Chapitre 51: October Sowing
Éditeur: Dragon Boat Translation
"Hmm… No problem," Hua Mulan agreed to it.
Chu Tian was planning to recruit Grade 2 cavalry at first, because Lingyan Town had a Level 2 cavalry camp. However, Lingyan Town had not been made into its client town yet, so Xia Town had no right to utilize the Level 2 cavalry camp. If he used it by force, the recruited cavalry would belong to Li Er from the Great Tang, but not him.
In addition, the quality of warhorses required by Grade 2 cavalry would be even higher. As for the heavy cavalry, the weight of their armors wasn't something that ordinary warhorses could tolerate.
Before he could get better warhorses, Chu Tian recruited a Grade 1 light cavalry for now, with ordinary warhorses as their equipment.
All the warhorses were gathered in Xia Town. In chaotic times like this, warhorses were as valuable as gold and silver, belonging to part of the war forage.
Sixty light cavalrymen were being trained at the cavalry camp of Xia Town, their training duration 14 days. The Level 2 drill ground happened to require a fortnight to be expanded to Level 3 as well.
When the light cavalry came out of it, they would be transferred to the Level 3 drill ground for training, with Hua Mulan as the cavalry coach.
During this period, Chu Tian supervised the grand-scale construction which involved everyone, while also taking an inspection tour as the farmers sowed their seeds.
Early October was the time of the year when wheat was sown in areas around the Yi River.
More than 3000 households in Xia Town were farmers, and all of them were involved in sowing. The new farmlands Li Kui cultivated with the refugees had finally been put to use, the newcomers to the town sowing seeds directly.
Lingyan Town had a specialty called "refined farming utensils." When he took control of Lingyan Town, Chu Tian seized a batch of fine farming utensils, which he handed over to Xia Town to use.
Xia Town was Chu Tian's fundamental after all. His utmost priority was to manage Xia Town well.
In the fields, a dozen oxen were pulling ploughs, farmers closely following them from the back. The so-called ploughs were in fact a farming utensil used for sowing. It was an invention of the Western Han of China, which was formed by three legs with three furrow openers at the bottom, to be used for opening furrows and sowing on flat lands.
"If the harvest is great next year, Xia Town alone can provide food for ten thousand people," Li Kui said confidently. His Level SS characteristic "maximizes land use" enabled him to instruct the farmers to fully utilize the lands and increase food production by 30%. Therefore, his confidence was natural.
Chu Tian only nodded. Everyone knew the importance of farming, but Chu Tian did not know how to sift seeds and sow. Li Kui was in charge of all of that, instructing the farmers on the process.
Chu Tian wouldn't be able to do the actual farming, neither was his involvement required. Chu Tian only needed to give commands, resolve some conflicts, and wait for the next year's harvest. However, his policies were closely related to that of the coming year's production.
A ramshackle wooden hut was built at the edge of the fields, the official under the jurisdiction of Xia Town's agricultural officer dozing off inside the hut.
The agricultural officer, Li Kui, coughed softly. When the slumbering official saw his superior and the feudal lord, he was energized instantly.
"My lords."
Chu Tian's glance swept across the notice pasted in the hut, on which the words "Farming Utensils for Rent" were written.
Xia Tianliang from Xiaozhu Village was full of creative ideas. She suggested that farmers who lacked farming utensils could apply to renting the ploughing oxen and fine farming utensils from the feudal lord's office. The price would be to submit a greater proportion of their gains to the office.
This was like taking an overdraft, but there had been similar examples in ancient times. Farmers with farming utensils could farm on more farmlands and would be able to afford handing over the additional portion in the following year. The governor wasn't worried that the farmers would run away either, because they had anchored their roots into the land beneath their feet.
Li Kui inquired about his subordinate's work in a serious manner, "Have all the ploughing oxen owned by the feudal lord's office been rented?"
The official nodded hurriedly. "All the ploughing oxen have been rented. The item most welcomed by farmers was the ploughing oxen, followed by ploughs, hoes..."
Chu Tian stood at the side, quietly listening as the agricultural officers discussed these trivial matters. He wanted to learn something from it himself.
The oxen of the feudal lord's office came from wars and trading. Sometimes, oxen could be obtained by attacking other villages or mountain thieves or purchased from certain cities.
Oxen were the most important resource, as far as farmers were concerned. As the ancient saying went, "having a piece of land without oxen is like having a boat but no oar; it is of no use".
Xia Town imposed very strict regulations on ploughing oxen and horses. The people who sold and slaughtered horses and oxen without permission would be bludgeoned a hundred times and fined the first time they committed the act. If they did it again, they would be sent for mining.
Apart from renting farming utensils, the feudal lord's office even arranged for unemployed special talents, such as Xiaozhu and Xiaolü, to set up makeshift tea stalls at the farmlands and construction sites to win over people's hearts.
Popular sentiment was rising slowly because of these minor strategies.
High popular sentiment and public security were among the requirements for upgrading to a Level 2 town.
Chu Tian gazed into the distance, the farmlands of Xia Town seen everywhere.
"My lords, it's time for tea."
The dance hostess of Xia Town, Xiaolü, knew Chu Tian. She had been helping out at the makeshift tea stall nearby the farmlands when she saw Chu Tian inspecting the place with his people, so she took the initiative to invite Chu Tian and the others to the tea stall.
Unemployed special talents received subsidies from the feudal lord's office every month, so people like Xiaozhu and Xiaolü were very grateful toward Chu Tian. After hearing about the request from the feudal lord's office, they stepped forth at a moment's notice to help the office befriend the people.
"When we upgrade to Level 2 town, I'm going to build a music workshop in Xia Town. By then, you will have jobs to do."
Chu Tian had an interest in these special talents because they could bring about special reinforcement to Xia Town.
Music workshops belonged to the cultural category of constructions. Cultural constructions weren't non-essential, as they could serve to reassure the public, increase the population, bring in tax revenues, and raise the prosperity level.
"Thank you, my lord."
Xiaozhu and Xiaolü exchanged a glance, delighted. Working in music workshops was their best way out, and the terms of employment would surely be better than those in the brothels. In Feudal Lords, music workshops would eventually be upgraded to royal music workshops, which represented the zenith of the music and dance of the Eastern Han.
Chu Tian also planned to send whatever historical talent females he managed to recruit to the royal music workshops. In Feudal Lords, every special hero had his or her own functions; none of them was just for show. Even Liu Chan and Hu Hai had their own characteristics.
Chu Tian had been staying in Xia Town recently, instructing the development of all his client villages remotely.
Once Xia Town was upgraded to Level 2, Xia Town's client villages could be upgraded to Level 1 towns.
For example, Xiaozhu Village had long fulfilled the upgrade requirements for Level 1 town under Xia Tianliang's management.
The orientation of Yunlai Village was an agricultural village. It was also advancing toward a Level 1 agricultural town.
Shangbi Village was a mining-type village and was about to be upgraded to a Level 3 village.
Every day, large amounts of building stones and timber were being transported to Xia Town. One after another, buildings either rose from the ground or were expanded from their foundations. The level of prosperity was fast approaching that of a Level 2 town.
The prosperity level requirement for Level 2 towns was very demanding. The Eastern Han had only a handful of feudal lords who owned Level 2 towns, and even then, there were less than ten Level 2 towns.
Rewards would be given for achieving Level 2 towns, but they weren't really attractive. The best reward was that for achieving the first city in the world, so Chu Tian wasn't in a hurry, because it wouldn't do him any good.
What he was really aiming for were the rewards for achieving the first city in the world.
Due to the "notorious" name of Hua Mulan's cavalry around this area, no feudal lords had the courage to intrude the area of influence of Xia Town. Even throughout the entirety of Langya Nation, hardly any feudal lords had the guts to launch a face-to-face attack on Xia Town.
Some small villages and towns could join forces to resist against Xia Town, but a collaboration among feudal lords was very complex, because all of them had different intentions. When powerful figures from different paths attacked Dong Zhuo, only two or three of them dared to step out. Even after the six nations allied their forces, they still lost to the powerful Qin.
In November, constructions such as the Level 2 navy camp, the Level 3 drill ground, the Level 3 hoggeries, and so forth were finally completed, one by one. Only then were the popular sentiment and public security restored.
Xia Town had fulfilled all the requirements for upgrading to Level 2 town.
-- Cadeau
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