Chapter 10: The Curved-shaft Plow

The militiamen who had finished training didn't even have time to rest. They spontaneously went to the grassland north of the settlement camp and joined the bustling land reclamation team.

They were originally the main force in land reclamation. For them, farming, rather than fighting, was the true vocation of farmers.

Ulyan once promised that in the second year after land reclamation started, the land would be distributed to each household. Every adult man would be allocated one acre of land that was permanently tax-exempt. As for how much cultivated land they could actually get, it all depended on how much land the villagers could reclaim in the first year.

These were preferential conditions never offered by any other place or settlement. With the advent of the feudal lord system, the living space of yeomen was shrinking steadily. In the manors established by noble lords, not even the land itself, let alone anything on it, belonged to the vassals.

In fact, only in the sparsely populated imperial border regions were there a large number of yeomen. In the economically developed and densely populated southern provinces, the noble manor system had been fully implemented, and no trace of yeomen remained. All that was left were tenant farmers and serfs.

Leo, bored as he was, also tagged along with Ulyan to the land reclamation site. He squatted on a rotten tree stump, watching the laborers at work.

Hundreds of young and strong men formed the character 'Ren' (human) one moment and the character 'Yi' (one) the next.

They waved hoes, shovels, and pickaxes vigorously, turning over the charred land beneath their feet little by little.

The remaining elderly, women, and children trailed behind them, carrying away the stones that had been dug out, piling up the grass roots and setting them ablaze.

In just one morning, several mu of land had already been plowed.

This place was truly ideal for reclamation, much easier than the villagers had anticipated. The villagers, young and old, were all engrossed in it.

Leo also felt quite emotional. In the memory fragments of the original owner, at this time of year, the land in his hometown was still covered with a foot-thick layer of snow. Even for the prepped cultivated land, one had to use a pickaxe to loosen the frozen soil.

Although they had only migrated more than a thousand li to the southwest, the climate was very different. It was like moving from Northeast China to North China, from the frigid zone to the temperate zone.

Fertile land and a bustling labor scene always inspired people's hope and made them forget their hardships.

But as Leo watched, he felt more and more that something was wrong. Suddenly, he realized and stood up, shouting, "Where are the donkeys? Where are your donkeys?"

"What donkeys? The donkeys have been led away by the kids from the Podova family to graze."

"Why don't you use donkeys to plow the land?" Leo asked angrily.

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately caused a burst of laughter. A villager sneered, "Haha, asking a donkey to plow the land. Why don't you ask the donkey to learn magic?"

Leo was almost beside himself with anger. He turned to Ulyan beside him and asked, "Haven't you ever seen... a donkey plowing the land?"

He originally wanted to say "plow", but there was actually no such word as "plow" in the memory of the original owner.

He couldn't very well ask Ulyan in Chinese, could he?

Ulyan, who had served in the army for ten years, traveled far and wide, and had extensive knowledge, stroked his chin and pondered, "Donkeys can indeed plow the land, but it should be very difficult, right? Maybe some kind of magic needs to be cast..."

Leo didn't bother to argue with him. He cursed and strode back to the settlement camp.

How could farmers who farm the land not have a plow? This was something that had existed since primitive society.

It was just as absurd for medieval farmers not to have seen a plow as it would be for a 21st-century otaku not to have seen a mobile phone.

With such a low level of productivity, Ulyan still had the nerve to lead the villagers to reclaim wasteland in the wilderness. All we can say is that the people in the Northern Region are really gutsy.

Leo, who had returned to the settlement camp, roughly snatched and smashed the best pointed shovel in Olivia's house as she tried to stop him.

Then he chopped down a few thick, curved branches about as thick as a wrist. After some simple cutting, he nailed them together crosswise, and then installed the bent pointed shovel on the bottom of the plowshare.

A simple plow was made.

Looking at the rough and simple Curved-shaft Plow in front of him, Leo was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

In the first week of my time travel, I invented Curved-shaft Plow!

Shouldering Curved-shaft Plow, Leo asked Olivia to lead a donkey along and go back to the wasteland with him. He tied the donkey's harness rope to the plow.

Straightening the plow, Leo hollered, "Let's go!"

The donkey didn't move an inch.

Olivia understood what Leo was trying to do. She smiled gently and took hold of the donkey's reins, pulling the donkey forward. Leo held the plow and gently pressed the plowshare into the soil.

The land on the flat river bend was really too soft. The resistance inside was only dry grass roots and a small amount of pebbles. The donkey could almost effortlessly pull Curved-shaft Plow forward.

A gully about one foot deep appeared on the ground behind them.

The villagers who were originally immersed in reclaiming the wasteland didn't have much interest in watching the commotion. In their eyes, Leo, who had never farmed and was rather single-minded, couldn't come up with anything interesting.

It wasn't until Leo easily surpassed the sweating militia members within a few minutes that people finally noticed the miraculous tool made by Leo.

Ulyan, who had witnessed Leo's operation throughout, had his eyes shining brightly and was extremely excited. He even blurted out the imperial court language, "I've seen this thing! It looks familiar! So familiar!"

In fact, just as on Earth, the plow has existed in this world for thousands of years.

In the wealthy southern provinces of the Atlantis Empire, there were even two-wheeled heavy plows pulled by two or four horses. The land's grain output ratio was more than three times that of the Northern Region.

Otherwise, the empire wouldn't have had enough strength to unify the east coast of the Morning Light Continent. It also wouldn't have been able to drive the fierce and warlike Beast Race out of the northern provinces, all the way to the depths of the snowfield on the north bank of the North Ice River.

However, things were different along the cold and desolate banks of the North Ice River. The main sources of income for the lords here were the cattle, sheep, and horses in the pastures, along with the furs of wild beasts, magical herbs in the hunting grounds, and rare timber from the logging yards.

They didn't have the intention of organizing their vassals to reclaim wasteland and grow crops. The rye and beans collected from the vassals were only used to feed the horses.

The noble lords would never eat such coarse grains from the cold north.

In fact, few nobles were willing to stay in the fiefs north of Olenik. The land in their hands was managed by stewards trained by their families, while they lived on the relatively warm south bank of the Anzerno River.

The small village where Leo lived was one of the few farming villages that had naturally formed along the North Ice River because the land was suitable for cultivation.

Before Ulyan joined the army, there wasn't even any animal power like donkeys, cattle, or horses in the village. Many poor villagers didn't even own an iron hoe. The wealthiest families in the village only raised a few pigs and sheep.

There wasn't enough labor force or enough allocated land to support a family.

More than one-third of their food came from natural bounties such as acorns, mushrooms, wild vegetables, and cassava from antler trees in the nearby mountains and forests.

If Ulyan hadn't retired and come back to the village to become the village head, even if the villagers were aware of how terrifying the Beast Race's scouting team was, they could only wait for death silently, just like other neighboring villages.

In the south where the manorial system was well - established, these freemen could give up their land and become tenant farmers of noble manor lords.

But in the Northern Region, they could only become displaced persons and starve to death in the icy and snowy wilds.

After Leo demonstrated it, Ulyan immediately realized the great advantages of the Curved - shaft Plow.

Although he boasted of having traveled far and wide and seen the world, in reality, he had only served as a border scout at the border watchtower in Count Frolov's domain for five years. Then, because of his strength and military feats, he was conscripted into the infantry legion at Wind God's Fortress to defend the border for another five years.

From conscripted infantry, regular infantry, to heavily - armored elite infantry, and finally being promoted to the highest rank among civilian soldiers - Imperial Sergeant, Ulyan had spent all these years in the military camp.

He had only caught an occasional glimpse of a plow during marches.

Right away, Ulyan called several of the best woodworkers in the village. Under Leo's guidance, they made eighteen simple versions of the Curved - shaft Plow all at once. Then, they herded all the dozen or so donkeys in the settlement camp and sent them into the fields.

Leo squatted back on the rotten tree stump and watched contentedly as the villagers plowed the fields at three times the normal speed. It seemed as if some distant voice echoed in his mind.

You have unlocked the iron plow and ox - plowing technology! Farmer productivity increased by 1! Grain output increased by 1!