Chapter 1319: Year-End Assembly (Part 16)

The Nobles' hands tightened, for they had suddenly been given another policy, and one that could truly be considered a good policy; they had enough arable land and enough grain, so they were not worried about food at all.

However, the basic essential meat, such as pork, beef, and mutton—the large, higher-quality meats—were all provided uniformly by Huaxia City.

Huaxia would provide a portion of fish, selling it at a low price so that basically everyone in Huaxia could eat high-quality animal protein, while chickens were something everyone could raise; one only needed to clip their wing feathers, and they would find it difficult to escape.

In the future, perhaps after they evolved further, their bodies would become stronger, making their wings unable to support their weight, allowing only for short-distance gliding, and Huaxia would no longer even need to clip their wings.

The meat supply for the Nobles was greater than that of ordinary people, but it was still difficult to satisfy their appetites and those of their families; those quotas were certainly insufficient, so the Nobles would naturally choose to raise chickens, as chickens did not require such large spaces or so much technique, and they grew quickly, so they could occasionally slaughter one or two to supplement their diet.

Since there was no space in Huaxia City, they would fence off land in the towns to raise chickens; this was something all the Nobles were doing, and everyone was acting this way, which Baifeng knew, and he would not interfere in such matters.

Now he had opened a door for these Nobles, telling them that they could raise cattle and sheep on their own fiefs; on vast territories, one could raise thousands of cattle and sheep, and while the tax on livestock was currently unknown, even if it were at the highest rate of twenty percent, after paying the tax on one hundred sheep, they would still have eighty left.

How much meat can one person eat in a year? Given the current composition of the Huaxia diet, one sheep is enough for a person to eat for basically a month; for an entire family, they would only eat about two or three sheep a day.

If one were to supplement this with other meats, such as chicken, duck, fish, and so on, then in the future, it would be possible for the hundred or so people of an entire family to eat meat every day, and relatively high-quality meat at that.

Not to mention that if the scale were to grow even larger and they had leftovers to sell, they could earn a great deal of grain; the mere fact that they would no longer lack meat was enough to make them feel tempted.

They did not lack grain, and trading grain for meat was exactly the same as using grain to feed an animal themselves; on their own fiefs, they could do as they pleased.

Therefore, they were all now thinking about how to go about this; Yishang was already prepared, as the reminder Changle gave him was so timely, and Yishang even felt that this policy was something Changle had suggested to Baifeng, which Baifeng then promoted to everyone.

He already had some people; those brought back from the Suiren tribe were only temporarily settled this year, and next year he would send them to the fiefs to herd, and since they were relatively close to the Western Development Group, they could also borrow some help from the Western Development Group.

People like Sanxin, who were shrewd enough, had already set their sights on Yishang; seeing Yishang so calm and composed, they felt he must know some inside information, and perhaps Changle had already told him in advance.

However, Sanxin did not intend to fight alone in such a place, because herding was not like farming; it did not require that many people, only a relatively small number, and the issue lay in guarding the livestock well so they would not be attacked by wild beasts.

Furthermore, if there were too few herdsmen, Huaxia would certainly not arrange resources like medical care or education, which was definitely not good news for those sent to herd, and they did not have the power to force them to go unless they were all Slaves.

So Sanxin thought it would be better for the Nobles who had fiefs in the Western Development Group to unite, so everyone could send people together and build together, and they could easily pull together a team of several hundred people to go.

And things like housing were relatively easy to build; everyone could invest together and distribute the results together.

Herding was not like farming; cattle and sheep would choose the most lush Grass and water themselves, and they might wander onto someone else's territory while grazing, so it would be better for everyone to just pool their fiefs together.

Sanxin could not think of a specific method in such a short time, but as long as the idea was there, the rest could be discussed by everyone in the end; since Baifeng could release this policy, it meant that, just like letting them develop their own fiefs, Baifeng would not only not oppose it but would also try every possible way to facilitate it.

And indeed, that was the case; Baifeng needed to provide everyone with more, cheaper meat, and only when there were enough livestock raised would the price of meat come down; as Nobles who consumed a relatively large amount of meat, the meat supply for one of their families could almost equal that of several thousand people.

The meat that the entire Noble class could receive could account for half of all of Huaxia; if they were allowed to be self-sufficient and no longer occupy the meat supply of Huaxia City, and could sell their own meat, then the supply of meat in Huaxia would not just be doubled, but the grade would also be lower.

Baifeng had already given the policy; whether they could grasp it depended on themselves, and in the end, they would still have to pay for the roads with their own grain to be able to drive their cattle and sheep from their fiefs to the main roads and then send them to Huaxia City.

To Ce, this sounded like there was a bit of competition involved, but he was not afraid, for he had already seized the initiative; since the King wanted the Western Development Group to become a pastoral city, he would strive in that direction, and starting next year, he would slow down the clearing of arable land and not push it so hard.

He would gradually shift his efforts toward animal husbandry, though he did not know how one should develop it; perhaps by using wood to nail together fences?

Dividing up the grasslands, or perhaps using them to block the cattle and sheep from running wild and escaping; in any case, he could not think of a good method right now, but everything would eventually be solved, or he could go to the Huaxia Pasture to take a look, learn, and gain some experience, seeing how the Huaxia City pasture did things, and then just copy it when he returned.

"That is all I have for the arrangements for the Western Development Group; you all summarize and arrange it yourselves, and as for the other tasks, let Ce, the Regimental Commander of the Western Development Group, decide and control the direction himself.

The Ministry of Personnel shall promptly register the officials of the Western Development Group, forge their official seals, and deliver all credentials before they return to the Western Development Group."