Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 44 The Magical Dragon Blood Stone

There is basically no doubt about the serfs' enthusiasm for work now. The old druid Fandral now seems to have a second spring in his life, and his enthusiasm for agricultural reclamation is high.

But this world is both idealistic and materialistic.

Even if enthusiasm is high, if efficiency cannot be improved, the speed of land reclamation and the output of farming will not be increased.

So Su Li continued to say to Fandral: "My Minister of Agriculture, I think that while increasing the scale of cultivated land, we must also pay attention to the output per acre and the efficiency of reclamation. Do you have any good plans in this regard?"

"Oh, I have some ideas on this matter." Fandral was very excited and immediately spoke. "Before going to guide the reclamation of the farmland today, I took a look at the production tools in our team. The knights were very thoughtful and bought a large number of farm tools in Maleburg, a full 200 pieces of iron tools, including hoes, sickles, shovels, and pickaxes. There are quite a lot of them. But it is obvious that the knights are not engaged in production and don't know much about the specific tools needed for reclamation of the farmland. As a result, the tools needed for reclamation are not fully prepared, and the things needed for the autumn harvest are not yet available."

"So, after you took over the serfs from your former territory, you were severely short of tools to cultivate the wasteland. The most urgent task for farming right now is to acquire a batch of farm tools. At least 100 pieces of ironware are needed."

"100 pieces of ironware?" Su Li hesitated for a moment and said, "We have a blacksmith in our pioneering territory, and he's a master forger. But at the moment, we're still short of iron ore."

From this point of view, the giant iron mine at Jinke Mine is the stronghold that needs to be taken first.

With iron ore, the tools needed for farming can be obtained, and the weapons and armor made can also bring back wealth for the territory.

After all, after arriving at the territory, Su Li should pay the knights salaries and bonuses. These knights followed him from Bauhinia Castle and fought their way to the territory, and it took a month.

按照目前1名冠军骑士、8名精英骑士、14名正式骑士和28名初级骑士计算，他一个月就需要发88枚金币。

After paying this month's salaries, he only had 112 gold coins left from the funds he had reserved.

As for how to obtain iron ore, that wasn't something Fandral, the Minister of Agriculture, needed to consider. He was only concerned with his own duties, so he continued, "But there's good news. The knights have purchased two Nordic wheeled heavy plows. These can plow a wider area of ​​land at once, meeting farmers' needs for deep plowing and significantly increasing farming speed. Furthermore, they have a pair of wooden wheels at the front, which significantly reduces the burden on livestock and the resistance to pulling the plow compared to wheelless plows. This allows the plows to be heavier, more complex, and plow deeper."

"I've observed that among the 20 cattle we brought, there are 12 dairy cows and 8 plowing oxen. Three of the plowing oxen are still in good shape after the long march. As long as we feed them a good meal of fodder tonight, they'll be able to plow the fields tomorrow. If you can find a few dragon blood stones, they'll be even more effective in strengthening the plowing oxen, allowing them to pull the plow for longer."

The technological level of the empire is actually not low. There is an engineering college within the empire, and sometimes they communicate with dwarven engineers, so some farming tools are not bad.

Most of the land in this world is owned by noble lords, who are willing to provide tools to serfs in order to increase the grain production in their fiefdoms.

This Nordic wheeled heavy plow is somewhat similar to the Saxon heavy plow of Earth in a previous life, so named because it was created in the Electorate of Nord. Nord's climate is similar to Saxony's: the land is hard and humid in the high, cold northern regions, and the winds blow in from the ocean, making the soil relatively moist. In this undeveloped land, everyone from lords to peasants faced a shortage of tools. Most farmers didn't even have a hoe, let alone other farm implements. Desperate for change, they invented this highly efficient agricultural tool. The main body is made of rough ash or black fir wood, with only the coulter being iron. It can cut through sticky and compacted soil, severing intertwined plant roots, and clearing a path for the plowshare. The deep plowshare follows the coulter, turning the soil.

If the oxen's strength is restored tomorrow, the two heavy plows added to the process of cultivating the land will indeed greatly increase the speed of cultivating the farmland.

"Dragon Blood Stone?" Su Li nodded and said, "I'll remember it. If I come across something like this, I won't miss it."

Dragon's Blood Stone is said to be a red gemstone formed when dragon's blood spilled onto a rock. It possesses powerful properties, imbuing one with the dragon's aura, making the body larger and stronger. It was highly sought after by knights, nobles, and ladies. Knights carried it on their person to enhance their training, while nobles often kept it under their beds to enhance their ability to woo noblewomen. Of course, generous ladies would also thoughtfully prepare a Dragon's Blood Stone for their lovers.

It is said that this ruby ​​can fetch a staggering price of 20 to 1000 gold coins at auction, depending entirely on whether one encounters a nobleman willing to spend a fortune.

However, this creature is not rare and can be encountered in deep mountains and dense forests. Because dragons are not uncommon in this world, and they are very greedy and aggressive, they are often injured. This is why there are always adventurers and mercenaries leaving the fertile plains and exploring the forests and mountains.

In some remote territories, there are many of these gems, so people would tie a dragon blood stone on the nose of a cow or the neck of a war horse to make them stronger. Of course, this also gave rise to many cattle thieves and horse thieves.

Su Li then summarized the situation and asked Fandral, "So you need at least 100 pieces of ironware and two dragon blood stones to increase the speed of land reclamation, right? But to increase grain production, besides the area of ​​farmland, the yield per mu is also very important, right? Besides intensive farming, do you, the Church of Dawn, have no other solutions?"

Fandral frowned, shook his head, and said, "At the moment, I haven't received any divine inspiration, so the conditions for increasing yield per mu may be difficult to meet. Does Lord have any good suggestions?"

This world doesn't even have the technology to compost?

Su Li immediately perked up. How to farm was something that was ingrained in his genes!

In that red era, chemical fertilizers and water conservancy facilities greatly improved the level of agricultural development.

Given the current manpower and tool situation in the territory, it would be difficult to achieve large-scale water conservancy development within a few days.

He immediately started talking and said, "Then you could consider using composting technology. I've seen this method in an ancient book."

　Thanks to my book friend Beihai Rockman 1412 for the 100 starting coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)