Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 502: Harvest Festival Surprise
When the rolling hills of the north gradually turn a brilliant golden hue, the fruitful autumn has officially arrived.

Unlike the gentle and mild temperature changes in the south, although the autumn in the wasteland is not as cold as the freezing winter, the sudden drop in temperature still forces most people to change into thicker cotton and leather coats. The busy workers who go out early and come back late even put on the most popular felt hats in Spark City.

Harvey held a summary meeting on agricultural development for the year on time the day after the harvest festival ended.

Although it was nominally a special meeting to examine the work results of the Ministry of Agriculture, in reality the entire City Hall, subordinate municipal officials from neighboring areas, and the governors of newly annexed cities in the southern border were all summoned to the castle.

Officials from more distant cities such as Silver Pine City, Black Mountain Port, and the old royal capital, Golden Radiance City, set off early before the statutory holiday for the Harvest Festival, switching between three modes of transportation: water, rail, and air, and barely arrived on time after receiving the city lord's transfer order.

This made Harvey more deeply aware of the advantages and benefits of "centralization" - if it were other traditional countries in the south that were still divided between the royal family and the nobility, most local lords and noble vassals would not regard the king's edict as a sacred decree, and as long as it did not involve their own interests and safety, most of them would adopt a perfunctory attitude of lip service.

A mere transfer order would force the ruler of a region and a city to rush back to the capital? Most people would probably think that what awaited him was not the King's warm welcome, but assassins lying in ambush in the royal palace.

In any case, this meeting has brought together high-level representatives from all parties in Xinghuo City, and is basically as important as the year-end high-level meeting held in early spring every year.

Harvey sat in a high-back chair at the end of the long table, looked around at the officials from all over the place with satisfaction, then raised his hand and tapped the table with his fingers.

The crowd who were originally whispering and reading the meeting charter suddenly fell silent and turned their eyes to the person in power they were loyal to.

"As usual, first report on the grain crop harvest in various places this year."

After the old Minister of Agriculture retired early due to illness, Ambichi Kenny, who was acting as the minister, was startled, looked around, and stood up tremblingly.

Harvey thought of the other party's nickname "Shepherd Knight" and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth slightly.

"Lord City Lord, according to the grain production tasks assigned in early spring this year, as of now, Spark City and its surrounding territories have harvested a total of 50,000 bushels of wheat, 70,000 bushels of barley and rye, and other oilseeds, sugar and salt crops..."

Before he could finish reading the report, Harvey, unable to contain his excitement, braced his hands on the table, raised his body slightly, and exclaimed in surprise, "A total grain output of 120,000 bushels? Has the statistics department verified it repeatedly?"

Kenny nodded. "After three rounds of verification, the first batch of grain to be handed over to the public warehouse arrived in Spark City yesterday. And this is based on the tasks assigned at the beginning of the year. Only Spark City, Grizzly Territory, and Fengyuan City were counted. The harvests from the independent cultivation of the people in the other newly annexed cities and the nearby mountainous areas were not included in the statistics..."

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
Harvey laughed heartily and couldn't help but applaud. "Hahaha! Not bad, not bad... I knew this goal would be achievable!"

The significance of the grain harvest to him was extremely important. In a sense, the golden wheat meant a steady influx of population and a large amount of fresh labor force, in exchange for an inexhaustible supply of industrial products and ammunition and weapons.

When setting this task, Harvey was worried that the sudden "nationalization and enclosure policy" and the popularization of mechanized agriculture would make these ancient people who were accustomed to the small peasant economy model unable to adapt to the local climate. The harvest target of 100,000 bushels was not so much a relaxation of assessment as it was more of a manifestation of lack of confidence.

Unexpectedly, it brought such an astonishing harvest. If we really compare... even if Orland and Isengard, the most powerful of the southern countries, united together, I am afraid they would not be able to fill the king's granary with such an astronomical figure.

After suppressing his excitement, Harvey immediately realized a problem and asked, suppressing his smile, "The total amount is calculated, but what about the specific production in each region?"

If memory serves, Spark City directly took on half of the 100,000 bushels of grain mission, while Fengyuan City and Grizzly Territory only claimed 30,000 and 20,000, respectively. Just because the overall goal was achieved, the merits and demerits of the responsible individuals in different regions couldn't be ignored. Harvey would absolutely not tolerate a communal administrative system where everyone gets to eat out of the same pot and act like a bureaucrat.

Kenny swallowed and said dryly, "The Spark City Farm and the Dongtuo Base have achieved their target of 90,000 bushels. Grizzly Territory just barely met the target. Fengyuan City... Fengyuan City, due to various factors, has only achieved half of its target."

Bang!
Harvey slammed the teacup in his hand heavily on the table. The splashing tea even touched Reiner's face, who was sitting closest to him, and was immediately vaporized into a wisp of green smoke by the high temperature on the surface of the alchemical body.

It looked like Reiner's mechanical brain was gradually overheating due to the high-speed operation.

It was rare for the city lord to get angry at a meeting. Although he did not directly name anyone or curse at them, his invisible power suppressed everyone so much that they subconsciously lowered their heads.

Kenny looked around in confusion, trying to find helpers who were willing to "rescue" him at this moment, but he found that except for the three alchemical creatures who were sitting upright, the rest of the people all lowered their heads and did not look him in the eye.

"What about the people in charge of Grizzly Territory and Fengyuan City? Can they evade accountability by hiding under the table?"

Harvey's cold words echoed in the hall, forcing Earl Fagan and another middle-aged noble to stand up tremblingly. The cold sweat on their foreheads was clearly visible, and they were obviously too scared to speak.

The governing and management positions of a city or a place are not lifelong or hereditary. This is clearly written in the basic laws at the beginning of the city's establishment. Once the tasks assigned by the supreme commander are not completed, the position will be stripped away and the person will be laid off in disgrace at the very least, or he will be directly imprisoned for dereliction of duty at the worst... The nobles who have surrendered to Harvey now only have honorary titles, and they have no soldiers or land. Once they lose the only real power they can rely on, the entire family will lose a lot of incidental benefits, and eventually gradually decline and become an ordinary civilian class.

The atmosphere at the meeting was tense to an unprecedented level. Reiner, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke slowly.

"The main reason for not achieving the set goals is actually my responsibility and that of the General City Hall..."

He stood up, looked directly at the work report in his hand, and spoke aloud, "Although Grizzly Territory has completed the minimum mission objectives, it should have harvested more... However, the city hall only promoted the popularization of agricultural machinery and failed to allocate sufficient enchanted grain seeds. Local people still used the same ordinary grain seeds, resulting in poor results."

However, he changed the subject and added, "However, due to the nobles' active surrender of land, the cultivated land area in Grizzly Territory has increased significantly this year. A large amount of fertile land previously abandoned by the nobles has been recultivated. I believe the profits next year will definitely not be low."

"Um……"

Harvey nodded in understanding. He knew very well that the City Hall had not been deliberately negligent. Rather, the enchanted grain seeds relied entirely on the natural magic catalysis of a few dozen hybrid elves such as Egno, and the total amount of seeds was always limited. After all, once the grain seeds were enchanted, they had to be sown immediately within a short period of time, otherwise the attached natural magic would quickly disappear. It was also impossible for these people to be responsible for only handling the grain seeds for the entire spring. There was a flaw in the source of the problem.

Fortunately, Harvey had foresight and reached a cooperation agreement with the elves and dwarves in advance. After borrowing the golden tree heart and the earth crystal core, and giving birth to the stone of life that could efficiently transform crop seeds, these problems were naturally solved.

"Is Fengyuan City also facing the same problem, which led to the poor harvest?"

Fengyuan City itself is a major grain-producing area within the principality. In the past, it used the primitive and backward three-field rotation system, which could guarantee a stable harvest of 30,000 bushels a year regardless of drought or flood. It makes no sense that after it was annexed by Xinghuo City, the production would drop significantly.

Reiner sighed and said quietly, "Part of the reason is the lack of access to grain and machinery. More importantly... a large number of Fengyuan City's former farmers have been attracted to migrate north due to Xinghuo City's population recruitment policy. As a result, many fertile fields have been left uncultivated."

(End of this chapter)