I'm not a lord

Chapter 95 You Can Run
After the autumn harvest, Lin En became even busier.

His power as lord is unlimited.

In contrast, he must bear unlimited responsibility.

The entire territory is the unlimited liability company he opened.

He is free to distribute the profits and bear all the losses.

Moreover, most of the work in the territory depends on his guidance.

It can be said that the White Bear leader’s more than 7,000 people are all on his shoulders.

The serfs remained lazy and blindly obedient.

They will only do what they are told if someone is watching them from behind with a whip.

Lynn's policy of reducing the amount of acreage per household has not encountered much resistance.

Intensive farming can indeed increase grain production immediately, but it requires more energy and time from the serfs.

Not every serf could afford the crop rotation and intensive cultivation of 120 acres of land.

Most of them could accept reducing the land by 20 mu, because the total output of 50 mu of land was still much higher than before.

But they found it difficult to accept Lin En's requirement that each serf reclaim 25 acres of wasteland.

In the subconscious of the serfs, clearing wasteland was a thankless and arduous task.

Not only was there not much harvest that year, but the harvests for the next two years would also be very low.

The lord also required that these wastelands must include an acre of forest, and the felled timber must be transported to White Bear Town.

This made the serfs even more resistant.

Are the forests in the northern region so easy to cultivate?

But Lin En didn't care about the serfs' feelings. He directly issued death orders to the stewards and village heads, driving the serfs to cut down trees and reclaim wasteland.

In addition, lime powder must be used to mark the reclamation area of ​​each household, and the reclamation task must be assigned precisely to each household. Any household that fails to complete the task will be whipped.

Not convinced?

If you don’t agree, you can run it!

The white bear collar is really not covered.

Compared to when he first arrived in White Bear Territory, Lin En's attitude towards serfs has changed significantly.

He was not afraid at all that these serfs would run away again.

If you are willing to give up the full warehouse of food, the warm stone house you just built, and the free supply of salt, you can make a profit.

In the past, the annual grain harvest of serfs was very low, and the calorie intake was also low, so they could not bear too much corvee labor and farm work.

But this year, the lowest yield is 70 kilograms per mu, which is enough for a family of five to eat even during the slack season.

When you are full, you naturally have to work harder!

There are more than 20,000 acres of grassland in the White Bear Territory, and it is not difficult to cultivate these grasslands.

The escaped slaves from Manor No. 6 can do it, why can't you?

As for clearing additional forests, Lynn's main purpose was still timber.

He needed to make more transport carriages, and also build more water wheels, workshops and warehouses to the north of the castle, all of which would require a lot of wood.

The chopped branches can also be made into charcoal and supplied to the blacksmith workshop.

As for the soil erosion that may be caused by deforestation, this is not something that White Bear Territory should consider at all.

The current problem of the White Bear Territory is that it takes too little from the forest. The forest coverage rate of the territory exceeds 95%, and soil erosion is pure nonsense.

"Master, if we clear all the pastures, we'll have to reduce the number of livestock we raise next year. I'm afraid the serfs won't be able to pay the full livestock quota."

What old Albert was worried about was the tax payment of serfs.

The taxes paid by the White Bear Territory serfs were mostly in kind. Land rent was usually converted into livestock and other goods, for example, a 60-mu plot of land would require three adult goats and several bales of hay.

"We asked them to reclaim the land just to grow pasture grass. Their previous methods were so backward!"

On the contrary, Lynn required the serfs to reclaim wasteland on the pasture in order to raise more livestock.

In the past, serfs simply scattered some grass seeds on the fallow land, and basically ignored the more than 20,000 acres of dedicated grassland.

The livestock eat whatever grass grows in the fields.

This is simply the most shameful waste!

In addition to reclaiming the wasteland, Lynn asked the female serfs and children to collect alfalfa and red clover seeds.

The seeds are sown in rows in furrows created by heavy plowing.

Both of these forage grasses are legumes that can improve soil structure and increase soil fertility. They are also rich in nutrients and are the highest quality forage grasses in the North.

By rotating pasture grass and rye in two fields, you can achieve a double harvest of pasture grass and grain.

Moreover, the planting cycles of these two crops are exactly different. Rye is sown in April and harvested in August, while forage grass is sown in August and harvested the following year.

If Lin En wants to build a large-scale professional army in the future, he must first ensure the logistical supply of this army, which requires more animal power and meat.

The White Bear Territory currently has only five or six hundred draft horses, which are barely enough for plowing the fields, but completely insufficient for fighting a war.

Lin En also plans to take in a large number of foreign refugees, all of whom also need horses to plow the land.

Obviously, the natural reproduction of draft horses within the White Bear Territory alone cannot fill such a big hole.

Therefore, Lynn planned to purchase draft horses from outside.

Draft horses are very cheap. The retail price of a draft horse of about three years old will not exceed one gold coin, and the price at the place of origin is around ten silver coins.

An excellent warhorse capable of carrying an armored knight in charge usually costs dozens or even hundreds of times more than an ordinary draft horse.

It's like the difference between a commuter car and a top-of-the-line sports car.

Lynn plans to first acquire 500 draft horses.

With the arrival of the autumn harvest season, more and more merchant ships are active on the Baihe River.

In the past week, two merchant ships have arrived in White Bear Territory, both offering to purchase 100 tons of rye.

In previous years, White Bear Territory would sell more than 300 tons of rye, but this year Lynn will not sell a single grain.

What's more, the purchase price offered by these businessmen is only slightly higher than last year.

This is like treating the local lords as fools.

Who doesn't know that the war has begun?
The price of rye in Three Rivers has more than doubled!

Although the grain trade failed, Lin En kept all the linen on the ship as the White Bear Territory was in need of it.

All commodity deliveries are completed at the dock, and Lynn strictly prohibits any outsiders from entering the territory.

He also issued a task to two merchants to purchase draft horses.

Upon hearing that it was profitable, the two merchants unloaded the linen and immediately boarded a boat south.

There are six baronies lined up on the left bank of the White River. The population increases as you go south, and it is not difficult to buy draft horses by traveling around.

Because of the reputation of the 'Cold Wind' family, the two businessmen did not collect a deposit from Lin En in advance.

In fact, Lin En no longer had a single gold coin on hand. The linen he purchased had drained his last gold coin reserves.

Strangely, Leon's merchant ship has not been to White Bear Territory since it transported 200 tons of salt in early August.

The third brother, who was supposed to return to White Bear Territory before September, was nowhere to be seen.

But the panel shows that they are still in Sanhe City.

Lynn could only assume that they were distracted by more important things.

(End of this chapter)