Chapter 45: Food Production in Shanlin Town
With a government official in charge of Shanlin Town's grain production, Roning no longer has to manage some matters in the territory personally.
However, this does not mean that he completely lets go and becomes a noble lord who only seeks enjoyment (although this is his ultimate goal).
On the contrary, he wanted to build the territory into his own utopia and had to take care of many things.
Therefore, Roning asked Wilson to make "weekly reports and monthly summaries", which would not only deepen his grasp of territorial affairs but also help him understand Wilson's level.
After two busy days, the personnel arrangements for Shanlinbao have basically been completed.
You just need to make appropriate adjustments based on the situation later.
After lunch, Roning, escorted by McKen, David and Tom, began to patrol the territory on horseback.
As a lord, he was full of enthusiasm for this inspection and was full of expectations for every production and operation area in the territory.
This feeling is like meeting the person you are dating online in person. You have imagined so many beautiful things in your mind and envisioned so many scenes, but only when you really meet the person in person can you have the most intuitive understanding.
The town center of Shanlin Town is very small, and the surrounding houses only extend for about four or five hundred meters. It mainly consists of free people's houses and various shops.
Although the street is short, there must be a lot of people coming and going here every day, otherwise the street would not be so dirty.
Roning did not stay on this street for long. Following Tom's guidance, he turned east.
If the street is compared to the urban area, then the turning point is the suburbs.
Roning could see many low houses built of mud, thatch, or wood. They were simple and looked flimsy, the kind that could be blown down by a strong wind.
Compared to living in the city, the only advantage here is probably that the air is fresher, right?
"Sir, the town's wheat fields are mainly distributed in the east and southeast. The northeast area has orchards and vegetable fields. The northwest area is mainly grassland, suitable for grazing. The southwest area is mainly flax fields."
Although Tom's family is a tailor, when he was a guard in Hillwood Town and a professional knight, he was often responsible for patrolling the agricultural area, so he knew a lot about this area.
"We'll go east along this dirt road and find the barley and wheat farms."
Luo Ning raised his head and looked forward, and indeed, he could see a little yellow as if the wheat was swaying.
"Do you know how big the wheat field is?"
Tom considered it for a moment. "I have heard of it, sir, but I cannot be sure of the exact number."
Roning looked at the other party. The actions of this surrendered professional knight in the past two days were either followed by David or McKen, and there was nothing unusual.
For him, as long as they truly want to surrender to him and work for him sincerely, he will treat them equally.
Just as he had said to Tom before, as long as he performed well during the three-month probation period, Ronin agreed to restore Tom's salary from 20 copper coins per day to 30 copper coins per day, the same as David's.
"It's okay. Tell me what you know."
Tom then answered, "I've heard many farmers talk about it. There are nearly 30,000 acres of cultivated land in Shanlin Town. Although half of the land is left fallow every year, there are still more than 9,000 acres of barley fields and nearly 7,000 acres of wheat fields."
Luo Ning had heard of the term "fallow", which meant that the land would be planted this year but not next year, leaving it fallow for a year to increase its fertility.
However, even if the land is left fallow, the total area of wheat fields planted in Shanlin Town each year is more than 16,000 acres, which completely exceeded Luo Ning's expectations.
You have to know that Shanlin Town used to be a wasteland, and everything needed to be reclaimed.
It was extremely difficult to cultivate so much arable land with such a small number of people without the leadership of a lord.
Roning frowned slightly. He thought of the cooperation between Sen Territory and Princet.
With such a large area of arable land, the annual grain production can be consumed in Shanlin Town, and a large amount can be sold outside.
No one knows how many of them ended up flowing into the swamp town in Sen County.
Luo Ning became interested and asked, "Do you know the approximate yield of barley and wheat per mu?"
Tom replied, "Sir, I don't know the exact figures, but I heard from farmers during the busy farming season that the barley yield per mu is about 90 catties, and the wheat yield is a little higher, over 100 catties per mu, probably around 105 catties."
"This..."
After hearing these two numbers, Luo Ning was stunned for a moment.
He had already anticipated that the crop yields in this world would be low. After all, the level of cultivation here could not be compared with that of the flower-growing country.
But he never expected that the barley yield per mu here would be as low as 90 kilograms!
"Why is it so low?" He couldn't believe it.
Tom subconsciously thought that the baron was born into a privileged family and had never been exposed to agriculture, so he was unaware of the output of the operation. So he explained:
"Actually, this yield is already pretty good, sir. It is said that the barley yield per acre in the Swamp Town of Sean Territory is less than 50 kilograms."
Fifty kilograms?
Luo Ning was completely shocked by this number.
Without the seeds, the barley yield in Sean Territory is estimated to be only 1:2, which is probably not enough to even feed itself.
To be honest, why grow it with such a low yield?
Luo Ning suddenly understood why Sean Territory wanted to include Shanlin Town.
Baron Leisen might have regarded Shanlin Town as his family's granary, specializing in the production of grain.
During the conversation, they soon arrived at the wheat field, but the closer they got, the more Roning's brows furrowed.
Calculating the time, today is already the 15th day of the eighth month in the imperial calendar. In half a month, it will be time to harvest barley.
In Luo Ning's impression, the wheat fields should be neat and tidy golden, but the field before him was not like that.
First of all, the wheat here is not neat and tidy. Their stalks are high and low, which is very inconsistent.
Secondly, Luo Ning discovered that some of the wheat had begun to mature while others were not yet mature enough. The wheat fields were planted at the same time but matured at different times.
Finally, what puzzled Luo Ning was that there were a lot of weeds in the wheat fields, and it looked like no one had ever taken care of them.
Luo Ning sat on the horse and looked carefully at the wheat field. He found that there was not a single farmer here.
"Tom, where's the farmer?"
He finally couldn't help asking, "Why can't I see a farmer here?"
Tom answered: "Perhaps they are reclaiming the wasteland, sir?"
This answer once again surprised Luo Ning. Is it possible to ignore the wheat fields here and focus on reclaiming wasteland?
"Is this arranged by Princet?"
Tom nodded. "At the beginning of every year, Princet would issue a task to each family to reclaim wasteland, which must be completed within the year. I also reclaimed wasteland before I became a professional knight."
"Alright, alright."
Luo Ning really didn't understand why people only pursued reclaiming the wasteland without taking care of the crops they planted.
He dismounted, walked to the edge of the wheat field, and pulled out a weed that was growing well.
"You said you've reclaimed wasteland before, so how much do you know about farming?"
He handed the weed to Tom and asked, "Why don't you need it?"
"That's too much trouble."
Tom took the weeds and answered as a matter of course: "Weeds don't affect the growth of wheat. As you can see, the wheat grows densely. If we walk into the wheat field casually, we will damage it."
Indeed, the wheat did not grow in an orderly manner, or to be more precise, it grew in a disorderly manner. It looked like the seeds were simply scattered on the ground and left to grow on their own.
In this case, it may be difficult to fertilize and water the plants.
"How do you sow the seeds?" Luo Ning couldn't help but ask.
Tom began to gesture with his hands: "Sir, we usually burn the grass on the wasteland first, then turn the ground twice, and then sprinkle the seeds evenly on it."
Seeing that the other party did not continue speaking, Luo Ning could not help but ask: "Then what?"
"No~"
Tom smiled and said, "Then we just have to wait for the harvest. If we feel that the yield here has dropped, we can leave the land fallow for a year or two and let the animals graze here. When we plant crops again two years later, the yield will magically increase. This must be the blessing of the Seven Gods!"
Luo Ning suddenly felt that such operations could achieve a yield of 90 kilograms per mu, which seemed to be very, very good.
No fertilizer, no weeding, just waiting for the harvest. This is probably only slightly better than slash-and-burn farming.
Why is there such a situation?
Ronin doesn't know much about the history of this world. He only knows that the first record is from the founding of the Orlant Empire.
Although the empire has collapsed now, both the Kingdom of Alduin and the Kingdom of Tricia claim to be the bloodline of the empire and have the legal right of inheritance.
Therefore, both kingdoms used the imperial calendar.
It is now the year 968 of the Imperial Calendar.
How could the level of farming remain so low after nearly a thousand years?
Or was it once higher, but after hundreds of years of continuous war, the level of agriculture was reduced to a nearly primitive state?
Without the help of good agricultural technology, the lords saw that the per-acre grain yield was too low, and they could only choose to let the farmers reclaim more land.
The expansion of cultivated land area is exchanged for the increase in total grain output.
Luo Ning couldn't help but sigh for the farmers here.
This method of farming is bound to result in low yields. To increase the total amount of grain, they can only expand the planting area, which requires them to reclaim more land.
In this way, most of their energy is spent on reclamation. How can they have time and energy to study how to increase the yield of a piece of land?
"We must optimize agriculture and increase the grain yield per acre of land. Only in this way can we free up more people to develop other fields."
"Only with sufficient food can I feed more people."
Agriculture is the foundation. Only when we have solved the problem of food and clothing can we talk about development?
"Let's go and have a look at the next place."
Roning patted the dirt in his hands, mounted his horse and headed towards the next area.