Chapter 51: Expanding the Manor
At the turn of winter and spring, the midday sun is still quite bright.
Olivia sat on the edge of the bed, draped in her clothes, putting on her stockings. The battle last night was very intense, and the red sha on her calves could still be seen.
However, after signing in today, the game data was updated, all traces were cleared with one click, and the physical condition returned to the initial settings.
In this game setting, unless the victim is killed by a fatal blow, he will be poisoned, hacked to death, hanged, or burned to death.
Otherwise, even minor damage will be replaced by data, just like the pixel people in the sandbox game, which have a simple blood recovery function.
But this was not the case with Caesar. The scratches and teeth marks on his body recovered normally. It seemed that only the parameters that were manually adjusted would always be maintained in the best condition.
After a simple lunch, Olivia began to stroll slowly outside the manor.
She had no schedule today, so she planned to go and see the progress of the spring plowing work on the estate.
The tenant land outside the estate was divided into approximately twenty equal parts, and Jagbu planned to use it to grow wheat near the most fertile part of the estate.
Olivia walked out of the estate wall and saw him and the miller standing next to a field ten meters away.
This piece of land is about one acre in size. Now the snow has almost melted and the soil is moist. Three tenant farmers are carrying rakes and loosening the soil here.
Jacopo was discussing the quality of the soil in the farmland with the miller.
Originally, the miller had no good attitude towards these foreigners.
However, Jagabu had been promoted to work on the estate for so many days, and he was considered diligent. Every day when the miller got up and opened the door, he could see Jagabu busy in the orchard of the estate not far away.
He trimmed branches and cleared snow, and was quite diligent, so the miller treated him as normal.
Two days before the spring plowing, they worked with the steward to divide the fields on the estate.
The miller also discovered that this boy was very good at farming and was willing to work hard. He was able to understand all the planting theories he talked about, and he suddenly became enlightened.
As a person who makes a living by keeping the mill running, the miller naturally hopes for the best harvest possible.
Therefore, his attitude towards Jagabu gradually became friendlier, and they could chat for a long time from time to time.
"...After we've created ridges and dug trenches, we won't have to worry about waterlogging in the low-lying areas during the rainy season. We can dig a deep drainage ditch in the middle of each large plot of farmland to divert the accumulated water to the lake..."
Olivia walked up behind the two of them as Jacopo was explaining to the miller why so many ditches had to be dug.
Jagbu had previously learned from the housekeeper that the annual harvest season is also the rainy time for this land. Moreover, the farmland is located in the hills and beside the streams, so it is prone to backflow.
Jagabu thought about it for two days and walked through all the fields in the estate step by step before he planned out the locations of a total of twenty-eight large drainage ditches.
"That's really good."
Olivia listened behind them for a long time before speaking.
This surprised the miller and Jacopo, who were immersed in exchanging farming experiences.
They turned around and said, "Madam."
Olivia hummed, looked around, and asked Jacopo when he planned to sow the grain.
“It’s around April when the temperature is most suitable for sowing. Before that, I plan to add some fertilizer to the land.
Once the temperature is right, we can start growing seeds for vegetables and other crops."
Olivia listened and nodded.
Seeing his wife's interest, Jagbu went on to explain in detail what fertilizers he planned to use.
When talking about these things, Jagabu exudes a professional aura.
The land here is usually not left fallow and is only cultivated for a few months a year, so just adding a little fertilizer will be enough.
Fertilizer is not a rare thing nowadays. Mill owners also use it, such as lake silt, wood ash, cow dung and sheep dung.
It would be a lie to say that they didn't use it. In order to grow more food to feed themselves, everyone tried everything, even human feces.
However, they don't understand the principles behind it, haven't studied it carefully, and are just guessing blindly.
But Jacopo studied it carefully.
He told Olivia that the housekeeper pointed out that there was a piece of land that was infested with insects and diseases all year round.
Jagabu believed that this place was suitable for slash-and-burn farming. After loosening the soil, he would find a pile of dead branches and leaves to burn. After burning, he would cover the pile with soil. When the temperature of the fertilizer rose, he would mix it into the surface layer. Wood ash could inhibit the hatching of insect eggs. He had done a comparative experiment.
After this year's harvest, we will set fire to the wheat straw again and the insects will die without a burial place.
As Olivia listened, she was thinking, if one-star and two-star talents can be said to have a natural ease and feel for their talents, then three-star talents have a lot more operational awareness and are more advanced in their thinking than one-star and two-star talents.
Olivia nodded. "Where are you going to plant those beans?"
Jacopo pointed to a piece of land nearby and said:
"I plan to plant beans and wheat next to each other and rotate them every year."
He went on to explain his reasons for doing so.
"Madam, I once did an experiment. I planted wheat on land that had been used to grow lupines in the first year. The wheat had better root rot than usual in the second year.
I want to see if the same can be done with soybeans, so, you see, we plan to use this piece of land next door to grow soybeans."
"I still have two acres of land. I plan to experiment with intercropping to see how it works."
These are similar to what Olivia planned. When it comes to farming, experience and adapting to local conditions are the most important. Repeated experiments and changing variables to study the results are also necessary processes.
The miller probably understood these principles, but he still mainly looked at his wife's mood.
Olivia expressed her support and understanding for Jacopo's approach, and only then did the miller dare to use the same method on his own land.
For the miller, the harvest was not the main reason for his starvation, but his inability to read the signs was definitely the cause.
If only his family changed their ways and followed Jagbu's bold move, all the homesteaders would follow suit.
As for a good harvest or a bad harvest, that is a risk that the lord needs to bear, which directly affects the income of the manor. Since the lady is willing to take the risk of change, she must be prepared.
From the changes that have taken place in the manor in the few months since his wife came to the manor, the miller could see that his wife was not a very simple character.
Olivia finally consulted Jacopo about growing chili seeds.
She told Jagabu the truth, that it was an alien plant and that she thought it might be edible.
Jagbu also thinks so. He plans to wait until the temperature rises in April to start growing pepper seedlings, and then divide the seedlings and plant them in a circle on less fertile land near the vegetable field.
"Whether it's a vegetable or a flower, the smell of this seed is very pungent. Perhaps the plant it grows from can prevent insects from eating cabbages and radishes."
Olivia nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
After hearing this, the miller suddenly understood and looked at his wife's expression, nodding his head.
Because I got up too late, I took a short walk and checked the condition of the farmland, and it was already evening.
Yesterday I asked George to ask if there were any other soldiers or young people in the territory who were planning to get married, and today he brought back the news.
When the people in Toksun Manor saw that they didn't have to pay for the ceremony, it was tax-free, and they could immediately get some wasteland to cultivate and start a family business, five or six pairs of men and women who planned to start a family, including the soldier from yesterday, immediately came forward.
At Helions Manor, most civilians who were due to get married have done so since the marriage tax was waived last year, with only one soldier signing up.
Olivia plans to hand the matter over to Donald and Fanon and hold the ceremony in the newly built church.
Early this morning, the housekeeper had found two men who were good at repairing things to go and repair the walls of Donald's house and buy new tiles. His church would not be able to hold any ceremonies in the short term.
In order to maintain her consistent pious image and win the hearts of the people, Olivia plans to personally watch these subjects get married and personally express her condolences.
…
It's next Monday in the blink of an eye.
The soil in the field was almost loosened, and Jagabu started having people dig ditches and build ridges.
On the day of the wedding ceremony, Fanon and Donald explained in advance to the soldiers and civilians who were about to get married what etiquette they should complete.
The church was not decorated much, but there was a lot of sage holy water and an arch made of pine branches.
Each pair of soldiers and civilians took a simple oath in front of the priest without signing a contract. Finally, they sat in a row and listened to the morning's teachings on truth, goodness and beauty.
Olivia sat nearby and watched the ceremony, proving its legitimacy on a secular level.
After the wedding, she had a brief conversation with the newlyweds and asked how much wasteland the housekeeper had allocated to them.
If both the newlyweds are the only child in the family, they can only retain one share of the land inheritance.
If one of the newlyweds is the second son and the other is the eldest son, then they will rely on the land that the eldest son can inherit to live.
If neither of them is the eldest son, they will be divided into two parts, a piece of wasteland.
The manor laws that Olivia had fine-tuned still relied on the basic principle of respect for seniority in the Alta Code.
Most people who get married today have brothers and sisters in their family.
In today's environment, common people either have no descendants or have only a bunch of children in the family. If they are lucky enough not to starve to death, they will become the labor force in the family from a few years old to support their younger siblings.
Olivia thought that if in the previous life, people could get a piece of land belonging to both husband and wife as soon as they got married, the marriage rate would probably explode.
Sometimes, the ruling system is just a natural choice to continue the basic survival of most people, without much right or wrong.
But if extreme rule makes it impossible for most people to maintain basic survival, then such rule will sooner or later be overthrown.
Therefore, as a lord, she needs to establish her authority while providing her subjects with space to survive.
You can get married casually, but it requires her permission and witnesses. Private transactions are not protected by law and you will not get any property.
Therefore, things like secretly giving birth to children to save the poll tax from the lord will no longer happen.
According to Knight Toxon's original management method that was only for making money, even if he was not taken away for political reasons, he would be burned down by the peasants sooner or later.
A few days later, Donald's church was simply renovated.
The roof was re-tiled, the walls were covered with mud, the plaster was scraped off, and the windows were replaced.
These tasks were not difficult and an old mason could finish them in a few days, but they were also what Donald had been looking forward to for a long time.
The housekeeper originally planned to repair the old tables, chairs and benches in his church, but when Olivia learned the actual situation, she simply spent money to replace them all with new ones.
It is always faster to buy furniture from a carpenter's shop in town than to make it yourself.
Donald's church is about the same size as Fanon's, although it is a little more dilapidated and the compartments are smaller, only enough to accommodate a bed and a table.
However, there are also forty or fifty people who come here to pray every week.
On the day the furniture was moved in, Olivia personally visited the site.
These actions moved Donald so much that his favorability level was so high that he almost wanted to overflow.
It’s not because she is so diligent, but after completing this task, she plans to take on the latest main task as soon as possible.
According to game experience, after each large infrastructure task, there is always a small infrastructure task.
After Donald's church is repaired, the next task will most likely be a large project.
She was secretly looking forward to it, and as soon as the previous task was completed, a new main task was refreshed immediately.
Expanding the main house
Task Description: Please expand the manor's main building by ten rooms and repair the manor's walls.
Task progress: 0
Mission Reward: +100 Experience Points
+Blank character card*1
“…”
As I guessed, it was a large-scale infrastructure project.
Trading a copy of one thousand items can unlock the card drawing function, and the main quest will give you the corresponding prop blank character card.
Olivia guessed based on the difficulty of the task.
The character drawn from this blank character card is likely to have a higher star rating than the native characters on the map.
After all, the difficulty of this task is extremely great.
Renovating a house is not an easy task.
First comes the design, followed by excavation of building materials, processing of building materials, laying of foundations, and finally construction and decoration. The process is similar to that of monastery construction, but on a much smaller scale.
It will take several months to see results, and it will require a lot of financial investment.
According to the system's requirements, at least ten rooms need to be expanded. If all the building materials are dug in one's own manor, it will probably cost at least fifty or sixty gold coins.
She did have the money, but it was still being laundered and she couldn't use it until the caravan returned.
Moreover, building such a house would require at least twenty or thirty workers. Both estates were in the midst of spring plowing, which would not be completed until at least May. Where would they find so much manpower?
Olivia left the church and walked home, thinking about how to deal with this matter.
Since we can't start construction within this month, we'll just draw up the design drawings and find someone to make custom-made wooden furniture that doesn't require size control.
It is now mid-March, and Letilen's caravan has arrived in the royal capital and sold hundreds of items.
They will probably start their return journey in early April and arrive back north in mid to late April.
Olivia thought that by the beginning of May, the monastery would be completed, and then she could call some of the craftsmen and laborers there to continue repairing the house on her estate.
These laborers and craftsmen were recruited from other towns by the person in charge of each process. They were all self-employed farmers who had left the land and were urban residents, so they did not need to do spring ploughing.
Then, she still has one month to prepare.
Olivia returned to the manor and began to look at the original main house.
Each floor of the main house is about seventy square meters, which is really not big.
If she were to expand, she would not want to demolish or modify the original part, and would rather expand the area three times based on the original foundation.
The entire main house was built in the shape of a U, with watchtowers installed at the four corners. Instead of using a roof, a passage with a parapet was made directly on the roof to connect the four watchtowers.
Although it is a bit ugly, it is still a small fortress with strong defensive capabilities.
With this calculation, the current main house has three halls and five rooms.
If the hard target is to add ten rooms, then her expansion will be more than enough to complete the target of ten rooms.
Olivia locked herself in her bedroom, took a few blank wax boards, and began to scribble and design.
First, part of the fruit trees in the front yard had to be removed to make room for the foundation.
Having been to the Baron's Mansion so many times, Olivia knew very well what functions the rooms would need.
The most important things for a fortress are food storage and water sources, as well as a place where soldiers can conduct combat operations.
A deep well is essential.
As for the place used for decoration, given her family's current status, it doesn't need to be too luxurious, just spacious enough to accommodate people.
This time when building the house, she planned to move the servants' quarters and the kitchen into the main house. Therefore, she had to be prepared for fire prevention and use less wooden structures.
Well, my little wish of redecorating the kitchen can also be fulfilled.
The front of the building, as you enter, you will definitely see the lobby, restaurant and prayer room.
The east and west wings can be used as servants' rooms, storage rooms, kitchens, and stairwells.
Four cellars can be dug under the tower to reduce the risk of fire or theft.
On the second floor, corridors can be connected through the towers, and at least three rooms can be retained in each wing. The remaining space can be used as a dedicated toilet, bathroom, living room and small living room.
There was also a study. Although she didn't have any books now, what if she had one in the future? It could also be used to store official documents.
As for the sewage system, it still relies entirely on manual labor for transportation, emptying the toilet and delivering hot water.
Olivia thought that they could still rely on manpower in the future.
This will continue to expand the number of servants in the manor, create jobs, and allow more people to eat from the manor's big pot.
Besides, her own useless hands couldn't rub it out, so it would depend on whether she could produce or cultivate talents who could research in this area in the future.
She spent the afternoon drawing maps and designing.
Olivia was still writing, drawing, and revising until Caesar came back from patrol.
Seeing that she was so focused, Caesar didn't dare to disturb her. He could only take a shower and change clothes to wash off the sweat she had been wearing all day to avoid being disliked.
After changing into his house robe and fastening his leather belt, he walked out of the bathroom and saw that she was still writing something and hadn't noticed he was back at all.
Outside the door, the servant said that dinner would be served soon. Caesar could only agree and prepare to move his wife away from the table.
Olivia paid no attention to the man's gaze behind her.
She thought silently about the location of each room, which was a matter of portability in life.
There are many designers who are called idiots because they design houses haphazardly without understanding human nature. She has also suffered losses due to unreasonable house layouts.
After finalizing a rough draft, I used the simplest formula to calculate the size and cubic volume of the room, and the approximate amount of materials needed.
Caesar lit two more sesame oil lamps in the room, walked over to the table, looked left and right, and had no idea what the labels meant.
Perhaps it was some strange witch or elf method.
He pursed his lips and touched her earlobe with his finger as a greeting.
Sure enough, Olivia suddenly woke up from her deep thoughts.
She slapped his hand away without hesitation and explained what was happening.
"After a while, I plan to expand the house."
Well, their house is indeed too shabby and too small. It would be better to expand it, but not too big.
Caesar didn't want to go home, and his wife couldn't appear in his sight at any time.
That's what he thought and said.
At the same time, he sat lazily at the edge of the table, staring at her with his blue eyes like hooks, without concealing the emotions in his eyes at all.
Obsessed, worshipped.
Olivia was a little overwhelmed.
But she felt doubtful in her heart about Caesar's dependent look.
Is this in the settings?
However, when she looked at Caesar's face, she didn't mind at all that this face, the owner of this body, was acting coquettishly to her, or saying anything weird or inappropriate.
She's just a beauty who can't live without her, Olivia thought helplessly. What else can she do except pamper her?
…
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