Chapter 412

After receiving the order, Wang Man always felt he would spend his whole life stuck in the boundless sea trench.

But there's nothing to be done—who let the Dragon People just get started?

"Heavenly Snake Stone, sequence iron...."

"Lord Wang." The Dragon People official looked at Wang Man and clasped his hands in salute.

"How's the mining going?"

"Fortunately, you previously led people to clear out some demonic beasts in advance; otherwise it would be very difficult. The Heavenly Snake Stone is fine, but the key is that the sequence iron is located in the seventh outer layer."

"Oh? Can the reserves be estimated?"

"Probably around ten thousand catties."

Wang Man nodded: "Alright, you start mining first; there's no need to rush for now—I'll arrange people to constantly monitor the demonic beasts' movements."

"Yes."

Because the Dragon People have begun migrating, but the resources in the boundless sea trench have been developed, there are indeed many things that the Dragon People themselves cannot use but others want, so we cannot abandon this foundation.

Moreover, all the Dragon People transformed within the Five Regions will eventually come to the Myriad Dragon Palace, so Wang Man knows the importance of the Myriad Dragon Palace.

If one day the Dragon People provoke someone they shouldn't have outside, at least they can come back to hide.

But aside from these matters, Wang Man also needs to go out and discuss some things with the king.

Just then, the Dragon People priest arrived at the Myriad Dragon Palace, preparing to take this batch of Dragon People who are to migrate away.

"Priest."

"Lord Wang." The Dragon People priest smiled and said.

"The reserves of Heavenly Snake Stone and sequence iron have been fully surveyed; here is the data."

The Dragon People priest nodded, accepted the jade slip: "Good, how about the medicine fields?"

"Many people have been assigned to tend to them daily with care, and no problems have arisen. However, some worms keep showing up, and they are all beaten to death."

The Dragon People priest thought for a moment, then whispered: "Those worms, can they be eaten?"

"Ah?" Wang Man looked shocked—how could the priest still have this appetite?

"What I mean is, if one day the Dragon People are forced to retreat back to the Myriad Dragon Palace, the existence of the python-sparrow medicine fields might perhaps provide us with a food source."

"That's right.... Eating them is fine; those worms don't look poisonous."

"Then do this: arrange for someone to specially collect those worms, process them into worm jerky for storage." The priest said.

"Sure, I'll find someone to do it. By the way, priest, this time I also want to go out for a trip; I have some things I'd like to discuss face-to-face with the king." Wang Man said.

The Dragon People priest chuckled: "That's really unfortunate—the king entered seclusion after returning from the Strange Persons Alliance, and he still hasn't emerged."

Wang Man's expression was complex: "Then... alright."

The Dragon People priest then asked: "Lord Wang, are you thinking of switching posts?"

Wang Man shook his head: "There aren't many people the king can trust; if I left, there would be no one here to oversee the overall situation."

The Dragon People priest smiled: "So Lord Wang could also train some deputies; otherwise, who would succeed you in the future?"

"That's also true."

Fortunately, Yan Buji brought a batch of orders from the Strange Persons Alliance; otherwise, such a large Dragon People population would still have to worry about livelihood, which would be laughable.

As for Snow Island, with the opening of the undersea tunnel, some Dragon People dig for ore daily beneath the deep sea, adopting a shift system, and their wages and bonuses have seen a substantial increase.

After the urban district was completed, a batch of experienced construction workers were retained to continue repairing buildings; another batch was assigned to the mining area to dig for ore.

Nowadays, the Dragon People on Snow Island exceed one hundred thousand; aside from a few thousand young Dragon People, most of the remaining Dragon People are unemployed.

No work means no source of income, and trouble will eventually arise.

To solve this problem, Yan Buji initially used bloody violent means to forcibly suppress any dissent, and the effect has shown: whenever he tries to implement his orders, he doesn't provoke too much obstruction.

Naturally, the demand for various internal job positions has increased, so in this regard, the six departments established by Yan Buji have played a key role.

For example, in reclaiming farmland on the seabed and such, Yan Buji introduced a batch of crops that can be planted underwater. Although they are not Spiritual Material but foodstuffs, they have greatly enriched the variety of food, solving many position issues.

However, all Dragon People must cultivate on the land reclaimed by the Dragon People, which falls under the Dragon People's jurisdiction. This is area-limited, because the Dragon People cannot possibly have everyone go farming, so the land naturally allocated will not be that much.

The same applies to fishing grounds.

Of course, Yan Buji also understands that orders imposed by strong authority are likely to be obeyed superficially but violated in substance, or followed rigidly without adaptability, so he also appointed the Dragon People priest as the secretary of the Dragon People's Internal Affairs Department; thus, matters within internal affairs will naturally be guided by the priest on how those officials should handle them, and how to perfectly carry out Yan Buji's orders.

Naturally, many Dragon People do not want to survive in such a repressive environment, so Yan Buji gave them two paths to take.

Either work for the Dragon People for twenty years, then leave the Dragon People to strike out on their own; or else honestly accept regulation.

This is also because the Dragon People are cultivators, and it's impossible to bind them with the notion of family and country, so this regulation, once promoted, faced no opposition from anyone.

Blocking is not as good as guiding; giving them a hope will actually increase their work enthusiasm.

Furthermore, Yan Buji recruited large numbers of experienced and knowledgeable Dragon People as instructors and teachers for training, then assigned them to schools everywhere. Commerce gradually rose, and various troubles came flooding in, so Yan Buji's choice to enter seclusion at this time will inevitably lead to a period of chaos.

But after all, this is merely growing pains; as long as the Dragon People have not produced anyone capable of challenging Yan Buji's position, even if he temporarily neglects affairs, there won't be too great an upheaval.

After the Dragon People priest returned, he began to preside over the overall situation.

"Priest, someone has reported to us that several academy teachers are irresponsible, fishing in troubled waters during class...."

"Then let the Education Department handle it; whoever is found responsible after investigation, the person in the Education Department responsible for arranging academy teachers shall be dismissed, and the Education Department head shall have his salary suspended for three months."

"Priest, the fisheries and farmlands are in conflict; they say that large-scale reclamation of farmland beneath the deep sea is affecting the normal growth of sea fish, and you see...."

The Dragon People priest frowned: "Specifically, how is it affecting things?"

"Because the reclamation of seabed farmland has caused a massive reduction in marine plankton, sea fish have nothing to eat and are prone to starving to death."

"Then have the Agriculture Department devise a way to research food for the sea fish; if that's truly impossible, find people to cut grass in nearby waters and feed the fish."

"Yes."

The Dragon People priest doesn't understand many matters, but Yan Buji once said that not understanding is fine; setting up so many departments is precisely to let them solve problems—if they can't solve a problem, they solve the person who raised it, then replace them with someone else to continue solving the problem.

In short, after all this theory, it seems that after talking for half a day, not a single problem has been solved.