Chapter 1021 - Contract Responsibility System (1/2)

”Military expansion is not a trivial matter.” Ren Xiaosu explained to P5092, ”It still needs to go through a formal approval process by Commander Zhang.”

However, the Great Hoodwinker said from nearby, ”Commander Zhang has said that you'll be in charge of things in Stronghold 144 and its territories. He won't interfere with your decisions. Even if you submit documents for approval, they'll be rejected and sent right back. Right now, you basically have the power to act as you please.”

”Does Stronghold 144 have the budget for military expansion?” Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhang Xiaoman.

”Of course. After the trade routes opened, although the tax rates were very low, Stronghold 144 has become the richest stronghold in the Northwest,” Zhang Xiaoman replied. ”In terms of our local regional finances, we have more money than we can spend.”

”More than we can spend or do you just not know what to spend it on? Otherwise, the food shortage issue should've been resolved already. I've walked around the market recently and noticed that the food prices are increasing almost daily. This is a very bad sign. P5092, you can just take charge of the military expansion plans. The rest of us still have to resolve the major problem of the food shortage first,” Ren Xiaosu said calmly.

Feeling wronged, Zhang Xiaoman complained, ”It's not that we didn't try, but we faced way too many difficulties. If the Wang Consortium were willing to export food to us, we wouldn't have so many problems. I've already sent people to the Qing Consortium to see if they can help us in any way.”

”Even if there's difficulties, we still have to handle them.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”Be it the Qing Consortium or the Wang Consortium, they're all outsiders. Food is everyone's lifeline, and that's true for the Northwest as well. How can we rely on outsiders for something like that? Zhou Yingxue, I'm assigning you to grow potatoes starting tomorrow. We have to resolve the food shortage first so that no one will panic.”

Zhou Yingxue's expression immediately turned bitter. She knew she would definitely be asked to grow potatoes if the food shortage needed to be resolved.

If Zhou Yingxue were the one who planted the Potato Shooter, not only would the potatoes be bigger, but the Potato Shooter could also produce up to a 100 potatoes per day. With this crop, it could at least assure that the people in the Northwest would not have to starve to death.

”However, we can't just rely on potatoes to resolve the food shortage. We can't possibly make everyone eat potatoes all the time.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”Tell me, what're the difficulties you've encountered regarding the food crisis?”

Zhang Xiaoman said, ”We took over the Zong Consortium's strongholds not long ago. But we realized that we have to start from scratch just to survey the new land.”

”What's so difficult about drawing a map?” Ren Xiaosu frowned. ”There's so many skilled people within the troops who can do that. Send your 6th Combat Brigade to survey the terrain. We have to get this done quickly. Wang Yun, you'll lead the team for this purpose. I want to see results within half a month.”

”Alright, Future Commander,” Wang Yun said with a nod.

”What other difficulties were there?” Ren Xiaosu asked again.

Zhang Xiaoman said, ”We also have issues with the irrigation infrastructure and the terrain. As the soil erosion here is quite severe, a lot of places are unsuitable for farming. Of course, there's also some good plots of land. But it'll be quite difficult to construct irrigation canals through them since it'll require too much manpower and resources.”

”When will Ji Zi'ang get here?” Ren Xiaosu said, ”Don't post him to the inspection board for now. Have him lead a team to improve the irrigation works first. Great Hoodwinker, did you encounter any other earth-type supernatural beings when you were in the Central Plains? Poach them for our Prosperous Northwest.”

”No, there aren't any left in the Central Plains, but there's still one here in the Northwest.” The Great Hoodwinker said, ”It's just that he's unwilling to join the Northwest Army, so we can't force him.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. ”When did you become easy to talk to?”

”Ahem, it's not that I'm easy to talk to but this is our Northwest's policy. We don't force others to join us,” the Great Hoodwinker said.

The moment he said that, Wang Yun and the others looked at the Great Hoodwinker in silence. They thought to themselves, 'That's what you've been doing all this while in the Central Plains, so why would you deny it now that you've returned to the Northwest?'

Ren Xiaosu thought for a while and said, ”Can we get the people of Stronghold 144 to participate in the land recultivation efforts as well?”