Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party that Traveled to Another World

After confirming the cooperation with Hansel, Paul Graman began to consider the agricultural issues in the territory.

First of all, in terms of land ownership, in name, all the land in the Arda Territory belongs to the Graman family, just like all the land in the ancient Celestial Empire belonged to the emperor, but the actual arable land used for agricultural production is owned as follows:

Nearly one-third of the arable land belongs directly to the lord's mansion, and the output on the land also belongs to the Graman family. More than one-third of the land is occupied by large landlords and gentry in various villages and towns (including the retainers of the Graman family), who pay taxes to the lord's mansion every year, and the remaining output belongs to themselves. Less than one-third of the land belongs to a large number of self-cultivating farmers or small landlords.

According to the general routine, the Earl should carry out a violent or mild land redistribution reform, so that every farmer in the territory has a piece of land that can feed himself and his family, so that those who cultivate the land have their own land, and then everyone praises the lord's name.

But what Paul was looking forward to was not the happy pastoral life under the small peasant economy, but the industrialized machine production, and the small peasant economy was one of the major obstacles to the road to industrialization.

First, the small peasant economy bound a large number of farmers to small plots of land, limiting the formation of free labor, and the lack of labor would limit the speed of industrial development.

Second, the self-sufficiency and instability of the small peasant economy made the lives of the vast majority of small farmers poor, and they had no power to buy more consumer goods, which resulted in a narrow market and hindered the development of the commodity economy.

Third, the small peasant economy was weak, making it difficult to buy expensive machines, and unable to adopt other new technologies or carry out large-scale soil improvement and water conservancy, which was not conducive to increasing the output of cultivated land.

Finally, the long-term existence of small plots of land would also hinder the strengthening of agricultural division of labor, restrict the expansion of cash crops, and delay the progress of commercialization of agricultural products.

All of the above factors would hinder the development of industrialization. Not to mention the negative role of the small peasant economy in the modern history of the Celestial Empire, a comparison of the impact of the modern land system of France and Britain on the industrialization of the two countries can explain many problems.

After the outbreak of the bourgeois revolution in France, the old feudal land relations were destroyed, the land of the nobility and the church was deprived and distributed to the peasants, making them small landowners. This was of great progressive significance at the time, and it also increased the enthusiasm of the peasants and promoted economic development.

However, due to various reasons, this small peasant economy based on the private ownership of small plots of land lasted for more than 100 years in France. The small peasant economy gradually became a hindrance to industrial development, delaying the historical process of France's transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country. This was one of the important reasons for the relatively slow economic development of France in the late 19th century.

Britain was different. Although the enclosure movement, which was likened to "sheep eating people", caused countless peasants to lose their homes and become displaced, it was full of violence and oppression during the period, causing countless tragedies, but objectively provided favorable conditions for Britain's industrial revolution.

In order to make a living, the peasants who lost their land entered the city, which accelerated the process of urbanization and provided cheap free labor for the development of industry.

The enclosure movement made a large number of lands that were originally divided into small plots connected into one piece, which made it easier to grow new crops, add good fertilizers, use better tools, reform irrigation systems, and adopt advanced farming methods - all of which were beyond the ability of small farmers to bear alone, thus greatly increasing the overall output of agricultural production.

This is also one of the important reasons why the scientific development in France in the 18th century was also fruitful, but the Industrial Revolution first occurred in Britain.

Therefore, Paul not only did not want to "equalize the land", but also wanted to further concentrate the land.

The land owned by the lord's mansion and major landlords was already concentrated enough in terms of ownership, but it was still relatively scattered geographically. He needed to coordinate the owners of all parties to exchange land, promote land transfer and management concentration through a series of policies and regulations, promote the establishment of large farms and promote agricultural mechanization, and build large-scale water conservancy projects according to the distribution of cultivated land.

For those self-employed farmers and small landlords, using violent means to deprive them of their ownership was not within Paul's consideration. His origin and education in the previous life made him unwilling to betray his "spiritual class". Since it already exists, it can be used as a supplement to the large farm economy. The unit output under the same conditions should be higher. After all, the intensive farming of the Celestial Empire has many advantages in feeding more than one billion people.

He planned to establish organizations such as farmers' associations and cooperatives based on villages, and the lord's mansion would pay for the purchase of agricultural tools, oxen and other means of production, and rent them to self-employed farmers at low prices to help them improve their labor efficiency.

As for the labor force needed for industrialization, he set his sights on another large group in the territory - serfs. Slavery exists in this world and is very common.

Ironically, the church that Paul despised and feared was the biggest opponent of slavery. One of its important concepts at the beginning of its establishment was that everyone is equal under God. After the status of the church was widely recognized by various countries, it also vigorously promoted several abolitionist movements, but in the end they all ended in failure due to the resistance of the vested interest groups. As the church's top leaders and nobles of various countries became more and more similar, this concept gradually remained as a slogan.

But the Earl did not intend to just shout out the slogan. Subjectively, he could not accept the existence of slavery. Objectively, the development of industry required a large amount of labor, so it was imperative to abolish slavery in his territory.

For the serfs directly under the lord's mansion, Paul planned to give them freedom and let them stay or go. The remaining ones would be trained as agricultural workers in his new farm. As for the serfs owned by the major landowners, if they do not release them, they will wait for the wheels of history to crush them.

As for the agricultural labor force lost due to the abolition of slavery, it can be completely replenished by promoting new agricultural tools. Machinery or equipment that is useless on narrow land can be effectively used in new large-scale farms.

Paul planned to manufacture Rotherham plows, Croskill breakers, saw-tooth harrows, drills, harvesters, threshers and other agricultural machinery. These things could be manufactured under current technical conditions, and only by relying on Animal power can operate, which was a weapon in the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century.

Another way to increase land yields is the four-bed rotation method. This planting system divides all cultivated land into four cultivated areas, and crops such as turnips, barley, clover, and wheat are planted in the four cultivated areas. Each year Rotate in turn.

There is no mistake. One post, one content, one 6 one, one book, one book, one read!

It abolishes land fallow, and the cultivated land after crop harvest is not used as grazing land, and the grazing land is converted into cultivated land, which expands the crop planting area; it plants leguminous grass and applies livestock manure to accelerate the recovery and improve soil fertility, which is beneficial to crop yields. The steady growth is conducive to the long-term rational use of cultivated land, and it can also provide high-quality feed for livestock; it promotes the transformation of livestock breeding from grazing to livestock feeding, and is conducive to improving the production level of the livestock industry.

There is also the cultivation of improved seeds, but Paul doesn't understand this very well. He can only wait until relevant agricultural experts are recruited to implement this matter.

Paul firmly believes that after the above-mentioned series of reforms, the agricultural output of Ardaland will definitely increase significantly, which will release and support more laborers and pave the way for future industrialization.