Actually, twenty years ago, the state governor of Cylin had invested a large amount of public funds while also taking some funds from the central government in order to promote large-scale grape cultivation and the wine industry within the state. The Budget Bureau approved of it as an effective policy and allowed the state to operate for ten years while in a budget deficit. Given Cylin’s development since then, you had to acknowledge that the state governor’s policy had completely hit the mark.
“But from what I can tell, all His Excellency Stoga is doing is promoting hunting,” Zen said.
“Does it not benefit the region’s development to increase hunting and festivities? Is it different from encouraging the cultivation of grapes?” Mina asked.
“First of all, whether it’s a national or a local government, the most important thing is developing the economy,” Zen thoroughly explained to her. “If you have money, you can do anything. If you don’t, your hands are pretty much tied.”
Even if you wanted a military that surpassed those of foreign countries, you couldn’t expand it without enough economic strength. You couldn’t fight on an empty stomach, and you couldn’t win wars with wit and bravery alone. And without a superior military, it was hard to reign supreme in diplomacy.
When a great country was put against a small country, it could make as many demands (or threats) as it pleased. Of course there had been times when a weak country used its resourcefulness to beat a strong country, or used wit to gain the upper hand in negotiations. But those were rare cases. It was nonsense to try and build a country under the assumption that you’d get that kind of miracle.
“Therefore, out of the three pillars that make up a nation, which are the economy, military, and diplomacy, the most important thing is the economy.” However, even if you understood that, it was the nature of economic development for it to not go as planned anyway.
There were simply countless cultural and geopolitical limitations that could prevent trade, such as poor location, the absence of nearby harbors or main roads, a low population, a civilization and education that were behind the times, or the inability to cultivate local specialties for export. “That’s why there are times when, even with hard work, it’s close to impossible to successfully spur economic development in small countries and rural towns.”
“What should you do in those cases, then, Sir Zen...?” asked Mina.
“It’s good to focus on agriculture in the short term while keeping the long term in mind.” Unless the land was especially barren, for as much work as you put into farming, you’d have the results to show for it. Public order would improve if people could satisfy their hunger, the population would increase, and then their military forces would follow suit. They could also earn money if they sold the leftover crops.
“Would that not be considered economic development?”
“Indeed it would; however, it’s negligible compared to boosting trade. Money doesn’t rot, so you can save as much as you want, and you can invest that immense amount of money into an even greater business. But that doesn’t work with agriculture. Even with an abundant harvest, whatever is leftover that you can’t eat will just spoil. It’s also difficult to transport and sell farther away.”
“I see... So the state governor took that into account, realizing it’d be difficult to suddenly grow the trade business of a remote region like Cylin, and decided to focus on agriculture first?”
“You catch on quick, Lady Mina!” Like a teacher who’d just gained a brilliant student, Zen smiled broadly. He’d already known she had a sharp mind from when they were on the extermination mission for the twintail fox together; it was just that he hadn’t really seen her have an interest in academics until now.
Having listened to Zen’s explanation until this point, Mina came to her own conclusion. “In that case, in terms of economic development, the effects of hunting are even more negligible than agriculture, even when it’s thriving?”
“That’s right,” Zen said. “The more money you make and the more farmland you create all work to expand production, but game is just much too limited a resource. You can’t just increase hunters and catch more game exponentially. If you’re careless, you’ll only hunt the animals to extinction. Like the blue cranes.”
Of course Zen had no intention of degrading the hunting occupation itself. In short, this was a matter of societal structure—the balance of practitioners within a population. For example, no matter how valuable they were, a society full of only doctors was not viable.
Elysia chimed in. “Sir Stoga isn’t looking at the long term, and if Alona Prefecture isn’t expected to develop, then all that means is that even with tax reductions, Alona will continue to be in a financial deficit...”
“Indeed, Elysia. That’s why this just feels like a popularity stunt to me.”
Elysia also understood why Zen didn’t like Stoga’s administration.
No, it was more than just a personal feeling. Zen didn’t understand what the Budget Bureau could be thinking. How could the central government still not view the state of Alona’s finances as a problem?
Although I suspect no matter how much the Budget Bureau views it as an issue, His Majesty and the prime minister have the final say, and His Excellency Stoga probably won’t be punished. It really was just a suspicion, and one he was still embarrassed to voice aloud. It was entirely possible that his guess was warped by his own prejudice, so he had to both be self-aware of that and chastise himself for it.
Well then... I suppose I’ll look forward to finding out who he really is at the party. Not that I really want to. Zen remembered he was in the middle of dinner, and with a fork, he poked at his eel simmered in grape wine, which had long since gone cold.