And the grand golden chair on the high platform added a touch of sanctity to the entire hall.
The chair was also golden, but unlike the gold on the ceiling and load-bearing pillars of the hall, it was a textured gold. With just their eyes, everyone could discern that it was made from large pieces of Beast Bone, polished and pieced together, and then thickly lacquered with gold paint, finally resulting in such an effect.
The chair had a square backrest, and on the part above the cushion, at just one and a half meters, were intricately carved patterns of over a dozen miniature Cold Beasts. On either side of the armrests, a pair of small Teng Jiao were carved with open mouths and claws, their heads positioned at the very front of the armrests, roaring forward with vivid and domineering expressions.
The wall behind this chair wasn’t left bare either.
On the wall was engraved a gigantic Map of the Great Xia, visible to everyone in the hall with just a glance upwards.
"Mu Dong, your craftsmanship is getting better!"
Hearing Xia Hong’s praise, Mu Dong’s anxious heart immediately relaxed.
"Thank you, leader, for the compliment!"
He spoke and then, remembering something, continued, "Leader, Lord Minister has said that this hall is henceforth designated for deliberations by the camp, which is why a lot of effort was put into it. Your room is right at the back of the hall. Why don’t you go take a look? If anything is missing, we can add it in."
Seeing the anticipation in Mu Dong’s eyes, Xia Hong immediately guessed that his room was probably even more extravagant than the hall. He chuckled lightly and shook his head, saying, "I’ll check the room by myself. Everyone is waiting for their rooms to be allocated. You all have plenty on your plates today, so get busy!"
Hearing the occasional noise coming from downstairs, Xia Chuan nodded, excused himself, led everyone to open the staircase entrance to the grand hall, and descended.
Xia Hong then pushed open the large door of the east wall and walked into his room.
"Everyone, gather in the main hall, Lord Minister has an announcement!"
"Everyone, gather in the main hall, Lord Minister has an announcement!"
On the first and second floors of the wooden building, repeated announcements echoed throughout the corridors. At the call, everyone who had been exploring various parts of the building hurried towards the main hall.
After the tour, it should now be time for room allocation!
Everyone was mentally prepared, and as they walked towards the main hall, anticipation filled their hearts, with broad smiles on their faces.
Soon, a crowd of over twenty thousand people gathered in the main hall on the first and second floors. Despite having two levels, the space, being fifty meters wide, felt overcrowded with over twenty-three thousand people present.
Quickly, not only the main hall but also the surrounding corridors and even the central staircase were filled with people.
Anyone who came in saw Xia Chuan standing above the second-floor staircase, holding a booklet in his hand.
Guessing the booklet contained the room allocation list, everyone couldn’t help but show eager expressions.
Seeing that most people had arrived, Xia Chuan turned his head to glance at Yuan Cheng.
Understanding the cue, Yuan Cheng immediately stepped forward and loudly shouted:
"Silence, everyone, silence!"
"Silence, everyone, silence!"
"Silence, everyone, silence!"
With his basic strength nearing the thirty thousand jin limit, Yuan Cheng’s shout had tremendous penetrating power. With three consecutive calls, not only the two to three thousand people in the main hall but also those in the entire floor corridor could hear him clearly.
Over twenty thousand people fell silent, and the entire wooden building instantly became as silent as a church.
Xia Chuan walked to the center of the staircase and spoke loudly: "With the completion of the wooden building, all of you are probably eager, so I won’t waste words, let’s proceed with the allocation.
The entire wooden building is divided into three floors, with 100 rooms on the top floor, 280 on the second, and 360 on the first. Excluding the leader’s room, there are a total of 739 rooms.
Apart from the leader, there are 23,230 people in the entire camp, comprising 5,821 households, with a population of 19,212 people. The remaining 4,018 people have individual status as they are unmarried.
With only 739 rooms available, priority will be given to households, with an average of nine to ten households sharing one room, totaling approximately 610 rooms;
The remaining individual status members will be allocated based on gender, with an average of 31 people sharing one room, making up 129 rooms.
This is the general arrangement for this allocation. Later, the Camp Supply Department Director, Qiu Peng, will post the allocation list at the entrance of the wooden building, and you can check the list to find your assigned room. Is that clear?"
"Hahaha, as long as I can move in."
With Xia Chuan’s words, responses came one after another, and the vast majority of people beamed with smiles, evidently quite satisfied.
However, a small number of people frowned deeply, clearly puzzled.
"With ten households to a room, there’ll be at least thirty people, Lord Minister. Won’t that be a bit too crowded?"
"Yeah, the rooms on the first and second floors are just ten meters wide, squeezing 30 people into 100 square meters is indeed too cramped."
"It’s better than the previous two temporary wooden houses, but still quite cramped."
Those who spoke up were mainly from the Earth-digging Realm of the Hunting Department.
Hearing these queries, the rest also realized, remembering the rooms they’d just seen, that such allocations would indeed be crowded—only slightly better than their current temporary wooden houses.
Hearing these inquiries, Xia Chuan was not surprised and reiterated the words he’d said during the meeting last night.
"As I’ve mentioned before, this wooden building was only constructed to cope with emergencies like the previous Cold Beast tide, and not intended for improving living conditions. Therefore, the allocation method will not change!"