Chapter 1242: Key Points

"Huh?"

A giant question mark hung in Zhi's head, but Ce no longer wanted to discuss this matter with him; he couldn't just say outright that Zhi's ability was insufficient and his initiative lacking, for if he said that, who would do the work ahead?

So Ce simply diverted the topic and dumped all the work that should have been assigned to Ma onto Zhi, though in this season, there really wasn't much to do, nothing more than saying one should take good care of the cattle and sheep and pay attention to the livestock industry.

A series of issues like winter heating and fire prevention must be attended to, to avoid accidents caused by the use of fire; now, after the vigorous construction by the Engineering Team, there basically shouldn't be any problems, but then again, such things are never one hundred percent safe.

Conditions in Huaxia City are better and facilities are better, yet there are still people who die from smoke inhalation not just from stoves, but also from smoke in the heated brick beds; every winter there are problems, and there have even been fires, though fortunately, they were all minor casualties.

Every time an accident occurs, a safety publicity meeting is held, demanding strengthened publicity, added supervision, the delegation of responsibilities, and so on.

Here in the Western Development Group, there is simply no coal, so it is slightly safer; after all, if wood starts to smoke, the smoke isn't enough to suffocate a person before it wakes them up, but coal smoke is different—coal that hasn't burned through completely, combined with poor ventilation or a downdraft that blows the smoke that should have gone out the exhaust port back through the pipe, leaves the entire room filled with smoke.

Carbon monoxide and sulfur are extremely easy to kill, so this issue is always the most important problem in winter; in summer it is preventing drowning, and in winter it is preventing fire and smoke.

The Western Development Group is the place that most needs fire prevention; it is so dry and open that with just a single spark, the entire grassland would catch fire, and although it would grow better the following year, people are living there, so that would be too dangerous.

After arranging the work for the two, Ce began to whip his horse and speed up to continue writing his own things; whether the Western Development Group can get more support next year depends on how well he writes this report and next year's plan.

Changle doesn't need to write any plans, nor does he need to write reports; everything of his only needs to be reported orally, and perhaps sometimes it is even discussed at the dinner table—there is no helping it, a Prince is just that tough, and he is also a Prince without a specific position, so he doesn't manage any department and naturally doesn't need to bear corresponding responsibilities.

Look at Yulong, who is also a Prince and the heir, yet he has to write reports for everything and turn them into written materials; he can also discuss matters with his father at the dinner table, but after the discussion, he will definitely receive one sentence: "Organize it and hand it to me later."

Although he did not complete his ultimate goal of finding a new capital for Huaxia, Changle still had things to report this time, and there were small achievements, especially that Ayuduo is very likely pregnant.

Matters concerning children are greater than Heaven; as long as there is a child, everything else must be set aside first—in Huaxia, even if a prisoner is pregnant, she must be allowed to give birth to the child first, and even wait until the child is weaned.

For example, if you are to be punished with a whipping but happen to be pregnant, then the whipping can only be temporarily delayed until you stop nursing the child; but if you have the ability to get pregnant again before the child is weaned, and continue this infinite nesting doll cycle, you can avoid the punishment forever until you can no longer have children.

However, it seems no one in Huaxia has discovered this situation yet, and no one has exploited this loophole; Baifeng knows it is a loophole, but he has no intention of fixing it—after all, compared to whipping someone a few times and that person giving birth to children to avoid those few lashes, giving birth is more worthwhile; as long as there is a child, it represents Huaxia's labor force; if you whip her a few times, how much more work can she do? She would still be unable to get off the bed for ten days.

Changle feels that besides the child in his wife's belly, the kitty she is holding in her arms is also a relatively important thing; perhaps it is like a dog, very important to Huaxia, and can bring some changes to Huaxia's current life.

After all, this kitty has not shown any signs of being fierce to people, but is instead very clingy, and mainly it is very cute, so everyone likes it, and Ayuduo holds it all day long.

Baifeng doesn't know, but if he did, he would be overjoyed; currently, the task of catching mice and rats is performed by dogs, and occasionally those falcons, if they are interested, can come down to help catch them, but these things remain rampant in Huaxia.

Furthermore, there is more than one type of mouse here, there are several; the most common is the tiny mouse the size of a nose booger, which looks very cute but is also the most numerous.

The second type has a tail as long as a hand, a big black rat, which looks very scary and ugly, and is slightly fewer in number.

Another type is the Jumping Mouse that causes harm in the farmland; everyone calls it a jumping rabbit—its hind legs are exceptionally long, its front legs are very short, and it has a very long tail, which Baifeng believes is used to maintain balance, after all, that thing jumps very high.

It is very cute, but also very hateful; when harvest is near, it goes to pick the ears of grain, and they move in groups, able to ruin a lot in one night.

As for the mole rats underground, they eat the roots, dragging the entire crop, stalks and seeds alike, underground; that's not all, one day Baifeng discovered that a flower he liked very much in his courtyard had withered, and when he went to check, he found there were no roots left, it could be pulled right out, and the bottom had been neatly bitten off by a mole rat.