In the Blackwater Valley territory, there is a lush forest valley.

The Blackwater River runs quietly through it, witnessing the changes of the territory over the years.

The crops in the territory are growing well this year. With the irrigation from the melted mountain snow, drought is generally avoided and the summer sunshine is also sufficient. The only drawback is that only one crop can be grown.

Everything in the territory was running in an orderly manner. Unfortunately, Levi was a liberal arts student in his previous life. He knew nothing about science and engineering, and did not understand how to make many scientific inventions that could improve productivity.

Otherwise, he could, like other time travelers, climb a technology tree in his territory, start a scientific revolution, and maybe even lead this extremely backward world into the steam age.

He is not good at management or farming.

He only focused on gaining experience, and all matters of the territory, big or small, were left to Knight Fred and other professional talents.

For Levi, with the proficiency panel, he has only one pursuit from the beginning to the end, that is, to pursue immortality in this alien world. The identity and status of the lord are just tools on the road to pursuing strength.

Wealth, power, love, and all the troubles in the world are nothing but clouds.

In the year 1004 of the Holy Era, the month of the Crucible (August).

The Crucible Month is mainly hot in the southern regions, and the Blackwater Valley in the north of the kingdom is at a higher altitude, so the temperature is just right.

Knight Fred led the militia to build irrigation canals for the territory and diverted the Blackwater River for irrigation, so the crops grew very well this year.

In addition, Lord Levi also called on the serfs in the territory to fish in the Blackwater River during the slack season, which could be regarded as an additional source of income for the territory.

Levi was afraid of being haunted by the evil spirit, so he naturally didn't dare to go to the Blackwater River. Unfortunately, his dream in his previous life was to not have to go to work, and to fish all day with a pack of cigarettes, a bench, and a fishing rod.

As his strength grew, the amount of meat he consumed became more and more. If he ate to his heart's content, Levi could eat more than ten kilograms of meat a day. However, the production of beef and mutton in the Blackwater Valley was limited, so Levi thought of eating fish.

The fish in the Blackwater River are mostly cold-water bass and salmon, which have delicious meat and rich nutrition. Freshwater fish have many bones, but for Levi, he just swallows the fish bones directly, which is not a big deal.

Levi also taught the chefs in the territory some of the ways the Chinese people in their previous lives cooked river fish, and asked them to cook fish for himself and the soldiers.

Steamed, braised, and grilled fish, the cooking methods are different, and the taste is definitely not as good as in the previous life. After all, the Emerald Kingdom is similar to medieval Europe before the great navigation discoveries. There are not many spices. Occasionally there are some trade items brought in from other countries, but they are controlled by the nobles and the royal family. Even Levi could not afford them.

But it’s better than any of their previous dark cooking methods. The water quality of the Blackwater River is excellent, and the fish has very little earthy smell.

This also solved the meat problem for himself and the soldiers in the territory.

Knight Fred also started eating river fish with Levi. In fact, since becoming a knight, Knight Fred rarely ate river fish. In the eyes of the nobles and knights in this world, river fish are eaten by the inferior people.

But Fred was shocked to see that Levi was frugal and ate river fish in order to save expenses for the territory.

"Master Li Wei is destined to achieve great things."

…

In peace, time passed day by day and the moon over the wheat field arrived.

The wheat in the territory is golden yellow, and the joy of the harvest is reflected on Lord Levi's face.

"It's a beautiful thing to grow a lot of crops."

This day was a fixed rest day every week. Levi drank wine and watched the serfs harvesting wheat at the foot of the mountain.

This year the weather has been good and Levi feels that the wheat yield will definitely be much higher than last year.

But when the harvest month (October) arrived, Levi was stunned.

Compared with last year, the output has increased by less than one percent.

He called for Knight Fred and the steward of the estate.

I looked at the data from previous years and found an interesting phenomenon.

No matter what the year was, the wheat production in the territory remained basically unchanged.

After some research, Levi discovered that there were some problems with the territory's policies.

According to the custom of this world, the serfs in the territory are the private property of the lord, and the fields are also the private property granted to the lord by the king.

The income of the serfs, whether wheat or other agricultural products, except for their own small share, had to be handed over to the small lords. After the small lords exchanged the grain for money, they handed over part of it to their direct big lords, and finally handed it over to the biggest lord, the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom, which they called "assistance money".

Over time, many serfs began to be lazy, whether sowing or fertilizing, they were perfunctory. Anyway, they had to give it to the lord in the end. Even if I harvested a lot, it had nothing to do with me, so why should I work so hard? As long as the yield submitted was not too low, the lord would not blame the serfs, because everyone's yield was not high anyway.

Levi felt it necessary to change the policies in the territory.

He called Knight Fred and told him his idea. Knight Fred was a little surprised.

"Since ancient times, it seems that this has never been done. You are the lord. If you think those serfs are lazy, you only need to set a hard target for them every year. If they fail to meet the target, they will be severely punished. There is no need to be so kind to them. You are still too kind."

Levi shook his head: "The best way to motivate these people is not to punish them, but to let them...eat enough."

Knight Fred thought for a moment, "Then let's give it a try. If it doesn't work, we can just go back to the way it was. There's nothing to lose anyway."

And so, after the harvest month passed, a new policy began to be implemented in the territory.

The housekeeper went from house to house, telling the serfs the great news.

"The Lord has announced that starting from next year, each household will only need to hand over 60% of the wheat harvested that year to the Lord. Other than that, the rest of the wheat will belong to the serfs themselves."

The serfs in the wooden houses all showed expressions of disbelief.

"Is this true? God, the Lord is not lying to us, right?"

"Are you questioning the lord's authority?"

“No…no.”

In the end, in order to allay the serfs' concerns, Levi had to give a speech in person and announce the implementation of the decree.

Hearing that it was true, the serfs were overjoyed. For the first time, they felt that life was so hopeful and their future was bright.

Levi didn't know whether this trick would work, but he felt that it was time to make some changes.

Autumn in Blackwater Valley is always too short, and in the blink of an eye, it is the North Wind Month again.

On the training ground below the castle, Levi's body and arms shook, forming afterimages, and the Frostmourne in his hand slashed out a beautiful cross!

The hard black dragon wood stake in front of him, which was covered with various cut marks, was finally broken into four!

The sound is crisp and the cut is smooth.

[Golden Cross Slash Proficiency +1]

The system prompt sounded.

Levi let out a breath, and then his face was filled with surprise, and he couldn't help but jump up!

Happy like a teenager should be.

“Breakthrough!”

Levi——

Black Snake Breathing Technique: Level 2 (4502/5000)

Golden Cross Slash: Level 3 (1/10000), Special Effect: Advanced Vibration