Lord Harland.

Although the royal capital had the strength and authority to deal with the Harland family, it prohibited Richard's deviant policies and ordered him to close the school.

But firstly, the capital has not received the news, and secondly, Nolan needs the help of the Harland family to defend the northern frontier.Even if he had thoughts in his heart, he would not interfere with the Harland family easily.

Now that the Harland family has repeatedly made military exploits, it has a relationship with the Grant Kingdom that both prospers and loses. Its importance in the northern border is second only to several duke families and surpasses Viscount Luomen.

Thirdly, Richard pardoned slaves and spread knowledge. Although it touched the interests of the nobles as a whole, it did not threaten Nolan.These changes of his have nothing to do with the Grant family who ruled Nolan.

Fourth, although the Harland family has a certain strength, it is far from the Grant family, and it is impossible to rebel in a short time.The most feared thing in the capital will always be the Duke Jonathan's family, which is the second most powerful.

Suppressing and restricting the Harland family will only force them to move closer to the Jonathan family.

If the internal fighting between the royal capital and the great nobles of northern Xinjiang is too intense, once Li Cha opens the passage, the orc army will go straight to Heihe Fort and enter the rich areas of Gerda Province to plunder.

Grant Kingdom's years of hard work in northern Xinjiang has formed a good strategic situation, which will be destroyed in one day.

Due to various reasons and special geopolitics, Li Cha is completely talkative in the territory. Even if he engages in other things, basically no one dares to question him now.

Unless someone wants the situation in Northern Xinjiang to be completely corrupted, they will take action against the Haaland family.

The great nobles of Northern Xinjiang were either exiled nobles, or were promoted by military exploits.Although the title is very high, it has less influence on Nolan than the Marquis in the east and the Earl in the south.

These marquis and earls are all old families, and their territories are in the hinterland of the Grant Kingdom. They do not need to face orcs from time to time, and there is no need to bleed family members.

The aristocrats of northern Xinjiang are the most powerful and have the highest status, but their strategic posture is the worst. They are equivalent to the shield of the Kingdom of Grant, protecting the safety of other great aristocrats.

For this reason, the northern border nobles tend to be more independent, and the big nobles are not very bird king Nolan.

No matter whether Nolan likes it or not, as long as the royal family still wants to maintain the situation in Northern Xinjiang and does not want the hinterland to rot, they will not easily attack the great nobles of Northern Xinjiang and cause trouble for themselves. Instead, they need to carefully maintain a balance, constantly transfuse blood to the great nobles of Northern Xinjiang, and send troops to support from time to time to help the great nobles of Northern Xinjiang maintain the situation.

Such an external environment is also good for the Harland family in northern Xinjiang.

After returning from the Grand Duchy of Stanik, Richard began to prepare for the spring plowing of the territory.

The Dawn Plane is still in the agricultural era, and spring farming is the most important thing in the agricultural era.

Even the Roger Kingdom of Grant Kingdom must set an example during the spring plowing period and personally participate in a spring plowing.

Originally, Richard had left the spring plowing work to his cousin Tang En, but this year's situation was somewhat special, and many matters could only be left to Richard to decide.

The territory of northern Xinjiang is very fertile, and it is all nutrient-rich black soil.

However, because of the lack of fertilizers, generally speaking, it needs to be fallowed once every three years.

Starting from Richard's management territory, manure composting technology was used, a large number of public toilets were built, human and animal excrement was collected, and septic tanks were built beside the farmland.

Because of the use of farmyard manure, the grain output per mu of land in Harland's territory has generally increased by twenty to thirty kilograms.

Don't underestimate the twenty or thirty catties of grain added per mu.

Scaled up to a scale of one million acres, the increased grain production would exceed 10,000 tons, enough to feed a population of 40,000 to 50,000 people.

In addition, the use of farmyard manure can also extend the farming period. Farmland in the Harland Territory that uses farmyard manure will basically be left fallow for one year every five years.

Tang En found Li Cha this year mainly because the farmland was fallow.

"My lord, our public land is very well managed, and it is enough to fall fallow regularly. But the private land allocated to free people is more troublesome to fall fallow.

Once the land is fallow, the income from the farmland will be greatly reduced, but the land tax collected from the freedmen by the territory is fixed every year.To reduce stress, the freedmen farmed their fields, almost never fallow.

Since last year, according to our statistics, the yield of farmland cultivated by freemen has decreased by catties compared with that of public land.

This is a rather large number. If the problem of private land fallow is not solved, the land will be consumed too much, and the output of private land in the hands of free people will become less and less.Lord lord, I think a decree should be enacted to force the freedmen to leave the farmland fallow. "

Richard knew in his heart that ordinary people were short-sighted and would not consider long-term matters. Forcing freedmen to keep their land fallow would drastically reduce their income. If taxes are not reduced or farmland is increased, even if this policy can be implemented, it will increase the burden on the territorial people and make the free people of the territory even poorer.

Li Cha thought about it carefully, and felt that Tang En's suggestion was unfeasible. He carefully analyzed the current situation of Harland's territory. For decades, it would still be an environment with few people and a lot of land.

The climate in the Harland territory is relatively cold and not suitable for autumn plowing. Richard tried to cultivate a few acres of winter wheat, but unfortunately he could not withstand the long and cold winter, and almost no harvest was achieved.

If cultivation cannot be done in autumn and winter, the three-field system cannot be implemented.

In the absence of a large amount of chemical fertilizers, in order to reduce the consumption of land fertility, the Harland Territory can only implement the two-field system and let part of the farmland go fallow.

Li Cha looked at the registered land. Given the low population pressure, after careful consideration, Li Cha felt that it would be more appropriate to increase the land for the freedmen.

The Harland Territory now contains over 1.4 million acres of land and approximately 230,000 people.

This year's spring plowing still has the task of clearing up 120,000 acres of farmland, and there is not much shortage of land resources.

Now there are free citizens in the territory, and each additional mu of land is only mu. It is not too difficult to set aside mu of land from the public land.

With more land and no increase in taxes, there is enough reason to order fallow.

Based on the calculation of six members of a freeman family, about six acres of land fall fallow every year

In addition to the fallow land, Li Cha is also planning to promote the development of animal husbandry, allowing the freemen to raise a large number of sheep.

The territory of Harland is mainly hilly terrain, which is very suitable for animal husbandry.Large-scale sheep raising in the territory can also promote the development of the wool textile industry.

Hearing Li Cha's opinion, Tang En frowned and said: "The free people near Graveson can certainly do this, but the free people who are divided into the Stopa Territory may not be able to do this. Because we are in the Stopa Territory , there is almost not much public land to divide.”

Richard looked at the map and said thoughtfully: "There are too many people in the Stopa territory. I think some of them should be moved out."

"After I go back, I will release the news that I am willing to migrate to Graveson. The free people in the swamp basin will each have six acres of paddy fields. Let's see if the free people in the Stopa Territory are willing to leave their hometown and go to the new territory to reclaim wasteland."

Richard knew in his heart that ordinary people were unwilling to leave their hometown. Nowadays, the free people of Harland Territory have a decent living standard because there is more arable land per capita.

During the slack season, I went to nearby castles and worked odd jobs in factories and mines. Not only could I have enough food and clothing, but I could also save some money every year.

But after two or three generations, with the population explosion, the per capita arable land will be greatly reduced, and the standard of living will drop a lot.

If you want to maintain a higher standard of living, the best way is to improve the development of productivity, increase the output per acre of land, and enhance the population carrying capacity of the territory.

If the productivity level increases slowly, the only option is to adopt the second method, which is to continuously migrate the excess population in the territory, expand outward, reclaim farmland, and compete for survival resources.

The worst way is to consume the excess population through war.

The Orc Empire continues to launch invasions, which is partly due to this factor.

Each of the first two roads is very difficult to walk.

It is Richard's wish to take the first path. He has been adjusting production relations, liberating serfs, giving full play to their enthusiasm for production, enhancing social vitality, spreading knowledge on a large scale, and cultivating the seedling of science, hoping to rely on the power of science to increase productivity. level, accelerating the development of Haaland territory.

At the same time, the territory of Harland is taking the second path. It has been expanding continuously for more than ten years. It has grown from a small barony to an important nobleman in the three provinces of northern Xinjiang.

New farmland has been cultivated every year for more than ten years. In order to facilitate the migration of excess population and to open up new territories, Richard formulated a law for the eldest son to inherit property and land.

After the second son of the freeman in the territory grows up, if he wants to obtain arable land, he can only go to the new territory to divide the fields.

Richard will continue to implement this decree until the situation changes and it cannot be implemented, then it is possible to change it.

For agricultural cultivation in the Dawn Plane, the power of magic is very important. There are many magics that can promote plant growth and increase soil fertility. In particular, the Church of Nature and Harvest has done a lot of research on this aspect of magic and has accumulated a lot of experience.

But there is no natural church priest in Grant Kingdom, so even if Richard wants to exchange magic knowledge, he has no channel.

Moreover, the number of magicians in Harland Territory is small. Even if they learn the spells to promote plant growth and increase production, relying on a few magicians and dozens of magic apprentices, the increase in food production will be negligible.

The most urgent task is to find new fertilizers, which is the most critical issue in agricultural development.

Relying on the experience of his previous life, Richard knew that the growth of plants mainly depends on the three elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

After arriving in the Dawn Plane, I discovered through various experiments that ordinary plants in the Dawn Plane also rely on photosynthesis, and the growth of plants also requires the three elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Magic plants are special, mainly absorbing magic energy particles.

The knowledge of magic botany is also more complicated, and it is more difficult than ordinary agriculture.Planting magic plants requires the personal care of a magician.

The territory of Harland does not have the technical conditions to manufacture chemical fertilizers on a large scale, but it can find natural fertilizer deposits.

Today, Richard holds more than 18,000 square kilometers of territory, and many mineral veins have not yet been explored.

In recent years, Richard has been increasing his efforts in mineral exploration.

If a potash mine is discovered in the territory, with natural fertilizers, there is no need to worry about agricultural production.

There are many natural salt lakes in the territory of Duke Jonathan. During the dry season, these salt lakes can not only mine salt, but also have a large amount of potassium ore.These potassium mines have been accumulated in the salt lake for thousands of years and have not been used.

More than thirty kilometers east of Harland's territory, there is also a salt lake covering an area of ​​more than ten square kilometers.

This salt lake is located in the northern part of Viscount Nelson's territory. If Harland's territory expands here, the salt lake can be developed.

Nowadays, the salt lake can be mined secretly, but the salt lake does not belong to the Haaland family fiefdom. Once this area is developed, it will benefit the Grant royal family.

Li Cha didn't want to do the job of making wedding dresses for others.He is going to wait a few years, and when he is promoted to earl, he will ask the royal family for the salt lake area, and then mine salt and potash.Then use natural chemical fertilizers on a large scale to increase food production.

Counting the 120,000 acres of farmland reclaimed this year, the farmland in Harland Territory has exceeded 1.5 million acres. However, due to fallow conditions, only about 1.2 million acres of farmland will be cultivated this year.

Because the cultivated area is less than 100,000 acres compared to last year, if the weather is favorable, this year's grain production will be reduced by about 10,000 tons.

Although food production will decrease, Harland Territory has no worries about food shortage for the time being.

Alfalfa seeds are sprinkled on fallow farmland, which not only fixes nitrogen and enhances the fertility of the land during the fallow period, but the grass grown can also be used to raise sheep.

There are now two million sheep in Harland's territory, but most of these sheep have been handed over to the satyr tribe.

The number of satyrs in Harland's territory has exceeded 10,000, divided into eight tribes.

In summer and autumn, the sheep-body people basically graze on the mountains. In late autumn, they collect pastures. In winter when the weather is not cold and there is no snowstorm, the sheep-body people will also drive sheep and eat dead grass and leaves.

The Goat people are a race with thick hair on their bodies and do not need warm clothes. They also eat relatively little, and their grain consumption is only equivalent to one-third of that of humans, and they don't need to eat meat. They don't even need to consume grain in summer and autumn. They can fill their stomachs by just eating some young grass leaves.

The cost of using goats to graze is very low.

Li Cha has already benefited greatly from the sheep-body slaves.

However, as the size of the sheep herd expanded, the more than 10,000 satyr herdsmen were gradually no longer enough.

The breeding population of sheep expands very quickly. If you focus on expanding the scale, you can double it tenfold in three years.If the scale of sheep farming in the territory is expanded tenfold, slaves will be able to eat a lot of mutton by then.

Harland Territory has abundant rainfall and dense vegetation. The carrying capacity of the Territory is enough to raise tens of millions of sheep.

However, the mutton consumption in Haaland Territory is now quite large. About 600,000 sheep are slaughtered every year, and the scale is rising every year. It would take at least five years to expand the sheep population to 20 million.

This year, Li Cha plans to push the excess sheep to the market and sell them to the free people in the territory at a lower price, so that the free people can raise the sheep and shear the sheep to increase their income.

After entering April, the territory's spring plowing finally came to an end.