My territory is filled with block creations.

Chapter 45 Stud! ! !

Thorne, on the other side, still didn't understand why Naro had just glanced at his room and immediately declared his allegiance and vowed to work for him.

It's fair to say that these days, you can't guess what men are thinking, you can't guess what women are thinking, you can't guess what children are thinking, and you can't guess what the elderly are thinking.

However, he was still able to respond in some way: "Then please don't use honorifics when you talk to me."

"No problem, village chief." Naro nodded with a smile, then spoke again with a businesslike and unambiguous attitude.

"Didn't you want to know about other issues concerning the territory and how to make it function better? I'll tell you now."

"There are three things you can correct now. First, you are too good to the villagers. You can be nice to the villagers, which will make you seem like a benevolent and kind leader, but you can't be nice to them materially."

Thorne frowned, looking puzzled. "Why?"

"Humans have insatiable desires for the future, and they are easily satisfied. If the people in this village owned a small 50-square-meter house, could easily eat their fill, and had friends everywhere they went, and eventually married the woman next door, had two lovely children, and let their next generation continue this happy life, do you think that's a good thing?"

Thorne's brow remained furrowed: "Isn't this a good thing?"

Naro nodded, then shook his head: "It's good for the villagers, but not for the village, and not for the rest of the world who are suffering."

"What I just mentioned has actually been fulfilled by you. If I wasn't mistaken when I looked in your work area, that huge pile of wooden plank platforms is the foundation of the modular houses you mentioned, right? Each house is 50 square meters, providing shelter from the wind and rain, and keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer."

Thorne nodded; Naro's judgment was not bad.

"That's it. Their lives, and the lives of their children, are already fulfilling. So why continue to struggle? To spend an hour or two each day tilling the fields with a hoe, and then return to the village to bask in the sun, waiting for today's bread? What's the difference between that and a stagnant pool, or a bunch of unlucky people waiting to die?"

"What's wrong with that?" Thorne still didn't understand what Naro meant.

Naro cut to the chase and put the problem squarely on the table: "So how can this village become even stronger? If this village isn't strong, how can it increase its military strength? Then conquer the other territories controlled by those old nobles and lords, and let those suffering people also enjoy your rule."

"What?" Thorne's mind went blank for a moment. "Honestly, I didn't intend to do that, nor do I have that kind of ability. Besides, do I look like the kind of crazy villain who would start a war for no reason?"

Naro shook his head: "Of course not, because your goal is not money, power, or territory; you should be aiming for something much greater."

Thorne was taken aback: "So why was this goal set for me by someone else?"

Naro quickly shook his head: "No, no, no, village chief, this goal was definitely not set by me, but by yourself."

"Otherwise, why would you want your villagers to live such a good life? Ultimately, it's not because of their place of origin, because in addition to your original villagers, we newcomers also enjoy the same benefits. All you want is for people to live better lives."

"So if your goal is to make people's lives better, why not make more people's lives better?"

"Besides this village, there are many more people who suffer under the oppression of nobles, imperial power, divine power, big merchants, slave owners, gangsters, adventurers, and foreign races."

"Why can't they also live with dignity?"

Listening to Naro's words, Thorne remained silent for a while, then shook his head with a wry smile: "When poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when prosperous, one should help others. I don't have that kind of ability."

"Well, we'll help as much as we can," Naro said bluntly, shrugging his shoulders.

Thorne decided not to dwell on the issue too much for now, perhaps because he had already figured out the answer in his mind, but didn't know how to say it.

He has never been good at speaking or expressing himself, so he chose to temporarily change the subject to avoid talking about such grand and empty topics, and instead talk about something more practical.

"So what does this have to do with the outrageous argument that villagers shouldn't be allowed to live too well?"

"Let the villagers distribute according to their work. This will create more competition and give them goals. They will know that there is a better life waiting for them. When they see villagers who are worse off than them, they will know that they must work harder and not fall behind them."

"Only then will the villagers work hard, and your territory will flourish, becoming more and more powerful, like an endless machine burning fuel and producing goods."

Naro paused for a moment, then added, "Of course, if you really feel uncomfortable, you can set a lower limit for them."

Thorne had actually agreed with Naro's words; he knew in his heart that Naro was right, but he hadn't yet figured out how to do it specifically.

Clearly, Naro also saw the subtle meaning hidden beneath Thorne's expression: "I'll help you with the specifics. Now we can talk about the second aspect."

"You crudely brought over forty slaves of unknown origin back to the village and made us free citizens, but you didn't set up the corresponding rules, laws, and punishments beforehand, which has led to this mess today."

"If Lester hadn't promptly whipped me and Maotou over 300 times to deter others, there might have already been a second or even a third mess. You need to design the legal rules and corresponding punishments as soon as possible."

At this point, fearing that Thorne might act rashly and devise some outrageous rule—punishment for minor mistakes by standing in the corner and exile for major ones—Naro added, "I can help you with that too."

"Okay, so what's the third point?" Thorne had unknowingly recovered from his low energy state and was full of energy again in just a few seconds.

Although his mind was still a jumbled mess of thoughts about what Naro had just said, he was already able to continue discussing the next matter with full energy.

"The three points I mentioned are all relatively important right now, and I think the third most important one is foreign trade. I need to know what resources our village can mobilize, what goods it can produce, and how much of them there are."

"Then I need to coordinate it, and I also need to have the right to formulate trade plans."

As soon as Naro finished speaking, a small cloth bag was thrown onto the table with a clatter.

Next, Thorne picked up a piece of paper from the desk. It was covered with all sorts of words, from thread, rope, and wool to paper, sugar, wheat, potatoes, carrots, and flour. Basically, everything the village could produce was written on it.

"These are fifteen gold coins and seventy-two silver coins. This piece of paper represents the resources that the village can currently produce on a large scale. I'll ask Alexla to invest in it later. For now, everything is under your management."

As Thorne finished speaking, the long passage only sounded like two syllables to Naro.

All in!

Without realizing it, Naro felt his clenched fist tighten slightly, and then he changed his words.

"Village chief, I've discovered something important, and there's a fourth one."

Thorne raised an eyebrow and asked, "What?"

"The fourth important thing, and also the most important thing, is that you cannot trust anyone unconditionally."