King

Peaceful days are always short-lived.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or intentional. The celebration banquet for Kayo and Sis was held on the same day.

This worries many nobles from the neutral camp. No matter which party they attend, they will offend the other party.

As a last resort, everyone had no choice but to pretend to be sick, just to have fun and show off their gifts.

Also sick was Hudson. Although he said he would participate before, it was just a polite word, so how could he take it seriously.

He went to watch his competitors show off, causing trouble for himself for no reason, but his mind was not broken.

What's more, people who send invitations are just to be polite, and they may not really want Hudson to come and support him.

There is no point in making trouble. If it's not a matter of life and death, why bother disrupting other people's celebration banquets?

Nobles must be magnanimous.

It's okay to stab each other secretly, but there's no need to fall out openly.

Otherwise, if you mess up my banquet today and I mess up your ceremony, wouldn't all banquets turn into a farce?

After preparing two gifts and sending them to each, Hudson returned his attention to the construction of his castle.

There are no new tricks. Except for some modifications in the details, the overall castle design still follows the local architectural style, which is somewhat Gothic-like.

Looking at the location of the castle, we can see that it stands on Salam Peak, the highest peak in the southeastern province, and it is obvious that defense is given top priority.

The only difference is that Hudson's plan is much grander than the average castle, with the main building covering an area of ​​1 hectare.

Counting the surrounding ancillary buildings, it is a city. The area enclosed by the city wall is 3.8 square kilometers.

If all the projects are completed, it will be a war fortress that can accommodate tens of thousands of people, rivaling the Essel Fortress.

If it were before this, if a baron wanted to build a war fortress, there would definitely be an uproar.

But if it were a fiefdom viscount, it would be much more normal. Almost all fiefdom viscounts will build their own cities.

Including Dadir City, where Viscount Sith is located, is the result of the previous noble lords' own management.

The kingdom will only allocate funds to build cities in northern Xinjiang to resist the invasion of orcs, and will not take care of other areas at all.

Anyway, no human country will invade the Alpha Kingdom. This is a tacit understanding among the countries on the mainland.

Limited by financial resources and manpower, generally speaking, the construction of noble castles took a long time.

Three or five years is normal, and ten or eight years is not surprising. It is possible to plan grandly and continue building for several generations.

Hudson has been working on it for a year, but the Lord's Mansion has not yet been completed, which is within the normal level recognized by everyone.

All this has become faster with the addition of Bear Stearns.

It is more difficult for ordinary people to transport boulders weighing several tons or dozens of tons than moving at a snail's pace.

But when it comes to Bear Stearns, it's almost like playing.

Boulders weighing several tons or tens of tons are toys in the hands of cubs. For a while, they played a game of tossing the ball, and for a while, they held it in circles on their heads.

If one piece is not enough, you can also play with several boulders connected in a string.

The Bear Stearns Acrobatic Show is also a unique scenery in the mountainous area.

Baron Redman was terrified when he saw this, fearing that the Earth Bear would get too excited and hit people with boulders.

Fortunately, this situation did not last long. The number of boulders was limited, and the efficient Bear Stearns completed the transportation of the boulders in less than a day.

The stones are all prepared in advance, which makes people think carefully.

But Xiong didn't say anything, so the others naturally didn't talk much. Neither Hudson nor Bear Stearns could talk about the transaction to the outside world.

A decent person + a decent bear = tacit agreement to keep things secret.

For the sake of everyone's glorious image, everything involving interests must be kept confidential.

No one caused trouble, and the celebration banquets on both sides were successful, except that there were fewer guests.

In Hudson's opinion, the celebration party was almost like a wedding. Except for the person involved, everyone only paid superficial attention to it.

Even the parties involved may not pay attention to it, such as Hudson himself.

Due to the construction of the castle, his celebration banquet had not had time to start, and the season of spring grain storage had already arrived.

After last year's locust plague, this season's spring grain harvest is particularly important for Wright and Wyton counties.

Countless territories are crying out for food, just waiting for food to be cooked.

As far as Hudson knew, some northern nobles' territories even took green wheat in advance to satisfy their hunger.

After all, the food varieties are too single, and they are all within the range of locust diets, making them pale and helpless in the face of locust plagues.

Hudson is already preparing to engage in diversified agriculture, and poultry must be raised to suppress the spread of locusts.

Although there is no market for chickens and ducks these days, and large-scale breeding cannot be sold, this does not affect my own food.

Aquaculture can also be arranged. The ditches and rivers dug in the swamps are natural breeding grounds.

Anyway, these days, there is no pollution from chemical fertilizers and pesticides, everything is original.

There is no need to expect extravagant yields, no matter how much you harvest, you will make a profit. Increasing the supply of meat is also a powerful measure to solve the lack of food production capacity in the territory.

Especially for the army, adequate nutrition is the key to a strong army.

If your stomach is not full, how can you expect fighting power?

A mess of plans are all in the preparation stage, but the most important thing right now is the spring grain harvest.

Hudson had already moved his position, and the preparations for the celebration banquet were all left to Baron Redman. Fortunately, he had a group of tribesmen who came to help, otherwise he might not be able to cope with it.

The main reason is that the mountain leaders are poor and poor. In name, they hold a celebration banquet, but in fact their main job is to supervise the construction of the castle.

The main structure is okay, but the key is the interior decoration.

Sculptors, painters, designers...all kinds of art jobs were hired from the provincial capital with huge sums of money.

If you don't have any artistic talent, you can't keep up with the thinking rhythm of these people. If these guys were to improvise, they would definitely be more likely to be frightened than surprised.

Looking at the carts of harvested grain, Hudson didn't feel much at all, but the others were really shocked.

Who spread the rumor that food production in mountainous areas is low?

The yield per mu in the mountainous areas is almost the same as that in the plains outside. You must know that this is newly reclaimed wasteland and is in the land cultivation stage.

Fortunately, Hudson had the foresight to plant oil crops in these areas instead of the mainstream rye.

The question is whether the soil quality is suitable.

Without specializing in soil research, it is difficult to tell at a glance what crops the soil is suitable for. It just so happens that in the Aslant continent, there is no occupation that specializes in soil quality.

Surprise is nothing but surprise, and there is no need to be envious or jealous. Everyone's territory is a plain, and almost all crops grown there have high yields.

The joy of the harvest did not last long. Hudson was surprised to find that the food gap in his territory increased instead of decreasing.

There is indeed a lot of newly reclaimed land, with 110,000 acres of new mountainous land and 68,000 acres of new paddy fields. This is another year in which the task was exceeded.

However, the rate of increase in land has not kept up with the rate of population growth.

There are no entertainment facilities, and the creation of humans begins after dark. The serfs who had relaxed their restrictions were more active in creating humans than Hudson expected.

Although the statement of one child per year is a bit exaggerated, it is actually not much different. Both men and women of the right age are full of energy.

It was Mr. Hudson who was too kind and caused the trouble. He stipulated that pregnant women were not allowed to engage in heavy physical labor, and he also distributed cow's milk and goat's milk to infants and young children, so that everyone had no worries.

The natural population growth rate has exceeded 6%.

Of course, this set of data is not scientific. The statistical period is too short to accurately include infant mortality rates.

Children are easy to feed these days, and adding a group of newborns won’t add much to the cost of childcare.

What really caused the food problem was the orc slaves purchased at low prices.

The skyrocketing number of slaves not only broke the territory's population structure, but also increased the food gap.

The number of serfs is only over 28,000, and the orc slaves are about to exceed the 60,000 mark. This unhealthy population structure is definitely a threat to the long-term development of the territory.

The only good thing is that the total food gap is increasing, but the food self-sufficiency rate is constantly improving.

According to the current speed of land reclamation, it is still very promising to achieve basic self-sufficiency in food in two years.

If this news gets out, it will definitely cause a big stir.

The basic realization of food self-sufficiency means that the bottomless pit of land reclamation in mountainous areas has turned around.

It is certain to continue losing money, but the deficit will start to decrease year by year from the current tens of thousands of gold coins per year, and finally turn from negative to positive.

According to outside estimates, this turning point should be more than ten years later, not in the last two or three years.

There is no way, no matter how optimistic people are, they cannot imagine that the scene of the earth bear going to the construction site is really too anti-bear.

It is a pity that there is only one Bear of the Earth, and Hudson does not dare to exploit the potential of Bear Stearns, so he can only work hard, otherwise the efficiency can be further increased.

…

“The area of ​​land for spring plowing has increased significantly this year, and you all have a heavy task.

Especially for the newly opened paddy fields, foreign rice will be introduced this year, so you should pay more attention to it.

Orc slaves are not suitable for fine work, so spring plowing is still entirely the responsibility of the people. It is still the old rule, with Baojia as the unit and tasks assigned according to the number of laborers.

The rewards I promised to the people have to be fulfilled now.

Last year, the territory's wasteland reclamation plan was 100,000 acres, but 110,897 acres of wasteland were actually reclaimed, exceeding the target by 10,897 acres.

Based on one-third of the excess reward, 3,632.3 acres of land will be used as public land to be distributed by a group of territorial residents who have participated in land reclamation.

Record it, and starting from the next season, the income from this part of the land will be extracted and distributed to each territorial citizen who participated in the land reclamation according to their contribution. "

Hudson said proudly.

He really doesn't care about the income from just a few thousand acres of land. As long as everyone is willing to work hard, Mr. Hudson will not be stingy with rewards.

It's a pity that these stimulation methods can only be used on serfs. A larger number of slaves can still only be used for forced labor.

The language barrier made Mr. Hudson, who was good at pie making, feel powerless for the first time.

Otherwise, the best ones will eat meat, the worst ones will eat dirt, and those who are not bad will eat feed.

"Yes, sir!"

Everyone answered in unison.

It can be seen that everyone is in a good mood. Following a generous lord obviously has a better future than following a stingy lord.

There are clear rewards and punishments for the serfs, not to mention the managers like them.

For entrepreneurs, credibility is crucial. Especially when facing one's own people, any breach of contract may cause the team to lose heart.

It is easy to lose credibility, but it is extremely difficult to regain it.

After a pause, Hudson continued:

"I've also prepared your share, and Tom will take someone to deliver it to everyone's residence later."

Although many people in the entrepreneurial team of Hudson belong to the kind of owners with unknown origins and whose loyalty needs to be tested, the rewards that should be given are still indispensable.

These can only be given by Hudson at his own discretion, no one can help.

In the Aslant continent, there is no such thing as the New Year, so there is no way to talk about year-end bonuses, and there is even no clear standard for salary.

There is no other way. It would be their honor to serve the noble master these days.

What kind of treatment are you talking about?

Even though these people may have been nobles in their ancestors, by their generation, their titles have long been gone, so they mean nothing.

Only the feudal nobles could inherit hereditary titles.

Other honorary nobles are tenured for life.

The son of an honorary noble can also claim to be a noble son. After all, his father is a real noble, but when his grandchildren are born, he is nothing.

If the middle generation does not work hard, the younger generations may become commoners.

The guys who are following Hudson now are all civilians. Claiming to the outside world that the nobility has declined is just a way to boost one's own worth.

They are all here for wealth, and they will definitely not be rich. No other reward can be given, but Hudson will not be stingy with money.

Facts have proven that financial incentives are still very effective. Nothing was received, and everyone's mood improved.

Maybe there is an element of acting, but life is like a play, and who is not an actor?

"Sir, last year's plan has been completed. What do you think of this year's territory development plan?"

Luke asked concerned.

After all, he is a businessman and has developed the ability to observe words and emotions. He could see Hudson's intention to win people's hearts at a glance, and immediately cooperated with him with practical actions.

"The coal that restricts mine production has been solved. This year, the mine's production capacity must be doubled. Related business networks must work hard to spread to neighboring provinces.

It is a general trend to replace bronze with iron, and this is our opportunity. While others are still focusing on weapons orders, grab the daily necessities market first.

When necessary, the price of exports outside the province can be reduced to offset the cost of increased mid-way freight.

In the land reclamation plan, because the adult labor force has increased, the development of mountainous land has been increased to 105,000 acres.

The swamp land reclamation plan is tentatively set at 250,000 acres, and it is expected that 50,000 slaves will be invested.

Aquaculture……"