Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest

Sige Town had an Agricultural Officer, 16 Stewards, and 30 Guards.

Those Stewards could only understand and convey simple laws; they themselves had not received much education and only possessed basic administrative skills.

The Guards were a semi-demobilized populace and were the source of Sige Town's stable order.

Roman thought that Moor would not let him down.

So he rode his horse with ease, herding the group of children who were as ignorant and naive as lambs back to the manor.

Roman had named his piece of land Origin Manor.

It took nearly 20 minutes to walk from Sige Town to Origin Manor, but riding a fine horse, it only took a few minutes.

Before leaving in the morning, Roman had instructed Bob to prepare rations for an extra three hundred people by noon and had handed over command of all the manor's maids and male slaves to Bob—it would be like this on the first day, but afterwards, it would get easier.

These three hundred children could also take on most of the labor at Origin Manor in between their lessons.

Ignorance could be taught and learned; those who did not obey would be punished until they did.

Roman believed he was not harsh with them.

It was the pioneering phase now, and due to spring plowing, all available manpower was basically fully scheduled by him.

He called over the two clerks in the manor. One was named Geman, the other Hans.

They came from the city schools of the Riptide Grand Duke Domain.

This world had basic educational institutions.

Not to mention the Church's Divinity School and Monasteries.

The children of princes and nobles gained knowledge through the Court School.

There was also an education system corresponding to the Knight class, yet most Knights did not focus on cultural knowledge; these soldiers only needed to recognize words and understand orders—Green and Aaron, having grown up with Roman, were influenced by his ways and both were capable of performing the work of a civil servant, but this was a special case.

Finally, there was the middle class such as merchants and gentry, who acquired knowledge through city schools, mainly involving reading, writing, arithmetic, and business knowledge.

It was somewhat of a vocational school.

The two clerks Roman had recruited were from such schools, and although they were commoners, they came from wealthy backgrounds.

They were the second sons or illegitimate children of a merchant or gentry, who had to fend for themselves in the future and could not rely on family support.

For Roman to find these two clerks, he also paid a considerable price.

Developing the Wilderness was an exceptionally arduous task.

Roman offered a salary of 1.2 Gold Coins per year, paid three years in advance, thus a ten-year contract was signed.

This employment price could not be considered anything but steep—it was half again as much as the going rate.

And the salary was only the main part of their income; in addition to that, they would still receive compensation in kind.

A Conquest Knight, owning over a thousand acres of land and considering battle spoils, had an average annual income of only 10 to 20 Gold Coins, but this was without factoring in everyday expenses.

Being able to save 1 Gold Coin a year meant living quite comfortably; most Knights without land had trouble even sustaining themselves, let alone repairing their equipment when it broke.

Roman said to them, "Listen, Geman, Hans, I need you to teach that group of children every day, just as your teachers taught you. Be patient with them, starting with math, then move on to reading and writing..."

Geman suddenly spoke up, "Lord, I followed you to this land, not to become a teacher."

Geman hoped to attain a position equal to that of the Agricultural Officer, such as a Judicial Officer or an Internal Affairs Officer, and then manage the manor.

Not to be leading a group of dirty farm children in word guessing games.

"Do you feel the same?" Noticing the two stood together, Roman turned his gaze toward Hans.

This somewhat gaunt young man nodded gently; his grandfather was the Judicial Officer of a Great Lord, aiding the nobles in the creation of laws, dealing legal punishment to any peasant who broke them, perfecting the authority to rule.

But here with Roman, all they had done recently was census work.

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That was just a tedious arithmetic game, without any opportunity to truly shine.

They came from the middle class, so they were eager to advance and obtain positions that would benefit their descendants, thus they accepted Roman's invitation to come to this place far removed from society.

Before their arrival, Roman had promised them that they would work on lands flowing with milk and honey, and he had claimed that their social status would be greatly improved in the future—this was almost a decree that they were to become the future managers of the estate.

On the other hand, they felt that being employed by nobility, they were the elite of the city, completely separate from the children of farmers.

But now, they had been kicked into the dirt by Roman, lumped together with the poor, with no hope of climbing the social ladder.

"So you wish to defy my orders?" Roman's voice grew colder.

Hans swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and with courage he didn't know he had, he puffed out his chest and said, "We have the right not to execute unreasonable orders. If you insist, Lord Roman, I will bring a lawsuit before the Royal Court. The King's judicial power is above your authority as a lord..."

As Roman's gaze became increasingly terrifying, Hans's voice grew quieter and quieter, until amid the disappearance of all protest, Roman's eyes blazed with an unprecedented fervor, as if flames were burning. It was a terrible sharpness that made each of them feel like there were thorns on their back whenever Roman fixed his gaze on one of them.

Roman spoke, "I hired you at a price above the market. Do not talk to me about any of your rights. Your wages are enough for me to order you to do these things."

In his calm words, the two men deeply felt a quiet power, like the sea before a storm, seemingly without waves, but this omen left them shivering with dread.

Even if they died in this godforsaken place, their families wouldn't receive any news for three to five years.

"You signed a contract to work for me. Should you not obey your master? Shouldn't you?"

Seeing the two of them nodding continuously with trepidation, Roman's expression softened slightly.

"Don't overestimate yourselves, nor my patience towards you. And do not attempt to question my decisions, otherwise, I will execute you on the spot!"

Roman walked straight past the two men, and that last sentence he uttered as he passed by them carried a bloodied edge, and it was by no means empty talk.

...

Roman arrived at Sige Town.

He saw the peasants who collected dung returning at this time, starting to line up for their meal.

Roman glanced at the pile of manure.

An entire morning's work should have collected about a dozen tons, with more yet to be transported.

It wasn't just human waste; cow, horse, sheep, pig dung was all included, and a strong, adult ox could produce twenty to thirty pounds of manure a day.

And these matured manures had an extremely powerful effect on improving the soil.

But these were far from enough. Roman needed at least 100 tons of fertilizer to meet the minimal requirements.

Still, the unrotted dung only gave off a stench.

Moor's efficiency impressed Roman.

Moor handled some of the minor details that Roman hadn't assigned very well.

On the public ground, there were utensils and tables and chairs scavenged from the farmhouse in Sige Town, utilized uniformly. Otherwise, there would be no way to accommodate so many people eating at the same time. Behind them was a simple stove built up with stones, on which clay pots still boiled.

After dismounting, Roman walked directly over there. As he approached, he smelled the strong odor—the peasants who had picked up dung for the morning reeked as well, so much so that the open-air canteen smelled like a public toilet.

But Roman's expression remained unchanged.

This was nothing. He still had to personally deal with that mountain of manure later.

Along the way, the peasants constantly cleared a spacious path for him, their eyes filled with fear when they looked at him.

This new lord had not redistributed their lands, nor had he talked about raising taxes, or when they should start farming.

This made them anxious and very nervous, as it was a good time for ploughing the fields and they couldn't afford to delay.

However, Roman was firm in his stance, and they had no choice but to wait and see.

But the quality of the meal provided at noon also shocked them.

Could this be the legendary 'last meal'?

If it were a normal time, these items would have been enough for their entire family to enjoy with other side dishes for an entire day.

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