Reclaiming Wasteland Didn't Seem So Difficult

Lunchtime arrived quickly. Tarot brought several maids with her to deliver today's lunch.

There would be no more "hamburgers" in this world. There would only be "Wessen Buns."

After discussing policies and other matters that morning, Frederick planned to study the technical issues of reclaiming wasteland in the afternoon.

They did not discuss work over lunch, instead chatting idly.

After eating and drinking his fill, Frederick patted his face to perk himself up, then said to everyone, "What matters now is properly resolving this refugee crisis and turning it into an opportunity for our development."

He looked at Matthias and asked, "What suggestions do you have for reclaiming wasteland?"

After thinking things over for some time, Matthias had realized that controlling plants in battle truly did not suit him. He was now trying to develop in the field of agriculture.

He said, "I studied the map of Wessen Territory and visited many places. I have a plan."

"It is impossible to reclaim all of Wessen Territory as farmland. The cost of farming in the mountains is too high, and we also need timber forests and firewood forests."

"I suggest reclaiming flat land into farmland and implementing the Three-Field System. After reclaiming mountainous land, we can plant oak trees, chestnut trees, currants, and various fruits."

"The weeds and shrubs encountered during reclamation are quite troublesome. Monoflo can handle that—generally by eating them."

Monoflo the Beast Tamer shot Matthias a vicious glare. "Don't make it sound like I'm the one eating them."

Amid everyone's laughter, he turned to Frederick and said, "When reclaiming land, the weeds and shrubs above ground, as well as the roots beneath it, are troublesome to deal with manually. My suggestion is to import newly weaned sheep along with draft horses from the Osmagar Empire."

"As long as there are enough sheep on a plot of land, they can dig up and eat even the roots within two months, leaving only a few thorny bramble bushes."

"Just burn the isolated bramble bushes above ground. Let Matthias eat the roots underground."

Matthias laughed along with everyone else, then continued, "Some time ago, the principal told me that the nodules on the roots of beans and similar plants are key to enriching the soil. After giving it some thought, I found that it was indeed true."

"For newly reclaimed land, whether flatland or mountain land, I suggest planting forage grass such as alfalfa, vetch, and Chinese Milk Vetch for the first few years. They can enrich the soil while also feeding livestock."

"There is no need to deal with the roots underground. During this time, the dead roots will rot and be eaten by insects. They will be gone in two or three years."

"From my experience, if I use my methods to promote the growth of forage grass, yields can at least double, enough to provide feed for penned livestock."

"However, this requires compost, plant ash, bones, and other materials to fertilize the land and restore its fertility."

"I have a suggestion: legislate to guarantee the supply of these fertilizers through Tax Revenue."

Flick smiled at Neuer, the tax official beside him. "From now on, aside from the shit tax, you'll also have to add an ash tax and a bone tax."

Manure had always been an important source of fertilizer. Every region had traditions of collecting excrement to make compost, but they did not place enough importance on urine, plant ash, bones, and the like.

Matthias had only begun considering these issues recently after reading Frederick's booklet on fertilizer. The more he compared it with his experience, the more sense it made.

Frederick said at this point, "There's no need to impose special taxes. That would be too troublesome. We only need to sort and recycle garbage."

Neuer immediately said, "Adding taxes recklessly would cause a great deal of trouble. It would be better to legislate that different kinds of waste must be thrown in different places."

After saying that, he looked at Otto the judge. Otto, in turn, looked at Frederick. Only after seeing his lord nod did he say, "I know what to do."

Frederick added, "Discuss it together later. Once you have drafted the regulations, show them to me."

"Oh, right." He remembered something else. "Torn linen... forget it, no need to be greedy over such a small advantage. Ah Fu, open a trading company specifically to purchase torn linen and old hemp ropes."

Many people present were utterly confused. Could those things be used as fertilizer too?

The only person in the meeting room who understood Frederick's idea was Psyche. She suddenly said, "There's no need. It won't achieve the effect you want."

Those who did not know Psyche's identity were full of questions, while Frederick asked, "Then what method do you have?"

Psyche said, "Hmm... Lion's Head."

The others were startled. Lions were magical beasts found only on the distant Southern Continent. They were incomparably fierce, and every year quite a few people crossed the sea to challenge them, only to end up delivering themselves as food. What could possibly make her name such a condition?

Frederick immediately nodded. "No problem."

Just a lion's head. Steamed or braised, either was fine. Easy enough.

After that brief interlude, Frederick looked at Aumert and asked, "Can you make a simple Golem Puppet now?"

Aumert raised his brows, thinking a big deal had arrived. His face broke into a brilliant smile that startled everyone.

Rubbing his hands together, he asked, "What kind of Golem Puppet does the principal want? A guard type, or an attack type? A mage type is also possible."

"If you pay a little extra, I can even give the Golem Puppet a layer of artificial skin, making it look exactly like a real person!"

Frederick was startled. So that was possible? He wondered how realistic it would look.

But that could wait. He was only eight years old. Later on... damn it, he was a noble lord. Wouldn't it be easier to just find someone to cosplay in the future? Why make things so troublesome?

Frederick composed himself, ignored Psyche's teasing gaze, and solemnly asked Aumert, "My requirements aren't high. I only need a Golem Puppet for digging."

Aumert's smile instantly froze.

Frederick held out his hands, gathered the surrounding Light Elements, and used his Mental Power to knead them into a model.

There were no efficient rotary machines in this age. Using Golem Puppets to turn rotary tables directly, or having a group of Golem Puppets pedal bicycles to power trains, was out of the question due to excessive energy consumption. The Steam Engine still had to be developed.

However, the Golem Puppet's "Artificial Muscle" had still inspired Frederick. This magical material was somewhat like muscle fibers. It could deform under the effects of magic power and could replace the hydraulic system on an excavator.

Artificial Muscle could even be arranged in a specific structure to push a piston-like mechanism in reciprocating motion, thereby driving a crankshaft. Its advantages were high torque; its disadvantages were heavy weight, low rotational speed, high cost, high energy consumption, and difficult maintenance. Frederick planned to use it as a small power source for driving machine tools.

Researchers like Aumert had spent years focusing their technology on bionics. No one had broken free of those shackles and entered a new world.

Frederick did not take too large a step. Instead, he created the model of an excavator—one with spider legs.

This excavator was about the size of a small excavator used in orchards. Its chassis was around one meter wide, with a spider leg at each corner. Round plates could be installed as feet to reduce ground pressure. The body above was slightly smaller than the chassis, its arm was around three meters long, the bucket capacity was 0.05 m, and it had an open top. A canopy could be set up later.

Frederick spent quite some effort explaining the excavator's function. Everyone was utterly dumbfounded.

It was not as though they had never seen Golem Puppets before. Aumert had brought two of them. One was at Weissenburg University, while the other had recently been sent to the castle to protect Frederick.

But the shape of this excavator... was it a cross between a spider and an elephant?

Aumert frowned as he thought. The most difficult part of a Golem Puppet was its control core, which prevented it from thinking like a real person. If they built a sufficiently enormous Golem Puppet and had a person operate it from inside...

Frederick had no idea he was considering how to make a giant mech. After a moment, he said, "If the price of this excavator can be kept below twenty Florin Gold Coins, it will become one of our flagship products."

Aumert answered with a frown, "In theory, one or two Golem Puppets like this can be made with current technology, but mass-producing them like carriages would be extremely difficult."

Frederick immediately asked, "What difficulties?"

"People." Aumert shrugged. "Leaving everything else aside, just making screws and nuts, then matching them together, would require a great many people."

Frederick slapped his forehead. There was no helping it. At present, screws and nuts were all manually turned on lathes. Whether a screw and nut could be fastened together depended first on luck and second on strength, so people specialized in matching them.

Behind every industrial product stood an industrial system. No matter how backward it was, an industrial system was still an industrial system. Against handicrafts, it was a dimensional strike.

"Forget it." Frederick shook his head. "Make one or two first and improve them gradually. We can mass-produce them when the opportunity arises later."

Aumert replied, "All right. I have a student named Liebherr who is skilled with machinery. Let him take charge of it."