Enlightened Empire

"I burnt it," a motionless Corco said, as he stared at the blackened vegetables.

"They're not too bad. The base ingredients are good, so a bit of char isn't a big deal," Sumaci argued back, and shoveled some more food into her mouth with gusto.

"I burnt it, and the fish is dry as well," Corco added this time.

"If you don't want it, you can give your portion to me," Sumaci teased him.

"I burnt it, the fish is dry, and I'm hungry," Corco said, as he finally started eating. As he ate and fooled around with Maci, suddenly, the food didn't taste so bad anymore. Maybe, he thought, he had been too harsh with himself. Maybe it was time to admit that his ideal cultivator society wasn't coming any time soon. It wasn't like there were no alternatives anyways, so he didn't have to focus so much on his plan A.

"You know, now that I think about it, even if the results here never improve, we can still get plenty of use out of cultivation. We just need to be smart in how we use it," Corco said during a lull in the conversation. In response, Sumaci pulled an exaggerated, unhappy face.

"Are we still talking about that?"

"Don't worry, I'm no longer obsessed with the CRISPR idea. I think I can accept now that my ideal world probably won't happen, at least not when it comes to cultivation. I just know too little in that regard," he droned on. "Rather, I have long had a series of alternate plans to use cultivation techniques in case the CRISPR idea falls flat. We may as well focus on those, until we get more fruitful results in the research."

"Oh, anything interesting?" Rather than complain some more, Sumaci leaned forward in interest, pretend or otherwise.

"I'm sure you'll think so, no doubt," a confident Corco replied with a smile. After all, this was a topic Sumaci herself had shown interest in before. "Remember when you asked me about ways to prevent accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a few families over the course of generations?"

After the quick reminder, Sumaci immediately put the pieces in front of her together.

"You think cultivation is a solution?" she surmised, though with a confused look, much to the king's delight.

"The best, in fact," he exaggerated. "If you take something away from people, even if it's something they don't own and don't deserve, they will always be unhappy, especially if they think it was theirs to begin with."

"That's esoteric," a baffled Sumaci just said after a few seconds of silence. Maybe Corco really had been a bit too vague this time, in hopes that his smart wife would just connect the dots. This way, he could have skipped a lengthy explanation. Forced to explain the boring basics, the teacher cleared his throat in embarrassment, before he dove in head-first. He enjoyed long-winded speeches anyways, even if this one would be a bit dry.

"In short, I want to take back the money those rich families don't need. Without the central government, those very wealthy families wouldn't even exist in the first place," Corco established first. "The only way they can make more money than they can reasonably spend — so much that it allows them to essentially buy the government piece by piece — is if they exploit the systems put in place by the government, and take advantage of the public goods freely provided by the government. You know, they rely on things like security, so they don't have to hire private forces and don't have to worry about anyone stealing their things after they've exploited them. Of course, they are also the biggest beneficiaries of improved infrastructure, especially if we're talking about those merchant families.

"However, they would have no gratitude or even conscience for the benefits the government has provided for them," Corco expanded his idea. "It's basic human psychology that we overestimate our own contribution to things, especially to our own success. So they'll think that all their money is the result of their own work alone, and they would be unwilling to hand over any of it. Others — the common people to be precise — might also see the success of the very wealthy and think that they can achieve the same. Under the instigation of the rich — who have the money to spread their opinions around — even the commoners might be lured to side against their government, and against their own interests, based on the false assumption that one day, they might also benefit from looser laws for the very wealthy. In that case, my plan to take their money would be difficult to realize, at least not without provoking an all-out civil war."

"Didn't you say 'in short'? That wasn't short at all," Sumaci complained, though only with a smirk on her lips. Meanwhile, Corco was taking a sip of water to moisten his throat, ignored the complaint, and pushed on. If he retorted to every quip, they would never get done here.

"Anyways, I was planning to introduce an inheritance tax to solve the accumulation problem. Nothing proportional though. Poor families don't have to pay a single copper in case of death. However, if someone's personal wealth exceeds a certain limit, their family members are basically allowed to keep enough of it to comfortably feed, clothe and educate a generation or two of their offspring. Anything beyond that goes to the government. This system still rewards hard work, up to a point, and it also prevents future generations of rich families from slacking off. Best of all, it prevents, or at least slows down, the accumulation of wealth, and thus the stagnation of society. To prevent any dumb loopholes the rich families could exploit, the cutoff point for the inheritance tax will be a solid number, and all the private wealth of the deceased will be counted towards it. There will be no exceptions, like art and such. I've thought about other ideas, like linking any property directly to a single person by law, which would prevent tricks like private family funds. Still thinking about the details."

"There will always be loopholes. You were the one to teach me that," Sumaci argued back and adjusted herself in her seat, ready for an intense debate. "For example, what if a rich merchant writes a will in which all his wealth is evenly distributed among his one hundred closest relatives and aides, with just enough beneficiaries for everyone to avoid having to pay any of your inheritance tax?"

Usually, Sumaci's interjections were quite sharp. This time however, she had clearly missed the mark.

"Wouldn't that be perfect?" a smug Corco asked back. "I don't want to make money from this tax, I just want to discourage the amassing of wealth in the hands of a few people and/or families. If they want to voluntarily spread their own wealth around like that, then I'm all for it."

Faced with her husband's confidence and boldness, Sumaci looked shocked, much to Corco's pleasure. It wasn't often that he managed to make his wife speechless these days. While Sumaci was still searching for her words in the face of an unexpected turn, Corco was ready to deliver a knockout blow.

"It really isn't possible to remove all the loopholes, but that's no problem at all. We just need to open the loopholes in our desired direction, and then those big families will act in the interests of the country, even if they don't want to."

Confident in his plans, Corco leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. Though of course, all of his ideas were floating clouds if he couldn't push through his laws without compromise.

"But you're worried that there will be resistance to your plans, right? Is that where the cultivation comes in?" Sumaci still tried hard to understand, though Corco still wasn't quite finished with his setup.

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"If such a system can be established, we'll solve the problem of amassing wealth, or at least we'll delay the phenomenon for long enough that it will never be relevant for us, even if we live as long as that great-grandfather of mine." Corco took another quick water break for emphasis, before he continued. "But if I just take away the money — which they believe to be theirs — without giving anything in return, there will be considerable backlash. I can minimize that by introducing the laws now, when there's not that many rich families yet after we got rid of the old social system. Still, it's only prudent to expect some push back eventually, and I don't want to use force against my own people."

"Yes, that's why you built the police force and heavily relied on the ghosts, to use less force against your own people."

Corco chose to ignore Sumaci's snide remark. Instead, he finally presented his conclusion, the culmination of his thoughts and core of his plan.

"So I thought: Why not use cultivation as a compensation for those who have amassed great wealth in their lifetimes? I mean, what does someone who's rich and old really want? Power, health and long life, nothing else. Cultivation can give them all three. A strong, healthy body which can extend their lifespan, that's what they get in return for their obedience."

"So if the rich obediently hand over their wealth, you let them cultivate?" Sumaci summed up, still looking shocked at the bold idea. Though Corco didn't really see what was so special about his plans. In Medala's past, cultivation had been used by the lords as a tool to guarantee the loyalty of their subjects. He wasn't doing anything revolutionary here, he was just applying the old tactics of his family to this new society. All that had changed was that the cultivators were no longer warriors, and that they were no longer required to fight for him.

"That's right, I'll let them have one of those precious, limited cultivation spots. Or instead — if they are no longer in the physical condition to cultivate due to age — then after their death, if the family obediently accepts the inheritance tax, maybe I can let a number of their descendants become cultivators instead. We could even base the number of cultivator descendants on the total wealth that's been retrieved by society through the inheritance tax, which would disincentivize them from hiding away money. In the same vein, we could allow them to hand over their wealth early, so that they can still enjoy the benefits of cultivation themselves and stave off certain death. It's a pretty neat solution to the problem, I think. It still gives those rich a reason to work hard, and it feels less like the country is just arbitrarily stealing from them. Instead, we can frame it more like they're paying for the privilege of cultivation. Rich people love privileges, and they don't mind paying for them. Trust me."

"Well, to me this just seems like an elaborate scam to take everyone's money," Sumaci said, sticking to her snide theme from earlier.

"That's harsh." Corco pretended to be hurt for half a second by covering his heart, before he moved on with the same confidence as before. "In the first place, they don't have to give their money to me. So long as they give it away at all, we can always talk. As I've said before, I don't really care about getting the money, so long as it doesn't all stay together in one place after they're dead."

"But if you're spreading out the wealth so much, wouldn't you be raising a new class of nobility then, and a much larger one than the old warrior class? I thought you hated the class system." Sumaci's question was quite sharp this time, but Corco still had no reason to lose his composure.

"The formation of social classes is basically inevitable. Those will naturally form in any society, just because humans are humans. Though this class in particular is designed from the start to be harmless," he argued. "Basically, everyone in the upper class will have a very similar amount of wealth, the upper limit of what the inheritance tax will allow them to have. They will have enough to never worry about money again, at least not for generations. But they will never have enough to get tempted into abusing their wealth for power, never enough to start bribing government officials on a grand scale."

"If this works out, it would completely rearrange the class system," Sumaci realized. "People achieve their classes no longer through birth, or through the grace of their lord, but only through the grace of their king, and their own efforts. Beyond that, all are equal, and none strong enough to influence the king's word."

After she had seen it laid out in full, Sumaci was finally on board with his plans as well, much to Corco's delight.

"That's right," he said, enthusiastic to expand the idea further. "At first, I thought about some other rewards for obedience with the inheritance tax, since I didn't want to waste so many of our cultivation spots on this. Like for example, allowing a number of descendants free, guaranteed access to our new university, or guaranteeing the safety, health, and standard of living for the family within 100 years. In the end, what we give them doesn't really matter. All that matters is that it's something they want, and that we make it all seem like a transaction. They lose something, money, but they also gain something in return, something they can only get from me, whether that be cultivation techniques or security for their family. Though ultimately, cultivation is the best option, something truly only I can give them in our country. So now that it seems like our research in other directions is stuck, we might as well use the freed up spots for this."

"Didn't you ever consider using cultivation to reward other groups as well?" Sumaci asked in a flash of inspiration, though in terms of future planning, Corco was of course far ahead of her.

"Of course," he shot back immediately. "I mean, we're already planning to give out cultivation techniques to distinguished soldiers to improve their performance. I've also thought about important scientists with longer lifespans and better memories. Even with the limitations the research has uncovered, there's still plenty of applications for cultivation. All we have to do is develop the right techniques for every occasion, to make sure we can keep the most useful members of our society happy and loyal."

"In that case, why don't we expand our cultivation research again?" Sumaci suggested. "It won't speed up the important results, but once the results start to come in, they'll come en masse, all at once. The cultivation research has been rather cheap as well, at least compared to all of our other mega projects. So spending a bit more on it shouldn't be impossible."

Of course, Corco understood Sumaci's tempting suggestion. However, if he could just increase their research budget for better results, he would have done so a long time ago.

"If only it were that easy." Faced with another unsolvable problem, Corco had to sigh once again. "Even with all the islands around Puscanacra added to our experiments, we still don't have enough land to properly isolate all our research. I mean, now we know that cultivation is influenced by the air — or some kind of aether, or the like — which means that we have even more reason to use islands. We need to run these experiments far apart, to make sure there is no interference between unrelated experiments."

As Corco spoke, he stood up, and got ready to clean up their plate. In their enthusiasm, they had somehow managed to finish the entirety of their blackened dinner. However, when he reached over for Sumaci's plate, he looked into his wife's face and realized that his words must have hit a wrong nerve somewhere.

All evening, Sumaci had been optimistic and positive, trying her best to pull him up, out of his depression. Yet now, she stared through the window, out into the darkening evening, out towards the distant sea. Without a word, Corco put down his empty plate and sat next to his wife, waiting for her to speak.

"If only the Verdant Isles were free, if only this war was over, then we could use as many islands as we want," she finally said.

It was hardly surprising that she was worried about her native home. While they were enjoying their days on vacation, Maci's home was still suffering under a seemingly endless war. Maybe, Corco realized, he had taken his wife's positive attitude for granted all this time. Most likely, she herself was struggling just as much as he was. More than anything, she clearly needed his support now just as much as he had received hers before.

"Don't worry too much," he said, as he enveloped her small frame. "Those colored kings are long exhausted. We just need to stay patient, and soon enough, we'll be able to travel the Verdant Isles just like we've traveled the Narrow Sea."

"You know, I really just want to go home now, back to Saniya," Sumaci said, her tiny voice disappearing into the crook of his elbow.

Clearly, both of them had been more and more high-strung these days. This was something Corco himself had only truly realized today. All the time off had only given him time to worry about useless things, while he felt guilty about neglecting his work at the same time. Most likely, Maci was feeling the same way, or even more strongly, since her duties should see her organizing the war effort back in Rasacopa. Thus, any more vacation — originally designed to relax them — would only be detrimental for their health.

"You're right," he thus said, and kissed the crown of his wife's head. "It's time we go home."

As Corco's eyes followed his wife's out into the dark night, snow began to fall, and he realized that winter had come before he had realized.

It was high time for them to return anyways. Even with all the setbacks, he had much to report back home, and the end of the year was approaching. With it, another year-end review was upon him as well. Without his notice, the work had already piled up into a mountain, though Corco welcomed it with open arms. Maybe the routine back home would prove a relaxing break from all the vacationing. At least Corco hoped so.