Gu Hang always refrained from oppressing the populace to the extreme, making every person on the entire planet like a crazily productive machine, wound up and unceasing.
Some Empire Worlds did just that, but it clashed with Gu Hang’s philosophy.
Mainly, there were two aspects.
First, he had somehow discerned that within his system, the monthly fixed income of each territory relied not only on the enhancement of productivity and the development of the territory but also on the happiness of the population and their level of support for him, which were important contributing factors.
Focusing solely on productivity while neglecting the improvement of the people’s living standards was unacceptable, as his monthly income in blessing points would hit a ceiling and could not grow further and might even decline.
As for the second aspect, Gu Hang’s past experiences, memories, and philosophy all led him to believe that the main source for driving a person to create greater value was incentive and enthusiasm for work.
Gu Hang preferred a governance that would stimulate motivation through such methods, creating greater value.
Violent oppression, on the other hand, would lead to reluctance to work: Why bother trying hard if life was hopeless no matter what?
Why struggle when you only get welfare rations and the minimum allowance each month?
Without prospects for advancement and no chance of happiness, wouldn’t people just scrape by, doing the bare minimum just to get through?
Even more, such immense dissatisfaction might result in passivity and strikes, with rebellion being far from impossible.
In his current state of rule, of course, Gu Hang feared no rebellion. Those who dared to rebel would all be killed, no matter how many.
But it was very costly.
Suppressing a rebellion costs money; the rebels were producers, and the time they ceased production cost money; executing the rebels meant that the value they could have created throughout their potential futures was lost, which also cost money.
Let alone large-scale, widespread rebellion—consider a single farmstead, a few hundred people staging an uprising, slaughtering a low-level official. How would one deal with that? Rebellion could not be tolerated, but the loss of even a hundred lives pricked at Gu Hang’s heart.
Especially since such losses were avoidable; rebellions born from public dissatisfaction should not even occur.
Even putting all else aside, Gu Hang simply could not do such things.
Seeing officials of his own making oppress the people and act inhumanely made his blood pressure soar instinctively.
This was not the world he wanted to establish.
Gu Hang was generally pleased with the series of reform proposals put forward by Jason Morgan and thought they were worth a trial.
There would definitely be some problems, but overall it shouldn’t be worse than the current situation.
Any issues could be resolved as they arose.
Moreover, if this approach achieved decent results when implemented in Beiqing Valley Province, he planned to apply the relevant schemes elsewhere in the Alliance as well.
Some centralized, densely populated industrial hubs, such as Weixing City and Revival City’s urban and factory institutions, did not need this approach. Workers had piece-rate assessments and a complete work system in place. Workshop leaders needed technical experts; factory directors required higher management levels.
Moreover, production and civil affairs were separate, with residential districts managed by their respective street or district governments, and factories having their own management.
But places like Beiqing Valley Province, spread out over vast lands with sparse populations, could replicate similar experiences.
Like the Eastern Provinces or the Northlands that will be reclaimed in the future.
…
After reporting to the governor, Lambert Hodgson bid farewell to the two government officials and returned to his office.
He still had many of his own matters to attend to.
Although he had already reported, the purification operation in Beiqing Valley Province had actually only progressed by 20%; many farmsteads had yet to be investigated. Plus, since the operation had already started, Lambert didn’t intend to limit it to just Beiqing Valley Province but planned to carry it out throughout the entire Alliance.
In places like the Eastern Provinces and the central three provinces where settlements were restructured locally, many of the original ruling class who had not resisted or had resisted only mildly were retained.
When they were retained as middle and lower management of the Alliance’s government, they had been warned by the Discipline Committee not to engage in any misconduct or else face serious consequences—farmstead owners in Beiqing Valley had received similar warnings.
Now, it was time to see if the warnings were effective.
However, the situations in those areas were expected to be much better than in Beiqing Valley.
The situation in Beiqing Valley was unique, with agriculture as the mainstay, extremely decentralized administrative power, and a sparse population; in other provinces, small settlements were mostly abandoned, with populations relocated; larger, centralized settlements with industry were retained, with more officials from the Alliance stationed there.
Moreover, with industries such as manufacturing, mining, and centralized agricultural production, causing disturbances wasn’t as easy as it was in the remote farmsteads.
In fact, before coming to Beiqing Valley, the Demon Hunter Squad had been on patrol in other regions. There were indeed some problems, but nothing as severe as what they found in Green Valley.
A normal anti-corruption campaign would suffice.
Overall, the Disciplinary Council’s investigation teams would have to work overtime and stay busy. Naturally, Lambert, the Chief Judge, would not be idle.