Volume 6 Chapter 11 Population
When the Lampuri Kingdom’s parliament abolished this law, a large stir was triggered in the Lampuri Kingdom and the surrounding kingdoms.
The law was very simple, it forbade anyone from killing cattle or they would be heavily fined.
By abolishing this law, it meant that cattle were no longer protected and as long as someone had a cow, they could slaughter it if they wanted to eat it.
For the people of the Sines Continent that had a low grain yield who depended on cattle to farm, cattle were considered sacred things.
Slaughtering or even eating one was unimaginable.
Perhaps some n.o.bles might have slaughtered some in secret, but no one dared to do it in public because this would cause everyone to denounce them.
But now that the Lampuri Kingdom had abolished this law, it was not something that anyone expected.
There were many people who were worried that once this law was abolished, the cattle in the Lampuri Kingdom would be slaughtered without one being spared.
Facts also proved people’s worries.
Since the news of this law being abolished was spread, in the various newspapers of the Lampuri Kingdom, they kept reporting on people slaughtering their cattle. For a time, the people had a misconception that all the cattle in the Lampuri Kingdom would disappear.
Many people were worried about this.
Without cattle, how would they plant their crops?
But two months later when the fall harvest came, the people found that their worries were unnecessary.
Because during the entire process, it wasn’t that there weren’t any cattle being used, but there were very few.
The reason was very simple. The work of the cattle had been completely replaced by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s agricultural magic machines.
Moreover, whether it was effect or efficiency, they were countless times better than using cattle.
At this time, people finally understood.
Since they were already using the better agricultural magic machines, why would they still need cattle?
Although some people were still confused by the abolishment of this law, no one raised any objections.
In the end, being able to have something as good as beef to eat, who would miss this chance?
If people knew that Xu Yi had pushed the Lampuri Kingdom to abolish this law because of this and had eaten a cow right away, it was hard to imagine what kind of thoughts they would have……
Of course, this was an unimportant part of Xu Yi’s actions. The biggest part was in the Stantine Duchy that he controlled.
In the plan to upgrade the Stantine Duchy’s agricultural industry which he discussed with Viscount Constantine, the core was changing the structure of the Stantine Duchy’s agricultural industry. They would diversify their crops and no longer just plant wheat, rice, and other grains.
Or to be more direct, it was to let the people of the Stantine Duchy eat meat at will.
For this, Xu Yi had promoted several farms that were dedicated to raising livestock in the Stantine Duchy.
In order to smoothly raise these livestock, other than guaranteeing their feed, he also took care of their processing, storage, transportation, and other things…..
These things were put on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so they invented a series of magic machines for this.
Seeing the requirements to develop the Magic Mower and the other magic machines used to grow feed with the elves, Xu Yi gave a nod to show his approval.
“The problem with the elves isn’t big, I can go discuss this with elder Lisanya, but I hope that the parliament can take care of the matters that follow and our Frestech Chamber of Commerce doesn’t need to interfere.” Xu Yi said.
“Understood.”
“As for the Magic Mower and the other magic machines, it will take some time to develop, so replace them with manpower for now. But we will only set up an experimental farm for now, so manpower is enough.”
After saying this, Xu Yi paused to think before asking, “Speaking of manpower……Did the stats for the duchy’s birth rate come out yet?”
Viscount Constantine shook his head with a bitter smile, “It’s hard to get accurate data for this because people are not used to going to the hospitals during births.”
“Add it in the newly announced laws, it must be implemented.” Xu Yi said with a serious look, “Remember, human resources will be the most important thing over the next ten years, so you have to get all the information related to it.”
“Understood.” Viscount Constantine nodded before saying with a smile. “But even without accurate data, it’s still clear based on the rough data that the births in the duchy had increased last year, it even surpa.s.sed thirty thousand! That is the highest birth rate in the history of the duchy!”
“Thirty thousand?”
Seeing Viscount Constantine’s excited look, Xu Yi wanted to curl his lips in disdain, but then he remembered that the Stantine Duchy only had a population of less than a million. Being able to give birth to thirty thousand a year, which was a birth rate of thirty in one thousand was already quite high for the Stantine Duchy.
[TL Note: For comparison, the world birth rate in 2020 was only 18.077/1000 people, the world birth rate for 2015 when this novel was written was 19.075/1000 people.]
It had to be known that in a world with a low farm yield, where countries normally had famines, it was already quite good being able to keep the population stable, so how could they maintain a good birth rate?
Xu Yi was clear that the problem of population wasn’t something that could be solved right away, so he just asked about it before putting it to the side.
As for the livestock farms and processing plants, because they were still in the experimental stage, there wasn’t much to discuss right now.
Xu Yi carefully looked over the plan and found that Viscount Constantine had already considered all the possible problems, so he gave him a nod with a satisfied smile.
“Very good, Constantine, it seems like choosing you as the speaker back then really was the right choice.”
Viscount Constantine gave Xu Yi a bow, “This is my honour. Of course, if it wasn’t for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce that chairman Xu leads bringing these shocking changes to the duchy, there is no meaning no matter how hard I work.”
Xu Yi waved his hand and stopped them from flattering each other. After thinking for a bit, his expression became serious and he said with a cold snort, “Constantine, help me tell those fellows to be honest. The duchy is in a very important transition state, so I do not want to see anyone messing it up. If they dare act up, I wouldn’t mind sending out the company guards to help them.”
Viscount Constantine’s eyes froze and he quickly nodded.
“Alright, let’s leave it here for today, you can go back and do your own things.”
“Yes.”
Watching Viscount Constantine walk out, Xu Yi slightly knitted his brows and fell into deep thought.
Right now, this Viscount Constantine was very obedient, doing whatever he told him to do.
But Xu Yi wasn’t certain if he would be like Anklo, changing because of the influence of power.
So the current Stantine Duchy congress was just an empty show. They only had power in name and when putting these measures in place, it all came through the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
But through observing for a year, this Viscount Constantine has shown his strong ability for internal affairs, so Xu Yi was seriously considering whether to give him some power and train him to be a good helper.
The only worry was that he would become another Anklo.
“Hey, Xu Yi, what are you thinking about? Your brows are knit this tight, that isn’t good.”
There was suddenly a fluctuation in the air beside him and Agnes appeared out of thin air.
Xu Yi’s knit brows relaxed and he looked at Agnes with a smile.
“Agnes, why are you Spatial Magic at home? You can just come in.”
“I’m used to it.” Agnes gave a giggle and pushed Xu Yi to sit down, “Xu Yi, are you free over the next few days?”
“Un? What is it? Do you need something?” Xu Yi asked back in a surprised voice.
“This……” There was a blush that suddenly came over Agnes’ face, “Last, last week, I went back to the tribe and the elder came to talk to me. She said that since I haven’t gotten pregnant yet, perhaps there is a problem. She wanted you to come to the tribe with me and read the secret texts to consult this.”
Seeing the shy look on Agnes’ face, he thought that after being married to her for so long, she really was getting more and more like a human girl.
But Xu Yi felt helpless over elder Illusia’s invitation.
Whether it was elder Illusia or elder Lisanya, they all placed importance on his marriage to Agnes, asking about them all the time.
The elders were very impatient over the fact that Agnes wasn’t pregnant yet.
Xu Yi already had several children which meant that there was no problem on his side, so they could only suspect Agnes.
But they couldn’t prove this, so the elders could only feel anxious.
In order to solve this problem, the two elders had used many methods, but there hadn’t been any effects yet.
This time, Xu Yi didn’t know what method elder Illusia had thought of for him to try.
“Do we have to go?” Xu Yi thought about it before asking, “I’m very busy over the next period, I might not have the time to take this trip. Can you ask elder Illusia to come over? I have something that I want to discuss with her.”
“I’m not clear on this, how about I ask the elder?” Agnes said with a shake of her head.
“Alright, I’ll also invite elder Lisanya. We’ll need the support of the elves in this agricultural industry upgrade plan.”
“Un!” Agnes loudly replied, “If the elders learn about this, they would definitely be happy. It’s a good thing that the tribe……”
Agnes suddenly stopped talking.
Xu Yi looked at her in surprise to see Agnes with her tightly knitted brows and a bitter look on her face.