The rotation system was not a problem for villages or small towns with low population density, but the land around the big cities was scarce, and this method was tantamount to a waste of land. Places like Silver City, Fallen Dragon Ridge, and King's City had to import a large amount of food from other towns every month.
The first step of using human and animal manure was to collect them first. This was the reason why Roland decided to build public toilets as soon as possible. At the same time, it could reduce the spread of diseases and beautify the living environment. It was simply a multi-purpose plan. When the rest of the workers arrived, the construction of the toilets was almost completed. As for how to compost and how to sow, he decided to select a group of experienced farmers to teach them in a few days. After all, the land was still in the stage of leveling and cleaning, and it would take at least a week to start ploughing.
After finishing the work at hand, he decided to go to the back garden to see Leaf's experimental field.
Since Leaf had studied various kinds of seeds and improved them, all the places in the garden that could be used to grow flowers were planted with crops. She also followed Roland's suggestion and divided the flower pond into many areas and numbered them, so that they could compare the development results of the two groups of experimental crops.
As soon as Roland stepped into the yard, he was dazzled by the golden wheat.
"Your Highness," Seeing the prince, Leaf, who was squatting by the flower pond, got up, gathered her hair behind her ears, and bowed.
"Are these the results of your improvement?" He waved his hand, indicating that she did not need to be so polite, walked over and excitedly picked up a heavy wheat ear, feeling its plump caryopsis with his fingers.
He had no idea what the wheat could grow into, but compared to the memory of the wheat fields in King's City when he was a child, the wheat ear was not only smaller than the one in his hand, but the grains were also a lot shriveled.
Leaf nodded and said, "I first let the wheat ear become bigger, ripened, harvested the seeds, and then planted the new seeds in the flower pond to get this kind of wheat ear. But... after repeating this process two or three times, it is difficult to grow a big and long wheat ear. I don't know why. "
"Unfortunately, I can't help in this regard," Roland thought. According to his poor junior high school biology knowledge, it was probably because of the defect of self-fertilization? Rice was grown in the south, which was a far cry from wheat. In order to increase the yield, the seeds had to be bought. However, being able to last for two generations is already of practical value. One wheat plant can produce more than 130 seeds. The first batch of seeds will be transformed by Leaf, and the next batch will be used by the farmers as their own seeds. They can be used for at least two years.
"What about this area? Why is it empty?" Roland noticed a flowerbed with only a few withered wheat stalks.
"I planted them there in the beginning. Maybe it's because I've planted them too many times," Leaf said uncertainly. "If I cast my magic, the wheat can grow quickly, but if I withdraw my magic, it will wither quickly."
It seemed that the magically modified plants still needed nutrients from the soil to continue growing, and some trace elements were still indispensable. Roland walked to the last flower bed. The shape of the wheat here was very strange. There were several clusters of green wheat ears hanging on a stalk as thick as an arm. There were also a few branches growing out of the center of the stalk, and the branches were covered with green leaves. Therefore, the size of each stalk was relatively large, and there were only two stalks in the flowerbed.
This was the magically modified version that Roland asked Leaf to try — the wheat tree.
The direction he envisioned was to turn the wheat into a banana tree, which bears fruit from its branches and is harvested regularly every year, thus eliminating the trouble of plowing and sowing. At the same time, it will grow larger and more green leaves, improve photosynthesis, and reduce the demand on the land. At present, the thick stalks and branches took up a little space, and only the branches grew wheat ears, which was not in line with the original idea. "Should I ask Leaf to try to improve it in the direction of grapevines?" Roland thought, after all, she has never seen a real banana tree, and grapes are not rare in Graycastle. It should be easier to imitate if there is a comparison.
"The seeds of these three stalks can't be used for sowing," Leaf said. "I've tried, and the wheat can't germinate after being planted. But it can bear fruit repeatedly. The wheat ears you see are the second batch. "
The inability to germinate meant that each wheat tree was a unique existence, and Leaf had to personally transform it. At present, its planting value was not great. "You've done a good job. The barley varieties will be called Golden Ones. I'll leave an experimental field on the south bank of the Redwater River for you, surrounded by fences and partitions. You should accelerate the ripening of a batch of Golden Ones as soon as possible for this year's spring plowing and sowing. " Roland ordered, "As for the garden, continue to use it to improve new varieties. I've just come up with a lot of ideas. Not only wheat crops, but grapes are also worth a try. "
Unfortunately, Leaf could only understand the characteristics of a crop from a macro level: such as having many fruits, sweet taste, dense branches, and so on … If she could understand it from a micro level, would she be able to directly manipulate the genes and make subtle and precise adjustments? For example, plants could absorb light other than visible light — such as ultraviolet light, X-ray light, or even ionizing radiation to carry out photosynthesis, directly producing starch, glucose, sucrose, and other energy storage substances. In this way, people could directly plant crops in the culture tank.
In the evening, Prince Roland lit a bonfire on the bank of the Redwater River, and ordered Carter and his guards to gather all the serfs. Large pots were carried here by the subjects, set up on the newly built simple clay stoves, and started a fire to cook porridge.
The serfs looked at their new master, who had his back to the bonfire, and whose shadow was cast by the fire, and bowed their heads in fear. There were also some bold ones who secretly looked at the prince from time to time.
Roland stood in front of the bonfire, and announced the rules he had set to the more than one thousand people.
"I'm Roland Wimbledon, the 4th Prince of Graycastle, the Lord of Border Town, and the Lord of the Western Territory!"
"I've gathered you here to tell you that you're lucky to be able to come to this territory! As long as you work hard, you can get rid of your current identity and status! "
"That's right, I'll give you a chance to get rid of slavery and become free people!"
The serfs suddenly burst into an uproar. These serfs were very clear about what it meant to be a free person – they would no longer have to suffer the cruel abuse of their masters, no longer have to be forced to carry out endless farming, no longer have to hand over all the crops produced in the fields to their masters, and their sons and daughters could also get rid of the status of serfs.
After waiting for a moment, Roland continued to say: "Starting tomorrow, each of you will be given a fixed piece of land, and at the same time someone will teach you how to farm in order to harvest more wheat. In the first year, you can keep 30% of the harvest in the fields, and 70% will be handed over to Border Town. The batch with the best harvest will be promoted to free people! "
"After becoming free people, your family can be exempted from slavery. As for whether you continue to farm or find another way to make a living in the town, it's all up to you. If you choose to farm, 20% of the harvested grain will be handed over as rent, and the remaining 80% will be at your disposal. If you find another way to make a living, the fields will belong to the Lord, and of course, you don't have to hand over any grain! "
As soon as these words came out, only the sound of breathing could be heard. At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Your Highness, is what you said true?"
"Of course," Roland said word by word, "As a Lord, I never deceive my people."
"Your Highness is benevolent," someone couldn't help but whisper, and then the voice quickly became high-pitched, "Long live His Highness!"
A serf in the front row followed the shout and knelt down, followed by a second person, a third …
Until there was a dense mass of people kneeling down, the voices rose and fell one after another, more and more, louder and louder. The people's voices finally converged into the same rhythm, "Your Highness is benevolent!" "Long live His Highness!"
Since I got Echo, I no longer need to rely on others, the prince thought.
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