I'm not a lord

Chapter 36: The Desire for Population (Two-in-One)

Leon came quickly and left in a hurry.

I just arrived at White Bear Territory in the afternoon, took a walk around the town, had dinner and took a nap. I had to take a boat back to Sanhe City early the next morning.

He was too anxious. He was anxious to see the mysterious salt mine that was as big as a mountain of gold, and he was also anxious to send his sister to White Bear.

Countless Northern Golden Shields were chasing him, making him anxious.

He gave the boxes of iron ingots and farm tools worth thirty gold coins he brought to Lin En for free, as an early investment in the salt mine.

He purchased the fur and skeleton of the white demon bear at a high price, paying 110 full Northern Gold Shields and giving up most of the profit margin, which can be said to be full of sincerity.

The third brother who had just returned to White Bear Territory also went to Sanhe City with Leon.

At present, Lynn and Leon have reached a preliminary cooperation intention, and have successfully recruited Leon as their follower.

But Leon's loyalty is still only in his early fifties, and he is also a black market businessman who is willing to pay any price.

Therefore, Lynn needed a trustworthy person to monitor Leon at all times and be responsible for delivering messages to both parties.

This will only make things difficult for the third brother, the only one among the younger brothers who can stand on his own.

This time, Lin En equipped the third brother with five elite horse bandits and assigned him an additional difficult task.

By the way, I can also let these five younger brothers go to Sanhe City to relax.

"Third Brother, this time when we go to Sanhe City, you must not only help me keep an eye on Leon, but also recruit people for White Bear Territory. As long as they are able to work, even if they are runaway serfs with nothing, you must find a way to bring them to White Bear Territory for me."

Today, White Bear Territory is initially on the right track, and it is able to produce high-quality heavy plows, and countless compost piles are ready to be used.

If nothing unexpected happens, White Bear Territory will surely have an unprecedented bumper harvest this autumn.

The cooperative merchants of the salt mine have also been found. Once the road through the forest is built, massive wealth and resources will continue to flow into the White Bear Territory.

After solving the problems of money and food, the biggest problem facing Lin En was only "people".

The White Bear Territory currently has a total population of just over 3,000. Even if the Shoal Territory to the south is included, the total population is only 8,000.

How can we accomplish great things with just this few people?

The peat and salt mines in the north alone are estimated to consume thousands of people.

Through the map function of the panel, Lin En will discover countless mineral deposits in the vast forest in the future.

In addition to mining, he also needs to build a strong army to protect the territory as soon as possible.

All of these require a large population, and relying solely on natural reproduction is simply unrealistic.

"Brother, Sanhe City regularly expels the unemployed. Most of these unemployed people are fugitive serfs from various territories. If Leon is willing to cooperate, it shouldn't be difficult to bring these serfs to White Bear Territory."

The third brother was the first among the younger brothers to complete the change of mindset, so he could fully understand Lin En's intention.

Before he went to Sanhe City to deliver a letter, he consciously observed the internal ecology of Sanhe City.

Three Rivers City is a large 'municipal city' that enjoys a certain degree of autonomy within the territory of the Duke of the Swamp by paying an annual tax.

According to the city laws at that time, anyone who had lived in the municipality for a full year, regardless of their status, could obtain citizenship and had the right to reside in the city permanently.

Therefore, escaped serfs from surrounding territories would choose Sanhe City as their first destination, hoping to obtain "noble" citizen status and escape the slavery and oppression of the lords.

But the city doesn't support idlers.

Sanhe City only welcomes young and beautiful women, skilled craftsmen, businessmen with their own wealth, and bandits and mercenaries who spend a lot of money.

Unemployed vagrants who cannot find a job and are penniless are regularly driven out by the Three Rivers City Militia.

They either returned to the countryside and accepted slavery from their lords again;
Or they died of hunger and cold in the dark corners of the city, becoming food for stray dogs or other escaped serfs.

The third brother was not of noble birth, and he hoped to bring back these serfs who suffered slavery and discrimination wherever they went to the White Bear Territory.

Although the White Bear Territory also practices serfdom, at least the serfs in the territory will not starve, and the lords who rule them are never cruel.

"I've already contacted Leon. You can discuss this matter with him. He will fully cooperate with you and provide ships to transport the serfs."

Lin En intended to develop the third brother's abilities, so he directly entrusted the task of recruiting serfs to him.

This is also inseparable from Lynn.

White Bear Territory is about to usher in spring plowing and planting.

After the farming was finished, he had to start large-scale projects such as road construction without stopping. He had to stay in the territory and was really unable to do everything in two places.

"Brother, I promise I won't let you down."

The third brother knew that the mission was arduous, but he still took on the responsibility with full confidence.

He knew that his eldest brother and White Bear Leader were his strongest supporters.

Lin En reminded: "Also, don't just focus on the serfs, but find ways to recruit more craftsmen, especially blacksmiths.

Immigrants from the southern border appear in Sanhe City from time to time. Most of them possess skills and are the talent that the territory currently lacks. We must do everything we can to bring them all to Baixiong. Money is not a problem."

At this time, more than a hundred years had passed since the large-scale immigration wave from the south to the north.

But to this day, there are still small groups of immigrants who come to the North by sea and go deep into the interior of the Northern Kingdom along the Jing River.

Most of these latecomers have special skills. To put it bluntly, they are various craftsmen, small businessmen and mercenaries who come to the North to seek opportunities with the hope of getting rich.

Once the salt mine opens, the last thing Lin En will lack is money.

As long as there is work to do, he is willing to pay, and the money will definitely be enough.

The existing blacksmiths in Bai Xiong's territory, namely Qi He's family, have such poor skills that they can't even get a one-star certification on the panel.

It's okay to ask them to make some farm tools, but don't even think about asking them to make sophisticated weapons.

Lin En's future plan to strengthen the military requires a large number of excellent blacksmiths, and he can only recruit from outside.

After giving instructions to the third brother in the study, Lynn went to the dock in person to see him and Leon off.

"Sir, I will bring my sister here as soon as possible. I also hope that you can give me a bigger surprise when we meet again next time."

Although Leon's face was full of smiles, he was undoubtedly a little disappointed in his heart.

He tried his best to persuade Lin En to marry his beloved sister last night, but in the end he failed.

But he had no choice. The profits from private salt business were too tempting, so he could only go back to Sanhe City to bring his sister over.

Lin En chuckled and asked, "Why, isn't this demon bear's skeleton enough to satisfy your appetite? Leon, you have a collection of more than a dozen large demon beast skeletons in your villa west of Sanhe City. This skeleton is much larger and more valuable than any of your collections."

"Sir, how do you know this? This... I..."

Leon's face turned pale and his speech became incoherent.

He had never told anyone about his niche hobby of collecting skeletons. Only his closest family members and old servants knew about it.

"I told you not to underestimate my intelligence network, Leon. I can grant you wealth and power, but I can also naturally make you fall into the abyss of fear. Understand?"

As Lin En finished speaking, the bandits beside him suddenly showed murderous intent.
The creepy sound of swords being unsheathed could be heard on the dock, and Leon turned pale with fright.

Lin En knew very well that to deal with a slick businessman like Leon, he had to use both kindness and force.

It's like training a dog, you have to hit it with a stick before giving it something to eat.

As for this seemingly confidential information, it is actually not difficult to obtain.

Lin En simply sent two nimble bandit minions to break into the villa and take a look around.

In fact, before he came to White Bear Territory, he had already set his sights on Leon, and naturally he had prepared all kinds of relevant intelligence.

"I understand, I understand, my lord. I will never have any thoughts of betraying you. I will always be your loyal and reliable servant!"

Leon bent over like a shrimp and nodded heavily, he was really scared.

He finally remembered that the seemingly amiable lord in front of him was actually a bandit leader who acted without scruples and even dared to pretend to be a baron.

Such a ruthless person would certainly not be afraid of his betrayal.

Even if he secretly reported the news of the salt mine to the Duke of Swamp, he would definitely not be able to catch these horse bandits who came and went like the wind.

Instead, he and his family will become the targets of crazy revenge by this group of horse bandits, and their death will surely be extremely tragic.

At this moment, Leon fully understood that when he set foot on the land of White Bear Territory yesterday, he was destined to board the pirate ship of the horse bandits.

And there is no possibility of jumping ship.

Either follow the bandits in pursuit of wealth and power, or die together.

No, even if he fails, it seems that he is the only one who will be shattered to pieces?
The sloop carrying Leon, Lao San and others gradually went away and turned into a tiny black dot on the White River.

Lynn led his men back to the castle.

He couldn't stop, so naturally he wouldn't let the serfs in his territory stop.

After a full week of rest, there are still five days before the official spring plowing, and it is time to find something for these serfs to do.

Old Albert finally received the lord's summons again and ran into the castle happily.

As for his son Xiao Ai, he is now supervising the construction of heavy plows in White Bear Town on his behalf.

Now the manufacture of the heavy plow is nearing completion.

Over the past twenty days, the blacksmiths and carpenters of White Bear Town have worked at full capacity and built more than 240 heavy plows.

In actual operation, Lao Ai found that two horses pulling the plow at the same time was more efficient and could plow ten acres of land in a day.

Currently, the White Bear Territory has more than 600 draft horses, all of which are tall, strong and durable northern horses. They can plow 3,000 acres of land every day, and in ten days they can plow the entire territory's more than 30,000 acres of land (half of which is fallow).

"There is a new technology, and you are responsible for promoting it."

As soon as Lin En opened his mouth, Lao Ai seemed to hear the sound of nature.

"Master, what new technology?" Lao Ai asked eagerly.

"Seed selection."

As early as when exploring the northern forest, Lynn's [Planting] technology had been upgraded to level two, and he had unlocked more agricultural knowledge.

Among them, a complete set of breeding techniques can be applied in White Bear Territory.

Seed selection means selecting high-quality, healthy, and plump seeds before sowing, and picking out those relatively inferior seeds.

If you sow 15 kilograms of seeds on one acre of land and then select the seeds before sowing, the final yield can be increased by at least 10 percentage points.

"Seed selection? Master, the seeds in White Bear Territory are all carefully selected. We will keep the strongest and fullest wheat seeds from last autumn's harvest."

Lao Ai was a little confused. Hasn't the seed selection technique been passed down for hundreds of years?

Is there something wrong with the previous method?

After being trained by Lin En, Lao Ai no longer dares to have any doubts about the lord.

Whenever there is a disagreement, he will definitely start looking for the cause from himself.

In short, the lord must be right, and the only one who is wrong is himself.

"Your seed selection method cannot be said to be wrong, it can only be said to be too inadequate and there is still a lot of room for improvement."

Lin En felt that it was too troublesome to explain it verbally, so he simply ordered the two strong maids to go to the warehouse to get a sack of oat seeds, and at the same time ordered them to prepare a large tank of clean water outside the house.

He demonstrated it himself and explained to Lao Ai how to select seeds scientifically.

The main food crops in White Bear Territory are rye and oats, the former is eaten by humans and the latter is eaten by horses.

Liquid seed selection can be used for both crops.

The so-called liquid seed selection is to add about 20% of impurity-free soil to a tank of clean water and stir it several times to allow the clean water and soil to be fully mixed to form muddy water with uniform color.

Then pour the wheat seeds into the muddy water and stir again until the wheat seeds are completely soaked.

After standing for about ten minutes, the seeds will be separated into layers according to their fullness.

The fullest and highest quality seeds will sink to the bottom, while the underfilled seeds and impurities will float on the surface of the muddy water.

While Lynn was demonstrating personally, the bored Yagna also came to watch.

“It’s floating, it’s really floating!”

She witnessed the entire process of liquid seed selection with her own eyes, and screamed in surprise when she saw the seeds automatically stratified in the mud and water.

Old Ai stared at the dense layer of wheat seeds floating on the surface of the muddy water and said thoughtfully:

"It turns out we've been planting low-quality seeds that won't germinate in our fields, which is why our harvests have been so poor."

Many seeds appear plump on the outside, but their interiors have already become diseased and shriveled or have been infested by insects during a winter of storage.

Lin En took the towel handed to her by the maid, wiped her hands, and explained:

"This is just the first step. After the seed selection is complete, the selected high-quality seeds need to be dried in the shade, away from direct sunlight. After drying, they need to be screened again to pick out damaged or diseased seeds. Only the remaining ones are high-quality seeds that can be used for planting."

"Master, I will immediately promote this technology throughout the territory! I will make sure every serf follows your instructions!"

In fact, after the seven-meter-tall demon bear was killed, Lao Ai's work became several orders of magnitude easier.

The serfs all knew that the new lord was wise and brave. In order to protect the territory and his people, he took great risks to personally hunt down the terrifying monsters.

All Lao Ai had to do was declare that the new technology was brought by the master from the Cold Wind Valley, and the serfs wouldn't have much resistance.

To put it bluntly, the serfs just wanted to eat hot porridge, wear warm clothes, and be able to survive and reproduce in this cruel northern border. That was enough.

They are willing to listen to whoever can protect their safety.

A huge thank you to fellow book friends such as Earl Amethyst, Little Shrimp in the Stream, and others for their support!
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(End of this chapter)