After confirming his cooperation with Hansel, Paul Greiman began considering the agricultural problems in his territory.
The first issue was land ownership. Nominally, all land in the Alarda Territory belonged to the Greiman Family, just as in the ancient Celestial Dynasty, all land under heaven belonged to the emperor. In practice, however, the farmland used for agricultural production was divided as follows:
Nearly one-third of the farmland was directly controlled by the Lord's Manor, with all its output belonging to the Greiman Family. Slightly more than one-third was occupied by large landowners and local gentry in the various villages and towns, including the Greiman Family's retainers. They paid taxes to the Lord's Manor every year, while keeping the remaining output for themselves. Slightly less than one-third belonged to the numerous tenantless farmers and small landowners.
Following the usual approach, the count should have launched either a violent or peaceful land redistribution reform, ensuring that every farmer in the territory had a plot capable of supporting himself and his family—putting land in the hands of those who tilled it—and then having everyone sing praises to the lord.
But Paul was not looking forward to the idyllic pastoral life of a peasant economy. He dreamed of the large-scale machine production of industrialization, while the peasant economy was one of the major obstacles on the road to industrialization.
First, the peasant economy tied vast numbers of farmers to tiny plots of land, restricting the formation of a free labor force. The shortage of labor would limit the speed of industrial development.
Second, the self-sufficient and unstable nature of the peasant economy left the masses of small farmers impoverished and unable to purchase more consumer goods. This created a narrow market and hindered the development of a commodity economy.
Third, the peasant economy was