Chapter 1316: Year-End Assembly (Part 13)

However, by tomorrow, everything will likely be clear, and they all hold the highest expectations.

The next day, the assembly was held as scheduled. The remaining departments that needed to report gave their presentations, and Baifeng also provided simple responses to their questions.

Following that, the more important reports were from Lema City, the Western Development Group, and the various towns. What Yu had to say had already been told to Baifeng, so now it was merely a repetition.

Everyone was very shocked by such a grand gesture and large-scale action from Yu, but they also felt Yu's capability. There were only a few people in Huaxia capable of doing so much and carrying out such a large plan, and Yu was certainly one of them.

Baifeng agreed to all of Yu's requests one by one, just as he had promised during their private conversation, and confirmed them at the assembly.

The people from the Western Development Group arrived very late, almost right at the time the assembly was convened. However, Baifeng had intentionally waited for them; as a very important place for Huaxia, it was impossible not to pay attention to them at such an assembly.

Because people from the Ministry of Works had gone to repair the roads and had even renovated the city for them, the situation of the Western Development Group was already basically known to everyone through word of mouth after they returned. At least, people would not have to rely solely on their imagination to know what it looked like there.

As a young man, Ce would have had almost no possibility of sitting here and participating in such an assembly in the past. The only possibility would have been being conscripted to come here, sign a confidentiality agreement, and organize and distribute documents for everyone.

He manages the entire Western Development Group, so he can be considered a minor protagonist in this meeting.

Over such a long time, he has already cultivated the aura of a superior, and in such a situation, he can still speak eloquently.

"Our Western Development Group has been developing very steadily this year. The population has increased by one hundred and thirty-three, and the survival rate of newborns has basically reached ninety-nine percent. In terms of population, we have already achieved stable growth.

The houses have all been completed. The overall earth and wood structure ensures that everyone has a house to live in. In the future, we are prepared to fully convert them into brick and tile structures; the site for the brick and tile kiln has already been selected and construction has begun.

In agriculture, we have opened up about seven hundred mu of farmland this year, enough for normal cultivation in the coming year, realizing the preliminary supply of food for our Western Development Group. We expect to achieve full self-sufficiency in food within three years, no longer needing Huaxia's assistance, and after five years, we may be able to pay taxes to Huaxia.

In animal husbandry, relying on the highest quality grass and water sources of the Western Development Group, we have bred cattle and sheep in large numbers. The three hundred cattle brought there have now successfully bred sixty-four Xiaoniu, and all the cattle have grown very sturdy; we have not even added feed like bean dregs for them.

The one thousand two hundred sheep brought there have now doubled in total number, and the quantity is rising rapidly. Moreover, the meat tastes very good; compared to the sheep in Huaxia City, the gamey and mutton smell is much smaller. According to the Changle Prince, this should be related to the high-quality water and grass in the Western Development Group.

We have organized land reclamation teams, construction teams, herding teams, and so on, with a division of labor for construction, and there are specialized hunters to guard the livestock. The value of livestock lost throughout the year is far lower than the value of the prey captured.

The value of the furs harvested alone is already significant, and we have also captured a type of small wild beast that may have great value for domestication. One of them has already been sent to the Changle Prince and brought back to Huaxia City."

The content of Ce's speech draft had been revised by people from the Secretariat, because Ce did not know how to write a speech draft or a summary document; he had just written a whole bunch of things he wanted to say like a letter, without clear primary and secondary points.

After the people from the Secretariat read Ce's draft, they revised it overnight. Among them, regarding the matter of the cat, Ce himself did not know the specific situation; he did not know if it had any value for domestication, but it was still being raised in the Western Development Group anyway.

He did not expect that it really had value, and was very important. The herdsmen under his command would be rewarded this time because of a few cats. The goal he was pursuing was unexpectedly achieved by others with ease; luck seemed to be more important than effort.

However, because of Ce's decision, the herdsman named Xiaohe was able to keep the cat and raise it instead of killing and discarding it, so Ce, as the leader, also had merit.

But this merit is not yet large enough. Xiaohe can only receive the nobility of a Baron for now, and Baifeng is also prepared to bestow a surname upon him. Compared to a nobility that requires substantive treatment, a surname is a very light reward, at least for Baifeng.

Over the next hundred years, everyone must gradually obtain a surname, so what needs to be done now is to give them a surname along with the nobility when rewarding them, regardless of the rank of the nobility. In this way, the children and family members of those nobles, even if they themselves cannot inherit the nobility, can still inherit the surname, which is also a great honor for them.

The reward for Ce is currently verbal, but it has been recorded. When he supervises the work of capturing and breeding the cats to completion, the rewards will naturally be issued together. Baifeng has also reserved a Marquis title for Xiaohe; it just depends on whether he can seize it.

Ce just read from the draft; he did not know how much influence the content of this draft would have on the future of the Western Development Group. Anyway, everything he could not explain was attributed to Changle. Changle had been there for so long that everything could be explained.

As for the fact that Huaxia had cats, it did spread, but few people had seen them, because only those who could enter Baifeng's office had the chance to see them. How many such people were there?

However, as word spread from one to ten and ten to a hundred, it gradually spread. Everyone was looking forward to Huaxia having another animal as capable as a dog, but they did not know what the cat was used for.

After the cat had caught almost all the mice in Baifeng's office, it was sent back home to accompany the women. It walked back and forth between Changle's courtyard and Baifeng's courtyard every day, though it was carried by someone.

The cat is still small now, and with it being Winter, it likes the warm embrace of humans very much, especially inside those thick clothes; it is very warm.

Baifeng's only requirement is to keep the cat away from Qihu. After all, the cat has not been domesticated and is difficult to domesticate, so the child should stay away. Furthermore, a child of Qihu's age is the most ignorant and does not know his own strength, so he is very likely to directly torment the still-weak cat to death.