Chapter 30
Industrial Zone
At the clan meeting, Chen Zhi was sweating profusely. He found that, compared to the old clan leader who did not care about such mundane things, the young clan leader gave him a greater sense of oppression.
At least when the old clan leader was managing the affairs of the clan, he would not ask all these questions.
Chen Xianhe did not care about the population demographics of the mortals or the distribution of fertile land of the clan.
In Chen Xianhe’s eyes, the most important goal of the Chen clan of Shuanghu Island was to nurture a spiritual vein that belonged to the Chen clan.
Only in this way would the Chen clan be able to nurture the younger generation and increase the number of cultivators in the clan.
Otherwise, even if they discovered members of the younger generation with spiritual roots, the Chen clan would not be able to support them on the path of cultivation.
Since the clan only had one spiritual eye now, it could not support the cultivation of more cultivators.
Based on probability, the chances of a mortal giving birth to a child with spiritual roots was about one in a hundred.
In other words, there were at least thirty potential immortal cultivators with spiritual roots hidden in the Chen clan.
However, the clan had no cultivation resources to spare, so they could not set foot on the path of cultivation.
Even if they were forcefully brought onto the path of cultivation, they would only end up betraying the clan and becoming itinerant cultivators due to the lack of support.
After a long time, Chen Daoxuan said, “There are three things you need to do.”
He raised three fingers. “First, order the county office to immediately survey the clan’s population demographics. I want to know the number of children under the age of 10, the number of young adults between the ages of 10 and 40, the number of middle-aged and older people between the ages of 40 and 60 and, finally, the number of elderly people over the age of 60.”
“Also, I want to know how many couples the clan has and how many unmarried males there are.”
Hearing this, Chen Zhi nodded his head rapidly.
“Second… who is in charge of the public infrastructure in Changping County?”
“Reporting to the young clan leader, this subordinate is the person-in-charge of the construction of civil works in Changping County.”
Behind Chen Zhi, an old man in his sixties walked out shakily and said nervously.
“Very good, take note. From today onward, survey and calculate the total land mass of Shuanghu Island, as well as the approximate distribution of freshwater and mineral resources. Draw a detailed map and send it to me once it’s done.”
“Your subordinate will obey!”
After the old man left…
“This third matter…”
Chen Daoxuan looked at the old man who was about to leave, “Is still under your jurisdiction!”
The old man who had just retreated immediately stopped in his tracks. Then, he walked out of the group once more and bowed in response.
“How many craftsmen are there in the clan now?”
“Reporting to the young clan leader, the clan now has a total of 271 craftsmen of various types. Among them, there are 184 construction craftsmen, 26 carpenters, 41 blacksmiths, and 20 other craftsmen from various other fields.”
When it came to the craftsmen of the clan, the older ones would know everything.
When he heard that there were 184 construction craftsmen, Chen Daoxuan’s expression finally became a little lighter.
“Very good. The third matter is that the clan is going to build an industrial zone.”
Regarding the Shuanghu Island industrial zone, Chen Daoxuan had already come up with this idea five years ago.
It was just that, at the time, the spirit smelting furnace had not yet been developed by him.
In addition, the most important thing in this world was immortal cultivation. Chen Daoxuan could not give up on his cultivation in lieu of trying to industrialize the Chen clan step by step from the steam engine.
Moreover, even if he wanted to successfully develop the industrialization achievements of his previous life, it would still take him hundreds of years.
By then, Chen Daoxuan, who had devoted his heart to this, would have long become an ice-cold corpse. How would he then have the energy and time to cultivate?
He had not forgotten what was the most fundamental thing he had to pursue.
Apart from inheriting the will of the ancestors of the Chen clan, there was another important reason why Chen Daoxuan had to develop and strengthen his clan, which was to provide necessary resources for his cultivation.
As everyone knew, the longer a cultivator cultivated, the more resources he would have to expend.
Wealth, alliances, law, and land.
In short, it was all summed up by one word—resources.
“Industrial zone?”
The old man was stunned. It was another term that he had never heard of.
Chen Daoxuan could not explain to him what an industrial zone was, so he only told him the requirements of the land that would be used for the industrial zone.
As a transmigrator, Chen Daoxuan was clear that the establishment of an industrial zone was not a simple thing.
It required all the necessary conditions to be fulfilled.
First of all, an industrial zone needed to have a leading industry to drive the other upstream and downstream industries in the industrial zone in forming a complete industrial chain.
Chen Daoxuan could fulfill this condition.
The factory that was about to be built was such a leading industry.
In addition to leading industries, the establishment of an industrial zone also required policy support and political will.
This condition was not a problem for Chen Daoxuan either, who was a man of his word.
As for the remaining conditions of industrial land, the perfect social service system, and the construction of the factory, these were also not a big problem for the Chen clan, who could focus all their efforts on the industrial zon.
The only problem now was that the Chen clan did not have qualified industrial workers!
Although the factory that was about to be built was only a small one, Chen Daoxuan estimated that he would need at least twelve to fifteen trained spirit smelting furnace operators to cooperate with him in order to produce spiritual artifacts with the greatest efficiency.
Thinking of this, Chen Daoxuan waved his hand and said, “You and Chen Liangyu stay behind. The others can leave first.”
Everyone looked at Chen Daoxuan, then looked at each other and said in unison, “Young clan leader, your subordinates will take their leave.”
After everyone left, only Chen Daoxuan, Chen Liangyu, and the old man whose name was unknown were left in the ancestral hall.
Chen Daoxuan flipped through the register of the county government officials and found the name of this old man, Chen Beiwang.
As the person-in-charge of the red copper mine, Chen Liangyu was the clansman who was the most familiar with Chen Daoxuan in the entire clan.
It was not only because Chen Daoxuan was responsible for checking the output of the red copper mine every year, but also because Chen Daoxuan often lacked red copper ore to refine weapons, so he went to the mine to obtain more.
After a while, the two of them had become more familiar with each other.
Of course, this familiarity was only on Chen Liangyu’s side.
In Chen Daoxuan’s heart, Chen Liangyu was not much different from the other members of the Chen clan.
However, with the full capacity excavation of the red copper mine during this period of time, the reserves of red copper ore in the mine had completely dried up and Chen Liangyu also lost his former status as a result.
Although he had been standing alongside Chen Zhi, the county magistrate, during the clan meeting, Chen Liangyu knew very well that after losing his status as the person-in-charge of the red copper mine, he could no longer be compared to Chen Zhi.
Chen Daoxuan was not in the mood to care about Chen Liangyu’s thoughts. Instead, he looked at Chen Beiwang.
“Chen Beiwang, do you understand what I just said about the location of the industrial zone?”
“Yes, I understood.”
Chen Beiwang, who had white hair on his temples, quickly nodded and said.
“Other than the location of the industrial zone, there is also the matter regarding the construction of the factory building.”
As he spoke, Chen Daoxuan took out a stack of blueprint drawings from his storage bag.
This was the structural design of the factory that he had meticulously drawn up over the past five years.
As an old craftsman, although it was Chen Beiwang’s first time seeing the blueprint drawing, he quickly understood the requirements and design of the factory that was displayed on the drawing.
He nodded and said, “If these are the designs for the factory, our craftsman should have no problems carrying it out.”
Chen Daoxuan was in a good mood when he heard this guarantee.
“How soon can you build the factory?”
“Six months will be sufficient.”
Chen Daoxuan frowned and asked, “Why does it take so long?”
“Young clan leader, according to the material requirements listed on this blueprint, we need to use high-quality bluestones to build the factory. There are not many stonemasons in the clan, so the speed of grinding down the bluestones might be a little slow…”
Chen Beiwang’s voice became softer and softer as he spoke.