No one expected that the first person to echo loudly was the leader of Changchuan Village.

He raised his arms and shouted, his broad square face flushed with excitement: "I do!" ”

After that, the whole hall roared with joy.

……

Thunder Cattle Department Territory, Withered Vine Village.

Shouyi is 18 years old. In the eyes of white Southerners, a young man of his age was just a child. However, the northern barbarians are different, both men and women are adults at the age of ten, especially men, who are responsible for the whole family in addition to heavy physical work.

Although he is young, Shouyi is an old man from Panshi Village. He is younger than Tianhao, and the relationship between the two is also very close. Because there is not much difference in age between each other, they have played together, made trouble together, and have also made appointments to do absurd things such as lifting the little girl's robe to see what kind of absurd things look inside.

Tianhao is extremely strict with the entire group of wizards in the Rock Realm. He gave these deity spokesmen the best treatment they could currently give, while at the same time imposing almost harsh demands on them in terms of character and personal behavior. The shamans who broke the rules were killed, and the rest were either honest and obedient to the rules, or belonged to the type of person with impeccable personal conduct and true nobility. Over the past few years, the education system, which has been comprehensively reorganized from top to bottom, has played a full role, and the witch practitioners have not only opened schools and educated children, but also trained a large number of grassroots administrators according to the syllabus compiled by Tianhao.

Shouyi is one of them.

He never knew why Bai Hao chose him to become the temporary custodian leader of the withered vine village.

Maybe it's because of the friendship between two people, or maybe it's because of the relationship that was once close...... It wasn't until he led the material transport team to arrive at the withered vine village, stayed here for more than a week, fully understood the situation, and rolled out all the work, that Shouyi gradually understood the thoughts of the new patriarch.

Shouyi didn't know what it meant to be "bold in appointing young officials," but he knew what his duty was.

Zu Hui and Zhenguo will not be able to return for the time being, and they will receive comprehensive training in Thunderhorn City for half a year. This is a complex and deeply understood study. From now on, all the officials of the Lei Niu Department will be selected through the traditional promotion method, and additional learning tasks will be added. Tianhao is responsible for the early education work, and only in this way can qualified grassroots officials be produced, instead of being like in the past, as long as they have great strength and can beat people, they can get the support of some people and become village leaders.

The northern barbarians, whose genetic memory is faulty, have made many technologies incoherent, and they have been able to build flexible and sturdy carriages, but they have never thought of a sleigh that could glide directly without wheels for thousands of years. There are many similar problems, which make it difficult to circulate materials in the cold season, and there is very little communication between villages.

A convoy from Rock City has plunged this remote village into a sea of joy. The joyful people scrambled to fight the grain bags from the skids, and they were amazed by the frozen fish piled high like firewood, and when they saw the crystal coarse salt in the animal skin bags, the villagers of the withered vine village felt the warmth from the distant royal city for the first time.

"These are all sent to you by the king, and this is a gift from the king to you for the winter."

"Don't panic, come in order, everyone has it."

"Don't cut in line, register according to the name, call one to one, if anyone dares to take more, or impostor, the axe in my hand doesn't have eyes."

Everyone gets three days' worth of food rations. It is distributed according to the different standards of strong laborers, women, sick people, the elderly, and children, and pregnant women and young children can also receive a small amount of sugar.

Like most remote villages, the houses are mostly made of wood, and only the stone foundations of important buildings such as public warehouses and gates and towers can be seen. There was a dilapidated smell of the place, and although it was winter and there was snow on the ground, the village was trampled by people and trampled into mud. Unkempt barbarians have long been accustomed to open defecation, they don't know what "public health" is, and when they need it, take off their pants and solve it on the spot.

Women are a little more restrained in this regard, they will at least find a place to pee and away from most people's eyes. But the biggest difference in this kind of thing is still age. Young girls are shy and they don't expose their bodies in front of strangers. But those who have been married and have had men are different, they seem more casual, especially middle-aged and elderly women over forty, who are similar to men in this regard.

After staying in Rock City for a long time, Shouyi has long been accustomed to a neat and clean living environment. Although everyone is a barbarian, and they are still the same tribe, after coming to the withered vine village, he deeply felt the huge difference between the two places, and his reverence and admiration for Tianhao became more and more profound.

Mobilize everyone to shovel snow and clear a sufficiently spacious clearing in the central square of the village. Shouyi led a team of soldiers to pull out several guys who were urinating from among the villagers who were queuing up to receive food. The procession of thousands of people was indeed long, and they lifted their tattered and dirty leather robes in full view of everyone, and spread their legs apart...... When the soldiers took them out, these people didn't think they were at fault, they subconsciously felt that it was the acting leader from Rock City who deliberately didn't want to feed themselves, so they shouted loudly that they were not wrong, but they were stripped of their clothes by the wolf-like soldiers three times and twice, and they were whipped fiercely in public, and the skin was opened, and blood was splattered, accompanied by hot pain...... The grim-faced Shouyi announced in public that the ranking of all violators in the queue would be postponed, and it would not be their turn until everyone had finished receiving the food.

"Governing the prosperous world, using heavy codes", this is what Tianhao said to all the trainees in the training class for civil affairs officials in Panshi City, and Shouyi will always engrave these words as an imprint in the depths of his mind.

He brought with him five hundred soldiers.

Despite being of the same kind, these warriors from Rock City are far superior to the Withered Vine Guards in every way. Their tall, well-developed muscles illustrate the perfect combination of adequate nutrition and high-intensity training; They wore soft and comfortable cotton underwear, each with a padded jacket and jacket, the gray and white fabric was dyed green, and the sleeves and trousers were sewn with black and red stripes on the sides...... All this is really extravagant in the eyes of the people in the withered vine village, and at the same time, they are also red-eyed and hot-hearted. People were secretly discussing, and finally came to the common conclusion that even the leader Zu Hui's family might not be able to come up with such a luxurious set of clothes.

Tianhao, the forging technique of homogeneous steel, has been handed over to the great masters, but it is currently only mass-produced in the main cities of the Niu clan. The villagers of Withtheree Village were envious of the armor on the soldiers of Rock City, and were even more surprised that each soldier was equipped with a small crossbow, and with long knives and battle axes, the spirit of these soldiers was inspiring, as if the strong air flow was cold and piercing, releasing a violent posture, and quickly sweeping away the rotten aura that shrouded the sky over Withered Vine Village.

Thick noodles, frozen fish, salted ...... The eyes of the villagers of Withered Vine Village showed extreme eagerness, and they lined up to receive it with ecstasy and shock, smiling happily and talking in a low voice about the food that would soon be available.

In such cold weather, there's nothing like a pot of hot broth that can bring happiness and comfort to you.

"Everyone must line up in order to receive it, and they must not cut the queue under any excuse. Violators, kill! ”

"No open defecation. Violators, ten lashes! ”

"It is forbidden to make loud noises and deliberately disturb the order, and those who violate the order will be given ten lashes!"

Shouyi brought new village management regulations, which are actually upgraded versions of the Lei Niu Ministry law. Of course, the specific terms are not so strict, but when he first arrived, he did not know much about all aspects of the affairs of the withered vine village. He needed to build his credibility through the distribution of food rations, and he needed the support of the majority of the villagers. Shouyi keeps in mind Tianhao's advice———— as long as what you do meets the interests and requirements of the majority of people, you can get overwhelming support.

As for the other minority who hold opposing views, they will be shut down and killed. Rectification and governance is so ruthless, there is no tolerance, no mercy, and there is no so-called concession, and the two sides coexist.

With a smile, Shouyi handed a frozen fish to the old woman standing in front of him, grabbed a handful of crushed sugar cubes (cube-shaped brown sugar) from the table next to him, and handed it to the child standing beside her. The grateful old woman hurriedly pulled the child to kneel, ignored the obstacles, and insisted on kowtowing a few times, only then did she stand up with her hands and feet, thanked her, and turned to leave.

An unkempt man, who had been whipped a few times before for standing in the line to urinate, and who had been punished in public, walked up, his face was frightened, and his cowering body was trembling slightly. He lowered his head, not daring to look directly at Shouyi. It could be seen that he didn't like this kind of occasion, he was very restrained, and he couldn't help but feel the urge to turn around and run away.

Shouyi looked at the other party with a calm gaze, he took the animal skin bag that the man handed over in hesitation, filled it with a sufficient amount of thick noodles, picked up a frozen fish, and then scooped out the salt from the large cloth bag with a black pottery bowl, and gently swiped his palm along the mouth of the bowl, and poured the flat salt bowl into another animal skin bag that the man had taken out.

"It's yours." Shouyi spoke in a loud voice, unable to hear reproach or command, slightly mild, as if he had forgotten what had happened before.

There was a happy look in the man's eyes, and he couldn't believe it, feeling that the food in front of him was not very real.

Mistakes are punished, and the lightest punishment is usually deprivation of the day's rations. After the flogging, he was disheartened, feeling that today's rations had nothing to do with him, but he really felt unwilling to see the people who had received the things happily coming from the distribution point. Retaliation is impossible, and those soldiers from Rock City are tall and tall, and they usually eat well. In this barbaric society where obesity represents power and majesty, fat symbolizes wealth and muscle means strength.

With faint anticipation and luck, the men lined up in order. Each other is an acquaintance in the same village, and there is no need to talk about cutting in line, or the original position.

He almost pounced, spread his arms, and with indescribable ecstasy, he held everything tightly in his arms. The left side of the face is close to the pocket of the noodles, and the extremely comfortable and satisfying aroma of coarse noodles is smelled, and the right side of the face touches the cold frozen fish, but it does not feel cold, and even can't help but feel the urge to open its mouth and bite directly.

Just as the man turned around happily with this pile of food and walked out about a hundred meters, Shouyi caught up from behind and stopped him.

Grab his left wrist and shove a small handful of sugar cubes into the other's hand.

Shouyi's eyes were bright, and there was a hint of gentleness in his serious gaze: "Remember, you must abide by the rules in the future." ”

With that, he turned to leave.

The man stood still, staring at the back of the acting leader for a long time.

Emotion and guilt rose from the deepest part of my heart at the same time.

In this moment, silence is worth a thousand words.

……

In the early morning, with the piercing whistle, the entire withered vine village began an unprecedented comprehensive cleanup.

The owners are responsible for the internal cleaning of their houses, the men are responsible for the common areas, and each family with a large population is responsible for one. Excrement, discard, dirty snowdrifts...... After working until the afternoon, the people who had worked hard all day finally got a chance to rest, and they suddenly found that their eyes suddenly opened up, and they looked at the neat and clean village, and their mood became refreshed.

In accordance with the order of righteousness, the people of the withered vine village mobilized one after another. He dispatched 200 strong laborers to clean up the surrounding area of the village, and began to build the roadbed leading to Rock City according to the route drawn by Tianhao on the drawings. This is a long-term and difficult project, and it is expected to be completed within three years according to the standards required by Tianhao.

Some of the men arranged to dig peat in the mountains to the north. This can be found in many places, and the peat veins north of the dry vine village have been discovered many years ago. Unlike the charcoal fields near Rock City, where peat is buried deep and difficult to mine, it is much more convenient to cut down trees for fuel. Over time, it was abandoned by the people of the withered vine village.

Large chunks of peat and loose charcoal powder were brought back to the village, and the instructor from Rock City soon taught the villagers what it means to turn waste into treasure. There is nothing technical about the production of honeycomb coal, but even the most discerning person has to admit that it is indeed very good, and it works more than firewood.

On the hill on the outskirts of the stockade, the construction of three large towers began. This is behind the Ox Clan's territory, and under normal circumstances, it will not be attacked by other tribes from the south. However, even the most experienced generals could not guarantee the eternal safety of the Withered Vine Village, and although it would not be able to pile up fortified towers and fully arm the entire city like Rock City, a normal level of vigilance and armament was necessary. Shouyi brought with him the blueprints of the towers designed by Tianhao himself, which will be completed by next spring at the latest, and will be used for surveillance and observation in normal times, and in addition to guarding against sudden attackers, he can also deal with hordes of wild beasts.

The most important project was the construction of a road to the north of the continent.