Chapter 103 One Hundred and Three is about to be born
Although Declan was confused, he still agreed and chose to go back to plan.
Starting from the autumn harvest, each person will receive 400 pounds of grain per year. Based on the current number of tenant farmers, 200,000 pounds of grain will be distributed each year.
However, it will be distributed in four quarters, and 50,000 pounds will be enough for each quarter.
In Declan's opinion, the current rations of food given to tenant farmers were already cheap enough.
But if we follow the price that the lady has ordered, the annual quota of 400 pounds per person, and the distribution of 100 pounds of food every quarter, the price is only one surie per pound.
Then in the future, a tenant farmer's monthly salary will be enough to cover three months' worth of food.
Usually, when a tenant farmer has money, the first thing he does is to redeem himself.
But I'm afraid not in Eindhoven. Compared to being an ordinary porter or a shop assistant, being a tenant farmer is already a well-paid job.
The salary is about the same as that of a shop assistant, but the benefits are very great. One suri per pound of food is enough to basically solve the problem of food and clothing.
If this continues, more and more workers will choose to join the estate and become tenant farmers.
The more tenant farmers there are, the more land can be cultivated and carefully cared for, and perhaps the entire river valley can be developed.
There are 30,000 acres of wasteland in the entire Einweiden river valley area. If all of it is reclaimed, based on the current per-acre yield, it is likely that enough food for an entire county, as well as various cash crops, can be grown.
It is extremely difficult to change from a tenant farmer to a self-employed farmer, but if you want to change from a self-employed farmer to a tenant farmer, you just need to change your household registration and wait to be assigned to the manor.
Declan knew that the price for redeeming a tenant farmer was very low, but he would have to leave the manor after redeeming himself.
Therefore, many tenant farmers had actually saved enough money to redeem themselves, but they chose not to redeem themselves and change their household registration.
They originally believed that under such a grain policy, the household registration of tenant farmers was more valuable than that of self-cultivating farmers.
At the same time, such household registration policies also have protective measures.
At the Household Registration Department, there are only thirty quotas for releasing tenant farmers each month, and they must be reviewed.
If a self-cultivating farmer joins the tenant farmer household registration simply to buy low-priced grain, and then wants to redeem himself after buying the grain, the Household Registration Department has the right to inform the sheriff and have the person arrested and put in jail.
In court, this is the charge of disrupting the market.
As early as the beginning of the food quota system, a few idle laborers did this.
After changing his household registration, he stayed at the manor for two weeks, bought hundreds of pounds of cheap food, and then wanted to redeem himself at a low price.
After their applications were reviewed by the Household Registration Department, these people were arrested and sent to prison.
The reason why the Household Registration Department was able to conduct the review was thanks to the level of information exchange between several departments.
In the Grain Affairs Department, the population count in the farming estate is conducted once a month, and grain is distributed according to the number of people.
No matter how many new tenants join, the Household Registration Department will know and record it at the first time.
Now with white linen paper, information can be recorded in even greater detail.
After the Director of Food Affairs left, Gao Sri reported on the design of the new ship in the study.
Olivia asked the maids to spread out the drawings he had taken out of the file bag.
On a large piece of uncut white linen paper, there is a scaled-down design of a new ship.
Although this is just a paper model, it can be seen that the design of this ship is completely different from the ships currently in service.
Olivia took a closer look and asked him some simple questions, such as draft, load capacity, and structural functions.
Gao Sili also gave a brief answer.
"This ship can carry five million pounds."
This is ten times the carrying capacity of today's wooden boats.
Olivia stroked the paper and asked, "How much will this cost?"
According to the drawings, it is twenty meters wide and eighty meters long, much larger than the old ship.
The old ship was only eight meters wide and thirty meters long.
"The hull cost four times as much as a current ship."
Olivia thought, if it was only four times, and the input was less than the output, then it wouldn't be impossible.
Seeing that Gao Sili seemed hesitant to speak, she asked him what was special about the ship.
"This ship also has a defense mechanism that allows for long-range shooting at pirates on board. I... built a crossbow."
Gao Sili has been a little hesitant about whether to add this design to the ship.
Initially, he designed weapons solely for active defense against pirates, focusing on mechanically powered bows for use on ships.
But as the machine continued to paint, it seemed as if it was assisted by God.
He designed a crossbow with a range of over 800 meters, capable of firing several long arrows at the same time, and as wide as a bed.
After his actual testing, this data may even be improved.
But he was afraid that installing such a large crossbow would blur the commercial nature of the ship and cause resistance from ports in other kingdoms.
Hearing this, Olivia stood up from her chair, folded her arms, turned to face the wall, and remained silent for a long time.
Did he create the famous bed crossbow?
In the era before the invention of gunpowder, this thing was almost the most suitable cold weapon for long-range attacks, and was mostly used on city walls and ships.
She looked at the map behind her and touched her chin anxiously.
After a while, Olivia turned around and asked him why he didn't tell her he had created this thing in the first place.
After learning the reason for Gosley's concern, Olivia fell silent again.
This young man has no idea of his own strength.
"So, we'll build new ships first, and then these crossbows. They won't be used on the ships for now, but they can still be used on the city walls.
If that doesn't work, it can also be used on the small boats of the sailors."
Seeing that the Baroness attached so much importance to the crossbow, Gao Sili was a little excited. He only dared to think about these ideas but did not dare to put them forward.
This was a matter of military affairs, and since he was neither a soldier nor a knight, it would be presumptuous of him to bring up such matters.
"Well, build the model first. I'll show it to the two barons. Then you can bring someone to demonstrate it. Whether it will be used or not will depend on them."
Olivia smiled slightly and said, "Although I spend money on military expenses, I never take care of military affairs."
After receiving the order, Gao Sili left the study very nervously.
…
In late June, when the workshop area was bustling with activity, the ship was ready to sail south again.
This time, Jacob boarded the ship with Letilan.
Jacob, who had never been abroad, was very excited and asked Letilen about many things he needed to pay attention to when sailing at sea.
As the captain, Letilan was also very conscientious. He informed Jacopo of every detail and taught him many tips to prevent seasickness.
But after the merchants were in place, the goods and supplies were loaded, and the ship set sail, when Letilen made his routine inspection of the cabin, he discovered that Jagabu's luggage was dozens of pots of vegetables and fruits.
He lived with Letilen on the main ship, which was full of goods from the directly-operated workshops and all of its people.
Jagabu was not seasick at all, and he casually placed many flower pots in the house, with many vegetables growing in the pots.
For example, garlic sprouts, spinach, soybeans, and peppers.
Letilen was dumbfounded on the spot. He had never seen anyone grow vegetables on a boat.
But Jagbu said it was not difficult at all, and he picked some tender green soybeans and braised them with the meat.
Whenever Letilen got on board, he always craved vegetables and had to beg for food.
They arrived at the island leisurely. After a month and a half of journey, they had fresh vegetables to eat every few days.
Arriving at the small port on the island, Jagabu excitedly got off the boat.
Under Letilen's shocked gaze, he actually ran to the ground beside the harbor and knelt down.
It turns out that Jagabu was not kissing the earth, but collecting soil.
He looked at the huge island, the blue sea and sky, the lush vegetation, and then at the scorching sun above his head.
This is not sunlight at all, but plant life!
The two thousand acres of land on the island that he can cultivate as he pleases seems to be the greatest gift in his life.
So, Jagbu quickly came to the two thousand acres of land to check the extent of the land reclamation and burning by the hired farmers and guards.
The islanders and island owners also have a good impression of these northerners.
I feel that they are not like robbers. Instead, they are dedicated to farming and even use dairy products to hire islanders to farm with them.
Now came a strange face that had never been seen before. He seemed to be the manager of this piece of farmland. He was probably the person who loved farming the most on the island.
During the first week on the island, the islanders could see him from almost anywhere and at any time.
It was not until Jagbu had recorded the temperature differences and native crops in every time period on the island that he stopped and began to plan farming.
In addition to the fruit trees and tropical fruits he had previously planted, he also planned to try growing wheat on this island.
The temperature on the island is warm enough that if you plant the crops in June or July, they won’t freeze even if you wait until December to harvest them.
…
In Eindhoven, it is almost August.
The crossbow sample test was unanimously approved by Caesar and Baron Renault, who asked Gaussier to manufacture it on a large scale and use it in the defense of the city walls.
At the same time, the director of the city defense department who was in charge of the city’s security also returned to Einweiden from Anko City with the Knight’s Medal.
In fact, it was not only George who was knighted, but also the two followers he brought with him.
They also joined the Knights Templar, started training as Knights' Squires, and participated in various tournaments again and again. All three of them successfully obtained titles.
Both of them had been training with Caesar for a long time and were well versed in fighting and various skills required to become a knight.
In the Knights Templar, one must accept the challenge of a formal member of the Knights Templar and win before being canonized.
They never thought that they could actually defeat a real knight and become a knight.
They originally thought that all knights were at the same level as their Lord Baron.
Back in the city, George continued to manage the quarters and took on the task of installing mobile crossbows on the city walls.
His two followers, together with the two original knights, took the recruits that Tani had recruited in the past few months and went to the mountains to build camps and manors for garrisoning troops.
In the lukewarm month of August, Olivia began to prepare for the birth of her heir in just over a month.
She finally made it this far!
…
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