Reverse Tourism: The Vineyard Party's Humiliation
Mess with little Landor and you end up screwed.
There's a saying called reverse tourism.
And I really liked that phrase.
"Your Majesty!!!! Please show mercy!!!! The Farmer Migration Rights Act is the worst of all evil laws!!!!"
"It will destroy the western grain-producing regions responsible for our food supply!! Your Majesty!!!!!!"
The emperor's two swift stamps had brought very satisfying results.
The seven nobles ruling the western grain belt who belonged to the Vineyard Party had fire under their feet.
They rushed to the capital and complained daily in the audience hall.
Thirteen capital nobles who sided with them also raised their voices every day.
"That wicked Landor created this evil law to steal farmers from our lands and line his own pockets!! Your Majesty! You must abolish it!!!!!!"
They shouted every day, but the emperor naturally paid no attention.
"Baron Landor brought this bill himself. He would never suggest something wrong to me."
"Your Majesty!!!!! Do you intend to destroy the Empire!!!!"
"Please show mercy!!!!"
The Duke Pellings faction cried and wailed daily for the bill's repeal, but the Adran faction nobles who controlled administration, legislation, and justice did not stay silent.
"Don't talk nonsense!!!! Do you think we don't know you've been exploiting the farmers with heavy taxes all this time!!!!"
"When harvest season comes you take ninety percent of their produce, leaving farmers to starve even in good years. Do you think we don't know that?"
"Farmers must have the right to leave exploitative lords for better treatment!! Your Majesty!!! This bill guarantees that right, so please approve it!! Baron Landor's proposals are not evil laws!!!!"
"Shut your mouths!!!! Are you young pups trying to ruin the empire's foundation of agriculture!!!!"
"You lot are the ones who were ruining it!!!!"
"Your Majesty!!!! Listen to the farmers themselves!!!"
The Adran faction was thorough.
They asked me to bring farmers from the Vineyard Party nobles' lands who had fled to Portu Commercial City and Elrond territory.
It was no trouble, so I used the wyvern delivery to fetch thirty farmers to the capital at once.
The farmers looked pale from their first wyvern ride, yet they entered the audience hall with the sharpest expressions.
"Lord Landor."
They bowed to me with eyes full of respect.
I shook each of their hands and pointed them toward the emperor.
"It's simple. Just tell His Majesty exactly what happened to you."
"We will."
Grinding their teeth, the farmers began pouring out their grievances to the emperor.
I didn't need to prepare any script.
Nothing is more natural and powerful than real anger from lived experience.
"After barely harvesting in autumn, they take ninety percent. Ninety percent!!!! We have nothing left to feed our families through winter!!! We can't even dream of white bread. Even when we try to make coarse black bread they tax that too!!!!"
"They claim bread-making tax and harvest tax are different!!!!"
"That's right!! That's right!!!! Many neighbors starved to death every winter. This isn't living!! Your Majesty!!!!"
"Some even turned to banditry out of desperation!!"
The Vineyard Party's corruption poured out endlessly.
It looked like it could go on all day, so I stepped in to cut it short.
The emperor was too old to listen to long stories.
So I gave him a one-line summary.
"In short, Your Majesty, the Farmer Migration Rights Act gives farmers the minimum right to escape exploitation. It is not an evil law. It lets them move to better lands and produce more. If they don't starve, they'll farm again next year, won't they?"
"Lies!! Those are lies!!!!"
"Your Majesty! This is an evil law!!! It's nothing but the wicked scheme of that treacherous Baron Landor to empty the grain belt!! Your Majesty!!!!"
Then an astonishing sight unfolded in response to the Vineyard Party's cries.
The Adran faction nobles were supporting me.
"Baron Landor's words are correct!! Your Majesty!! This is no evil law!!!"
"It is a good law that recognizes farmers' rights!!!"
The farmers joined in.
"That's right! Your Majesty! We are happy in Lord Landor's domain!! He gives us new farmland and takes almost no taxes!! Please let us stay where we are!!!!"
"Shut your filthy farmer mouths!!!! What do you know!!!!"
"You shut your mouths!!! What have you done right to shout like that!!!!"
The hall finally exploded into chaos.
The emperor waved his hand to restore order.
"I will not repeal the act."
"Your Majesty!!!!!!"
"Didn't Baron Landor speak the truth? What is wrong with guaranteeing farmers' rights?"
The emperor blinked wearily.
Who would have thought the emperor's incompetence would ever help me?
"I will keep it as is. I will hear no more objections. Anyone who mentions this matter again will be severely punished. That is all for today!!"
With those words the emperor rose and shuffled back to the palace.
The Vineyard Party members stared at me with faces like they had bitten into dung.
I smiled brightly at them.
"If you're upset, then stop exploiting and oppressing the farmers and guarantee their interests instead!!"
Maybe because I was there, one farmer with swollen courage shouted.
The Vineyard Party members and their thirteen supporting capital nobles left with furious expressions.
And that was all they could do.
What else could they do?
The farmer's words were true.
The news from the audience hall spread to the countless farmers in Portu Commercial City and Elrond territory like the most refreshing cider.
The thirty farmers I had brought returned and began excitedly spreading the story.
"So!!! I told them every dirty thing those bastards did!!! They squealed like pigs but couldn't do anything more!! Puhahaha!!!!"
"And? What happened then?"
"Many capital nobles took our side!!! Lord Landor too! Hahaha!! Nothing has ever felt so satisfying!!!"
The rumor spread in an instant.
As it spread and twisted, it touched the hearts of many farmers and produced one clear effect.
"Lord Landor made a law for us?"
"Lord Landor stood against the Vineyard Party nobles for us?"
The already high support for me among farmers exploded upward.
"Vertical rise" didn't even begin to describe it.
The farmers had not forgotten what I had done for them.
They remembered the cheap bank loans that gave them settlement capital, the new farmland I developed so they could farm and profit, and the high wages that let their families eat.
When the rumor spread that I had fought the Vineyard Party in the capital and convinced the emperor to pass a law for farmers, their support could only rise.
"It is Lord Landor!!!!"
"Long live the baron!! May his reign last forever!!!!!!"
If I stepped outside, farmers swarmed me, bowing and showing respect until I could barely walk.
I smiled and accepted every greeting.
Becoming this popular was a little unexpected, but it wasn't bad.
And I kept the promise I made to the Adran faction officials.
I began building elementary schools on a large scale in Portu Commercial City and Elrond territory.
Using my soaring popularity, I persuaded the farmers.
"Send your children to elementary school. They will learn arithmetic, reading, history, and science. Knowledge is power. The nobles toyed with you because you couldn't read or learn. You need at least basic knowledge."
My popularity was at its peak.
The farmers, who would have pretended to die if I asked, began sending their children to school.
Some still hesitated.
"Our children need to help with the farm work.........."
"Why teach them letters and studying when they can just help on the farm?"
Some clung to tradition and refused to send their children.
But I had a powerful argument.
"Families that send their children to school will lose helping hands. I understand. Those families will receive a mule free of charge to help with farm work."
".........."
"Families that also send their daughters will receive a second mule."
The Karamba Empire to the west had little arable land, so animal husbandry was more developed there.
I could import large numbers of livestock cheaply from there.
A young child and two mules.
The choice was obvious.
Parents who had kept their children home for fear of losing labor now sent them to school immediately.
The enrollment rate was enormous.
When I contacted the Adran faction officials, they soon sent a large number of passionate young teachers to my territory.
They arrived with well-organized textbooks and curricula without me even asking.
"Learning is power!!!!!!"
They began teaching with fiery speeches.
I gave them generous treatment and salaries that would keep them well fed.
And that was not all.
I also began constructing an academy for commoners in the capital.
A considerable amount of money was spent, yet I felt no regret.
If this could win the favor of the Adran and Selene factions, it was an investment worth far more than its cost.
Besides, once most farmers could read, a new market would open.
The print market could be developed.
Newspapers and books had until now been the exclusive property of the tiny literate elite.
Only when literacy spread to many farmers would the print and book markets truly activate.
"That bastard Landor!!!!"
Quality jobs.
Amusement parks in the barony, theater troupes and circuses in Portu Commercial City.
Entertainment overflowed.
When free education was added, even more farmers flocked to Elrond territory and Portu Commercial City, setting the Vineyard Party nobles' hearts on fire.
But what could they do?
Now even legally, mass migration of farmers was no longer a problem.
The Vineyard Party's plan to use rumors against me ended in a satisfying reverse tourism.
And a few days later.
The empire's first three films opened in theaters.