Chapter 318: Devil! Get out of my land!

Although it is not yet June, the weather is so hot that it feels like summer.

The Thousand River Valley is located southwest of the center of the empire. The tropical monsoon from the Emerald Sea flows upstream along the Ibe River, bringing the hot summer early.

Of the three counties in the southern part of the Thousand River Valley, except for North County which suffers from its plateau terrain, Kasha County and Langsand County both have short springs and long summers.

On the pale yellow plain outside the town of Suangua, fields were divided by fences and bushes, and thick smoke billowed from burning dead branches and weeds.

The huts, the streams, and the wheat fields were all covered in a layer of smoke and acrid wood-smoke.

Although Horn vigorously promoted the reformists' farmyard manure and green manure, and due to the huge demand for reclaimed land, they could only adopt the traditional slash-and-burn farming and tobacco fertilizer.

In the veil-like smoke, the agricultural workers of the Holy Hoe Monastery, wearing thin linen vests, were still working in the fields.

A plowman was holding the curved vertical wooden armrest of a wheel plow. The scorching sun had tanned the back of his neck, revealing a large area of ​​pink muscle.

But he seemed not to notice, and walked forward barefoot in the soft soil.

Between the footprints, the plowshares broke through the mud, turning up the dark soil and leaving ridges.

The two draft horses hung out their tongues and panted, sweat dripping down their bony backs, leg bones and bellies.

Grizz, who was leading the horse in front, handed his water bottle to the draft horse with a distressed look. The draft horse immediately whinnied and competed to greedily lick the little remaining water.

"Don't give it water." The middle-aged plow operator leaned out and shouted, "It's very smart. It knows that if we drink up all the water, we have to rest and fetch water. How much land have we plowed? It's acting."

Grizz stroked the draft horse's head and said, "Let it drink some water. I'm not thirsty."

"Gretz, you have to learn how to take care of livestock. You can't be nice or mean to it. You have to treat it as the silly older brother in the family who thinks he's smart." The middle-aged plowman said as he operated the wheel plow. "You can't be too lenient with it, because it will try every means to be lazy, but you can't be too harsh on it, because it's closer to you than your own relatives."

"I know." Grizz looked at his cousin Nicholas helplessly, "Just this once, a pinch of white and a pinch of gray are indeed thirsty."

"Papa, can I take over leading the horse?" Little Nicholas, my cousin, who was combing the soil with a rake, shouted in despair.

Nicholas turned around and scolded him, "How long have you been working? You haven't even broken a sweat. Besides, do you have the nerve to compete with Grizz for the job of leading the horse?"

"If I had known, I would have cut off my hand too..." the boy who continued to swing the rake muttered.

"Hey, you little bastard, how can you talk like that!" Nicholas bent down angrily, grabbed a piece of hardened dirt and threw it at his son. "If you were half as smart as Grizz, I would have taught you how to plow a long time ago. You can't learn it on your own!"

Turning his head and looking at his embarrassed nephew, the uncle consoled him: "Don't listen to him. You should study hard. Although your left hand is gone, you can earn two more dinars as a laborer than others with this skill."

"Yeah, brother, I was just kidding you." Although there was a big bump on his head, little Nicholas still smiled foolishly.

"Why do we need to be laborers? His Majesty has allocated land to us, hasn't he?" Grizz looked at the land under his feet and changed the subject with a smile.

"You have to learn to use the plow on your own land in the future. If you master this skill, it will be easier for you to find a wife." Old Nicholas was quite proud of his skills. After all, plowing is a technical job.

Although they still work as laborers at the Holy Hoe Monastery, things are different from before.

Under the previous manor model, draft horses, farm tools, livestock and even seeds belonged to the knights.

In the manor held by the lord, part of the land was originally given to the farmers as their own farmland, and part of it was kept as public land for all the people to work on.

But as time went on, farmers privately reclaimed large amounts of wasteland and their lives soon became prosperous.

So while the knights reduced the size of public land, they also required all farmers to pay monetary/grain rent or in-kind tribute on their private land.

This is equivalent to stealing the fruits of the farmers' labor in reclaiming wasteland, which is why there is a large amount of arable land in Kush Territory but it is still abandoned.

Because clearing the land would be just wasted work.

From this perspective, the public servants were just slaves of the lord.

Horn's hundred-household district model is different. After the land is divided, every bit of work they do belongs to them.

Moreover, in the Holy Hoe Monastery, people were given grain and money for reclaiming the "public land".

Most importantly, they could now privately own farm tools, seeds, and draft horses!

In the past, private ownership of these tools was the privilege of armed farmers, and public farmers could only own a pitchfork at most.

Under the previous manor economy, a large amount of manpower and iron ore were used to create high value-added weapons, furniture and luxury goods.

After ensuring the manufacture of weapons and equipment, the Salvation Army used the remaining iron ore to make farm tools.

Any fellow monk could order farm tools, seeds, and even draft horses and livestock from the centurion. These means of production that were once controlled by the lords finally fell into the hands of the common people.

Even if you don't have the money to buy it, you can still rent it from the centurion at a very low price.

Although it is not as cost-effective as buying it yourself, at least it can help you get through this period of famine.

Looking at the smoke-filled wheat fields next to the reclamation, Grizz smiled.

It would be great if Papa's mother and sister were still here. Grizz looked down at his empty left arm. No matter how much Nicola and Nicholas comforted him, a trace of loneliness still flashed in his eyes.

After the war, he wanted to join the Crusaders, but unfortunately he lost his left arm and could not join the army.

He felt a phantom pain at the broken part of his arm, and it was as if he had returned to that day again.

The ground was shaking, the wind was howling, and the simple wooden door was clanging loudly.

The vicious knight who broke in killed all his family members and then stabbed him in the head with a sword.

He could still recall the chaotic and vicious sound of horse hooves, as if it was right next to his ears...

Grizz suddenly raised his head, while his cousin and uncle were still staring blankly at the flying dust in the distance.

Under the scorching sun, the silver armor gleamed with golden luster.

"It's a knight, Knight Ibe from Jinhe Township." Grace felt all the blood in his body rushing to his head.

As he spoke, he realized that something was wrong and roughly pulled off the harness on the horse's chest.

"Come here, little bastard!"

Old Nicholas reacted immediately. He pulled his son over, put his hands on his waist, pushed his son's buttocks and helped him onto the horse.

"Papa, what are you going to do?" Little Nicholas shouted to his father, hugging the draft horse's neck.

"Grez and I will ride the other horse, and you run towards the forest!"

He whipped the draft horse hard on its buttocks. The horse cried out in pain, spread its four hooves and ran towards the forest not far away.

"Oh, shit, this old Deng, oh, shit." Little Nicholas, who was dizzy from the shake, shouted in horror.

The sound of horse hooves was becoming eerily clear, and a blazing fire was starting in a village not far away.

The barking of dogs and the crying of women and children mixed together, the wheat fields shook, and the villagers scrambled to flee.

Behind them were teams of squire knights rushing into the village.

Fire and chaos engulfed everything as far as Grizz could see.

At the same time, he finally and with old Nicholas, with difficulty removed a handful of white harness: "Uncle, get on the horse!"

"coming."

Just as Grizz was about to hold on to the horse, he felt a huge force coming from behind his waist. The light and shadows changed in front of his eyes, and he was pushed onto the horse's back before he could say anything.

"Go to the sentry post and report the news!" Old Nicholas whipped the horse on its butt.

Grizzi hugged the horse's neck and turned his head: "Uncle? Uncle! Get on the horse! I took...how did you take the bit off?!"

"You can't carry two people, run!" With his hands cupped to his mouth, old Nicholas shouted at Grizz.

Only after Grizzle's back disappeared in the field did the middle-aged plowman take two steps forward and pick up the rake on the ground.

When he looked up, several squire knights in chain mail were standing at the head of the field, looking at him.

"Farmer!" The squire pointed his sword at him. "Who is the owner of these lands? Take me to him."

"it's me."

"Ah?" The knight scratched his ears, held the horse's belly, and walked closer, "Speak louder, who is it? What are you talking about?"

"it's me……"

“Hahahaha——” The knight was stunned at first, then he held his stomach and laughed, “Are you the lord? Stop kidding! Whose land is this?”

He didn't notice that the farmer in front of him was trembling, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

"Me! It's my land!" Old Nicholas roared and swung the rake in his hand.

The rake created a strong wind and pierced into the horse's eyeball in front of the knight's incredulous look.

"Xilulu" the precious warhorse let out a painful howl and almost threw the knight off the horse.

"Damn you... Damn you!" The squire was so angry that he was incoherent. He kicked the middle-aged man to the ground with one foot, "How dare you?"

"This is my land! It's my land!" Wiping the blood from his nose with the sleeve rolled up to his shoulders, old Nicholas stood up with the rake and rushed towards the squire knights like a madman.

"Devil! Get off my land!"

(End of this chapter)