Chapter 283 The Autumn Harvest Ended
As the ogres raged for a long time, the Martins family could only abandon some peripheral villages, shrink their strength, and concentrate the population near the castle.
Although this is safer, there is not much arable land near the castle. If you want to feed tens of thousands of people and more than 10,000 soldiers, you can only transport food from the rear.
As time passed, the Martins family simply couldn't bear it.
The report of the Martins family giving up their territory was once again placed on King Roger's desk.
Although they have become a great noble, they are not strong enough and have insufficient foundation. The Martins family has not been comfortable at all in the past ten years.
In just a few years, two family heads were killed in battle.
The pressure brought by the ogres was increasing. After weighing the pros and cons, the Martins family decided to abandon the two castles of Golok and Songtao, and give up about 38,000 square kilometers of territory west of the Rania River.
When King Charles demarcated the Earl of Martins, he divided a huge territory. Although the royal family was relieved of its burden, the Martins family could not hold onto such a huge territory.
In just a few years, the Martins Earldom had been completely lost, and the Martins family even wanted to give up the territory, bringing shame to the family.
In the end, the Grant royal family took responsibility. Roger loaned a large amount of gold coins to support the Martins family, and even sent a legion of redeemers to assist the Martins family in garrisoning the territory.
The balance lasted for five years, but the Martins family made up their minds to give up the large territory close to the ogre tribe and focus on the eastern region. They were at the horns of each other with the Gascoigne Province and guarded the two east sides of the Rania River. A territory of 13,000 square kilometers.
After King Roger analyzed the situation, he finally agreed to the Martins family's request.
After all, the power in this area is not enough. If you want to expand your sphere of influence, you must have Nolan's full support. Nolan didn't want to invest. Even if he extended his sphere of influence, once the ogre got angry, he wouldn't be able to defend it by relying on local power.
After obtaining the consent of King Roger, the Martins demolished the castle and moved the population to the east of the Rania River.
The legendary ogre did not continue to let the ogre cross the Rania River after seeing the humans leaving.
The Raniya River flows rapidly and is about fifty or sixty meters wide. It is a very important tributary in the upper reaches of the Black River. It is not an easy task for the ogre to cross the river.
Moreover, after crossing the river, the ogre's activity range was reduced, which undoubtedly made it more difficult to use guerrilla tactics.
This area is about 70 to 80 kilometers away from the Flame Castle. Even if the level of development is very low, it is easy to get reinforcements from the Mad Lion Legion at such a short distance.
The legendary ogre is no fool and will not allow his subordinates to duel with the central legion of humans.
After the Earl of Martins moved its population eastward, it relied on natural rivers as a line of defense, and the situation immediately turned around.
Although the two parties did not sign a contract, they acquiesced to each other's sphere of influence, and the situation in this area was once again restored to balance.
After killing the necromancer, Richard returned to the territory, and the autumn harvest had begun in the Harland territory.
This year is considered to be a good year, with the entire northern Xinjiang region ushering in a bumper harvest.
Due to the mining of potash mines, Harland territory has a large amount of potash fertilizer. The 200,000 acres of experimental fields using potash fertilizer have once again increased the yield per mu. The yield of wheat grown in paddy fields has increased to about 420 kilograms per mu. Even in dry land where irrigation is difficult and depends on the weather, the yield per mu has increased to about 240 kilograms.
The output of the 200,000 acres of experimental fields is equivalent to 250,000 acres in previous years, an increase of about 25%.
Although natural chemical fertilizers are not as good as compound fertilizers, and the yield increase is not as good as nitrogen fertilizers, the effect is better than simply using farmyard manure. When mixed with farmyard manure, the yield increase effect is better.
Seeing that the use of chemical fertilizers was so effective, Richard decided to increase the intensity of mining potash salt lakes next year. But this requires sending more workers to Salt Lake County, and investment in roads and transportation is required.
The Harland Territory has cultivated approximately 2 million acres of farmland this year. In addition to cash crops such as cotton, fruits, and medicinal materials, the food-heavy area is approximately 1.86 million acres.
These 1.86 million acres of farmland produce approximately 225,000 tons of grain. Grain production increased by about one-third compared to last year.
This year, 400,000 acres of farmland were reclaimed, and potash fertilizer was applied to 200,000 acres of experimental fields. This increased grain production by approximately 55,000 tons.
The rainfall this year was better than last year, and there were basically no natural disasters. According to average statistics, the yield per mu increased by about 6% compared with last year.
Of the two hundred and twenty-five thousand tons of grain, 95,000 tons belonged to the freemen. The official rations in Harland territory are only about 130,000 tons.
This spring, 60,000 freedmen became freemen. Including these 60,000 freedmen, the number of freedmen in Harland Territory is 225,000, which exceeds 35% of the total population. .
Due to the epidemic of plague, the Harland Territory incorporated more than 40,000 serfs who migrated from other territories. Adding the population born in the territory, the number of indentured servants reached 410,000. This is slightly higher than the peak number of indentured servants last year.
Of the 130,000 tons of grain, it is necessary to leave 10,000 tons of seed grain, 10,000 tons of emergency grain reserve, 10,000 tons of 2,000 tons of military grain, and 3,000 tons of grain for brewing. Only 95,000 tons of food can be truly eaten. About 1,000 tons.
More than 90,000 tons of grain are needed to feed more than 400,000 people and more than 20,000 large livestock. The surplus of grain is not very sufficient and it is impossible to sell it externally.
Richard did not expect the territory to make money from agriculture this year. He was satisfied that agricultural production could be self-sufficient and there was no need to spend gold coins to purchase grain from outside.
From last year to this year, more than 300,000 people poured into the Harland Territory in two years. It is already very difficult for the agricultural surplus to feed these 300,000 people.
It was able to sustain itself last year entirely due to the support of the livestock industry and 20,000 tons of mutton in winter.
Although agriculture has had a bumper harvest this year, the livestock industry has suffered serious losses. Shortly after the plague epidemic in northern Xinjiang, a sheep plague epidemic occurred in the Harland territory at the turn of spring and summer.
This time the sheep plague was very serious and spread over a large area. According to rough statistics from territorial officials, more than 600,000 sheep died of the disease. The real situation may be even more serious. A considerable number of the sheep that died from the disease were ewes. After the sheep plague, the sheep population in Halland territory decreased by about 30%. Because of the sheep plague, burying dead sheep was an arduous task.
Not only has wool textile production been reduced this year, but the number of mutton sheep slaughtered in the entire Harland territory is estimated to be only 700,000. There are only about 500,000 mutton sheep produced in government-run ranches, which is about half less than last year.
Fortunately, the Harland Territory walks on two legs: agriculture and animal husbandry, and has a high risk resistance. Heavy losses in the animal husbandry industry will not lead to turmoil in the territory, and the people in the territory will have no way to survive because too many sheep die.
Last year, Richard dealt with Tang En, and a large number of officials in the agricultural system were held accountable. During this year's autumn harvest season, Richard started his inspection tour early. Accompanying him on the inspection tour was Berlin, the new director of the Harland Territory's agricultural system.
Berlion was the second batch of slaves to come to the Harland Territory, and he also joined the army and fought in the war. He lost three fingers during the war and was unable to shoot a bow, becoming slightly disabled. After retiring from the military, Berrien entered the civil service. Starting from a grassroots position in the agricultural department, he was slowly promoted to the middle level in ten years.
After Tang En had a problem, Richard sent a large number of people to investigate agricultural system officials. Berlin has withstood the test and is a very rare honest official.
After Tang En's downfall, Bolien took the opportunity to ascend to the top of the civil service system and reap the benefits.
Although he is over forty years old, he is very studious. He has participated in literacy classes in the army and his cultural level is not high. After transferring to the civil service system, Bolien continued to enrich himself and continued to learn new knowledge for more than ten years. In particular, my mathematics level has improved very quickly. Now I can skillfully use trigonometric functions and plane geometry knowledge to complete ballistic calculations.
Although he retired from the army, Berrien has always been a reserve officer in the Harland Territory. In recent years, he has spent one or two months every year participating in reserve training to train trebuchet throwers for the Harland Territory.
Compared with Tang En, Bolien's ability is obviously much stronger. Faced with the methods of lower-level bureaucrats to fool their superiors, Bolien will not be deceived at all.
With Berlin, an expert from the grassroots level, following him, the real situation below is basically clear.
Richard has always been strict in dealing with corrupt officials, and Brian is proficient in business. This year, officials in the food system hardly dared to reach out, and it was rare for many honest officials to appear.
Richard and Brian walked around the major grain depots and waited for the autumn grain to arrive before completing their inspection.
After returning to Fort William, Richard rested for two days and once again took a few personal entourage to the vicinity of Salt Lake Fort.
The area near Salt Lake Fort has been the focus of development in the Harland Territory in recent years.
A large amount of the land here is saline-alkali land, which is not suitable for agricultural production. However, the discovery of potash mines has made potash mining a very important industry.
This year alone, 20,000 people from the Haaland Territory immigrated to Salt Lake County. If it were not for road restrictions and the inability to transport various materials, the number of immigrants would be even higher.
In addition to the Salt Lake Fort, this year the Harland Territory also built the North Boundary Fort in the northern part of Salt Lake County, and built the Reindeer Fort between the Flower Castle and the Salt Lake Fort to serve as a supply base between the two castles.
In order to speed up the development of Salt Lake County, Richard built brick kilns, cement kilns, and glass kilns near Salt Lake Fort and Reindeer Fort to produce various building materials nearby. We are also preparing to build a wide brick and stone road. This year, the section from Graveson to Tongshan Town has been completed.
The section from Tongshan Town to Reindeer Castle requires climbing two mountain ridges, and I am afraid it will not be completed until next year.
Richard came to the camp where potash was mined and found that the camp was much bigger than last year. Several brick and stone houses were built in the camp, where the grassroots management staff live and work. Most of the remaining houses are made of wooden boards, and some new arrivals can only live in tents.
Behind the rows of houses, there are a lot of coal piled up. It seems that the fuel reserves for the winter have been solved.
Richard directly found the official who managed the camp, pointed to the tent outside and said, "It's already mid-August, and winter is not far away. You can't survive the winter living in a tent. Although masonry houses are subject to local conditions, It cannot be built in a short time, and more wooden houses should be repaired. If a large number of indentured servants freeze to death, I will hold you responsible." "Master Earl, the
construction tasks imposed by the above are too heavy. The drying yard, the office area , warehouses, walls, and work sheds all have to be built, and our craftsmen are simply too busy." "
Other projects must wait first, and the construction of work sheds should take priority. Before winter, you must let the indentured servants move out of the tents and leave. If there is a problem, I will cause trouble for you."
After coming out of the mining camp, Richard led the people around the area and returned to Salt Lake Fort. Bernard Luca, the civil affairs official of Salt Lake County, stood at the gate of the city to greet them in advance.
Bernard Luca has served the Harland Territory for many years and was formerly an official in charge of the orcs in the territory.
He has lived in the Orc Empire for many years and is proficient in many Orc languages.
The orc captives made a great contribution to the development of the Harland territory.
Especially the satyr tribe, with 12,000 satyrs grazing more than 800,000 sheep. On average, each satyr provides a tax of up to 19 silver coins, which is six times that of ordinary humans. Not to mention that the satyrs discovered the brown sugar tree, which brought an important industry to the Harland territory.
Over the years in the Harland Territory, Bernard Luca has trained more than a dozen translators who are proficient in various orc languages. The orc prisoner department he manages has always been flawless, and his contribution is not small. After the territory was divided into counties, Richard decided to let him take charge of his own affairs and appointed him as the civil administrator of Salt Lake County.
Bernard has aristocratic blood, he is the uncle of Baron Luca. After being captured by the orcs, in order to avoid bringing shame on the noble honor, he never contacted members of the Baron Luca family.
The civil affairs officer of a county is already the highest-ranking civil servant in the local area. Taking this step, Bernard has become a heavyweight official in the Haaland territory.
Now that he has become an important civil servant of Count Harland, Bernard has become the backer of the Luca family. Last year, he wrote a letter to Baron Luca to bring his family to the Harland territory for development.
Bernard's eldest son Blake was already a fourth-level knight. After joining the Harland Territory, he was appointed by Richard as the deputy captain of the 10th Brigade and became a mid-level officer. If an outsider wants to become an official, he must achieve military exploits and shed blood for the Haaland territory.
"How is the situation in your county this year?"
Bernard said: "The county has reclaimed 16,000 acres of dry land this year, with an average yield of only 90 kilograms per mu, and a total of 800 tons of grain harvested. As of this year's autumn harvest, the county has cultivated 16,000 acres of dry land. The county population is already 42,000, and the food self-sufficiency rate is only 9%. The local population relies entirely on Graveson County for food and clothing. Unless there are magicians who are good at life magic to improve the soil, agriculture in this county will not be very good. development.
The lifeblood of Salt Lake County is the mining industry. In addition to potash mines, our county produces a large amount of salt. Salt production is also a big industry. This year’s market size exceeds 20,000 gold coins. If it can be sold to outsiders in the future , and you can earn more."
(End of chapter)