Chapter 406
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Chapter 406: The Loneliness of High Office
One matter temporarily concluded.
The statistics on the number of barbarians were delivered to Luo Ji the next day.
There wasn’t much to say: Men of suitable age were naturally all conscripted into the army, as this was his initial purpose for incorporating barbarian tribes.
As for the women, they were simply assigned suitable jobs.
Anyway, Luo Ji no longer needed to worry about these work arrangements; once assigned, the city lords of various cities and the various departments would naturally handle the arrangements.
Finally, a large wave of new recruits had arrived, which significantly improved Luo Ji’s mood.
Moreover, perhaps with the passage of time, the former citizens of Great Zhou City, who had initially resisted military service, were gradually changing their views.
The conscription order remained active, and the number of people signing up for military service had been gradually increasing recently.
It could be said that things were developing in a good direction.
Seizing this momentum, Luo Ji also took the opportunity to introduce the previously organized ‘military service’ system, offering quite favorable conditions for the people who participated.
With preventive measures already in place, after a few days, the implementation of the military service system received a fairly positive response, which allowed Luo Ji to breathe a small sigh of relief.
Once this system was implemented, the shortage of new recruits within his Myriad World Civilization would be greatly alleviated.
At the same time, coarse salt, which had been extensively promoted, officially went on sale.
Outside the shops in various cities, long queues formed almost immediately.
For a time, the scene was quite spectacular.
However, coarse salt, while providing essential components for the human body, could also become harmful if consumed in excessive amounts.
Therefore, while beginning to sell coarse salt, Luo Ji specifically instructed that several shop assistants must be arranged outside each shop to specifically inform customers queuing to buy coarse salt about these common sense facts.
At the same time, the amount of coarse salt each customer could purchase at a time had to be limited.
Under normal circumstances, a small bag of coarse salt was enough for a long time, and buying two large bags at once had no practical meaning.
Considering the salt production efficiency of the salt drying workshop, the quantity of coarse salt was relatively limited in the short term.
Each person buying a small bag was certainly not a problem, but if everyone bought two large bags, it would be difficult to sustain.
Over these few days, the popularity of coarse salt across the entire Myriad World Civilization was unparalleled.
In the warehouses where various shops stocked goods, the supply of coarse salt was rapidly decreasing at a visible speed.
Faced with this situation, Luo Ji naturally sent two more orders to the salt drying workshop, dispatching additional personnel and ordering the factory director to expand production and accelerate efficiency, to quickly produce the second, third, and even fourth batches of coarse salt.
In the foreseeable future, the consumption of coarse salt was expected to be very high.
The reason was that they also had to prepare for winter.
Although the Myriad World Civilization now basically had no shortage of food, the fact that animals hibernated and food production decreased in winter was undeniable.
With so many people in the entire civilization, Luo Ji couldn’t be 100% sure that no one would go hungry, right?
But this problem was truly difficult to eradicate.
If there was no way to root it out, then they could only gradually improve it.
The point Luo Ji was currently working on improving was food preservation.
That’s right, he was recently making cured fish, cured meat, and pickled vegetables.
In the past, when they stored dry provisions, they could only use the simplest method: drying them.
But this method could only preserve them for about ten days; any longer and they would probably spoil.
But cured foods were different. Cured foods could be stored for a long time.
As long as every household in the Myriad World Civilization stocked up on large quantities of cured foods in advance, it would be enough for them to get through the entire winter.
When Luo Ji was at home in the past, every winter, he would make some cured meat and fish for himself to taste.
Therefore, he was quite skilled in the art of food curing.
Looking at the cured meat and fish hanging on wooden poles to dry, Luo Ji clapped his hands with satisfaction.
“Excellent, excellent. Later, send these cured fish and meat, and that jar of pickled vegetables below, to the restaurants for promotion. Then, take the opportunity to popularize the curing methods. This winter, the people should be able to get by a little easier.”
In response, his attendants naturally exclaimed.
“Your Majesty is wise!”
Hearing this, Luo Ji chuckled lightly and glanced at the attendants behind him. He said, “Less talk, more action. Be quick about it.”
He could sense that when his guards and attendants uttered those words, they were sincere.
And by the standards of an emperor, he was indeed a good emperor through and through.
But the longer he was emperor, the more respectful and constrained his subordinates became when they saw him.
Even his old brothers were no exception, subtly separated by a distance.
He used to not understand why some people liked talking to animals when animals might not even understand what they were saying.
But now, he understood.
Gradually, his conversations with Shadow and Blazefire became more frequent than those with He Liang and the others.
Perhaps this was the so-called ‘loneliness of high office.’
To be in a high position, one must first endure loneliness.
Fortunately, he was not a person who liked excitement, so he believed he would quickly get used to it.
In this matter, Luo Ji was full of confidence in himself.
Several more days passed.
After gathering all the hand crossbows, including those in his and the guard’s possession, along with the latest batch of hand crossbows produced by the Armament Production Department, Luo Ji finally assembled a 100-man crossbow unit for Zhou Yi.
Time waits for no one.
The days until winter were decreasing with each passing day.
Zhou Yi, who had already made a military vow, naturally dared not linger.
He quickly organized the army and set off the next day.
“Your Majesty, the Northern Expeditionary Army has departed.”
“Is that so.”
Luo Ji replied casually, flipping through a report in his hand, appearing somewhat indifferent.
This couldn’t help but make He Liang, who was standing by, feel a bit strange.
He had clearly been very attentive to the matter recently, so why was he suddenly so unconcerned?
“Your Majesty…”
“What is it?”
Luo Ji replied absently without looking up.
“You don’t seem to be very concerned about the Northern Expedition now, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, it’s about that.”
Luo Ji chuckled, stopping his movements.
“I have already done everything I needed to do. If Zhou Yi fails to clear out the Hyenamen in the northern mountain forest…”
At this point, Luo Ji’s tone shifted slightly.
“Then it can only mean his incompetence.”
