Cattle were vegetarians. They preferred to eat tender grass and leaves. Naturally, they didn't like dry rice straw. Moreover, since the rice straw was too dry, they must be given enough water when eating it. In this way, the cattle could drink water when they were thirsty, so they wouldn't die of thirst.
Although cattle preferred fresh grass, there was no fresh grass to eat in winter. Therefore, they had no choice but to eat rice straw. Even if the cattle didn't want to, they had to eat it.
In order to maintain the balance of the yellow cattle's physical strength and prevent them from being malnourished and losing weight in winter, the Yang family would store a part of the wild grasses in the wild during summer and autumn and store them half-dried. At the same time, they would let the bison eat some dried straw. In this way, the Yang family's yellow cattle's diet almost didn't change throughout the year, except that they would eat less wild grasses and more straw in winter. In other seasons, they would eat more fresh wild grasses and less straw. But overall, the nutrition was balanced and there would be no malnourishment caused by eating only one type of wild grasses.
That was to say, the Yang family raised more than 200 cattle. The cost of maintenance was very low and the profit was relatively large. With so many cattle pulling the cart, the Yang family could earn a lot of transportation fees. The plowing and overturning of the cart wouldn't be delayed. It was killing two birds with one stone.
In addition, the cattle would breed a lot of calves every year. When the number of cattle exceeded a certain number, they would need to sell some of them to maintain a stable scale, a scale with the best income. Selling to the cattle would also bring them a good income.
Ang Lee now seriously suspected that the head of the Yang family was a shrewd businessman. Otherwise, he wouldn't have thought of so many twists and turns and come up with so many ways to make money.
A barren mountain and more than two hundred cattle, yet he was able to make multiple profits out of it. This was not something an ordinary person could do. As such, Li An really wanted to meet this awesome person. He wanted to see who this guy was and how he could have such a business mind to earn almost all the money that could be earned.
"Fellow countryman, where is your boss's manor?"
Ang Lee asked.
The fellow countryman pointed to the distance and said, "The hilltop in front of us blocks the view. Our boss's manor is behind the hilltop. It's only seven or eight miles away. It's not far."
"Okay, thank you."
Ang Lee thanked him.
There was a path in front of them that led to the hilltop. Ang Lee and the others went directly to the hilltop. The hilltop was only one or two hundred meters high, but it wasn't short. Standing at the top of the hill, they should be able to overlook the whole Yizhou City and the surrounding villages.
Because the two sides of the path were relatively steep, with an inclination of more than 50 degrees, this place was not developed into terraced fields. Even the orchard was not developed. It was still in its most primitive state. Other than weeds, there were some worthless trees. If they were valuable, they would have been cut down long ago.
. The path...................................... n....................
. Fortunately, the hill wasn't big. After a while, they finally reached the top. This was the highest peak of Little Pagoda Hill. There were only some weeds and no trees. From the roots left on the ground, they knew that there used to be trees here. However, these trees had been cut down. Now, only weeds and roots were left.
The trees on the hillside were still intact. However, the trees on the top of the hill had been cut down. It seemed that the trees were deliberately cut down for a better view. It wasn't clear who cut them down. Maybe a playboy from Yizhou City came here and saw that the trees on the top of the hill were blocking the view. So, he ordered people to cut down all the trees on the top of the hill. This way, when standing at the top of the hill, one could see the scenery in the distance.
Ang Lee stood at the top of Little Pagoda Hill. When he looked up, he could see Yizhou City not far away. Because of the height difference, he could see the streets of Yizhou City clearly. The pedestrians in Yizhou City were like ants crawling back and forth.
Outside the city, he could see a manor near the foot of the hill. It was a very sizable manor. At a glance, he could see at least a very large family. There were some smaller families scattered around. This large family was in the middle, towards the south, and a lot of small families surrounded it.
Whether it was the size or the architectural specifications of the houses, the large family was obviously different from the surrounding small families. This large family was naturally the manor of the Yang family. The surrounding small families were the tenant farmers of the Yang family.
Around the large number of houses, there were green fields. These were the properties of the Yang family. These fields were at least a few thousand mu. In other words, even without the terraced fields, the Yang family's property was not small. After the terraced fields were developed, the Yang family's property was even bigger.
"What a big manor!"
Ang Lee sighed.
"Manor? What is a manor?"
Chen Long asked.
In fact, a manor meant a field in the Tang dynasty. He just couldn't wrap his head around it. In ancient times, people liked to call it a manor in foreign countries. In the Tang dynasty, they liked to call it a field, but in fact, they had the same meaning.
"A manor is a field."
Ang Lee answered. After that, he picked up the binoculars in his arms and observed carefully.
In the end, what was a manor? It was very simple. A manor was a large field in the countryside. In ancient times, Hua Xia included residential buildings, gardens, and farmlands.
According to the status of the manor owner, the manor had different names. For the royal family, it was called the Imperial Manor, Yuan, Gong Manor, Wang Manor, etc. For the aristocrats, officials, and landlords, it was called the Private Manor, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, etc. For the temples, it was called the Permanent Manor. In the Middle Ages, manors with defensive facilities appeared in England, France, and other countries. The hall in the manor was the meeting room of the manor owner and the gathering place of the tenant farmers.
When later generations heard the word manor, the first thing they thought of was a European manor, because Europeans and Americans like to call it a manor. Moreover, European manors were more representative, especially medieval manors.
In the Middle Ages, European manors produced food, clothing, tools, and other necessities for life. It was a rural community and an autonomous political unit. There were cultivated land, commons, churches, lord's residence, serf residence, and so on. The manor land was owned by the lord, and the serfs were responsible for farming. The lord and the serfs had mutually agreed rights and obligations. The serfs provided labor, farming, and paid taxes, while the lord must give them land, provide protection, and enforce justice. The lord set up production facilities in the manor, such as mills, ovens, and wine-pressing equipment, the serfs must pay to use them.
The status of a serf was between a free person and a slave. Their personal freedom was not completely lost, but their status was attached to the land. Without the lord's consent, they could not leave the manor at will. Therefore, they were not completely free people. Although serfs' freedom was limited and their lives were difficult, there was a certain guarantee. As long as serfs fulfilled their obligations, they could farm the land for generations. In case of difficulties, the lord was also obliged to provide appropriate assistance.
With the development of the Middle Ages, farming technology gradually changed the lives of serfs. The increase in food production allowed surplus agricultural products to be sold. The serfs' income increased, and they could use money to buy back their freedom. By the end of the Middle Ages, there were only a few serfs left in Western Europe.
In the Middle Ages, a manor would have nine families working in the fields to produce food to feed themselves and provide food to the tenth family so that they could perform other services.
The most typical manor in Europe had a large house or castle surrounded by fields, farmhouses, pastures, and woodlands. In most cases, the manor was self-sufficient. Some of the surplus daily necessities could be traded with other manors to supplement deficiencies. With the evolution of the Middle Ages and the development of town markets, manors began to specialize and were able to produce a few goods more efficiently. Some manors would specialize in bread, pigs, wine, or vegetables to sustain their livelihood.
The lord of the manor lived in the manor's castle with his family, workers, and attendants. The attendants consisted of knights and professional soldiers to provide defense and be ready to perform feudal military duties for the lord. The larger the manor, the more attendants there were.
The main population of the manor was non-aristocratic and non-professional farmers. Most of the farm workers were serfs who had to spend most of the week working on the lord's land in exchange for his protection. The serf family would have a few rows of crops in each manor's field to sustain their livelihood. Although serfs were not slaves, they had no freedom either. They could not marry, change jobs, or leave the manor without the lord's approval. However, serfs also had some rights, which were not the same as slaves. The status of serf was inherited from generation to generation. As long as he fulfilled his obligations, no one could take away his land. Although the relationship between a vassal and a lord could be compared to that between a serf and a landlord, there was a clear difference between the two in medieval times. The vassal and the lord had a glorious contract. The vassal had to provide military service, while the serf only had to provide manual labor.
It could be seen that the manors of the Middle Ages in Europe were more tightly organized. Not only were they self-sufficient, but they also had castles and soldiers. They were basically independent Xiao Wang countries and could be considered quite developed. The manors of the Tang Dynasty were completely different. First of all, the manors of the Tang Dynasty belonged to the landlord and the royal family. There was no need for defense. Therefore, the manors of the Tang Dynasty had no castles, no soldiers, and could not be semi-independent. The imperial court would not allow it.
In addition, the manors of the Great Tang were very simple farms. They were responsible for producing one or several kinds of crops and supplying them to the nearby cities so that they could earn enough money. They were completely open and not sealed off from the outside world.
The tenant farmers who worked for the manors of the Tang Dynasty did not lose their freedom. They could go wherever they wanted as long as it did not affect their work. The members of the family took turns to visit relatives in other places without the permission of the winter. They were quite free.
In short, the manors of the Tang Dynasty were very different from the manors of the Middle Ages in Europe. The manors of the Tang Dynasty were open. They were places for planting and breeding, while the manors of the Middle Ages in Europe were very closed. Some people once said that manors were not the ideal economic model in the Middle Ages. The economic form was very closed. The people's living standards were only for survival, and they were production units with slow progress.
These were all related to the disorderly state at that time. After the Germanic people overthrew the Roman Empire, there was no sound system to replace it. Moreover, the barbarian tribes were constantly at war with each other. There was no complete and mature ruling system. Therefore, in order to maintain his power, the king at that time adopted the method of giving rewards. First, the seized property was strictly divided equally among individuals. Second, the method of giving out land artificially created a large estate for a certain person. Moreover, the reward was not completed at the first level, but could be given out level by level. This kind of system change formed the foundation of the manor. The difference between the manor and the land was that the right to cultivate the land was not deprived.
On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty was a unified empire. Its political power was quite stable. All the land in the world belonged to the emperor. Moreover, the Tang Dynasty had a strict legal system to restrain people. It would not allow private fights among the people. Naturally, the landlord of a manor would not lead people to rob the property of another manor. If someone dared to do so, the imperial court would certainly not sit idly by. This was a serious violation of the law and could not be forgiven.
Of course, there were a lot of thieves and bandits in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, generally, there would be some guards in the manor. However, their fighting power was average and they only had very simple weapons. They were essentially different from the castle soldiers in medieval Europe. Their existence was only to catch thieves and other petty thieves. They did not have the ability to fight against professional armies. Moreover, most of them were temporarily put together by tenant farmers and servants. For example, the tenant farmers took turns to guard the manor of the landlord. These farmers, who were armed with inferior spears or even wooden sticks, had a fighting power that could be imagined.
At least, in Ang Lee's eyes, the manor guards of the Tang Dynasty had no fighting power. They only had the ability to fight against small-scale thieves. For example, when a few thieves broke into the manor to steal, it was time for the manor guards to show their skills. They would catch the thieves and then send them to the government office to be punished by the imperial court.
In addition, the manor guards could also play a role in deterring some disobedient tenant farmers. Some tenant farmers felt that the rent of the landlord was too high and would start to make trouble, which would cause a great loss to the landlord's interests. The existence of the manor guards could deter these people who wanted to make trouble. They would use the so-called family law to punish disobedient people severely, so that more tenant farmers would obediently cultivate the land of the landlord.
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