I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 168 The Worry of Too Many Crops
With the title, food, and the prototype of the manor, what worries Luc most now is naturally the legal issue.

Luc never forgot that, strictly speaking, he did not own this place.

Although no lord has ever claimed that this place is under his jurisdiction, once they discover that a manor, even a small one, has suddenly appeared in this originally barren valley, their greedy fangs will probably be stretched out, with disgusting mucus flowing, as they devour this rather tempting fruit.

This is also the reason why Luc is unwilling to reveal his whereabouts even though David and his wife's family were once friendly.

After lying down for a while, Luc stood up from the bed. After dividing the land, he had other things to do in the afternoon. The farmers only cared about farming, but Luc had many and diverse things to do, and there was always work to do as long as he wanted to.

Leaving Du Si alone to continue recording future profits, Luc walked out of the Deer Hall and instructed the crowd, whose enthusiasm had dissipated a lot, to carry out this afternoon's task - to continue digging the hillside water reservoir.

The reservoir is actually part of the irrigation system, but it is responsible for the fields on the hillside and complements the ditches on the flat land to share the task of watering.

The reservoir is deep, and Luc plans to have it completed before the spring harvest.

In addition, Luc also wants to build another fish pond.

Yes, Luc is not going to go fishing anymore!
The Agate River is very wide, and more than 40 people cannot eat all the big fish even after half a year, but Luc believes that there will be a day when the fish will wither away.

Of course, it may take many years, or even a generation, before there are no fish to eat, but it still makes sense to build fish ponds.

The first point is that it can cultivate fatter and fresher fish!
Luke took Ryan to the east along the riverbed, and while checking the location of the fish pond, he said to Ryan:

"Lian, based on your experience, where is the best place to build a bridge over the Agate River?"

“Build a bridge.”

Ryan calmed himself down and said, "Master, do we have to repair the bridge so soon? The Hoffman caravan won't be back until October."

"There's a lot going on at the manor, and it's not too early to pick a location first."

"I see." Ryan nodded, looking at the broad river. After a while, he pointed to the slightly flat areas on both sides and said, "Master, I think that's a good spot."

"Look, the distance between the two banks there is the shortest, and there's less mud there, making it perfect for building a bridge."

"What about the fish pond?"

"Let's build the fish pond next to the water tanker and use the water tanker to change the water in the fish pond."

"Makes sense."

Luc nodded. He might know more about woodworking innovation than Ryan, but he was far behind in professionalism.

After finalizing the address, Luc did not do it right away, after all, he was still digging the reservoir.

Luke first asked Ryan to move some stones to mark the spot, and then went with him to visit Xintian.

Unlike the existing fields in Luc, where the ridges run in the same direction, this already divided land will become a patchwork of irregular, crooked ridges.

Luc didn't want to do this at first because it would increase the time it takes to plow the soil, but Old Eike had a different idea.
"Master, farmers don't have that many crops, and many grow different things. For example, Robert's family is wealthy and has a lot of land, so they will naturally grow rye and lettuce. But other farmers who only have one acre of land will probably only grow rye. Since you have already rewarded them with land, it is better to implement sheet farming."

"That's true." Luc nodded.

It's a matter of angle.

Du Si was right. After being a chief who was used to a collective life, Luc suddenly changed to a manor lord. He was a little uncomfortable for a while.
"By the way, sir, I have another suggestion."

Old Eike stroked his graying beard, looking like a wise palace elder. "The farmers' homes should also be demolished and rebuilt. Have them move their houses closer to the farmland. This will free up a piece of land next to your castle, allowing you to cultivate high-quality farmland or build new buildings in the future."

Luc nodded. Old Eike was very thoughtful. The manor should look like a manor, and the serf area needed to be away from the lord's residence.

"Okay, let's do that after we dig the reservoir. In addition, I will allow each family to leave a small yard of one-thirtieth of an acre in addition to their house."

"Master, be merciful~"

In the Middle Ages, ordinary farmers only had one house. Apart from that, even an inch of land outside the doorstep belonged to the lord, so livestock were raised in the house.

——Of course, there is also the worry of being stolen.

Luc didn't intend to be so demanding. With one-thirtieth acre of land and a fence built around it, he would have enough space to raise chickens and sheep in the future.

After all, the fur and eggs of these livestock can also serve as taxes. Half a month later, the weather warmed up completely.

The entire forest seemed to come alive, with rivers gurgling and birds and beasts roaming in the mountains.

The reservoir was finally completed as Luc had expected. After spending another two days to perfect it and connect it to the ground ditch, the spring harvest officially began!
No matter how many times they experienced it, every harvest of grain made everyone, including Luc, extremely excited.

As he expected, the harvest was indeed one-tenth less, but the yield was still astonishing.

Sheaves of grain were carried to the granary; these would be food and seeds for all the people in the future.

The busy sweat flows down the farmers' bodies, solidifies, and then flows again, like seeds being sown into the land over and over again.

Looking at the full warehouse, Du Si, who came specially to take a look, could not hide her joy.

Luc divided everyone into two groups. After spending a whole week working almost day and night to harvest the crops, he began a new round of planning for his own private land.

"I have fifteen acres of old land planted entirely with wheat and peas, and I don't want to eat black bread every day."

Thanks to the fertile land, the wheat harvest was good, and the three acres of wheat and peas planted originally were enough to plant a large area of ​​arable land.

When there was no black bread, Luc missed it every day. Now that he has black bread, he is tired of it. He wants white bread every meal.

"We need to create a separate vegetable garden, maybe about five acres. A combination of meat and vegetables will provide a balanced diet."

Counting Luc's vegetable seeds: lettuce, wild leek, garlic, turnip, parsnip, sweet and spicy, basically all kinds, he planted a little of each.

"I plant five acres of barley and oats. The livestock also need to eat, and I also need to drink some goat milk oatmeal porridge occasionally."

"I'll plant some rye on the five acres. The servants can't eat white bread. They need rations too."

As for the other rye seeds, they were distributed to the farmers.

"Flax needs to be planted, and clothes need to continue to be woven. In the future, we can let the people in our territory spend money to buy clothes. Even if they don't buy, we can make more armor."

Luke does not have many pieces of armor, and if conditions permit, he hopes to have more than twenty pieces of armor.

However, the collapsed textile factory has not been repaired yet. We will find time to build another one.

"And olives. Olives produce more oil than rapeseed flowers, which is why I asked Hoffman to bring them back so they can be planted alongside rapeseed flowers."

In fact, olives have more uses, but Luc can't use them at the moment.

"besides."

Luc focused his attention on the grape seeds and blueberries that had been picked up. When he sent people to collect grapes, the other party brought back blueberries as well. To be honest, Luc almost forgot about the blueberries.

“Maybe it’s time to plant some grapes and blueberries.”

"Oh, and there's also that batch of Longyang flowers. Let's take a small piece and experiment on it to see what kind of crop it is."

You don’t know until you count. After counting, Luc found that he had so many crops that he even had a headache for a moment.

Maybe this is the trouble of having too many crops.

However, no matter how it is subdivided, the overall view is that the more than 40 acres of land are divided into two parts, two-thirds of which are used for growing grain and one-third for growing cash crops.

This also fits the terrain of flat land and hillside.

The hillside has better lighting and is suitable for growing cash crops.

After making some simple arrangements, Luc returned to the Knight's Castle with a batch of freshly harvested crops.

He gently placed it on the ground and looked at the thing called hop, his eyes shining.

"liquor!"

That’s right, the production of hops is enough to brew beer with the real beer flavor that we remember!
(End of this chapter)