Chapter 571 - 351: Farming is the Top Priority (2)

Chapter 571: Chapter 351: Farming is the Top Priority (2)

Dragons of a slightly lower caliber were all sent to be couriers.

Zog was preparing to open transportation routes connecting the major cities of Sutton’s East and West Domains, as well as the first international route in the Pope’s Country.

This was considered the first step in expanding the courier business to cover the entire Continent, and even the whole world.

Furthermore, it would no longer be a single dragon running an entire route. Instead, a group of dragons would be responsible for a fixed route between two cities. Each group, led by one of the original courier dragons, would train some new recruits.

After all these arrangements were made, there were still nearly two hundred dragons left.

Naturally, they were to become the first batch of agricultural dragons in Feilin’s history.

These dragons were brought to a designated experimental field on the outskirts of the city.

Facing this group of bewildered young dragons, Zog decided to begin his grand motivational speech—er, ideological education program.

"Your mission is to learn how to farm."

As soon as he said this, the crowd of dragons erupted in an uproar.

Evidently, the young dragons were somewhat dissatisfied with Zog’s assignment.

’When has the Dragon Race ever done something like farming!’

But awed by Zog’s authority, they didn’t dare to express their dissatisfaction directly.

Zog let them murmur for a few minutes. Only when they had quieted down a bit did he continue speaking.

"Do you all think that being sent to farm is beneath your dignity? An insult to the Dragon Race? That a mighty Giant Dragon shouldn’t have to do such a ’lowly’ job as producing food for others?"

The dragons all nodded in unison.

The Dragon Race had always either hunted or pillaged when they ran out of food. Hunting was considered more dignified than farming because it involved the process of combat.

One could only say that the dragons’ way of thinking was a little bit surreal.

Even though they could beat fewer and fewer opponents nowadays, they still thought fighting was awesome.

"Narrow-minded! Too narrow-minded! Don’t you know that agriculture is the primary industry? It’s the prerequisite for all development, the absolute core of survival and growth."

As a case in point, Zog began to tell a little story about how the Giant Dragon Realm was destroyed.

Of course, this example was completely made up on the spot.

Back then, they had simply lost the fight.

"In the past, the Giant Dragons had no ability to produce their own food. They could only rely on hunting. However, prey is finite. And because they hunted too much, the prey population dwindled, ultimately leading to a food shortage. The lifeline of their food supply was strangled by other kingdoms."

Zog vividly described how the Giant Dragons of the past fell into a vicious cycle. They lacked food, so they went pillaging, which made them enemies. Other kingdoms refused to trade food with them, making their food shortage even worse. And because they weren’t well-fed, they couldn’t defeat their enemies, making their situation even more miserable.

It was a vivid, completely fabricated historical anecdote.

The listening dragons were all stunned.

’So the old Giant Dragon Realm fell because no dragon was willing to farm.’

’Wait, shouldn’t they have just captured subordinates to do the farming?’

Some dragons noticed the loophole in Zog’s little story, but due to their biased view of Zog, they chose to believe him anyway.

’It must be because back then, the different races all had their own Deities, so it wasn’t easy to capture subordinates.’

’Right, that must be it.’

’Why would Zog, who wants to rebuild the Dragon Kingdom, lie to them?’

After finishing his example, Zog began his closing argument. "So, if we want to establish a new Dragon Realm that can last, agriculture is something we must master. It must be mastered by dragons. This way, we can control the lifelines of other races, which is far more effective than simple pillaging."

After a round of bullshitting, he still needed a sufficiently provocative slogan.

"Agriculture will make the Dragon Race great again!"

Say what you will, the slogan was truly brilliant—concise and powerful. Plus, it was super effective against the physically strong but simple-minded Dragon Race.

Under Zog’s persuasive spiel, the nearly two hundred dragons accepted the job of farming.

Farming wasn’t something you could just do on a whim. The dragons didn’t lack stamina, but there were many techniques they needed to learn.

To turn them into qualified farmer dragons, Zog found them some very professional teachers.

He hired an expert specializing in agricultural research from the research institute, and then had Elsa find some veteran farmers.

This matter was a bit troublesome because Zog’s main areas of operation—whether Twin Tower City, Deepwater City, the Northern Domain, or the Royal City—weren’t big on farming.

These places were either industrial zones, political centers, or formerly engaged in fishing, hunting, and animal husbandry. None of them were agricultural.

Just as Elsa was preparing for a public recruitment drive, she had a sudden thought. ’A public recruitment would require screening and testing, and I wouldn’t know their backgrounds. But the folks from my old hometown... they’ve all been farming since they were kids.’

’Their farming skills aren’t bad either. At least in their region, their village is considered one of the better ones.’

And so...

"Elsa, dear, what did you say we were here to do again?"

Outside Deepwater City, a few people dressed in distinctive regional attire, looking much like Elsa’s mother did back in the day, asked curiously.

This was their first time in a big city.

Although they had never heard of Deepwater City, they figured any place with the word "City" in its name must be a big city.

In the countryside, the pace of change was felt much more slowly than in the city.

The city was completely different from ten years ago, but in the village, it was as if those ten years had never passed.

"Didn’t I already tell you? To teach farming," Elsa replied.

She had already answered countless questions on the way here. The villagers were curious about everything they had never seen before.

Only now, outside the city, did they finally start asking about their jobs.

They knew Elsa and her family inside and out. Plus, the family had made a lot of money and had always been helpful to the village, so when Elsa said there was work, they simply came along.

Trust!

"Teaching people how to farm?"

"Uh, more or less. You’re teaching farming."

Elsa had clearly learned some bad habits. She had become quite adept at Zog’s tactic of "omitting key information is not the same as lying."

"Huh, you see all sorts of things these days. To think someone would hire us to teach farming."

Of course, it wasn’t *people* they would be teaching.

Elsa was too embarrassed to say.

"Are you sure we’ll each get twenty Silver Coins a month for wages?"

"I’m very sure about that. You definitely won’t be shorted on your wages."

The Zog Group never skimped on money. There was no need to. Wages were always paid at the beginning of the month.

"Really, that much? Heavens, that’s more than I make in half a year of farming! Is there really such easy money to be made? Sigh, then Elsa, how much do you make in a month? It must be several times this, right?"

"Haha..." Elsa laughed a little awkwardly. "A few times, I suppose."

"Well, since your job is so stable, why aren’t you married yet...?"

Elsa fell silent. Every time this happened, she felt the urge to just tell everyone she was into women.

However, her silence did nothing to dampen the villagers’ enthusiasm for awkward small talk.

The group arrived at the experimental field, excited to earn these "free" Silver Coins.

Then, they saw over a hundred pairs of large, vertically-pupiled eyes staring at them.

Now, it was the villagers’ turn to fall silent.

...

"How are those dragons doing with their farming lessons?" Zog asked.

"They’re making rapid progress," Elsa replied. "With Doudou’s help, the teachers quickly got familiar with the dragons. And it turns out these dragons are very good at farming."

"Good in what way?"

"They have great memories and are quick with their movements. Most of them are also quite meticulous; they make the fields incredibly orderly."

"Alright, looks like their OCD genes are kicking in."

The Dragon Race did, in fact, have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies. The treasures they collected weren’t just piled up chaotically but were sorted and arranged, especially their favorite categories.

Just like how in Zog’s Gold Coin Pool, there couldn’t be any Silver Coins, Copper Coins, or any other strange types of currency.

Otherwise, how could it be called a Gold Coin Pool?

"It’s estimated that before long, they’ll be ready to shoot a promotional demonstration video."

"Excellent. Have the routes to the cities in the East and West Domains and the Pope’s Country that support online shopping been established?"

"The trial operation starts tomorrow. The local merchants are very willing to open online stores."

"In that case, to help online shopping take off quickly in these cities, let’s run a big sales promotion."

"Ah, but the last promotion..."

During its first official launch, Zog’s e-commerce platform had held a rather large promotion. However, due to the extremely high concurrent traffic, it experienced severe lag.

The Divine Remains had also undergone a strange transformation—cracks had appeared on the Spirit Body Egg.

"Last time, there was a problem with the Magic programming, but that’s been fixed. Besides, I was thinking, since the Divine Remains looks like an egg, shouldn’t it..."

Zog said with a serious expression, "be able to hatch something."