111: Chapter 111 Ten mu per person

"However, the rules must be set in stone." Zhou Yun didn't give everyone much time to digest this before throwing out a policy patch. "The City Lord's Mansion will only distribute usage rights for these ten mu of land. No one has any authority to trade, sell, or exchange the land."

Minister Wang Fugui froze for a moment. His merchant's intuition made him instantly realize the ruthlessness of this rule—it was equivalent to completely severing the possibility of land annexation at the root.

"The harvest grown from the fields belongs entirely to the individual," Zhou Yun continued.

"But every autumn harvest, everyone must pay one-tenth of the total yield to the City Lord's Mansion as a 'co-construction fee.' As for the remaining ninety percent, whether they eat it themselves or sell it to the Trade Department in exchange for other supplies is entirely up to them."

A ten percent tax rate.

In this wasteland world where it was common to take more than half, or even force people to their deaths, this number was so low it felt like charity.

But if the base was expanded to the massive volume of over two million mu, the supplies gathered by the City Lord's Mansion each year would be an incredibly terrifying astronomical figure.

The Council Hall was silent for a full ten seconds.

"Good!!!" Lei Lie suddenly let out a loud shout, clapping his iron palms together heavily, making the teacups on the table jump.

"Good rule!" Tie Shan also shouted in approval, slapping his own thigh with a loud "thwack."

Immediately after, Tie Shan seemed to think of something, glancing sideways at Minister Wang Fugui opposite him.

Before Zhou Yun took over Flower City, Minister Wang Fugui was a notoriously wealthy scoundrel in the city.

Relying on his merchant guild's methods, who knew how many plots of land he had seized by taking advantage of the poor who were teetering on the execution line.

"Did you hear that?" Tie Shan snorted coldly, two puffs of rough air spraying from his large nostrils, his voice gruff and full of mockery. "No trading! No selling! I'd like to see how you, you dog, will annex land or be rich and unkind in the future!"

Minister Wang Fugui, who had still been stunned by the new policy, was instantly brought back to his senses by this shout.

"How are you talking!" Minister Wang Fugui sprang up from his chair in a fit of rage, like a fat cat that had its tail stepped on, pointing at Tie Shan's nose and hopping madly. "The City Lord is here, don't you spout blood! Am I that kind of person?"

Tie Shan sneered with extreme disdain, crossing his arms and tilting his head. "Aren't you?"

Minister Wang Fugui grew anxious, his face turning bright red as he stomped his foot. "Am I?!"

"Heh." Lei Lie leaned against the long table, arms crossed over the plate armor on his chest, and glanced coldly at Minister Wang Fugui. "Aren't you?"

Hit by two consecutive critical strikes, sweat broke out on Minister Wang Fugui's forehead.

He hurriedly pulled a silk handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped his face frantically, his voice cracking. "Am I?!"

Just then, Strategist Zhu Ge, sitting at the very end of the long table, stopped the action of deducing the Formation in his hands.

He slowly swayed the feather fan in his hand, without even lifting his eyelids, and spat out three words in the calmest tone, light as a feather: "Aren't you?"

This understated strike became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

"You!" Minister Wang Fugui completely broke down.

He turned around abruptly, pointing at Strategist Zhu Ge in the wheelchair, his chubby finger trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind. "You... you hadn't even come to Flower City back then! You didn't even know me! Why are you blindly meddling!"

Strategist Zhu Ge did not answer, only smiling slightly, continuing to sway his feather fan in a leisurely manner, hiding his merit and fame.

Watching this core team, usually so imposing, bickering and arguing in the Council Hall like common street ruffians, Zhou Yun leaned back in his chair, the arc of his mouth growing wider.

The heaviness and grim atmosphere that had been weighing on everyone's hearts for the past few days dissipated into thin air amidst this banter.

He looked at the infuriated Minister Wang Fugui, the smug Tie Shan, the cold-blooded Lei Lie who delivered the finishing blow, and Strategist Zhu Ge, who was always strategizing but still joined in the fun.

A sense of power does not always require desperate roaring; sometimes, it is hidden in this laughter and banter filled with the vitality of life.

Zhou Yun finally couldn't help it. He looked at this bunch of clowns and laughed heartily.

...

Wan'er's execution efficiency was impeccable.

The moment the meeting ended, over a dozen notices with ink not yet dry were already plastered all over the bulletin boards in Flower City and the New City.

Several literate people in the crowd squeezed to the front, reading the decree in black and white line by line. Their voices were steady at first, but halfway through, they suddenly cracked.

"All citizens of our Flower City... everyone, everyone can get ten mu of land?!"

The crowd fell dead silent for an instant.

A gaunt man suddenly raised his mud-caked hands, rubbing his eyes desperately until his eye sockets were red, muttering incoherently: "Hallucinations... It must be that I've eaten too much Silver Rank spirit rice these past few days, and I'm hallucinating from over-nourishment. I'm daydreaming in broad daylight, ten mu? And per person?"

"That's right, even in an S-Rank small city, commoners can only rent fields from the City Lord's Mansion. How could they just distribute it by head count?" An illiterate old woman nearby shook her head repeatedly, unable to believe her ears.

It wasn't until the official from the Administrative Department in charge of posting the notices struck the copper gong in front of him heavily, pointing at the bright red City Lord's seal at the bottom of the notice and shouting: "See clearly! This is an order personally issued by the City Lord! Regardless of gender or age, as long as you are a registered resident of our Flower City, everyone gets ten mu! Only usage rights are distributed, no trading or selling allowed, and you only pay one-tenth of the harvest as a co-construction fee each year; the rest is all yours!"

With a "clang," a broken pottery bowl filled with water in someone's hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. A violent gasp erupted from the crowd.

The man who had just been rubbing his eyes felt his legs go weak, and with a "thump," he knelt before the bulletin board, his whole body trembling violently like a sieve. He stared fixedly at that bright red seal, a suppressed, beast-like sob erupting from his throat.

In this man-eating wasteland of the City Lord World, what is most precious?

Spirit fruits are gone once eaten, equipment will break down after long use, and even Silver Rank spirit rice will eventually run out.

Only land is the lifeline that can be passed down for generations, the foundation that allows drifting refugees to truly take root. This was a living, breathing root bestowed by the City Lord!

"What are you still standing there for!" Someone in the crowd roared at the top of their lungs, their voice cracking completely from extreme agitation, "Get your hoes!!!"

This shout completely ignited the entire Flower City. Everyone went crazy.

Building city walls, digging irrigation ditches—all of it was thrown to the back of their minds.

In the minds of the two hundred thousand people in the city, only two words remained—reclaiming wasteland!