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

Chapter 422 The Feeling of Tearing

Fritt and his men led their oxen and draft horses into the village of Wormwood.

The four young people looked around with great interest, their faces filled with curiosity and excitement.

Edmund led his men to clean up the village, but the scene was still not very pleasant.

Conditions here are harsh, but they have all experienced even harsher conditions.

During their internships after graduation, they experienced the hardest and most tiring work, sometimes even having to clean out toilets.

Roman believed this would greatly benefit their development, preventing them from becoming unrealistic and overconfident.

This mission is also a major test, and all the strengths and weaknesses of the clerks will be exposed.

Good performance leads to promotion, poor performance leads to being sent back, and serious mistakes result in dismissal.

Roman adopted a laissez-faire approach to their upbringing.

He hopes that these clerks will learn on the job and improve themselves to cope with various emergencies.

Now, every month, a large number of 'graduates' are recruited from schools, and then they are taken by senior students to participate in various jobs. After three to five years of training, they can become full-time employees.

This education system is gradually forming a virtuous cycle, and the number of people who have received basic education will only increase.

Roman will no longer have to worry about a lack of available personnel.

Of course, Roman could have used the apostle system to artificially improve their skills. However, he allocated the vast majority of resources to the military, deeply understanding the principle that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, and had no extra resources to increase the proportion of clerical staff.

In theory, three people can form a small organization.

But medieval society hadn't developed to that stage yet, so don't even think about things that spanned different eras.

These four people served as village head, cadres, and secretary in Kuai Village, forming the basic leadership team.

……

Edmund called everyone in the village of Bitterwood over to introduce them to their future grassroots cadres.

The villagers, being ignorant, mistook them for agricultural officials sent by the lord.

But seeing that they were very young and did not seem pampered, everyone was somewhat surprised.

Then, the villagers turned their attention to the vehicle behind them.

Everyone stared in amazement, gasping in astonishment, feeling utterly mesmerized.

Three oxen stood steadily, while two draft horses sneezed restlessly. These large livestock were plump and muscular, as if they had just survived the height of summer, rather than the harsh winter when they had lost weight.

I really don't know how they raise them.

Under Fried's command, a dozen soldiers unloaded the first batch of survival supplies allocated to the village of Absinthe from the truck.

It has to be said that having a powerful regime behind you gives you a strong sense of security.

Box after box of hoe blades and shovels were also unloaded; as long as suitable wooden sticks were found, they could be combined to make hoes and shovels.

Bag after bag of wheat was unloaded from the wagon, heavy with grain, and placed together in the temporary warehouse.

Occasionally, a dozen or so plump grains of wheat would spill out from the gaps in the burlap sacks. Two children would immediately rush out from the crowd—they were filthy, disheveled, and their clothes were ill-fitting. Their faces were so black that only the whites of their eyes were visible. They would carefully pick them up from the mud and stuff them into their mouths with lightning speed, as if afraid someone would snatch them away, and swallow them whole. But no one paid them any attention.

"Sergeant Edmund, have you registered them?" Fritt asked.

The sergeant replied, "No."

They knew just as many words as the clerks, but considering that the remaining population of Absinthe Village was less than the number of soldiers stationed there, they hadn't done it.

Vita, holding a pen and paper, said, "Let's do an identity registration first, and then distribute farm tools and rations according to the number of people."

Two soldiers brought over a long table and organized the villagers to line up for registration.

Meanwhile, the other soldiers also began to unpack the sacks, grind the wheat with millstones, and bake whole wheat bread.

The bustling scene brought some life to this desolate village.

"Is that all there are?" Fritt frowned, looking at the chaotic crowd.

He has extensive experience in organizing manpower; he can roughly count them at a glance without even needing to count them.

“Not just,” the sergeant said.

“Some of them have children, and once they truly feel His Highness’s grace, they will call their children back from exile, and then other villagers will also return.”

It's normal for Edmund to have this idea.

Farmers are extremely dependent on the land. In this chaotic world, as long as land production can be restored, a large number of farmers will be willing to sell themselves into slavery.

It's okay if you don't want to come back.

Wherever they fled, His Highness Roman's rule expanded to the borders, reaching every corner of the land.

Ultimately, they either surrendered or died. "Well, our task now is easy," Had said.

According to Edmund's observations, Fritt was good at organizing people, Hard was an expert in farming, Grol was constantly writing with paper and pen, and Vita was in charge of storing and distributing supplies.

They each performed their duties, having become thoroughly familiar with the affairs in Origin City. Although their efficiency was much slower in the unfamiliar environment, they were still able to keep everything in good order.

Under Hader's command, the soldiers quickly assembled ten plows.

Edmund asked curiously, "Why are there ten plows? Are there other large animals that haven't arrived yet?"

As soon as he asked the question, he saw all four of them, including Fritt, turn their attention to him.

Before he could ask another question, he saw the four of them nod at him with firm expressions.

Edmund: "..."

Resuming farming is urgent, but there is a shortage of young and able-bodied laborers.

After Had and his men quickly measured out a suitable plot of land, all the soldiers had to remove their armor and pull the plows.

The captain of the Royal Guard, a standard Tier 3 infantry knight, Edmund, possessed immense strength, weighing hundreds of kilograms. He could pull a plow single-handedly and cultivate two acres of land per day, making him a hero among oxen and horses!

……

This spring, seven-year-old Los was planting vegetables in the field with his grandmother Tania.

“Gods above, they are deceiving us,” the old woman Tania muttered. “Isn’t that right, little Los?”

Los hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

He had heard Grandma Tania say these things quite often these days.

She was a believer in the gods and did not hesitate to assume the worst about others, trying to fathom the ferocity beneath the gentle exteriors of those warriors.

Therefore, long before the Valley Army arrived at the village of Bitter Ai, she personally drove her children away, hoping they would never return and be slaughtered.

She herself sat at the doorway, her expressionless face conveying her hatred for the intruder.

Even now, she still hasn't changed her tune.

“This is the devil’s seduction of the blasphemer. If you eat their food, your soul will belong to them, and you will go to hell after you die.” She said to Los as she sowed the seeds, as if talking to herself.

She always felt that those soldiers must have ulterior motives and malicious intentions.

Los mustered his courage and said, "Grandma Tania, I...I want to eat bread..."

That was the best bread he had ever eaten.

Thick and resilient, with a dark brown color and a rich wheat aroma, it contained no bark or sawdust. It was neither bitter nor sour. The texture was far milder and softer than any other black bread he had ever tasted.

She spat out, "The gods will punish you for eating the food of demons..."

Los's forehead throbbed, and he said aggrievedly, "Aren't you eating too? Should we call Uncle Kent and Aunt Bella back?"

He was referring to Grandma Tania's two children.

Tania's expression changed, and a dark cloud gathered.

She poked his head hard with her muddy fingers.

“You will all die! They will surely reveal their true nature. Maybe they were just pretending to be like this to lure them back. My gods above, are you going to let them die here? You little rascal, open your eyes…”

Her voice was filled with paranoia, constantly hurling insults and overflowing with resentment.

But her movements were swift and skillful; the memory of farming was ingrained in her bones, and she was adept at sowing vegetable seeds—it had long become second nature.

Los looked again at the three soldiers in front of him, who were sweating profusely and pulling the plow with all their might.

They were all shirtless, working together to drag heavy plows, their faces flushed and their skin red, their bodies swaying but their steps firm as they moved forward.

Los guessed that they must have heard what Tania's grandmother said.

Without exception, those people never paid any attention.

Perhaps as long as it doesn't interfere with work, they'll let them say whatever they want.

Perhaps it was the words of the highest-ranking official that made an impact, saying that this was not a city of abundance and that the villagers should not be treated too harshly.

Therefore, the strong soldiers worked hard without complaint and were as docile as cattle and horses.

But it was precisely these kinds of people who frightened the leaders and supervisors who had once swaggered in front of them into fleeing in panic.

The unprecedented new heavy plow carved a deep furrow into the land;

I could hear the curses and insults that Tania was spewing.
In his hands were seeds of vegetables suitable for spring planting, such as garlic, cabbage, carrots, and turnips...

A strong sense of tearing filled Los's heart, making him extremely uncomfortable. It felt as if something was stuck in his chest, but he didn't know why.

(End of this chapter)