With an Administrator, Luo Ning no longer needed to personally manage certain affairs in the territory.
But that did not mean he could completely let go and become a noble lord concerned only with pleasure, even if that was his ultimate goal.
On the contrary, he wanted to turn the territory into his own utopia, and there were many matters he needed to inquire about.
Thus, Luo Ning asked Wilson to provide "weekly report, monthly summary" reports. This would not only deepen his grasp of the territory's administration, but also allow him to assess Wilson's abilities.
After two busy days, the personnel arrangements at Mountain Forest Castle had basically been completed.
Only suitable adjustments would be needed later according to the circumstances.
After the midday break, Luo Ning mounted his horse and began inspecting the territory under the protection of Macken, David, and Tom.
As the lord, he was full of enthusiasm for this inspection and anticipation for every production and business area within his territory.
It felt like finally meeting someone he had only known through an online romance. He had imagined so many wonderful things and looked forward to countless scenes, but only by meeting in person could he gain the most direct understanding.
Mountain Forest Town's center was very small, with the surrounding houses extending only four or five hundred meters. It mainly consisted of free citizens' homes and various shops.
Though the street was short, quite a few people must have passed through it every day. Otherwise, it would not have been so dirty.
Luo Ning did not linger on the street. Led by Tom, he turned east.
If the street was considered the urban district, then the area beyond it was the suburbs.
Luo Ning could see many low houses built from dirt, thatch, and wood. They were crude and looked flimsy, the sort that a strong gust of wind could blow down.
Compared to living in the urban district, perhaps the only advantage here was the fresher air?
"My lord, the town's Wheat Field is mainly distributed to the east and southeast. There is an orchard and vegetable patch in the northeast, grassland suitable for grazing in the northwest, and flax fields in the southwest."
Although Tom's family worked as tailors, he had often been responsible for patrolling the agricultural areas while serving as a Mountain Forest Town guard and a Professional Knight, so he knew this area rather well.
"If we follow this dirt road east, we'll reach the Barley and Wheat farms."
Luo Ning raised his head and looked ahead. He could indeed see a patch of yellow in the distance, seemingly wheat swaying in the wind.
"Do you know how large the Wheat Field is?"
Tom considered for a moment. "My lord, I've heard people discuss it, but I can't confirm the exact figures."
Luo Ning looked at him. Over the past two days, this surrendered Professional Knight had either David or Macken accompanying him, and there had been no unusual behavior.
As far as Luo Ning was concerned, as long as someone sincerely wished to surrender to him and work wholeheartedly for him, he could treat them equally.
Just as he had told Tom before, if Tom performed well during the three-month evaluation period, Luo Ning would agree to restore Tom's wages from twenty Copper Coins a day to the same thirty Copper Coins a day that David received.
"It's fine. Tell me what you know."
Only then did Tom answer. "I've heard many farmers talk about it. Mountain Forest Town has nearly thirty thousand mu of reclaimed farmland. Although half the land lies fallow each year, there are still over nine thousand mu planted with Barley and nearly seven thousand mu planted with Wheat."
Luo Ning had heard this word, fallowing. It meant planting this area one year, then leaving it unplanted the next so it could rest for a year and recover some fertility.
But even with fallowing, Mountain Forest Town planted more than sixteen thousand mu of Wheat Field every year. This far exceeded Luo Ning's expectations.
Mountain Forest Town had once been wasteland, after all. Everything had needed to be reclaimed from scratch.
Without a lord to lead them, it had not been easy for these people to reclaim so much farmland.
Luo Ning frowned slightly as he thought of the cooperation between Sain Territory and Prinster.
With such a large amount of farmland, after meeting Mountain Forest Town's needs, there would still be a huge quantity of food to sell elsewhere each year.
He wondered how much of it had ultimately flowed into Swamp Town in Sain Territory.
Luo Ning grew interested. "Do you know roughly how many jin per mu Barley and Wheat yield?"
Tom answered, "My lord, I don't know the exact numbers. But during the busy farming season, I heard farmers mention that Barley yields around ninety jin per mu. Wheat is a bit higher, over a hundred jin per mu, around one hundred and five jin."
"This..."
Upon hearing those two figures, Luo Ning was stunned for a moment.
He had expected crop yields in this world to be low. After all, the farming standards here could not compare to those of his homeland.
But he had never imagined that the Barley yield here would be as low as a mere ninety jin!
"How can it be this low?" he asked in disbelief.
Tom instinctively assumed that the Baron had been born into privilege and had never encountered agriculture, which was why he knew nothing about crop yields. He explained,
"Actually, this yield is already quite good, my lord. I heard that Barley in Swamp Town of Sain Territory yields less than fifty jin per mu."
Fifty jin?
Luo Ning was completely shocked by that number.
After deducting the seeds, the Barley harvest in Sain Territory was probably only a two-to-one return. That likely was not even enough to feed themselves, was it?
Honestly, with such a yield, what was the point of planting it?
Luo Ning suddenly understood why Sain Territory wanted to absorb Mountain Forest Town.
Baron Leysen might have regarded Mountain Forest Town as his family's granary, specially producing food.
As they spoke, the group quickly reached the Wheat Field. But the closer they got, the deeper Luo Ning's frown became.
By his calculations, it was already the fifteenth day of the eighth month in Imperial Calendar. In just over half a month, it would be time to harvest the Barley.
In Luo Ning's impression, a Wheat Field should have been a neat expanse of golden yellow. But the field before him was not like that.
First, the wheat was not uniform. The stalks varied in height and were extremely uneven.
Second, Luo Ning noticed that some wheat had already begun to ripen, while other stalks still needed more time. The same field had been planted at the same time, yet its wheat was ripening at different times.
Lastly, and most puzzling to Luo Ning, the Wheat Field was full of weeds. It looked as though no one had ever tended it.
Luo Ning remained seated on horseback, carefully surveying the field. He realized there was not a single farmer here.
"Tom, where are the farmers?"
Unable to hold back any longer, he asked, "Why can't I see a single farmer here?"
Tom replied, "My lord, perhaps they're reclaiming wasteland?"
That answer again exceeded Luo Ning's expectations. They were ignoring the Wheat Field here to devote themselves entirely to reclaiming wasteland? Was that really how they did things?
"Was this arranged by Prinster?"
Tom nodded. "At the beginning of every year, Prinster assigns each household a task to reclaim wasteland, and it must be completed within the year. Before I became a Professional Knight, I reclaimed land too."
"Alright, alright."
Luo Ning truly could not understand the logic behind pursuing only the reclamation of wasteland while neglecting the crops already planted.
He dismounted, walked to the edge of the Wheat Field, and reached down to pull up a vigorous weed.
"You said you've reclaimed wasteland before. Then how much do you know about farming?"
He handed the weed to Tom and asked, "Why don't you remove the weeds?"
"That's too troublesome."
Tom took the weed and answered as though it were only natural. "Weeds don't affect the wheat's growth. Besides, as you can see, the wheat is packed so densely together. If we casually walk into the field, we'll damage it."
Indeed, the wheat was not growing evenly. More accurately, it was a complete mess. It looked as though seeds had simply been scattered onto the ground and left to grow on their own.
Under such conditions, fertilizing and watering would probably be difficult as well.
"How do you sow the seeds?" Luo Ning could not help asking.
Tom began gesturing with his hands. "My lord, we generally burn off the grass on the wasteland first, then turn over the soil a couple of times and evenly scatter the seeds over it."
When Luo Ning saw that he was not continuing, he could not help asking, "And then?"
"That's it."
Tom smiled. "Then we just wait for the harvest. After that, if we feel the yield here has dropped, we leave it fallow for a year or two and graze livestock here or something. When we return to plant food two years later, the yield will miraculously rise. That must be a blessing from the Seven Gods!"
Luo Ning suddenly felt that, with methods like this, achieving a yield of ninety jin per mu already seemed incredibly impressive.
No fertilizing, no weeding, simply waiting for harvest—this was probably only slightly better than slash-and-burn farming.
Why had such a situation arisen?
Luo Ning did not know much about this world's history. He only knew that recorded history began with the founding of the Orlant Empire.
Though the empire had now fallen, both the Auduin Kingdom and the Tricia Kingdom claimed to be descendants of the empire, possessing the legitimate Right of Inheritance.
For that reason, both kingdoms continued to use the Imperial Calendar.
It was now the year 968 of the Imperial Calendar.
After nearly a thousand years, farming standards were still this low?
Or had farming once been more advanced, only to be reduced to a nearly primitive state after centuries of continuous war?
Without better agricultural techniques, when lords saw that food yields per mu were too low, they could probably only choose to make farmers reclaim more land.
They increased total food production by expanding the area of cultivated land.
Luo Ning could not help sighing for the farmers here.
This method of farming was bound to result in low yields. To increase the total amount of food, they could only expand the planting area, which required them to reclaim even more land.
In this endless cycle, most of their energy was spent on reclamation. Where would they find the time and energy to study how to increase the yield of a single plot?
"We need to improve agriculture and raise the food yield per mu. Only then can we free up more people to develop other fields."
"Only with sufficient food can I support a larger population."
Agriculture was the foundation. Only after solving the problem of food and clothing could they talk about development.
"Let's go. Let's take a look at the next place."
Luo Ning patted the dirt from his hands, mounted his horse, and headed toward the next area.
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