Chapter 1108: Preparing for Land Grants, Order Monitor

After finishing the discussion on the attire of the Territory Administrator and the various chief officials and administrative personnel of the territory, Xia Duo finally brought up the real purpose of calling Laidun over:

"After the spring sowing, I plan to grant land to the territory residents to reward them for the hard work they have put into Daxia Territory. What do you think?"

"Grant land?"

Hearing this familiar term, Laidun's expression immediately turned solemn, and he then offered his own perspective: "My Lord, wouldn't that be too early?

"Currently, the arable land reclaimed in the territory isn't even enough for self-sufficiency. It would be better to wait another year or two; it won't be too late to grant land once there is enough of it."

Regarding what Laidun said, Xia Duo merely nodded, noncommittal. He had mentioned the issue of land grants to Laidun before; in truth, this didn't really count as a problem at all.

In Netheril, under normal circumstances, Pioneer Lords would enfeoff land to their initial batch of followers after a successful reclamation.

It was just that Xia Duo was unwilling to let the land be privatized, at least not as that kind of independent fiefdom where "the wind may enter, the rain may enter, but the King may not."

Therefore, he thought of granting land.

He would only grant the usage rights of the land to the residents, but without time limits; it could be passed down through generations, and it could also be bought and sold, provided that a certain processing fee was paid whenever ownership changed.

However, out of long-term considerations, these lands would be restricted to agricultural use only.

This method of land granting had never appeared before in Netheril. Xia Duo was unsure if doing so would touch upon any forbidden zones, so besides discussing it with Laidun, he had specifically consulted Bishop Anbulier on this issue.

The result was, of course, good; this would not touch upon any forbidden zones.

And when discussing it with Laidun, the two had formulated a rough schedule for the land grants, deciding that they would only begin implementation after the territory achieved food self-sufficiency.

But now, the timing had clearly been moved forward.

However, Xia Duo also had his own considerations. He had taken a trip to Seventon a while ago, and too many things had happened. Among them, the one that had the greatest impact on his subsequent plans was not becoming a registered student of Iolum, but—

The Ascension Ritual Book obtained from President Zhenna of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce!

Whether or not he became a registered student of Iolum, or whether or not he had read the Nether Scroll, might have had an impact on his subsequent plans, but at most, it could only serve to make minor adjustments to some existing plans.

The only thing that could truly make Xia Duo change his plans, or even add new ones, was that Ascension Ritual Book!

The book recorded in relatively great detail all the steps to achieve the "God of Nobility," which was a great inspiration to Xia Duo. Although he had no intention of ascending to godhood right now, some attempts, or one could even say preparatory work, could still be done first.

The two most important parts of the Ascension Ritual were, one, to acquire Faith and guide the convergence of Primordial Force, and the other was to guide the Order Force and construct an Order Cycle.

The former only required gaining fame, which was relatively simple, but Xia Duo had another Bloodline Ability that was absorbing Faith, so he would not consider that aspect for the time being.

He was mainly considering the aspect of Order Force. He discovered that 【Order Force】 was, in essence, truly suitable for a lord to use. A territory was an order system that encompassed various small orders, and a lord was naturally the Controller of such 【Order Force】.

A god achieved in this way could perhaps be called the "God of XX Territory."

Of course, gods were not so easy to achieve. As for the specific parameters of Faith, Primordial Force, and Order Force, the only thing that could serve as a reference was the "God of Nobility" ritual in the Ascension Book.

For other gods, one could only find out through repeated experimentation.

Xia Duo had no intention of ascending to godhood for the time being, so he didn't need to consider these for now. What he was thinking was, since 【Order Force】 was real and true, why couldn't it interfere with Reality?

He had a feeling that if he could develop a technology for Order Force to directly interfere with Reality, it might not necessarily be inferior to becoming a god.

At the same time, because Order Force was deeply influenced by Reality, any change in the order of Reality would be reflected in the properties of the Order Force. If an Order Cycle could be constructed, then the changes in the order of Reality could be monitored at all times.

This was simply more useful than a resident loyalty monitor; after all, there were simply too many cases of good intentions leading to bad outcomes or stupid mistakes.

And in reality, there was actually no such thing as a loyalty monitor, which made the significance of the Order Cycle even greater!

Even without considering the Ascension Ritual, Xia Duo had to give it a try. This would allow him to grasp the state of the territory's development in real-time, and if any errors appeared anywhere, he could discover and correct them in time.

Of course, all of this was merely a theoretically achievable function that Xia Duo had deduced. Whether it existed, and if it did, what the effect would be, one would never know without trying!

And the land grant, or rather the land-granting ceremony, was the beginning of Xia Duo guiding the Order Force and constructing the Order Cycle!

Of course, the significance of the land grant went beyond that; for example, adjusting the resident structure, stimulating the residents' will to reclaim land, etc., need not be mentioned.

In short, the land grant was imperative, and it had to be carried out in the near future.

As for the conservative view put forward by Laidun, Xia Duo did not refute it either. After all, Laidun was also proceeding from the actual situation of the territory, but that was under the condition that Xia Duo had not obtained the Ascension Ritual Book.

Thus, Xia Duo replied like this:

"I understand what you mean, but this time the land grant will not be carried out on a large scale. This time, I only plan to grant land to the first batch of residents who followed me here to reclaim the land. In the future, land grants will also be carried out in order according to the time they joined the territory."

The first batch of new residents in Daxia Territory numbered less than 100. Distributing ten New Mu of land per person would only require 1000 New Mu, which was completely within the range of arable land in the territory! (New Mu refers to 1000 square meters)

Of course, this was also almost over 80% of the existing arable land area.

However, the land grant would not start right now. It was already the tail end of winter, and the land might start to thaw in a few days. By then, they could organize manpower to continue clearing and leveling the land.

Furthermore, last year Xia Duo had announced this year's plan: not to look at the forest outside for the time being, but to concentrate their strength on clearing and leveling the existing land first.

Afterward, they would not continue to reclaim toward the southeast, but toward the north, connecting to Savile Territory.

Xia Duo estimated that by the time of the first land grant, the arable land area of the territory could be about double what it was now!

If the weather warmed up late, it might be a little less, but this would have no impact on the land grant; in any case, the existing land was already enough to distribute.

"Then when does My Lord plan to grant the land?" Laidun asked.

"Tentatively next month; the specific date will depend on the state of preparations."

Next, Xia Duo issued another new Indication:

"In addition, build a new plaza to the east of the Elemental Fountain, starting from the Elemental Fountain in the west and reaching the foot of the Tower of Time in the east. I need to use it to place the Code Stone Pillar, and the land-granting ceremony will also be held there. From now on, the center of Daxia Territory will gradually shift over there."

"East of the Elemental Fountain?"

Laidun was suddenly shocked. Wasn't that the ruins where the Tower of Time was located?