Chapter 749: Territory Overview

"Currently, the Development Department oversees a total of 172 working groups of various sizes, with a total headcount of over 2,600 people. Based on actual development needs, it is divided into five sections: logging, cutting, transporting, burning, and leveling, all of which operate on a rotation." At this point, Jiefu paused, seemingly to give everyone in the conference room time to process this, and in fact, this figure did indeed cause the others in the room to whisper among themselves.

Even Xia Duo was surprised by the current number of people in the Development Department; before he knew it, the number of people in the Development Department had become dozens of times the total population of the territory when he first started developing it.

And the number of people in the Development Department was only a little over half of the current total population of the territory.

"Jiefu, continue."

"Yes, My Lord!" Jiefu bowed slightly and continued:

"Currently, the development direction of the Development Department is mainly concentrated in the southeast of the confluence of the Linshui River and the Wofu Fort River, which is the southeast of the current Linshui Village. To the east, it has already gone beyond the Tower of Time, about two li from the Wofu Fort River, and to the south, it is about the same, about two li from the Linshui River."

Hearing this, Xia Duo nodded slightly. Compared to the territory residents in the Development Department who could only observe from the ground, he had already looked down at the territory from the sky many times. Currently, his territory was roughly a quarter-circle in the southeast direction of the confluence of the two rivers.

The radius, as Jiefu said, was about two li.

And Jiefu's introduction continued, "Currently, the Development Department can push the development front forward by about one meter every day. Once the newly joined residents become familiar with the development work, it will be even faster."

This was just something to listen to; Xia Duo did not take it seriously. It had indeed not been many days since the last batch of new residents joined, but that batch was transported by Hans and the others' merchant association, totaling only about 500 people.

Excluding the old, the weak, the underage, and some women, only about half could join the Development Department and participate in the front-line development. How much of an impact could this half have on the ten-times-larger Development Department!

Perhaps optimizing the management of the Development Department and coordinating the cooperation between various types of work would be the biggest impact.

However, Xia Duo was not good at this aspect, but Jiefu's deputy, Kelake, was relatively good at it. If judged solely by talent, Kelake was more qualified to be the Supervisor of the Development Department than Jiefu.

It was just that Kelake's original status as a slave made it difficult for Xia Duo to suddenly promote him. Of course, he was mainly considering Laidun's feelings.

Between different cultures and different faiths, there will always be prejudice.

Like Xia Duo, who had memorized "Baili Xi was raised from the marketplace" since childhood, going from a slave to a high official was not unacceptable, as long as there was indeed talent.

But Laidun found it very difficult to accept a slave becoming a normal resident without any means, and even that was the result of Xia Duo's influence.

According to Laidun's initial thoughts, there was no need to pardon slaves, as this would infringe upon the interests of the lord.

But this obviously did not fit Xia Duo's philosophy, and of course, it did not fit his interests either, it was just that Laidun could not yet understand why freedom would bring more benefits than enslavement.

After Jiefu finished speaking, Jiake, the Supervisor of the Settlement Department, also stood up and began to introduce his department: "My Lord, the Settlement Department has only 54 people, mainly responsible for the identity registration, housing placement, department assignment, as well as information updates and file preservation for all residents in the territory."

It was introduced in just a few sentences, and what he said was also what everyone in the conference room could usually see. Although it was less than what Jiefu said, it was more understandable.

The next to stand up was Kaide from the Logistics Department. After Jiake sat back down, Kaide jumped up nervously and stammered: "My Lord, everyone, the, the Logistics Department has over 800 people, mainly divided into canteen, warehouse, workshop, construction, mobile, etc."

Kaide couldn't squeeze out a few more sentences afterward and was almost stunned on the spot, but Xia Duo did not make things difficult for him and let him sit down.

Kaide was originally just an ordinary resident. Because he worked steadily and was the first person in the territory to be allocated a house, Xia Duo appointed him as the Supervisor of the Woodworking Workshop, and later he was promoted to Logistics Supervisor, where he had always been diligent and conscientious.

Xia Duo naturally would not deny his previous achievements just because of a poor performance in a report. He signaled for Laidun to introduce it to everyone.

The Logistics Department, as the name suggests, is naturally responsible for logistics. Xia Duo cared even more about this area than the Development Department. Every time he returned to the territory, the first thing he asked Laidun about was mostly related to logistics.

The current Logistics Department has over 800 people. Of course, more than half of them are minors, that is, under 16 years old, and there are even many infants and young children.

The people who initially followed Xia Duo to develop were all young and strong. Later, the residents transported from the north included minors. The Langasi and the Netherese gathered by the Seven Cities Council all brought their families to Nan Jing and became Daxia residents.

The reason for placing minors in the Logistics Department was mainly because Xia Duo hoped to bring all residents under direct management during the development period, even if only in name.

Laidun's introduction was much more detailed than Kaide's own single sentence, and even included several major projects in the territory in the past, such as organizing night school literacy classes, paving brick roads, and building new residential areas, all of which were the responsibility of the Logistics Department.

After Laidun finished the introduction on behalf of Kaide, the former Druid Yatewude stood up, but he seemed a bit unaccustomed to such an occasion and appeared fidgety.

"Lord, I am currently staying in the Logistics Department, bringing a few Apprentices. Besides that matter, what I am doing now is raising seedlings for the upcoming autumn sowing."

Raising seedlings was what Xia Duo asked him to do. As for the "that matter" he mentioned, it referred to the promotion of the New Natural Philosophy, but it was not very appropriate to say it here, after all, Yatewude's only official position now was Xia Duo's agricultural Consultant.

Jiabasi's introduction afterward was quite interesting, as if he were telling adventure stories one after another, and in fact, it was indeed the case.

If Xia Duo hadn't interrupted him in time, he probably could have talked until dark.

Currently, Jiabasi is responsible for the relic exploration in the territory, and recently he even received an order from Xia Duo to prepare to dig a new relic along the trail that extended to the southeast from the previous relic.

The scaled creature Statue unearthed from the previous relic is currently the only thing that can replace Arcane Crystal to expand the Personal Space, and Xia Duo wanted more! After interrupting Jiabasi in time, it was the turn of the four Captains of the Territory Guard system. Currently, the Territory Guard is not independent, and Laidun can also command it, so Xia Duo did not appoint a separate commander for military aspects.

Currently, the direct combat personnel of the Territory Guard, including the Scouts trained by Aiwa, total about 500 people, with a ratio slightly higher than one-tenth of the population.

They are mainly responsible for daily patrols, vigilance, guarding, going out to explore, drawing maps, clearing wild beasts, and so on.

What makes Xia Duo quite happy is that more than 20 people in the Territory Guard have learned to use Magic Item, and full popularization in the future is not just empty talk.

After Aiwa briefly introduced the situation of the Training Ground, the overall overview of the territory was presented to everyone quite completely.

(End of this chapter)