Roland held Border Town's first high-level plenary meeting in the castle's reception hall.
Compared to the beginning when Barov and his dozen or so apprentices were the only ones to hold the fort, the City Hall had now grown to a huge group of nearly a hundred people. Among them were fallen nobles, the captured Knight and his squires, as well as the natives who had completed their primary education and obtained their diplomas.
Thanks to the growth of the population, the various departments had also taken shape one after another, so that the City Hall finally had a little bit of the prince's expectation. He no longer had to do everything himself like before, now he only had to explain some simple policies and programs, and the embryonic City Hall could break down the tasks to the various departments to complete, which made Roland feel very gratified.
The participants of the first high-level meeting were all the highest heads of the departments, namely the Minister of Agriculture Sirius Daly, the Minister of Education Scroll, the head of the Ministry of Chemical Industry Kyle Sichi (temporary), the head of the Ministry of Construction Carr Van Bate, the head of the army Iron Axe, and the head of the City Hall Barov Mons. The Ministry of Industry was still personally managed by Roland, after all, except for him, no one knew what industrialization looked like in the end.
Beside each person was placed a bucket of ice water, emitting bursts of cool air. The ice placed in the bucket was enchanted by Candle, so that it could be soaked in water for at least a whole morning. Even if it was scorching hot outside, the castle hall still maintained a cool temperature.
"Then each department separately report the recent situation," Roland took out the kettle from the bucket and poured himself a glass of ice water, "Let's start with the Ministry of Agriculture."
"Yes, Your Highness." Sirius got up and saluted, then spread out the prepared paper roll, "This time the grain handed in is about 17,000 kilograms, this amount is enough to meet all the Townspeople's food needs in the coming summer. In addition, according to your request, the Ministry of Agriculture will purchase the remaining grain at the market price, but this amount is far less than the proportion handed in, currently only 4,500 kilograms."
The so-called Dendrobium was a commonly used measuring container for wheat. It was a basket made of bamboo, so he only heard the number. He had no idea how to convert it into kilograms or liters. Fortunately, that was not important. The key was that he knew that the food he collected was enough to feed the townspeople.
The key point was the second point. If he calculated it according to the method of collecting 70% of the grain and keeping 30% for himself, the amount of grain purchased should be about 7000 kg. The portion that was reserved for grain and seeds for the next year would not be needed at all. In other words, some serfs did not sell the remaining 30% of the grain to the City hall, but chose to privately hoard it in wooden sheds.
Although he had foreseen such a situation, he still sighed softly when it actually happened. The purpose of hoarding grain was obvious. They planned to speculate and resell it. If there was a food shortage in the town, or if there was a natural disaster, their grain could be sold at a much higher price than the market price. It was not impossible for the grain to be sold at more than ten times the market price.
This was also the reason why Roland had set the grain trade as the exclusive business of the City hall, and the purchasers had to show their ID cards.The grain problem was related to the most basic stability of Border Town. In the early days, when there was still not a surplus of grain, if they were allowed to sell it, it would be easy for people to buy it and then hoard it, which would eventually lead to a rise in the price of grain. By using the real-name system to purchase grain, and at the same time prohibiting other sales channels, the grain price could be maintained at a stable level.
"Your Highness, why don't you force the purchase of the wheat in the hands of the serfs?" Sirius asked doubtfully. "In any case, the law doesn't allow them to sell it to others."
"Because it is their private property, how to deal with it is their freedom," Roland replied. "I didn't stipulate that the serfs are not allowed to keep their own grain.You can also understand it as, as long as there is no explicit prohibition, it is allowed. "
Sirius looked a little confused, as if he didn't know how to understand this sentence. It wasn't only him, most of the people frowned, only Barov showed a thoughtful expression.
"Is there anything else you want to report?" Roland drank a mouthful of ice water. This concept of emphasizing rules and procedures could only wait for them to slowly comprehend it in the future. In other words, once they understood it, they could be regarded as a qualified official of the new era. Of course, this method could easily lead to the other extreme and lead to the creation of bureaucracy. However, bureaucracy was still better than chaos and disorder or unbridled behavior.
"Uh … yes," Sirius Daly shook his head. "Now that the fields have been harvested, I don't know how to arrange the next year's fallow plan?"
"No, these lands will not be fallowed, next year they will continue to plant wheat," Roland waved his hand. "The piles of manure at the edge of the fields are prepared to fertilize the land. Next, you will instruct the serfs to shovel it into the fields, mix it with the soil, and then continue to pile new manure in the empty space. " In the hot and humid summer, it would only take two months for the manure to rot, while in the winter it would take about four months. By the next spring, not only would the quality of the soil have been improved by the first batch of compost, he would also have a new batch of compost that could be used as base fertilizer, so there would be no need to fallow the fields.
Not to mention the advanced fertilizer, just the use of human and animal manure in agricultural production would already be a great improvement.
"Well, if this is your request." He touched his head, "In addition … Your Highness, I'm afraid that one or two stone mills won't be enough to grind so much wheat. I want to apply for the construction of a mill next to the Redwater River, preferably powered by a steam engine."
"Yes," Roland nodded, this was a new breakthrough, in addition to himself, there was finally someone else who was trying to use this new power, "You first put forward your plan to Barov, and after obtaining the funds, you can work out a detailed plan with the Ministry of Construction."
"Yes, Your Highness," Sirius responded, "The last matter is the promotion of the freedmen, this time a total of 516 people were qualified for promotion, because it was strictly based on the amount of wheat submitted on the spot, so no one raised any objections, I have already submitted the list to Sir Barov." Then he once again stood up and saluted, "My report is finished."
"Well done," Roland clapped his hands twice to show his encouragement. This former young Knight of the Wolf Family now seemed to have adapted to life in Border Town, moreover he was also doing a good job in the City Hall, with a little packaging he would become an excellent publicity example, and in the future when it came to recruiting the fallen nobles of Longsong Stronghold and the Knight, he would be able to play a big role.
The second to give the report was Scroll, her long hair was coiled behind her head, she was wearing a clean and tidy white shirt, matched with a pure black skirt without any decoration or lace, she looked mature and capable. It was hard to imagine that half a year ago, she was still an exiled witch who had to hide from the Church.
"At present, there are two batches of people who have completed their primary education, a total of 85 people, most of whom have studied at the Academy opened by Mr. Carr." Her ability was a photographic memory, so when she reported the data she didn't need to do any preparation, this made Roland very envious, "Among them, 46 people have chosen to work in the City Hall, 21 people have decided to work in the bicycle factory, 13 people have applied to join the First Army," here she paused, "and five people have applied to work in the chemical laboratory."
Five people? Roland couldn't help but look at Kyle Sichi, the latter's complexion obviously didn't look good. It seemed that the publicity effect of the award ceremony was far from what he had expected, in this way, the three new laboratories might have to be idle for some time.