Warlord: King of All Clans

Hearing his lord say this, Knight Gwen felt somewhat pleased, but also a little worried, with mixed feelings.

As Leo's left and right guards, Gwen and Xia, the two Rose Knights, are mainly responsible for secretarial work.

Unlike the well-educated Xia, Gwen's personality is closer to Noreen, that is, she is better at using hands than using her brain.

So when Gwen heard that they were going to go to war, her first reaction was that there was another war to fight.

As long as there is a war, these traditional knights will find their place.

But then she began to share the worries of most people in the River Bend: Why is there another war?

The overall policy of Hewan is still to focus on development rather than outward expansion.

Frequent foreign wars will also consume the river bay’s resources and disrupt the rhythm of development.

The last time the Five Lords formed an alliance, although they were able to eat as much as they wanted, the price they paid was that their main army had to fight abroad and was almost wiped out by the fire dragon's breath.

Behind them are twice the number of auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers providing logistics.

The ammunition, food, and gold coins in stock were all spent like water.

The entire river bay temporarily slowed down its development and focused on foreign wars.

Not every war ends in such a complete victory. Every military action is an adventure.

Just a few small setbacks and the shallow river bend will be seriously damaged.

Besides, the fruits of the last war have not yet been digested, and another expedition will not do Hewan any good.

According to the development strategy formulated by the Lord's Mansion, it is not advisable to use military force in the next two years.

But Leo's concerns were not wrong. Hard Beowulf was optimistic about Leo, a rising star, and helped him from beginning to end.

In the end, he not only risked his life to help slay the dragon, but also gave the legendary sword "Inisnek" as a gift.

When a big brother like this is in trouble, how can a younger brother not come forward to help?

Hewan does need time to rest and grow fat, but time waits for no one.

As the two were talking, spring sowing was still going on in the river bend.

In the endless farmland, farmers are everywhere sowing seeds.

The Northwest United Knights Territory has been fully developed. Together with the original River Bay Territory, the cultivated land area in the entire Northwest region has gone from the least among the four regions to second only to the Northeast region.

Except for those lands that are really difficult to cultivate and have been turned into forests or pastures, the rest of the flat land has been integrated into large tracts of farmland.

In order to improve production efficiency, the lord's mansion has distributed the reclaimed farmland to each household. On average, every resident has at least one acre of arable land.

In theory, farmers along the Anzeno River needed an average of two acres of land per person to feed themselves.

But this was based on the fact that the lords collected more than half of the taxes. After Hewan abolished most of the levies and taxes, only a few major taxes under the imperial law remained.

Coupled with the tax exemption policy for newly reclaimed land, most farmers actually have to pay only one-tenth of the tax.

Less land and higher yields reduced farmers' farming time by half, leaving them with plenty of free time to make money in nearby workshops and economic plantations.

Now, the people of River Bay no longer just think about filling their stomachs, but also want to have a glass of cheap wine in the tavern after dinner.

If you can provide your family with meat every month, send your children to elementary school, and buy them new clothes during the holidays, then you can be called a decent Hewan person.

In the entire territory of Isenpol, twelve large and small reservoirs, two thousand miles of canals, and three hundred mills have been newly built.

The cultivated land area increased by 40%, and the per-mu yield is expected to increase by 30%.

In addition, there are staple foods such as deer horn cassava and No. 7 small potatoes to supplement grains.

In order to ensure the stability of food, the River Bay Lord's Mansion stipulated that, except for industrialized plantations, ordinary people were not allowed to grow cassava and potatoes in their cultivated fields, and they could only be grown in newly reclaimed wasteland and vegetable fields.

In fact, this regulation is very useful. Deer horn cassava is not human food and needs to be transported to the cassava flour processing plant in the river bend for detoxification and processing before it can be eaten.

If ordinary people eat it rashly, not only will it be difficult to swallow, it will also easily cause food poisoning.

It is not so difficult for the residents living near the processing plants in each town, but for the villages a little further away, the round trip is hundreds of miles and it cannot be delivered all at once, so the cost of growing antler cassava is high.

As the first generation of cold-resistant potatoes, the No. 7 small potato is cold-resistant and drought-resistant but not water-resistant. If the land is soaked by continuous heavy rain, it is easy to experience a reduction in yield and reversion to its original state.

The potatoes grown are all green and are no less toxic than cassava.

Moreover, root crops such as potatoes and cassava seem to have extremely high yields, but in fact their yields are calculated based on wet weight.

To really calculate the calories provided, divide by five and then compare to dry grains.

Moreover, potatoes are much more difficult to store than grains. With the cellar storage technology of ordinary people, they can only be stored for half a year at most.

Between the No. 7 small potatoes that produce 4,000 pounds per acre and the wheat that produces 1,000 pounds per acre, the latter is actually more suitable for humans, while the former can only be used as a supplement.

Even the poorest subjects, if they only had small potatoes for a winter and coarse potato cakes for a spring, and planted an acre of wheat, would basically not starve to death.

The head of the Northwest United Knights, he is one of Olivia's deputies.

During this time, his main focus was taking care of the cultivation of more than 70,000 acres of arable land.

Since Leo was inspecting all the way, the person in charge followed behind with a small notebook and reported on his work at the same time.

"My Lord Earl, the 20,000 acres of public land in the Northwest United Knights' Territory has been cultivated. One thousand oxen and five hundred draft horses have all been loaned out to the public. The remaining 50,000 acres of private land are also nearing completion. It is expected that all will be completed by the end of this month."

The traditional cultivated land and newly reclaimed wasteland in the Northwest United Knights Territory add up to more than 70,000 acres, and the lord's mansion has also reserved 20,000 acres of newly reclaimed public land that has not been distributed for the time being.

These public fields were cultivated by conscripts serving in the military, propertyless refugees, and nearby hired farmers, which was equivalent to maintaining the original refugees' farming.

These people have no financial resources and need the manor to provide animal power and farm tools.

The lord's livestock and farm tools could not be left idle after the land was planted, so Olivia asked the manager to rent them to the surrounding residents to reduce their pressure of spring sowing.

Leo nodded and said, "Where are the farm tools?"

The person in charge lowered his eyes slightly and said, "The farm tools on the public fields are badly worn out, and we are still applying for replacements. Moreover, it is difficult to get them back after loaning them to farmers, so we are not loaning them out for the time being."

Leo sneered in his heart, "Severe wear and tear? How much damage?"

The person in charge said with a stiff upper lip: "About 20%."

Leo was worried about going to war, and he laughed angrily when he heard that. "Good fellow, after a year of farming, the farm tools are worn out by 20%. Do you think the craftsmen in the Hewan Workshop are all making disposable products? Or do you think I have never farmed before?"

Knight Gwen, who was following nearby, saw that Leo was angry, and immediately put his hand on the hilt of his sword, staring coldly at the person in charge, as if he was ready to behead him just by waiting for his lord to say a word.

But in her heart, she was thinking about another question.

"My lord, have you ever farmed?"