"Deprive the nobles of their privileges, break the wheel of history, and establish a Kingdom without oppression?"
Daenerys answered with slight hesitation. This was the goal she had dreamed of day and night, but even she understood it was a general aim, not a specific policy.
"Very good." Seeing the Queen's expression, Aegor knew she had realized the problem, but it did not matter. "Your thinking is clear. Let me analyze it. You believe the suffering of the common people comes from exploitation and persecution by upper-class nobles and slave masters. As long as equality is achieved and these social parasites are eliminated, the people will live well. But reflect on your experience ruling in Slaver's Bay and answer me this. Did the living standards of the residents in the three major city-states you ruled rise compared to before you arrived? If so, by how much?"
…
A quick blush of shame rose to the Queen's face. Fortunately, the room was dim, so it was not obvious.
Her terrible experience ruling Slaver's Bay had always been a pain in her heart. Due to her own poor strategy and lack of experience, Astapor and Yunkai fell into chaos or saw their slave masters restored soon after she left. Because war intensified conflict and consumed resources, life actually became worse. Only Meereen, when she took the city, saw Littlefinger come under her command. By adopting his suggestions and policies, and by staying to rule personally instead of rushing on, the situation only slightly improved.
Even then, Meereen avoided collapse only by a cold-blooded method, preventing refugees from the first two cities from flooding in with hunger and plague.
Not until she mastered dragonriding in Asshai, fully repelled foreign intervention, and subdued Yunkai and Astapor again, bringing them under her rule and unifying Slaver's Bay's eastern coast, did she finally stabilize the situation and complete preparations to strike back at Westeros. Only then did she barely achieve the goal of restoring the residents' living standards to their former level. This came after Yunkai and Astapor's populations had fallen by seven tenths, and the entire eastern coast saw a decline of nearly half.
This was clearly not an achievement to boast of.
"It did not increase," Daenerys answered honestly, then added a small cover. "But regardless, at least they are free now."
"There is no denying that liberating Slaver's Bay was a great achievement," Aegor said, resisting the urge to show an untimely expression. He needed to persuade Daenerys to act in ways that served his interests, not slap her face and drain the goodwill he had just built. "But you must be cautious in Westeros. The Seven Kingdoms abolished slavery long ago, and everyone is free. Here, if you cannot give the people better lives, they will not confess that you liberated them from noble oppression. They will only shout, 'Back then, under such-and-such a Lord, we lived this or that much better.'"
Daenerys felt even more ashamed. Though his words were not disrespectful, they sounded more and more like mockery to her guilty ears. The proud Queen's look vanished completely, replaced by the humility of one seeking guidance. She heard confidence in Aegor's tone. If this Night's Watch man truly had a sound plan to reach her ideals, she did not mind lowering her stance.
Under the Queen's expectant gaze, Aegor did not tease her further. After a pause, his tone changed. "Let me hazard an inference. Even if you eliminated all nobles in Westeros now and divided all resources equally, you would still find that most people would be barely fed, with only a little surplus. When disaster struck, when Winter lasted longer than expected, or when wars came, the situation would still be terrible. Not to mention, to maintain fairness and ensure your policies are executed, you would need to greatly expand the ranks of officials, using a bureaucracy to replace Lords and knights. Such a system is unproductive and yields no advantage. Furthermore, everyone has selfish desires and their own drives. Once they gain power, they quickly become new oppressors, which would force you to establish regulatory departments."
Daenerys frowned. "Are you saying nobles and Lords are irreplaceable, and my ideal is a joke?"
"No. I mean that Your Grace wants the people to live better lives. Besides changing institutions, it is more important to make goods more abundant. Productivity and relations of production must develop together for the world to truly improve."
To explain productivity and relations of production in detail would require another large book. Even if Aegor had all the knowledge, giving textbook lectures was neither necessary nor meaningful in this era. He had already mentioned the concepts briefly in the first half of his revised treatise on monarchy. Now, invoking them again, a little extra explanation would suffice.
"What Your Grace calls 'breaking the wheel of history' is essentially changing the distribution in the relations of production. There is nothing wrong with that. But you overlooked one point. No matter how you distribute, if productivity does not change, there is only so much to distribute. No matter how good the structure, it will be quickly overwhelmed by population growth and unexpected shocks. Therefore, the correct approach is comprehensive reform, so productivity and relations of production develop together and promote one another."
"Of course I want that. But the land only grows so much grain, and forests and seas provide only so many resources. How can the advancement of 'productivity' be achieved?"
"To explain that in full would take another large book. And the most critical thing is, it is a book I cannot write." Aegor spread his hands, now certain she had taken the bait and he could not drive her away even if he wished, so he relaxed. He pulled out the chair opposite, poured warm wine for both of them, sat, and continued after a sip. "But although I cannot write it, I am sure it can be done. If Your Grace knows anything of the Night's Watch Industry, you will know it is not merely a large production organization. The staff of its research institute also conduct experiments in their spare time, either at my instruction or on their own. Among them is farming."
"Do not tell me the grain eaten by the Night's Watch Industry's workers is grown by themselves."
"That is impossible, but the meals are mostly cooked by the affiliated canteens. The staff only prepare two meals a day, and in their free time they plant vegetables in the many empty spaces between the great factory buildings, both to pass time and to supplement the canteen's food. When I learned of it, I ordered the research institute to intervene in this amateur work, exploring ways to grow more on the same land through tools, changing methods, trying new fertilizers, and every means they could imagine."
"Was it successful?"
"The yields of various plots differed, but all were higher than the Seven Kingdoms' average," Aegor said. "So, with no disrespect intended, I must correct a statement Your Grace made. The land is not limited to growing only so much grain. By making it grow more through agricultural reform, that is the advancement of productivity."
"How was it done?"
"Carefully cultivated seeds, sturdy and convenient tools, sound and reasonable methods, sowing, irrigation, fertilization. Are you sure you want to hear the details now? As I understand it, Dragonstone cannot grow grain."
"I understand." Daenerys had given up thinking. All she wanted was the next chapter, no, the next passage. "What then?"
"We agree that technological progress drives productivity. If you have questions, ask now. If not, we go on." Aegor was generous with the knowledge Daenerys desired, because what he spoke today was not his true trump for the future. Even if he became her enemy one day, she would not be harder to face because of what she heard now. "After productivity develops, which region of the Seven Kingdoms benefits most?"
"Benefit most… will not everyone benefit?"
"That is right, but I want Your Grace to answer through your own thinking. Which region benefits most?"
This was not Aegor playing coy. He wanted to complete the brainwashing quickly and guide the Queen to think along his lines, but the question was sensitive. If he led every step, it might provoke awkward suspicion.
Daenerys painfully switched from learning to thinking. Fortunately, this was not hard.
"The Reach, because it has the warmest climate, the largest cultivated area, and the largest population."
"Correct." Aegor nodded. "But given your understanding of the Seven Kingdoms is rather shallow, I should give more detail. The Reach's cultivated land is twice the Riverlands, which ranks second. Its warm, humid climate allows three harvests in long summers, and its grain output is half the Seven Kingdoms' total. Its population is not as exaggerated, but it still exceeds the combined population of the North, Westerlands, Riverlands, and Vale. That is only the official count. We do not know how much is hidden. Have you heard clearly?"
"I must admit, I did not grasp it that clearly."
"Now we can return to the concept we introduced earlier. It is easier to conquer a Kingdom than to rule it." Aegor breathed out. The first part was finally finished. "The ideal would be to be enemy to the whole world, defeat the Seven Kingdoms, and rule all of Westeros. But Your Grace surely does not want to spend your life on war. Therefore, the reasonable solution is compromise. Win over some nobles, be enemy to the rest. To retake the Iron Throne requires the power of great nobles, and trying to break the wheel requires being their enemy. To achieve your ideal while facing resistance, you must have sufficient control of the Seven Kingdoms. Suppose your dragons' fighting power equals one Kingdom. If you must now win over three Kingdoms to fight against the remaining four, how would you choose?"
(To be continued.)
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