Chapter 55: Chapter 54: Farmland Plan

On the day before the planned trip to Pasture City, everyone was quite busy.

Macken and Tom were drawing up plans for David’s upcoming territory defense and patrols, while Elron rode through the small town, dispensing Ronin’s benevolence.

Chahar was tinkering with the plans for the castle toilets, while Wilson, after finishing his statistical work, was engrossed in the task of organizing villages and groups.

Ronin was not idle either.

After finishing the Knight novel he was reading, he rode his horse to the southeastern edge of the territory to see how the peasant slaves and tenant farmers were reclaiming the wasteland.

The farmers were selective when reclaiming wasteland. They didn’t just find a random plot of land and start working it. They generally chose places with relatively flat terrain and softer soil, doing their best to avoid sandy or rocky ground.

Fortunately, there was a large, relatively flat area to the southeast of Mountain Forest Town, which provided the town with a considerable amount of arable land. If they continued to reclaim it, it would likely yield no less than forty to fifty thousand acres.

Adding in the reclaimable areas to the northeast, plus the more than ten thousand acres of land currently lying fallow, Mountain Forest Town’s total arable land was estimated to be around eighty thousand acres.

And that wasn’t even counting the dangerous western region…

Ronin was shocked by the figures he came up with after this analysis.

’A single town with this much arable land—how could anyone call it barren?’

If Ronin could reclaim all the uncultivated land and then increase the grain yield per acre, Mountain Forest Town should be able to support a population of twenty to thirty thousand people on its own.

And that was only counting the barley and wheat yields. If he added carrots and cabbages, the number of people who could scrape by would likely be even a little higher.

’Princest forcing his people to reclaim land every year actually made some sense.’

Ronin didn’t rashly order the farmers to stop reclaiming land. It would be a terrible waste not to cultivate such a vast expanse of arable land.

However, the farmers were reclaiming the land far too slowly.

He rode a circuit around the areas being reclaimed, which made the peasant slaves and tenant farmers think their Lord had come to supervise their work. They all trembled with fear yet worked with all their might, terrified that the Lord’s whip would fall on some unlucky soul.

As an outsider, Ronin was not one to casually criticize the existing technology and work methods. Nor did he have the time to supervise how his subjects labored.

The main reason he was riding around and observing was to gather useful information.

Through his observations, he discovered that although the farmers worked without a moment’s rest, the pace of reclamation was still not ideal. The root cause was a lack of tools.

Neither draft cattle nor horses were being used on a large scale for reclamation; they relied mostly on manual labor, so of course the speed couldn’t increase.

Moreover, Ronin carefully observed the few cattle they did have. Not only were they scrawny, but the plows they used were light plows, which could only turn a limited layer of topsoil and couldn’t plow deep.

Furthermore, flaws in the design of the plows and yokes caused a great waste of both human and animal strength, and it was especially difficult when they needed to turn at the end of a row.

’Promoting the use of cattle for plowing and improving the plows and yokes would increase the speed of reclamation.’

After making inquiries, Ronin learned that these few cattle were the private property of the tenant farmers. Anyone else who wanted to use them had to pay with a certain amount of labor or grain.

Previously, when Princest was in charge, he would lend out two or three head to those in need, but he also charged a fee. Of course, as far as Princest was concerned, most cattle were for eating.

Ronin had seen Black Water Buffalo before; after all, he had personally inspected the thirteen head that Sain Territory had sent to Mountain Forest Town.

This type of buffalo was large, about half a size bigger than the water buffalo from his homeland, so one could imagine their strength.

However, despite their large size, these creatures had a relatively docile temperament. Especially after being trained by the cowherds from Sain Territory, they could understand human commands, making them an invaluable source of labor.

Ronin had a total of twenty-four Black Water Buffalo that could be used for plowing, which was not a large number.

He planned to wait until Wilson finished organizing the villages in Mountain Forest Town before distributing the draft cattle.

Of course, they would mainly be for the peasant slaves to use. The Free Tenant Farmers would still need to pay a fee, though he could, at his discretion, reduce it a bit compared to what Princest charged.

For now, this was the only way to solve the draft cattle problem, as there were simply too few of them.

As for the plows and yokes, however, Ronin could certainly make some improvements.

As a modern man from his homeland, he not only knew about the Curved Plow from history books but had also tinkered with plows and a big black ox in the fields as a child.

Ronin planned to draw up a design for the plow and give it to the town’s Blacksmith Carlos to forge a prototype for testing. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

…

While Ronin was busy improving the agricultural technology in his territory, most of the nobles throughout the Wushan Territory were preparing for a grand upcoming gathering.

On August 28th, Count Ossen Hyde of Black Python City celebrated his seventieth birthday.

For commoners, the age of fifty was equivalent to entering old age; for nobles, fifty was merely the end of middle age.

And for this Golden Knight, even at the advanced age of seventy, he was still robust and powerful.

The flesh and internal organs of a Golden Knight were constantly tempered by Fighting Qi, making their function and strength several levels beyond those of an ordinary person.

A Transcendent of this level, barring any illness or injury, would not enter a period of physical decline until the age of eighty.

Therefore, Ossen Hyde would remain robust for the next ten years.

The Hyde Clan was already powerful, and now that the Count’s own grandson had a claim to the Wushan Territory, the clan’s prestige was soaring even higher.

Thus, this birthday banquet would be grander than any before it. This was also why Baron Reisen had set out for Black Python City so many days in advance, as it was indeed an opportunity for a great deal of networking.

In Wushan Castle, Lurans, as Ossen Hyde’s Lord, would naturally not personally attend to celebrate the man’s birthday.

However, his son, as the Count of Wushan City and also that fellow Ossen’s son-in-law, definitely had to make the trip.

But at this very moment, said Count was in the castle arguing with his wife, the cause being that Wiggin did not want to go to Black Python City.

In his youth, he had been enthusiastic about attending all sorts of banquets; the more nobles present, the more he liked it.

But as he got older, especially in recent years, he had grown to despise such events. The sight of nobles exchanging toasts, all smiles to his face while who-knows-what was said behind his back, made him feel sick.

Dianey was furious. What kind of son-in-law doesn’t attend his own father-in-law’s birthday banquet?

She relentlessly questioned Wiggin, asking him what on earth he was afraid of!

The argument went on for a long time, until it disturbed Lurans, who was resting in the rear courtyard.

When the old man sat down before the two of them, leaning on his cane, both Wiggin and Dianey had no choice but to cease their hostilities.

“You have no reason not to attend Ossen’s birthday banquet this time.” Lurans made his final decision, his voice firm and resolute.

Wiggin suddenly felt exhausted. Being this wretched Count, being the heir to the Marquis, was just too tiring. If he could, he would gladly trade his own life for Gremes’s return.

“Father, can’t you just let Dianey go with Bretton?”

He was still unwilling to give up. “Can’t we just tell everyone I’m ill, that I’m not feeling well and am resting at home?”

Hearing this, Lurans instantly felt as if he had aged another year. He didn’t want to say any more; he just stared coldly at the son before him.

Soon, Wiggin was defeated. “Fine, I’ll go!”

Lurans sighed inwardly. “This time, have Toru lead a team to accompany you.”

Toru Vinar was Lurans’s disciple, a Knight of Wushan Castle, and the Leader of the First Knight Order of Wushan Castle.

Toru was publicly known to be at the Silver Level Peak, but he had recently broken through. This fact, however, had not been publicized, and only Lurans was aware of it.

Wiggin was startled. “Father, Toru is responsible for guarding Wushan City. If he goes with me, what about you?”

“Are you worried about my safety?”

Lurans chuckled, then his expression suddenly hardened. He slammed his cane heavily onto the ground.

CRACK! The floor tiles shattered. A whirlwind of scorching Fighting Qi shot towards Wiggin, sending him, along with the table, chairs, and sofa, flying into the wall.

Dianey, standing to the side, was shocked. She hadn’t expected the old man’s power to still be so formidable!

COUGH, COUGH.

Lurans coughed twice. Looking at the son he had just disciplined, he felt some of the anger in his heart dissipate.

He stood up and walked outside. “Your father is merely ill, not dead. For now, there is no one in the Wushan Territory who can take my life.”

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