God of Technology: Creating the Internet in Another World-Chapter 453: Digging Up Your Very Roots

A wave of despair spread wildly across the continent.

Almost all the nobles were swept up in it.

Nearly 2.5 billion gold coins had been thrown in, and now it was all locked up. Now they felt like they probably couldn’t even get a single gold coin back out.

Emotions are contagious.

Desperate emotions even more so.

When all of them were in the same atmosphere, the same predicament, their emotions became even easier to influence.

But compared to these nobles, the middle class and ordinary people watched with an attitude of enjoying the show. After all, by the time they knew about steel futures, the price was already beyond what they could afford to play with.

Even if someone had invested, they’d only lost a few gold coins, but they got to watch countless nobles nearly go bankrupt—now that was entertaining.

When it rains, it pours.

Just when those nobles had already sunk into despair, Nidhogg the Dragon of Despair suddenly made his move.

Dragon Bank suddenly issued an announcement: [Dragon Bank has acquired too much land and has decided to lease it out in large quantities. Continent-wide unified rent will be 10% of the harvest. Starting today, data on land belonging to Dragon Bank will be gradually updated on the Magic Net. Please pay close attention.]

The moment this news came out, it caused an uproar.

The nobles who’d already fallen into despair now became even more desperate.

It even felt like the sky was falling.

Dragon Bank was actually deciding at this moment to lease out the land—what did that mean?

Had they already determined the nobles couldn’t pay?

Although they really couldn’t pay, to say it so directly at this moment was truly making them feel desperate.

What made them even more incredulous was that the dragons actually said the unified rent price would only be a mere 10%!

Even if they lost their land, they were confident that over time, they could gradually bring the land back under their control through traditional methods.

But if rent prices dropped this low, they really had no play left.

Land prices had already dropped so much before, then crop prices had dropped so much, and now rent prices were being lowered to this level—what was left?

In this world, each territory’s income structure was different, but the general direction was the same. The biggest income source for the vast majority of nobles was land rent.

Rent was often paid in kind or as a percentage, usually 30% to 50% of the harvest. Some territories could even reach 80%.

They knew how much land the dragons controlled. That land was spread across nearly the entire continent. If people everywhere could lease such cheap land, who would still be willing to farm for these lords?

All with slaves?

That wasn’t realistic.

Now they were in an incredibly desperate position.

Never mind the nobles who were about to lose their land—even those who still had large amounts of land were in a very awkward position now.

They felt they had to sell their land too.

Before, land just had no investment value, but it could still continue on.

At least it wouldn’t lose money—at most it just wouldn’t make money.

But now?

One acre could feed a whole family, so they could just go lease land from the dragons—what did that have to do with the nobles?

The nobles who’d already been thrown into chaos by the futures market and didn’t know what to do now all turned pale, their attention shifting to this matter.

Soon, a statement appeared on the Magic Net.

"Dragon Bank’s move will likely lead to cheap grain hurting farmers. This must be carefully considered. We’re willing to raise funds to gradually redeem this land. Before redemption, we’ll pay rent to the dragons for cultivation."

This statement had barely appeared, before ordinary people could even react, when Viscount Roster struck first, directly revealing the truth:

"Does cheap grain really hurt farmers? Farmers work hard all year, and after paying land rent, church taxes, bridge tolls, road taxes, mill usage taxes... how much is left? When have farmers ever had surplus grain? It’s good enough if they don’t starve to death each winter."

"Under these circumstances, what does grain price have to do with them?"

"On the contrary, when grain prices drop, the craftsmen and apprentices in the cities can buy cheaper grain, lowering their cost of living."

"I support the dragons, I support Nidhogg the Dragon of Despair’s decision. Doing it this way benefits everyone."

"Ordinary farmers get land to cultivate and can feed their families. Ordinary city folk get cheap grain. The mortgaged land of nobles won’t lie fallow. We all have a bright future."

Good grief!

People who’d been watching with an attitude of enjoying the show suddenly realized things weren’t what they’d thought.

Thinking about it carefully, it seemed everything was exactly as Viscount Roster said—everyone had a bright future.

Ordinary farmers benefited.

Ordinary city folk benefited.

The dragons benefited too.

As for the nobles... after being exploited by nobles for countless years, who cared what happened to these nobles?

These nobles killed themselves by giving away their land. They could only blame themselves—what did it have to do with anyone else?

They held so much land—couldn’t they lease it however they wanted?

When it was in your hands you could lease it that way, so why couldn’t someone else when it was in their hands?

Cheap grain hurts farmers? Who exactly does it hurt?

People who’d originally found that statement interesting suddenly realized it made no sense at all.

At this moment, someone began attacking Nidhogg the Dragon of Despair from a profit angle: "Once you set that precedent, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Now that you’ve set this price, it’ll be hard to raise it later."

"You might even raise it just a tiny bit and get hated for it."

"You should directly set rent at at least 30%, and you can promise to waive part of it initially. That way you ensure you have a way out."

It had to be said, these nobles really understood.

At the very least, they’d grasped ordinary farmers’ psychology to an absurd degree.

Unfortunately, Nidhogg the Dragon of Despair was completely unmoved.

He even thought they were kind of funny.

Nidhogg directly posted on the Magic Net: "10% rent is just the starting point, not the endpoint."

"Besides, we control way too much land. If the rent isn’t cheap, how will we find enough people to lease all this land?"

Nidhogg had long since learned from Viscount Roster about the impact of this matter.

Was rent important?

Not at all.

All he needed was a continuously productive asset. With such an asset, credit currency could be established.

As for rent... rent needed to be low enough so that the nobles who’d mortgaged their land would completely let go.

Otherwise, how would those nobles possibly release their land?