Father of France

Chapter 131 Land Ownership by the Military

Sikorsky helicopters have now been deployed to North Africa. The General Staff believes that helicopters have limited applications in Europe but are well-suited for use in the open terrain of North Africa.

This batch of helicopters was divided into five helicopter squadrons, with Setif, as the epicenter of the previous riots, naturally receiving the arrival of one helicopter squadron.

Koeman welcomed the arrival of the helicopter squadron, whose characteristics could not only be used to deter anti-French forces, but also to monitor and investigate current infrastructure projects.

The scale of the project in the Setif region was enormous. A standard town was not a big deal; 30,000 prisoners of war could easily complete it in two months, but that was just building houses.

The road and drainage systems are just appetizers. The key is that, as an agricultural area, an irrigation system must also be built. Irrigation systems require water sources and cannot rely on natural water sources.

The problem is quite simple: to build reservoirs, and not just one. Setif has planned three reservoirs, one large and two small. The large reservoir will have a capacity of over one billion cubic meters and will serve both power generation and irrigation systems, not only for the Constantine province but also for neighboring French Tunisia.

The construction of the reservoir could not be accomplished by the mere 30,000 laborers of Setif; it would certainly require the full strength of the entire overseas province of Constantine.

According to information received by the garrison, Paris has sent a team of water conservancy experts to Setif for an inspection, and they will arrive in the next day or two.

The Setif military court headquarters, now Koman's office, has been in operation for a month. He has sorted out the local situation and begun to implement what he had said to Commander Bonova: that everything should be centered on the interests of the military.

Real estate is nothing more than houses and land. As for cars, we don't need to consider them for now, given the current situation in North Africa. Therefore, the distribution of wealth is simply a matter of focusing on houses and land.

First, there's the issue of housing. In the standard urbanization design plan, Koman directly designated a military dependents' area. For towns with populations of 20,000 to 50,000, the planning naturally prioritizes single-story houses, leaving the issue of allocating apartment buildings.

Koeman transformed the area around the school, hospital, and opera house into a military dependents' area, constructing residential buildings of four stories or less.

These residential buildings will be allocated to the core of the French military and police forces. Regiment Commander Bonois highly praised this allocation plan, saying, "Captain Coleman is so young, yet he has a special affection for the army. His comrades will be very grateful to know this."

"Commander, this is all I should do," Koman said with a smile. "We must show our support for the military in terms of housing allocation. Only then will the residents living in ordinary houses realize the benefits of joining the army, and they will have no right to be jealous. This is what soldiers who fight for the country deserve."

Moreover, the residential buildings constructed around opera houses, schools, and hospitals can protect the safety of these facilities. As for non-military families, Corman will not drive them away. As long as they have money, they can certainly live in these residential buildings. France is a market economy, after all. Allocation can be skewed but not all channels can be blocked. As long as money is added, it is not a problem.

Besides housing, land is also a huge asset. Knowing that Coman needed it, Lefevere immediately produced statistics from the past month, which included not only current farmland data for Setif, but also projected data after the irrigation system was completed.

Following the Victory Day Uprising, which was swiftly and mercilessly suppressed by the First Army, Setif, the epicenter of the uprising, experienced the decisiveness of the Crusader descendants, and a large number of local residents went to see Allah.

Previously, a lot of farmland became unclaimed farmland, accounting for about 30%, while the remaining 70% of the farmland in Setif was occupied by French immigrants.

However, one-third of the total 200,000 hectares of arable land has become unclaimed farmland.

Koeman's goal was simple: "These farmlands can only serve their proper purpose in the hands of a fair military. By having these lands affiliated with the garrison, they can be directly allocated to tenants who need them. This has many advantages, such as curbing land consolidation and preventing land from becoming concentrated in the hands of a few. The garrison controls these lands, and the rent they receive is far less than that of ordinary landowners, which is also good for the local residents."

The Soviets said that "the bourgeoisie controls the materials of production" means that the decision-making power, process direction, and distribution of results in social production are mainly in the hands of capitalists, rather than the laborers who are directly engaged in production.

Koeman certainly didn't trust the bourgeoisie; in fact, he didn't trust anyone. But as a soldier, he had to work for the interests of his group.

Commander Bonova was naturally even happier. He didn't need to know what production materials were, nor did he need to know about land as a form of wealth; everyone knew the preciousness of land.

It's only natural that the largest violent group controls the production materials. However, Commander Bonova still said, somewhat insincerely, "Is this acceptable?"

“We are currently under military control, and the power to interpret the law rests with me. If I say it complies with military law, then it complies with military law,” Koeman replied with a smile. “Soldiers deserve this kind of treatment.”

Commander Bonova was very pleased with Koman, the young chief of the military tribunal. Who would object to strengthening their own group?

After Commander Bonova left, Lefebvre put away the documents. "Sir, if these lands are allocated to the garrison troops, will there be problems if production declines?" "Leasing them to other races won't cause any problems," Koeman replied calmly. "The remaining land belonging to European immigrants, although twice the size of the garrison troops, will eventually belong to the army."

Leaving aside the land annexation model of large Eastern powers where big fish eat small fish, even in the United States, which is also part of the Western world, land annexation has already begun and is quite serious.

There are nearly a hundred laws in various states of the United States that restrict small and medium-sized farms. The most disgusting one is that all agricultural products cannot be sold without certification. This means that if you do not have permission, it is illegal to give away your produce to your neighbors for free.

Applying for these permits every year is as complicated as going to court with an authoritative body in a major Eastern country.

In the early days of the Superman cartoons and television series, the Superman family never had to worry about surviving on their farm.

In the 21st-century adaptations, Superman, while reading, can instantly do the work of dozens of people. Almost every year, his family struggles to repay their agricultural loans, and several times they've considered selling the farm to his arch-enemy. Batman has helped Superman more than once.

Controlling production materials inevitably leads to control over economic resources, which in turn translates into enormous political and cultural influence.

At that time, the military can use lobbying, political donations, and media control to steer national policies, laws, and public opinion in a direction that benefits its interests.

Don't underestimate these unclaimed farmlands given to the garrison troops; they only account for one-third, maybe even less, of Setif's total arable land. Yet, they are enough to destroy most of the farmland in the hands of European settlers.

On the same basis, a large land area is an unshakable advantage. The more than 100,000 hectares of farmland owned by French immigrants belong to individual people, while the farmland in the hands of the stationed troops belongs to the army.

Subsidies on this basis, with the underlying purpose of the preferential subsidies, are intended to allow small farmers and landowners to sell their land to the largest acquirers when they can no longer operate. In the United States, this is usually a seed company, while in Algeria today it is the French army.

The ultimate winner returned various agricultural subsidies to the largest unit. Even without subsidies, the garrison could still achieve higher yields and lower prices on the farmland through transportation, purchasing stations, and even irrigation systems. Whenever there was any disturbance, whether good or bad, the army would not be the one to suffer the most.

The farmland held by the garrison troops will be merged with the farmland held by other French immigrants, and this process will accelerate.

So it may seem like just taking back the unclaimed farmland that was originally in the hands of the Muslim community because the owners were killed, and giving it to the garrison troops. But in reality, the farmland in the hands of the French immigrants was just a death sentence. As long as there are a few rounds of free market fluctuations, sooner or later the land in Setif will be in the hands of the army.

Koeman didn't need to explain this major trend to Lefevere; the truth was too cruel, and ignorance might actually increase happiness.

Since both Regiment Commander Bonova, representing the garrison troops, and Koman, representing the rule of law under military control, considered this a great thing, only the details remained.

Details are not important at all. For example, if the person who leases farmland from the military must be a man, military land can, in principle, be subject to similar policies such as land ownership policies that have been in place for decades.

This would help the French army in Algeria cultivate a large, dependent group.

However, women cannot be heirs. If an unfortunate man has only daughters and no sons, the land allocated to him after his death will still revert to the military.

When asked why this was being done, Koeman explained, "Women rarely participate in agricultural production, such as farming, and they are unwilling to do it. Therefore, this policy was implemented out of compassion. It also helps with population growth."

While Koeman was putting the military's interests first, Lefebvre was also diligently carrying out his work, keeping an eye on the results, and of course, handling the reception of the arriving Maronite immigrants.

“In the past month, there has been a very high growth rate in the number of marriages in Setif,” Lefevere mentioned in his report to Koeman, his face full of puzzlement.

“Someone is taking advantage of the loophole.” Koman knew what was going on as soon as he heard it.

The work-point system and the mother's post were implemented at the same time. Under the work-point system, men and women were completely equal. However, in heavy physical labor such as urban construction, women could not endure it. Even if Koeman equalized the material rewards or punishments through food distribution, it would be useless because the physical gap between the sexes objectively existed.

So it's perfectly normal for someone wanting to escape that unbearable workload to set their sights on motherhood; nobody's stupid.

(End of this chapter)