“Sir, I have built three large thatched houses with my war slaves and laborers, and all the people who have moved from the valley have lived in the thatched houses. The weather is still very hot now, so don’t worry about getting cold. After the farmers have settled down, I will lead everyone to continue cutting. We are using wood to build a number of farmhouses one after another, striving to allow everyone to live in their own straw huts before the cold winter comes." In the newly built village on the valley plain in the southern part of the Valley Knight Territory, the construction manager Lawrence and the village manager Scott were accompanying Art and his party on a tour.
Att opened the wooden door of the thatched house. Because the farmers were sent out to reclaim wasteland, the house was empty, but the stench of feces and urine hit his face.
Matt covered his nose and asked Scott angrily: "Scott, didn't you tell the new farmers the rules of the valley? It's only been a while since you've lived here that you ended up like this!"
Scott hurriedly stepped forward to explain, "Sir, we have told everyone the rules about not defecating everywhere, but there are no pits for dumping and collecting feces here yet, so~"
"How long will it take you to dig a pit? I think you just didn't take what I said to heart."
Scott was scolded and did not dare to speak out.
Matt realized that his tone was a bit serious. He exited the thatched hut, took a breath, and said slowly: "I know it's a little embarrassing for you to do this, but this is not only to stop everyone from living in a pile of excrement and urine like pigs, dogs and livestock, but more importantly, we need to collect Collect more human and animal excrement to make manure. You have all seen how good the crops we have grown with manure are at the border outposts. In the future, our land will be fertilized with human and animal excrement. If you don’t collect it in advance, what will you use to fertilize it when the winter wheat is sown?”
"Sir, do we really want to spread dirty excrement into the cultivated land?" Lin En, the deputy village administrator, still did not fully accept the weird thing of using excrement to fertilize.
Matt turned to look at Lynn and explained patiently: "Lynn, I have already said that what is applied to the cultivated land is retting manure. Those are holy things blessed by God. They will make our wheat grow more lush than thatch."
Cooper also echoed, "Yes, Father Hamish has already said that this is a gift from God to us, and we cannot refuse God's kindness. Ci. "
Ate nodded to Old Cooper and said: "Cooper, you have to take care of the matter of building a manure collecting pit for retting. I don't want to lead the people when I come back next time. They also dumped human and animal excrement everywhere. The collection and retting of manure was a task for me to assess the performance of the duties of the village steward."
The people around Yat nodded with difficulty.
Matt saw that the attitude of several people was not very decisive, and he knew that it would be difficult to change their deep-rooted thoughts for a while. Maybe everyone would be able to reluctantly accept it after the "Manure Pilot" farmland on the other side of the wooden castle became more productive. "The matter of retting is my order. You can just carry it out. If there is anything in the future, I will take responsibility for it."
"Sir, we will just do what you say." Scott replied.
Matt glanced at this capable steward approvingly.
"You have all participated in the construction of the valley, and you are all familiar with the construction of new villages and the reclamation of wasteland. Land and food are the foundation of our valley. Only with these two things can we truly feel at ease."
"Lawrence, now that the outer wall of Beiguan Army Fort has been built and the troops have been stationed in it, the construction of the inner city can proceed slowly. You must continue to leave some craftsmen and slaves to work here to build houses, so that everyone can have a warm house to live in before the cold winter comes."
Lawrence nodded in agreement.
"Scott, Lynn, you have always been in charge of the garrison affairs. The garrison in the valley has done a good job. You must continue to reclaim the land near Kutim Village and plant food."
Scott and Linn also agreed.
“Kub, you are the civil affairs officer. All civil affairs in the territory are under your control. Now the wooden castle has sufficient food supplies, farm tools and livestock. You must allocate the food supplies needed to various places. If there is a shortage in the wooden castle, if it is made by craftsmen, If the workshop can't make its own money, just order the caravan to go out and buy it. Don't be afraid of spending money. Every copper coin we use today will be returned tenfold and a hundredfold."
Old Cooper touched the goatee on his chin. , "Master, don't worry, I will lead everyone to make your territory more prosperous."
"Well, by the way, you must also explain clearly the territorial decree I issued last month to all the territorial residents, so that everyone is familiar with our rules. My decree is not harsh, but it is related to the stability of the territory. You cannot take it lightly. Now that there are more and more of us, it is not enough to rely on the stewards to restrain us. We must make all the territorial citizens feel awe."
“Sir, we have read your decree to all the people in the territory, and prisons and execution grounds have been built over the wooden castle. If anyone dares to violate your decree, I will never let it go easily.”
At nodded repeatedly, looked up at the dots of black shadows in the wasteland outside the village, and said: "Let's go and see the farmers who are reclaiming the wasteland~" After that, he led a group of people out of the fence wall of the new village and walked towards the farmers who were plowing the land in the surrounding wasteland...
In August, while Art was busy inspecting territory construction and focusing on developing agriculture, the Count of Burgundy was issuing orders to the entire border calling on powerful merchants to purchase grain in the North and sell it southward to support Provence's war against Lombardy. In order to encourage merchants to take active actions, the courts of Provence and Burgundy simultaneously ordered that all grain sold from the North to Provence would be exempt from all commercial taxes and entry taxes.
Of course, the Continental Commercial Bank, which is a member of the Northland Commercial Guild of Burgundy, also received this call. Salt, the manager of the European Trading Company, keenly seized this opportunity. After selling the southern goods carried by the caravan, he began to organize people to purchase large quantities of grain in the north and store it in the warehouse rented by Lucesien.
"Steward Salt, is it too risky for us to hoard so much grain? There are wars in the south now. If not many merchants are willing to buy grain and go south, the grain will be spoiled in our hands." Kenem, the shop steward of Lucesien, followed Salt and counted the grains in the warehouse. Looking at the grain bags piled up in the warehouse, he was a little worried that Salt's move was too risky.
From Kenem's perspective, his worries are not unnecessary. The reason why the palace called on merchants to carry grain to the south for trade on the condition of exempting all taxes is because the merchants knew that the south was not easy to go. The merchants were willing to take risks for money, but they were not willing to lose their lives for money. Now Salt's stockpile of grain has far exceeded the upper limit that his caravan can carry. Once other merchants dare not buy grain and go south, and there is no shortage of grain in the north, it will be difficult to rely on the north or the valley to consume the grain on their own.
"Kenem, you don't know the current situation in the south, and you don't understand our lord's thoughts. My lord told me that he will find a way to lead the caravan south to open the trade route in the southern continent. Now is an excellent opportunity. My lord has an army with him, and he knows a noble from Provence. Other caravans may not dare to go south, but my lord will not be afraid." Salter is confident.
Seeing that Kenem was still a little worried, Salt said safely: "Don't worry, even if we don't go south to Provence, we can still transport this food to the border to store it. Your Excellency has a territory and military fort at the border, where we can store a large amount of food and materials. Think about it, even if we don't go to Provence by then, Will the merchants in the south also take the initiative to go north to buy grain? If we can transport the grain to the border, it will save the merchants a lot of distance. Even if we earn some freight, at least we will not lose money. "
Kenem felt relieved at this time.
"Kenem, you are familiar with the area around Lucesien. Taking advantage of the fact that this year's grain has just been harvested and the price is low, you can take people to the surrounding areas to purchase a batch of grain and store it in the warehouse after settling the shop work. Tomorrow I will hire a fleet to transport the first batch of grain for us to the border for storage."
“Steward Salter, you still hire a fleet? Doesn’t the guild only allow us to have fifteen carriages?” The previous incident left Kenem with lingering fears, and he did not dare to offend anyone from the guild again.
"Don't worry, the guild is only restricting the amount of goods we can carry from the south. It has not said that we are not allowed to hire fleets to transport food. Besides, now that the palace is calling on merchants to sell food south, the people in the guild will not say anything."
"Well, then you go south and bring back the shop's account books and the profits of the last three months. Your Excellency said that the profits of the shop in Lucesien will be directly managed by Mrs. Lottie."
"Okay, I will send someone to collect it from the shop."
Seeing that there was no one around him, Salter whispered in Kenem's ear: "In addition, my lord asked me to give you a secret mission. I heard that the Marquis has been in poor health recently, and there has been an undercurrent in the palace. My lord asked you to find a way to find out more news about the palace. Besançon's "Eagle Eye" can only collect some rumors, and your lord needs more real news." "
out out out of curiosity;
In the official room on the second floor of the Lord's Mansion in the Valley Wood Castle, Lottie was settling Art's income and expenditure in the past six months, writing down the calculations. Lottie put down the sheepskin account book and looked at Art and said: "Dear Lord Art, your treasury is depleting too fast. Now you have to pay nearly 10,000 pfennigs every month just for military pay and military expenses. The salaries required for civil affairs and commercial banks are also huge. Some time ago, after you purchased weapons and armor and added commercial bank funds, there is only what is left in the treasury. "It's less than 100,000 pfennigs. According to your current consumption, the money in the treasury can barely last for one year."
Lotti put down the account book and stood up, walked around behind Art, and rubbed his shoulders: "I used to complain that my father was obsessed with merchants and not specialized in the military. Now I finally understand that apart from the factors of not wanting to attract attention, the huge expenditure required to support an army is enough to give my father a headache."
Matt raised his hand, grabbed Lottie's hand and rubbed it for a while, then replied: "Yes, the army is a gold-swallowing behemoth. I am still too weak to dare to expand the army too much at once. When the time comes, I will spend a lot of silver coins to pay military salaries and military expenses. My army will definitely not be as powerful as it is now."
"Dear, can your army really only rely on silver coins? To maintain the combat effectiveness? "
Art paused for a moment while stroking his hands, then slowly covered his face with his hands and sighed, and after a long time he replied: "Currently, only silver coins can maintain the combat effectiveness of my army. If my legion does not have high military pay, abundant military expenses and excellent treatment, who can accept my daily training like an animal? Who can fight for me without risking their lives?"
"Angus once laughed and said that the money I spent on one hundred soldiers could recruit eight hundred peasant soldiers, but I believe that my one hundred soldiers can defeat a thousand such peasant soldiers."
Lotti walked around to Art, "So in order to earn more silver coins, you plan to continue taking the caravan into Provence?"
Ate stared at the "Southbound Grain Sales" order issued by the palace that Salt brought back on the table, and said firmly: "Yes! The most chaotic era is coming. I want to make my sword sharper, so that I can fight out a red dawn in the darkness!"
………