Chapter 268 (1/2)

Chapter 268 The first plenary session (Part 1)

Roland held Border Town's first high-level plenary session in the castle's drawing hall

Compared to the time when he had held it with Barov and his ten apprentices in naroup consisting of nearly one hundred people The group contained nobles, surrendered knights, squires, as well some natives who had completed the primary education and received their diploma

Thanks to the growth of the population, various departments could be formed in succession, which caused the City Hall to finally reach a size the Prince was satisfied with No longer was it as before, where he had to do everything on his own, at present in the case of a si as he explained the concept to the to the depart which filled Roland with a sense of gratification

The participants of the first high-levelwere all the heads of departriculture, Sirius Daly; Minister of Education, Scroll; the Minister of Chemical Industry, Kyle Sichi (temporary); Minister of Construction, Karl van Bate; the Head of the Army, Iron Axe; and finally, the City Hall Premier Minister, Barov Mons The Ministry of Industry was still personally ed by Roland After all, except him, no one else knehat industrialization looked like

A bucket of ice water was placed next to everyone, releasing bursts of cold air - Candle had placed an enchantment on the ice cubes, which preserved theh the sun was shi+ning fiercely outside, the castle hall stilltemperature

“Then let's start with each depart on its recent situation,” Roland took a kettle from the bucket, and poured hiriculture”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness,” Sirius answered, he stood up and saluted, then spread out a roll of paper he had prepared in advance “Currently we have acquired around 17'000 hu of grain, which is already enough to satisfy the townsfolk until next year's last riculture has according to your request also purchased the surplus grains in accordance to the market value However, this aained, for now, it is only accounts for 4'500 hu”

The so-called “hu” was a co ancient ti a deep basket made out of thin bamboo Therefore, even after he heard these numbers, he still didn't knoas supposed to convert therams or liters Fortunately, this wasn't the ih food to feed the all of the townsfolk

The critical fact laid in the second aspect, if the Ministry of Agriculture took 7/10, it would mean that the serfs had 3/10 which they could sell themselves and accuer than the arain needed to set aside as foodstuff and seeds for the next year In other words, so 30 of the food to the City Hall and instead chosen to hoard it in wooden sheds

Although he had already anticipated a situation such as this beforehand, seeing it turn out this way still caused hirain was apparent, they were speculating to resell it at a profit later - for exae, or was struck by a natural disaster They would be able to sell the food at prices her than the market price, an increase of ten times wouldn't be impossible

This was also the reason why Roland had decided that the City Hall would hold a rain transaction and also why the buyer rain operation was related to Border Town's stability, in case the grain transaction was unable to create a surplus during the early period and the sale wasn't restricted, it would likely lead to speculators acquiring and hoarding the food and in that way artificially increasing the food's price However, by using a syste to people who had an ID, while at the sa any other sales channels, Roland was able to keep the food price at a steady position

“Your Highness, why don't you force the serfs to sell their grain?” Sirius asked puzzled, “In any case, it's not like the law perive it to other people”

“Because the grain is their property, how they choose to handle it is their choice,” Roland replied “I never set a rule not allowing the serfs to hold on to their own food You can also understand it as, 'as long as it isn't prohibited, it is allowed'”

On hearing his reply, Sirius looked so hoas supposed to interpret this sentence And he wasn't the only one confused, , the only exception to this was Barov, as currently showing a thoughtful expression

“Is there anything else to report?” Roland drank a mouthful of iced water Only with ti rules and procedure Or putting it another way, the arded as a new generation of qualified officials Of course, this could also easily lead to another extreence of bureaucracy However, bureaucracy was still better than confusion, disorder, and people behaving unscrupulously

“Uh… yes,” Sirius Daly flung his head back, “Now that the fields have been harvested, I do not kno to organize next year's fallow and plow plan”

“No, the serfs can endlessly cultivate their lands, so ill continue to plant wheat next year,” Roland waved his hand, “Those piles of athered in preparation of fertilizing the land In the following days, you will start to instruct the serfs to shovel it into the fields, and fully mix it into the soil, completely clear it and h temperature and hu well-rotted co the winter season it will usually take fourof next year, not only would the soil's quality be increased by the first batch of compost, but Roland would also have readied a second batch of compost which could be used as base fertilizer Because of this, there was no need for a fallow plan

Not speaking about high-end fertilizer, just using human's and animal's excrericulture

“Well, if this is what you order” He touched his head, “Also… Your Highness, I'e ah to only lean on one or two stone grinding mills So, I want to apply for the construction of a mill next to the Redwater River, preferably a steam powered one”

“That's pretty good,” Roland nodded This was a new breakthrough - there was finally someone other than himself anted to try and use the neer “First of all, you should forward you plan to Barov, and after obtaining the funding for it, you then have to deterether with the Ministry of Construction”

“All right, Your Highness” Sirius agreed, “The last point is regarding the promotion to freed people At present, five hundred and sixteen people have obtained the qualification for the promotion Because the amount of wheat was divided and transferred on the spot, no one has put up any objections I have already reported the list to Lord Barov” Then he got up and saluted again, “That concludes my report”