You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 327 The Valley Guardian Keeps His Promises

Early spring.

This is the fifth year since Roman arrived in Origin City.

The harsh winter has long passed; the snow on the ground has returned to the yellow earth, and the snowflakes in the sky have turned into a light drizzle before they even fall.

The sky above the fields was shrouded in a misty haze, as if one had entered a world of spring rain.

It's raining in Origin City.

The fine drizzle did not affect the work, but the damage to the land was very obvious.

The wheels of the cart would get stuck in the mud after traveling less than a hundred meters on the terrible dirt road. They would become thick and swollen, and get stuck so tightly that no matter how hard the horses in front pulled, they couldn't move them. The driver would have to use a stick to clear and push the mud off, but after only a few dozen meters, the process would have to be repeated.

Let alone wheels, even walking barefoot will gradually make your feet thick and heavy.

Rugged, winding, and blocked roads are the true road conditions of this era.

The basin is humid and watery with abundant rainfall and distinct seasons, so natural rainfall alone is sufficient to meet the irrigation needs of crops.

As a result, the roads in Origin City are muddy for seven or eight days every month.

But Roman spent five years building the road just to deal with this.

Even now, Origin City has a solid and well-developed transportation network and has not been greatly affected, so people can continue to do what they need to do.

He always adhered to one principle: wherever people go, roads should be built.

Now that the canal is navigable, the cost of transporting building materials has become extremely low.

……

Roman sat in a narrow, longboat, traveling along the canal.

He wore a silver-white cloak with the hood pulled up over his head, but it didn't protect him well from the rain. His thick brown hair, which hung down to his chest, was damp from the drifting moisture, and he could feel the cool, damp smell with every breath.

“Moore, over there,” Roman stood tall at the bow of the ship, pointing to a hilly area, “Yes, I mean there, you have someone clear it out.”

The gentle hills are covered with sparse greenery, and wild grass grows from the soil, though it is not lush now.

Roman had been there when he explored the land and knew that the soil was very suitable for cultivation.

But the time was not right then, so he just secretly made a note of it, and now he can finally develop it.

"You have a discerning eye, Your Highness. The agricultural officials all think this is feasible, but there is another group of people who oppose it. If the cultivation results are not good, then the initial investment will be wasted," the agricultural official, Mor, hurriedly flattered.

Roman ignored him; he was back to make decisions. Those idiots couldn't do anything without him.

Roman said, “Let’s arrange… arrange two thousand people first. The wind on that hillside is very good, suitable for building windmills… um, let’s call it Windmill Village.”

Mohr took out paper and pen and wrote down Roman's instructions.

Two servants pulled on the oilcloth to shield More from the rain, so that the white paper wouldn't get wet. In this era without umbrellas, finding shelter from the wind and rain in the wild was a real hassle.

“It’s not just about planting wheat. In places where it’s not suitable for farming, we should plant trees, especially fruit trees: apple trees, pear trees, peach trees, and grapevines. I remember a businessman named Albert brought me mulberry seeds last time. We should arrange for some people to try planting one.” Roman said, outlining his future plans for that land.

"Yes, Your Highness, I will make the arrangements." Mor's notebook was filled with writing.

This canal is only five or six meters wide and is quite small. It runs through several rivers and leads to the town of Coal and Iron.

Roman expects to settle more than 10,000 people along the route.

This is just an initial plan. As reclamation progresses, the land's carrying capacity will increase. Once the basic infrastructure is in place, families can relocate there, forming a certain scale.

Roman also had his own plans on how to get those residents to move here.

On the way back, he turned to Moore and said, "Fifty thousand acres of land have been reclaimed this year. You are the agricultural officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, so you will oversee this task."

Mohr had grown accustomed to the various astonishing instructions Roman had given him since that spring five years ago.

The once rugged-looking young man is now a true king.

Even today, when faced with Roman's gaze, he still doesn't dare to question him.

Mo'er said weakly, "Your Highness, this year... we don't have enough manpower, and you are still recruiting soldiers."

More than 10,000 people could not cultivate 50,000 mu of land at all.

Even if there were canals for transporting goods, it wouldn't work.

Over several decades, generations of people in Sige Town have devoted themselves to cultivating 30,000 to 40,000 mu of farmland. However, this cultivation is not strictly speaking, as most of the land was wasteland that had only undergone preliminary leveling and needed time to be gradually transformed. Only a few thousand mu of truly good land remained.

Even so, those several thousand acres were only partially cultivated land.

But after Roman arrived here, everything changed dramatically.

There are 20,000 mu of cultivated land alone, about 30,000 mu of semi-cultivated farmland, and about 20,000 mu of wasteland reclaimed last year and the year before. There are also more than 7,000 mu of paddy fields carved out from the swamp.

This is why the fertile, easily cultivated land near Origin City is long gone. They must now search for new, easily cultivated land.

Taking it one step at a time is fine, but if you take too big a step, oops! You might tear your balls!
“I will provide you with enough manpower,” Roman said.

“Moore, just tell them this: whoever cultivates the land is… well, I'm leasing it to them. The lease is for fifty years and can be passed down to their sons and grandsons.”

"I only take 50% of the harvest; the other 50% belongs to them."

"I will provide them with all the logistical resources they need before the harvest, including food, animal power, and farm tools..."

"The Valley Guardians always keep their word!"

Roman gave these instructions, secretly wondering just how much those beasts of burden would exploit him.
……

For agrarian societies, the only stable source of income for farmers is crop production.

Roman used to deprive all farmers of their income, exchanging it for free houses, food, and clothing.

The advantage is that it can concentrate resources on major tasks and get people to do what they need to do.

However, the downside is that without income, farmers become less motivated.

They toiled for a year, traveling back and forth, working themselves to the bone, but the harvest they reaped wasn't theirs.

It's broken now!

The farmers who cultivated the land also reaped a harvest.

And it's a full 50%!
This is not like the previous 50% harvest. All farmers can see the land income in Origin City, and the yield per acre is three times that of the outside world.

With such a high output, only 50% was harvested.

Is this...is this real?
Is there really such benevolent governance?

A year-long shock to farmers of the old era!

to be honest.

Those people at the bottom of society used to work for Roman for free.

Therefore, Roman had to set time limits for each project.

For example, building a 50-kilometer road must be completed within one month.

If the pressure is high enough, it can be completed in twenty-five days.

If you really exploit them too much, they might quit before they develop a sufficient sense of belonging, which would only delay production.

A sense of belonging is the degree to which an individual identifies with and supports a group.

Roman gives houses to farmers, and the farmers feel a sense of belonging to the houses, but they lack sufficient understanding of Roman.

The farmers worked for the sake of their houses, spontaneously upholding Roman's rule.

But this is passive.

Working was passive, and maintaining Roman's rule was also passive.

Aside from a few genuinely grateful individuals, most people are unlikely to voluntarily dedicate themselves or truly work like slaves.

Therefore, farmers at the grassroots level usually tacitly control the progress of the project, dragging it out until the last day of the deadline to complete it.

They know they have the capacity, but they just won't put it into practice.

That's incredibly disloyal!

But they also had something to say: As long as the tasks assigned by the master are completed, that's enough.

Once this job is finished, the next one is waiting. Only a fool would work quickly and take on extra jobs.

But once they got the contracted land, they were essentially working for themselves, which made a difference.

After all, the grain produced from the land could not only meet the food needs of the whole family, but could also be sold to Roman for money.

With money, they could finally go to the department store they had always longed for.

Go buy items that you couldn't afford before, such as salt and sugar, soap, meat, iron pots, honeycomb briquettes, clothes, and furniture.

There's no need to buy improved crop seeds; Roman gave them away for free to prevent those fools from choosing other seeds and reducing grain production.

Alas, it was all thanks to Lord Roman's kindness and generosity that they were able to buy those practical and inexpensive goods. Even if they didn't have the money in the first year, they could buy on credit with incredibly low interest rates, which only increased by one-fifth of the principal each year.

Waaah, Mr. Roman, I'm going to farm like crazy for you! I'm going to sell all the harvested grain to you! I'm going to use the money to buy the cheap goods you sell to us!
Waaah, are you really not going to consider raising prices? What if you lose money?!

(End of this chapter)