Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 255 Harvest Festival

The first batch of "magic wheat" sown in the Northern Frontier Territory in late spring finally ushered in the harvest day in mid-autumn.

Hundreds of farmers with formal work contracts on the farm followed the huge agricultural alchemy beasts in the wheat fields, constantly filling them with sacks prepared in advance to hold the golden wheat grains spit out from their stomachs.

The improved model of the agricultural alchemy beast is now able to complete the tasks of wheat harvesting and wheat threshing at the same time. There is no need to manually collect the wheat ears and transfer them to the threshing floor for manual threshing, which saves a lot of manpower and time.

However, cleaning, screening and drying are still essential processes. After being bagged, the wheat grains will be quickly transported to the drying yard next to the farm, and then turned over and dried. At this time, the temporary workers come in handy - they will use the shovels and rakes in their hands to lift and scatter the wheat grains, just like stir-frying vegetables, letting the straw and debris mixed in the wheat grains go away with the wind, leaving only plump golden wheat grains.

The remaining straw after the alchemy beast has separated the wheat grains actually has many uses. It can be returned to the fields to increase fertilizer, and can also be used as bedding for livestock. Even in the shantytowns that accommodate refugees, many of the roofs of the sheds are built with straw.

But Harvey had no time to develop these niche crop industries at the moment. He could only follow the most common method and watch the farmers gather the straw and pile it in the fields and burn it directly. As a result, during the more than a week of wheat harvest, the entire territory was shrouded in gray smoke and dust, and the air quality was very poor.

Harvey only found time to inspect the farm once, and was so exhausted by the smoke and sun that he decided to let Reiner and the municipal officials handle it themselves.

The threshing ground for drying wheat is built next to the farmland. Temporary workers pile up the dried wheat grains to form golden hills, and then hand them over to the staff in the storage area for bagging and weighing.

"Sir! This year's wheat harvest is a bonanza!" Reiner, leading the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, excitedly ran into Harvey's study. "After preliminary weighing and statistics, our per-acre yield has more than doubled compared to last year. The enchanted wheat seeds are producing grains that are fuller and larger than normal!"

"Not bad." Harvey couldn't help but laugh, saying with satisfaction, "It seems that when you asked me to clear out some of the old wheat in the warehouse some time ago, you were anticipating the bumper harvest this autumn..."

Reiner's tone was a little excited. "We only recruited less than a thousand farmers, and with the help of those large agricultural alchemy beasts, we grew enough food to feed ten thousand people. This is impossible for any noble lord in the southern territory."

Harvey had a deep understanding of this problem. As a person who had traveled through time and lived for more than ten years, although he had also come from a small landlord family that did not engage in production, he still had a certain understanding of the development of human agriculture during this period.

Sixty pounds of wheat seeds sown in farmland can often only yield five times the grain output, which is less than three hundred pounds of wheat. Moreover, without the technology of intensive farming, only the most primitive rotation method is used for planting. Except for the extremely fertile southern coastal areas, most farmers can only plant one and harvest five.

This means that even if an ordinary free farmer of this era owned about 30 acres of land, he could only feed his own pitiful family of five at most, and he would need to have some surplus grain to pay taxes to the lord. When there were temporary tax increases or war recruitment, the whole family would most likely go hungry in the winter.

The reason why the urban population in this era could not expand was often because of the low food production in the surrounding villages, towns and farms. A city like Jinhui City with a population of more than 30,000 was considered a big city, and it was truly a miracle that Harvey's pioneering territory, isolated in the northern wilderness, could accommodate and support a population of 10,000.

This is where the constraints on productivity come from. If the mechanized agricultural technology brought by the alchemy beasts can be fully popularized, it will not only be possible for farmers in a pioneering territory like now to feed the civilians in ten territories, but by then it will probably not be a problem to feed hundreds or thousands of people.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop mechanized planting technology and continuously improve the seeds of catalytic magic wheat and other grain crops, so as to feed more people with as little labor as possible, liberate the labor force from the land, and transfer it to industrial production and manufacturing in one's own territory.

……

The next afternoon, Harvey, flanked by his personal guards, ascended a makeshift wooden platform in the castle's civic square. A large number of people had already gathered, separated by rows of black-uniformed territorial defense troops. The scene was bustling with activity. Three resounding buzzes from the alchemical microphone quickly silenced the crowd. Harvey cleared his throat, stepped beside the microphone, and began his speech.

"Today is the first harvest festival of the Frontier Territory, and also the territory's first awarding ceremony. Those who have made significant contributions to our northern homeland this year deserve my commendation today and also deserve the cheers of the people!"

After the concise speech, the crowd burst into deafening cheers and applause.

Then Reiner stepped forward, picked up a list of medals and awards that had been prepared long ago, and began to read it out one by one.

"Pierce, Chief Commander of the Territory Army, is fighting against the remaining demonic troops that are invading the surrounding areas of the territory. He is heading south to Jackdaw Town to receive and transport refugees..."

"Egno, the director of the Territory Medical Center, improves wheat varieties, develops medicines and vaccines, and treats the plague..."

"Chris, the director of the alchemy laboratory, is developing potions and vaccines to treat the plague..."

"Construction Director Haru, Agriculture Director..."

"Vaughn, commander of the Northern Army's first battalion, and commander of the Defense Army's first battalion..."

Harvey chose these people as the targets of the first awarding ceremony mainly to set an example for the people to follow - among them are spellcasters, hybrid elves, vampires, ordinary wastelanders, refugees from the south, and orcs.

None of them was born into a prominent family, and none of them had superior bloodlines. They all climbed up from the bottom step by step to where they are today.

This means that the lord does not appoint people based on personal connections, but only considers merit and ability, regardless of birth and bloodline.

……

Amid the cheers and whistles of the Northern Army soldiers, Vaughn once again received an exquisite medal made of black iron from the lord. He rubbed his hands excitedly as he watched the lord personally put it on his left chest, and then he happily retreated.

Looking around, he found that the Minister of Construction Haru standing next to him had two black iron medals on his chest. One was printed with a relief of the territory's city wall, and the other was a silhouette of a towering building and a bridge. It should be a reward for his contribution to the construction of the Icefield River Bridge and the territory apartment building some time ago.

Vaughn couldn't help but curl his lips and looked away with some envy. In terms of the number of medals, he naturally had more than Haru. He never missed the twice-yearly shooting competitions in the army, and he could always take away a brass medal representing the sharpshooter. However, its value was obviously not as good as the Black Iron Medal, which was only sought after and popular in the army.

After Pierce, Egno and others accepted the Lord's commendation and retreated, Vaughn's envious eyes were almost spitting out flames of jealousy - the medals on their chests were actually silver!
Black iron, silver... gold! Three medals of different materials and emblems clearly represent the importance and achievements of each person's contribution to the territory!

(End of this chapter)