Doomsday Code

Chapter 536 The Poor Get Poorer

As a ruler, he must not have survivor bias. He must not only see the good side and think that the people he rules are living in peace and contentment.

He has already experienced the ultimate in wealth and enjoyment, and Chen Cheng does not expect him to give up and become like the people here, but he needs to know that in the shadow of peace and comfort, there is such a group of people.

They are sick, poor and ignorant not because they don’t work hard enough, but because this society has never given them a chance to work hard.

When Huidun walked out of the shack area, his face was full of gloom.

He saw and heard a lot here.

The vast majority of people here are refugees who have lost their land and are fleeing famine, but they are still lucky enough to be able to sneak into the city and find a job to make a living.

And more people were either sold as slaves by the lords or starved to death.

And they all live in the rural towns under the jurisdiction of the royal capital. Their lives are like this, not to mention other places far away from the royal capital.

Chen Cheng looked at Huidun's expression, stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder and said:

"I'm not here to disgust you, I just want to bring you here to see that you must not only see the good side."

"And do you think this situation only exists in these acropolises? In fact, there are such places in the capital as well. I brought you here just to get away from other people's eyes and ears so that you can see and hear it for yourself."

Huidun suppressed his emotions at this time, and said in a trembling voice:

"I want to kill someone."

However, Chen Cheng shook his head.

"You want to kill someone, and I want to kill someone too, but you can't do it."

“You must remember that you are now the crown prince, the future heir to the kingdom, and everything you do must be justified.

"And just killing them is useless. Only reform, setting a red line that cannot be crossed and telling them that anyone who crosses it will die, can prevent such things from happening."

Huidun was silent for a long time before he suppressed the murderous intent in his heart.

At this time, Chen Cheng also said goodbye to the children, and then left with Huidun.

On the way back, Chen Cheng looked at the rice fields that were almost ripe and pointed at them and said:

"Have you read the grain production data under the jurisdiction of the capital over the past ten years?"

Huidun had a good memory and quickly memorized the data he saw.

"Every autumn harvest, statisticians would go down to count the crops. The entire capital has over 10 million acres of farmland under its jurisdiction.

Because of the magicians and the annual wind and rain regulation tasks assigned to the Adventurer's Guild by the Ministry of Agriculture, there has never been a poor harvest, and the annual grain output is over billions of kilograms."

When Chen Cheng heard this data, he couldn't help but laugh and said:

"Billions of catties! Do you know that the annual food ration for each adult is only about 200 catties? Do you know how many people billions of catties can feed? That's tens of millions of people."

Then Chen Cheng asked again:

"Then what is the population of the capital?"

These population and land data have always been the most important data for the ruling class, so Huidun could tell the numbers without hesitation.

"The total population of the royal capital and its affiliated citadels is approximately eight million."

"Eight million. Even if there are cultivators here and they eat more than ordinary people, with billions of kilograms of food produced, it's impossible for them to starve to death."

Huidun fell silent upon hearing this.

Chen Cheng continued:

"This grain-producing land is worth over ten million, but how much of this land belongs to the nobility and how much belongs to the common people?"

Although there is no rule in this world that noble officials do not have to pay taxes, the common people in this world are all personally dependent on the nobles they rule.

The nobles had a high degree of autonomy over their territories, which meant that many of the taxes they paid were passed on to the common people in the territories.

It was just like the village made up of laid-off veterans that Chen Cheng and his team encountered when they came here before.

The lord could send people down on various pretexts to steal their food to supplement his own income, and as the subjects of the lord, they could only endure it silently.

Because once they rebel, the lords of the surrounding territories will unite and quickly suppress them.

By then, they wouldn't even have the chance to be slaves.

Huidun remained silent all the way and followed Chen Cheng back to the Prince's Mansion.

The sun was setting. When the steward of the mansion saw Huidun and the others return, he immediately came forward to report:

"Your Highness, the Prime Minister has been here for a long time. He has something to see Your Highness."

Huidun was not in a very good mood at this time. He just replied lightly and then returned to his bedroom.

When Holmes saw Huidun, he saw Huidun with a haggard and listless face.

"Why does Your Highness look so haggard?"

Seeing this, Holmes asked with concern.

Huidun sighed heavily, and then said:

"Do you think I can be a good king?"

When Holmes heard this, he was immediately frightened. His life and property now depended on Huidun, and he absolutely did not want Huidun to have any problems.

"Your Highness, if you have any troubles, please tell me. Perhaps I can give you some advice."

Huidun did not hide it and told Holmes everything he saw and heard when Chen Cheng took him out today.

Holmes naturally knew about these things, but he didn't expect those guys to be so cruel.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Don't forget that I am working to change all of this. One day, all these filthy bastards will be cleared away.

As for the poor disaster relief efforts, I will order an investigation upon my return, and I will make sure to give an explanation to the victims."

Holmes was not playing Tai Chi. The only crime that could be used to punish those guys was the crime of embezzling disaster relief food and causing the deaths of civilians.

As for other things such as tax levying, making up excuses, etc., these are not considered crimes.

Seeing Huidun so haggard, Holmes felt that the burden on him was even heavier.

Then he took out a set of regulations for the selection and assessment of officials and wanted to show it to Huidun.

If there is no problem, he will submit it to Moss XIII, and then start the first civil service examination in the world's history in the early spring of next year.

Huidun also knew that it was useless to complain about himself here. Only by cheering up and reforming the current problems could he change all this.

He took the regulations from Holmes and flipped through them briefly. They covered all aspects of the civil service examination.

And Holmes did not rush him. After putting his things down, he stood up and said goodbye and left.

This time when he returns, he will specifically supervise the case of the embezzlement of disaster relief grain.

This thief dared to devour the disaster relief food in the royal capital, and he didn't even notice it. The identity and background of the person behind this is definitely not simple.