Chapter 192 Food Supply and Education

"Yes." Maximus nodded approvingly: "I also know that Eurytimus is indeed a very capable carpenter! Do you have any other candidates to recommend?"

No one else responded,

After all, Volenus served as the administrator of the rebel army and registered most of the people who joined the team to understand their abilities. Capito served as supervisor of a baggage camp and oversaw a large team of engineers and craftsmen. It can be said that these two men have gathered most of the knowledgeable and capable talents in the rebel army.

Although there are a lot of people in Akonis's kitchen and Karina's women's camp, they are far behind in terms of cultural quality. There are a few people in the army who meet the requirements, but they are all senior officers, and Frontinus and the others are reluctant to let them leave the army.

Cornelius regretted it now: if he had worked seriously in the rebel army before, he could now discover a few talents, recommend them to the leader, and sell favors, which would also be more conducive to his future development in the tribe.

Maximus waited for a while and saw that no one recommended it, so he said: "If Eurytimus is the Lord of Westene, it will be a waste of his best skills. I think it is better to let him be a shipbuilder." The owner of the workshop leads other shipwrights to help the tribe build better and more ships... Well, let Cycrops be the city lord of Vestini, what do you think?"

Capito and Volenus agreed, and no one else objected, and the appointment was confirmed.

With all the agricultural, industrial, commercial and military matters related to the development of the Nyx tribe settled, Maximus breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Do you have any other suggestions?"

Cornelius couldn't wait to speak loudly: "Chief, our property department now has an important problem, which is related to the survival of the entire tribe, that is, there is not enough food! When Volenus handed over the supplies to me, our existing Food supply for the original team of 15,000 people was relatively sufficient.

But after we captured Snodia and Westeni, more than 10,000 people joined the tribe, and the food supply became a little tight. Fortunately, we urgently planted a lot of beans and beans on the land around Snodia. The vegetables are growing well and I estimate based on their maximum yield that they can barely survive until June next year.

But later, five or six thousand Skodisci slaves came from Broch, and soon thousands of Segestika captives from the Ardei tribe would return, and the tribe's population increased again. One-fifth, and they are all strong laborers. In this way, even if we eat all the grain, we can still survive until the end of February next year, and then the tribe will have nothing to eat! "

His words caused a commotion in the hall, and everyone felt nervous.

Maximus seemed calm. Food security was the primary issue of the tribe. He had understood it beforehand, so he asked in a calm tone: "Cornelius, you are the chief officer of the Ministry of Property. Do you have any way to solve the problem of the tribe?" Food shortage problem?"

"Yes!" Cornelius said loudly and confidently: "There are many deer and wild boars here. You can organize hunting teams to hunt and obtain food. I see that there are many fish in the Kupa River and the Korana River, and they are also relatively large. It can organize ethnic groups to fish and increase food reserves;

There are also 152 sheep in our tribe, including 33 ewes. We have dedicated personnel to carefully raise them so that they can produce as much milk as possible and make cheese. We also have some poultry, which can also be raised by dedicated personnel. They eat fish and shrimps in the river. , the bugs in the fields can grow very well, do not consume our food, but can lay eggs every day, increasing our food reserves...

While tribes obtain food, they must also strengthen food control and strictly control daily food consumption to avoid unnecessary waste. In addition to our own efforts, we can also purchase food from our allies, the Ardie people. I remember that we had made a request to them in this regard before and received approval, but later we captured Segestica. After receiving abundant supplies, our village did not buy food from the Aldi people. Now it is time to restart this plan..."

Cornelius spoke eloquently and clearly with careful preparation, which surprised Maximus a little: because some of his proposals went beyond his original ideas, which shows that this old guy is still capable.

"Cornelius is very thoughtful. If these plans can be implemented, I think our food shortage problem should be solved!" Maximus first praised Cornelius for his intentions, then comforted the others, and then He added: “As for the issue of raising poultry and livestock, Volenus, your Ministry of Agriculture must take responsibility.

Frontinus, your army will select soldiers who are good at hunting, form a team, and hunt wild beasts. Pigris, you go to Chief Budokaribas tomorrow to discuss buying grain. As for the strict control of food consumption, this is a matter for the Ministry of Finance, and Cornelius will be responsible for you...

Oh, by the way, there’s also fishing, which is still the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture. But it’s best to have fishing nets for fishing. Capito, do your weaving team have the ability to weave a few nets as soon as possible..."

After everything was told one by one, everyone's worries about food disappeared.

At this time, Kephisophon said: "Chief, I have a few questions."

"you say."

"There are more than 60 children over 6 years old among the Skodischi who joined our tribe, and there are more than 200 children over 6 years old among the Segostika captives. Our Ethical and Education Department also needs to teach these children literacy and arithmetic. ?"

"Of course." Maximus replied without hesitation: "This is not only to show the goodwill of the tribe to the Segestika and Skodisci, but also to tell them with actions that the tribe does not distinguish between ethnic groups and The attitude of treating everyone equally is also to improve the capabilities of the next generation of the tribe and speed up their integration.”

"I understand." Kefesuofeng said seriously: "It's just that the Ministry of Ethical Education has an urgent problem that needs to be solved. It turns out that the teachers who teach children literacy and arithmetic are slaves and poor people who are rare in the team and have received specialized education since childhood. , the number of people is already small, but now that the tribe has settled down, they will soon be allocated land, and they will be busy farming to support their families, and will not have any extra time to teach their children. "

Maximus said without thinking: "This problem is easy to solve. These teachers in the Ministry of Ethics and Education are just like the craftsmen in the Ministry of Works. They are paid by the tribe, and their fields are cultivated by the reserve tribesmen. They only need to concentrate on teaching their children." That’s it.

After the autumn harvest next year, tuition fees will be levied on the children who come to study. The fees can be set very low so that the parents can easily pay for them. With the dedication, the children will work harder and the parents will supervise. It is also a supplement to the tribe’s finances. "

"But no matter how low the tuition is, as long as they charge money, some stingy parents may not want their children to study." Kedesos reminded.

"They will pay for it." Maximus smiled meaningfully: "In the future, the tribe will issue a decree that ethnic people who are illiterate and cannot count cannot serve as officers in the army, nor as tribal officials, or in various positions. For the members of the department, we even stipulate that those who want to obtain a knighthood or above and become a tribal noble must be able to read and write. For the future of their children, do you think they will pay for it? "

"I think they will." Kephesofon sighed.

Someone in the hall couldn't sit still: "Chief, if the tribe promulgates this decree, then we-"

The speaker was Frontinus, an illiterate man. Not only him, but several people such as Karina, Aconis, and Lebirus are illiterate.

Maximus said earnestly: "The reason why we launched a riot and resisted Rome was because we were in a low status and were oppressed. If we didn't have enough to eat, how could we still have money to study? It's normal to be illiterate. So this The first decree to be promulgated is for our next generation and the people who will join the tribe in the future. There are no strict requirements for everyone who fought against Rome, trekked from Italy, and founded the Nyx tribe.

But you are now the top leaders of the tribe, and you will be in charge of tens of thousands of tribesmen in the future. If you are illiterate, are you not afraid that the tribesmen will laugh at you behind your back and undermine your majesty? And if you learn literacy and arithmetic, you won't be easily fooled by your subordinates, right? "

Frontinus and others were deeply moved.

Maximus struck while the iron was hot and said: "Kephisophon, I remember that after we left Sarapia and started marching, we stopped teaching adults. I think we can start again now. Wait until this decree After it is promulgated, it is estimated that there will be many ethnic groups who want to learn from it.

Chief, let us start teaching our people literacy and numeracy again. There is no problem with this. But the problem now is that we don't have enough places to accommodate so many students.

You see, this time our etiquette department has two houses. Originally one was used for our office and the other was used to teach the children. However, there were 267 children we originally wanted to teach. Even if both houses were used for teaching, the venue Still a bit insufficient.

What's more, more than half of these children have no parents. According to the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, they have not arranged other accommodation for these children without parents. It is best for us, the Ministry of Ethics and Education, to take care of them and arrange them to live in our own homes—— "

Before Kephisophon finished speaking, Maximus's face darkened and he looked at the agricultural officer: "Vorenus, what's going on?!"

Even though Maximus was suppressing his anger, Wobanus still saw that he was angry, and suddenly became a little panicked, and his tongue was tangled unconsciously: "The leader... the leader, the tribe... just moved in, and the accommodation is quite tense. , we... think the children are relatively small, so we should squeeze in for a few days... there should be no problem. "

"It's because children are small and not as strong as adults. It's easy to have problems when so many children are crowded together! I have said many times before that children are our future and need to be carefully cultivated... You have forgotten these words! " Maximus scolded, and Volenus lowered his head without saying a word.

Maximus saw that he was as frightened as a quail in the rain. Most of the anger in his heart suddenly disappeared, and his tone softened: "Speaking of which, I was also at fault. I was too busy during this period and neglected to care for the children and their ethics. The ministry is busy and has to take care of the children's food and daily life. I'm afraid I don't have that much energy. Let's take care of these children without parents. Akonis, you, the housekeeper, must take responsibility. "

Akonis responded happily: "Chief, don't worry, I will definitely make the children eat well, live well, and grow white and fat..."

Maximus smiled and said: "You haven't finished what you said just now, Kephisophon. Since there is not enough space to teach the existing children, there will be Scodischi and Segostika next." The children want to join, and the adults of the tribe want to study, and the existing venues are not enough... This is what you want to say, right? "

Kephisophon nodded.

"Our tribe should build a school so that teachers can teach children there. As for how to build the school and what style it will be, Kephisofon can discuss it with Capito. However, it may take some time to complete the school, but the children's learning There is no need to delay. I remember that there are still some noble houses in Westney Village that are unoccupied. How many of them are there?"

"Eight," answered Volenus.

"Then allocate five houses to your Ethical and Education Department as a temporary school. That should be enough, right?"

"Enough is enough." Kephisofon looked embarrassed: "But the teachers and most of the children live here in Snodia. The distance between the two places is a bit far. The children have to go there to study every day. It takes time and energy..."

"It's only a dozen or twenty miles away." Maximus said seriously: "The Department of Ethical Education can organize the children to march in formation every day to go to Westney to study, and then march back in formation at dusk, just as children Routine military training.

These children used to not even have enough to eat and were often beaten and scolded. How could they expect to learn knowledge? But now they have a good opportunity to learn. I believe they know how to cherish it better than anyone else and do not feel that they are suffering. "

Kephisophon was convinced and immediately agreed to take the children to Westney to study on time every day.

"Since the teaching venue has been changed to Westney, one of the two houses originally allocated to the Ethical and Education Department will be taken back and temporarily handed over to the Medical Department. The remaining three houses in Westney will also be temporarily allocated to the Medical Department. Ministry, used to treat the wounded... Horace, is this enough?"

Horace was about to ask this question, but he didn't expect Maximus to say it in advance, so he thought about it and said, "It should be almost able to accommodate the existing wounded, but the doctors and nurses in the medical camp have to take care of the wounded every day. I’m afraid I don’t have time—”