Agricultural Development
After Victor finally found Veronica, a beautiful, sweet-voiced, intelligent, and capable assistant, he was finally freed from his daily routine of traveling between Riverside Village and Wood Fort Town.
According to Veronica's authority, in the future, apart from the factory's personnel and production being managed by the Industrial Department, Veronica will have the authority to manage what other factories should produce and how they should produce them.
As for sales, there's no need to discuss them. The products manufactured by the factories in the Two Rivers Territory are either exclusively supplied to the territory or directly sold by distributors who have contracted to produce and sell the goods.
Alex's Northern Frontier Chamber of Commerce and Vitri's Gorn Trading Company have been keeping a close eye on the goods produced in the Two Rivers Territory.
However, the largest cooperation project with the Gorn Trading Company has not yet entered the delivery stage. According to the contract, steel orders will not be delivered until next year.
After all, the wooden track from the Steelworks to the iron ore mine has not yet been built. However, the project is progressing smoothly. The location of the route is very good, consisting of a large grassland with flat terrain. The construction difficulty of the few river sections where bridges need to be built is not high.
With the large number of slaves captured during this sweep and the construction teams working together, the project will most likely be completed by the end of September.
Currently, there is a sufficient supply of mining slaves in the Iron Mine of Green Valley Territory. James took 12,000 slaves with him back to Green Valley Territory. Apart from using a portion of them for the construction of the territory, he arranged for the rest to be used for ore mining in the mines.
With increased mining volume, the size of the ore Transport Convoy has also grown, resulting in a doubling of the amount of ore delivered to the Steelworks each month. Currently, the Steelworks produces 150 tons of iron per month and runs the steelmaking furnace once every two months, producing 50 tons of steel.
The construction of the territory is finally no longer hampered by a shortage of materials and labor. In the past month and a half, the construction progress has more than doubled.
The 30,000 serfs purchased this year have all arrived, and with the slaves acquired during the sweep, the total population of the Two Rivers Territory has exceeded 100,000.
Moreover, due to the wicked behavior of the Blazing Fire Tribe, the ratio of eligible men and women in the Two Rivers Territory has finally approached 1:1. Victor plans to organize a large-scale mass wedding for the army at the end of the year, which can also be regarded as leaving a bond for the young soldiers of the territory.
All 11 planned settlements have been completed, but only eight have been staffed. The three settlements located on the Great Fish River have not yet been occupied by slaves, who have been assigned to water conservancy projects.
The 10,000 hectares of farmland that the territory plans to develop this year have been reclaimed. In order to ensure that this farmland can be cultivated smoothly, the supporting water conservancy facilities still need to be improved.
Fortunately, the labor shortage problem in the territory has now been resolved. With the participation of nearly 10,000 slaves, it is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will not affect this year's winter wheat planting.
While Victor was leading his troops on the expedition, the 1,100 hectares of winter wheat in the territory had been harvested, with an average yield per acre that was higher than last year, reaching 340 kilograms, for a total harvest of more than 5,600 tons, which further replenished the territory's grain reserves.
The current grain reserves in the Two Rivers Territory have reached tons, which is enough to meet the grain consumption of the entire territory until July next year, when the new grain for next year will also be available.
Victor plans to plant 6,000 hectares of winter wheat this winter, which will yield at least tons of grain next year. With some additional grain purchased from Iron Birch Territory, the territory's needs will be largely met.
Considering that a large number of pastures need to be preserved within the territory for animal husbandry, Victor plans to expand the territory directly northward, continuing to expand along the Great Fish River, which will cover the locations of the three settlements and outposts on the north bank.
This territorial expansion added more than 400 square kilometers of land, acquiring a trapezoidal plot of land along the Great Fish River. The western boundary is the Lime River, extending north to the Lime River Wharf and the Eleventh District settlement, then eastward from the Eleventh District Wharf to the Tenth District settlement, and then southward to the Ninth District settlement on the Great Fish River.
This land will be divided into two plots, an inner and an outer one. A plot of land of more than 140 square kilometers adjacent to the Great Fish River will be cultivated as farmland, while the outer plot will be used for grazing. A silage storage point and a livestock wintering enclosure will be built in the ninth district for livestock to overwinter.
The number of livestock in the entire Two Rivers Territory has tripled due to this sweep, including sheep, more than 4,000 cattle, and horses.
Considering the excessive number of horses in the territory and their unsuitability for penning, Victor decided to divide the horse farm into two parts. One part was a breeding and warhorse farm, mainly responsible for breed selection and warhorse breeding, directly managed by Luoza, with a stock of [number] horses, primarily for supplying the army or for the territory's foreign trade. The other part was a general horse farm, managed by the former farm manager Adelaide, mainly for raising culled warhorses, pack horses, and draft horses, with a stock of approximately [number] horses, which could be sold within the territory.
The warhorse farm was located directly to the west of Pasture Village, which is the most fertile grassland in the entire territory, covering an area of 180 square kilometers.
The ordinary horse farm is located between the east of Green Field Town and Sea Song Town, covering an area of 130 square kilometers.
The other livestock in the territory were directly divided up. Except for Pasture Village, which retained one-third of the cattle and sheep, the settlements in District 10 and District 9 received one-third of the cattle and sheep in total. The remaining cattle and sheep were evenly distributed to various settlements in the territory for grazing nearby.
Currently, in addition to the reserved industrial and agricultural land, the Two Rivers Territory also retains a forest of more than 80 square kilometers. All other land has been planned by Victor, including land reserved for rewarding meritorious soldiers.
After the mopping-up operation ended, the rewards for meritorious service were not distributed because so many troops participated in the operation. It took a long time to sort out the merits and rewards. The General Staff and the Department of Civil Administration spent a month sorting them out.
Victor planned to finish the war merits and rewards before the mass wedding. At that time, it would be exactly three years since the expansion of the Two Rivers Territory, which would be a good time to hold Harvest Festival. Previously, due to the tight construction schedule and insufficient resources, it had not been held.
The Harvest Festival is a traditional festival in this world, usually held at the end of October, just as the year's agricultural production activities have basically come to an end. The lord will gather the Freemen and serfs of the territory to participate, providing free food to celebrate this year's harvest and to send blessings for the coming year.
This year, the territory's population has surged, and resources have become abundant. With a sufficient food supply, Victor plans to take this opportunity to hold a grand celebration, which will also help boost the morale of the people and unite their hearts.