Chapter 5: Who is the Farmer?

Do not overestimate the wit of those fools.

Even daily free lunches could not awaken their enthusiasm.

A firm hand was necessary.

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

Aaron frowned slightly; he had never served as an instructor and was uncertain if he should train the guards to the standards of the Conquest Knights.

He had seen the situation on the mountain the day before.

The guards were undisciplined and formless; without rigorous training, they would likely fail to serve their intended purpose.

"Alright!" Aaron agreed readily.

If he was unsure about the training, he would ask Roman.

Green was not envious, for his temperament was ill-suited for instructing.

"Additionally, tell them that from now on, each guard will receive 2 copper coins, 10 kilograms of wheat, 10 kilograms of mixed grains, and 2 kilograms of meat every month…"

"Ah? Paying them a salary?" Moor was initially bewildered.

Even if they were paid, it was too little to sustain anyone.

But then he suddenly widened his eyes, "Every month?"

That was outrageously generous!

A guard was equivalent to a conscripted soldier; apart from during war, they typically did not receive a salary, and providing them with some goods was already charitable!

Roman slightly tilted his head, "Yes, the payment will be issued monthly, but I have standards for them. If they fail to meet my standards, I will remove them from the guards. If any perform well, I will reward them additionally."

"By the way, incorporate the hunters into the guard units as well," Roman continued. "I appoint Dota as the captain of all the guards; have him come down from the mountain as soon as possible…"

After explaining these matters, Moor's handkerchief was soaked. He immediately relayed all that Roman had just discussed.

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

They had cut the steward's salary and increased the guards' salaries; they had reduced one and increased the other, but the total expenditure had not decreased much.

Because the management layer brought by Roman was actually the major financial burden—both Aaron's and Green's annual salaries were calculated in gold coins.

Roman confidently replied, "I am aware of that issue, and I will resolve it before the end of spring."

Seeing Roman's attitude, Seth hesitated to speak.

He did not understand where Roman's confidence came from.

Seth had watched Roman grow up, and even though the latter's tactics were astonishing for the current era, deep inside, he still harbored some expectations for Roman.

"Let's hope so. Also… you should not always allow yourself to be so unkempt; there's mud on your pant legs, your collar is disheveled, and you should fasten the buttons on your shirt. Your appearance is far from elegant—utterly unbecoming."

Roman was speechless as Seth fussed over him.

Adjusting his collar, fastening buttons, and dusting off dirt.

He thought it unnecessary.

But Seth clearly did not think so.

He had tidied Roman up quite neatly, which always made Roman feel that Seth had some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessing over getting everything perfectly organized.

After the meticulous deacon left, Roman turned around and went to the blacksmith shop again, carrying out a newly forged heavy plough that they had completed that morning.

Then Roman found fifty farmers with extensive cultivation experience and one steward, and alone, he led the group into the plot of land he had marked out that morning.

In the field, Roman first demonstrated the usage and effectiveness of the heavy plow to everyone.

Operating the plow was very simple, and one could learn it by just watching; Roman cultivated a short distance.

His majesty as the Lord was extremely high. By personally demonstrating, not to mention the effectiveness in tilling the soil, his attitude alone greatly shocked the peasant farmers, and they also noticed that Roman's action when holding the plow was quite skilled…

After all, who was the peasant?

What shocked them even more was the results of the cultivation.

"Oh! The Lord's plow is so large and wide, it doesn't even need to be stepped on…"

"It's out, it's out, the stones are out!"

"Tree roots as thick as arms are out too!"

"The soil clods are lifted, it's black soil!"

The peasant farmers exclaimed softly, their eyes very eager and excited.

No one understood the role of tilling the soil better than they did.

This was one of the few methods with marked effects on increasing crop yields in this era.

If they were to scatter seeds on the unplowed land, being lucky enough to get a double harvest was considered good; more often, there would be no yield at all. Thus, they heavily depended on iron farming tools for cultivation.

However, the depth and width provided by the light plow were quite limited. The farmers using light plows had to step on them to achieve the effect of plowing, which only allowed for shallow cultivation, unsuitable for the soil structure of this land.

Of course, explaining this planting knowledge to simple-minded peasants was futile; they only cared about the explosive results of the cultivation.

They had never received education, were not brainwashed by the Church, and had no idea that there was a Church doctrine prohibiting innovation. Even if they did, they wouldn't comply; the All Gods were merely a prayer entity during their hardships.

What doctrine, what rules? Can it make more food grow in the fields?

Due to the Lord's stern orders, they had no choice but to engage in tasks unrelated to farming.

In the past two or three days, although they got a free, hearty lunch at noon, it was at the cost of wasted time and energy.

They did not understand what picking up dung meant, nor what Roman planned to do. They only knew that field work was being delayed, a delay of two or three days of plowing time.

Most peasant farmers were increasingly becoming anxious.

If they didn't start planting soon, it meant that they were very likely to end up with nothing this year, and their entire families could starve.

They showed sufficient compliance, but the Lord had still not relaxed his control to allocate them land, so they had to secretly plant some crops under the cover of night.

If Roman delayed for another couple of days without letting them plant, the pent-up emotions of this group of farmers could very likely erupt, causing widespread unrest.

Yet today, seeing Roman till the field with the new plow, their anxious emotions instantly eased somewhat.

Regardless, this was a move in the right direction.

The Lord also knew that planting was next, so he probably wouldn't stop them anymore.

The appearance of the new plow also gave them some confidence in their future cultivation plans. The land tilled with this plow would surely yield a lot of crops.

Although a lot of time had been lost, by scrambling, they could still manage to plant some crops without ending up with a complete failure.

Roman called them over and said to them, "Your next task is to deeply plow all these pieces of land that I've marked out."

Currently, only four heavy plows were produced, which was clearly not enough for fifty peasant farmers.

Theoretically, eight or ten people should suffice.

However, they needed to do more than just till the soil; they also had to pick up stones, tree roots, weeds, and other things that had been turned up from the ground, which all required manpower.

Do not underestimate this workload. In the morning while tilling, Roman even encountered a tree stump buried underground, and it took him a lot of effort to pull the stump out, while the broken tree roots remained buried.