[Chapter 35: Five Peasants at the Start]
This is not difficult to guess, not to mention that Maroni Mansfield has no intention of hiding it. He just stares at David at this time. It is obvious that he wants to know the answer immediately.
“How many can you recruit?” David doesn’t need to spend too much time thinking about it. There is no harm to this matter at all.
Isn’t it just taking care of Maroni Mansfield’s illegitimate child a little? He doesn’t even need to take care of him too much. As long as he lets the other party live a stable life in his village, the adult in front of him will be very satisfied.
“Five indentured farmers in their prime, three of whom have already started families, and their wives will also live with their husbands in Winter Village.” Maroni knew that David would ask this question, which meant that he agreed to help him with this little favor, and directly gave his conditions: “There are also three free farmers.”
David has lived in this world for so many years, of course he knows what contract farmers and free farmers are.
The former are farmers who do not have their own fields and can only sign labor contracts with nobles and large landowners to sell their own labor in exchange for rewards.
The remuneration is a portion of the income from the land that the farmer is responsible for cultivating. The share ratio depends on the contract signed with the employer, but it is generally not very high. Most of them are just enough to maintain life. As for whether there are other benefits, it depends entirely on the employer’s ideas and mood.
Free farmers or self-employed farmers are farmers who own their own farmland. These farmers rely on their own farmland for their lives, but after the harvest, they need to pay taxes to the lord who governs the area. For example, the self-employed farmers here in Iron Tree Castle need to pay taxes to the lord, Marquis Dudley Morgan, in name only, in exchange for the lord’s protection. The
proportion of this tax is not clearly stipulated in the Kingdom of Tilan. The specific amount is entirely determined by the lord. The self-employed farmers in Iron Tree Castle generally need to pay 30% to 40% of the harvest as taxes, which is relatively low in the entire kingdom.
In addition, self-employed farmers can reduce the taxes they need to pay by participating in various labor services and military assistance issued by the lord…
According to the conditions stated by Maloney, the five contract farmers were transferred to David himself, which means that after arriving at Winter Village, the fields reclaimed and planted by these five contract farmers will all belong to David, and David only needs to pay them “wages” according to the proportion specified in the contract.
As for the fact that the new village recruits farmers with the bargaining chip of “whoever can reclaim the land will own it”, Maloney did not take it seriously at all. He would say that the contract farmers would be transferred to David, of course, to ensure that those people would not have any dissatisfaction.
As for the other three so-called “free farmers”, David knew that it was just a title, and it was most likely arranged for the mother and son outside – after the three free farmers reclaimed the land, they “sold” it to the mother and son, and turned themselves into contract farmers to work for the mother and son. The mother and son turned into small landlords and had a stable income to support their lives.
“I’m a little curious… Of course, you don’t have to answer if you don’t feel comfortable.”
Maloney made a gesture to ask, knowing that David wanted to ask about the mother and child.
Sure enough, David asked about this matter: “With your status, it shouldn’t be difficult to take care of this mother and child nearby, right?”
As a noble official of Maloney Mansfield, it’s not strange to have a lover and an illegitimate child. As for sending him to a remote “countryside”?
Judging from his series of arrangements, he should have some feelings for this illegitimate child; or maybe he feels that as a father, he has the responsibility to take care of the child?
“It’s not a difficult task, but it’s a bit troublesome. Sending the child outside can ensure that the child grows up safely and without worries.” Maloney glanced at David. He asked David to help because he thought that this person would definitely understand why he did this: “It won’t do him any good to stay here.”
“I understand.” David nodded. It seemed that the Mansfield family was not very peaceful. He didn’t have much interest in the internal affairs of these noble families. He turned his head and looked at the mother and son outside: “What are their names?”
“Conn.”
David originally wanted to ask the names of the mother and son, but Maloney only answered a ‘boy’s’ name. As for the child’s mother, he didn’t mention it, as if to show an attitude: he only cares about the child, not the child’s mother?
David didn’t know if his guess was right, and he wouldn’t be stupid enough to ask about such things. After nodding to show that he understood, he no longer bothered about the situation of the mother and son. Finally, he asked himself when he could set off?
“If you want, you can leave Iron Tree Castle tomorrow morning.”
“In that case, we’ll set off after breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, five contract farmers and five free farmers (including the mother and son) will pack their personal belongings and set off with you tomorrow morning.”
David didn’t ask if it would be difficult to arrange such a short time. Maloney even said this, proving that he could easily handle this problem.
Just from what Maloney meant, it seemed that the people who would leave Iron Tree Castle with him and go to Winter Village tomorrow would be a small convoy, not just a few farmers and their families!
He didn’t ask in detail, anyway, he would know the answer tomorrow.
As David had guessed, the next day when he finished breakfast, packed up his things and walked out of the residence arranged by Maloney, a small caravan had been waiting for him at the door for a while.
“This is from my master.” Along with several farmers was Maloney’s servant Huey. When he saw David, he respectfully handed over a thick bag.
Unsealing the bag, David took out the contents and took a rough look. He found that it contained the contracts of several farmers, and there was also a list of what the caravan had. After a
quick glance, David had some understanding of the caravan in front of him. He smiled and nodded to Huey: “Express my sincere gratitude to Lord Mansfield for me.”
As for taking care of the illegitimate child, Huey, a servant, would not mention it here, and David would not say “leave it to him”. This kind of thing was tacitly understood by everyone, and there was no need to discuss it in public.
Now that everything was handed over to David, Huey could go back and report. David was unwilling to waste time here any longer. After a brief acquaintance with a few farmers, he mounted his horse and rode at the front of the team, leading the team of more than a dozen people, two horses, and two ox carts, slowly heading out of Iron Tree Fort. When
the team walked out of the outer city of Iron Tree Fort, looking at the vast plain and the pass that was still some distance away, David took out the list and looked at it carefully.
The contracts of the five indentured farmers were all transferred to his name, and the contract period was as long as fifty years, which was basically no different from a contract of sale.
The five indentured farmers were all very young, and three of them had married wives, but none of them had children. At this time, the three women were also in the team, sitting on the same ox cart with the mother and son.
The three free farmers were alone, but David guessed that the three had already signed the contract of sale, and the contract was most likely in the hands of the mother and son.
Eight farmers, three family members, plus the mother and son, and David, who was riding a horse and looking at the list, were all the people in the team.
Two horses belonged to David, four oxen pulling carts, and several chickens and ducks, which were all the livestock and poultry in the team;
some brand-new farm tools, in addition to five brand-new hunting bows, five hundred newly made arrows, several long swords, war hammers, hand axes…
two carts were loaded with bits and pieces, so two more carts were sent by the way – even if they were just ox carts for transporting goods, they were the best means of transportation for the Winter Village, which had nothing. Before getting horses, people could only carry things on their backs.
When the team returned to Winter Village, Winter Village really became a village, and a dozen people gathered together, which was much more lively than four or five people.
After putting the list away again, David sat on his horse with his head held high. In his mind, there were pictures of the Winter Village being bustling and getting better and better. As his imagination grew, the style of these pictures gradually deviated. For example, the ancient village, which was originally very backward, gradually built asphalt roads, erected electric poles, built skyscrapers, and built strange landscapes that shocked the world…
Seeing that his village was no longer satisfied with living on the ground and began to build a space port and prepare to colonize other planets, David suddenly remembered one thing: there seemed to be no craftsmen in my village!
“…”
David, who fell back to ancient times from the space port in an instant, looked back. He was sure that none of the people behind him were craftsmen, and the pass had disappeared from sight. Should he take people back to Iron Tree Castle to recruit a group of craftsmen?
“Forget it, let’s take these people back to Winter Village and recruit some craftsmen
after we have arranged everything!” Let’s solve the current problems first. When the farmers settle down in the village and put the agriculture of Winter Village on the right track, he will have enough confidence to recruit more craftsmen – the craftsmen’s living environment requirements depend on the population, and villages and towns with enough people living there will be attractive to them.
“We must recruit a blacksmith, maybe we should recruit a stonemason?” If David can recruit a stonemason, he can even design a more comfortable house for himself. After all, compared to the small wooden houses in Winter Village at this time, a large house built with stone is undoubtedly better. If you are
willing to spend time and energy, you can build a comfortable house that is not inferior to the one you lived in in your previous life.
“Find another carpenter and build a full set of furniture. Wouldn’t the living standard be improved?”
Thinking about it, the picture of asphalt roads, castle villas, and space fortresses appeared in David’s mind again…
(End of this chapter)