons - of course, they can at least survive in the forest, which may be what His Majesty called "a small population is actually an advantage".

And the extreme poverty of mankind in the countries of the continent...... To put it mildly, they live almost exactly the same life as the wild dogs in the alleys of Singar – rummaging through the garbage heaps for food, searching the streets for discarded cloth discarded by the rich to make clothes, wandering every place where hard work may be needed begging for an employer's choice, or risking their heads to the waistband of their trousers.

But adventures don't always succeed, and coolies aren't needed all the time, and many people have no choice but to sell their children or themselves into slave traders—just to get enough to eat.

So, probably better than most nobles, I understand the great ambition of His Majesty to 'make the land free of poverty.'

What country does not have people living in poverty?

Even the gods can't make everyone rich, right?

Your Majesty said that this was a war with the gods, and the victory or defeat of the war depended on whether we could feed and clothe everyone in the kingdom of New Pande.

Such a 'war' is probably only His Majesty dares to fight......

After hearing of His Majesty's ambitions, even Sir Roland rushed to Castle White Hart to salute His Majesty Leon, a paladin and a messenger of the goddess of justice, who would not have been loyal to any king.

But Sir Roland openly uttered a blasphemous remark: "Any god ought to bow his allegiance to such a vision!" ”

Yes, I think so too.

There is no doubt that the one who can make everyone worry about food and clothing is the real supreme god.

Because not even the creator God has ever done that......

If such a grand wish can be realized, then His Majesty will surely become the only holy king in the past and present, and even the true supreme god.

But it's hard, we all know it's hard, it's a hundred times harder than conquering the world, or more.

His Majesty has given himself and us an unprecedentedly difficult task.

And, of course, it gives us an alluring motivation like never before......

If we can help Your Majesty achieve such an ambitious goal as leaving the country free of poverty, then I believe that Queen Amy, Queen Wendy, Sir Roland, Eric...... Or myself, I'm sure I'll leave my name and biography forever in the Mithril chronicles of the Aino family—that's true eternity and immortality.

This is the last war.

We've got to win.

—From The Battlefield Diary of New Pande, by Risardiran Aino.

——

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, it was the middle of winter again.

Nothing had happened in those days, no Kavala nor Malbert had appeared in dreams or otherwise, and Leon wasn't even sure if they were still in his soul space.

The voice of Yunomia, the goddess of order, did not appear again.

But Leon didn't care about them anymore - probably the gods couldn't harass Leon anymore, and Leon knew that he probably already had a little bit of the so-called 'power of faith', although Leon still didn't know any magic ......

In fact, the magic is no longer important, Leon does not pursue these now, and he does not need to cast spells.

To be truly powerful, it is not to have any powerful magic or magic.

It's about always knowing what you want to do, what you can do, and what you ...... What should be done.

Leon now knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

Since he intends to build himself into the God of Wealth, of course, a kingdom ruled by the God of Wealth cannot be poor.

So Leon put forward a 'five-year plan', intending to make the entire kingdom of New Pande free of poverty in five years or less, so that everyone is well fed and warmly clothed.

When this plan was first proposed, everyone, including Amy, was shocked - anyone who has ever been a lord can realize how difficult it is, and no monarch in the history of Pander has ever done this.

However, Leon insisted on making this plan a national policy, and publicly posted it in every village and town, and sent 'policy interpreters' to all the castles and villages in the Lion Realm and the Noldor Realm, that is, his non-commissioned officers.

The specifics of the plan are not complicated, and Leon intends to try to make everyone who has the ability to work in the entire New Pande Kingdom have a job to do, so as to achieve the goal of keeping everyone fed and clothed.

Of course, poverty alleviation cannot rely on charity, otherwise it will only feed the lazy, which will not only fail to play a practical role, but will also lead to all kinds of messy things.

Only by allowing people to do it themselves, so that everyone can give full play to their own value, and let people create wealth with their own hands, can it be regarded as a real poverty alleviation.

And the true teachings of the God of Wealth also need to be imperceptibly transmitted to people's hearts in this way - so that people can rely on their own abilities and earn money in a way that suits them.

To do this, of course, you have to do a good job of statistics and identify specific goals – the specific problems that people are facing.

The current state of Neopander is as follows:

Leon's own direct domain, which is the direct domain of the king of the kingdom of New Pande, is actually only Changhe County, Yongdun County, and Karon Deer Castle.

Fort Shield and the village of Fletcher were only made a conquest by Leon this month, because of their dealings with the Gatu. And Karen Deer Castle let Anson take over not long ago, so it can be regarded as Leon's direct territory.

The Qicha Fortress is about to be built as the 'Fort of the God of Wealth', which is also considered a direct jurisdiction, but it has not yet started, and it is currently uninhabited, so it is not counted for the time being.

The total population of the Territories is about 250,000, of which about 200,000 are suitable for work, that is, people between the ages of 15 and 60.

About half of them are farming, and the other half are probably doing odd jobs in Long River - if nothing else, almost all of the people below the poverty line in the territory are coming to Long River.

At present, Changhe City should already be the largest city in the entire continent, with almost 100,000 people living in the city and near the city (including the construction site).

Fortunately, Leon was able to continue to get a steady stream of mutton from the Catus, and the Changhe Express was able to continuously dispatch materials from all over the country, and the grain taxes from all over the east would have been sent to Changhe City, which barely supported the consumption of the city.

But the vast majority of the inhabitants of these towns are displaced by previous wars, that is, proletarians.

The construction of the city attracted a large number of proletarians, who could earn money through the construction of the city and buy food, but their problem was housing.

The entire Long River City, if it is built in full accordance with Li Ang's idea, it will indeed be enough to support 100,000 people to live in it.

But at least 50,000 people now live in dilapidated wooden sheds they have built, and more than 30,000 live in construction sheds.

They can't afford to buy a house - in fact, even if they can, it's useless, and there are only so many houses in Long River City at the moment......

If you look at the income level, these people are generally well fed.

But in terms of overall assets, they are still far from being lifted out of poverty – there are many fewer jobs in the winter, and they don't even have a shelter from the elements.

As for those who work in agriculture, most of them should be working for lords, knights, and some manor owners, and these people are considered 'masters', so Leon doesn't need to worry too much.

- Leon's grain tax is not high, and since poverty alleviation is the overall plan of the kingdom of Neopande, the lords, the knights under the lord, and the lord of the manor living in the territory of Neopander must obey orders and cannot treat hired workers and farmers harshly.

Otherwise, without Leon stepping out, Sir Roland would have to come to the door to punish the traitor and eliminate the evil.

The Governor's problem was mainly accommodation, and Leon had a plan for this – to build a large number of townhouses, provide low-cost rental housing, and provide guaranteed loans for buying or renting houses.

Guaranteed loans, that is, as long as the people of Changhe City who have real estate or other properties provide guarantees for these proletarians, Pande Bank can lend money, without collateral, which is regarded as overdraft credit.

But this kind of loan is not large, and it can only be used to buy or rent a house - that is, you are not afraid that you will not pay it back, and the house is there anyway.

Easy-to-fix townhouses can provide more permanent jobs, low-cost renting can solve their basic problems, and secured loans can solve their biggest problems, so that they can devote themselves to work and life.

Anyway, now the businessmen have a high sense of identity with Li Ang, and Li Ang has the final say on the domestic grain price and basic price, as long as the grain price can be controlled, there is no need to worry about inflation and the like for the time being.

The Territory is still easy to solve, it just takes time.

And the Lion Realm is more troublesome.

Amy's Lion Duchy, whose current territories include Lion City, Lion Lake City, Fort Kenne, Fort Howling, Haringosburg, Fort Kelleidan, and their subordinate villages and towns, is basically the core area of the former Lion Kingdom.

At present, the total population of the Lion Principality is less than 900,000 people - no census has been conducted, and only a rough estimate is that it should be nearly half the number of people less than when Li Ang first arrived in the Lion Realm.

What is certain is that at present, the vast majority of people who are unable to make ends meet in the entire Lion Principality are in the vicinity of Lion City - at least 300,000 people.

In fact, this is the number of displaced people that Amy has resettled in the past six months. (End of chapter)