King of German Mercenaries

Hoffmann Manor is located in the southeast of Bochum, a small town in the country of Mark, on the north bank of the Ruhr River. This place is a hill, with only a small part of the plain.

The ancestor of the Hoffman family used to be one of the palace guards of the Earl of Mark, but it was not the kind that was taken seriously. Therefore, when the territory of the knights was divided after the war, they were assigned to this hilly area.

In theory, the Hoffman estate has a fief of 500 Ugrams (1,000 acres). But in fact, of the 1,000 acres, only 200 acres (1,200 acres) along the Ruhr are suitable for farming. The remaining 800 acres are basically hills. Moreover, these hills seem to be very barren, not even a tree can grow, only some thin weeds can grow.

This is mainly because the ancestors of the Hoffman family offended the minister of the county of Mark. Therefore, when allocating the fief, the palace minister secretly did something to seal the Hoffman family to this unfortunate place. And those who are lucky enough to seal 1,000 acres (6,000 acres) of land are all cultivated, then the knight family is very rich. Even if the European agricultural level is slag, with 6,000 mu of land lying there, it is difficult to be poor. If it was in the Ming Empire in the east, who would have 6,000 mu of land, it would definitely be a big landlord. The big landlord Liu Wencai has only 10,000 mu of land at home.

But in medieval Europe, 6,000 acres of land was really nothing. Generally speaking, French knightly fiefs are basically 1500 acres. So, the French knights are rich and well-equipped. During the Anglo-French War, the King of France easily gathered 20,000 or 30,000 knights. In the UK, only a few thousand knights can be assembled. The rest, had to use longbowmen to make up.

As for the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, the imperial knights, that is, the family of knights who worked hard for the emperor, generally have a fief area of ​​1,500 acres. On the other hand, the knights who belonged to the territories such as the principalities and counties below have smaller fiefs. After all, these principalities and counties themselves are limited in size, and there is not as much territory as the French and the emperor to seal. Therefore, the knights in Markberg's country generally only have 1,000 acres, and not all of them are cultivated land. Generally, more than half of the 1,000-acre fiefdom is cultivated land, which is not bad. As unlucky as the Hoffman family, only a small part of the land is cultivated, so life is tight.

In order to increase income and reduce expenditure, the Hoffmans were a pain in the ass. Now, old Hoffman and Mrs. Mary are very happy to hear that cows can be used instead of horses to plow the land.

In order to prove Marin's assertion, Mrs. Mary immediately sent Adler to Bochum to buy five sturdy bulls and a barrel of spirits. After returning, everyone followed Marin's method and put down the 5 bulls with spirits. Next, the 5 cows were tied up with ropes.

After that, Marin, a professional, came on stage and used a copper ring to pierce the weak point in the middle of the bull's nose. Marin then cleaned the pierced wound with spirits to avoid infection.

At first, the five bulls were of course unsuitable, but the copper rings were placed on their noses, and they dared not move. A few days later, several bulls finally accepted their fate and stopped fighting indiscriminately.

Then, the old Hoffman quickly let the serfs lead 5 cattle to the 600 acres of fallow land, and tried to use cattle to cultivate the land...

"What? Five bulls raise the bar..."

Marin watched as 5 cows in the field pulled a heavy plow together, some spartan...

"Saxony heavy plow, haven't you seen it?" Adler looked at Marin with contempt. Rarely, Adler found an opportunity to crush Marin in terms of IQ.

"Five cows pulling a plough is a waste of cows..."

"There's no way to do this. Saxony's heavy plows are deeper, which is good for the crops. With the Germanic light plows, a draught horse or an ox can pull it, but unfortunately the cultivation is too shallow, and it's not good for the crops." Mrs. Mary explained on the side.

The reason why Hoffmann Manor has as many as 25 draught horses is that I use a Saxon heavy plow with 5 horses in parallel.

And the deep ploughing of the Saxon heavy plow can make the rye yield higher.

"I'm really a pig, why didn't I think of Quyuanli!" Marin patted his head. In so many time-travel novels, the Quyuan Plough is a must-use artifact!

"What's wrong?"

"I suddenly thought of an oriental plough that my teacher taught me. It's efficient and labor-saving, and it's much stronger than the Saxon heavy plow!" Marin said flickeringly.

"There is such a good thing?" Both old Hoffman and Mrs. Mary's eyes lit up. Only Adler, who has not yet been exposed to the management of the manor, is not very sensitive to agricultural matters.

"Just wait and see!"

Then, Marin brought in the serfs in Hoffman Manor who knew how to strike iron and carpentry, and began to fiddle with the curved plough...

The next day, the curved plough with a wooden body and an iron head made a gorgeous debut. The Hoffman family came to Tiantou again to watch the effect of the "Oriental Plough".

Under the guidance of Marin, a serf put the curved plough on the shoulder of the ox, pulled the rope attached to the ox's nose ring with one hand, and supported the curved plough with the other, and started the farming experiment...

After half a day, the serf gradually mastered the use of the curved plow. Then he excitedly shouted at old Hoffman:

"Lord Lord, this is amazing! A plough pulled by an ox is almost as effective as a Saxon heavy plow with 5 horses!"

"Really?" Old Hoffman couldn't believe it. But after he went down to the ground, he opened up the land ploughed by the curved plough just now, and measured the depth with his hands. It was close to the ploughing depth of the Saxon heavy plough, and the effect was very good.

"It's amazing, doesn't it mean that with 10 cows, I can easily plough 50 Ugrams (600 acres) of land in half a month?"

(Note: A cow cultivates an average of four or five mu of land per day.)

"Theoretically, it's like this, Dad!"

"Does pulling a horse have to move this plough?"

"Try it!" Marin said lightly.

Then, the serf put the curved plough on the shoulder of the drawn horse and started the experiment again. It turns out that a draught horse can also pull this "Oriental Plow".

After the test was successful, the old Hoffman decisively sold 15 draught horses for arable land in exchange for 15 cattle. Then, a batch of "Oriental Divine Ploughs" were built in the manor for spring ploughing in the coming year.

Even the Quyuan Plough and the ox nose ring were regarded as strategic secrets and were temporarily ordered not to be shared by the Hoffman family. Hoffmann Manor is basically surrounded by hills, or the Ruhr River in the south, and there are very few people. So, the elder Hoffman decided to close the door and reap the benefits.

As for the emperor or earl? Old Hoffman thought for a while, but gave up. Because, in Europe, in addition to military exploits and the favor of emperors, it is difficult to obtain fiefs by other methods. If you donate this technology, you will be rewarded with a few dollars at most. It is impossible to reward titles and affordable fiefs. Old Hoffman didn't care much about giving titles and fiefs, or even a little money. Therefore, he simply enjoys the benefits of the Quyuan plow and the ox nose ring, and seeks some benefits for himself...

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