Bronze door through time and space

Chapter 443: The Moroboshi Family's Strengths

In terms of war, especially large-scale wars, the Moroboshi family is indeed somewhat lacking, but they have rich experience in construction and management because of their extensive practice.

Starting from Fushima, the Moroboshi family has never stopped transforming their territory. Roads, water conservancy, farmland, buildings, and villages are all within the scope of the transformation. Otherwise, it is impossible that all the supplies of the Moroboshi family were transported by Yan Xu.

In fact, after these years of transformation, the grain output of the Moroboshi family has increased at least tenfold. For example, in the earlier developed sub-islands, the grain output has increased by dozens of times. This is a very terrifying data.

Grain production in ancient times was not high. Even in the best cultivated fields, the grain yield was only two or three hundred kilograms per mu.

The situation in island countries is even worse, because there is a lack of flat and fertile plains, and many farmlands are pieced together in pieces. As a result, grain production has always been difficult to increase, with yields of only more than 100 kilograms per mu, and many of the poorer lands only have a yield of dozens of kilograms per mu.

That means eating less, otherwise you won’t even have the strength to fight.

After Yan Xu had no more worries, he directly introduced a large number of good varieties, the most important of which were feed corn and sweet potatoes.

Feed corn is mainly used to feed livestock, but that doesn't mean people can't eat it. It's just that it's lacking in taste and nutrition. But it has a higher yield, is more drought- and cold-resistant, and provides a stronger sense of fullness. It can also be used to feed livestock, so it was first introduced by Yan Xu and became one of the main staple foods in the territory.

The yield of sweet potatoes is even more terrifying. Even if fertilizers and other aspects are not enough, the yield can still reach thousands of kilograms. Even if eating too much will cause stomach acid and bloating, not many people will refuse it because of the temptation of being able to eat enough.

With sufficient food, the Moroboshi family can develop freely, because in ancient times, as long as the lower class can eat enough, no matter how much trouble they have, it doesn't matter, because no one will cause trouble.

After continuous reform and development, the Moroboshi family has a huge industrial base and prosperous commercial trade, allowing the influence of the Moroboshi family to gradually spread to the entire island country.

It was because of these benefits that the Moroboshi family no longer simply required bravery from their samurai, but also had high requirements for management. The passing standard was to be able to lead fifty people to complete a small project, such as paving a road or building houses for a village.

During the entire process, managers not only need to assign tasks, but also need to count issues such as consumed materials and construction period.

These are the daily tasks of the samurai of the Moroboshi family. Therefore, even though three thousand farmers were recruited, management is not a problem. In fact, even if the number is doubled several times, it will not be a problem.

Soon the 3,000 recruited farmers were divided into groups of 50 people, each group was led by a samurai and five foot soldiers.

Because they had just arrived and were not from the familiar Takeda family, these farmers who were attracted by the food were inevitably a little panicked after they calmed down. Takeda was already accustomed to this, so he did not arrange any work for them at the beginning, but took them to the camp to get tools, food, iron pots and canvas.

Farmers need to carry all these things. Although they are heavy, they can put their hearts at ease and no longer be so panicked.

Because judging from these things, they were not prepared to use them as cannon fodder to attack the city, nor were they prepared to be killed in a trap. This was enough. As farmers, they had nothing to ask for except to stay alive.

Although Takeda was a samurai, his slightly thin stature made it difficult for him to stand out. It was not until he joined the Moroboshi family that he found a place to display his talents. Therefore, he worked very hard and immediately brought people to the place he had chosen in advance.

It is of course impossible to let so many farmers live in the big camp, but as the weather gradually turns colder, they cannot sleep in the open air either. Therefore, they need to build a place to live before working.

"Start digging from here and dig out a straight section. The height cannot be lower than the samurai sword in my hand." Takeda inserted two wooden sticks, indicated the distance in the middle, and asked the farmer holding the hoe to start digging.

Although these farmers didn't understand, they were obedient and started working without saying anything. As for being lazy, haha, they really thought the sword in the hands of the samurai master was just for decoration. However, these farm tools were really easy to use, and they were all made of iron. Every working farmer thought so.

Due to years of war, ironware was in short supply on the island nation. Most farmers could only use wooden tools to work, and at most had an iron sickle. You can imagine how inefficient they were.

It is rare to have suitable tools, so these farmers work very hard without being urged.

"The ten of you go cut down trees. Next you have to build thatched huts along the slope. Before building, you have to use fire to warm the ground to remove moisture, otherwise you will get sick. So chop more firewood and bring back more." Takeda began to assign tasks. When the farmers heard that they were going to build a place for them to live, they certainly would not be lazy, because they knew very well that if they got sick in this kind of weather, they could die.

In addition to digging slopes and cutting trees, we also have to fetch water for cooking, and all of these need to be completed before dark.

A one-meter-high section was dug out from the twenty-meter-long slope. The wood piled on it had almost been burned out, so the farmer began to spread crushed and dried soil on it. The remaining moisture would be dried by the charcoal fire, so that he would not shiver with cold when lying on it at night.

After finishing all this, the farmers bundled the collected hay for sleeping at night while waiting for dinner.

There was only a little bit of residual fire left in the firewood at the bottom of the pot. Takeda stirred it vigorously, felt obvious resistance, was satisfied with the thick porridge, and then knocked on the edge of the pot.

The five foot soldiers immediately stood up and beat the farmers with their guns, forcing them to line up and wait for their meals.

The farmers nervously held wooden bowls that were almost as big as their faces. Many people lining up at the back stretched their necks to see what they were going to eat, because the smell of cooking grain had made their stomachs rumble since a while ago.

The thick porridge cooked with corn and sweet potato was scooped up with a large iron spoon. One spoonful could fill the bowl to 70% full. The boiling porridge water passed through the wooden bowl to the hands. It was a little hot, but more of it was unbelievable, because they couldn't believe that this was for them to eat.

"After you finish your meal, leave the team quickly and don't block the people behind you." Takeda knocked on the edge of the pot, and the farmer in front of him suddenly came to his senses. He then retracted his neck, held the bowl in one hand, protected the bowl with the other hand, lowered his head and ran to a more secluded place. He didn't care about the heat and drank the thick porridge in small sips. Even if the heat hurt his heart, he was unwilling to stop, because the full sense of happiness was filling his stomach.

Although the Takeda family is one of the two overlords of the island nation, in fact, the life of the farmers in the territory is not as good as those of the farmers under the small daimyo, because the huge army and many samurai need these farmers to support them.

There are not enough weapons, so increase taxes.

There is not enough food, so increase taxes.

There are not enough soldiers, so increase taxes.

For Daimyo, there is no problem that cannot be solved by increasing taxes. If there is, it is that the taxes are not increased enough.

So even though it was just after the autumn harvest, after paying taxes, farmers didn't have much food left. Not to mention enough to eat, it wasn't even enough to last until the spring, let alone the next harvest.

In order to survive until spring and to hold on until wild vegetables grow, the family counted the food before putting it into the pot. Just the bowl of thick porridge in his hand, with some water, was enough to sustain the family for a day.

It’s a pity that they are not allowed to go home, otherwise most farmers would choose to take the thick porridge back home for their families to eat, because in their opinion, it is a waste for one person to eat it.

(End of this chapter)