After carefully locking the warehouse and putting the iron rods away close to his body, Owen came to the open space in front of the castle. There were three longhouses built against the earthen walls, where soldiers usually lived.
The longhouse built of logs is very strong, and is covered with bark and hay to provide enough protection from wind and rain.
As for the inside, it is a little dark because there are no windows, but for the colder climate in the North, keeping warm is the most important thing.
There is a well on one side of the longhouse, as well as a straw hut used as a kitchen, a large pot stand, and half a bag of grain. It is obvious that the soldiers eat and live here on weekdays.
Because of the shortage of manpower, two soldiers are responsible for guarding the city gate every day, two are patrolling inside the castle, and the remaining four are resting. As for training, I train once when I think of it. It is impossible to train every day because there is not enough food and physical strength.
Forced training will kill people.
When Owen arrived, four soldiers were leaning against the wall and sunbathing under the longhouse. After all, there was only one thing to do in this damn place.
Several of the soldiers were in their prime. Because the castle provided food, they were stronger than the serfs. At least they couldn't count their ribs at a glance.
"Come out with me." Owen didn't dare to go out alone, so he called four soldiers.
The only good thing about this world is that the rights of the nobles are really great. Even though Owen is living so miserable, these four soldiers are still loyal and even risk their lives to protect his rights, which makes him a little confused.
Whatever is good, after all, you are the beneficiary.
After hearing the lord's order, the four soldiers immediately put on their leather armor and picked up their spears. Two in front and two in back, they held their chests high and raised their heads to escort Owen out of the castle.
Of course, the Hydera family, which has had three generations in less than twenty years, does not have the capital. If it had, would it still worry about it?
It feels like saying Coke to the people of primitive tribes in Africa, they simply can't understand what you mean.
The problem is that the background of the Hydera family is very unclear. They have no money and no people. The serfs in the territory can do just fine, but they are far worse as soldiers. Therefore, Owen has no way to recruit soldiers for a while.
Not far after leaving the castle, Owen discovered numerous problems.
The land in the Northland is somewhat barren, with weeds growing here and there in clumps here and there, rarely connecting into patches. Therefore, even if you are busy all year round, the harvest will not be much, and those who can barely maintain their territory will not starve to death too many.
Because they have been struggling with hunger all their lives, the serfs in front of them have no energy at all. Apart from numbness in their eyes, there is only fear of the lords and soldiers. As for communication, Owen has tried, but their vocabulary is so poor that it makes people speechless.
Many serfs only knew twenty or thirty sentences, because they could only use these in their monotonous lives, and any more would be beyond their understanding.
However, the territory of the Hydra family has no citizens at all, which are the so-called free farmers. They are all serfs without personal freedom. Most of them are refugees who have lost their land, as well as criminals and speculators. After arriving here with the pioneering team, in order to
To survive, they sold everything they had.
But increasing the territory's population is not an easy task. The best way is to rely on the natural reproduction of the territory's people. Such territory people are more loyal and are also the heritage of those great nobles who have been passed down for more than a hundred years. With these, they can even follow the emperor's words.
Listen if you want to hear, don't listen if you don't want to hear.
Although the Hydra family is not very good, its territory is very vast. It would take an average person a day or two to circle around the territory just by walking. Unfortunately, the land is not fertile enough, there are no special products, and the manpower is insufficient. The territory is large.
What's the use? It can't be developed effectively at all.
Thirty soldiers are not too few. Counting the serfs, more than a hundred people can be drawn out of the territory to fight in groups at any time. Unfortunately, the last wolf disaster caused most of the soldiers at the front to be killed or injured, which left Owen a little less confident.
As for other methods, it is to buy serfs or take in refugees.
The leather armor and spear were seven layers new. They were purchased by Hydra II through the Hai Rui Chamber of Commerce. Not only did this consume the territory's meager savings, but it also owed a lot, in order to arm the territory's only three
Ten soldiers.
He has never farmed land, but he has never raised pigs. How can he eat pork?
It’s just that the farmland here is not the square one he is familiar with. Perhaps round farmland is popular, but there are no ridges or ridges. The so-called spring plowing is simply clearing the shrubs with a stone knife, and then using a sharp stick to poke a hole in the ground.
Throw two or three seeds into it and cover it with soil to prevent birds from eating it.
Not everyone can be a soldier, and they usually choose free farmers because they have a certain degree of freedom and wealth. In order to ensure that they can always have these, they will desperately protect the rights of their lords. Otherwise, they will lose everything once they change their lords.
Even if you think about it, you can understand how fucked up this planting method is. So far, not all people in the Hydera territory have starved to death. God bless them.
Serfs were not expensive because many of them were desperate refugees who were basically willing to sell themselves into slavery if they had a stutter.
Thinking about these troubles, Owen continued to patrol, focusing on farmland.
In fact, if the number of soldiers today was not too small, they would also have to work in the fields during busy farming periods. Only big nobles could afford to support large-scale soldiers who were completely off-the-job, but not an insignificant northern border noble like the Hydera family.
of.
After wandering around the castle, I finally got some good news.
To put it bluntly, the power of the nobility comes from land and force. Land without force alone is not enough. Owen is having a headache because eight soldiers cannot provide him with enough security.
Owen's face turned green and white, but he also had nothing to do about it, because if he really wanted to do it, he would be worse than these serfs digging in the soil, because he didn't even know when to plant, when to harvest, and he was so random.
He couldn't bear the consequences of commanding. As long as there was no harvest for a year, he would have to take everyone in the territory to beg for food.
A serf who lives almost like an animal and a soldier who only knows how to obey, Owen has given up on the idea of burning glass to make gunpowder and cement, because unless he knows how to do everything himself, without any helpers, any project will be impossible.
It was the start of a five-year plan, let alone the theory and process of these things. Owen himself couldn't figure out the theory and process. After all, no serious person would learn how to refine these things.
The problem is that their bodies have been depleted so much that they cannot make up for it even with good food and drink, not to mention that no lord would do this.
There are too many uncertainties in the latter, because many refugees often turn out to be bandits with their faces covered, and taking them in at will will become a destabilizing factor for the territory.
Countless questions weighed heavily on Owen's heart, so after returning to the castle, he cried silently in his room, not even daring to make a sound, because now he only had a shell of a nobleman left.
Once broken, what is the difference between him and those serfs? A soldier can easily kill him and take away everything he has, not to mention that his grandfather's family may also have thoughts about the Hydera family. Such a situation of internal and external troubles
Under the circumstances, even he, a time traveler with a middle-aged soul, could not withstand the pressure and fell into collapse.
If life has given him anything, it is that as long as he does not have the courage to face death, he can stand up and continue walking despite the pressure. Even if he cannot lift his head and his waist is bent, he still has to go, because even if
If you stop, no one will pity you, let alone give you a hand.