You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

The future described in Chapter 278

The population of Origin City suddenly surged by more than 19,000, of which 4,000 were patients.

Roman suspected that Alex had dumped all the plague patients on him.

But there was no way around it; the 20% price was too low, meaning each patient was only worth four arrows, plus free shipping, which was very tempting for Roman.

He had to repurpose the original site of Sigir as an isolation zone to keep the patients there temporarily.

They either die and are buried, or they recover and come out.

These diseases caused by floods are all external bacterial infections and are not true plagues. Moreover, the bacteria of this era were relatively primitive and had not yet developed into highly virulent and deadly diseases such as plague and cholera—at least not now.

Allicin has powerful antibacterial properties and can reduce the mortality rate of mild illnesses.

But treating the illness is only the beginning.

Origin City, which had just caught its breath, is now extremely busy again.

He really ate himself into a big fat man.

The corresponding rapid consumption of food.

Roman was forced to implement rationing.

The original system in Origin City was a canteen model, which was relatively relaxed. After finishing their own portion, if there were leftover ingredients, each person could eat some leftovers.

Because Roman believed that the value they produced far exceeded what they consumed.

I still think so now—but they haven't even started production yet, they're just consuming resources, and no one could withstand that.

There are too many people. If we continue with the old methods, a food crisis is inevitable.

It's time to implement food ration control.

Each person's food rations are precisely distributed, ensuring that no one continues to eat if they are not full.

Adult laborers are provided with seven slices of bread (7 liang), two jin of tofu, two jin of vegetables, 20 grams of meat broth, and unlimited amounts of cooled boiled water per day.

Women, teenagers, and the elderly receive 80% of the benefits provided. Children are treated separately, while the military receives the same treatment.

The new slaves received 70% of the same treatment.

In other words, while others eat three meals a day, the new slaves eat two meals a day, and their work efficiency cannot be lower than that of others.

The city of Origin was originally well-fed, but with the arrival of this group of people, Roman implemented a rationing system.

It would be unreasonable to treat everyone the same.

The only advantage brought by the increase in slaves was probably the huge abundance of manpower.

Sais led a group of students who had recently graduated from school and completed their identity registration in five days, followed by rapid job assignments.

Moving bricks and tiles, carrying stones to pave roads, and transporting various building materials back and forth all require a large amount of basic labor.

With no worries about the future, the construction team was able to focus entirely on building the ranch.

It is entirely based on the residential layout of Origin City.

However, the high temperatures in summer greatly affect work.

They have to get up early and work late to avoid the hottest part of the day.

The pressure this year is immense; we must expedite all construction tasks to avoid delaying next year's output.

They used to start work at six o'clock every year, but now Roman has to move the start time to five o'clock.

In other words, they have to wake up at four o'clock to eat and go to work.

The same applies at night, extending from seven o'clock to eight o'clock, as we walk back under the starlight.

The extra two hours of work time were enough to barely make up for the losses caused by the summer.

By late June, the meadow pasture was half-built.

As a result, Origin City was hit by another rainstorm.

Roman's heart stopped beating for a moment.

Fortunately, the torrential rain only lasted for two days on and off. Thank goodness...

Just then, news came from the rice paddies—the first batch of rice that Roman planted in early March had ripened!

He valued this crop highly because rice yields far higher per acre than wheat.

A piece of farmland can only yield one wheat harvest per year at most, either spring wheat planted in early spring or winter wheat planted in autumn.

Rice, on the other hand, can be harvested twice a year, and if the weather is exceptionally good, it can even be harvested three times a year—equivalent to planting three rounds of wheat in a year.

Roman can only manage to cook two kinds of food at once.

Early rice is planted in March, while late rice is planted in June or July.

In other words, if the action is quick enough, the land that has just been harvested can be planted with another round of rice.

Although the first batch of rice was planted on only 100 mu (approximately 6.7 hectares).

However, it still attracted Roman's great attention.

He braved the scorching sun to personally inspect the area, and even Gweil unusually stopped bestowing blessings and followed him to the paddy fields.

The Ministry of Agriculture selected several hundred skilled veteran farmers who worked tirelessly in the paddy fields to harvest rice.

The next day, the results of the hundred acres of rice fields were presented to Roman.

The first batch of rice yielded about 100 jin per mu, totaling a little over 10,000 jin of paddy rice. After hulling, it yielded only 6,000 jin of rice, which is far less than that of wheat.

Moreover, the maintenance and management of rice paddies are costly and require a lot of effort.

Roman, however, was overjoyed.

This is a good sign!

To celebrate, Roman steamed a large pot of rice at the manor and sent it to the cadres of all the important departments in Origin City to taste.

He himself tasted the first bite and could only say that the texture was slightly off, a bit loose and stiff, and the taste was somewhat undercooked.

But this is grain, so yield is the priority, and taste comes second!

If given a choice, Roman would not hesitate to feed the slaves excrement-flavored chocolate.

That stuff tasted awful, but it really filled me up.

After the rice harvest, the order to urgently plant a second crop of rice has been issued.

“Roman,” Gweil called to him, “the rice is delicious.”

She held her rice bowl and ate with relish. Roman thought the taste was not good, but she could still taste some fragrance in it.

“It will taste even better in the future,” Roman said. He had always thought that Gweil could eat anything without any dietary restrictions, which was a kind of talent.

“Yes, I’ll definitely make it even tastier!” Gweil nodded vigorously.

Roman paused for a moment and said, "Then there's no need for that. Your task now is to increase production."

There are only so many things that can be changed; we can't sacrifice production for the sake of taste.

"Pfft!" She suddenly laughed, and Roman realized she was just joking.

This little witch isn't stupid; why would she make such a stubborn decision?

She went up to Roman, reached out her little hand, picked off the millet grains that were still stuck in the corner of Roman's mouth, then put them in her mouth and chewed them gently. Her eyes curved like crescent moons as she whispered, "This is such a good thing, I want my mother to try it too, Roman, is that okay?"

Her family benefits from her status, but the world of mortals is not her world. This manor is her future home, but she still harbors this idea.

“My princess, you are mistaken. Not only your mother, but everyone in Origin City will have more choices. At every meal, they can have a bowl of soft and delicious rice, steaming hot, topped with a piece of plump pork. We will then pour a spoonful of rich and savory meat sauce on top. The aroma of meat and rice combined is a delicacy. I will bestow it upon everyone. Those who are loyal to me will receive my grace, and they will never go hungry again. However, such a world requires us to create it with our own hands. We have just begun our journey, but sooner or later, we will see such a landscape at the end of the road, and we will see that no one on this land will suffer from hunger and cold.”

His voice echoed in her ears.

Gweil couldn't help but imagine such a world, a future as beautiful as paradise, following his words.

She had no great ambitions and did everything only to please him. Now, she was suddenly moved and thought that kind of world was wonderful.

A bowl of steaming rice, a slice of pork with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, a spoonful of flavorful broth... it must taste much better than the cold, hard peas from the deep mountains.

(End of this chapter)