Chapter 45: 45 Grain Yield of Forest Town

Chapter 45: Grain Production in Mountain Forest Town

With the administrative officer, Ronin no longer needed to personally manage some affairs in his territory.

However, this did not mean he would completely relinquish control to become a noble lord who only sought pleasure (even though this was his ultimate goal).

Instead, he intended to transform his territory into his own utopia, requiring him to oversee many matters.

Therefore, Ronin demanded Wilson to provide “weekly reports and monthly summaries,” which would both deepen his grasp of territorial governance and help assess Wilson’s capabilities.

After two days of busy work, the personnel arrangements for Mountain Forest Fort were basically complete.

Future adjustments could be made as needed.

After the midday rest, Ronin, escorted by Macken, David, and Tom, began touring his territory on horseback.

As the lord, he was brimming with enthusiasm for this inspection and eagerly anticipated every production and management area within the territory.

This feeling was akin to meeting an online love interest—having imagined so many beauties and envisioned numerous scenes in his mind, only the actual meeting could provide the most direct understanding.

The town center of Mountain Forest Town was very small, with surrounding houses extending only about four to five hundred meters, mainly consisting of freemen’s homes and various shops.

Although the street was short, many people likely passed through daily, otherwise the street wouldn’t be so dirty.

Ronin did linger long on this street; led by Tom, he turned eastward.

If the street could be compared to the urban area, then beyond it was the suburbs.

Ronin could see many low houses built of mud, straw, or wood, both crude and seemingly unstable—the kind that could be blown down by a strong wind.

Compared to living in the urban area, the only advantage here might be fresher air?

“Sir, the town’s wheat fields are mainly distributed in the east and southeast. The northeast area has orchards and vegetable plots, the northwest is mostly grassland suitable for grazing, and the southwest is primarily flax fields.”

Although Tom’s family was involved in tailoring, as a guard of Mountain Forest Town and a professional knight, he often patrolled the agricultural areas, so he knew quite a bit about this.

“If we follow this dirt road eastward, we’ll reach the barley and wheat farms.”

Ronin looked ahead and indeed saw a hint of yellow, seemingly swaying wheat.

“Do you know how large the wheat fields are?”

Tom pondered briefly. “Sir, I’ve heard people discuss it, but I can’t determine the exact numbers.”

Ronin looked at him. This surrendered professional knight had either David or Macken accompanying him over the past two days, with no unusual behavior.

For Ronin, anyone who sincerely surrendered and genuinely worked for him would be treated equally.

As he had previously told Tom, if Tom performed well during the three-month probation period, Ronin would agree to restore Tom’s salary from 20 copper coins per day to 30 copper coins per day, the same as David’s.

“It’s fine, tell me what you know.”

Tom then replied, “I’ve heard many farmers discuss that Mountain Forest Town has nearly thirty thousand acres of cultivated land. Although half of it is fallow each year, the barley fields still cover over nine thousand acres, and the wheat fields nearly seven thousand acres.”

Ronin had heard of fallow—meaning land planted this year would not be planted next year, resting for a year to increase fertility.

Even with fallow, Mountain Forest Town planted over sixteen thousand acres of wheat annually, completely exceeding Ronin’s expectations.

Mountain Forest Town was once wilderness, requiring clearing for cultivation.

Without leadership from a lord, it was remarkable that with limited manpower, so much land had been cleared.

Ronin frowned slightly, thinking of the cooperation between Saine Territory and Prist.

With such a vast cultivated area, besides local consumption, a large portion of grain produced annually could be sold externally.

He wondered how much ultimately flowed into Swamp Town in Saine Territory.

Ronin grew interested and asked, “Do you know roughly how many pounds per acre for barley and wheat?”

Tom answered, “Sir, I don’t know the exact figures, but during busy farming seasons, I heard farmers mention that barley yields about 90 pounds per acre, while wheat is slightly higher, over 100 pounds per acre, roughly around 105 pounds.”

“This…”

Upon hearing these numbers, Ronin momentarily fell into astonishment.

He had anticipated low crop yields in this world, as farming practices here couldn’t compare to those in his homeland.

Yet he never imagined barley yields per acre here would be as low as merely 90 pounds!

“Why so low?” he couldn’t believe it.

Tom instinctively assumed the Baron’s privileged upbringing lacked exposure to agriculture, hence his unawareness of yields, explaining,

“Actually, this yield is quite good, sir. It’s said that barley yields in Swamp Town of Saine Territory are less than fifty pounds per acre.”

Fifty pounds?

Ronin was utterly shocked by this number.

Excluding seeds, barley in Saine Territory probably yielded only about 1:2, likely insufficient even for self-sustenance.

Honestly, why bother planting with such low yields?

Ronin suddenly understood why Saine Territory wanted to incorporate Mountain Forest Town.

Lord Ressen might have viewed Mountain Forest Town as his granary, dedicated to producing grain.

While conversing, they quickly reached the wheat fields, but as they approached, Ronin frowned tighter.

Considering the time, today was already August 15th in the Imperial calendar; in over half a month, barley harvest time would arrive.

In Ronin’s impression, wheat fields should be neatly golden, yet this land was not so.

Firstly, the wheat here was not neat; their stalks varied in height, highly inconsistent.

Secondly, Ronin noticed some wheat was already ripening, while others lacked readiness; in the same wheat field, sown simultaneously, ripening times differed.

Lastly, and most perplexing to Ronin, the wheat fields had many weeds, appearing as if never tended.

Ronin sat on horseback, carefully gazing at the wheat fields, realizing there were no farmers here at all.

“Tom, where are the farmers?”

He finally couldn’t resist asking, “Why aren’t any farmers visible here?”

Tom replied, “Sir, they might be clearing wilderness?”

This answer again surprised Ronin. Ignoring these wheat fields to wholly clear wilderness—such an approach?

“Was this arranged by Prist?”

Tom nodded, “Every year at the beginning, Prist assigns wilderness clearing tasks to each family, to be completed within the year. Before becoming a professional knight, I also cleared land.”

“Alright, alright.”

Ronin utterly failed to understand the rationale of solely pursuing wilderness clearing without tending planted grain.

He dismounted, approached the wheat field edge, and pulled out a weed growing well.

“You said you cleared wilderness, so how much do you know about farming?”

He handed this weed to Tom, asking, “Why not remove weeds?”

“That’s too troublesome.”

Tom took the weed, answering naturally, “Weeds don’t affect wheat growth, and as you see, wheat grows densely; entering casually would damage them.”

Indeed, wheat growth wasn’t orderly—more accurately chaotic, appearing as if seeds were randomly scattered, left to grow on their own.

In such conditions, fertilization and watering are likely difficult to carry out.

"How do you sow the seeds?" Ronin couldn’t help but ask.

Tom began gesturing with his hands: "Sir, we usually first burn off the grass on the barren land, then turn the soil twice, and evenly scatter the seeds on top."

Seeing that he didn’t continue, Ronin couldn’t help but ask, "And then?"

"That's it!"

Tom laughed: "Then we just wait for the harvest. After that, if the yield here seems to decline, we let the land rest for a year or two, grazing livestock here or something. When we return to plant crops after two years, the yield miraculously increases—it must be the blessing of the Seven Gods!"

Ronin suddenly felt that with such methods, achieving a yield of ninety pounds per acre seemed already quite remarkable.

No fertilization, no weed removal, just waiting for the harvest—this was probably only slightly better than slash-and-burn farming.

Why did such a situation exist?

Ronin knew little about this world’s history, only aware that recorded history began with the founding of the Orlant Empire.

Now, although the empire has fallen, both the Auduin Kingdom and the Tricasia Kingdom claim to be descendants of the empire, possessing legitimate succession rights.

Thus, both kingdoms continue to use the imperial calendar.

It is currently Imperial Year 968.

After nearly a thousand years, farming levels remain so low?

Or did farming once reach a higher level, but centuries of continuous warfare reduced agricultural development to a near-primitive state?

Without good agricultural techniques, lords seeing low yields per acre likely could only choose to have peasants cultivate more land.

Increasing total grain output through expanding cultivated land area.

Ronin sighed for the peasants here.

Such farming methods inevitably lead to low yields, and to raise total grain volume, they must expand cultivation area, requiring them to clear more land.

Thus, in an endless cycle, most of their effort goes into land clearance—how could they have time and energy to study how to improve yields per acre?

"We must optimize agriculture, increase grain yields per acre; only then can more people be freed to develop other areas."

"Only with sufficient grain can I support a larger population."

Agriculture is foundational; only after solving basic sustenance can development be pursued.

"Let’s go, check out the next place."

Ronin patted the dirt off his hands, mounted his horse, and headed toward the next area.

(End of chapter)