Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest

Moor nodded like he was pounding garlic, constantly wiping sweat with a handkerchief, having anticipated this matter.

He had even thought that Roman would thunder with rage upon seeing these messy ledgers.

Roman turned his head to Seth and said, "Seth, from now on, you will manage the finances of Sige Town."

Seth sighed, "Lord, the issue I wanted to discuss with you is that we might go bankrupt this winter."

Seth did the calculations for Roman.

Guards, who form the armed force of Sige Town, received no salary but obtained in-kind allowances, yearly provisions of 50 kilograms of wheat and 140 kilograms of mixed grains, compared to other farmers' tax exemption rate of one-half.

This made the guard position quite desirable, unattainable without connections and conditions.

The case with Stewards was even more exaggerated.

They had a basic annual salary of 5 silver coins, plus 120 kilograms of wheat, 50 kilograms of mixed grains, and 30 kilograms of meat, with a complete tax exemption.

Only these stewards could afford to keep slaves.

The reason for calculating the tax exemption rate was because the families of guards and stewards also owned land.

At the least a hundred acres, and at most several hundred acres.

Roman was not clear on the details, but since he had reclaimed all the land and labor, he did not need to concern himself with these trivial matters.

That is to say, Sige Town's annual financial expenditure required thousands of kilograms of wheat alone, not to mention the additional grains and meat.

The total salary was as high as 8 gold coins.

The current problem was that Sige Town would not be able to pay this year's salary in winter.

There was no other reason; before Roman's arrival, Sige Town's financial situation was healthy.

But afterward, Roman made drastic changes to Sige Town, completely overturning the original production model.

Seth was highly opposed to this move.

Sige Town's grain could have been sold externally, but this year surviving without starvation would count as a victory.

The two thousand acres that Roman marked out this morning, how much they would yield in the summer was still unknown.

Grain was the main output of Sige Town, and lower yield meant no income.

In the foreseeable future, he had managed to plunge the previously self-sufficient Sige Town into severe famine.

After all, the farmers' reserve grains could only sustain them until the summer; they could still eat wild vegetables and pick berries in the fall.

But people would definitely starve in the winter.

The expenditure of those 8 gold coins was even more critical.

One thousand seven hundred kilograms of wheat was worth 1 gold coin.

That meant, 8 gold coins were equivalent to over fourteen thousand kilograms of wheat.

If they couldn't sell grain, then Sige Town wouldn't be able to afford these financial expenditures—Seth hadn't even added the salaries for Green, Aaron, and himself; otherwise, the expenditure would triple or double.

The employment costs for craftsmen in Sige Town were also no small figures, such as Lax and Vic.

After Seth did this calculation, Roman immediately put his heart at ease.

"It's just this issue?"

Seth's attitude was very serious, he slightly bowed and said, "I hope you consider this carefully!"

His implication was for you to stop causing trouble, let the farmers cultivate the land, and although delaying the spring plowing for two or three days doesn't matter, continuing like this would definitely spell disaster for this year.

"Don't worry," Roman waved his hand.

Yet Seth gave him a reminder.

His first thought upon hearing about bankruptcy was to attack the local tyrants—namely, to loot Moor.

But he felt it unnecessary—the fattened pig raised in the backyard belonged to him entirely.

And Moor's eager-to-please reaction pleased Roman, so he decided not to replace the Agricultural Officer.

Roman turned to Moor and asked, "Why are the stewards' wages and treatment so high?"

Sige Town had 16 stewards, each responsible for different duties. Some were in charge of clerical work, some managed the oxen, some oversaw livestock, and some handled farm tools...

Their main responsibility was to assist Agricultural Officer Moor in land production.

Getting paid for doing nothing was impossible; Sige Town didn't need to do that. Embezzling because of their positions was highly likely, but it never went too far.

Moor, who had just wiped his face clean, began to sweat again.

He stammered without being able to articulate a response.

Catching on, Roman narrowed his eyes. "Your relatives? Your siblings?"

Moor's sweat poured down like rain.

Roman wasn't afraid that Moor would undermine his authority; his commands were well executed in Sige Town.

If there truly were scheming minds...

Roman wouldn't mind letting Sige Town reacquaint itself with the power of the Conquest Knights.

He firmly believed that killing enough would solve all of humanity's problems.

Roman smiled and said, "I understand the general situation, so let's reduce the stewards' wages and treatment a bit, change it to one silver coin per year, 100 kilograms of wheat, 300 kilograms of mixed grains, no meat, and keep the tax rate at zero for now..."

"You don't have any objections, do you?"

Moor thought to himself, I have no objections since it doesn't affect me, but my uncles and siblings will probably be up in arms.

He responded hesitantly, "You're saying, Lord Roman..."

Roman lifted his chin and snorted, "If anyone has objections, they can come and see me."

"Following your command, Lord Roman!"

At this point, Moor understood Roman's attitude.

It was impossible to discuss this with the Lord. He had no choice but to comply.

The Basi family was merely an insignificant vine clinging to the Riptide Family tree. Because the tree was lush and shadowy, in an unnoticed dark corner, this vine secretly absorbed quite a bit of nourishment, enough to sprout branches of its own.

Moor wiped his sweat. Previously, he was at best a local emperor. In this land, far from the Emperor's reach, the influence of the Black Iron King was almost nil. Now the Lord, holding military power, was the strongest, his authority akin to that of a real Emperor.

Resistance was definitely not an option.

Without the Basi family, Roman remained a noble Lord.

Without the Lord, the Basi family were mere commoners.

They knew clearly from whom their powers derived.

Now everyone could only hurry to curry favor with this esteemed Lord.

Although the benefits were reduced, those side relatives, with their savings, could still maintain a considerably high quality of life, though they could not return to their previous regular meat-eating lifestyle; that was just an unavoidable situation.

Roman pondered for a moment, then said, "The guards who died in battle yesterday, how are they now?"

Moor respectfully said, "Following your order, the families of the deceased received five silver coins, 40 kilograms of meat, and 80 kilograms of wheat. The families of the seriously injured received two silver coins, 15 kilograms of meat, and 40 kilograms of wheat. Even those slightly injured received between 10 and 50 kilograms of wheat—your reputation for kindness and generosity has spread throughout Sige Town."

Those silver coins came out of Roman's own pocket, delivered personally by Aaron and Green, the two Conquest Knights.

This compensation was too generous, making those seriously injured guards somewhat envious of the deceased.

"Summon all the able-bodied guards..." Roman said, gazing upward, contemplating.

He had originally planned to drastically improve their military prowess, but the issue was that he couldn't spare the resources.

Though they were called guards, they also functioned as police, maintaining order and overseeing the work of others.

Short-term was manageable, but without long-term supervision, the efficiency of these fools would definitely decline drastically.