I'm not a lord

Chapter 14 The Hardships of Serfs

Agriculture is the necessary foundation for the development of a territory, while commerce is the catalyst that makes the territory take off.

Both are indispensable and cannot be neglected.

It cannot be said that there is no business in White Bear Territory today, but it is indeed not much.

At least, there are no permanent merchants in the territory.

White Bear Territory is a typical feudal self-sufficient manor, which only needs to import a certain amount of salt and iron ingots every year.

Cloth is something that is dispensable.

Flax production was high and the price was extremely low; a finished linen shirt was usually worth five or six copper coins.

If all else fails, White Bear Territory can also grow a certain amount of flax, and most female serfs can weave cloth.

If there really were a businessman so blind as to stay in the White Bear Territory, he would probably either die of poverty or starvation.

In fact, the serfs in White Bear's territory could afford draft horses and light plows, and they would not starve in the winter. It was obvious that they had surplus wealth.

They just don't have the need to consume.

Although both serfdom and slavery contain the word "slave", the two systems are completely different.

Slaves belong entirely to their masters.

Serfs were only subject to certain restrictions on their personal freedom, and they were also able to own their own private property.

In other words, they have the right to 'accumulate private property'.

For example, in the White Bear Territory, every serf had a share of land. After deducting a certain percentage of taxes from the annual harvest and the seeds and food for the next year, the rest was their private property.

If the lord wanted to "plunder" this part of the property, he couldn't take it by force, so he could only take it by increasing taxes.

Serfs also had ways to resist unreasonable taxation.

That is Kairun.

The North is too vast. There is no shortage of land, but there is a shortage of people to farm.

If you, as a lord, do not give the serfs a way to survive, there will naturally be lords willing to accept more serfs.

In fact, for Lynn, it was definitely a good thing for serfs to have private property.

He had no need to worry about a lack of buyers for the heavy plow once it was manufactured.

With the financial resources of the White Bear Territory's serfs, it was more than enough to afford a heavy plow.

This is equivalent to Lin En creating new demands out of thin air, directly promoting the development of business in the territory.

But a new problem also arose: the blacksmith Qi He ran out of iron ingots.

On agricultural estates where time almost stands still, the annual demand for iron ingots fluctuates very little.

The iron ingots Qi He bought last year were barely enough to make 300 heavy plows.

However, the merchant who sells iron ingots will not come until after the autumn harvest, so the iron ingots needed for other farm tools become a big problem.

For example, the sickle used for autumn harvest and the hoe used for land preparation.

In the evening, old Albert finished his work and came to the riverside castle, taking the initiative to help Lynn solve his problems.

"Master, I know a few merchants in Sanhe City. Perhaps we can ask them to ship some iron ingots here in advance."

Lao Ai has been in White Bear Territory for decades and has accumulated a lot of connections inside and outside the territory.

Sanhe City is located in the lower reaches of the Baihe River. It is a gathering place for merchants and travelers. It is the largest trade node in the Baihe River Basin and also the residence of the governor of Baihe County.

"County" is a military unit in the North. The main duty of the county governor is to assist the Duke in recruiting and training knights.

The commission that Lynn had snatched gave him the status and power of a baron, and also regulated his obligations as a baron.

Every August, he was required to send five knights and no less than fifteen knight squires to Three Rivers City for two months of military training.

To prove that he was capable of bearing the Duke of the Marsh's call. In a sense, the sheriff also had the responsibility to monitor the lords of various places, but he could not interfere with the internal management of the territory.

The Duke of the Swamp is not doing charity. Giving land to the lords naturally requires corresponding supervision and management measures.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the iron ingots."

As Lin En finished speaking, he put down the quill in his hand and bent down to blow dry the ink on the parchment.

As a horse bandit roaming the northern border, since he was able to obtain the exact whereabouts of Baron Roman, it is natural that he could not lack these connections.

The businessmen he called are definitely more reliable than those Lao Ai called.

At least his identity as a fake lord will not be revealed.

Old Albert tactfully changed the subject: "Master, I have arranged for the composting and re-ploughing. However, time is limited, so I cannot ensure that every piece of cultivated land will be equipped with these new technologies. But I assure you that your public land will be given priority."

Serfs had to provide their own tools and livestock to take care of the land for their lords every year.

It is impossible for the lord to have hundreds of plows piled up in his warehouse and lend them to the serfs.

"If they are willing to trust these new technologies, there's no harm in using them on their own land."

To be honest, Lin En doesn't care about the income from farming at all.

The reason why he put increasing per-acre yield first was mainly to produce more surplus food.

The more surplus food there is, the more labor can be freed from the land, and the more manufacturing, industrial, commercial and other industries can be developed.

It doesn’t matter who the food belongs to, as long as there is enough food on the market.

The invisible hand of the market will find suitable buyers for these grains.

"How can this be possible? Without the master, how can White Bear Territory use these new technologies?"

When Lao Ai said this, he had the look of a loyal dog who said, "Let the serfs suffer, and I will take the blame."

But he was not entirely considering the interests of the master. Instead, he wanted to use the master's public land to conduct a large-scale public experiment to make the serfs believe that the new technology was indeed feasible.

It is not difficult to promote heavy plows. Just build one and demonstrate it on site, and the serfs will definitely rush to buy it.

The difficult part is composting.

The raw material of this thing is mainly livestock manure.

The serfs were well aware that livestock manure could burn young crop plants, so some were certainly skeptical about composting.

Using it on the lord's public land would bring the least psychological burden to the serfs.

After all, it was new technology brought by the lord. Even if the lord's public land yielded no crops, he would surely not blame the serfs.

"You can figure it out."

Lin En saw through it but didn't say anything.

He has decided to delegate farmland matters to Lao Ai.

After all, he is a two-star internal affairs talent certified by the panel, and it is a waste of his talent to be in charge of such a small area.

As night falls, candlelight flickers in the restaurant on the first floor of the castle.

The six bandit brothers reunited and drank to celebrate their victory.

Yesterday, Lynn sent four brothers to various farms to count the number of serfs and take over the properties of the escaped knights.

The brothers were more efficient than he had imagined and completed all the work in just one day. The number of people and properties could also be matched with the seized list.

It was when they saw the serfs and properties and were warmly welcomed by the local stewards and village heads that the brothers realized how rich they had become and truly felt the authority of the knight lord.

Now, they are full of admiration for Lynn's decision.

Being a bandit living on the edge of a knife is indeed not as comfortable as being a master.

(End of this chapter)