Above the mage

Chapter 381 Census Results

In addition to the construction of fencing, the entire camp is becoming increasingly formalized.

The detached stone houses that can be lived in for a long time have been built and stand alongside the tall sentry posts outside the fence.

The number of people in the camp has increased to nearly three hundred.

This is because more and more Ice-blooded mages within the clan are beginning to form bonds with their own sacred objects and simultaneously cultivate the "Azure Wood Longevity Scripture".

And the sacred objects they bound together were, without exception, planted in the domain opened up by Yogathhira.

This means that this forest is becoming increasingly important to the Zhenbing tribe.

In the foreseeable future, the number of members of the Sacred Tree Guard will only continue to increase.

This is taking up valuable Iceborn Mage resources from the Zhenbing Tribe.

Having a monk act as a forest ranger is actually a huge waste of "resources," much like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

But we have no choice but to do it.

After all, sacred objects are too crucial for monks who practice the "Azure Wood Longevity Scripture," and they cannot afford not to guard them.

But now, a solution is in front of us.

As long as Yugathira's enlightenment abilities can be fully utilized, the forest ranger mission can be completely taken over by the Treant race.

"Lady Flora, please direct the planting of trees first. As for these magical tree seeds, I will take them back to the clan's mages to form a bond with them." While thinking this, Gao De whispered to Flora.

"Leave it to Lady Flora," Flora said, puffing out her chest.

Planting trees has always been her favorite thing to do, and Gaode didn't need to bother to "coax" her.

Gao De took out the ordinary tree seeds and gave them all to Flora, while he took the magic tree seeds back to Phoenix.

Besides the tree species, Gao De also brought back twenty bottles of the [Rapid Digging] spell potion that had already been prepared to the North.

Using these twenty bottles of magical potions, the North can acquire twenty mages skilled in [Rapid Excavation] within half a year.

It will play a significant role in the upcoming Phoenix expansion project and even the tunnel construction project in the Vallar Mountains.

Gao De did not linger in Vallar Bay. He immediately mounted his snow wolf and headed towards Phoenix.

Compared to three months ago, the simple road between Vallar Bay and Phoenix has been widened slightly.

This is because the connections between the two locations are becoming more frequent, leading to expansions based on demand.

However, the travel time between the two locations via Gaode Maps hasn't changed much.

To truly shorten the travel time between the two places, the most important thing is to dig through the Walar Mountains, eliminating the need to go up and down the mountain.

A day and a half later, Gao De was already sitting in his office at Phoenix City Hall, looking at the reports that had been prepared for his review.

The report is about the census.

Before leaving the North last time, Goddard instructed Sunefa to organize the "First Population Census of the Zhenbing Tribe".

Although limited by the conditions in the North, the census was less efficient.

However, the total population of the Zhenbing tribe is only over 500,000, so the workload is not that large.

Furthermore, under the war mother system of the Zhenbing tribe, the cooperation of tribe members in the census is surprisingly high, and there will be no "troublemakers".

So the first population census was actually completed successfully before the Lunar New Year.

As required by Gaode Maps, during the population census, a comprehensive survey and registration of the current population of Zhenbing Tribe will be conducted, including the total number of households, the number of people in each household, their gender, and their specific ages.

The two reports on the table are the final census results.

One report is a census report on the Zhenbing tribe's indigenous people, and the other is a summary of the population of other small and medium-sized tribes in the North who have joined Phoenix in the past six months.

Gao De first opened the Zhenbing Tribe census report with great interest and carefully browsed it:

Number of households: 125003

Total Population: 523456

[Gender Ratio]: Male population 268732; Female population 254724

There are slightly more men than women in the Zhenbing tribe. In this way of life, which is similar to that of a primitive tribe, men with stronger physique and strength have a natural advantage.

Therefore, even under the system of the War Mother, the male population of the Zhenbing tribe was slightly greater than that of the female population.

This precisely demonstrates that demand determines everything.

Age distribution:

0-12 years old: 99456 people;

13-40 years old: 329777 people;

41-60 years old: 78518 people;

61 years and older: 15703 people (including 10245 Iceborn mages);

The age distribution also meets Gaode's expectations.

In the harsh conditions of the North, most people do not live to the expected lifespan of 75 years.

Therefore, the proportion of elderly people in the population is extremely low, less than three percent.

This data is only available even with 20,000 Iceborn mages in the Zhenbing tribe.

The lifespan of a Dharma Master's apprentice is the same as that of an ordinary person, which is 75 years.

A first-ring mage's lifespan increases to 150 years, a second-ring mage's lifespan is 225 years, a third-ring mage's is 375 years, and a fourth-ring mage's lifespan is as high as 600 years.

Excluding the Iceborn mages, there are actually only 5458 ordinary members of the Zhenbing tribe who live to be over sixty years old.

Of course, for the rapidly developing North, this age distribution is actually a good thing.

This means there is an abundant labor force and high population potential.

However, Gaode Maps still focused on drawing a circle based on the age distribution.

"We want more than 95% of our people to live past sixty," Gao De said softly to Sunaifa, who was standing silently to the side.

Development is not for his own benefit, but to enable everyone to live a good life.

"With Northwest Barley No. 1, it was foreseeable that our people would no longer need to brave the wind and snow to hunt for food, nor would they suffer from hunger," Sunafa said.

Why do people from the North often not live past sixty?

Firstly, hunting is an extremely dangerous activity, and injuries or even death are common occurrences.

Secondly, there was a shortage of food, coupled with a famine that occurred every three or four years. When necessary, food could only be allocated to the tribe's able-bodied members first, then children, and finally the elderly.

It is fair to say that many elderly people starved to death.

The emergence of Northwest Barley No. 1 simultaneously erased both of these events from history.

Given the robust physique of the Northerners, as long as there is sufficient food, living past sixty or even seventy years old is not difficult at all.

"Another point is that with such a high proportion of children in the ethnic group, education is of paramount importance. The expansion and development of the Ministry of Education should be given the highest priority," Gao De emphasized, pointing to the line showing the number of children aged 0-12.

"My King, the construction of the school is not a major problem. The biggest challenge is still the teachers." Sunafa's deep blue eyes were filled with helplessness.

This is the North's Achilles' heel.

In the Zhenbing tribe alone, there are nearly 100,000 children of school age.

However, the number of teachers is less than fifty.

The shortage of teachers is so great that even Gaode (the platform) is having a headache.

Even if all the cultivators in Haiyinrong Orphanage were transported to the Northern Territory, it would be a drop in the ocean.

How exactly should this gap be filled?

Gao De rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

Finally, he shook his head, deciding to put this thorny problem aside for the time being and continue reading.

The last part of the report was a special statistic on the number of Iceborn mages in the clan.

[Special Statistics on Iceborn Mages]:

Iceborn Mages of the Fourth Ring: 4 people

Iceborn Mage of the Third Ring: 207 people

Iceborn Mage of the Second Ring: 1056 people

Iceborn Mage (First Ring): 11345 people

Dharma apprentices: 4765

Compared to a population of over 500,000, the number of mages in the Zhenbing tribe is undoubtedly a very impressive figure.

At least in the whole world, no country has a ratio of mages to population that can reach this figure.

However, Gaode Maps was still not satisfied with this.

In a world where extraordinary powers exist, these powers should be developed into productive forces, rather than merely used as military force.

He also circled this module and then wrote four words next to it: "All People's Master".

Yes, this is Gaode's most important plan for the future of the Northern Territory.

He plans to include mage education in the most basic universal education, so that all children in the North, regardless of whether they have Iceborn blood, can receive free mage education in the future.

Gao De didn't expect these children to become powerful mages; he only hoped they could become mage apprentices and master one or two specialized spells.

The problem is the same:

There is a shortage of teachers.

After putting down the Zhenbing Tribe census report, Gaode opened another summary of data on the migrant population.

After the Zhenbing tribe announced its willingness to allow other small and medium-sized tribes to join, Phoenix experienced a surge in population growth.

In the northern human tribes, apart from the three large tribes of True Ice, Winterhammer, and Frostwolf Clan, which have a population of over 500,000, the other medium and small tribes generally have fewer than 100,000 people.

Some small tribes may have a total population of only one or two thousand people.

While individual tribes may not number in large numbers, there are many such small and medium-sized tribes on the vast snowfields.

Although there are no accurate statistics, there are certainly thousands of tribes.

Furthermore, the age distribution of the population in each tribe is mostly the same as that of the Zhenbing tribe, with very few elderly people and mostly young adults and children.

This means that the North has a very large population potential.

This large untapped population, if fully absorbed, would be enough to sustain the Zhenbing tribe's development for a long time.

During this period, twenty-nine tribes from various parts of the snowfields came to Phoenix to surrender, with a total population of about 250,000.

This is already half of the original population of the Zhenbing tribe.

Of course, this is a number that the Zhenbing tribe can easily support today.

Jinhui Farm continues to expand, and the area of ​​reclaimed land has already reached 600,000 mu.

The North has never lacked land; what it lacks are crops that can grow on the snowfields.

That means that the population of Phoenix is ​​now actually over one million.

Gao De put down the report in his hand and let out a long sigh.

"My king, as you said, we have gained some additional information during the census." Sunafa said softly after seeing that God had finished reading the two reports.

"Tell me about it," Gao De said with a smile.

"One aspect is the census process, which is also a preliminary assessment of the clan members."

"In this process, we discovered that many tribesmen actually have unique insights and experience in various skills such as hunting and farming."

"So I took the opportunity to have these experiences and insights compiled, and at the same time, I had these people act as mentors to promote them in the tribe and improve the overall technical level of the tribe."

"Another benefit is that the census process can make people realize that they are part of the tribe as a whole, feel the tribe's attention to them, and thus enhance their sense of belonging and identity with the tribe."

"Actually, as we started to absorb other tribes, the tribespeople had a lot of complaints. They felt that they had contributed so much to the tribe, and now that the tribe was finally doing well, outsiders were receiving the same treatment as them."

"This census made them realize that they are different from the newer outsiders, which played a role in stabilizing their hearts."

"Finally," Sunefa paused, then slowly continued, "through the census, we discovered many 'rats' lurking in Phoenix. We don't have a systematic management system, so they don't need to do much to hide and can easily infiltrate Phoenix."

"Once the census began, their fabricated identities became full of errors and we immediately exposed them."

"How did you deal with these rats?" Gao De asked with great interest.

"Just like before, go to their tribe and have them bring supplies to ransom them." Sunafa's deep blue eyes were calm as still water.

As for whether these tribes will obediently comply, Sunafa's feat of easily defeating two war mothers from the other two tribes by taking on two at once speaks for itself.

Despite his youth, Sunefa is undoubtedly the number one person in the North, and his deterrent power has already reached its peak.

"Population absorption continues, but Phoenix's expansion plan needs to be put on the agenda," Gao De said slowly.

The population data shows that Phoenix is ​​about to exceed its capacity limit.

If the expansion doesn't start soon, everyone's lives will be affected.

This is what is known as a drop in satisfaction.

"The daily grain output reported by the Ministry of Agriculture is approaching 500,000 kilograms, which is enough to support us in allocating a large number of people to start expanding Phoenix. The main issue is the direction and strategy for the expansion. We are waiting for your decision," Sunefa said.

"First, select twenty second-ring mages within the clan and distribute the [Rapid Mining] spell potions and spell recipes to them," Gao De said after thinking for a moment.

Learning first-level spells with a second-level mage is extremely efficient; it can usually be completed within ten days.

"As for the expansion direction of Phoenix," Gold paused, then continued, "Give me a few days, and I'll draw up a rough plan for you."

He already had a preliminary idea of ​​the specific expansion plan in mind.

However, he ultimately studied mathematics, not civil engineering, so drawing was not an easy task for him and required time.

"Let's leave it at that for now," Gao De stood up and said with a smile, "Now, let me go see if the two 'princesses' are getting used to being here."

(End of this chapter)