Chapter 526: In the Court
After making simple arrangements for the matters here, Zhou Xu did not stay here any longer, but walked out of the village.
In their Black Moon Village, the studios of various departments are basically arranged in the work area, but there is only one exception, and that is the Ministry of Agriculture.
Whether it is raising livestock or cultivating the fields, it is destined that it is more appropriate for them to stay outside the village.
After the autumn harvest, as winter approaches, the work pressure on the Ministry of Agriculture will be much less, especially on the farming department which is a subordinate department.
But this does not mean that the agricultural sector has nothing to do this winter.
In fact, after the short holiday after the autumn harvest, members of the farming department should prepare for the spring plowing next spring.
It is still early to loosen the soil, but the work of reclaiming more land is about to begin.
After all, according to the news sent back from the front line, their Great Zhou has successfully annexed the Lizardmen. Although the tropical rainforest is rich in resources and the Lizardmen also grow their own food, judging from the situation, their food pressure is likely to increase.
In order to prevent problems with their internal food supply, they naturally needed to reclaim more land for farming.
"Okay, just stand here."
Standing at the edge of a piece of land that was being cultivated, Zhao Geng raised his hand and signaled the five lizardmen farmers who were following him to stop.
During this process, Zhao Geng didn't need to say much, because the attention of the five lizardmen farmers had already fallen on the working oxen and the human behind who was holding a strange tool.
The tropical rainforest environment meant that the lizard people had never seen a creature like a cow, let alone use cows for work.
The scene before them was full of novelty to them.
"This is a plowing ox, which is considered the main labor force in our farming sector..."
At this moment, as the Minister of Agriculture, Zhao Geng was undoubtedly introducing the farming and reclamation methods here to the five lizardmen farmers so that they could adapt to the work here more quickly.
The main reason Zhou Xu brought these five lizardmen farmers back this time was to try to grow the newly acquired crops here. The lizardmen farmers were more experienced in this work.
But they obviously came at the wrong time. If they want to conduct research, they will have to wait until the beginning of next spring.
But before that, Zhao Geng had no intention of letting them sit idle.
Although their superiors had assigned a lot of laborers to help their farming department with the work, when it comes to land reclamation, the more manpower the better.
The more people there are, the higher the efficiency. From Zhao Geng's perspective, no matter how many people come, he can arrange them, let alone these five lizardmen.
While Zhao Geng was busy training the newcomers, a member of the Agriculture Department nearby accidentally caught a glimpse of Zhou Xu standing outside the field, and hurriedly reminded Zhao Geng in a low voice.
"Minister, the king is here."
Hearing this, Zhao Geng was stunned for a moment, but did not show too much panic.
Because Zhou Xu had always implemented benevolent policies, did not like to put on airs, and was very easy-going and close to his people, the people respected him but were not afraid of him.
"Just keep watching here, I'm leaving for a while."
After giving the lizardmen a warning, Zhao Geng turned and ran towards Zhou Xu.
"Your subordinate Zhao Geng pays respect to the king."
"No need to be polite."
After signaling Zhao Geng to excuse himself, Zhou Xu quickly got to the point.
"I came here this time just to confirm with you the status of the new varieties of crops. I don't think the plants that were brought back with the soil will survive. But I think there should be a few packets of seeds. Have you kept them well?"
"Reporting to the king, everything has been properly stored. When next spring comes, I will have someone mark out a small piece of land and try planting it."
Listening to Zhao Geng's plan, Zhou Xu nodded.
He had wanted to talk about the lizardmen, but now it seemed that there was no need.
"Oh, by the way, the Armaments and Equipment Department needs to borrow a stone mill to grind crystal stones. This matter is quite urgent, so I need you to make some arrangements. Your Ministry of Agriculture should not need a stone mill next time, right?"
“No.”
Zhao Geng gave the answer directly.
"If the Ordnance Equipment Department needs it, feel free to use it. Just clean it for us after use."
Originally, Wang Dachui was supposed to send someone to talk about this matter, but Zhou Xu thought that he had to come here anyway, so he just said it casually.
At the same time, through this incident, Zhou Xu estimated that there might be many places in the Ordnance Equipment Department that would need to use stone mills in the future, and they might need to arrange a dedicated one for them.
With this thought in mind, Zhou Xu left the Ministry of Agriculture and went to the Medical Department, intending to meet Ye Yan, the director.
When he went there, Ye Yan was concentrating on studying the herbs in front of him.
These herbs were undoubtedly brought back by Zhou Xu from the tropical rain forest.
Ye Yan was so absorbed in the task at the moment that he didn't notice his arrival at all. Seeing this, Zhou Xu simply raised his hand to signal the other members beside him not to disturb him, and he turned around and left.
He brought back a lot of different kinds of herbs, so Ye Yan would probably be busy in the next few days.
After leaving the medical department, Zhou Xu continued his inspection work.
This was basically his arrangement on the first day after returning, so that he could have a general understanding of the latest situation in the village.
The next morning, Zhou Xu attended a court session. While listening to the reports from his ministers, he also discussed the development ideas for their Great Zhou in the coming year.
It was quite lively in the court that day.
The core topic revolves around whether or not to continue mobilizing troops to resolve the threat of the "rat people".
"This war has lasted too long. The long-term investment has almost brought our Great Zhou's development to a standstill this year. Soldiers on the front line have been constantly killed and wounded, and the population of official citizens has been declining."
"In addition, a large number of resources are concentrated on the front line, resulting in a shortage of resources in the rear, rising prices of some commodities, and the impact of long-term conscription and training on our internal labor force cannot be ignored. These are not conducive to the stability of our Great Zhou."
The person who was speaking at this moment was Zhang Xiaoshan, the village chief of Black Moon Village. It was not difficult to see from his arguments that he was the one who advocated a temporary ceasefire and rest and recuperation.
At this moment, voices of opposition quickly emerged.
"How can you only talk about the losses? Why don't you mention that in this battle we successfully occupied the rainforest area rich in natural resources? While recruiting the lizardmen to work for our Great Zhou, we also expanded the territory of our Great Zhou?"
The one who stood up and raised objections at this time was Li Shitou. In order to attend this court meeting, he rode here on horseback from Yanhu Village early in the morning.
As two followers of Zhou Xu, they had a good relationship, but they often quarreled because of different arguments.
"The losses of the ratmen should be quite large now. This is the perfect opportunity to seize the opportunity and solve this hidden danger in one go!"
"As for the population problem, hasn't Lieutenant Shi Lei been leading the team to recruit people in the mountainous area?"
(End of this chapter)
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