Chapter 476: Population Census Results

Besides the establishment of the perimeter fence, the entire camp was becoming increasingly formalized.

Single-family stone houses suitable for long-term residence had been built, standing alongside tall watchtowers outside the fence.

The population within the camp had grown to nearly three hundred.

This was because an increasing number of Iceborn mages within the tribe were forming pacts with their sacred relics while also practicing the Greenwood Longevity Scripture.

And the sacred relics they had pact-bound were, without exception, planted within the domain opened by Yggathshira.

This meant that this forest was growing ever more vital to the Iceborn Tribe.

In the foreseeable future, the number of Sacred Tree Guardians would only continue to increase.

This consumed the Iceborn Tribe’s precious Iceborn mage resources.

Assigning mages as forest wardens was, in truth, a massive waste of resources—like using an ox to kill a chicken.

Yet it could not be avoided.

After all, sacred relics were far too crucial for mages practicing the Greenwood Longevity Scripture; they could not be left unguarded.

But now, a solution lay right before them.

If Yggathshira’s enlightenment ability could be fully utilized, the forest guarding duty could be entirely taken over by the Treefolk.

“Lady Flora, please direct the tree planting first; as for these magic tree seeds, I’ll take them back to Phoenix for the tribe’s mages to pact-bind.” As he thought this, Gao De softly proposed to Flora.

“Leave it to Lady Flora,” Flora said, puffing out her chest.

Planting trees had always been her favorite task; she needed no coaxing from Gao De.

Gao De handed over all the ordinary tree seeds to Flora, while keeping the magic tree seeds to bring back to Phoenix.

In addition to the seeds, Gao De brought back to the Northern Frontier twenty vials of the pre-mixed [Rapid Excavation] spell potion.

With these twenty vials, the Northern Frontier could gain twenty mages trained in [Rapid Excavation] within half a year.

They would play a crucial role in Phoenix’s upcoming expansion plan and the tunnel construction project through Mount Varal.

Gao De did not linger in Varal Bay; he immediately mounted his snow wolf and headed for Phoenix.

Compared to three months ago, the simple path between Varal Bay and Phoenix had widened slightly.

This expansion was driven by increasingly frequent travel between the two locations, responding to demand.

Yet the time required for Gao De to travel between them had not changed much.

To truly shorten travel time between the two places, the most important step was to tunnel through Mount Varal and eliminate the need to climb up and down.

One and a half days later, Gao De sat in his office at the Phoenix City Hall, reviewing reports already prepared for his approval.

The reports were about the population census.

Before leaving the Northern Frontier last time, Gao De instructed Su Nai to organize the “First Population Census of the Iceborn Tribe.”

Although limited by the Northern Frontier’s conditions, the census efficiency was low.

But the Iceborn Tribe’s total population was only slightly over five hundred thousand, so the workload was not excessive.

Moreover, under the Iceborn Tribe’s War-Mother system, tribal members cooperated with the census with astonishingly high compliance—no “troublesome civilians” existed.

Thus, the first population census had already been successfully completed by the end of last year.

As per Gao De’s instructions, the census conducted a comprehensive, household-by-household, person-by-person registration of the Iceborn Tribe’s current population, recording the number of households, population per household, gender, and exact age.

The two documents on the desk were the final census results.

One was the census report for the Iceborn Tribe’s indigenous population; the other was a summary of the population from other medium and small Northern Frontier tribes that had joined Phoenix in the past six months.

Gao De opened the Iceborn Tribe’s census report with interest and read it carefully:

[Household Count]: 125,003 households

[Total Population]: 523,456 people

[Gender Ratio]: 268,732 males; 254,724 females

Males slightly outnumbered females. Under the Iceborn Tribe’s primitive tribal lifestyle, males, with greater physical strength and power, held a natural advantage.

Thus, even under the War-Mother system, the Iceborn Tribe’s male population slightly exceeded the female.

This precisely demonstrated that demand determines everything.

[Age Distribution]:

0–12 years: 99,456 people;

13–40 years: 329,777 people;

41–60 years: 78,518 people;

61 years and above: 15,703 people (of whom 10,245 were Iceborn mages);

The age distribution matched Gao De’s expectations.

Under the harsh conditions of the Northern Frontier, most people simply did not live to the expected lifespan of seventy-five.

Thus, the elderly made up a tiny fraction of the population—less than three percent.

This was even with twenty thousand Iceborn mages in the tribe.

Mage apprentices had the same lifespan as ordinary people: seventy-five years.

First-ring mages lived to one hundred fifty, second-ring to two hundred twenty-five, third-ring to three hundred seventy-five, and fourth-ring mages lived up to six hundred years.

Excluding Iceborn mages, only 5,458 ordinary tribal members actually lived past sixty.

Yet for the rapidly developing Northern Frontier, this age distribution was actually beneficial.

It meant abundant labor and high population potential.

Still, Gao De circled the 0–12 age group.

“We must ensure over ninety-five percent of our people live past sixty,” Gao De said, raising his head to speak softly to Su Nai, who stood silently beside him.

Development was not for him alone—it was for everyone to live well.

“With Northwest Wheat No. 1, our people no longer need to brave snowstorms to hunt for food, nor will they go hungry—that is foreseeable,” Su Nai said.

Why did Northern Frontier people rarely live past sixty?

First, hunting was extremely dangerous; injuries and even death during hunts were common.

Second, food shortages, coupled with a famine every three or four years, forced the tribe to prioritize food for laborers, then children, and lastly the elderly.

Many elderly died of starvation.

The arrival of Northwest Wheat No. 1 eliminated both problems from history.

With the Northern Frontier people’s robust physique, sufficient food alone would make living past sixty easy—living to seventy would not be difficult.

“Another point: the proportion of children is so high that education must be the top priority; the expansion and development of the Education Force must be elevated to the highest level,” Gao De emphasized, tapping his finger on the line listing the 0–12 age group.

“Your Majesty, building schools is not the main problem—the greatest challenge is teachers,” Su Nai said, his deep blue eyes filled with helplessness.

This was the Northern Frontier’s fundamental flaw.

Within the Iceborn Tribe alone, nearly one hundred thousand children were of school age.

Yet there were fewer than fifty teachers.

The teacher shortage was so severe that even Gao De felt a headache.

Even if all the cultivators from Haiyinrong Orphanage were moved to the Northern Frontier, it would be like a drop in the ocean.

How could this gap be filled?

Gao De rubbed his temples, feeling a pounding headache.

Finally, he shook his head and set aside this thorny issue for now, continuing to read.

The final section of the report was a specialized statistic on Iceborn mage numbers.

[Specialized Statistics on Iceborn Mages]:

Fourth-ring Iceborn Mages: 4

Third-ring Iceborn Mages: 207

Second-ring Iceborn Mages: 1,056

First-ring Iceborn Mages: 11,345

Mage Apprentices: 4,765

Compared to the population of over five hundred thousand, the number of Iceborn mages in the tribe was an impressive figure.

At least across the entire world, no nation had a mage-to-population ratio this high.

Yet Gao De was still unsatisfied.

In a world endowed with supernatural power, that power should be developed as productive force—not merely as military might.

He circled this section as well and wrote four characters beside it: “Mages for All.”

Yes, this was Gao De’s most important plan for the Northern Frontier’s future.

He intended to make mage education part of the most basic universal education, ensuring every child in the Northern Frontier, regardless of Iceborn bloodline, received free mage instruction.

He did not expect these children to become powerful mages—only that they become mage apprentices, mastering one or two minor spells.

The problem remained the same:

Insufficient teacher resources.

Gao De closed the Iceborn Tribe’s population census report and opened the other file: the summary of incoming population data.

After the Iceborn Tribe announced its willingness to accept other medium and small tribes, Phoenix experienced a population explosion.

Among the human tribes of the Northern Frontier, only the Iceborn, Frost Hammer, and Frost Wolf Clans—three large tribes—each had over five hundred thousand people; all other medium and small tribes had fewer than one hundred thousand.

Some small tribes had only one or two thousand people total.

Individual tribe numbers were small, but across the vast snow plains, such medium and small tribes were numerous.

Though no exact statistics existed, there were certainly over a thousand such tribes.

And each tribe’s age distribution resembled the Iceborn Tribe’s: very few elderly, mostly young adults and children.

This means the northern frontier’s population potential is actually very large.

This large, still underutilized population, if fully absorbed, would be sufficient to support Zhenbing Tribe’s development for a long time.

In this period, the number of tribes arriving from across the Snow Plain to surrender at Phoenix has reached twenty-nine, with a total population of about 250,000.

This is already half of Zhenbing Tribe’s original population.

Of course, for Zhenbing Tribe today, this is a completely manageable number.

Jin Hui Farm continues to expand; the cultivated farmland has already reached six hundred thousand mu.

The northern frontier never lacks land—it lacks only crops that can grow on the Snow Plain.

That means the current population of Phoenix has already reached one million.

Gao De put down the report and exhaled deeply.

“Your Majesty, as you said, during the census we gained some unexpected gains,” Su Nai said softly, seeing Gao De finish reading the two reports.

“Go on,” Gao De smiled.

“First, the census process itself is also a way to assess our people.”

“In this process, we discovered many among our people possess unique insights and experience in hunting, farming, and other skills.”

“So I had these insights and experiences compiled, and appointed these people as mentors to spread their knowledge throughout the tribe, raising the tribe’s overall technical level.”

“Second, the census process helps our people realize they are part of the tribe’s whole, feel the tribe’s value for them, and thus strengthen their sense of belonging and identity.”

“As we began absorbing other tribes, our people had many complaints—they felt they had given so much to the tribe, and now that the tribe was finally thriving, outsiders received the same treatment as they did.”

“This census made them realize they are still different from the newcomers, helping to stabilize morale.”

“Lastly,” Su Nai paused, then spoke slowly, “through the census, we uncovered many ‘rats’ hidden within Phoenix. Without a systematic management system, they needed little disguise to remain concealed.”

“Once the census began, the identities they fabricated revealed countless flaws, and we immediately exposed them.”

“How did you handle these rats?” Gao De asked with interest.

“Just as before—we tracked down their tribes and made them come with supplies to redeem them,” Su Nai said, her pale blue eyes calm as water.

As for whether those tribes would obey—Su Nai’s feat of defeating two chieftains of other tribes one-on-two stood as proof.

Though young, Su Nai was unquestionably the top figure of the northern frontier; her intimidation had long reached its peak.

“Continue absorbing population, but the expansion plan for Phoenix must now be prioritized,” Gao De said slowly.

The population figures are here—it will soon exceed Phoenix’s carrying capacity.

If we don’t begin expansion now, everyone’s living conditions will suffer.

That is, satisfaction levels will drop.

“The Nongye Force’s daily grain output has approached five hundred thousand kilograms—enough to free up large numbers of hands to begin expanding Phoenix. We’re waiting for your decision on the direction and approach,” Su Nai said.

“First, select twenty second-ring mages from within the tribe and distribute the spell potion and formula for [Rapid Excavation],” Gao De thought for a moment, then said.

Second-ring mages learning first-ring spells achieve extremely high efficiency—they can master them within ten days.

“As for Phoenix’s expansion direction,” Gao De paused, then continued, “give me a few days—I’ll draw you a sketch.”

He already had a preliminary direction in mind for the expansion.

But he had studied mathematics, not civil engineering, so drawing was not easy for him—it would take time.

“For now, that’s it,” Gao De stood up and smiled. “Now, let me go see how the two ‘Princesses’ are adjusting here.”

(End of Chapter)