Chapter 1430: Layered Pressure and Progress in Culture and Education

Combined with the system for probationary transition is, naturally, the welfare system for official territory residents; land grants are merely one part, and what ordinary people likely value most is the qualification for admission to the Tower of Time.

Nowadays, all school-age children of official residents in Daxia Territory must mandatorily enter the Tower of Time to receive Apprentice education. The word "mandatory" might not sound very pleasant; in Xia Duo's hometown, there was another term for it—

Compulsory education!

But clearly, Xia Duo does not intend to provide this welfare to probationary residents.

Even if it is just to give their own children a chance to learn Magic for free in the future, those probationary residents will rack their brains to complete literacy and legal education.

Of course, as Daxia Territory becomes increasingly powerful and prosperous, the difficulty of transitioning from probationary to official status will also gradually increase. Later, it might even be combined with merit accumulation, requiring both to be satisfied simultaneously to transition.

But that is a matter for the future; for now, Xia Duo still hopes to quickly and simply obtain a large group of official residents with basic civilized literacy.

To tell the truth, the conditions for transition he has set out now are, in the eyes of most residents in the northern territories, not conditions at all; they are entirely a form of welfare, a form of grace!

The only pity is that the current Daxia Territory is not yet powerful enough to attract enough free citizens; otherwise, Xia Duo would not need to go to such great lengths to fish for people from as far away as the Langas Plain.

But in the future, Daxia Territory will surely be able to become a beacon of civilization that shines across the entire Netheril, and even the Northland and the Main Plane. By then, it will not be Xia Duo taking the initiative to go out and fish for people, but others squeezing their heads to rush to Daxia Territory, waiting for him to choose.

……

After understanding the situation of the new residents and issuing new instructions regarding the introduction of population, Xia Duo then called upon Kaide of the Logistics Department:

"Kaide, can the current infrastructure construction of the territory keep up with the progress of land grants?"

"No problem. The Logistics Department has already formed a complete system in the construction of houses and roads; even if the land grant progress were twice as fast, we could keep up."

"Very good!"

Xia Duo praised him. In fact, when he was patrolling in the sky on a Pegasus just now, he had already noticed that the construction of the new village after each land grant was quite perfect.

Especially with the most recent land grant, it has been less than a month, and the Sixth New Village is already looking quite decent. Except for the farmland, which is still a bit lacking, the houses and roads are all complete.

Of course, the Logistics Department does not only manage infrastructure construction; the Territory Canteen is also the responsibility of the Logistics Department. However, once all residents have completed their land grants, the Canteen might consider transforming.

Xia Duo is still very reassured about Kaide. After asking a few simple questions, he looked at the next one—

"Jiefu, does your Development Department actually have the ability to handle the farmland supporting the new village construction?"

Just now in the air, he had noticed that a large open space was indeed left next to the Sixth New Village, but tree stumps were clearly visible on the open space; it was obvious that the land had not yet been leveled.

How can such land grow crops? And how can it be distributed to the residents?

Facing Xia Duo's questioning, Jiefu hurriedly stood up to admit his mistake, "My Lord, this matter is my fault; it is because my consideration was not comprehensive enough."

"Tell me, what is going on?"

"It is like this: because the temperature dropped earlier this year than last year, I thought that winter might also come earlier. In order to rush to open the 【Daxia-Savile Territory Passage】 before the ground froze, I diverted some of the manpower originally used for territory development."

"I see!"

Hearing Jiefu say this, Xia Duo suddenly felt that he had been surrounded by the Element Balance Domain of his Mage Robe for too long, and had failed to notice the drop in temperature.

However, he still could not approve of Jiefu's approach, "Re-mobilize manpower to level the new village land as soon as possible. I hope they can carry out the autumn harvest this year."

"As for the 【Daxia-Savile Passage】, complete as much as you can. I said to try to open it this year, not that you must open it this year. You must understand this point!"

Speaking to the end, Xia Duo's tone was already exceptionally stern. The trick of adding layers of pressure from below to a single instruction from above was something he had witnessed countless times in his hometown before crossing over, but this was the first time he had encountered his own words being added to.

This kind of excessive interpretation that deviates from his original intent is something he truly detests. When you should be performing, you don't, and when you shouldn't be performing, you insist on performing wantonly.

"I will emphasize one last time: everything I say is literal. When executing, do not make excessive interpretations."

Xia Duo suddenly felt it necessary to establish a Progressive Learning Society within the territory, specifically to explain the spirit of his speeches and instructions, otherwise, a few more people like Jiefu might appear.

The policy above is praised, but when it is implemented below, the people are full of complaints; it truly goes against his original intention.

On this point, Xia Duo actually appreciates Laidun; Laidun never makes any extra interpretations, perhaps due to the Doctrine of the Glorious Bishop.

But Xia Duo believes more that after the two became familiar, Laidun knows that if he has any extra meaning, he will say it directly, rather than being all evasive and obscure.

However, in this matter of Jiefu, Laidun also has responsibility. Although as an Executive, he does not need to check the land situation on the spot, what is the Supervision Group under him for?

Is it just meant to be a display?

Or have the Chief Officials of the various departments under him, together with the Supervision Group, united to hollow him out?

However, in front of others, Xia Duo ultimately did not criticize Laidun on the spot, but only sent a Sending to him, telling him to properly rectify things afterwards.

Of course, on the surface, Xia Duo also continued his questioning:

"Laidun, does the territory have any land grant plans for the winter?"

"No. According to your instructions, land grants must have supporting land. Winter development is difficult, so the Government Hall unanimously decided to suspend winter land grants. We also widely consulted the opinions of the residents on this, and the residents expressed that they could understand and were willing to wait a little longer."

After speaking, Laidun suddenly became solemn and said gravely: "The sixth phase of land grants was due to my poor supervision. I guarantee that such a thing will absolutely not happen again next time."

"That's enough, let's end this matter here." Xia Duo stopped the topic in time and did not want to go too deep.

Laidun took the initiative to take the blame in front of everyone, which was something he had not expected, but this was also within reason. A believer in order would naturally not evade his own responsibilities; Laidun is clearly a true believer in order.

And also a qualified Executive.

"Laidun, the Department of Culture and Education is also temporarily under your care. How is the progress of Lawrence and the others recently?"

"Their work is still quite responsible and diligent."

Laidun first summarized with one sentence, and then explained in detail:

"In addition to 'Great Xia Geography', the literacy textbooks have also been compiled into two volumes: 'Great Xia Geography' and 'Netheril Overview';"

"Bard Apprentices are based on the principle of voluntariness. The school-age teenagers in the territory yearn more to enter the Tower of Time to become a Spellcaster, rather than being an entertainer who only knows how to play and sing, so there are very few who are willing; currently, there are only two;"

"As for the 'Encyclopedia', the workload is huge, but with the help of the Task Management Office of the Tower of Time, many tasks for searching and organizing materials have been released. Currently, this work is advancing steadily. If everything goes smoothly, it will only show initial results at this time next year."