The day after the dinner, after finishing his official duties, Todd arrived at the venue for the political debate at the time and place provided by Emerson.
The debate that Mu Xicheng referred to was somewhat similar to the televised talks during the US presidential election in his previous life.
The only difference was that the venue was the Muxi Grand Theater, and the audience moved directly from their television sets to sit in front of the candidates.
When Todd entered the hall, the entire theater was instantly filled with shouts and praises. The king, who had not appeared for a long time, had finally returned to the kingdom, which was a great thing for the people.
But for some people, it might be a huge shock.
When the business alliance's campaign team saw the king return, tension and unease were evident on everyone's face.
Todd sat on the second-floor viewing platform, first waving to the audience, then turning his gaze to the stage below.
Emerson sat on the left side of the stage with several assistants. A young man in his twenties, with sharp eyes and smart clothes, sat opposite him, seemingly unconcerned about the debate that was about to begin.
A man who looked like an advisor rushed out of the business alliance's seating area, walked over to the young man, and quietly gestured for him to look at the second-floor stands.
The young man shook his head impatiently and told the man to leave.
Todd stared at the assertive and confident young man, wondering to himself, could this be the Rutledge Dawson that Emerson had mentioned, the current head of the Dawson family?
Rutledge glanced at the audience, tossed the prepared speech to the ground, stood up, and addressed the crowd: "Today, what I want to say to you is not these revised and embellished drafts! But the facts, the complete and irrefutable facts!"
Listening to a group of college students chanting Rutledge's name from below the stage, Todd smiled and said to Hudgens, "Is this young man really the head of the Dawson family? Although his words and actions are full of passion, he doesn't know how to restrain himself."
Huggins bent down and whispered, “Rutledge has two older sisters and a younger sister. He is the only son of the previous head of the Dawson family. He was highly regarded by the family and inherited the position of head of the family from his father last year. Your Majesty, don’t underestimate this young man. He is outstanding in terms of eloquence, critical thinking, and action.”
Todd became interested and leaned forward, wanting to see how the debate would end.
The debate moderator, a renowned university professor, gestured for the audience to quiet down before announcing the official start of the political debate.
The first topic was the issue that the Knights Council cared about most—taxation.
Rutledge was the first to challenge: "Your Excellency, I have seen last year's financial report. Tax revenue increased by 52 percentage points compared to the previous year, but the Kingdom's year-end accounts show a deficit. How can this be explained?"
Emerson, wearing his reading glasses, picked up a manuscript and said calmly, "Because of a significant increase in government spending."
Rutledge then asked, "Could you tell me what the main expenses are?"
"Urban infrastructure construction, port expansion, government employee salaries, social welfare..."
“Wait a minute!” Rutledge suddenly interrupted Emerson: “You mentioned social welfare. May I ask how much the expenditure was in this area last year?”
Emerson took a breath and slowly said, "Jin Xu..."
Rutledge nodded: "And what about the year before last?"
"If I remember correctly, it was around 7200 gold coins."
Rutledge stared at Emerson and asked, "My math isn't particularly good, but I can still calculate that last year's social welfare spending was five times that of the year before. Isn't that strange?"
The latter shook his head: "Not surprising at all. Last year, a large number of farmers in Muxi City had to sell their land at low prices because of some unscrupulous merchants, resulting in a large backlog of their agricultural products. The cabinet had to help these farmers resettle and start a new round of farming."
Hearing Emerson emphasize the word "ulterior motives," Rutledge smiled and shrugged: "Prime Minister, I don't know if you've been in business before, but you should understand some basic market dynamics. Buying and selling have always been free. There's never been such a thing as product stockpiling, as long as you're willing. The root cause lies in the greed of these farmers."
"Why don't you take a look at the price of one kilogram of wheat in Muxi City five years ago, and what the price of wheat is now? Farmers are arbitrarily raising the price of agricultural products, causing the price of grain in Muxi City to soar. Anyone who isn't blind can see this fact, yet you actually think these farmers are innocent."
Hearing this, Todd, who was sitting on the second floor, laughed.
That was a brilliant trick of subverting expectations.
The biggest reason for rising agricultural product prices is inflation, but Rutledge defines this phenomenon as farmers' greed.
“Originally, they could have sold all their products by lowering the price by just a little bit and earning two less copper coins. But these greedy farmers are stubbornly clinging to their profits, refusing to budge. They'd rather watch their grain rot and mold in the warehouse than lower the price to a reasonable level.” Rutledge said to Emerson with a sneer, “To these people, I can only say one thing—they have only themselves to blame.”
Listening to the applause and cheers that rose and fell in the hall, Todd smiled helplessly.
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