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

Chapter 34 Who exactly is the farmer?
Don't overestimate the self-awareness of those idiots.

Even the daily free lunches couldn't motivate them.

A big stick is necessary.

Roman changed his tune, saying, "Aaron, you lead all the guards in training for three hours every day."

Aaron frowned slightly. He had never been an instructor before and didn't know whether he should use the standards of a war knight to train the guards.

He also saw what happened on the mountain yesterday.

These guards are undisciplined and disorganized; if they are not trained, they will likely be unable to fulfill their intended purpose.

“Okay!” Aaron readily agreed.

If you don't know how to train, just ask Roman.

Green wasn't envious at all; his personality wasn't suited to being an instructor.

"Also, tell them that from now on, the guards will receive 2 copper coins, 10 catties of wheat, 10 catties of mixed grains, and 2 catties of meat each month..."

"Huh? Pay them wages?" Moore was initially confused.

Even if they pay wages, it's too little to support people.

But then his eyes widened suddenly: "Every month?"

That's an outrageous treatment!

Guards are conscripts. Unless there is a war, they don't get paid. Giving them some material compensation is already a kindness!

Roman tilted his head slightly: "Yes, it's distributed every month, but I have standards for them. If they don't meet the standards I set, I'll kick them out of the guard ranks. If there are guards who perform well, I'll also give them extra rewards."

"Oh, right, incorporate the hunters into the guard force as well. I've appointed Dota as the captain of all the guards; have him go down the mountain as soon as possible..."

After explaining everything, Moore's handkerchief was soaked with sweat. He immediately relayed everything Roman had said.

Seth looked at Roman and said, "You still haven't solved the winter bankruptcy problem."

The manager's salary was cut, while the guards' salaries were increased. With one decrease and one increase, the total expenditure was not reduced by much.

Because the management team brought in by Roman was the main source of financial expenditures—Aaron and Green's annual salaries were calculated in gold coins.

Roman said confidently, "I understand. I will resolve this issue before the end of spring."

Seth maintained this attitude towards Roman throughout their meeting, hesitant to speak.

He didn't know where Roman's confidence came from.

He had watched Roman grow up, and even though the latter's performance was astonishing by today's standards, he still couldn't help but have a slight expectation for Roman deep down.

"I hope so. Also... you shouldn't always make yourself look so disheveled. Your trousers are covered in mud, your collar is messy, and your shirt should be buttoned up. It's so inelegant of you, so unseemly."

Roman watched speechlessly as Seth began to grope him.

He was adjusting his collar, buttoning his clothes, and brushing off the dirt.

He felt it was unnecessary.

But Seth clearly doesn't think so.

He kept Roman very neat and clean, which made Roman always feel that Seth had some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder and had to do everything in an orderly manner.

After the rigid deacon left, Roman turned around and went to the blacksmith's shop to bring out a heavy plow that they had forged that morning.

Then Roman found fifty experienced farmers and a steward, and led them alone to the land he had marked out that morning.

At the edge of the field, Roman first demonstrated the use and effects of the heavy plow to everyone. The plow was very easy to operate and anyone could learn it at a glance. Roman plowed a short distance.

His authority as a lord was extremely high. He personally demonstrated how to plow the land, and regardless of the results, his attitude alone greatly impressed the farmers. Moreover, they discovered that Roman's movements while holding the plow were quite skillful...

Who exactly is the farmer?
What's even more impressive is the effect of cultivation.

"Oh my! The lord's plow is so wide and big, you don't even need to step on it..."

"It's out! It's out! The stone is out!"

"Even tree roots as thick as an arm have emerged!"

"The mud clods were also lifted up; it was black soil!"

The farmer gasped in a low voice, his eyes filled with intense anticipation and excitement.

No one understands the importance of arable land better than them.

This is one of the very few methods in this era that has a significant effect on increasing grain production.

If seeds are sown on uncultivated land, it would be considered lucky to get at least two harvests out of every one sown; more often than not, there would be no harvest at all. Therefore, they rely heavily on iron farm tools for cultivation.

Light plows have limited depth and width, and farmers using them have to step on them to achieve the desired plowing effect. Even so, they can only achieve shallow plowing, which is not suitable for the soil structure of this land.

Of course, explaining these planting techniques to farmers with limited knowledge is useless; they only care about the explosive results of cultivating the land.

They were never educated, nor were they brainwashed by the church. They had no idea that the church had doctrines that forbade change, and even if they did, they would not abide by them. The gods were merely objects of their prayers when they were poor.

What dogma? What dogma? Can it make the land grow more crops?
They were forced to do things unrelated to farming because of the lord's strict orders.

Over the past two or three days, although I was able to have a free and plentiful lunch at noon, the cost was that I wasted time and energy.

They didn't know what collecting manure meant, nor did they know what Roman was going to do. All they knew was that the work in the fields would be delayed, by two or three days of tilling.

Most farmers were becoming increasingly anxious.

If they don't farm, it means they are very likely to get nothing this year and their whole family will starve to death.

They showed enough docility, but the lord still showed no intention of allocating land to them, so they had to secretly plant some things under the cover of night.

If Roman delays for another two days and still doesn't let them plant, the farmers' pent-up emotions are very likely to erupt, causing large-scale unrest.

Seeing Roman tilling the land with the new plow today immediately eased the group's anxiety.

In any case, this is a positive development.

The lord knows that the land will be cultivated next, so he probably won't stop them anymore.

The emergence of the new plow gave them some confidence in their future farming plans; land tilled with this plow would surely yield a bountiful harvest.

Although it wasted a lot of time, we could still plant some crops by making the most of every second, so that we wouldn't end up with nothing.

Roman beckoned them over and said to them, "Your next task is to thoroughly cultivate all the land I've fenced off."

Currently, only four heavy plows have been produced, which is clearly not enough for fifty farmers.

Theoretically speaking, eight or ten people would be enough.

However, they not only have to cultivate the land, but also pick up stones, tree roots, weeds and other debris that are turned up from the ground, all of which require manpower.

Don't underestimate this workload. When Roman was plowing the field in the morning, he even encountered a tree stump buried underground. It took him a lot of effort to pull the stump out of the ground, while the broken roots remained buried underground.

(End of this chapter)