Chapter 346 Summer Harvest Inspection I

Chapter 346 – Summer Harvest Inspection I
After Richard returned to the territory, the time had already entered the first half of June.

He had gone east to hunt in March, and by the time he returned the height of summer had already arrived.

This fall, there were 240,000 indentured servants whose contracts had expired, they had already served Harland Territory for more than four years, and were pardoned as free citizens by Richard in the spring, together with this year’s 240,000 free citizens, Harland Territory’s free citizens would reach 680,000 people.

A free man is divided into six acres of wasteland, plus the task of opening up this year’s government-run farms, two million acres of cultivated land need to be opened up this year, which is a very heavy task for the more than 900,000 indentured servants of Harland’s Territory.

After all, there are only 600,000 young and strong indentured servants, a large portion of which need to engage in infrastructure, grazing, and go to factories to work as laborers, and only about 360,000 of them are truly able to participate in opening up the land.

Reclaiming an average of more than five acres of wasteland per person was not an easy task.

Clearing the wilderness required cutting down trees, digging up roots, repairing drains, picking up rocks, and filling up swamps, even with the help of large animals, it was still strong physical labor.

According to the statistics of the territory’s agricultural department, reclaiming one acre of wasteland even with large livestock would require eight and a half hours of labor. This is still in the plains to open up the land, to go to the mountains to build terraces, just cutting trees and digging roots will require dozens of labor, building terraces is also not easy.

Harland’s territory is now sparsely populated, there is no need to build terraces, this reclamation of farmland is mainly in the Tanit Valley, the Im River Valley, the Grota River areas on both sides of the river, the swamp basin, the Losa Basin, Greyfriarsen also opened up a portion of the land.

In order to fulfill the task of reclaiming the land, Logue found the territorial garrison and hoped that the territorial garrison would take on a part of the task of reclaiming the land.

The system of the Harland territory, the gun barrel is almost completely in the hands of Richard.

The only thing that the city hall can influence is the second line of troops, the city defense force, even if the city defense force is mobilized across the region need to be approved by Richard.

Richard is not in the territory, Logue can not mobilize the garrison at all. Although the Sto fears that the family is very influential in the Harland territory, but Logue’s words will not listen to the garrison at all.

In the end, Logue could only use his personal relationship to find Audrey, and asked the Lion Overdrive Cavalry to venture into the vicinity of the Dogman’s Cave, sent a letter explaining the reason, and brought back Richard’s warrant to mobilize the troops.

Counting the auxiliaries in the second line, the Harland Territory army had swelled to over 70,000 men, and there were very many professionals in the army, and the strength of these men far exceeded that of the civilians. With the help of the garrison and the compulsory labor for most of the month, this year’s task of opening up the land was successfully completed.

After clearing the land, there was spring plowing, and this year’s spring plowing was relatively smooth, not only did the spring rains come at the right time, but also did not encounter war damage.

In the last decade or so, peace has been a luxury for the people of Harland’s Domain.

Fortunately, Harland’s territory has already established a basic industry, developed a relatively high level of magical civilization, and the invention of new weapons is endless, although it can’t crush against the orcs yet, it can successfully hold the territory.

Over the years, they basically fought outside the territory, and the damage to the territory’s production was not serious.

This year’s battles were smaller in scale, with only over six hundred people being drawn in twice before and after, and the impact on the territory was even lighter.

The two battles this year to crush the legendary dragon, many people have made merit, among them, Wendy and Vito have already accumulated ten great merits, and will be awarded a baronial collar respectively.

Wendy was Richard’s sister from the same mother, and unlike other nobles, Richard was reluctant to place her territory on the border.

However, it was not possible to place Wendy’s domain near Fort William, because Fort William was the core of Harland’s domain. In order to set an example for his offspring, Richard made the rule that he could not divide the core territory, and in the end, Wendy’s territory was sealed near Fort Flying Eagle.

This territory is located on both sides of the Black River, adjacent to Baron Jose’s territory, the area is not very large, only more than 800 square kilometers, but the land is very fertile, more than 80% are flat, can be reclaimed more than a million acres of good land. The territory has already been roughly developed, and four thousand slaves purchased this year have been allocated to cultivate this territory.

According to the political system of Grant Kingdom, the hereditary nobles have a great deal of independence, although Wendy is his own bannerman, but the policies and decrees within the territory can be decided by himself.

Richard already had seven bannermen under his name, making different laws and policies, and these bannermen were basically very traditional, and did not divide the land for the serfs, nor did they make decrees to pardon the freedmen.

The difference in standard of living between the serfs in the bannermen’s territories and the free people in Harland’s territories is very large, and their political status is even more different. In Harland, as long as one works hard and is lucky, even if one’s talent is mediocre, there is a high probability that one will be able to move up in the hierarchy.

Because of the close proximity to Harland’s territory, news will naturally circulate, and the problem of fugitive slaves is very prevalent in the bannermen’s territory.

Dealing with the problem of runaway slaves, there were often some friction and conflicts between the bannermen and the dukes’ territories. However, the difference in strength between the two sides was too great, and the bannermen could not afford to mess with Harland’s territory.

In fact, even his uncle Soros had come to his door several times because of the fugitive slave issue. However, Richard was adamant that he would not give in, and simply sent back the fugitive slaves, and would never modify the Harland Collar’s decree.

Soros has been in the military for many years, and of course he knows that pardoning the serfs will be a great boost to the strength of the territory.

Turning serfs into free people not only increases the motivation to produce, allowing crop yields to increase dramatically, but also increases the prestige of the territory in the civil society, allowing the serfs who join the army to be demoralized.

The Harland Territory’s army was strong in combat and had fought over 100,000 square kilometers of land, and had hit the orcs hard several times. In addition to the invention of new weapons and equipment that surpassed the orcs, the high morale was also a key reason.

In order to maintain this high morale, Richard vigorously improve the social status of the soldiers, the establishment of the soldier pension security system, soldier honor reward system, soldier clothing wear system. He also formulated a decree to pardon indentured servants and divided the fields for the free people to collect people’s hearts.

Soros was a high-ranking member of the territory and had participated in various policy discussions many times, so it was impossible for him not to understand. However, he wanted to maintain the monopoly of the Dak family, wanted to be a public vassal for generations, restricted the upward mobility of the lower class, and wanted to avoid competition between the middle and lower classes and the Dak family.

Even if a person is very wise, once he touches his own interests, he immediately storms out, after all, touching his interests is more painful than touching his soul.

Although Soros is Richard’s uncle, with Richard’s relationship is very close. When Richard was making his fortune, the Soros family helped him a lot, which was a great favor. However, when it comes to the general policy, Richard’s will is very firm, as long as he lives, the system of pardoning serfs will definitely be implemented in Harland’s territory. Soros’ opposition would not affect Richard’s determination at all.

Wendy had been Richard’s follower since she was a child, and her three views were very deeply influenced by Richard, and the same decrees as those of the Duke of Harland’s Collar were enacted in the fiefdom.

This fiefdom she almost completely handed over to the bureaucratic class arranged by Richard to manage, Wendy herself still resided in Fort William, concentrating on magic and not enthusiastically participating in the fiefdom’s operation.

Vito is Sophia’s distant cousin, already close to seventy years old, he defected to Harland’s territory very early, and was one of the earliest few squadron captains in the territory. After struggling for more than ten years under Richard’s command, he finally succeeded in being knighted before retiring.

Although Sophia elder brother Rog, Otto in the Harland collar high power, is the civil official system in the ranking of the top several people, can mobilize the resources far more than a hereditary baron. But the social status and family honor is not comparable to Vito’s hereditary nobles.

Vito’s knighthood was regarded as another revival by the people of the Sto Fear family.

Grant Kingdom is a country that emphasizes strength and military service, and has an extremely stubborn militaristic tradition. Without military service, if you are not a hereditary noble, you are an inferior person in terms of political status.

Rog and Otto, these territorial high officials, had to dismount and bow when they encountered hereditary nobles, they couldn’t speak up when they argued or quarreled in meetings, and they could only hold back their anger when they were assaulted by hereditary nobles. When it comes to future generations, the Vito family, as long as they hold on to their territory, will still be the top echelons of the Duke of Harland’s territory, while the descendants of Logue and Otto will, with a high probability, die out and fall down to the ordinary professional class.

Even if it is put in Nolan, a court earl can influence the national policy, but all kinds of celebrations encounter hereditary baron, the same to be courteous. Because the court count is only the kingdom’s reward, while the hereditary baron has made great achievements for the country.

In fact, the royal family of Grant, when selecting court counts will often be selected from the hereditary nobility who have repeatedly won the war.

Barony Vito was sealed in the northern part of Twin Star Castle, adjacent to the three baronies of Vida, Grumman, and Morgan, a territory with an area of 1,100 square kilometers, although the area is much larger, and the population carrying capacity is far less than that of Barony Wendy.

The Vito family counts a large number of people, the children and grandchildren who have reached adulthood are more than twenty, of which the number of professionals is thirteen, most of which are in the military.

Even in the noble class, only a portion of those who had the breathing method inheritance, could endure hardship, were willing to practice breathing method from childhood, and were able to stick to it. The northern border region was a bit better, because of the perennial wars, most members of the nobility were able to persist in practicing the breathing method, and when it came to the capital Nolan region, only about a quarter of the nobles were able to be promoted to professionals.

In order to avoid the degeneration of the nobles, the Grant Kingdom also formulated the Professional Succession Decree. Those who could not become a professional would not be able to inherit a title. Even so, some of the second sons and daughters of the nobles who had given up their inheritance rights continued to spend their days drinking and attending all kinds of banquets, and were active in entertainment centers.

However, these nobles without any war achievements were unable to gain a firm foothold in the upper echelons of the Grant Kingdom, nor could they gain any respect.

Richard never participated in all kinds of noble gatherings, also do not like all kinds of noble activities, and even with many domestic nobles have contradictions, does not prevent him from being the top five ranked real power of Grant Kingdom big nobles, even the prince, princess, see him have to take the initiative to bow, speak also have to accompany the careful.

Vito’s second son, Warren, has the best talent, surpassing his father, just over forty years old is already a fifth-order warrior, holding the position of brigade commander of the fifteenth brigade, almost equaling his father.

After Vito was knighted, he conferred with his children and grandchildren and decided to retire to run the territory, and Warren continued to stay in the army with a part of his clan.

Vito family was originally from the nobility, coupled with the large number of people economy is quite solid, the people do their best can come up with thirteen thousand gold coins funds, coupled with part of Sophia’s funding, a breath of surprisingly purchased three thousand people from the slave market.

Vito family itself does not lack professionals, and from the army recruited more than a dozen veterans, accepted dozens of mercenaries, with these people as the backbone, organized 500 soldiers.

Together with Barony Vito, there were already four baronies near Twin Star Castle, and the number of noble allies already added up to sixteen hundred, which was likewise a not-so-small addition to the defense of Duke Harland’s territory.

When Richard returned to the territory, the summer harvest had already begun, he looked around and realized that this year’s winds and rains would be favorable and there would be a good harvest.

This year, the focus of Harland’s territory to open up the land is the neighborhood of Fort Niet, Fort Im, both castles are located in the river valley, surrounded by towering mountains.

In particular, the area of Im Castle was situated near a ridge, with cliffs towering over both sides of the Im River.

Because of the high mountain meltwater, the Im River is relatively abundant, but due to the limitation of the terrain, it can only flow into the large salt lake, which is the most important water source around the salt lake.

On both sides of the Im River, there is also a considerable area of flat land in the river valley, but the Im River is located in the depths of the Eagle Mountain Range, so it is difficult to develop.

This year, as many as two hundred and sixty thousand acres of farmland have been reclaimed on both sides of the Im River, and thirty-six thousand new free people have migrated to the area.

This group of free people are all Starnic Grand Duchy civilians, because of the war was captured to the Harland Territory, after four and a half years of indentured servitude, finally regained their free status.

This batch of indentured servants, some of them came from the middle and upper class of the Starnik Grand Duchy, some of this batch were city citizens, and some of them even came from professional families. Because of their abilities and insights, they gradually built up prestige among their fellow townsmen and became the managers and leaders of the same batch of indentured servants.

Because the Grant Kingdom provoked the war and smashed their hometowns, and the army led by Richard, killed their loved ones and relegated them to slavery, so inwardly there was a resentment towards the Harland Territory.

More than four years of hard labor, they all gritted their teeth and persevered, and this year they finally became free people, and at this moment their hearts were very happy again.

The more the upper middle class, the deeper the insight. To Richard’s decree of pardoning the serfs, they are very satisfied in their hearts, but to Richard leading the army to invade their country and kill their relatives, they are very hateful again.

If there was a chance, this group of people would definitely stir up trouble and look for a chance to take revenge, only that the power disparity between the two sides was so great that the gap was as big as that between a firefly and the white moon, making them not dare to have any grudges at all. After all, they were also war-torn and had a very deep understanding of the chaotic world, and it was clear that Richard was not a person with a soft heart.

If they jumped out now, they could only get killed for nothing. Even the bad words of Harland’s territory, they did not dare to easily go to say, can only words not heartily sing praises, internal stifled a lot.

(End of chapter)