When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#631 - Road and Bridge Bonds and Voluntary Road Construction

The so-called road and bridge bonds were established by Her Excellency Catherine at this fiscal meeting.

In Thousand River Valley, where land-use rights were stripped by Horn, nobles desperately needed a new and stable source of income to maintain their dignity.

Thus, they set their sights on the current bonds, issued by the state, with the money ultimately coming from their territories.

Buying bonds was equivalent to buying land; they were still nobles, different from those mud-legged commoners.

Many nobles consoled themselves in this way, and Sylvis similarly turned his attention to the bonds.

He particularly favored the newly issued road and bridge bonds, which had a full 6% interest rate.

Although this rate was not as high as industrial bonds, the problem was that industry and commerce were unstable. Sylvis wanted decades of consistent income.

Industry and commerce were difficult to navigate. How many century-old businesses were there these years? How many remained after the winnowing? A fire could lead to massive losses. Only gamblers who didn't value their lives bought industrial bonds.

Road and bridge bonds, on the other hand, were guaranteed by tariffs. Regardless of how well your workshop was doing, trade was always necessary.

However, Sylvis feared that the Road and Bridge Bureau would also manage infrastructure construction, even including infrastructure in rural areas.

Anyone who understood knew how deep the secrets were!

Sylvis's family had once tried to build an aqueduct. He believed he was good enough to his people, not only providing food and lodging but also a subsidy of 3 dinars per week.

Even so, he couldn't stop the people from being lazy and running away. That aqueduct took ten years to build.

According to the information he received, the Road and Bridge Bureau seemed to be cooperating with local hundred-household districts to have the farmers build it themselves.

With supervisors, it still took ten years. Without supervisors, what would happen?

Building roads and bridges was fine, after all, it would speed up the flow of goods, as explained in the Truth Gazette.

But if their money was freely distributed to the farmers, and without supervisors, it would be a bottomless pit.

Yet, Sylvis was reluctant to give up on the road and bridge bonds, which was why he couldn't help but ask Herman for information.

Although he was a county magistrate, he was not as well-informed as Herman, who was often in the central government.

This time, Herman finally looked up: "I was wondering why you've been coming to chat with me every day these past few days. So, that's what it was for?"

Sylvis smiled sheepishly, scratching his head.

"Just buy it with confidence, and you won't say a word." Herman turned to the second page, shaking the newspaper. "This money will be used to build large-scale agricultural facilities, including small canals, rural roads, etc., to facilitate the transportation and sale of agricultural products.

The water conservancy facilities in those villages and hundred-household districts will, at most, be given some tools and building materials and let them build it themselves."

"Build it themselves?" Sylvis repeated. "Are you saying that they will bring their own food, don't need wages, and can build the roads and irrigation canals themselves?"

Herman tapped the Truth Gazette in his hand: "The second page has an article about the impact of perpetual lease rights, the second paragraph."

Sylvis quickly put down his teacup, picked up the Truth Gazette, and began to read. Beneath the article, *From a Thousand Miles Away, His Holy Grandson Shot Prince Condé's Warhorse to Death with a Pebble*, Sylvis quickly found this commentary, but after reading it once, he still didn't understand and could only look to Herman for help.

Herman had to stop reading the newspaper again, saying helplessly: "With perpetual lease rights, the more you plant, the more you harvest. With hundred-household districts, there is more free time to do side jobs.

If there are irrigation canals, then the harvest from the fields will be greater. If the roads are well-built, then more merchants will come to process materials.

Perhaps they don't have the money to hire people to do it, but with reduced rent and taxes, they have some stored grain themselves.

There may not be people willing to pay, but the willingness to contribute time and effort to repair water conservancy and roads is not only there but is also astonishingly high."

Sylvis suddenly understood. Taking advantage of Herman's interest in talking, he pressed on: "There's one last thing, that is, if the roads are repaired, and you're not allowed to set up checkpoints to collect money, then weren't the roads built for nothing?"

"Of course not." Herman explained succinctly, "The money for repairing roads is deducted from tariffs. The better the roads, the more merchants there are, the more tariffs there are, and you'll definitely get your money back."

"...Then I'm relieved." Sylvis, who had been worried for a month, finally let go. He prepared 200 gold pounds to fire all his bullets and go all-in on road and bridge bonds.

Only then could he relax and unfold the newspaper to read.

Horn's movable type printing technology was still not mature enough. Although it was much better than in the early stages, the printing quality was still too poor compared to those exquisite relief prints.

After excitedly reading the Saint's Seat Church jokes in the poetry and jokes section, Sylvis put down the newspaper, unable to close his mouth from laughing.

"How is it?" Herman had finished reading by now. He personally picked up the tin pot and poured Sylvis a cup of black tea. "Do you think people can voluntarily be slaves?"

"Huh?"

"Don't just read the announcements and poetry. At least read the science popularization and commentary sections." Looking at Sylvis's turbid eyes, Herman said helplessly, "You have heavy responsibilities now. You can't not study more."

"The affairs in the county are busy. I don't have time to read." Sylvis felt dizzy as soon as he saw those dense small characters.

Herman snorted dismissively: "Did I want you to take a doctorate in theology? How busy can you be, compared to me?"

Coughing to cover up his embarrassment, Sylvis took a sip of black tea to refresh himself and began to carefully read the article that Herman had reminded him to read.

The title was *On the Mason Parish Rebellion - Does the Holy Father Allow People to Voluntarily Become Slaves?*, and the author was conspicuously written as *Double-Wheeled Man*.

"Who would be called that name?"

"That's a pen name. It should be an old theologian who has to sit in a wheelchair after old age, so he uses this pen name to mock himself."

As soon as Sylvis heard that it was written by an old theologian, he remembered his experience of studying scriptures with the archbishop at the church school, and his eyelids began to droop before he even looked at it.

"Don't sleep. How can you fall asleep after drinking black tea? This article is written very simply. Even you can understand it."

Sylvis had to open his eyes wide and carefully read the article.

It must be said that Herman was right. Although this article belonged to the theology section, it was all written in colloquial language, mostly short sentences, without complex structures or allusions, and was easy to read.

The article began by describing the rebellion in the Mason area from a first-person perspective, where a group of farmers misunderstood the meaning of His Holy Grandson and were unwilling to sign the perpetual lease rights that granted them freedom.

Then, the article used this as a starting point to explain to "dear readers" why the Holy Father gave people freedom, because the Holy Father created people in his own image.

When God created mankind, he endowed people with reason and free will. This free will enables people to choose good and evil and to know God through reason.

Therefore, people are the spirit of all things and should be distinguished from ordinary animals. Freedom is a gift from God and a reflection of his image.

After discussing the theological meaning and practical significance of why people should have freedom, this "Double-Wheeled Man" asked all readers a small question:

In that case, can the Holy Father allow people to voluntarily become slaves? Or, can people freely give up freedom?

At the end of the article, the author invited everyone who saw this newspaper to send a letter if they had any insights on this.

If the insights were beneficial or thought-provoking, they could be published in this Truth Gazette.

Once published in the newspaper, they could receive a reward of a whole 1 gold pound!