(L) Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki (How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom)

[BWTraveller]

Probably wanted to make sure the auditions would happen in ep 3, since it's quite clear that's where a lot of the additional cast will come in. Since they're entering as a major point of his plan, it makes sense to make it a minor climax, so it honestly feels like a fitting choice.

[AC-Phoenix]

The changes were more around EP1 and early 2.

Another thing I realized btw.:
Souma remarked how there were streetlights in the absence of electricity.
However that's not nearly as strange as one would think, considering that there used to be a job called "lamplighter".

So no, not as strange as Souma makes it out to be.

[Chosen_Hero]

How is this kingdom still in one piece? Apparently everyone before the MC was completely inept at running that kingdom to the point that it goes past laughable and into headache worthy... a lot of the problems the MC pointed out are so basic that they would have been noticed by anyone with half a brain long before he got there, but of course no one ever noticed because... reasons I guess.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

How is this kingdom still in one piece? Apparently everyone before the MC was completely inept at running that kingdom to the point that it goes past laughable and into headache worthy... a lot of the problems the MC pointed out are so basic that they would have been noticed by anyone with half a brain long before he got there, but of course no one ever noticed because... reasons I guess.

Setting up a kingdom in need of basic economic and political reform for...educational purposes ?

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

How is this kingdom still in one piece? Apparently everyone before the MC was completely inept at running that kingdom to the point that it goes past laughable and into headache worthy... a lot of the problems the MC pointed out are so basic that they would have been noticed by anyone with half a brain long before he got there, but of course no one ever noticed because... reasons I guess.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Setting up a kingdom in need of basic economic and political reform for...educational purposes ?

There are countries like that even in our day and age.
They over-talked the literacy rate a bit in my opinion, since we lack other examples from that world.
It's bad compared to most countries in the real world, yeah.
Coincidentally, a bit of googling suggest that the literacy rate mentioned there looks suspiciously like England's... In the 18th century.

[belatkuro]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

How is this kingdom still in one piece? Apparently everyone before the MC was completely inept at running that kingdom to the point that it goes past laughable and into headache worthy... a lot of the problems the MC pointed out are so basic that they would have been noticed by anyone with half a brain long before he got there, but of course no one ever noticed because... reasons I guess.

Aside from the king, there's a mention in episode 1 of the Three Dukes who reacted when Albert abdicated the throne. Those three were the ones supporting the kingdom mainly given how mediocre the king is. And there's a deeper history in the kingdom regarding its poverty and all that but that's another story. It's the Three Dukes that kept the kingdom in one piece, just barely.

[scififan]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

There are countries like that even in our day and age.
They over-talked the literacy rate a bit in my opinion, since we lack other examples from that world.
It's bad compared to most countries in the real world, yeah.
Coincidentally, a bit of googling suggest that the literacy rate mentioned there looks suspiciously like England's... In the 18th century.

England had the scholars in colleges and monasteries. After the fall of Rome, some knowledge are preserved by priests. After kings adoped Christianity, they often employs priests to be their advisers. Priests also exchange knowledge through letters written in Latin and Greek.

Kazuya the realist is different brand. He learns the some knowledge of 20th century. When he asks Liscia to accompany him to the cotton fields, he reveals his agenda. The overgrown cotton reduces the land for food supplies. The food scarcity is the potential threat to the kingdom. it is not currently the concern of the kingdom. He confesses that he can identify the probelm, but he does not have the solution.

If Kazuya is the economist form 1990, the overgrown cotton field is the good thing. The kindom can trade cotton with food from other countries. Overgrown cottons has advantage in economic of scale, as long as the pruchasing power of selling cotton exceeds the cost of buying food. It works when there is no trade war and protection policy. When the kingdom is at war, the disadvantage will surface.

If Kazuya is the Marxist Socialist from 1940, the cotton field is still the good thing. The kingdom can use cotton whatever it likes. Since the food supply is in danger of shortage, the socialist regime will force farmers to produce more. The farmers who do not meet the quota will be tried and executed.

Kazuya determines the reform will lead the revolt of Deep State, the people in power who profit from the current system. The common folk who suffer from the current system. His cotton field determination is going to make or break them.

Worst case scenario: It could be like that manga where the protagonist is reborn in Isekai and his new identity is Louis the 16th. The chance of survival is as difficult as Dark Soul's nightmare level.

Best case scenario: Kazuya got all helping hands, even he got administrative talents who more capable than him. He survives agaisnt all odds.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

How is this kingdom still in one piece? Apparently everyone before the MC was completely inept at running that kingdom to the point that it goes past laughable and into headache worthy... a lot of the problems the MC pointed out are so basic that they would have been noticed by anyone with half a brain long before he got there, but of course no one ever noticed because... reasons I guess.

My impression was actually that the kingdom hasn't had that long. A kingdom can be run fairly well by fairly incompetent people if things are doing all right. Especially if the economy has a powerful source of income. At first, they were the main producers of cotton and as such were bringing in great profits, big enough that practically everyone started getting into it. With enough money coming in it doesn't matter if the budget distribution is poorly designed, there's still more than enough for everyone to get some, and even for embezzlers to take a bit without being noticed. If the business is profitable enough, a lot of people just won't notice the "basic" flaws or shrug it off as rubbish since their current system is working "so well". As long as their bubble remained intact people prospered without noticing the issues. But once the cotton price crashed as other countries started mass-producing, the bubble popped. Even then they were probably able to keep going for a while simply by draining their existing finances, but bad practices, imbalance between exports and necessities, embezzlement and other problems grew more apparent and damaging. Basically, they were probably like this for only a few years at most.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by scififan

England had the scholars in colleges and monasteries. After the fall of Rome, some knowledge are preserved by priests. After kings adoped Christianity, they often employs priests to be their advisers. Priests also exchange knowledge through letters written in Latin and Greek.

No one doubted that, but the literacy rate is still the same as in 18th century England.
Hence, he shouldn't have been surprised about it.
If you want a more medieval perspective, the European (incl UK) literacy rate in the Dark ages - early medieval period is often estimated to have been around 6%.

And yes, people in monasteries and Priests already counted into that

So yeah, his Kingdom is doing better than they did in our world. Obviously it's still abysmal from the PoV from the PoV of Western Countries + Japan, but still better than he should have expected. His question was therefore needless, even for the purpose of demonstration. 30% of people who can read AND write isn't that bad for pre-renaissance.

As for the cotton field: Market regulation isn't just a thing in marxism, but also in the free market. The US in particular, just has an extreme view of the word free there. I'm pretty sure even the US would regulate such things if it ran into the danger of being unable to feed it's people

[Anh_Minh]

He wasn't surprised by the literacy rate (he asked about it because he suspected the answer), he was "surprised" you had a written test for government jobs.

(Not really surprised, just disapproving.)

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

He wasn't surprised by the literacy rate (he asked about it because he suspected the answer), he was "surprised" you had a written test for government jobs.

(Not really surprised, just disapproving.)

His expression tells another story. If he had known the answer, the question wouldn't have been necessary even in a rhetorical sense, since Licia isn't the kind of person who you have to slap with their mistakes for them to realize them.

That being said, while "open some public schools already!" was the first thing I would have said, it's arguable whether this would even be desirable in a feudal society.

[Strahan]

Originally Posted by scififan

If Kazuya is the economist form 1990, the overgrown cotton field is the good thing. The kindom can trade cotton with food from other countries.

He already said the market for cotton has tanked because of everyone producing it, so that's not a viable option.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Strahan

He already said the market for cotton has tanked because of everyone producing it, so that's not a viable option.

Aye.
I mean, he could still make a new product out of it and sell that instead, but that would at best cover the losses.

[zeross87]

i like how ppl say "hey the kingdom problems are obvious they are all dumbd" when i think most of us wouldn't even want to look though those pile of papers we've seen in the episode and would in fact not know the kingdom situation to begin with

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by zeross87

i like how ppl say "hey the kingdom problems are obvious they are all dumbd" when i think most of us wouldn't even want to look though those pile of papers we've seen in the episode and would in fact not know the kingdom situation to begin with

The Kingdoms main problem is food, all you have to do is inspect the fields to see the problem. All that paperwork was apparently just to see if there is any hidden funds he could tap. None of the problems we've been introduced to require huge amounts of paperwork to solve.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

The Kingdoms main problem is food, all you have to do is inspect the fields to see the problem. All that paperwork was apparently just to see if there is any hidden funds he could tap. None of the problems we've been introduced to require huge amounts of paperwork to solve.

"Inspect the fields", how? By traipsing all over the kingdom? Just because there are a few cotton fields around the capital, it doesn't mean the whole country's covered in them. Determining the food self-sufficiency is a paperwork matter, which, depending on how (and what) records are kept, can be easy or very hard, or at least tedious.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

"Inspect the fields", how? By traipsing all over the kingdom? Just because there are a few cotton fields around the capital, it doesn't mean the whole country's covered in them. Determining the food self-sufficiency is a paperwork matter, which, depending on how (and what) records are kept, can be easy or very hard, or at least tedious.

Considering how he doesn't even know what his kingdom looks like - yes, going around it, or sending people out, would be a good idea.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Considering how he doesn't even know what his kingdom looks like - yes, going around it, or sending people out, would be a good idea.

Going personally, aside from the time it would take, isn't how a king is supposed to do things. (Granted, that's not really a criteria for what he's going to do.)

As for sending people, why? The government didn't start with his arrival. He inherited it. Which means people have already been sent, for all kinds of purposes, in years past, and written reports. Thus, paperwork. Most of what he needed to know to detect the problem was probably in the tax records, but he wouldn't have necessarily known what questions to ask before reading a lot of other things.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Going personally, aside from the time it would take, isn't how a king is supposed to do things. (Granted, that's not really a criteria for what he's going to do.)

As for sending people, why? The government didn't start with his arrival. He inherited it. Which means people have already been sent, for all kinds of purposes, in years past, and written reports. Thus, paperwork. Most of what he needed to know to detect the problem was probably in the tax records, but he wouldn't have necessarily known what questions to ask before reading a lot of other things.

Actually, a King should know the topography of his kingdom. It's something that Licia would have done in her younger years or now too.

Again, no elaborate paperwork like shown here was truly necessary to discern the problem. He may have had to read it, but not write it.

As this is also the Kingdom Capital you can also conclude that the problem is similar, if not the exact same elsewhere, since the entire Kingdom suffered from Food shortage, and just the Capital's fields couldn't have caused it EVERYWHERE.

[moridin84]

Firstly, the MC's solution to the cash crop problem required a lot of money, which they didn't think they had.

Secondly, a feudal government interfering with its economy to that extent is not normal.

Thirdly, they didn't even seem to consider that the food shortage was a problem they had to solve, they probably figured that it would resolve itself eventually.

Fourthly, cash crops causing food shortages is obviously not something the author just made up but it is based on real-world examples. One big example is Africa http://www.cagj.org/wp-content/uploa...WaterWatch.pdf