Agricultural Revolution

Rose Town.

At blacksmith Morse's home.

"Butler Ryan, can the heavy plow you designed really break up the soil?" The burly blacksmith Morse stared doubtfully at the farming implement in the blueprint.

"Don't ask so many questions. Just modify the heavy plow according to the specifications. As for whether it works, I'll have someone test it in the fields."

"...All right. I'll have one ready for you in three days."

Morse nodded, took out an Iron Ingot, and began hammering it on the blazing forge with loud clangs.

Zhou Ming then visited several carpenters in town and personally guided them in making the farming tools he had designed.

Three days later, blacksmith Morse's new heavy plow was finished. The biggest change to this heavy plow was the addition of two concave, upward-curving moldboards above the original conical plowshare, giving it a very strange appearance.

Besides that, Zhou Ming had the two Hard Birch Ox Yokes the carpenters had made over the past few days carried to a field. He had two sturdy oxen brought over, placed the yokes around their necks, and tied the two thick hemp ropes extending from the ends of the yokes to the drawbar at the front of his newly designed heavy plow.

"Ryan, wouldn't this heavy plow need at least four strong oxen to pull it? How could two oxen possibly manage?"

Donny, who had come to watch the new farming implements being tested, stood at the edge of the field. He simply could not believe that this new plow Zhou Ming had designed could turn over this field, which had only recently thawed and whose soil was still extremely sticky.

"Begin."

Zhou Ming did not answer. Instead, he told the farmer operating the new heavy plow to crack his whip and urge the oxen forward.

"Th-this... how is this possible?"

Donny's eyes suddenly widened in shock. The heavy plow had actually moved! Driven by only two sturdy oxen, the new heavy plow rapidly turned over the soil. The two oxen strode forward as if it were effortless, while the furrows cut by the plowshare were deep and neat.

Seeing this, Zhou Ming nodded and said, "It's about what I expected. Adding moldboards to the heavy plow reduced the pulling force required from the oxen by at least 50%. Putting yokes around their necks that make it easier for them to exert force saved them another 30% to 40% of their strength. With both improvements combined, a heavy plow that originally needed six oxen now only needs two..."

Donny had yet to recover from his shock when Zhou Ming continued, "Spring planting is almost here, so there isn't enough time to develop a light plow. If we developed one, a single sturdy ox could probably pull it. There are also Horse-drawn Plows. Horses may not be as strong as oxen, but a Horse-drawn Plow pulled by two horses can till land twice as fast as oxen."

Donny hurriedly cut him off. "Ryan, have you thought about this? The things you've invented are terrifying. Even if every inch of land in Glan Territory were reclaimed, it still wouldn't be enough for these oxen to plow. Why would you need to make some Horse-drawn Plow? I doubt it'll ever be necessary."

Donny felt as if his heart could no longer take it. Ryan's improvements and inventions involving only the heavy plow and ox yoke had tripled the efficiency of Glan Territory's plow oxen, yet he claimed there was still room for even greater improvements?

However, that was far from enough stimulation. Ryan had a farmer nearby push over another strangely shaped farming implement and explained, "Improving land-tilling efficiency alone isn't enough. Donny, look at this. This is the Seed Drill I invented. It can replace the hand-sowing method farmers use. Just adjust the seed outlet beneath it, then push the Seed Drill, and it will automatically complete the sowing. What's more, there are two movable wooden boards on either side that can cover the soil after sowing... With this Seed Drill, one farmer can sow one hundred mu of land in a day."

"Th-this..."

Looking at the Seed Drill before him, Donny began to tremble. Pointing at Zhou Ming, he said, "Ryan, are you trying to let every farmer in Glan Territory be lazy to death? You..."

He no longer knew what to say.

Yet Zhou Ming still shook his head in dissatisfaction. "This alone isn't enough. When the autumn harvest comes, I also need to hurry and invent the Horse-drawn Harvester. Pulled by horses, this harvester can reap hundreds of mu in a day. There are still quite a few horses in Glan Territory. We probably only need ten harvesters, and none of Glan Territory's wheat fields will really need to be harvested by hand."

There would also be Threshing Machines to replace manual labor, wind-powered Windmill Mills... From sowing to harvesting, Zhou Ming planned to pursue a fully mechanized agricultural path where animal and wind power replaced human labor throughout the entire process.

Together with the "Strongest Manure" he had spent more than ten years formulating and improving, as well as "pesticide" made from pyrethrin contained in a type of chrysanthemum, an unprecedented agricultural revolution would take place in this tiny territory.

Right now, Zhou Ming only wanted to make a grand effort on the small stage that was Glan Territory!

"You, honestly... no wonder you were so confident about implementing that agricultural reform. You'd been preparing for it all along. Now, after the farmers of Glan Territory work for just a few days, they can lie around at home and wait for the fields to yield a bumper harvest. In the future, those farmers will probably have it easier than me, the lord."

Donny complained, feeling that Ryan treated the farmers of the territory far too well.

Zhou Ming merely smiled without speaking and offered no explanation. Spring planting was almost here anyway. What the farmers would actually do would soon become clear.

Twenty days later.

Standing atop the castle's spire and looking at the bustling scene in the fields surrounding the castle, Donny's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Mad. This was utterly mad!

The farmers in the fields seemed to have gone mad, as though possessed. From dawn to dusk, they worked themselves desperately in the fields.

There were no overseers wielding whips to urge them on, nor was anyone forcing them. Every farmer had come voluntarily to the land they rented and worked from early morning until late at night.

The farmers did not even seem to feel tired. As they worked, they sang cheerful folk songs, and laughter and merriment filled the fields.

Zhou Ming was also greatly surprised. Though he had expected the farmers' enthusiasm for work to increase somewhat, he had never imagined it would increase so dramatically. It even overturned some of his impressions of farmers, such as that they were indeed somewhat lazy, cowardly, and prone to cutting corners.

It was not until many years later, when he reexamined the nine provisions of the Agricultural Reform Ordinance he had issued, that he suddenly realized he had severely underestimated the immense power of the ordinance's final provision: "Protection of Private Property." It could be said that without this crucial ninth provision in the Agricultural Reform Ordinance, no matter how well the other eight provisions had been designed, the farmers might not have accepted them.

Because.

Only when private property was guaranteed could farmers raise chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep in their backyards without worrying that tax collectors might take one or two away at any time.

Only when private property was recognized would farmers dare to openly trade, exchange, and spend their possessions at the market without worrying that tax collectors might suddenly confiscate them.

Only when private property was protected would farmers dare to save their earnings and pass them down to their descendants without worrying that the lord might impose a massive inheritance tax.

It was precisely through this Agricultural Reform Ordinance, and the astonishing strength suddenly unleashed by the farmers, that this tiny territory of Glan Territory soon underwent earth-shaking changes.