Hearing Ye Feng say that, Rowling's curiosity grew even stronger.
But Rowling knew she shouldn't ask too many questions; if she could, Nightwind would surely offer an explanation.
Rowling then said, "Then I'll wait and see."
Night Breeze then asked, "How is Elder Xu doing? How is his project to improve the soil with his spiritual medicine progressing?"
Without hesitation, Luo Lin replied, "These past few days, Elder Xu and Zhao Bo have been researching and experimenting together, and have finally discovered a spiritual medicine called Rejuvenation Powder that can greatly improve soil fertility and make the land more fertile. However, refining Rejuvenation Powder requires gathering a large amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, so Elder Xu's efficiency in refining this spiritual medicine himself is very low."
"So we still have to wait for the Spirit Network problem to be solved first?" Ye Feng gave a wry smile.
"I'll go and urge Qing'er to try harder," Luo Lin said.
"That child has already tried very hard, don't push him too hard," Ye Feng said.
"knew."
It's time for dinner.
Night Breeze, Luo Lin, Bauhinia, Chen He, and Jiang Wei enjoyed dinner together.
But Luo Qing did not come.
Rowling then asked, "Where's Qing'er? Where did she go?"
The maid answered crisply, "Miss said she was too tired, so she went back to rest first and didn't have dinner."
“You can’t skip dinner. I’ll go check,” Rowling said.
"Take some food with her," Ye Feng said.
"Yes, Ancestor."
Rowling then took some food and left Night Breeze's tent, walking quickly toward Luo Qing's tent.
There were guards standing guard outside Luo Qing's tent. As soon as Luo Lin arrived, the two guards bowed respectfully to her.
Rowling nodded in acknowledgment, then carried the food bucket into the tent.
As soon as Luo Lin entered the tent, she saw Luo Qing fast asleep on the bed.
Luo Qing was disheveled and dirty, and she hadn't even changed her clothes while resting; her shoes on the ground were also filthy.
"This girl is getting less and less tactful..."
Rowling muttered to herself, trying to wake Luo Qing.
But looking at Luo Qing's sleeping face, Luo Lin hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not do so.
It seems the ancestor was right; Qing'er is indeed too tired. In that case, let her rest well.
Rowling thought to herself, preparing to put down the rice bucket and leave.
But before she could even finish putting down the rice bucket and turning around, Luo Qing mumbled in her sleep, "I'm not getting married, Auntie, please stop pressuring me. You haven't even gotten married yourself, why should I be in such a hurry to get married? Wait until you get married first..."
Rowling paused for a moment, then her face turned furious.
Then Rowling slapped Luo Qing on the head, waking the silly girl from her sleep.
"Aunt, is that you?" Luo Qing asked, completely bewildered.
"Nonsense, who else could it be but me! I brought you food, eat it before you sleep. You're still growing, you need to get plenty of nutrition," Rowling said angrily.
"oh……"
Luo Qing nodded, looking confused.
Rowling didn't linger any longer and turned to leave.
Watching Luo Lin's departing figure, Luo Qing felt very puzzled.
Why is my aunt so angry when she brings me food? Who did she do something to upset her?
The sun is shining brightly.
The crimson sunlight streamed in from outside, casting a bright band of light on the ground inside the tent.
Night Breeze was sitting behind the table, deep in thought, and sketching on a piece of paper when Rowling suddenly lifted the tent flap and walked in from outside.
"Ancestor, did I disturb you?" Rowling said as soon as she came in.
"Of course not, what happened?" Ye Feng asked, looking up.
Rowling sighed and said, "Ancestor, Jiang Wei just came to see me, saying he hopes to send more people to the spirit stone mine."
After thinking about it, Ye Feng felt that Jiang Wei's request was quite reasonable.
At the spirit stone mine, there is only Jiang Wei and a few dozen guards for the time being.
Their duty was to protect the safety of Silla City, but now they're doing hard labor there, which is really a bit unreasonable.
“Then send them a hundred… no, two hundred people,” Ye Feng said.
"No, it's impossible." Rowling shook her head with a wry smile.
"Why can't it be done?" Ye Feng asked, puzzled.
"Because we're short-handed, we can't exactly send those women to mine for spirit stones, can we?" Rowling said with a wry smile.
Before Ye Feng could ask any more questions, Rowling had already launched into a long explanation.
“There are currently 100 people working in the cement production area, about 100 people working on Zhao Bo’s side, and 100 people are needed by Qing’er to solve the problem of the net-like spirit gathering array in the blacksmith’s workshop. 400 people are also needed for the construction of houses and roads. In addition, there are some miscellaneous tasks, which will require about another 100 people.”
"All these people together number eight hundred, while the commoners and serfs who came here with us number only thirteen hundred, including five hundred women and eight hundred able-bodied men. So I really have no one left to use."
Rowling's words made Night Breeze feel somewhat embarrassed.
Ye Feng hadn't really considered the population issue before.
Population equals labor force. Since Silla City has a limited population, its labor force is naturally very limited as well.
There are simply too many projects underway in Xinluo City right now, and the scale of operations is too large, resulting in a labor shortage.
"In short, it boils down to two words—we're short-staffed!" Rowling said emphatically.
"I really can't solve this problem. I can't exactly conjure up hundreds or even thousands of living people for you," Ye Feng said with a wry smile.
“So I’ve already told Jiang Wei to hold on a little longer. But this isn’t a long-term solution; it needs to be addressed,” Rowling said.
"Then what do you think should be done?" Ye Feng asked.
In the Lingluo Great World, commoners and serfs cannot leave their respective cities at will.
Because they were all the city lord's private property.
Therefore, recruiting manpower from other cities is simply not an option.
But Rowling actually came up with a solution: "We should recruit refugees."
"Recruiting refugees?" Night Wind asked.
“Yes, Ancestor, you may not know this, but some serfs who can’t make a living will risk leaving the city and becoming unregistered vagrants. Our empire’s laws do not protect vagrants; in other words, those vagrants don’t even have the most basic human rights.”
“Whoever captures the refugees can take them as their private property. Since that’s the case, we can also capture—recruit some refugees.”
Rowling explained it to Ye Feng carefully, and Ye Feng finally understood what Rowling meant.
Night Breeze asked, "Do you know where there are refugees?"
Rowling shook her head.
"Look, the problem is still unsolved," Ye Feng said, spreading his hands.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
