Chapter 512: Collective Pressure to Marry

Although Liangji was very tempted by the plan, he did not sign up, because he felt his current position was already quite high and his responsibilities were significant; it was not suitable to go to a new place to struggle, as it would easily delay his current work. However, when Baifeng personally called him over to talk face-to-face, beyond shock, Liangji felt even more excitement. He hurriedly knelt to kowtow to Baifeng, to thank the King for his trust.

Baifeng also provided him with some education and encouragement, painting a beautiful tomorrow for him. He only needed to endure for a few years in that remote place to obtain a high position and reach the pinnacle of his life. Hearing this, Liangji was so excited he could not sit still.

After the members of the government squad were selected, the Ministry of Personnel made a public announcement and said that if there were any issues, they could be raised, but everyone knew very well that these people were personally selected by the King; what opinions could they possibly have?

Those students who had just graduated and were just stepping into their work positions had received such an opportunity; how could they not be excited and thrilled? Especially since they were full of ambition, wanting to make a contribution to Huaxia and build their own careers, they naturally would not consider the issues of the place being remote or the conditions being arduous.

As for the most important part, which was the population, under the patient preaching and answering of the Ministry of Revenue personnel, the tenant farmers had already set aside their doubts about the small town and once again had expectations for it. Those who were most willing to climb the social ladder were looking forward to the recruitment at every moment.

This time, tenant farmers from both Huaxia City and Lema City could go, but according to preliminary statistics, the number of people interested was even higher than the number planned.

After having the Ministry of Revenue calculate the most reasonable number of tenant farmers the two cities could currently accommodate, Baifeng decided to increase the small town's population, expanding it directly to three thousand. The remaining tenant farmers would stay in the two cities. Although this was still more disadvantageous than beneficial for the development of the two cities, because the management of the tenant farmers and the basic infrastructure for their lives were insufficient, they could not move everyone over at once.

Baifeng named the small town Xiao Town, which was quite straightforward. Since it was not a city, he did not pay much attention to naming it, and everyone accepted and recognized this name quite naturally.

The positioning of Xiao Town was as a mining town; it needed to be supported by the Saltpeter Mine. However, although Huaxia lacked saltpeter, it was not lacking to the extent that thousands of people were needed to develop one mine. In fact, a production team of a hundred or even a few dozen people would be completely sufficient to supply all of Huaxia.

Therefore, in the situation where Xiao Town had not yet developed farmland and a pasture, the larger the population of Xiao Town, the greater the pressure Huaxia had to bear; it would be better to keep them in the cities to reclaim wasteland and do manual labor.

Finally, from the more than five thousand people who signed up, they selected the three thousand most motivated and hardworking ones by calculating their work hours, including those with families. However, some families were deformed, such as one woman with two men or even more.

But among the tenant farmers, the number of women was less than men, and the non-tenant women of Huaxia could not possibly be willing to marry down to tenant farmers, so this was also a difficult problem. Such family compositions challenged the Huaxia system, mainly because they would cause an impact on Huaxia's blood relations. The birth rate of deformed and mentally disabled children, which had finally been lowered, might rise again because of the tenant farmers.

The Ministry of Revenue also had no good solution and could only offer kind advice, telling the bachelors and the men in polyandrous families that as long as they worked hard in Xiao Town, it would naturally be easy to marry a wife in the future. Overall, Huaxia had more women than men; it was just that others looked down on them because their conditions were poor. In the future, some female Slaves could also be distributed to them, so there was no need to be in a hurry to share a wife with other men for now.

Under such persuasion, most of the problems were finally solved. Finally, adding those who brought their families, the estimated population of the entire Xiao Town had already exceeded three thousand, though the remainder had not yet broken one hundred.

The problem of Soldiers was very easy to solve: half veterans and half new recruits, with a one-year rotation period. However, only half would be replaced each year, not all of them would be withdrawn. Everyone did not need to worry about who would go this time; in any case, they would definitely go at least once in their lifetime.

The training of the New Recruit Company was coming to an end. Shaoyin took the initiative to apply to be stationed in Xiao Town. The military officials naturally did not dare to make decisions on their own; after all, this was their own young master, so they hurriedly asked Xiong for instructions.

Xiong was quite open-minded. He believed that young people must be tempered, so he immediately agreed to let him go. However, his subordinates were still worried about Shaoyin's marriage, saying that Shaoyin was now of age and hadn't married a wife yet, and they feared that once he went to Xiao Town, he would have no chance for at least a year. Xiong, however, said indifferently, "Yu is so old, hasn't he also not found a wife?"

The subordinate muttered to himself that his leader should be the one most easily exposed to these matters, so why was he so poorly informed? Thus, he said somewhat awkwardly, "General, the King and the Queen are already looking for a wife for Yu. It is estimated that Yu will be starting a family soon."

This was the first time Xiong had heard this news, and he could not help but be a bit shocked that he actually didn't know. Now he suddenly felt a bit anxious. After hesitating several times, he could only say, "Then hurry up and let Shaoyin find a wife and start a family too. If he doesn't marry a wife, I won't let him go."

The subordinate said with a constipated expression, "General, this is your family affair; I can't manage that."

Xiong suddenly felt a bit irritable, so he told the subordinate to go back first, just telling him to pass the word to Shaoyin; he would find a way for the rest.

Upon hearing the news, Shaoyin's mouth opened wide, thinking, what is this about? Does marrying a wife and going to Xiao Town have any connection at all? However, he was not worried; anyway, finding a wife for himself was easy. With his ability, he could find one tomorrow. If his father wanted one, he could find two. Thus, he didn't take it to heart at all.

Only his old man, Xiong, was worried. He had never paid any attention to finding women for himself. Weren't women everywhere? He used to have a few, and during the tribal period, he was rewarded with one today and another tomorrow; he had never worried about this.

But now, he actually felt that Shaoyin's woman could not be found so casually. Perhaps, through being with Baifeng every day, he was influenced by what he saw and heard, and he also felt that a woman was very important to a family. He also didn't want his son to find a fat woman who could only work; it would be best if she were literate and also an official, so she could be of some help to Shaoyin in the future.

But where would he know such a girl? So he decided to ask his own wives. With so many wives, mixing in the crowd of women every day, they must know whose family had such a suitable girl.