Chapter 302: One hoe, one hoe, 40% of the new land reaches the house
After listening to Horn's inquiry, Busak began to tell Horn about it with his extraordinary memory.
However, Horn felt drowsy not long after listening.
"Let's do this." Horn stood up and stretched, "Take me to the Holy Hoe Monastery to have a look."
At present, the work of dividing the fields has ended, and it has become With the 100-household system, the burden on Horn's shoulders was much less.
There wasn't much going on today, so he just took some time to go and see the situation at the Holy Hoe Monastery.
His original intention of setting up the Holy Hoe Monastery was to absorb surplus labor and reclaim wasteland.
According to the survey of the field division team, there is a lot of uncultivated arable land in the Kush Territory, and the abandoned part alone is less than 200,000 acres.
It’s just that these fields are not fertile enough and the lords are oppressing them too much. The farmers would rather flee than cultivate these fields, leaving them empty.
The first task of the Holy Hoe Monastery is to reopen these abandoned lands.
After walking out of the city hall, Horn took a few Holy Gun Cavalry and followed Busak towards the direction of the Holy Hoe Monastery.
Holy Hoe Monastery, originally one of the three major monasteries near Castle Joan of Arc, went bankrupt and invested 30,000 gold pounds in Angel Horn.
I was even moved by Shengsun's holiness and took the initiative to let Horn use this well-renovated and beautifully decorated building.
As a result, this monastery became the headquarters shared by the Holy Hoe Monastery and the Holy Scythe Monastery.
As for the other two monasteries, they became the headquarters of the Boy Army and the officer school of the Salvation Army respectively
The Boy Army continued the previous name of the monastery [Lubyanka Monastery].
As for the Salvation Army, at Jeanne's suggestion, the monastery was changed to [Santangi War College].
Crossing the wooden bridge over the river, you will see the vast wilderness of Castle Joan in front of you.
Before he even had time to get closer, he heard a burst of neat chants.
“One hoe, one hoe, 40% of the new field will be at the end of the house!”
"Two hoes, two hoes, the whole family won't have to worry!"
Among the criss-crossing fields, farmers wearing linen vests or bare upper bodies stood in a row.
Sweat waxed their wheat-colored backs, and the hoes in their hands shone dazzlingly in the sun.
The hoe was raised and lowered, and specks of mud and weeds jumped onto their clothes and skin.
Countless hoes are like the moving legs of centipedes, rising and falling like waves.
The plow horse pulls the wheel plow, and the sharp coulter rides the wind and waves in the soil, leaving neat parallel furrows behind the horse's hooves.
On another field that has been cleared, farm laborers throw alfalfa and other green manure seeds into the soil, followed by laborers who splash farmyard manure.
In front of several pre-built wooden houses, several cooks and helpers were stirring spoons in several large pots.
Since the Papal Palace is the majority shareholder of the Holy Hoe Monastery, there is no strong pursuit of economic benefits.
So Horn gave an order to the dean, Elder Seamus, to provide the farm laborers with food and accommodation.
In the reclamation team of the Holy Hoe Monastery, there are dedicated people responsible for washing and cooking.
Those who have a handle in their hands can do fine work. For example, technical talents like a plow handle will receive preferential treatment.
If you don’t have a job and can’t do fine crafts, don’t think about fighting with a torch, just do unskilled farm work such as transportation, weeding and plowing.
In addition to food and accommodation, the Holy Hoe Monastery provides an additional ten gallons of rations and some firewood and peat every month as wages for clearing land.
Sparing this part of the rations and adding potato roots can barely fill the food gap for his family.
In order to motivate farmers, Horn ordered that 40% of the fields opened up should be distributed directly to the developers as dividends.
Of course, if you don’t want the land, you can also ask for the shares of the Holy Hoe Monastery.
However, most people still decided to go somewhere, especially the large number of refugees.
Although Horn issued the law that land should be available to the tiller, allocating land to a large number of refugees.
But there is a prerequisite for this, that is, you have to farm in one place continuously for more than three years, otherwise you will not be able to reverse it through the tax rolls.
Many refugees work as farmhands in different manors every year and suffer great losses. I heard that 40% of the land cleared by the Holy Hoe Monastery will be used to reward the land developers. These refugees work until they urinate blood every day and want to urinate into the fields.
After all, this cultivated land might be your own land.
"Approximately how many people are here?" Horn narrowed his eyes and asked, pointing to the heated scene in front of him.
Busac, who came with him, blinked: "There are more than 10 reclamation teams in the Holy Hoe Monastery. This one is so close to Fort Joan of Arc, so it should be the second reclamation team, with more than 420 people."< br>
After Horn repealed the Fugitive Slave Act, farmers were free to leave their estates and work during the off-season.
So far, the Holy Hoe Monastery has recruited more than 3,000 farm laborers in its land reclamation teams in various places.
Based on the plan set by Horn, it is estimated that 5,000 farm laborers, 200 cooks, and 800 helpers will be recruited.
In this way, nearly 6,000 jobs were provided in one fell swoop, absorbing a large number of hungry people and homeless people.
Since most of these properties are half-cultivated land that has been abandoned, the Holy Hoe Monastery can open up land at an average rate of 3,000 acres per day.
It is estimated that in two months, in mid-June, the re-cultivation of 200,000 acres of abandoned land will be completed.
After mid-June, it happened to be the season for harvesting rice crackers in early July. The farm laborers went home to collect grains seamlessly, surviving the famine smoothly.
Although workers who were previously refugees have not yet had time to plant their fields, they can join the Holy Sickle Monastery and start engaging in agricultural and sideline product processing and other industries.
When next spring, they have learned agricultural and sideline product processing and agricultural techniques, they can return to their own land to cultivate.
"How much capital has been invested in the Holy Hoe Monastery so far?" Horn asked, holding Beech beside him.
"Currently, a total of 2,000 gold pounds has been invested. The Salvation Army has invested 300 gold pounds, the Papal Palace has invested 1,000 gold pounds, and the citizens have injected 700 gold pounds."
The Salvation Army has injected 300 gold pounds, which is actually the capital injected by each legion.
In the war, each legion can get 20% of the loot, and this money will be recorded in the legion's account as the legion's public funds.
As for the 1,000 gold pounds invested by the Pope, 200 gold pounds were deducted by providing venues and food.
After two months, the land reclamation target was completed, and after deducting the land allocated to the farm laborers, there were still 120,000 acres.
Taking a year's total output as the standard for land price, 120,000 acres is equivalent to almost 10,000 gold pounds, which is equivalent to five times the assets of the Holy Hoe Monastery.
Of course, this is just a floating profit, because it will take a long time for these lands to be sold or leased to recover their capital.
Of the 2,000 gold pounds currently on the books of the Holy Hoe Monastery, in addition to the 500 gold pounds deposit and reserved salary, most of them were used to purchase farm tools, cattle, horses, and seeds.
Most of the farm tools used by the Holy Hoe Monastery were placed by Horn to the rural blacksmiths in various districts.
These village blacksmiths may not have as good skills as the master blacksmiths in Ashheard Town, but they are still very good at making simple farm tools.
As for the rakes and wooden utensils, they were left to the rural carpenters in Baihu District.
By placing orders from the government to create demand and restore the economy, logistics will be guaranteed and manpower, money and food can be continuously provided.
"Is this 2,000 gold pounds enough?" Horn asked with his back to Busak.
"Enough, this is a famine. They don't plan to make money. They are satisfied with just enough food and clothing, so the order price is very low."
"Where is the Holy Sickle Monastery?"
"The Holy Sickle Monastery is currently still training people and trying to raise fish and potato roots to raise pigs. Anyway, we have a lot of peat, and potato roots are very convenient for detoxification."
Even purified potato roots contain Even though it is slightly poisonous, it is still easy to die if it is not handled well.
So whenever there is a choice, potato roots cannot be used as a staple food, but can only be used as a supplementary food.
But the starter of all the above economic wheels is not the gold pound in Horn's hand, but the food in Kasha County.
After all, gold pounds cannot be eaten.
Horn had been waiting around for a few days before finally receiving news from Kasha County.
They agreed that Horn would exchange 10,000 gold pounds for 500,000 gallons, and exchange peat and mortar and other goods of equal value for 400,000 gallons, for a total of 900,000 gallons of grain.
But they also made a request, that is, Horn should bear the transportation costs during the period.
(End of this chapter)