Academy Genius Commander

26 – Restore the Territory (5)

One month after punishing those who exploited the farmers under the previous lord.

In my office, I received and read the farming reports of the village chiefs who acted like the heads of each manor, and expressed my anguish while covering my head with both hands at the lack of a solution.

If the soldiers saw me like this, they might lose their dignity, but it was okay because I was the only person in the office anyway.

But just in case, I opened the door and looked around to make sure no one was there, then shut the door again and shouted.

“f*ck, it’s a fantasy world, so I managed to survive even after doing some farming. If farming had been done in the Middle Ages in Europe, everyone would have starved!”

And I can say this.

‘If we went to the Goryeo Dynasty in our country’s history, we would have farmed more efficiently than these children!’ I mean.

If you say this, you would think that it would be impossible in a country with a system for centralization, such as the academy, which is a modern educational institution, or the separation of the lord and the army.

Indeed, the farming methods of this empire were like a farming mayhem five minutes before the opening.

He also said that when farming, plowing the field, digging furrows, making ridges, planting seeds at the right intervals, and providing water and fertilizer well is necessary for a good year of farming.

The farming method of this era was to roughly plow the field, sow only seeds without making rows, and as fertilizer, put straw in cow dung and give it roughly rotten.

I didn’t want to be farming with the 4-rotation farming method that saved England, but wouldn’t it be too unconscionable to hope that a disaster like a poor harvest won’t happen while farming like this?

So I started to bring up memories written in books I had previously read introductory to military science and in books I had read to grasp medieval and modern history.

As a result, he succeeded in creating a better farming method than he thought.

Now all I have to do is teach them the decent farming method I’ve invented and order them to do it. I hope you come soon…

And just like the old proverb says, even a tiger will come when I speak, I thought to come quickly, and soon local officials of the territory appeared and rushed into my office to greet me.

“Meet Sir Peter Yeager, lord of the Bruno estate.”

“It was hard to come from far away. Please sit down comfortably.”

Actually, since the territory is not that big, it is a distance that can be reached in about 4 hours by horseback, so it is not that far by the standards of the fantasy world.

However, for those who were abused and bullied excessively by the former lords, this one word of mine really touched their hearts.

Among the landlords and village chiefs of the territory, there were already those with tears in their eyes.

I reached out to them and calmed them down.

“What is it like to live these days? Let one of you representatives come out and answer.”

When I said that, a landlord in his 50s came out and replied that he had gained a little weight compared to a month ago.

“The life of the serfs has improved beyond words. Even just a month ago, all of us, including us, were on the brink of starvation. However, as the lord came to office, reduced taxes, and lent flour for immediate consumption and cattle for farming, everyone is slowly regaining their energy. All of this is due to the grace and merits of the new lord, and all the serfs living in the village are praising the lord.”

In fact, unless you are a tyrant, no, even in front of a crazy lord who enjoys parenting, local officials have no choice but to answer, like a yes-man, that the lord is doing well in everything.

Therefore, even if you praise me, the lord, in front of everyone, it is not 100% sincere.

However, I can see the sincerity in the eyes of the landlord in front of me now.

Other landlords and village chiefs, who constantly nodded at the words of the landlord who came out and spoke as a representative, said, “Yes, we are too.” A sympathetic word came out.

So, I could feel a little certain how my policy of supporting local residents and the execution or forced labor of corrupt soldiers were accepted by them.

“It’s been a month since I rationed the food and lent the cattle. What are the serfs doing now?”

“Most of the weekdays, we work as part-time workers to receive food, and on Saturdays, we clear the fields from dawn to late. It was unimaginable in the days when each family did not have a cow.”

From there, I received reports from the landlords about the current situation of the territory and the economic status of the farmers for about 30 minutes.

When the report was almost over, I handed out a booklet with agricultural tools and groundbreaking farming methods to increase yield and said to them.

“The reason I called you today is to check the situation in the territory and the public sentiment of the serfs. It is to order the introduction of a new farming method to our territory. The details are in the booklet I gave you, so just follow them.”

The faces of the landlords and village chiefs who heard that said, ‘Are you crazy? A new farming method?’ It was crumpled as if in protest.

When I whirl around, I chase them… Forgetting that I am a lord with the right to execute, he began to argue with me.

“No matter how much we owe the lord, this is too much. For us, the lives of our family members depend on the success or failure of farming for the year, and asking them to change farming methods, a matter of such importance, overnight is like asking them to die!”

“Certainly, I fully understood that you were in a hurry to rebuild the manor. So, we will go back immediately and tell the serfs to go to work right away after worship on Sundays, so please collect what you ordered.”

“Lord, please save our lowly ones.”

As if they were protesting, not knowing how precious their lives were, changing the farming method in this era and using a new, unproven farming method was like taking a life-threatening adventure.

This is because when a new farming method is introduced and the yield drops, more people starve to death in this era when there was little surplus food.

So, rather than getting angry and reprimanding those who made a protest close to the bottom line, it would be first to reassure them by saying that I will compensate them so that they will not lose even if they fail.

“What you say makes sense. So, if you introduce a new farming method and fail, I will be responsible for supplying food for the people of this territory for a year. I swear I will never be told to farm like this again. So, do you want to try it now?”

The local officials nodded in relief upon hearing this, and I ordered them to open the book.

“First of all, there is something very wrong with your farming methods. According to the report you sent, it will be difficult to distinguish between wheat and weeds in spring and summer because the seeds were sown roughly, and the seeds remain on the ground because they are not buried properly. I think it’s going to look like this. How is it?”

It is a simple reasoning that anyone who has lived in modern times can come up with.

Because, just as grain is given to pigeons, it will pick up and eat it.

Even in elementary school textbooks, it is said that removing weeds is the most important thing when farming, so it is a story that anyone can understand as long as they do not fall asleep during class.

However, people listening here say, ‘The high-ranking person has studied agriculture up to this point.’ Reliability will increase along with the idea.

“So, before planting the seeds in the future, roll the frame I made on the plowed field to mark the outline, and plant the seeds by digging the ground at the intersection of the cross to the size of a thumb. Then, even if there are weeds, it will be easy to pull out grains such as wheat because they are regularly planted. Also, open the next page.”

At those words, the nobles turned the pages and unfolded the pages on which other farming methods were written, and I watched them and continued talking.

“Furthermore, let weeds grow on the land left fallow, and plant soybeans on it instead of grazing livestock. In addition, collect the dung of the cows I lent you, mix them with human excrement and straw according to the method written in the book, pile them up for a certain period of time, ferment them, and give them as fertilizer. Also, build a barn next to each household to raise all animals, but only take them out for farming.”

Only then can the cow dung be collected, and soybeans can be grown so that people can eat the beans and the stems and leaves can be fed to the cows.

“Also, before starting farming this year, it will be difficult to make fertilizer the way I said. Instead, before starting farming, scrape the dark brown soil from the surface of a nearby forest or mountain, spread it over the entire field, and then use a plow to plow the field. Other than that, do as written in the book.”