I'm not a lord

Chapter 45 Spring Ploughing Ends

The farming task in White Bear Territory is particularly heavy this year.

Thanks to the many new technologies brought by Linn, the serfs gave up their previous extensive farming and started intensive farming instead.

Composting is necessary, the land needs to be plowed, seeds need to be selected, and fertilization and sowing should be done in rows.
The workload has increased, but the number of acres of fields that need to be cultivated has not changed, and the labor force has not increased.

In previous years, it usually only took two weeks for the serfs to cultivate more than 30,000 acres of arable land.

This year, eleven days had passed since the official start of spring plowing, and the serfs had only just finished cultivating the lord's 18,000 acres of land.

This is the result of old Albert and a group of village managers working hard on production every day.

Many serfs were unable to cultivate their own land and began to slack off.
A small group of daring serfs even secretly cultivated their own land in advance, forgetting about the public land allocated to them.

Fortunately, Lao Ai discovered the problem in time, caught some typical elements and flogged them, which barely curbed the trend of laziness.

"Master, this new technology is indeed good, but it also takes a lot of time. The serfs have just started to cultivate their own land. If they miss the rainy season, they will have a hard time this winter."

After finally supervising the serfs to cultivate the public land, old Albert finally couldn't help but run to the castle to complain to Lynn.

As a bridge between the lords and the serfs, he had to take care of both sides, and naturally he had to endure the bullying from both sides.

They had to do their best to complete the tasks assigned by the lord, but they also had to take the lives of the serfs into consideration. They didn't even dare to whip them hard for fear of wasting their precious labor force.

He has been very busy these days and often has no time to eat. His already thin body looks even thinner.

"Thanks a lot."

Lynn patted Old Albert on the shoulder, but what he was thinking about was letting Old Ai direct the road construction.

Who asked him to be the only territory manager of White Bear Territory?
There are some jobs that really belong to him.

If he can endure hardship, then there will naturally be endless hardship waiting for him.

His hard work was recognized by the lord, and a bright smile bloomed on Lao Ai's face:
"Working for the master is not hard."

Through observations over the past few days, Lao Ai knew that Lin En was by no means a cruel lord who levied heavy taxes, but a good lord who was willing to protect his territory and serfs.

How could a lord inspect the serf village as soon as he arrived at the territory?
And what lord would dare to take the risk and fight a giant monster himself?

In fact, Lin En has not been idle these days. Every day he personally inspects the territory, supervises and guides the serfs' work.

He also specifically ordered Yagna to take out twice as much salt and sausages from the warehouse and add them to the serfs' work lunch, for fear that these excellent laborers would die of exhaustion in the fields.

In order to feed the serfs, he even used up all the sausages in the warehouse, and the salt was almost gone.

Afterwards, Lin En took Lao Ai out for inspection again.

Walk out of the castle and look out over the fields.

The endless, dark and smooth ridges exude a majestic beauty, and the entire land is full of infinite vitality.

Old Albert was also shocked by the beautiful scenery. After a long while, he couldn't help but sigh:
"Master, this is all thanks to the heavy plow you brought. In previous years, these furrows would have been crooked, like a child's scribbles with a stick."

Lin En narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Albert, are there still a lot of uncultivated flat lands on the west side of the territory?"

"Yes, but these flat lands are not completely abandoned. Instead, they serve as public pastures, and grass seeds are sown every year."

As he answered, Old Albert suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

Master, do you want to turn that land into farmland?
As expected, Lin En then gave the order:
"The heavy plow not only plows the fields deeply, but can also be used to reclaim wasteland. Next year, I plan to reclaim the land on the west side. I've done some field research these past few days, and there are at least 20,000 acres of flat land that can be reclaimed. If you include the gentle slopes, there are probably 70,000 to 80,000 acres. It would be a waste to just leave all this land there."

"Master, with the current population of White Bear Territory, we really can't afford so much arable land!" Old Albert's eyes went dark. Is it land that White Bear Territory lacks?

What’s lacking is people!

Even if we add another 20,000 acres of arable land, even the serfs led by White Bear would be exhausted to death and still not be able to finish cultivating them!

"Don't worry, someone will come and cultivate these lands." Lin En asked with a smile, "Have you ever thought about why I ordered you to plant rye on all the public land?"

In previous years, the main crop on the lord's public fields was actually barley.

The main crop on the serfs' allotments was rye.

Barley tastes worse than rye and is generally not used as food, but is used to brew ale or beer.

The demand for wine in large coastal cities is very high, and growing barley is easier to export and can be exchanged for more gold coins.

But this year, Lynn broke this convention and ordered that the main crop on the public land be changed to rye, with only a small amount of barley and oats planted.

These days, Old Albert was wondering why they had to grow rye, which was more difficult to sell. Now that Lin En asked him this, he finally understood.

The lord is going to introduce population on a large scale!

That's why rye is planted in advance to feed more serfs!

The serfs who had just moved into the territory could not survive and had to rely on the lord's relief to live until the next autumn harvest.

But then Lao Ai began to have doubts again.

Given the current environment in the north, where can we find thousands of more people to farm the land?
Didn’t the immigration wave in the south end long ago?

Do we have to rely on robbery?

Yes, you have to grab it. You can’t just buy it, right?
Serfs were the treasures of local lords, so how could one possibly buy large numbers of them?

The Shoal Territory in the south does have a population, but the new lord is still a little kid.

Given the lord's character, it is indeed possible that he would take action against the Shoal Lord.

No wonder the master wants to keep Yagna in the castle. He must be coveting the land and population of the Shoal Territory!

Right, all right!
But wouldn’t that mean war?
The more Old Albert thought about it, the more frightened he became.

He was not afraid of war, as the lords of all sizes in the north often fought each other over a disagreement.

Fighting for forests, prey, people, even wives and lovers is not surprising.

He was afraid that he would not be able to win, or that he would be punished by the Duke of Swamp.

"Master, if we are going to start a war, we must prepare in advance. As the cultivation of the public fields has ended, I will have the stewards and the village heads begin training."

As the governor of the territory, old Albert was naturally responsible for the management of conscripted soldiers.

The steward and the village head are the conscripted soldiers led by Bai Xiong.

His son Xiao Ai never slacked off in his daily exercise. He was very skilled in riding a horse and could even skillfully wield a sword on horseback.

Although it is far inferior to a real [Warrior], it can still play a role on the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)