Chapter 865: The Fifth General Assembly of the Members of Year Eleven of the Calamity

From the Bluetooth earpiece came another message broadcast:

"Territory Two's Tang Huai says: @Territory Three's Xia Qing, sis Qing, can we rent some?"

Xia Qing straightened up, pulled off her gloves, took out her phone, and tapped out a few words: Let me check. Everyone hurry up and clear the blightgrass; we're holding a full meeting the day after tomorrow at four in the afternoon.

Tang Huai replied at once: Got it, copy that. @All members, the day after tomorrow at four in the afternoon, the Alliance is convening the Fifth General Assembly of the Members of Year Eleven of the Calamity!

Xia Qing…

How bored is this guy, to even remember so clearly which meeting number this is.

Two days later, with the blightgrass in the territories cleared, the Territory Alliance convened the Fifth General Assembly of the Members of Year Eleven of the Calamity in the basement of Territory Five.

The assembly had four agenda items:

First, the establishment of an Alliance Research Institute to study farm machinery, farm tools, and soil improvement suited to use within the territories—projects closely tied to territory farming;

Second, matters concerning the direct drying, using the grain dryers of the Ninth Planting Center, of the overwinter wheat, spring wheat, and spring-planted corn that would be harvested in succession going forward;

Third, the allocation of usage rights for the newly opened one mu of land within the Hidden Valley;

Fourth, the lords renting Yishi from the Green Dragon Squad to protect important crops within their territories.

The Alliance members all had endless farm work in their territories, so the meeting was extremely efficient—almost no one wasted words.

The first item was settled in just ten minutes. The meeting's host, Zhu Li, gave the summary remarks:

"The Alliance Research Institute's current members include Zhao Ze, Shi Zhong, Huo Lei, Huo Zhun, and Jiang Ying. The upfront research funds will be split evenly among the territories. Once the research results hit the market, 20–30% of the profits will first be earmarked as Alliance funds—covering research expenses—with the remainder distributed as dividends to the territories. All in favor, please raise your hands."

The lords or proxies of the Alliance's ten of the eleven territories all raised their hands. Xia Qing raised two—one for her right hand representing Territory Seven's idol, and one for her left hand representing herself.

Zhu Li nodded. "Good, all attending territories agree, and the absent Territory Seven is also represented by Territory Three voting in agreement. Passed unanimously. Moving on to the second item."

Xia Qing spoke. "The Ninth Planting Center is equipped with a thresher and a mobile dryer. The thresher runs on electricity; the dryer uses crop straw as its heat source, and can dry two tons of grain in a single batch. Once they're delivered tomorrow, everyone can use them to thresh and dry the grain you salvaged during last night's calamity. When each territory uses them, the electricity and heat-source fuel will be provided by the territory; the maintenance and transport of the machines will be handled by dedicated staff from the Ninth Center. The fee is 10 credits per machine per hour. Let's tally now whether everyone needs to use them, and the types and approximate weights of grain to be dried."

The rain came when it would, and the grain in the territories was being watched by countless birds and rats—spreading it out to sun-dry over a large area was simply impossible. A thresher and dryer were machines that could solve the most pressing need; who wouldn't want to use them?

Tang Huai reported first. "Territory Two salvaged 5 mu of winter wheat and 8 mu of spring-planted wheat; I don't know how to estimate the weight. 3 mu of spring-planted corn, probably unusable—it had only just set grain."

Zhu Li, who was in charge of the meeting minutes, looked up. "Brother Huai, just give the wheat. The corn can only be used as silage feed, to be sold to the Safe Zone Planting Center."

"Got it." Tang Huai asked Xia Qing, "Do your sheep need silage feed?"

"No need, the feed I've stored is enough for them to eat." Xia Qing reported her own losses. "Territory Three salvaged one mu of winter wheat, weighing roughly 230 jin."

230 jin—after sun-drying it should come to about 200 jin. That yield would have sounded like a joke before the calamity. But wheat in a calamity year, after one blight-snow, two blight-rains, and one hailstorm, still managing this number was already very, very decent.

Zhao Ze followed. "Territory Four salvaged 3 mu of overwinter wheat, 5 mu of spring-planted wheat…"

The one with no losses was Territory Eleven, because Territory Eleven had only set up two sheds, and the father and son had closed them up quickly. The heaviest losses were actually in Territory Twelve—up to 56 mu—because several large trees in the territory had been blown down by the gale, smashing several sheds and also collapsing the house. Tang Heng chose to rescue people first, so many sheds didn't get closed in time.

After the second item came the allocation of the new one mu of field in the Hidden Valley, which would be widened and completed by the middle of next month.

By unanimous agreement, Territories Seven, Eight, Eleven, and Twelve each got two fen of land, and the remaining two fen were set aside for lodging and living quarters. This way, every Alliance member had a plot in the Hidden Valley.

Of course, Territories Two and Twelve together occupied two fen, because those two territories belonged to the same household. The cost of widening the valley this time was also split evenly among the four territories receiving land.

Territory Seven's two fen would serve as a planting test plot, under researcher Zhang Shi; Territory Eight's two fen were something Xin Yu had proactively proposed to Xia Qing—after that wolf-bear battle mission, she wanted to try stepping out of the territory to have more contact with the outside world and raise her tolerance for magnetic perception.

Tang Huai asked curiously, "Uncle Zhou, why would Xin Yu want to farm in the valley? She barely even goes to the sheds in Territory Eight."

Territory Eight's proxy, Zhou Zhaoping, answered mildly, "Our lord likes the spring water in the valley and wants to see whether vegetables irrigated with that spring water taste better than the ones in the territory. Little Tang, you've been busy for over a year now—still haven't managed to clear the bugs out of the weed walls?"

Tang Huai answered with perfect seriousness, "As long as there are moths, the bugs keep coming endlessly, so raising bugs is more profitable than farming. Uncle Zhou, go back and ask Xin Yu—if you want to raise more, you can trade with me for quality eggs. Besides mealworms, this year I've also raised green-light locusts and crickets, though the quality eggs of the latter two are pricier. Oh, and the evolved cicadas too—I've dug out over forty green-light ones, planning to raise them."

Zhou Zhaoping replied mildly, "Alright, I'll report it to the lord when I get back."

Everyone…

Tan Qi's eyes flicked back and forth between Tang Huai and Zhou Zhaoping twice, her face the picture of someone who'd learned something—hard to say what earth-shattering thing the little girl had discovered.

After the third item, the fourth item began, again with Xia Qing speaking.

"I got in touch with Captain Yang of the Green Dragon Squad, and he said Yishi has gone up in price. But out of consideration for us being old customers, the fee for renting Yishi to protect the valley during the blight-rain period is still discounted for us—4,000 credits total for three days. But if it's for use within the territories, the new price applies: the minimum rental is 5 grams, at 1,000 credits per day, with a 30,000-credit deposit required. Also, the total amount of Yishi rented to us for use within the territories can't exceed 40 grams, because the Green Dragon Squad's Yishi is limited."

In fact, when Xia Qing contacted Yang Jin, she had only asked about the current Yishi trade price. If the lords rented Yishi, it would still go through her. Yishi had gone up in price, so naturally the rental fee had risen with it.

The rental price for Yishi in the Hidden Valley was the discounted one, because Xia Qing occupied half the valley's area. But if the lords wanted to use Yishi within their own territories, it would be calculated at the regular price. Even within the same Alliance, Xia Qing had no reason to subsidize her allies with her credits.

Every single piece of her Yishi had been earned through hard work—what price it was, that was the price.

The rental price Xia Qing quoted made Zhao Ze's heart pound.