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Chapter 796 - 796 57 Development Shift_3

796: Chapter 57: Development Shift_3 796: Chapter 57: Development Shift_3 Though the production of oil crops didn’t yield the expected products, Hudson didn’t abandon their cultivation.

The oil that was pressed naturally ended up in the stomachs of the domain people.

Had there not been an improvement in the nutritional supply, the long-term work of clearing new land would have worn people out early on and couldn’t have been sustained to this day.

Of course, besides these regular supplies, special holidays and significant events would present opportunities to improve the diet.

Compared to many other territories on the Continent of Aslante, the standard of living of the people in the Mountain Domain was definitely ranked towards the top.

The greatest beneficiaries were the younger generation.

They received an oil and meat ration comparable to adults, didn’t do strenuous physical labor, and their physical fitness improved significantly.

The most direct manifestation of this was: the proportion of people suitable for military service was constantly on the rise.

As for those with Cultivation Talent who were selected for the Territory Reserves from a young age and received individual training, there’s even less need to mention.

While cultivation resources might not be guaranteed, one thing was never lacking: the supply of meat.

“Count, increasing the fish ration by three pounds at once, won’t that be too much?”

“Why not increase the ration of dried fish by just one pound for now, and distribute the rest based on the specific performance of the domain people, as a form of reward.

Or add it directly to the food standards when organizing collective labor, to better mobilize everyone’s enthusiasm for work.”

Jacob said with a pained expression.

To stimulate productivity, although a system of household responsibility for output wasn’t implemented, specific tasks were still divided in agricultural production.

First, tasks were distributed based on households, and then progressively to families.

Who was responsible for which plot was clearly defined.

Come harvest time, those with high yields were rewarded with material goods, which could be processed meat and oil, as well as clothes, shoes, or daily necessities; those with low yields were only allocated the basic material ration.

Against this backdrop, the living standards of ordinary people in the Mountain Domain gradually began to diverge.

Hard-working domain people saw their lives getting better, while those who were deceitful and lazy continued to live difficult lives.

In a certain sense, this also amounted to an alternative household-based production system, within the rules.

Anyway, Master Hudson currently didn’t dare touch the serfdom system and land rights.

As long as these core issues weren’t touched, it was just an optimization of management systems, not a transformation of the social system.

An optimization of management systems, even if exposed, would just lead others to learn from it.

If social systems were transformed, that would be stirring up a hornet’s nest.

In fact, the political consequences would be much more severe.

There weren’t many crimes that could result in Major Nobles being stripped of their titles, but this was one of them.

“Hmm, let’s do as you suggest!

The Government Affairs Department should establish specific standards and integrate them into the reward and punishment mechanism.

The next focal point of work will be the streaming of the domain people.

Looking at the current situation, the food production capacity of theterritory can achieve self-sufficiency, so the intensity of opening up new land can be slowed down slightly.

Reduce the land reclamation target for next year by a fifth!

Transfer the labor freed up to other fields.

Domain people over thirty years old can keep their professions unchanged.

But career arrangements for the younger generation should be based on the actual needs of the domain; you can’t just send everyone to farm.

The Government Affairs Department must start working on this early.

We can’t wait for the territory’s food production capacity to become excessive before considering this issue.”

Everything is relative; with the self-sufficiency in food, strategic planning in the Mountain Domain also has to be adjusted.

Land reclamation work must continue, but the level of input must be reduced.

After all, other industries need to be developed too, and focus can’t be solely on farming.

Though having more food is beneficial, there is a limit.

Blindly increasing food production capacity without a market would just crash the food price, making it unsellable even at the price of cabbage.

In the end, it’s a population issue.

If there were millions of people in the Mountain Domain, none of this would be a problem.

Regrettably, the Mountain Domain only has over three hundred thousand people.

Even though Hudson has introduced many policies to stimulate population growth, it is still a far cry from solving the immediate problem.

“Count, merely reducing the reclamation target by a fifth might quickly lead to a severe surplus of our food production capacity.

In fact, starting next year, we will begin to see a surplus of food.

And this surplus will be very considerable.

We might as well stop the reclamation work to ease the domain’s burden.

Everyone has worked hard for many years; it would be a good opportunity to rest.”

Jacob advised.

Clearly, the Government Affairs Department was not planning to continue reclaiming land.

The consumption of food by people during labor and rest periods is starkly different.

Once reclamation stops, the food consumption of the domain people can be reduced by at least a third.

Just this portion of food would be enough for over a hundred thousand people for a year.

Along with the continuous increase in food production from the newly reclaimed lands, the final surplus can only be higher, so it’s no wonder the Government Affairs Department called a halt to the reclamation work.

“No worries, we can just build more granaries to handle the excess production capacity.

People tend to encounter problems when they have too much idle time.

The intensity of land reclamation can be reduced, but it must be gradually lowered.

Later on, we can slowly reduce the labor intensity and increase the domain people’s rest time, but they cannot stop working abruptly.

If there are not enough job positions arranged, then organize people for military training.

This world is not peaceful; warfare is a matter of sooner or later.

From next year, the previously halted Reserve training will be resumed.

Except for special positions, all the suitable young people in the territory must participate in military training.

Also, lower the threshold for the youth camps; as long as their cultivation qualificatioнs are decent and their parents have no criminal records, recruit them.

Set up a separate camp for girls, and choose girls with good talents for training.

I will take personal responsibility for the training camps, while the Government Affairs Department just needs to take care of the logistics.

With all this, the food production capacity will be more or less absorbed.”

…