"Moreover, nine out of ten cabinet members and honorary knights come from families that run businesses of varying degrees. A quick look at their titles reveals a dozen or even twenty different positions: vice president of a chamber of commerce, director of a maritime alliance, executive advisor to an industrial raw materials association…"

Huggins shrugged and said helplessly to Alfonso, "Besides, merchants are indeed more persuasive than those dull farmers... Do you know how the representatives of the Commercial Alliance defended themselves at the knights' hearing on the prohibition of land sales?"

What did they say?

"They produced a 300-page analysis report and told everyone present how huge the difference was between using ordinary land to grow wheat and using it to raise sheep. Taking into account factors such as product value, employment rate, tax revenue, national competitiveness, and population inflow, the contribution that land can make by harvesting raw materials for wool is dozens or even a hundred times that of land used for farmland!"

Huggins closed his eyes and slowly said, "Therefore, the merchants' land consolidation of the farmers gained the support of most people. The latter had no choice but to sell their land to the merchants at the so-called 'appraised price.' If this money left the high-priced city of Muxi, it might be enough to last for a while, but if it stayed, any farming family would spend it all in less than half a year... So, those beggars you saw earlier were farmers who had run out of money and lost their livelihood."

Alfonso stood there motionless for a long time, then scratched his forehead in frustration: "There are some things I don't understand, but I always feel like something's not right."