King
Chapter 698 - 698 15 Implementing Policies_3

698: Chapter 15, Implementing Policies_3 698: Chapter 15, Implementing Policies_3 In any case, the command was issued by the lord, and as stipulated, it should be executed.

It will slightly affect the speed of land reclamation, but the problem should not be too big.

Having reassured the excellent workers, he glanced at everyone and Lord Cain continued to ask, “Does anyone else have any questions?”

This was not for show; he genuinely intended to solve the problem.

Faced with the lord’s target of adding 60,000 infants within three years, it was impossible to achieve without hard work.

The greater problem was not simply having the children too, it was raising the survival rate of the infants.

Strive to control the infant mortality rate to within 25% after three years.

Of course, this data only included healthy infants.

If congenital problems existed, there was nothing to do, as current medical technology had no solution.

In reality, not only was the infant mortality high, child mortality was also not low.

The probability of an infant surviving to adulthood was less than half.

Any disease or accident could potentially take a life.

Even in noble families, the probability was not much higher.

Many clans became extinct not because there were no children born, but because the children could not grow into adults.

It was precisely because of the low survival rate that more births were needed.

Only by producing enough children could it be guaranteed that there would be successors.

“Lord Cain, is it true what you just said about a child receiving the priest’s blessing after birth?”

Upon hearing the old man’s question, Cain almost choked.

Was this the main concern?

The tradition of an infant receiving a baptismal blessing from a priest was a tradition on the Continent of Aslante.

However, with the decline of the clerics, this tradition had been abandoned in noble circles for many years.

The reason was quite simple: the complicated process of baptismal blessing could potentially result in the death of the infant.

Especially in the midwinter when being baptized naked, the risk of accident was much higher.

The clergy proclaimed publicly that this was a result of demonic possession, a foreboding person who could not withstand the divine spirit’s blessing.

This nonsense could fool the lower classes, but the major nobles who understood the nature of the clergy did not take this seriously at all.

Especially for those families who find it hard to have descendants, to risk it in a risky baptism ceremony was simply crazy.

What happens on top trickles down, and this ancient tradition was quickly broken.

In anti-clergy states like the Alpha Kingdom, even the baptism ceremony has been openly modified.

Asking a priest to make a token appearance counted as completing the ceremony – this was already the practice of devout believers.

“Of course it’s true, once the child reaches seven years old, the lordship will arrange for priests to perform a collective blessing.”

That is how Cain immediately remedied it.

Given that infant mortality was already high, tampering with newborns might warrant a lashing from the lord.

Wait until they are seven years old, when the inferior offspring would have been weeded out by natural law.

By then, it would not be a problem to hold a symbolic ceremony.

“That would be great, I will definitely make my son have more children!

The great Lord of the Dawn, finally, my family is about to be blessed…”

The old man clearly looked elated, his whole demeanor improved considerably, so much so that his piety made Cain frown.

He glanced around the room and found that several lower-ranking officials were showing excited expressions.