Lord of Winter: Beginning with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 783 - 432: A Half-Year Miracle

It’s been exactly six months since Red Tide took over Gray Rock Province.

The meeting room in Black Iron City was very quiet.

Outside the window, the early autumn morning light was slightly chilly, sliced into a thin line by the thick curtains, falling on the black walnut long table.

The air lacked the biting chill of frost, carrying a slight coolness, with the fireplace lit symbolically, allowing those inside to forgo coats.

Louis sat at the head position, his cloak draped over the back of the chair, holding a pen which he twirled lightly between his fingers.

"Lord Louis." Green entered with a hint of the outside cold on his shoulder, carrying a heavy roll of parchment in his arms.

Louis nodded, with no unnecessary pleasantries, signaling Green to begin his report: "Go ahead directly."

Green placed the parchment in the center of the table, pressing it down with both hands, and gave it a firm pull.

As the map unfurled, everyone in the room instinctively lifted their heads.

This was no longer the old map of Gray Rock Nobility’s territory seen six months ago.

No mottled color blocks, no densely-packed coats of arms, none of those borders that fragmented the province into pieces.

The entire parchment was left with only red lines, crisscrossing from the Governor’s Mansion extending to the mines, valleys, work sheds, checkpoints, and villages and towns.

The lines varied in thickness, dense at nodes, resembling the veins and nerves of a body.

Louis’s fingertips moved slowly along the map’s edge, his gaze pausing on each of the red line nodes one by one.

Green stood straight, reporting: "My Lord, according to your Red Tide System Plan, Gray Rock Province’s transformation is complete."

He raised his hand towards the center of the map: "The seventy thousand population, forty-eight mining areas, and three glacial rivers have all been integrated into the Red Tide System."

Louis glanced up at him, his gaze resting on his face for a moment: "Well done."

Then he gestured slightly, indicating to continue, "Continue."

Green cleared his throat and continued: "Six months ago, hundreds of petty barons governed independently, determining tax collection, mining, and labor usage based on their debts and temperaments."

He spoke of the old state briefly, as if tossing out decayed meat: "We abolished all local nobility’s legislative powers. Now Gray Rock speaks with one voice, the voice of Red Tide Central."

Green pointed to the three main lines on the map.

"Every directive issued from the main city, through a tri-level hierarchy of Deacons, town officials, and village chiefs, reaches even the most remote mining villages, without discrepancy, achieving one hundred percent execution."

Louis’s fingers tapped the table lightly twice: "Rules must be clear. Fear can only maintain order, rules can maintain the system."

"Yes." Green nodded, "Thus, we’ve posted the regulations at the entrance of each work shed, and even literacy classes first teach them to recognize work points and rules."

Hearing this, Louis’s mouth moved slightly, as if satisfied.

Green turned a new page: "In the past six months, the Inspection Department Division in Gray Rock initiated 620 cases, publicly trying 850 holdover officials."

"Extortion, embezzling public rations, falsifying work points, illegally selling medicine. We didn’t overlook a single one."

He voiced the numbers unemotionally, as if reporting mineral weights.

"The populace finally believes, there’s no leniency based on moods, nor privileges based on identity here."

"Keep a close watch." Louis nodded, "And even if it’s Red Tide’s officials involved in misconduct, they cannot be exempt."

Green acknowledged, turning to the Population Register, continuing: "The officially registered population is 724,000, among which 400,000 were extracted from mines, mountains, and abandoned villages, previously undocumented."

"They didn’t count as people before, now they have names, numbers, and work point accounts."

Green’s hand paused in turning the page: "In the past six months, we’ve promoted over three thousand grassroots officials. Six months ago, they were slaves, refugees, or miners."

He looked up, unable to entirely suppress the excitement in his tone.

"As long as they’re willing to learn, work, and recognize words, even a slave can sit in an office. This upward path, once opened, wins hearts more than distributing Gold Coins."

Louis confidently smiled, as if anticipating this: "Have they gone mad?"

"They have." Green also smiled, "Every day, people lining up for literacy classes break down the doorstep."

After a brief silence, someone in the meeting room suddenly chuckled softly, soon spreading like ignited laughter around the table.

They themselves once sat on the benches of literacy classes, starting with copying the first word, tallying the first work point step by step to where they are today.

"Regarding supplies," Green brought the topic back, "we replicated Red Tide City’s free adoption system. First registration, then housing, clothing, and food distribution. Epidemics and unrest have been mostly nipped in the bud."

He pointed to the southern part of the map: "The Black Valley Basin. Leveraging glacial hydropower and geothermal technology imported from the headquarters, we completed the first phase of the greenhouse zone.

Though not yet able to feed everyone well, there’s enough potato stew with mushrooms. Death from hunger and cold has vanished from the statistics."

Louis gently exhaled, his gaze still lingering on the map: "Progress meets expectations."

Green said: "This is the Lord’s plan..."

His words started to drift unconsciously towards praise.

Louis first raised his hand to interrupt him: "Enough. Don’t flatter me."

After these words fell, the meeting room first went quiet, then someone couldn’t help but laugh.

Interrupted like this, Green felt slightly relaxed, smiling still, yet not wholly restrained.

"My Lord, you may dislike hearing this, but it must be said." He closed the booklet, as though wrapping his words differently.

"What shocks me the most is people’s hearts. Previously, they shouted ’Long live Duke Remont’ out of coercion. Now shouting ’Long live Lord Louis’ is because they know their lives are genuinely on the rise.