The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 44 : Agriculture

The next cabinet meeting was at 8 am again.

Only 2 weeks had passed since the stormy first meeting with Julien. A lot of changes had been done since then. The new Finance Minister had already joined, Prince Drabert had started his investigations, news continued to filter out to the various news channels about investigations that were underway by the task force.

The Star Families were jittery, watching every move by the government and the minsters. Repeated news on the matter had somehow, ignited an interest among the public on the otherwise ignored matters of business and finance.

"We have a single point agenda today, Julien?" The Emperor asked.

"Your Majesty, that is my agenda for today. The ministers were free to add any item they wish to discuss, but no one did."

The cabinet meeting used to take place once in 3 months. Now this was the second cabinet meeting in less than 3 weeks. Besides, the ministers, apart from the Core, were a little jittery after what happened in Finance and were busy trying to get their house in order before the Crown Prince targets them. Every ministry was having internal meetings till late night, gathering data, preparing for presentations and questions.

Julien called the Minster of Agriculture to chair the meeting. The Minister got up nervously and took the chair at the head of the Cabinet Table.

"Good Evening, I have been asked by the Crown Prince to make a presentation on the report that was circulated in the previous meeting." He started.

The presentation was short, consisting of 25 slides. The summary of the presentation were:

· Farm output was falling every year for the last 5 years

· Import of Food was going up

· Currently, Food and related imports were over $2 Trillion a year

· Major suppliers of food were historically hostile nations

· Agriculture is among the least preferred jobs

· 70% of farmer's children choosing not to work in farms

· Falling farm manpower and investment, resulting in lower agricultural products and setting a downward spiral.

"I found this has been repeatedly stated in your annual reports. It is not something new. Why has something not been done earlier?" Julien asked.

"It has been in the reports, Your Majesty. But no one bothered to read it."

"Have you ever put it on the agenda and brought it forward like this in a presentation?"

"No, Your Majesty. I am sorry. Previous Cabinet Meetings were different from current ones. Please give us a chance to improve ourselves." The Minister was sweating slightly as he tried to find an escape route. The memories of Rojes was fresh in his mind.

"Fine, but there is some more information I would like to add... Prince Drabert, please have your secretary add the files you have provided yesterday." Julien instructed.

Over the next hour, a young man from the Planning Team of the Ministry of Finance gave a very detailed presentation on agriculture, types of crops, trends, and more. The extent of information was astonishing to the cabinet.

Everyone in the room was stunned except Lord Melster. He had been receiving such detailed information, data and 'analytics' since the day he joined. He doubted if even the emperor knew the extent of data that the government seem to have and a bunch of kids working for the 2 brothers seem to be having at their fingertips. He wondered how they managed. Each time he wanted something, one of the kids from 'Planning' would pull it out of nowhere.