Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 350 - 229: Luo’s Reform (8600 words, asking for monthly votes)_2

Chapter 350: Chapter 229: Luo’s Reform (8600 words, asking for monthly votes)_2

Only being able to say that in the world everything is interconnected.

Ancient reforms and modern reforms, if summarized in a simple and crude way, have similar causes and handling methods.

The causes are nothing more than the overly bloated middlemen exploiting the bottom layer and scheming to block the channels for the bottom layer to rise, thus resulting in scenes where the lower class people starve to death everywhere, the upper class’s national treasury is empty, and the middle class excessively inflated, becoming an unsustainable abnormality.

And the handling methods involve someone from the upper class using some means to make the bloated middle-income class regurgitate some benefits, redistributing them to the starved lower class and the national treasury of the upper class, enabling the nation to stabilize once again.

No matter whether this middle class consists of feudal landlords, scholars, or capitalists, the principle is always the same.

Therefore, although Wang Wenchuans’s method lacks feasibility under these social conditions, his approach was completely correct.

Meng Yuan nodded, "Master Jing truly has a thorough understanding, seizing the crux immediately.

"However, although Master Jing’s approach is correct, implementing it this way may not necessarily be feasible.

"Don’t forget Master Jing, this is a nation dominated by businessmen; the past methods of suppressing businessmen with state power are almost impractical without being immediately overthrown.

"One must adapt to the circumstances and act under certain rules.

"Ultimately, the success of reforms rests on two aspects, details and implementation."

Wang Wenchuan deeply agreed, "Exactly so. I wonder if this Luo’s new law was ultimately successful?"

Clearly, Wang Wenchuan had experienced so much resistance in the process of implementing new policies that he had deeply recognized the importance of details and the power of execution in the reform process.

His reform efforts were doomed to fail due to insufficient execution at the grassroots level.

At this moment, his concern about the success of Luo’s new policies was naturally anxious but hopeful.

He of course hoped that Luo’s new laws would continue to be implemented, but he also saw the challenges as daunting.

Meng Yuan continued to wave his hand, allowing the fog in front of him to gather and disperse.

A series of reform measures unfolded before Wang Wenchuan and all the viewers.

The first step of Luo’s new laws was to make everyone in society believe in the state, only with restored confidence could all industries prosper again.

"And to achieve this, all it took was one talk to the entire nation."

Wang Wenchuan, being a person from a thousand years ago, found it hard to comprehend everything happening before him, so Meng Yuan explained it in terms he could understand.

Families all sat in front of the radio, listening as Luo explained the banking industry’s mechanisms comprehensively and, using his charisma and authority, reestablished people’s trust in the entire economic system.

By early the next day, large numbers of people went to the banks to deposit the money they had withdrawn in panic just a short time before.

Within just two weeks, national bank deposits increased by fifty percent, and three-quarters of the banks resumed operations.

Subsequently, various new legal measures were rapidly introduced with decisive actions.

The Emergency Relief Law was published, allocating large funds to relieve the unemployed masses in distress.

The Agricultural Adjustment Law was published, with the state intervening to regulate and control crop production to bring supply and demand back into balance.

The Industrial Revival Law was published, demanding every industry set maximum working hours and minimum wage standards, granting workers the right to unite and negotiate collectively with capitalists.

Companies complying with this law would receive a special designation, and the state encouraged the public to shop at these companies’ stores.

The Securities Trading Law was established, creating a committee to oversee the entire stock market and combat financial fraud, false reporting, and insider trading.

The National Housing Law was published, reducing mortgage interest rates and extending loan terms from ten years to thirty years.

The Social Insurance Law introduced brought in pension and unemployment insurance.

Progressive tax rates based on income and wealth were introduced, with inheritance taxes being levied up to seventy percent at the highest bracket.

By replacing relief with labor, over eight years, a huge number of infrastructure projects moved forward—employing over eight million people, laying water lines, repairing buildings, constructing roads, and developing water conservancy projects—leaving traces of the new laws in every corner of the nation.

One after another, these laws unfolded before Wang Wenchuan.

At that moment, Wang Wenchuan, while absorbing a massive amount of information, also murmured to himself,

" Agricultural Water Law...

" Green Seed Law...

" Market Trading Law..."

Clearly, amidst the many laws of Luo’s reforms, Wang Wenchuan saw many familiar elements.

The Emergency Relief Law resembled Changping Warehouse, in providing grains from reserves during famine years to relieve disaster victims;

The Securities Trading Law resembled the Market Trading Law, supervising the market to reduce the control of major merchants, stabilizing prices and goods exchange;

Replacing relief with labor was very similar to the Agricultural Water Law, only the former involved direct governmental funding of projects, whereas the latter used interest collected from green seed money to repair water conservancy facilities.

More importantly, Wang Wenchuan vaguely saw something in these laws that aligned astonishingly with his approach.

That was state regulation!

Wang Wenchuan’s new law content was about using state measures to regulate the market, using the Green Seed Law to relieve farmers from the distress of high-interest usury, using the Market Trading Law to suppress the manipulation of the market by wealthy merchants, and then using this money to repair water conservancy and reclaim wasteland, further enhancing the national grain production.

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