Chapter 476: The Assembly (2)

Baifeng was not angry because the young man's question was relatively basic; he only felt that the young man might lack practical experience, but he still answered him very earnestly: "Leaving those wastelands as they are cannot generate much value for Huaxia, but if we let the Citizens go and cultivate them, they can create more value. Even if we collect less tax, the profit is still higher than leaving them idle. Moreover, reducing or waiving taxes is what will drive their enthusiasm for reclaiming wasteland."

However, Baifeng then said to the Ministry of Works: "Everyone in the Ministry of Works, besides continuing to handle construction for us, I have decided to let you pull out a portion of your manpower, and you must also train more Artisans to manufacture some items suitable for our ordinary families to use. Whether they are decorative or practical, both are fine. Later, I will give them some design drawings for you to follow."

Now, many of our households already have more grain than they can eat, but only a small portion of this grain flows back into the hands of our government. The rest might just be left to go moldy. Therefore, we must create some things that can attract them, let them use grain to trade for them, let them hand over their idle grain, and improve their lives, rather than just eating and drinking.

With more grain, we will now also have more labor; I think there would be no problem even if we were to build another city."

The people from the Ministry of Works hurriedly picked up their pens to record this; this might be the focus of their Ministry of Works' work for the next few years, and they had to take it seriously.

Then Baifeng continued with the previous topic: "I have spoken about land, and I must also speak about housing. Starting from next year, Huaxia will no longer build new housing for anyone, excluding the Royal Family. All those who need housing must buy the land themselves, provide their own people and labor, and buy their own materials. They can build whatever they want. Of course, this is aimed at individuals; for those special groups, we still need to build collective housing for them."

Even in the future, when building a New City, the government can provide the land for free, but they must build the houses themselves; at most, we will provide some subsidies or tax exemptions.

Alright, that is the new policy regarding population and economic reform that I wanted to discuss. Do you have any other questions? If not, we will move on to the next item."

A person from the Ministry of Works raised their hand, and Baifeng allowed them to speak.

"King, you said that even for future New Cities, housing will not be built for free. What if no one is willing to move there? For the current New City, we had to forcibly transfer a portion of the people to fill it. Will the policy you proposed make it even harder to build New Cities in the future? Those who are to be forcibly moved there will definitely have complaints."

Baifeng replied: "Who said anything about forced relocation? Building this New City was for the sake of expansion, and everyone didn't really trust the New City at first; after all, life in the Old City is very comfortable, and they were used to it. But look at it now? Besides being a bit smaller and having fewer people than here, is the standard of living in the New City poor? It is not, right? Because of the reasonable design, their living environment is even better than the Old City. In the future, everyone will only have hope for newly built cities, not resistance."

Furthermore, and this is the most important point, our Old City is already very crowded. If we open up housing construction, more people who have the ability to build houses but have no place to build them will have to choose to go to the New City, unless they are willing to be squeezed into collective housing for their whole lives. They will force themselves to move, rather than us forcing them. When it reaches a certain stage, we won't even need to tell them; they will urge the government to build another New City themselves."

After hearing Baifeng's words, the person from the Ministry of Works sat down blankly. He had not expected that Baifeng could grasp the thoughts of the people so well. Take himself, for example: because he has plenty of grain and land, he has taken many wives, and his children will only increase. His house is already somewhat insufficient. Now that housing construction is being opened up, the first thing he thought of was expanding his own house.

But after Baifeng said that, he also realized that there is really no land left to build houses in the Old City now. If he wants a more spacious place, he has to move away from the city center to a more remote area. It is not that it would be unsafe—it is safe everywhere in the city—but the environment would be worse, and water might not even be connected.

Not to mention the long commute to work, the neighbors would also be those poor people, and his own friends would be further and further away.

If he wants a more comfortable house, he can only go to the New City, where there is more space for him to build a house. But is he really willing to go? To give up everything in the Old City and develop again in the New City? He was left feeling somewhat lost by Baifeng's words.

Seeing that no one else had any questions, Baifeng added a new idea that had just emerged from this issue: "I just suddenly thought that in the future we will build more cities, so we can't keep calling them New City and Old City, right? If we build another new city, are we going to call it New New City? That doesn't seem right!"

The serious atmosphere was broken, and a burst of laughter erupted below.

Baifeng also said with a smile: "Then let's resolve this matter that has been dragged on for a long time. From now on, our Old City shall be called Huaxia City, or it can be called the Capital City or Royal Capital. No matter how much Huaxia expands in the future, this place will always be our political center, military center, and economic center. However, I also hope that in the future, the economic center can be another city, representing that the development of our Huaxia is getting better and better."

People from the Ministry of Works, make us a large plaque, or just use Cement. I will provide the calligraphy for you to carve, and put these three large characters up on our city gate.

As for the name of the New City, I will not name it directly; let's hold a nationwide contest. Everyone can come up with names and vote together. Whoever has their name selected will receive a reward. You can all participate. However, I also have a requirement: the name must be related to the city's origin, history, function, and so on, and it must have a good meaning."

"Shangshu Department, this matter is handed over to you. I give you one month to handle it beautifully for me."

Yu, who was busy, heard this and hurriedly agreed, making a record in his notebook and treating it as a priority.

Seeing that everyone's mood was quite good now, Baifeng began to discuss the next item: "Next, let's talk about this military issue. This is also related to the major events that happened during the time I was away. Especially since this involves the issue of Sulfur. To put it seriously, Sulfur is now on par with our grain; it is the lifeblood of our country and must be treated with great importance."