In late winter, a rare sunny weather, the scorching sun completely melted a thin layer of snow covered in the valley. The wooden fort was peaceful and quiet, and the soldiers were not fighting each other in the noisy training ground.

The wooden fort courtyard, the long table in the cottage, and the valley became the first military and civil affairs discussion after the knights began with the serious and slightly excited expressions of everyone.

According to convention, the army commander and civil affairs managers were divided into two sides of the long table, but the order of seats changed slightly from the participants this time. On the left side of the long table were Odo, Angus, Ron, Bass, Kazak, Tuba, Simon, and on the right were Cooper, Salter, Scott, Lynn, Budd, and Thomas.

The army commander has not changed much, only one army adjutant Angus has been added.

In the civil affairs side, Salter achieved a second only to Cooper in the Valley Civil Affairs Administration due to his extraordinary performance during his time with the military caravan. Lawrence should have been ahead of Scott, but was allowed to absent from the council because he was still recovering from the injury. Bud recently mainly assisted Cooper to lead the craftsmen to attend the council. Thomas has officially joined the Valley Wood Fort. He is proficient in medical skills, so he also attended the council.

Before the convening of the council, Yat had discussed with several major military officers in the military and civil affairs respectively, and reached basic consensus. Now the council is mainly to finalize the future development direction and military-civilian structure of the Valley Knight Leader.

Today, Yat was wearing a baron cotton robe robe seized from Biltenburg, wearing a cowhide belt, and wearing a pair of comfortable deer-skin soft boots. He sat upright on the skinned chair at the main seat of the long table, holding a charcoal stick in his hand, and holding a few dried birch bark in front of him. He looked around the army officers and valley managers at the long table, clearing his throat and saying to everyone: "Everyone, this is not the first time you have participated in such a council, but today's council is different from the past, because now we are discussing how to build the valley knights better as the master of this valley. Everything we discuss today is related to the future of this land and the future of everyone, so everyone should think more."

"Now, the valley housekeeper Cooper will tell you about the current situation of the valley knight leader." Yat turned his eyes to Cooper.

The old butler Cooper found the oldest one from the thick stack of birch bark on the table and raised it to everyone, saying, "Everyone, what is in front of me is the registration book of personnel, money, materials, and land in this valley over the past two years. Two years ago, the books of people, money, materials and land in the entire valley were only half a piece of birch bark. At that time, we had only a few broken straw sheds, a piece of wasteland in the forest, and a few fortresses. The food in the warehouse was not enough for us to fill."

As he said that, Kuber pulled out another birch bark, pointed to the dense text on it, and said, "This birch bark records the document book left by the people who were inquired after the emperor returned from his post as the Southern Palace Advisory Officer. At that time, we had a total of forty-three people, two acres of land, more than one thousand pounds of grain, more than twenty sets of agricultural tools and equipment, and one mule and horse. It was also from that time that the master kept recruiting fortresses to enter the valley to reclaim wasteland..."

"Gradually, the fortresses, money, supplies and land in our valley are increasing. Some time ago, when I took Neil to sort out the land and supplies of the people and the people in the valley, I had already used two pieces of parchment and five pieces of birch bark." Cooper took out the thick stack of parchment and birch bark on the top, and there was an irresistible excitement and pride in his words.

"I am the first person to follow the master, and also the witness of this valley from a wasteland to a fertile land. It took us less than two years to go from a wasteland to a fertile land under the leadership of the master. I just want to tell you that this valley belongs to the master and to all of us. Our destiny is closely tied to the master and this valley. The valley is becoming more and more prosperous. You will also follow the glory..." As a person with rich experience and great abilities, Cooper said something that ordinary people cannot reach.

Sure enough, the emotions of the people in the room were motivated by Cooper's words, and even Yat felt a little excited by Cooper's words.

After Cooper and others calmed down, they picked up a piece of parchment and said, "I will briefly talk about the current situation of the valley now."

"In the fortress, in addition to the military officers and soldiers and caravans, several new groups of people have been added one after another. Currently, there are 45 farmers, 126 people, including 97 young and strong men and women; ten craftsmen, twenty-five (including family rooms), including three blacksmiths, three carpenters, one cobbler, and three other craftsmen. Two of the craftsmen are craftsmen of Swabian, and most of the others are craftsmen from Swabian. At present, they have not fully adapted to the valley, but have begun to carry out craftsmanship under the leadership of Bad and I. The prisoners of war work 18, and the fort guard team is temporarily guarded by the fort guard team. In addition, there are two doctors, Thomas and Persian woman Fanaz. The thirteen orphans brought back by the caravan are temporarily taken care of by Neil and I. As for Father Hamish, he is

The Lord’s apostle, we did not count him as the fortress. After the church was built, the Mubao would provide him with money and food every month. The entire valley knight led a total of 184 fortresses. In addition to the earliest batch of fortresses who had divided the fields to harvest food, we had more than 100 mouths waiting for the food supply of the Mubao. Not counting the military consumption, the fortress alone needed more than 4,000 pounds of food per month. The grain returned by farmers after the autumn harvest last year, the grain seized by the army, and the grain we purchased on our own were only more than 38,000 pounds. These foods can only barely support the consumption of the fortresses in the valley. If the supply of the army is added, it will be difficult to support the autumn harvest. So we are currently either purchasing a large amount of food from outside or stop recruiting the fortresses. This requires the master to decide."

"In terms of money, due to the huge consumption of money, food, weapons and military pay during the military's expedition, and the fact that we have purchased a large amount of food in the past six months, the original money in the Mubao has basically been used up. But it is fortunate that the military's expeditions have achieved a lot of money. Not to mention the materials, we have won nearly 70,000 Finneys in the war alone. In addition, we earned with the military caravan, we have about 100,000 Finneys. This money is enough to deal with the five-year expenditure of the valley. Of course, most of this money will be allocated to the army one after another, so it is impossible to use it as a valley subsidy..." Kuber's original intention was not to announce it to others, because money is the foundation, and it is best to be controlled by Yat himself. However, Yat believes that it can be announced to the core backbones for the time being, so that everyone can know that if you have money and food, you can be unhappy.

"In terms of materials, first, there are houses. The valley wooden fort have eight houses, two workshops, two barns, one arsenal, one kitchen, and two stables. There are two large wooden houses in the valley, and farmers build 15 shacks, one barn, one animal shed, and one tool room. A small church will be built on the wooden fort. At that time, the priest Hamish will settle in the church to guard the valley for the Holy Lord. Second, there are carriages and three wooden carriages, two wheels of carriages and 62 sets of various farm tools, twenty-five sets of iron pots and cookware, and thirty-one sets of various tools. Third, there are livestock. The wooden fort and the valley have nine oxen, four horses, five mules, two donkeys, six pigs, twelve sheep, and more than twenty chickens and geese. The above materials do not include the part of the army and caravan."

"In terms of land, the 120 acres of land that were reclaimed in advance have been harvested once. Some of them have planted winter wheat, and recently 240 acres have been replanted, and a small number of them have been replanted. The newly reclaimed land will be all given to the fortress before spring plowing, and the specific distribution needs to be discussed separately. It should be noted that the 120 acres of land that were reclaimed in the early stage harvested nearly 70,000 pounds of grain. In addition to the grain returned to the wood fort and the wheat seeds left by farmers, the farmers still have 40,000 pounds of surplus grain. After the autumn grain harvest, we purchased some surplus grain from farmers, but considering the problem that the spring plowing may expand this year, we did not purchase a large amount of surplus grain from farmers."

“That’s the brief status quo of the valley.”

Cooper briefly talked about the current situation of the Valley Knight Leader in one breath and handed the document to Att.

Yat took the document and looked at the civil affairs people on the right and said to the civil affairs people on the right: "I say one by one, one is the issue of fortress citizens. At present, our fortress citizens is almost 200. This number is enough. We can temporarily stop recruiting for the fortress citizens. We will use the people we already have. I won't say much about farmers' farming. You have always done a good job. For the issue of craftsmen, you must build a craftsman workshop. There are a large number of craftsmen now. We cannot stay in the valley for idle meals. The army casting, repairing weapons and armor requires craftsman workshops, building houses in the valley to create farm tools and tools, etc., all of which require their efforts. If the materials in the workshop are not enough, let the caravan buy them from outside. Their food and accommodation are supplied by the valley, and salary will be paid in the future. I will also send someone to manage them. As for the prisoners brought back from the battlefield, let them work.

Participate in all the heavy work in the valley, whether it is to reclaim wasteland, build houses or build camps, expand the roads, and then they can refer to this. If there are excellent performances, they can restore civilian status and allocate them to the land or join the army. I have a special arrangement for the more than a dozen orphans recruited. A house is specially built next to the Mubao Church as a parish school. It is said to be an orphan school established by Father Hamish. The school is composed of Cooper and Guy (saved small vendor), Neil (saved small vendor), Thomas, Fanaz (Persian woman) and military officers teach them literacy, medical skills and military skills. Father Hamish will also teach them theology. If there are suitable boys in the home of the military officer and soldier who are willing to send to the school, they can also accept the expenses of the school.

"The second is money. At present, our money is mainly used to purchase food, pay military pay and salary for officials. However, in the future, the army needs money. The money in the valley is temporarily managed by Kuber, but the military expenditure is given priority."

"The third is the material problem. Public property belonging to the wooden fort is left behind. In addition to leaving important livestock, large agricultural tools and tools, such as cooking utensils, wooden utensils, simple farm tools, etc., can be sold or rented to the fortress. If the fortress’s food and food supply are insufficient, the caravan can also buy it from outside."

"The fourth is the land issue. The details are discussed by Cooper, and you managers will report them to me when they encounter major issues. I only determine one major direction, that is, expanding land and growing grain. The fief granted to me by the palace is 3,000 acres. There is no need to pay heavy taxes within ten years. There is no tax burden. Just these 3,000 acres of fertile "wasteland" is enough to support more than 500 fortress residents. Of course, this does not include supporting the army."

Cooper used a charcoal stick to write down Yat's words in a grassy manner.

"The situation of the Valley Knight Leader is here for the time being. Salter talks about the caravan." Yat turned to Salter, the caravan manager.

"Okay, I'll briefly talk about the caravan. The caravan has thirteen four-wheeled carriages, seventeen pack mules and pack horses, four of which are double-horse carriages with a load of 1,600 pounds, six single-horse carriages with a load of 1,000 pounds, and the other three are mule carriages with a load of 800 pounds, and there are seven or eight carriages in the wooden fort, but we don't have enough pack horse animals to pull carriages, and there is no need to use so many carriages for the time being; the carriage guards (three people died in battle), six coachmen, including me and Luo Luns

Four caravan officials. After leaving Talburg, we no longer operated the South-South goods trade. We mainly helped Baron Galvin of Sap to transport goods to all parts of the north and south to earn commissions. We also purchased some groceries from all parts of the north and south to make money. At present, in addition to the caravan's own consumption, we can make a monthly surplus of about 5,000 to 8,000 Finney. The caravan's account book is recorded by me and two officials, and Lawrence is responsible for supervising it. Every time I return to the valley, I will hand the account book to the old housekeeper for verification."

"This is the situation of the caravan at present. If we rely solely on selling groceries or serving as cargo caravans, it is difficult for us to make higher profits. Sir, we still have to find a way to join the South China Goods Trade!" Salter has always been concerned about the South China Goods Trade.

"The caravan's South Goods Trade Matters will be handled by myself after I settled the valley and the army. You will continue to operate for the time being. The caravan guards have increased to fifteen, and all the guards also serve as coachmen. I will send a few soldiers from the army to the caravan, and you will recruit two more servile and horseman." Yat had already discussed the caravan with Salter, and now let him briefly talk about the caravan's situation just to let everyone in the house know.

"Scott, you need to talk about the situation in the valley, just talk about the situation of the Valley Fort Guard." Yat turned his gaze to Scott.

Scott knew that Yat would ask about this, and obviously he prepared in advance, and he did not stutter. "Okay, the Fort Guard Team has dispatched personnel to the army and caravan several times, and later recruited young and strong Fortress citizens to join the Fort Guard Team. At present, there are eleven people in the Fort Guard Team. Luo Lun is the captain, and Lin Neng and I are the deputy captains. Two injured and retreated patrol team soldiers joined the Fort Guard Team. The rest are ordinary Fort Guard Team as farmers in the slack farming period.

The three captains and two injured retired soldiers had the Mubao paid the food and salary, and the rest of the peasant soldiers could only receive the food for the day during training and participating in the Mubao dispatch mission. The main responsibility of the fort protection team was to be responsible for the safety of the valley during the army's outing. The valley was not threatened by foreign enemies during the military's expedition last year. Only a month and a half ago, we reported the old housekeeper to detain a guy who was stealing things in the valley. Now that guy is still working with prisoners of war to reclaim wasteland."

The Fort Guard Team is more of a farmer, and Scott doesn't have much to report.

"Well, okay, after this council meeting, I plan to rename the Fort Guard Team to the Valley Guard Team. The original Fort Guard Team's responsibilities will also change a little, I will talk about this later."

After Yat basically sorted out several important things in the valley, he began to make the most important arrangement - dividing various civil affairs responsibilities and appointing civil affairs officials at all levels.

Yat sat upright, pulled out a parchment written by a quill pen from the table, and said to everyone in the house: "Everyone, with the joint efforts of all of us, the Valley Knights have more and more personnel, the materials are becoming more and more abundant, and the land is becoming wider. In the past, we only needed one or two people to lead the way, and everyone can do it, but now the situation is different. We have more than a hundred farmers and women, more than a dozen craftsmen, dozens of prisoners of war, and various chores such as the construction of Mubao villages and camp construction. Therefore, in order to enable the Valley Knights to develop better, we need to appoint a group of managers and clarify their respective responsibilities. In the future, if the thing is done well, I will reward the managers. If that thing is not done well, I will punish the managers."

The hearts of the few people on the right side of the wooden table began to thrill. Some of them already knew their arrangements, and some were not clear about the positions they were about to take. Their position was not appointed by the court or county, but in this valley, the "official position" appointed by the Lord Yat is the "official position" recognized by the law.

"Next, I announce several positions and management matters that the Valley Knight Leader will be established." Yat deliberately paused, and several people on the civil side sat upright.

"The Valley Knight is established to lead the civil affairs officer, responsible for managing all civil affairs in the Valley."

"One business manager and two deputy managers are established to be responsible for caravan trade and daily management. The two deputy managers serve as caravan account clerk and caravan guard captain respectively."

"There is one person in charge of the valley, one deputy manager, and one tax collector, who is responsible for the collection of farmland and land taxes in the valley. The town affairs manager also serves as the captain of the valley guard team, and the deputy manager serves as the deputy captain."

"There is one person in charge of the Valley Construction, and the other person in charge of the Guards, and the other person in charge of the Guards. They are mainly responsible for the labor management of prisoners of war under the Valley Knights, building houses and villages, roads, and castles."

"There is one valley craftsman and two deputy managers. The construction manager also serves as one of the craftsman and one of the Swabian officials. They manage craftsmen and craftsmen in the territory, are responsible for casting and repairing weapons and armor, making agricultural tools, making wooden equipment, and assisting the construction manager in charge of construction."

"The parish school, valley medical workshop and grocery shop are established. The school clerk is also served by several literate managers, and the grocery shop is managed by a clerk. The school, medical workshop and grocery shop are directly under the jurisdiction of the civil affairs officer. All other valley managers are under the jurisdiction of the civil affairs officer."

"The salary of civil affairs managers and subordinates is no longer subject to military salaries, but pays monthly according to the size of the position: the monthly salary of civil affairs managers is 120, the monthly salary of civil affairs managers is 100, the monthly salary of deputy managers is 80, and the monthly salary of officials is 60, and all ordinary craftsmen and clerks are treated as officials, and craftsmen and doctors are treated as deputy managers. Their own rations are supplied by Mubao, but their wives and children are paid to buy grain to support themselves. The food and food in Mubao can be sold to them at the lowest price in the market."

"Next, I announce the appointment of the Valley Knights to lead civil affairs personnel at all levels - the Valley Knights to lead civil affairs officer Cooper; the caravan manager Salter, deputy manager Juventus (save a small vendor) and Raven (injured leader of the combat team); the town manager Scott, deputy manager Lynn, tax collector Guy; the construction manager Luo Lun, deputy manager Geer (injured leader of the combat team); the craftsman is temporarily served by Cooper, and Bud and Lawrence (concurrently)

As deputy manager and clerk Neil. Neil and Guy served as clerks in the parish school, and Cooper, Hamish, Thomas, and Fanaz went to the school to teach, and the army would also send people to the school to teach training. The medical workshop was temporarily under the responsibility of Thomas and Fanaz. In addition to teaching in the school, they were also responsible for teaching some basic medical skills of the army's specialized medical (packing) soldiers. The Mubao grocery store was temporarily managed by Emma and received salaries from the officials."

"The above appointments are temporary. In three months, I will adjust and make official appointments based on your performance." Yat rolled up the parchment in his hand and said to everyone on the right.

After Yat announced the appointment of officials at all levels of civil affairs, it was already noon. Camille gently knocked on the door of the wooden house and curtsyed at the people in the house very politely, saying, "Master, all the adults, lunch has been prepared. My mother asked if she could have lunch first."

Yat stood up and smiled at Camille, saying, "Camille, go and tell your mom that you can bring in food. We will discuss the military affairs after lunch."

Camille bowed to Att again, turned around and ran out of the yard. After a while, Emma and a few women brought a full table of food in...
Chapter completed!