Chapter 1117: Brick Kiln Operations and Territory Ecology

"Jiefu, Jiefu!"

Laidun didn't even bother to take his shovel with him; he immediately ran toward Linshui Village in the west, and upon reaching the village entrance, he shouted the name of the Territory Development Department Chief Official, Jiefu, at the top of his lungs.

He ran and shouted all the way until he stopped at the entrance of the Government Hall, located at the westernmost edge of the territory near the Altar Square; at the same time, two middle-aged men wrapped in winter clothing walked out of the Government Hall.

One had a burly, robust build that filled out his winter clothes—this was Jiefu—while the other, with an honest and sincere face, was Kaide, the Chief Official of the Logistics Department.

"Lord Laidun, does the Lord have any new orders? Why the rush?" Jiefu asked.

"No new orders, it's still the plan to build the new square we discussed before. I just checked, and the ground has already begun to thaw; you can arrange for the relevant personnel to start work."

Having said this, Laidun looked at Kaide to the side and gave him an order as well: "Additionally, the brick kiln can also start operations."

Upon hearing this, Kaide was momentarily stunned; he instinctively wrapped his thin winter coat tighter around himself and frowned, "It's still so cold outside; even if the ground has thawed, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to dig. Could we wait another two days?"

Although it was cold outside, Kaide didn't need to do the manual labor himself, but having come from the bottom, he could deeply empathize with the hardships of ordinary people and was very considerate of them.

However, in Laidun's eyes, this pity of Kaide's was highly incompetent; yet, with Jiefu present, Laidun did not flare up or reprimand him, but merely cast a cold glance at him and said:

"This is an order!"

Hearing that it was an order, Jiefu gave a start, and Kaide did not protest any further. He knew the style of this Administrator very well—it was no exaggeration to say he was heartless—and this was just another personal experience of that fact.

Watching Jiefu and Kaide leave the Government Hall in a hurry, Laidun did not linger there either. Recently, there hadn't been much for him to handle personally at the Government Hall; coming over in the evening to go through the documents was enough.

He had more important things to do—

Explaining the legal articles regarding land allocation to the Night School instructors, so that these instructors could then pass on the content he explained to the territory residents through the Night School.

This was a task the Lord had emphasized heavily, and Laidun had hardly relaxed for a single moment.

Of course, the Night School was not only held at night; in fact, during the winter, the residents didn't have much to do, so the Night School courses were mostly conducted during the day.

Just as Laidun was gathering a group of Night School instructors to explain the legal code, Jiefu had already personally brought his deputy, Kelake, and two hundred-man working groups to the Elemental Fountain.

However, it took Jiefu some time to gather the men, and by the time they arrived, Xia Duo had already returned to the Tower of Time to rest. Not having seen the Lord, Jiefu naturally reverted to his usual style.

He was seen patting his deputy Kelake on the shoulder in a seemingly intimate manner and saying, "Kelake, I'll leave things here to you. I'm going to Kaide's side to fight for some extra meat for everyone's dinner!"

When saying the last sentence, Jiefu clearly raised his volume. Hearing Jiefu's words, the members of the working groups, who had just been resting at home and were now dragged out to work, looked a bit better, and many even let out a sparse, moderate cheer.

Seeing this, Jiefu didn't mind; he patted Kelake on the shoulder again, then set off from the Elemental Fountain and followed the Linshui River to find Kaide.

As for Kaide, although he was not as exceptionally capable as the other department heads in the territory—becoming the Logistics Department Chief Official was mostly because the Lord saw that he was honest—his reputation within his own department was arguably second to none.

It was precisely because of his honesty and sincerity, his ability to think for the common people, and his meticulous and earnest way of doing things that the people in the Logistics Department, even if they didn't agree with Kaide's ability, highly approved of his character.

Therefore, upon hearing that they were to recall the brick kiln workers to start work immediately, not one of the workers was dissatisfied, because they knew that if Kaide was the one giving such a notice, it must be the best result Kaide could have fought for.

When Jiefu arrived at the brick kiln near the Wolfburg River from the Elemental Fountain, Kaide had already begun using the ready-made fine soil left over from firing paving bricks last year to produce hundreds of brick blanks.

Seeing Jiefu arrive, Kaide was clearly a bit surprised; he wiped the mud off his hands, walked up to him, and asked, "Jiefu, why are you here? Aren't you keeping an eye on the Elemental Fountain?"

"What's there to keep an eye on? Kelake is there! That kid is only 1 Small Merit away from shedding his slave status; I'm afraid even if I stayed there, he'd be wishing I would leave!"

Jiefu had long seen through the thoughts of his deputy. Since becoming the Chief Official of the Development Department, he had tried to learn from the other party's experience in coordinating various working groups, but he later discovered that no matter how he learned, he could never surpass him.

Thus, Jiefu quickly changed his strategy. He knew that Kelake had long since caught the Lord's eye, so he didn't harbor any crooked thoughts about Kelake, but instead constantly built good relations with other department heads, and even showed favor to the leaders of the working groups under his own command.

In this way, as long as he didn't make mistakes, even if Kelake eventually shed his slave status, wouldn't he still be his subordinate? No matter how well Kelake did or how much merit he earned, there would always be a share for him!

As for the more distant future, Jiefu had also considered it; at worst, he would just become Kelake's subordinate. There was nothing shameful about that. Anyway, he was just an ordinary farmer in the past; being able to enjoy the thrill of being a territory official was already enough!

The life he had now was something he wouldn't have dared to even imagine in the past.

"Kaide, have the Canteen add some meat for my men tonight. It's not easy working in the middle of winter; how can we manage without extra food!"

Kaide rolled his eyes at Jiefu, though he didn't refuse. In fact, even if Jiefu hadn't said it, he would have added food for those working today. "Understood. Since you don't need to be present at the Elemental Fountain, you should go listen to the legal code lecture! I see that the Lord and Lord Laidun both attach great importance to this; if you're asked and can't answer, hmph hmph—"

Hearing Kaide say this, Jiefu was immediately unhappy, and he retorted, "Do you understand it all then?"

"That goes without saying!"

Kaide puffed out his chest, but just then a cold wind blew, and he instinctively shrank back again, yet his words remained firm. "Last month, I borrowed a legal code from Lord Laidun, and my wife reads it to me every day; I'm almost able to recite it now! I only listened to Lord Laidun's two lectures the day before yesterday, and I already understand all the laws and regulations regarding land allocation!"

"Hah!"

Jiefu couldn't help but look Kaide over carefully, but in the end, he didn't say anything. Everyone knew how to work hard; if he fell too far behind, perhaps his position as Chief Official of the Development Department would soon be taken by someone else.

He hadn't sat in this seat long enough yet!

How could this be allowed!

Thinking of this, Jiefu no longer cared about chatting with Kaide and ran toward the village at a trot.