Chapter 493: Shaoyin's Future

Yishang and Liangji, the two of them, held equal status in this mission, but the matters they were responsible for leading were different; the entire journey, including departure, meals, lodging, and all matters of offense and defense, was decided by Yishang, while Liangji only had the right to offer suggestions.

Conversely, matters such as communication with the Four Lower Tribes and the trade of sulfur were led by Liangji, and Yishang had no say in those; he could only offer suggestions, as each had their own area of expertise.

They brought five hundred elite soldiers and a large number of long-range heavy weapons—the kind mounted on boats for attack—and these were specially designed for the new warships, installed behind the ships, with a distribution structure and quantity that were more reasonable than previous ships, and their power was also greater.

With these three giant boats, Baifeng was very confident that they would not encounter any human threats on the road; even the Xuanyuan Tribe, which possessed a huge number of small boats, would have absolutely no ability to fight these large ships.

The team set off smoothly; although there was still a very important matter waiting for Baifeng, which was finding the Saltpeter Mine—one of the most important tasks for the beginning of spring this year—the number of people available to work had actually shrunk even though the population of Huaxia had surged, because they needed to supervise and teach these newcomers.

Baifeng could only push back the task of finding the Saltpeter Mine, seeing whether Yishang's team returned first or the spring plowing here ended first; according to past experience, it should be Yishang's team that would return first.

Baifeng now also felt the insufficiency of Huaxia's military strength; although in a certain sense Huaxia was a nation in arms, or rather this era was like that, Baifeng's requirements were high; the things he needed to do, the things he could safely arrange to be done, could only be handled by mature soldiers he considered trained, not the garrison soldiers who spent most of their time farming and at construction sites.

Baifeng felt it was very necessary to continue expanding Huaxia's military strength now; he could set this policy down first, and as for the specific increase, it would depend on the results of this year's Autumn Harvest; if the Autumn Harvest were not ideal, rashly increasing the number of troops who did not produce would be counterproductive for Huaxia, and Baifeng's target number was to increase the army to ten thousand and also increase the military strength of Lema City, so that Lema City could gradually play the role of a satellite city, rather than having to hide it as before.

As for Huaxia's population, Baifeng estimated that by the time of the Autumn Harvest, the total population would officially exceed one hundred thousand, because everyone could eat their fill, the willingness to reproduce had greatly increased, and almost everyone was constantly giving birth; in their understanding, children must be born, and if they didn't survive, they didn't survive; Baifeng encouraged them to give birth, and if they didn't have the ability to raise them, they would let Huaxia raise them for them.

And Huaxia was also about to reap the first demographic dividend; the earliest generation of newborns was already gradually moving into various trades; although most had not completed their studies, they had more or less been influenced by Baifeng's worldview and values, and they were already vastly different from the previous generation, and they were basically all literate, except for the not-insignificant number of mentally disabled children.

Throughout the winter and spring, Baifeng had almost forgotten about Shaoyin, and even Xiong had never mentioned a single word, until Baifeng asked the people in the Ministry of Education about the situation of those graduating this year, and only then did Baifeng remember Shaoyin.

But to avoid being thought of by Xiong as ignoring Shaoyin, Baifeng pretended he hadn't forgotten; it wasn't until after hearing the report from the Ministry of Education that Baifeng sat with Xiong as if they were friends chatting casually, let the female slave he had trained add tea, and after two rounds of tea, Baifeng slowly opened his mouth and said: "Xiong, you heard it too, there are still many excellent seedlings this year, how about it, do you want to ask for some for your Ministry of War? A few of the lads have quite a talent for military formations."

Xiong said very happily: "Of course I want them; our Ministry of War is only supported by us few old things; to tell you the truth, if it weren't for following you early on, having this strength, and you trusting us, what could we people have accomplished? Both Chi and I are equally stupid, and now that there are newcomers you have trained to take over our work, we are naturally very willing; otherwise, the Ministry of War wouldn't have any development."

Baifeng knew Xiong had misunderstood him; the current Xiong, perhaps because he had a family and was too heavily burdened by his children, was always timid when facing him, desperately showing his weak and submissive side.

Baifeng poured tea for Xiong himself and persuaded him: "What taking over work? I am very clear about the abilities of you few; Huaxia being able to have today is largely due to your contributions; don't talk about being stupid or not; you aren't actually stupid, you just learned later, but you have lived longer days of fighting and killing than those little brats who just graduated have lived; in this regard, they are far inferior to you."

"So, they can enter the Ministry of War to assist you, but the Ministry of War will still be managed by you; when I am old and can't work anymore, I believe you will also be old and unable to work, and at that time we will let the next generation take over together, how about that?"

How could Xiong not understand the meaning in Baifeng's words? Although he was a rough man, he had been in Huaxia for so many years, and he wasn't the natural-born fool that Chi was, so his emotional intelligence had grown quite a bit, and so Xiong hurriedly and happily agreed.

Afterwards, Baifeng changed the subject and mentioned Shaoyin: "If Shaoyin hadn't committed a crime, he should have graduated this year too; although he is very average in other studies, he still has a brain for military affairs, inheriting your skills, Xiong."

"Last year he also made some contributions, which were actually enough to offset his mistakes, but Shaoyin is too impetuous and can't accomplish great things if he stays like that, so let him suffer and be tempered; now the time is about right, I think, once the spring plowing is over, let him leave the Pasture and go to the Ministry of War; you can lead him yourself then; I will write you an order in a moment, and whether you want him to start as a common Soldier or follow by your side to learn, it's no problem, it's up to your own arrangement."

After hearing this, Xiong's face changed instantly, and then he stood up with a flushed face and was about to kneel to Baifeng; Baifeng hurriedly pulled him: "Forget it, forget it, sit down quickly; we are just friends talking heart-to-heart now, why do all this, sit down quickly."

With Baifeng's pulling, Xiong could only sit back down, but he clearly let out a long breath, and his spirit was much better; Baifeng did not press him on how he wanted to arrange Shaoyin; for Baifeng, there was no great difference, because the real military power was still in his own hands, and these people were just sharing the pressure for him.