Chapter 311
It was late October after Nelson-Richard returned from Losa Basin.
October is the late autumn season, and it is already very cold in the second half of the year.
Although the temperature has dropped below zero and the ground has frozen in the morning and evening, a large number of indentured servants and free people are busy in the fields, seizing the last window to collect fodder and fuel to prepare for the winter.
Richard rode a war horse, followed by more than a dozen soldiers, and came to the Nelson area to inspect.
This territory was only merged into the Harland Territory this year. Due to the war, when the Harland Territory took over, there were almost no living people. Richard exchanged grain with the Duke of Guise for 20,000 indentured slaves. After being arranged in this area, his living habits, national culture, and even his accent were all very different from before.
Due to the large-scale purchase of indentured slaves, there are approximately three languages spoken in Harlan's territory. The first is the local Northern Xinjiang language, the second is Stanik language, and the third is the Delong Kingdom language. In fact, the language of the Duchy of Guise is basically the same as that of the northern region of the Kingdom of Dron.
In order to better rule the people in the territory, Richard has learned Stanik and Delong Kingdom in the past ten years, so that he can directly communicate with the populations of these two areas. However, the official language of Harland Territory is still Northern Xinjiang. From schools to factories, from the army to the government, those who do not speak Northern Xinjiang cannot get in.
In order to avoid the awakening of national consciousness in the future and the outbreak of ethnic conflicts like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Richard formulated a strict national integration policy very early and collectively referred to all the people in the territory as Harlanders. In order to prevent the population and fellow villagers from various regions from clumping together, generally the purchased indentured servants would be dispersed and organized into different villages.
In fact, the 20,000 indentured slaves in the Nelson area are not the owners of this territory. The freedmen who come to this area to allocate fields this year are mainly the second sons and daughters of the Fort William area.
These second sons and daughters had no right to inherit property, so they had to go to desolate areas to cultivate and manage their fields.
The Nelson region straddles the Black River Basin and has very fertile land. Although it was captured twice by orcs, it geographically belongs to the rear area of the Duchy of Harland. As long as the Taney Canyon is defended, the Nelson region will not be invaded by orcs.
The Nelson family has been operating in this area for many years, cultivating a large amount of farmland and building many houses. There are also three ready-made castles available in this territory.
Compared to going to barren mountains and ridges to cut down trees, dig tree roots, collect stones to clear up wasteland, and be prepared for the invasion of orcs, living in the Nelson area is undoubtedly a good thing.
After Harland received this territory, many smart people tried their best to appeal to the government, hoping to allocate their second son and daughter to this territory.
Freedmen in the Fort William area were close to the water, and relied on their geographical advantages to grab the first batch of places. About 600 young people were assigned to the Nelson area. This year, the land and houses were divided, and they became the first batch of freedmen in this territory.
As for the 20,000 indentured slaves who built water conservancy and restored production, it was not their turn to allocate land in the Nelson area.
In fact, in October, this part of the indentured slaves had already begun to be split up by Rogge, and thousands of them were transferred.
A small village near Felin Castle in the Nelson region.
Clayton carried a bag of grain on his back and trudged toward his home. This kind of grain bag made of thick woolen cloth can hold 120 kilograms of grain at a time.
Because of its relatively good economic development, Harland Territory has accumulated a large number of craftsmen, who can produce almost all kinds of daily necessities. For example, there are two types of bags used daily to hold grains: sacks and cloth bags. Generally speaking, sacks are rough and are used to hold coarse grains, while cloth bags are used to hold fine grains.
In fact, the bag of grain that Brighton carried was the flour that went to the mill.
After more than ten years of development, the living standards of the free people in the Harland Territory have greatly improved, and many people's food has changed from wheat rice to bread.
Clayton is eighteen years old this year. He was born in the Kingdom of Delon. After going through countless hardships and dangers, he and his family were sold to the Harland Territory. Clayton's family were the first Harlanders. Although he is from the Delong Kingdom, he does not speak the language of the Delong Kingdom very well. On the contrary, he is very proficient in Beijiang dialect.
Clayton was the third son in the family. In fact, his parents gave birth to seven children, but one sister was sold to the nobles of the Illinois province and one brother died during the migration.
Because he became a freedman at an early age, Clayton's family had a higher standard of living. His eldest brother joined the army ten years ago and received a pension every year after retiring due to injury. In addition, the eldest brother also inherited his parents' inheritance, which included not only land and houses, but also dozens of gold coins in cash.
Clayton's second brother also caught up with the good times and was one of the first batch of elementary school graduates. Now he is a minor bureaucrat in the prosperous castle. It can be said that he has jumped up the class.
It was Clayton's turn, as if he had become a man abandoned by the times. He also graduated from elementary school, but unfortunately his academic qualifications were devalued and he did not become a government civil servant. Now he is still an unemployed vagrant, and it is not his turn to get a share of his parents' inheritance.
With the help of his eldest brother, Clayton got married. At the age of eighteen, he was already the father of three children. Their small family only had five acres of land under Clayton's name. Five acres of land could not support a family of five. They relied entirely on the support of their two brothers to survive.
In order to develop remote areas and control the capital's population, the area near Fort William has formulated a strict public land demarcation policy. At least a few hundred acres of land are divided every year, which is simply not enough for the capital's population.
Therefore, people like Clayton, if they want to live a good life and obtain land, they can only choose to immigrate.
This year, the Halland Territory won the Nelson region. Clayton keenly seized the opportunity, found his second brother, and got the immigration quota first. The family was allocated thirty acres of land, and the land wealth in his hands increased sharply. .
Clayton's eldest brother had many years of military experience and did not take money too seriously. Before leaving, he gave him five gold coins as a gift, which greatly improved Clayton's living standard.
Good luck seemed to fall on Clayton's head. Because he could speak some of the language of the Delon Kingdom and could communicate with the indentured slaves in the Nelson area, Clayton finally became a civil servant, became the mayor of this small village, and entered the government. middle.
Clayton is now responsible for directing more than 500 indentured servants in the village to build ditches. They also completed the construction of the mill in the village this year.
When Richard came to this small village, he happened to see Clayton walking heavily.
"What's your name? Are you a newly assigned free citizen this year?"
Generally speaking, indentured slaves work in groups, food is provided centrally, and clothes are distributed uniformly. Although they have a little freedom, they don't have much freedom. So at a glance, Richard knew that Clayton was a newly assigned free citizen.
"Master Duke, my name is Clayton. I am a free citizen from Fort William, and I have been appointed as the mayor of this village." Seeing
Richard riding the Warcraft horse, Clayton hurriedly bowed and saluted. Very respectful.
"You look very young. How old are you this year?" "Master Duke, I am eighteen years old and the father of three children." "
What is the population of your village now? How is the recovery of production? "
When he saw Richard, Clayton felt a little panicked. He carefully organized his words and said, "Our village has twenty households of freedmen this year, totaling 112 people. In addition, there are others near the village. Five hundred and twenty-six indentured servants. This year we have repaired the ditch and built a water-powered mill and a water-powered sawmill. The village has more than 3,000 acres of farmland. Next spring, some people should be allocated. If we can rent If we have enough cattle, we don't need indentured servants to help with spring plowing." It
was already June when Harland's leader captured Nelson Viscounty, and spring plowing had already been delayed.
This year, the region’s food supply is entirely dependent on Graveson County. Fortunately, Graveson County has developed agriculture and a large population, and there is enough food in the grain storage to support the restoration of production in the Nelson region.
Otherwise, long-distance transportation to supply food for more than 20,000 people would be a very troublesome matter.
Seeing that Clayton spoke very logically, Richard was secretly happy, feeling that the quality of the new generation of young people in the territory had improved a lot. Many of the first-generation serfs he came into contact with were incapable of beating with three sticks, had no knowledge and culture, and seemed dull and stupid.
"There is no income this year. Can you guys live on?"
Clayton hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to tell the truth: "Our village is all freedmen from Fort William. We have some savings, and with the food subsidy issued by the city hall, we can still survive this year. The only thing The trouble is collecting fuel for the winter. The territory does not allow us to cut down big trees, and coal is not available in the market. The fuel collected in the village is not enough now." Hearing the difficulties at the grassroots level, Richard thought to himself: "The situation below is complicated
. The implementation of legal provisions is too rigid. This is also a common problem of bureaucracy and is almost impossible to solve." "I will write you
a warrant to allow your village to cut down a hundred large trees. You must also seize the time to cut down trees. Prevent heavy snow from falling and making the mountain roads difficult to pass."
Although he spent most of this year in the Losa Basin, by reading the documents sent by various departments, Richard knew that steam engines were used in the territory, and the output of the coal mines increased significantly.
According to Chavison's report, as of September, the output of the Harland Territory coal mine has exceeded 130,000 tons, and the annual output is expected to exceed 160,000 tons, which has doubled from last year without much increase in miners.
But now there are more than 900,000 people in the Harland territory, and industrial coal consumption is also increasing rapidly. Coupled with the consumption of steam engines, the coal produced this year is simply not enough.
What is even more troublesome is that it is difficult to increase the production of coal mines near Fort William. According to calculations by coal mine personnel, the production can increase to more than 200,000 tons at most.
As the territory's coal consumption increases, more than 200,000 tons of coal a year are simply not enough.
The top priority is to find new coal mines, but now the prospecting technology is relatively simple and geology has not developed to a certain level. Finding new coal mines depends entirely on luck.
The prospecting team has been searching for more than ten years, but still has not been able to find a second coal mine.
Richard sighed, walked around Clayton's village, and then went to the wooden shed where the indentured servants were.
There are very few houses in the village, and they can only be provided to freedmen who are allocated to them first. There were only a few houses reserved for indentured servants, and they were inhabited by people who were old, weak, sick, and in poor health.
A large number of indentured servants could only live in simple wooden work sheds.
Richard looked at the thick straw on the roof of the work shed. Because there were no glass windows, the interior was very narrow and dark, and he suddenly felt depressed. He frowned and said to the flattering supervisor beside him: "How are you going to solve the problem of heating in winter?" "
We have built a fire kang and a fireplace. Although the fuel reserves are not much, as long as the weather is not too cold, people will not freeze to death."
" The conditions this year are simple, so this is the only way. The territory will improve your living environment next year. The things promised to you will be fulfilled. In five years, you will be restored to freedom. Each person will be given five acres of land. Those who have made contributions will be promoted in advance. Free citizens. But you must also learn the Northern Xinjiang language and integrate into the territory as soon as possible.
The living environment is not good, and you must pay attention to hygiene. If someone gets sick, gather them together as soon as possible and send them to Graveson Hospital for treatment. If too many people die , I will hold you accountable."
Now Harland has built five hospitals in Fort William, Fort Vick, Fort Gravesenberg, Fort Salt Lake, and Fort King, all of which have qualified surgeons.
Especially at Fort William Hospital, there are already more than 20 doctors in the surgery department, as well as three magician doctors and six advanced apprentices. They can perform ten surgeries at a time. With the addition of some new drugs developed, the hospital's strength has greatly increased.
Because of the medical mission to the countryside formulated by the territory, the hospital must dispatch doctors to the countryside to treat patients.
The indentured slaves here once saw doctors cutting open the stomachs of patients to treat diseases. They believed in the quality of the hospital in Harland Territory.
"Some time ago, we sent a group of people in poor health to the hospital for treatment, and the ones left behind were all healthy people. We have warm clothes on our bodies, and we don't need to work outside in winter. We also have a lot of stockpiles behind the house. Please don't worry, Lord Duke, you won't freeze to death."
In order to better manage, Richard learned the language of the Delong Kingdom. Since becoming a magician, Richard's memory ability and thinking speed have increased a lot, allowing him to Learning has become easier. By learning the language of the Delong Kingdom, Richard can communicate with the indentured servants in person and avoid being deceived and kept in the dark by the bureaucrats below.
Recently, Richard inspected several indentured slave camps and found that the situation was not bad.
After his continuous attacks, the administration of Harland's territory seemed to have improved a bit.
It was already evening when we left the village, and a biting northwest wind was blowing in the wild.
Richard looked up and saw that several children were still playing in the wild. Although their noses were bruised and their faces were swollen from the cold, they still looked happy. Several rural women came out of their homes, as if calling their children to eat, but these naughty children almost ignored their mothers.
The mothers didn't seem to have much patience, so they beat the children several times and dragged the careless naughty children back home.
Richard rode on the iron horned horse and watched the scene in the village. When there was no one on the street, he urged the horse back to Felin Castle.
(End of chapter)