Inspecting the Territory (I)
Half a year has passed since they returned to their territory.
After a long and busy period, Victor finally managed to resolve the mountain of administrative issues and had a rare moment of leisure—he decided to personally inspect the territory under his jurisdiction to see what it was like now.
On this bright and sunny morning, with a gentle breeze, Victor, dressed in his battle robes and riding boots, sat astride a magnificent horse with dashing grace.
Behind him followed a well-trained and well-equipped elite guard, each with a serious expression and an imposing presence.
The group slowly made their way along the winding road, traversing the vast and boundless fields.
It is the most crucial time of the year for spring plowing. Looking around, one can see a bustling scene of labor everywhere in the fields: farmers are holding farm tools and working hard to turn over the fertile soil; women and children are helping to sow seeds. The whole village is immersed in a tense but orderly atmosphere, full of hope and vitality.
Looking at the vibrant and thriving scene before him, Victor couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
After the army returned in triumph, those who had been conscripted to serve as auxiliary soldiers and militiamen returned to their hometowns and resumed agricultural production.
In this way, the situation where agricultural progress was slow or even stagnant due to labor shortages was completely reversed.
Furthermore, Victor appropriately reduced the size of the existing standing army and arranged for some soldiers to take turns on leave to recuperate, which ensured that military strength was not affected while freeing up a large number of valuable human resources.
These people, returning to the fields or various workshops to continue contributing their talents, undoubtedly provide solid and powerful human resource support for this year's various development and construction tasks!
Adding to the more than 10,000 prisoners who returned to Two Rivers Territory with the main force, and the new immigrants who are expected to arrive in Two Rivers Territory this year, numbering over 80,000, it can be said that the entire Two Rivers Territory has set even grander and more ambitious goals and aspirations for land development this year.
At this very moment, officials at all levels in the local government of this territory—especially those in the Government Affairs Office responsible for specific administrative affairs and the Agricultural Department in charge of agricultural production—are in the same boat!
After careful consideration, they decided to expand their new farmland by following the tributaries of the Great Fish River northwards at this time of year, covering an area of 500 square kilometers, extending all the way to the shore of what is known as "Blue Lake." At the same time, they also planned to connect the various settlements and villages located in different parts of this vast land, forming a complete, unified, and interconnected whole.
As Victor rode slowly forward, he looked around and saw a bustling scene of people working hard and doing various tasks: humans and all kinds of livestock and poultry were scattered across the land, some working diligently, others weeding, and still others spreading fertilizer.
What made Victor most ecstatic and satisfied was that, after three whole springs, autumns, winters, and summers of honing and refining, the agricultural technology team carefully built by the Agricultural Department had finally grown to a point where it could be put into practical application!
At this very moment, hundreds upon hundreds of agricultural technicians, who had received systematic and comprehensive professional training at various agricultural technology stations under the Agricultural Department, are ready to go and are rushing to every corner of the territory—whether it be a vast manor or a peaceful village; whether it is inhabited by honorable military families or lowly serfs... They are to impart advanced and practical planting techniques and various new types of agricultural tools to everyone without reservation, and vigorously promote the high-quality and high-yield specialty crop varieties specially selected by the territory authorities!
It is worth mentioning that a considerable number of the members of this large team of agricultural technicians came from the illiterate and ignorant lower-class serf class in the Golden Sunflower Territory.
What's truly astonishing is that, after just two or at most three years of diligent study and practical experience, they have now become experts in the field!
Not only can it assist the territory in smoothly implementing various agricultural policies and measures that benefit farmers, but it has also transformed into a powerful arm for the territory government to firmly grasp the dynamics of the situation in the vast grassroots areas!
According to Victor's pre-planned blueprint: in the near future, when the territory needs to further expand its civil service, a certain number of vacancies will be specifically created for these agricultural technicians!
In other words, as long as they perform exceptionally well in their original positions and successfully pass the relevant strict assessment standards, they are very likely to be given the valuable opportunity to be promoted to junior officials in their territory!
The small settlements scattered throughout the territory are particularly good; those farms and some outposts are better off, as there are farm managers and troops who can help manage the people.
However, in those remote villages composed entirely of immigrants and indentured servants, it is difficult to find even one literate person, and there is a severe lack of qualified administrators.
This forced the territory government to select only those who could barely communicate with the residents of the settlements, making it difficult for the territory government to effectively manage these settlements and resulting in very chaotic and slow development of these settlements.
If this group of agricultural technicians, carefully trained by the territory's administrative system, performs well and meets the requirements of their positions, then according to the detailed plans and strategic deployments formulated by the territory's Government Affairs Office, more than 80% of them will be entrusted with important responsibilities, serving as village chiefs in those small outposts!
In this way, they were able to shoulder the important mission of assisting the territory government in managing the more than 500 settlements of various sizes and taking care of the daily lives and other administrative tasks of the hundreds of thousands of people in the territory.
This approach not only helps improve the overall governance level and efficiency of the grassroots areas within the territory, but also makes the entire territory's social order more orderly and stable!
During his inspection tour, Victor engaged in frequent and in-depth communication with the agricultural technicians. Although the number was small, only a few dozen people, less than one-tenth of the total, he could clearly feel that these people had very deep and solid professional skills.
These agricultural technicians were trained and developed in strict accordance with the training program established by Victor. Whether it was their written expression ability, mathematical calculation level, or their mastery of various knowledge in the agricultural field, they had all reached a considerable level, and in some aspects even surpassed the level of some officers in the territory.
It is worth noting that since the establishment of the army in the Two Rivers Territory, Victor has tried every means to promote the army's standardization and has made great efforts to this end—not only by opening night schools in the army, but also by regularly holding various short-term training courses and other activities. After years of development, the army of the Two Rivers Territory has now become the most educated group in the entire territory.
This allows us to more clearly see the actual level of professional competence of these agricultural technicians. At the same time, this phenomenon also fully demonstrates that after a long period of careful development, the territory's existing education system has finally yielded its first batch of fruitful results!
In addition to these agricultural technicians, the Government Affairs Office has also carefully cultivated a sizable and high-quality teaching staff, whose numbers are comparable to those of the agricultural technicians!
These teachers bear an important mission—they will become the backbone of the territory's education system and are expected to have similar promotion opportunities as agricultural technicians: if they perform well, they can enter politics and take on important positions.
After all, the entire territory, whether at the upper or lower levels, is extremely lacking in people with cultural literacy.
In particular, the territory is currently in a state of near-frenzied expansion. It is predicted that in the next three years alone, a full 500,000 new immigrants will flood into this land, causing the total population of the territory to more than triple.
However, according to the territory's long-term development plan, once it successfully accommodates and assimilates so many outsiders, the territory of Two Rivers Territory will expand to more than ten times its original size, with a total area that may even reach 50,000 to 60,000 square kilometers!
With such a vast territory and an astonishing population, achieving efficient and orderly management is undoubtedly a formidable challenge.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Victor decided to take a bold step: to add county-level administrative units above the existing villages and towns. While this would better meet the growing administrative needs, it would also mean that the already scarce resources of officials within the territory would become even more limited, and the problem of official shortages might be highlighted again.