The so-called farming is an agricultural collective farming system that became popular after the Han Dynasty.
In order to obtain grain and grass, the imperial court organized and operated a system that could reclaim cultivated land and crops on a large scale, and the production efficiency was much higher than that of individual cultivation.
The settlements are also divided into military settlements, commercial settlements and civilian settlements.
Most of the dynasties in the past took military needs into consideration and pursued the military garrison system, which allowed the descendants of military households to serve as soldiers for generations, to cultivate crops in peacetime and to join the army in battle.
The merchant villages were special, and were also called "salt villages". They were merchants' farms, and they exchanged grain and the court for the right to sell salt.
Both of these farming methods are based on dense population and complete commercial development, and are not suitable for Hope Island.
The only one who can implement it is Mintun.
However, civilian villages also have a lot of shortcomings. The most obvious one is that their output is far less than that of military villages.
Just at this time, Rowan asked to meet him and reported on the current construction progress of Hope Island. Shiloh and Rowan started chatting.
"Rowan, I remember that the Kingdom of Pontos also practiced farming technology. Nowadays, the most important thing for the development of Hope Island is agriculture. I also want to implement farming technology. What do you think?"
"Farming?" Luo Wen thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, even if we resort to farming, we can't feed such a large population."
Shiloh waved his hand and said: "I know what you mean. If we implement military settlements, our population base will not be enough, but the settlements I am talking about are not what you think."
"Huh?" Luo Wen was curious, wondering what other wild ideas his highness had come up with, and said, "I don't know, but I would like to hear the details."
“Tuntian, tuntian, the most important thing is the word tun.”
"The reason why military camps are convenient is that turning huge armies into farmers can effectively alleviate the shortage of military supplies."
"And now we need a large number of soldiers to open up desert islands. It is impossible to put them all into the fields, so the military settlement strategy cannot be implemented."
Rowan nodded, but saw Shiloh smiling: "So I plan to implement Mintun."
Luo Wen was startled and said hurriedly: "Your Highness, how can this civilian village compare with the military's orders and prohibitions? The Kingdom of Pontos has always been dominated by military villages."
"Luo Wen, tell me why the output of civilian villages is far less than that of military villages."
"The disadvantage of Mintun is that the farmers have no prohibition and are lazy in their work."
Shiloh nodded and said: "You are right, then think about why the farmers do not work hard."
Luo Wen was stunned. He had never thought about this problem before. He frowned and thought hard for a moment, and said: "This... subordinate is stupid and only dares to make wild guesses. Please don't blame me, Your Highness."
"That's what you say."
"Farmers are hired to work collectively and only receive commissions regardless of the harvest. They are extremely likely to be lazy, which leads to insufficient production."
"Yes." Shiloh nodded, "But this is just one of them. The most important thing is that the village is unprofitable!"
profit?
Rowan's heart skipped a beat as if he had caught something.
"Luo Wen, do you know that the people work hard just to have enough food left in their homes to exchange for meat and clothing to feed their families?"
"If you rely solely on a meager commission and want them to do their best, it is naturally impossible."
"I plan to change the form of farming this time."
"Give the land to farmers and let them cultivate it themselves. We can just collect part of the rice as tax."
Rowan rolled his eyes and immediately understood what Herode meant, and asked: "Your Highness, do you mean that the remaining rice will be handed over to these farmers?"
Shiloh nodded heavily.
"Contracting large tracts of land to farmers, we set the amount of tax payable, and then just collect the grain."
This time, it’s a new farming strategy!
………………
After discussing the details with Luo Wen, the new decree was conveyed like this.
After hearing the decree, the farmers were stunned. They had never seen such a farming strategy.
In the past, when farming, the nobles took all the harvest from the fields for themselves and only gave them a meager commission. To be honest, the money was far from enough for the farmers to support their families.
Therefore, when Hilo's farming strategy was implemented, these farmers thought there was something wrong with their ears and looked at each other in disbelief.
"Sir... Your Highness, you mean that after paying the taxes, the food left in the fields will belong to us?" An old farmer asked tremblingly, hunched over.
"That's right, from today on, this land will be reclaimed by you.
It's up to you to decide how to plant it. As long as you pay the taxes on time, the remaining food will be yours."
The knight who delivered the order patted the old farmer on the shoulder and said: "This land will be yours from now on. Don't let your highness down."
The old farmer was overwhelmed with gratitude and hurriedly knelt down to thank him.
In the future, they will also have their own land and farmland!
The extra food can ensure that the family is not hungry, can be exchanged for new clothes, and can even hire people to help them build a new house, have a wife, and have children.
At this moment, these farmers really regard Hope Island as their home.
Life finally has hope.
………………
There are still many areas that need to be improved in Stormwind City.
For example, according to the current level of agriculture, if you want to feed 1,300 people, you must cultivate more than 3,000 acres of farmland.
In the next few days, Shiloh and Rowan discussed together and planned 3,000 acres of wasteland and divided the wasteland into four major areas.
Hilo divided the farmers into four production brigades and contracted these four areas respectively.
Reclaiming wasteland also takes time, and it is quite tedious for farmers to clear weeds with sickles, so Hilo instructed them to make isolation strips and use flames to burn weeds.
Not only is the use of fire highly efficient, but the burned grass ash can also increase nutrients in the soil, killing two birds with one stone.
During this period, Shiloh also arranged for hard workers to build farms, striving to ensure that each farmland could enjoy a 5% production bonus from the farm.
The pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and other livestock brought by the Hannah Chamber of Commerce are also kept on the farm, and their excrement is the best fertilizer.
However, during the farming process, Hilo still discovered some problems.
That is the lack of suitable agricultural tools.
During the process of digging trenches for sowing, less than 30% of farmers have iron farm tools, and most farmers even have to dig the soil by hand, which is extremely inefficient.
If we continue to cultivate at this rate, we will probably be busy until the end of the year.
Farm tools! You must get suitable farm tools!
3,000 acres is simply an astronomical figure, not to mention that Hope Island currently lacks cattle and can only rely on manpower for work.
Fishing has become Hope Island’s most important source of food.
However, this kind of behavior treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. How to improve agricultural work efficiency and save labor is something Hilo has been thinking about these days.