Chapter 1304: Year-End Assembly (Part 1)

The year-end assembly, which had accumulated many matters, was finally convened. Everyone had been waiting for Baifeng. After the Dahe River froze over, Baifeng set off without a moment's delay. Upon arriving at Huaxia City, he only rested for a few days and, after understanding the current situation in Huaxia, received the order and hurried to attend the assembly.

For this assembly, in addition to some important officials, there were also representatives from various trades and industries in attendance. Even if they belonged under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Agriculture, because they were not officials and held no official status, they could represent their industry and their class to attend the assembly.

Furthermore, those who needed to be rewarded this year also needed to attend the assembly together, and the meeting notices had been delivered to their hands one by one in advance.

The scale of the meeting remained massive. They still chose a relatively warm day, set up a large tent, and lit stoves, so that everyone attending the meeting could feel warm.

They also borrowed some servants from various Noble families to be responsible for serving at the venue and doing some odd jobs.

At the same time, many low-level Clerks were seconded. After having them sign confidentiality agreements, they also participated in the assembly, responsible for some work that required them, such as signing in. The assembly was becoming more formal year by year.

The people from Lema City and the Western Development Group were all present, and the main persons in charge of several towns were also present. Of course, Xiao Town had not yet started, so it would not participate in this meeting.

As a main member of the Royal Family, even Ayuduo had to attend the meeting, because in the future, she would not be like Sui or Chinv, who only stayed at home to give birth to children. They used to manage some things, but now they had almost completely let go. For this assembly, there was nothing for them to listen to if they went, and they had no sense of participation, so it was better to stay at home and take care of Qihu.

Qihu could already walk now, and it would not be long before he could speak. Baifeng still attached great importance to Qihu. Given his age and physical condition, he could probably personally teach the next three generations of successors. He should also be able to provide guidance and direction to Qihu's children during their most critical growth stages. If he discovered that a certain generation of children was truly hopeless, he still had ways to remedy the situation, treating special circumstances with special measures.

The first item of the assembly was naturally to summarize and report on the work of all departments throughout the year. Everyone's work was usually not interconnected or transparent, and only at this year-end assembly could they know how much work other departments had actually accomplished.

First, it was certainly the Ministry of Revenue, headed by Yulong, that reported. He made a detailed report on the overall income, expenditures, and inventory of Huaxia for the whole year. Moreover, this time, he also included the statistics for Lema City; previously, Lema City reported separately and not as exhaustively.

Ever since Yu took over, the entire Lema City had undergone a complete transformation. The speed was extremely fast, mainly because Yu had unleashed the full potential of Lema City. Lema City had been built for so many years; it had the population and it had the land, but it had never received rapid development and had never been valued by Huaxia, being considered just a small city. This was certainly wrong.

Sanxin was steady and believed that he did not have the powerful means of Baifeng. He could not bear the consequences of liberating everything himself. He did not have the strength to resolve issues, so everything was about seeking stability, as long as no mistakes were made.

After arriving at Huaxia City, because he had Baifeng to back him up, no matter what ideas were proposed, Baifeng could immediately give his opinion on whether it could be executed, how it should be executed, how to plug loopholes, and how to solve problems if they arose. Therefore, Sanxin's abilities were instead liberated once again in Huaxia City.

Baifeng naturally would not blame Sanxin, because letting Sanxin go to Lema City was his choice. Huaxia did not have many people who could be used; young people were not suitable to be promoted so high immediately, and the older generation indeed had limited abilities. But although Sanxin's achievements in Lema City were not great, he truly did not have a single problem, allowing it to develop smoothly and steadily to this day.

Among the young people in Huaxia, one of the smartest, and the only one Baifeng could let go, was Yu. After Baifeng put him in Lema City, he untied the reins of this horse that wanted to gallop wildly, which was why such a scene of advancing a thousand miles in a year could appear.

Moreover, such a situation should still be able to continue for a few years, until the population of Lema City and the stored grain resources, and the overall accumulation, were dispersed across the vast land; then, such a situation of instantaneous expansion would no longer appear.

Because of the report from the Ministry of Revenue, everyone truly began to value Lema City. Everyone suddenly realized that Lema City already had enough strength to provide feedback to Huaxia. This was the original significance of building Lema City. The fiscal tightening that Huaxia City originally seemed to have was instantly alleviated.

Likewise, this meant that from now on, more convenience would be provided to Lema City, and more support beyond resources would be given to Lema City, allowing Lema City to grow into a truly large city, and future cities could develop using Lema City as a blueprint.

Everyone had witnessed Yu's ability. Sanxin also understood the gap between himself and Yu and would not feel sad because of this. After all, Yu was discovered by Baifeng when he was a child to be a genius, which was why he was kept by his side to be nurtured. If he could not achieve such merits, that would be what was wrong. Now, he was looking forward more to what kind of plans Yu would propose for Lema City in the future, to see if it was something he had wanted to do back then but dared not.

In addition to the asset report, the Ministry of Revenue also reported on the implemented bill policy. The bills had already gained full recognition in Huaxia City because all contributions in Huaxia City were stable. Some people even chose to exchange most of their family's grain for Grain Coupons to keep, because in this way, they could empty out their family's warehouse.

A Grain Storehouse, although it did not need to be built as well as a house for people to live in, still needed to be sufficiently sturdy, and measures such as waterproofing had to be perfected; not a single mistake could be made.

If the house one lived in leaked, then let it leak; it would not have much of an impact, and it could be repaired when the weather cleared. But once a warehouse leaked and the grain became damp and moldy, even the livestock could not eat it and it could only be thrown away; that was what you called waste.

Therefore, exchanging the grain at home for Grain Coupons and letting the state help store it was safe and reassuring. One's own warehouse at home could be emptied to store more things, and there was no need to expand the warehouse.