I! Cleaner!-Chapter 1147 - 1053: Nightly Conversation in the Royal Palace (Part 2)
"Then tell me... what are you hoping to achieve through this gathering?"
"Exchange of resources, prevention of war."
Leon, who already had goals in mind, said seriously:
"The true targets I wish to achieve still lack the necessary conditions, and it might take several generations to fulfill them. However, these two smaller goals can still be achieved."
"These two are hardly small goals~"
Queen Veronica hummed and, after rubbing her chin against Leon's shoulder twice, closed her eyes and said:
"The exchange of resources is one thing, but preventing war is incredibly difficult. Territory, resources, population, grudges, religion, customs... There are so many factors that can cause conflicts and lead to war. Even with the support of the Cleansing Bureau, it's not that easy to achieve~"
"Even if we can't reach 100%, achieving 80% would be fine."
Leon, who also didn't have these hopes, said:
"Resource issues can be resolved through allocation, and disputes over territories and grudges can be suppressed by the Cleansing Bureau. Issues like population and customs can be coordinated, and the religious problem can be addressed by capturing the corresponding True God...
In short, my idea is to first bring the Twelve Kingdoms together and create as many communication gatherings as possible before serious conflicts arise that are beyond resolution. Even if complete conflict resolution is not achieved in the end, with the intervention of the Cleansing Bureau, the intensity and scope of war can be relatively controlled."
"Then there's no big problem."
After considering Leon's goals, Queen Veronica nodded slightly and said:
"This goal is rather 'realistic.' If it's only about significantly reducing and keeping it relatively controlled, then under current conditions, it's indeed not a big problem... Is the exchange of resources the same?"
"Yes."
Leon nodded and said:
"I never planned to dismantle the entire existing system of the Twelve Kingdoms in one go and forcibly establish a material allocation system covering the whole current world. Regarding the exchange of resources, my expectation is actually quite similar to the prevention of war. It just needs to be better than before.
The first gathering of the Twelve Kingdoms should focus primarily on dialogue, aiming to exchange surplus resources without causing the collapse of each country's original system, and to improve the resource issues faced by each kingdom as much as possible."
"But such exchanges are still forms of trade, and as long as it is trade, there will always be someone gaining an advantage and someone suffering a loss."
Queen Veronica opened her eyes, slightly furrowing her brows as a reminder:
"Especially for such large-scale national transactions, there are significant differences in extraction difficulty, demand quantity, scarcity, transportation difficulty... It's impossible to achieve a complete balance.
For example, the transportation of grain from the Sea Cliff Country, the mining activities in the Kingdom of Morna, the storage of meat and fur products from the Northern Kingdom, the research and development costs of medicines and medical technology in the Kingdom of Pertti, and the maintenance and upgrading of our industrial products, among others."
"Leon, the advantageous party in such trades would naturally be delighted, but the disadvantaged party might not cooperate as easily and could even resist considerably... For instance, there are significant issues in the trades between the Sea Cliff Country and the three kingdoms of Pertti and Morna.
Olesund of the Sea Cliff Country, limited by its location and wars with neighboring countries, only sells grain to nearby kingdoms due to the low price of grain. Large areas of land are left uncultivated. They use surplus grain to exchange for scarce minerals and medicines, which is undeniably beneficial for them.
But it's different for the Kingdom of Pertti and the Kingdom of Morna. Both medicine production and mineral extraction involve considerable costs. Although they have gaps in grain, they each control minerals and medicines, easily extracting high premiums. Exchanging for grain is undoubtedly a loss.
These relatively affluent kingdoms are not short of channels to acquire grain. The resources they desperately need are in the hands of the Sea Cliff Country across the ocean.
Even if the Sea Cliff Country uses grain for exchange, between them lies not only an ocean but also more than one kingdom. The cost of long-distance transportation is incredibly high, raising the issue of who bears this loss.
And even if the Cleansing Bureau helps solve this issue, it would severely impact the transportation industry of the Thousand Sails Maritime Country, which controls the shipping lanes and is responsible for large transactions between the Sea Cliff Country and the Kingdom of Pertti beyond mere plundering..."
Stop, please stop, master!
Just listening to Veronica mention a few small problems, Leon's mind, usually clear during 'sage time,' turned into a muddled mess. Instinctively, he looked up at the ceiling and sighed inwardly.
To think there are so many issues at a glance, it's fortunate I didn't rush in blindly. While force might achieve the goal, it would only be treating the symptoms. Finding the right "balance" is the key to genuinely addressing the root cause.
Regarding this, I can only say, my brain is somewhat capable, but when dealing with such problems, it's truly beyond my reach... But thankfully, I still have some cards up my sleeve!
"What if we do it this way?"
After pondering for a moment on the 'cards' he held, Leon tentatively proposed:
"For the kingdoms that suffer in these trades, and for those who make concessions to solve war problems, I can represent the Cleansing Bureau and offer them some special compensations?"
"Special compensations?"
"Just like what I did with the Kingdom of Lutung and the Northern Kingdom, completing projects that other kingdoms would find difficult to handle on their own."
