Chapter 371: Economic Cultivation Initiative
If that was all there was to Lucas’ theory, then there wouldn’t have been much difference between it and how Natasha saw the economy, but the analogy didn’t stop there.
Just like not absorbing and refining enough World Qi would lead to stagnation in cultivation, absorbing too much too quickly could also cause problems.
Having too much money and too little goods would cause something Lucas called ’inflation’, where the ’value’ of money decreased. The opposite was also an issue, where too little money and too many goods caused ’deflation’.
Neither of these problems affected the very wealthy too much, but for the commoners who made up the overwhelming majority of the population, if left unchecked, both were a disaster.
If a family of 4 suddenly saw the cost of food increase by 50% over the course of a month, there was a very real chance they would starve.
If a small merchant suddenly had to sell their wares for half their original price, they could very well go out of business from the losses.
Families going hungry and businesses failing wasn’t something out of the ordinary; it happened all the time, in fact. However, if such cases started happening on a wide scale and were left unchecked, it could cripple a nation.
Another aspect Lucas spoke at length about was how the economy was tied to a nation’s military strength.
In battle, how smoothly one’s Qi flowed, and how much of it one could release at once was a huge factor in determining a winner.
The same could be said of a country at war, where the stronger its logistics and the faster its armies could act was the key to achieving victory. The free flow of money was the key to both of these, something Lucas explained as the basis for ’total war’ economics.
There were many more topics Lucas delved into that night, such as foreign trade, encouraging technological innovation, improving manufacturing capacity, increasing worker productivity, and so on as so forth, musing about each of them with his own unique perspective.
Natasha had spent a long time digesting all this new information, but once she had, she started formulating a plan, and a complete overhaul of the kingdom’s transportation network was just the first step.
The Second Queen put together and made a series of proposals over the following days, including lowering or eliminating all city entry fees, wagon fees, and other taxes that Lucas had broadly referred to as ’trade barriers’ or ’tariffs’.
Some of these would have to remain for security reasons, such as the import or export of metals and weapons, but after a brief review of the capital alone, Natasha discovered that most of these tariffs really just hindered overall growth.
The only ones who benefited from them were the ones collecting fees and certain wealthy merchants who used trade barriers to keep the prices of their own goods high.
If she was an independent merchant, Natasha might have been a bit more sympathetic to these people, but as a Queen, her priority was the prosperity of the entire nation, not just a few of its elites, even if she happened to be one of them.
More resources for teaching basic cultivation and craftsmanship skills to commoner children, consolidation of less productive farmland to facilitate the use of mechanised equipment, expansions of city granaries to stabilize food supplies and prices, reworking the system of taxes, setting a minimum pay standard for the lowest stratum of workers, and many more reforms were stuffed into Natasha’s proposal which she simply titled the Economic Cultivation Initiative.
Naturally, when Natasha presented her plan to the Royal Council, it caused an enormous uproar.
Pushback was swift and fierce, with some of it even coming from her husband and sisters who quietly cautioned her to take a step back, but Natasha refused to compromise.
When others questioned why she was suddenly pushing such ’radical’ proposals, the Second Queen declared that it was for the long-term good of the Rockwell Kingdom and that they would all understand one day.
This explanation obviously didn’t satisfy many, and the pushback only grew stronger, especially among those who felt their vaults were about to become lighter.
With almost the entire noble class, and a majority of the merchant class resisting these reforms, at first, it looked like Natasha might just lose this fight, which would be a first for her in her tenure as Minster of Finance, but the Second Queen was both determined and relentless.
In order to push through the Initiative, which she saw as essential for the rise and prosperity of the nation, Natasha engaged in endless days of negotiations, made all kinds of backroom deals, called in every favour people owed her, used every strategic maneuver at her disposal, and when all else failed, even resorted to outright coercion to gather allies to her side.
The real deciding factor, however, was when the Second Queen stood in the Royal Council Chambers and openly declared that anyone who didn’t wish to cooperate was free to refuse. She would work with those who agreed to partner with her, and everyone else would be exempt from implementing her new policies.
The only catch was that those who refused would also forfeit any future gains that came about as a result of these reforms.
When they heard this, those who were sitting on the fence, or who openly opposed the Economic Cultivation Initiative, rejoiced, thinking they had won.
If participation in this risky plan wasn’t mandatory, why would they even consider it?
Such thoughts were especially prevalent among the traditionalists who saw Natasha’s ’interference’ in their private affairs as seriously overstepping her authority, but before anyone could voice their intent to refuse, the Second Queen followed up with a shocking announcement.
She, in her personal and royal capacity, would be investing 80% of both her own fortune and the Royal Family’s private treasury to support these reforms.
This statement caught the entire Royal Council and the gathered noble representatives completely off-guard. It also nearly gave Nathanial Rockwell a heart attack, for up until that moment, Natasha had never even mentioned this to him.
Everyone who had been scoffing or sneering at Natasha’s proposal, saying it was everything from foolishly naïve to outright treasonous, was now forced to pause and re-evaluate.
Recalling how cramped the faces of all those stubborn ministers, nobles, and representatives in the Council Chambers had been that day, Natasha couldn’t help laughing to herself.
Debate swirled after Natasha threw down the gauntlet, and many were still hesitant, but in the end, the Economic Cultivation Initiative was approved and ratified.
Of course, everyone who hadn’t already sided with the Second Queen before the meeting voted through gritted teeth and with tightly clenched fists.
Had it been anyone else, regarding any other type of proposal, issuing an ultimatum like this would not have had much effect, but when it came to profit and loss, Natasha Summers’ words carried incredible weight.