Jobless Reincarnation: Live Seriously Even Without Transfer Events

Lecture 1: Land, Peasants, and Taxes—The Shaking of the Empire's Foundation

(I) An old account from the village of Bouyena

Last month, a local historian from the territory of Fitoa sent me a precious document—a land rent ledger from the village of Buena, dating from 420 to 620 AD (the Kalon calendar). Two hundred years in total, an entire handwritten ledger. Upon opening it, I discovered a startling change:

In the year 420 of the Jialong calendar, one mu of high-quality irrigated land yielded an annual rent of eight dou. Farmers kept 40% and paid 60% as rent. A family of five cultivating 20 mu of land would have about 32 shi of grain left over in a year, enough to eat and wear, with a slight surplus.

In the year 520 of the Jialong calendar, the annual rent for the same piece of land increased to 1.4 shi (a unit of dry measure). Farmers kept 30% and paid 70% as rent. A family of five who cultivated 20 mu (a unit of land area) of land had less than 15 shi of grain left over after a year, just enough to make ends meet.

In the year 620 of the Jialong calendar, land rent had risen to two shi (a unit of dry measure). Farmers kept 20% and paid 80% as rent. If the harvest was even slightly poor, they would go hungry.

Why don't the peasants rebel? Of course they rebelled. But was it effective? Around 540 AD, three large-scale peasant rent resistance struggles broke out in the territory of Fytoia. What was the result? Emperor Auster sent in troops, and after a round of suppression, thousands died. Then the rent continued to rise.

(II) How did the land slip away from the farmers?

What if the farmers can't hold on any longer? Sell the land.

I found some data: In the year 450 of the Ankylon calendar, independent farmers accounted for 65% of the total number of farmers in the territory of Fytoia. By the year 550 of the Ankylon calendar, this number had dropped to 32%. In one hundred years, more than half of the independent farmers became tenant farmers—those who did not own land, relied entirely on renting land from others to cultivate, and had to pay more than 70% of the land rent.

Who got that land? Nobles, merchants, and royalty.

Around the year 480 of the Ankylon calendar, the Boreas family owned approximately 30,000 mu of land in the territory of Fetoia. By the year 540 of the Ankylon calendar, this had expanded to 300,000 mu. Emperor Auster himself was the largest landowner in Asra. He collected land taxes from the entire country and rents from the royal estates, managing to do both without neglecting either.

This is how the foundation of the empire was hollowed out.

Lecture 2: Cities and Workers – The Dark Side of the Metal and Steam Age

(I) The Rise of the Royal Capital

After the year 450 of the Ankylon calendar, the Asura Empire entered a new phase—large-scale urban expansion.

The population of the royal capital, Ars, was approximately 500,000 in the 440th year of the Ankylon calendar. By the 550th year of the Ankylon calendar, it had exceeded one million. Who were the people flooding into the city? Landless peasants. What could they do in the city? They went to work in factories, as laborers, and engaged in small businesses.

What is the cost of industrialization? Let me read you a passage from the diary of a factory foreman in the year 560 of the Ankylosaurus calendar:

"Three more people injured their hands by the machine today. The medical expenses were raised by the workers. The factory owner will not be responsible."

"Work starts at five in the morning and ends at eight in the evening. Lunch is a quarter of an hour, consisting of plain water and black bread. The workers all have pale and sallow complexions, but dare not speak out."

This was not an isolated case. It was the common situation in all Asura factories at the time. Workers worked fifteen or sixteen hours a day, but their wages were only enough to buy a few loaves of bread. There was no labor protection, no medical insurance, and no pension. Workers were like machine parts—if they broke, they were thrown away and replaced with a new batch.

(ii) Strikes, demonstrations and repression

Guess what the workers did? They went on strike.

In the year 600 of the Ankylon calendar, the first large-scale workers' strike broke out in Ars. Thirty thousand factory workers simultaneously put down their tools and took to the streets, demanding higher wages, shorter working hours, and improved working conditions.

And what happened? The street guerrillas opened fire. More than forty people died and more than three hundred were wounded. The organizers were hanged.

By the time Albrecht became emperor, such repressions were commonplace. I have compiled statistics: from 640 to 668 AD, the Asura Empire experienced at least seventeen large-scale worker and student movements, each of which was violently suppressed. The cumulative death toll exceeded two thousand.

Two thousand people—it doesn't sound like many. But that's only the number that was recorded. Who knows how many were not recorded, those who were secretly arrested and executed?

(III) Why are workers "dissatisfied"?

Some might ask: Why are the workers "unsatisfied"? The empire provided them with jobs, yet they want to destroy them?

That's the wrong question. The workers aren't ungrateful; they're desperate to survive.

In the year 650 of the Jialong calendar, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker in the capital was four silver coins. One dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice cost eighty copper coins. The minimum monthly food ration for a family of four was three dou of rice—two silver coins and forty copper coins. The remaining money had to cover rent, clothing, firewood, and medical expenses. Four silver coins were simply not enough.

In other words, a worker might toil from dawn till dusk for a month and still not be able to support a family of four. His wife would also have to go out to work, and his children might have to go to the factory as child laborers at the age of ten—otherwise they would starve to death.

When even the most hardworking people in a society can't survive, that society is not far from collapse.

Lecture 3: The Twilight of the Aristocracy—How the Old Classes Were "Periodically Purged"

(I) A single government decree brought an end to a family

I've recently been researching a family—the Aiolos family.

This family was one of the four great noble families of Asura around the year 400 of the Ankylon calendar. They owned the Usl territory and were incredibly wealthy. But by around the year 520 of the Ankylon calendar, they had fallen to the status of a mid-level noble family. And by around the year 580 of the Ankylon calendar? I found a detail—their last piece of land, a 3,000-acre valley estate, was seized by the Hyperion trading company in the year 520 of the Ankylon calendar because they couldn't repay their debts.

The last head of the family, Calliste Aiuros Greratter, retired and leased the land back to become a tenant farmer. He wrote a sentence in his diary:

"The land belongs to someone else, but the soil is still Aiuros' soil."

This sentence sounds tragic, but the truth behind it is that a noble family that had been passed down for five hundred years was "legally" devoured in one hundred years.

What will they rely on? Land policies, debt, and litigation. With this combination of institutional measures, the old aristocracy will disappear on its own without needing to be killed.

(II) The Rise of the House of Hyperion

Who are these new nobles? The House of Heberis.

Before the year 500 of the Kakuryong calendar, this family was merely a middle-class merchant household. How did they rise to power? By "taking over"—when the old nobles sold land, they bought it; when the old nobles were in debt, they lent money; when the old nobles went to court, they paid their legal fees. When the old nobles ran out of money and resources, they took over everything.

In the year 530 of the Konoha calendar, the head of the Hyperion family was appointed Minister of Finance. By the year 560 of the Konoha calendar, their family had become one of the top five powerful families in the capital.

The old nobility eliminates the new nobility, the new nobility becomes the old nobility, and then is eliminated by the newest nobility. This is the ecosystem of the Asura nobility circle.

But the question is—can this game continue forever? As land becomes increasingly concentrated in the hands of a minority, as farmers go bankrupt and cities become increasingly restless, can the game itself continue?

History has given us the answer: No.

Lecture 4: The Power of Ideas – Banned Books, Strikes, and Shattered Dreams

(a) The influence of a book

Around the year 610 of the Ankylion Calendar, a book called "The Cry of the Laborers" circulated in the Asura Empire. The author was a man named Lanno from the Wanglong Federation.

What is this book about? It's actually not complicated. It says that workers have the right to better treatment; farmers have the right to own their land; and everyone has the right to voice their grievances.

These few simple sentences were banned by the Asura Empire. Anyone caught possessing the book was imprisoned; anyone caught circulating the book was sentenced.

But could it withstand the pressure? No. After 620 AD, almost every worker had read this book. Students, in particular, all had a copy.

Once an idea is born, you can't suppress it. The more you try to suppress it, the more it grows. The more you try to suppress it, the more tenacious it becomes.

(II) Students—The Empire's Most Unexpected Enemy

When discussing ideas, we must mention students.

The Asura Empire established a complete education system—the Yars Imperial University, the Yars Polytechnic University, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Medical University… These schools cultivated a large number of talented individuals, but also a large number of “disobedient” people.

Why? Because the essence of education is to teach people to think. And the result of thinking is often questioning.

In the autumn of the year 622 of the Kakuryō calendar, students and workers from several schools, including the Ars Imperial University, the Polytechnic University, and the Faculty of Arts and Law, held a large-scale demonstration. Historical records indicate that over one hundred people died.

Among those in the march was a doctoral student named Helen White. What happened to her? She was shot through the chest.

Her classmate, Cafe White, later wrote a paper, *A Study of the Alsteid Diaries*, which became a foundational work in the history of Asura democracy. He concluded his paper by writing:

"Compared to those who shout slogans and demonstrate, I am just a tiny ant, only able to witness them using their own blood to build a new world that belongs to them."

This reminds me of a quote from Lu Xun: "Since ancient times, we have had people who bury themselves in hard work, people who fight desperately, people who plead for the people, and people who sacrifice themselves for the law... These are the backbone of China."

Every era has its share of such people. They may lack power and wealth, but they possess conscience and courage. No matter how high the walls of an empire, they cannot contain such individuals.

Lecture 5: The End of the Tide—The Empire's Demise Due to the Hearts of the People

(I) Colombell's "Three Fires"

In the year 668 of the Ankylon calendar, Colemanville ascended the throne.

He was more clear-headed than his father. He knew where the empire's problem lay—the people couldn't survive. So he did three things:

The redundant palaces were closed to save expenses.

Reduced spending – The royal family's food, clothing and other necessities were significantly reduced.

An imperial edict was issued to solicit honest opinions—allowing ordinary people to submit petitions and offer their suggestions.

If these three things had been done in the year 500 of the Ankylion calendar, the empire might have been able to survive for another hundred years. But doing them in the year 668 of the Ankylion calendar was already too late.

Why was it so late? Because public opinion is like water—if you pour garbage into it, the water becomes dirty, but you can still drink it; if you pour poison into it, the water becomes completely undrinkable. Auster poured poison, and Albrecht poured another bucket. By the time Colemville ascended the throne, the water was no longer water.

(II) The rebel army besieged the city, and the empire collapsed.

In the year 675 of the Gajong calendar, the rebel army besieged the city.

Who were the main forces of this rebel army? Peasants, workers, and students. All of them were people abandoned by the empire over the past century. They had no proper weapons, wore tattered clothes, and some were even barefoot. But they came.

Correnville offered no resistance. He stepped down from the throne, removed his crown, changed into simple clothes, and left the Silver Palace.

It is said that when he walked out of the palace gate, some people recognized him, but no one shouted for him to be killed or cheered. People just watched him quietly and then made way for him.

This is the final glimpse into the human heart.

It's not that I hate you, nor that I love you, but rather—you are no longer relevant to me. You want to be a commoner, fine. You want to be an emperor, no way. Because when you're emperor, our lives will become harder every day.

(III) The Legacy of the Empire

After the fall of the Asura Empire, the Democratic Republic of Asura was established.

The first law of the new nation was land reform—distributing the land of the royal family and nobility to the peasants. The second law was the Labor Protection Law—stipulating that working hours should not exceed ten hours a day and that the minimum wage must ensure that a family of four would not go hungry.

If these laws had been implemented a hundred years earlier, the Asura Empire might not have fallen. But history has no "what ifs."

What is the legacy of empires? It is a lesson: when a country's power is completely unchecked, when those at the top can do whatever they want, and when those at the bottom have no way to survive—that country is bound to perish.

Lecture 6: The Tides of History – What Should We Really Remember?

The Asura dynasty lasted for 251 years.

Gravel established "power," but power cannot win people's hearts.

Ariel established a "system," but the system was corrupted by people's hearts.

Rudius established an "empire," but the empire was ultimately corrupted by itself.

Auster and Albrecht established "fear," and fear will eventually be swallowed up by resistance.

Colombell established "conscience," but conscience came too late.

This series of names and events boils down to one question: Why do we need history?

Some say history is for learning lessons. But I say history is more about reflecting on ourselves.

When we see Gravel die alone in his prison cell, we should think: Is the top of power really that cold?

When we see Ariel exhausted at the age of thirty, we should think: how long can a person's energy last?

When we see Rudius choose to step down at the pinnacle of power, we should think: what is true wisdom?

When we see Auster consumed by fear in the latter half of his life, we should think: when you have power, will you also become suspicious?

When we see Coleman remove his crown and walk out of the palace gates, we should think: Do we have the courage to let go?

History is not the history of emperors, nor the history of institutions, nor even the history of the people. History is a mirror, and it always reflects ourselves.

The Asura Empire has sunk to the bottom of the sea, like seashells left behind after the tide has gone out. We pick up these seashells not to commemorate them, but to listen to what storms they weathered on the seabed.

And we are standing on the crest of a new wave.

[Conclusion]

Ladies and gentlemen, that's all for my presentation. Thank you all for listening to an old man talk for two hours.

I often say that the greatest happiness for historians is not discovering the truth, but conveying values. The Asura dynasty has given us too many lessons—political maneuvering, institutions, public sentiment, and conscience. Their value will not disappear with the collapse of the empire.

Finally, I'd like to share a quote I read on the last page of Cafe White's paper. He said:

"We study history not to praise the past, nor to criticize it, but to prevent the misfortunes of the past from repeating themselves."

Thank you all.