Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 408 Food and Assessment
The long winter of nearly five months finally came to an end. When the warm sunshine appeared again over the land of the northern wilderness, it was already March of the following year.

The urgent task of spring plowing immediately faced Harvey and the territory city hall.

They had been fighting all winter long, receiving a steady stream of refugees from the south who had been displaced by war and famine, and the consumption of food and supplies had reached an astonishing figure.

Due to the rapid population growth and the fact that materials were only going out but not in, Harvey's pioneer territory's food reserves were in an unprecedented state of emergency. Harvey secretly felt fortunate that when he annexed the Grizzli Territory last year, he handed over the magic grain seeds cultivated in the territory to the Ministry of Agriculture, allowing them to forcefully promote them throughout the Grizzli Territory in the south, and harvest a batch of winter wheat before the arrival of midwinter, finally temporarily alleviating some of the crisis caused by the food shortage.

The next most important thing, of course, is to divide the crop seeds that have also been improved through magic into two batches - both Fengyuan City in the south and the eastern basin of the wasteland need to be fully deployed.

So on the day when the magic-powered train carried the pioneers to the Eastern Basin, Harvey convened a mobilization meeting for territory agriculture.

Not only the Pioneer Territory's Ministry of Agriculture, but also the entire Central City Hall which had just completed its restructuring and upgrading, including the Grizzly Territory's secondary municipal departments, and the Fengyuan City Municipal Administration Department which had arrived in advance, all relevant senior officials were summoned to the lord's castle by him.

Looking at the several long tables below the stairs filled with officials of all ranks, Harvey felt that even the Royal Court of the Grand Duke of Saint Valen was about the same size and size.

Judging from the area of the territory occupied, the size of the principality he currently controls... seems to be almost catching up with one-third of the entire territory of the Principality of Saint Valen. I just don't know what attitude and opinion His Majesty the Grand Duke, who is still fighting with the Wizard Kingdom of Daes at the border of the principality, has towards him, the wizard lord who raided his base camp without anyone knowing.

Putting his chaotic thoughts aside, Harvey looked around the hall and then gently tapped the wooden armrest of the chair.

The sound was not very loud, and the people who were originally whispering in their groups suddenly quieted down and turned their eyes to the lord.

Harvey pointed to the work documents in front of everyone and chuckled, "You must all be wondering why the spring plowing, which is carried out step by step every year, has to be labeled as mobilization and a full meeting has to be convened for discussion."

Indeed, the lord needs to [mobilize] to go to war abroad, because the vassal nobles and ennobled knights under his command are scattered throughout the territory, and it takes time to summon and assemble them. Similarly, food, supplies, horses and laborers also need to be [mobilized] - in addition to the food and weapons stored by the lord himself, it also takes some time and effort to squeeze out the temporary taxes and wheat from the pockets of the people.

I have never heard that farming requires [mobilization]. In order to have enough food to feed their families, there is no need for the nobles to urge them. Most of the people will take the initiative to cultivate the fields and produce food.

"I'm sure many people are well aware that I'm not a hereditary noble or a royal vassal. I originally acquired this pioneer territory by simply purchasing the pioneering order from the previous Earl of Fagan..." Harvey explained nonchalantly. "And the pioneer territory has only grown to what it is today because of the promise I made when I recruited the refugees from the wasteland... that as long as they worked diligently for me, they would never go hungry."

Ensuring that the people under his rule have enough food to eat, warm clothes to wear, and comfortable homes to shelter from the wind and rain... is the only way for Harvey to maintain the correctness of his rule, rather than relying on the granting of titles and conquest by force like other nobles.

"We've basically achieved this over the past three years. The Frontier Territory has expanded from a small desert town outside the border to a jurisdiction area close to one-third of the principality..." Harvey paused, his tone becoming serious. "But right now, our food production can't keep up with the population growth rate! If we don't pay attention, once the people go from having enough to eat every day to starving, our internal situation will immediately become turbulent!"

He motioned for the officials in attendance to open the work documents before them and explained in a deep voice, "Therefore, I require everyone to immediately prioritize agricultural development and grain cultivation. You must meticulously complete this year's spring planting tasks according to the work charter before you!" "Also, starting this year, municipal departments across the territory will undergo special assessments of agricultural development and grain production. Whether it's cultivated area, the number of farmers, or land output, these will become your assessments, and they will also become important criteria for determining your eligibility to serve as managers of lower-level municipal departments."

The new Earl of Fagan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately lowered his head and began to quickly read the work document. Not long ago, the Grizzli Territory had just issued a policy that the lord would use the so-called "dividend stocks" of its various manufacturing industries to exchange for land ownership from small noble landlords.

Under the threat of powerful force from the lord, all the small nobles voluntarily surrendered the land under their names. From then on, all the land in the entire Grizzli Territory was "publicly owned" by the city hall. This heavy burden fell directly on the head of Earl Feigen, who had just been promoted to the chief steward of the Grizzli Territory City Hall. How could he not be nervous and sweating profusely?

The meaning of the lord's words was very clear - from now on, the title of nobility here is just an honorary title. If you fail to meet his requirements, even if you are an earl... you will not be able to rule the city.

Although no one in the hall spoke a word and everyone was silently looking through the documents, it was obvious from their body movements and expressions that everyone was nervous.

This is exactly the effect Harvey wants to achieve. Only honorary titles can be inherited, but officials who hold territorial management positions must not be lifelong or hereditary. Only under the premise of competitive assessment can the vitality and advancement of the power institutions be guaranteed.

It all starts with the assessment of grain production.

"The assessment targets I set for the first year aren't too high. This gives you time to adapt and adjust..." Harvey patiently waited for everyone to turn to the end of the document before adding, "Only for grain production, I require you to reach the number marked on the document!"

There was a burst of gasps in the meeting hall.

"One hundred thousand bushels? Wheat accounts for 40%, and barley and other grains account for 60%..."

Harvey didn't find the crowd's reactions strange at all. After all, according to the normal grain production level of that era, a large city like Grizzly Territory with a population of 10,000 would have an annual harvest of about 10,000. Fengyuan City, with its more fertile land, could probably reach 15,000.

The pioneering territory, which has basically fully realized the "mechanized farming of alchemical beasts", achieved a terrifying harvest of 35,000 bushels last year. There was even enough old grain left over from the previous year to feed livestock. At that time, it was considered an astonishing "big harvest".

Of course, the actual harvest in areas outside the frontier territory is closely related to the land area and the number of farmers. It is really a fantasy to want to rely entirely on the primitive manpower and horses of the past to achieve the task goals set by Harvey.

"Don't worry. The agricultural alchemy beasts and the improved demonized wheat seeds are already ready." Harvey stood up and clapped his hands. He asked the territory's Central City Hall, headed by Reiner, to take the lead. "The Central City Hall will directly take on half of the 100,000 bushels of grain production target. So Fengyuan City and Grizzly Bear Territory... only need to meet the harvest targets of 30,000 and 20,000 respectively."

As long as they can make a good start in grain planting this year, Harvey believes that as mechanized planting technology becomes widely popularized in the territory, agricultural production that used to require a large population to maintain will release a large amount of labor - the fewer people engaged in farming, the more workers the territory's factories can absorb in the future.

(End of this chapter)