When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 603 Enrico's Four-Field Crop Rotation System
While the villagers were eating meat and drinking wine, Ansel was writing down what he had seen and heard today in the dilapidated country church.

Due to time constraints, the statistics of South Mound County's perpetual lease and tax rolls were carried out simultaneously, so Ansel has not yet obtained the specific tax rolls and can only estimate based on Bryson's impressions.

There are about 70 households in the entire Adrian Manor, with an average of about 40 acres of arable land per household. Compared with the plains, the average arable land per household is 5-10 acres more.

But according to what two villagers said today, their net yield of wheat per mu is only about 60 pounds, that is, they can get 20 pounds of wheat by planting 80 pounds of wheat. The net yield of oats and barley per mu is about 80 pounds.

It seems that when planting wheat, the yield from 20 acres in the plains and 30 acres in the mountains is the same.

But the problem is that the plains have fertile land and abundant water resources, so they can be cropped continuously between seasons.

That is, you can plant wheat/rice in spring and summer, plant legumes/forage grass for fertilizer in autumn, and even plant oats or radishes in winter.

Although both the mountainous counties and the plain counties adopted the three-field rotation system, the contents were different. That is, there was no fallow land in the plain counties.

Even fallow land is planted with beans and barley, which can fertilize the land and be used to feed livestock and make wine.

Mountain counties can only grow one crop each year, and must choose between wheat, oats and barley. Moreover, one of the three fields must be used to grow pasture to supply the knights' war horses and plow horses.

Then they had to pay the knights and rent plow horses to plow the fields.

So every household raises pigs, but they rarely eat the meat. Instead, they sell them in Mound County in exchange for more food.

That wasn't all, Ansel heard something even more outrageous from Bryson.

You have to know that since wheat production in the mountains is low but firewood is abundant, the staple food of these farmers is oatmeal porridge.

If 35 acres out of 25 acres are used to plant oats, the annual income will be 2000 pounds of grain. The rent of mountain manors is relatively low, and even with the tithe, it is only one or two percent.

With 1600 pounds of oats as the staple food every year, coupled with the chickens, ducks and wild boars raised, plus the timber trade and hunting output from the forest, they can at least keep themselves from starving to death, even if they don't have enough food to eat.

But the problem is that knights and priests in mountainous areas generally collect rent in kind, and this "kind" is actually wheat and barley!
Because wheat can be made into bread and barley can be brewed into beer, but oats taste bad and require fuel to cook, so they cannot be sold at a high price as food.

The lords would then order the public farmers to reduce the cultivation of staple food and instead grow wheat and barley, which eventually led to the spectacle of people starving to death in years of bumper harvests.

The lame Alan told Ansel during the day that his younger brother, wife and newborn son had starved to death in a year of bumper harvest.

In fact, Ansel discovered a huge problem when he took a casual glance at the square today, that is, the entire manor tends to be young, and there are almost no people over 40 years old.

Because once they get old and encounter famine or insufficient food rations, the young people will be given priority. The elderly will either run into the woods and starve to death, or go down the mountain and wander around as mercenaries.

Adrian Manor is considered wealthy, while some of the surrounding manors even have less than 30 acres of arable land per household.

Now Ansel finally understood why the average amount of cultivated land per household in the mountainous counties was higher than that in the plain counties, and why famines and starvation often occurred.

If the perpetual lease right can be implemented and the rent in kind can be converted into a share of the monetary rent, the burden on the mountain people will be much lighter.

Although we still can't have enough food and clothing, at least we won't starve to death.

The reason is also very simple.

The perpetual lease is tied to the hundred-household district. Once the perpetual lease and the hundred-household district are established, the knights no longer have the right to control agriculture, and the farmers also have the desire to improve the land.

Farmers within the hundred-household district could rely on mutual assistance in agriculture to save some manpower and resources to build ditches and roads and improve the land.

During this period, with the land under the perpetual lease as collateral, the Holy Scythe Monastery was able to provide loans and purchase seeds and farm tools, and began to convert to the Enrico Four-Field Rotation System.

Enrico's four-field crop rotation system is very suitable for mountainous counties. A 40-acre field is divided into four plots, and only 10 acres of it is considered.

In the first year, clover or alfalfa can be planted and plowed into the ground as green manure. In the second year, oats can be planted. With the provision of green manure, the yield of oats per mu can be increased to 100 to 110 pounds, and that of wheat can be increased to 80 pounds.

In the third year, radishes or cabbages are planted. This is the most important step because they have one most important feature, which is that they are biennial plants!

In other words, they will not freeze to death when it snows in winter. They will just remain in the ground and be pulled out and fed to livestock when needed.

The terrain of the mountainous county could have allowed for large-scale raising of dairy cows and horses, but because there was no feed with enough calories in the winter, the cows and horses would starve to death before the arrival of spring.

Even without livestock, they can provide people with valuable winter heat reserves.

The fourth year is the time to grow barley for brewing beer. On the one hand, it can be used as a calorie reserve (alcohol has a long shelf life), and on the other hand, it can be sold in exchange for other products.

This is not a four-year planting, but four plots of land are planted with clover, oats, radishes and barley at the same time every year.

That would be 1000 pounds of oats, 800 pounds of barley, 10000 pounds of turnips or cabbage, and 12000 pounds of hay and feed every year.

Four years after the first cycle, every household should have at least one horse and one ox to plow the fields, two cows for milk, five to six pigs, and even try to raise sheep for wool.

Given the mountainous terrain, animal husbandry should be the main focus, with farming as a supplement.

This reform is now being implemented in Sechinger's manor, and the results should be seen from May this year to next year, just in time for the four-field rotation reform after the establishment of the Hundred Household District. After Horn's hometown of Europe implemented this agricultural strategy, the output of only 30 acres of land could feed a group of up to ten people.

Not only can they be self-sufficient, they can even export and trade.

Given the generally stubborn character of the mountain people, if such an improvement could really be achieved, let alone the church army fighting back, even if the Holy Father himself came, they would only support the Holy Grandson.

However, the biggest problem now is that for some unknown reason, these mountain people are extremely resistant to Ansel and others.

Just as Ansel was having a headache, a slight chill blew across the back of his neck.

The night wind squeezed in through the open door, shaking the weak flame of the oil lamp, and suddenly a long, blurry shadow appeared on the wall.

Ansel turned his head and saw Bryson coming in carefully carrying an oil lamp.

"What did Knight Adrian say?"

"Knight Adrian will publicly punish the village head tomorrow and clarify the facts." Bryson paused, as if he was choosing his words, "But he can't go too far, because Henderson is his uncle. The most he can do is to ask Henderson not to go too far. The rest is up to us."

"How can this knight let the village chief ride on his neck?" Ansel was even more surprised.

But Bryson shook his head: "You don't understand. The mountains are different from the plains. There is no sense of class. Instead, the sense of family is stronger. The armed peasants here have much more power than those in the plains. Otherwise, where would so many high-quality infantrymen come from?

In a manor, all armed peasants are bloodline branches of the knight's family. These manor positions, including steward, head of the manor, groom, carpenter, blacksmith, etc. are all hereditary from the armed peasant relatives of the knight's family.

Without them, the knight would not be able to manage the entire manor by himself, and would become notorious in the mountain noble society for abusing his relatives, so everything had to be discussed within the family.

Knight Adrian is not at the manor for half a year every year, and Henderson is basically in charge of all matters, big and small.

Without the support of other armed farmers, he couldn't even remove Henderson from his position as village head.

He is nominally the lord of Henderson, but he relies on Henderson to pay him a salary, so of course he will not fall out with Henderson. "

Ansel reacted quickly, and he slapped his head in sudden realization: "I see, so compared to the knights, our real target is this group of armed peasants?"

"...You could say that." Bryson nodded.

At this time, Ansel turned around and began to write in his notebook, recording the important information on paper one by one.

Bryson's eyes were fixed on Ansel's profile, his lips opening and closing like a fish out of water.

In the end, he said nothing, but lowered his head and turned to walk to the door. When he looked back, he saw Ansel still leaning over the table writing.

Bryson gritted his teeth, stuck his head out to look around, and when he saw that there was no one around, he closed the door and walked back to Ansel.

"Is there anything else? Uncle Bryson." Ansel looked up blankly and looked at Bryson who dragged a chair and sat opposite him.

Bryson has been very timid these days. It is usually Ansel who talks to him, and he rarely takes the initiative to talk.

Bryson licked his lips and said, "Brother Ansel, our mission is to promote the perpetual lease, right?"

"Of course, what's wrong?"

"I have an idea. Why don't we entrust this matter to those armed peasants? You have seen today how much these residents dislike us."

Ansel blinked, as if he was meeting Bryson for the first time. He was about to refute but was interrupted by Bryson with a bitter face.

"Brother Ansel, I really care about you. Knight Adrian is unreliable and we can't count on him.

How many years have the armed peasants been here? How many months can we stay here? The believers don't trust us at all. Even if we force them to sign a permanent lease and establish a centurion district, won't the centurion leader still be Henderson?

This place is remote, is it possible to come and supervise it all the time?"

Bryson swallowed his saliva. Seeing Ansel deep in thought, he thought he had a chance, so he quickly followed up and persuaded him, "You are so young and you have become a wandering monk. Your future is bright. Why are you wasting your time here? It is they who are unwilling to promote the perpetual lease. It is their own lack of vision. They deserve it.

You entrust him with the perpetual lease and then establish a 100-household district. You don't say anything, and I don't say anything. The mission is accomplished, and everyone is happy. How great is that."

Ansel stared at Bryson's face for a full minute, until Bryson felt uncomfortable all over. Then he said, "I'll pretend I didn't hear it this time, but I'll write it down next time."

After saying that, he stood up and wanted to leave the house, but Bryson grabbed his sleeve and said, "Brother Ansel, you are a good person, but some people are born unlucky, and these mountain people are one of them! Can you really make these mountain people come to your side in just a few days?"

"If a few days isn't enough, a month is fine."

"What do you want to do?"

Ansel smiled mysteriously: "You will know tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)