The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

"Rise, there's no need for such formalities." Roland dismounted and helped him up.

"Thank you, Your Highness..." The farmer quickly bowed deeply in thanks.

"I'm glad these things are useful to you..." Roland looked at the farmer, who was not old but had a weathered face, with deep emotion. The extravagance of the aristocracy could not hide the harsh living conditions that the low productivity of this era brought to ordinary people.

"How's the harvest this year?" Although Roland had received reports from his subordinates, he still wanted to hear what the people had to say.

"Your Majesty, this year's harvest is excellent; it's a bumper year..." The farmer looked at Roland with apprehension.

“That’s great. By the way, I see many of you fertilizing your fields. Why is that?” Roland suddenly asked. According to feedback from his subordinates, few farmers use farmyard manure in their fields. Most just clear away the weeds. In fact, due to the vast land and sparse population, crops in many remote areas are even sparser than weeds…

"Um... how can such filthy stuff be used in the fields?" the farmer asked, puzzled.

"..." Roland blinked and was speechless.

……

"What's wrong?" Nyx asked, looking at Roland who seemed rather downcast. She had a keen sense of Roland's change in mood.

"It's nothing, just some reflections..." Roland shook his head without saying anything. Some things are destined to be changed only by oneself, after all, the influence of his mindset and values ​​made Roland incompatible with the nobles of this era...

For the nobles of Middle-earth, the lives of these commoners were already good enough, but Roland saw the backwardness and poverty behind this seemingly prosperous country... Even ordinary people in Lagrange were eating black bread with bran as their staple food, not to mention the other commoners in human settlements. It is estimated that only the hobbits in all of Middle-earth had a high quality of life.

However, what Roland finds most frustrating is that he can't even change the internal conditions of the kingdom, even with the invention of the curved plow, a revolutionary agricultural tool... Sure enough, without chemical fertilizers or anything like that, the yields under primitive farming methods are pathetic...

“Fertilizer is relatively easy to solve… as long as the excrement of humans and animals is collected and stored as compost, it will make excellent fertilizer,” Roland said, pondering with his head down.

"Someone, give the order! Command someone to collect human and animal excrement and compost it as fertilizer," Roland said. He now felt...
"Huh?" The knight who had come upon hearing this froze on the spot, looking at Roland somewhat bewildered. "That's right, and there's also an order for the common people to use this fertilizer when cultivating the land; it can effectively increase yields!" Roland affirmed. Having finally freed his hands, Roland noticed the crude farming techniques of the farmers in the Central Plains. Roland could only say that when it came to farming, the technology of the Blue Star Empire was far superior. The backward farming techniques of the common people in the Central Plains... were simply sowing seeds and watering them. The things they did most of the day in the fields were weeding and catching insects...

"Why are you suddenly concerned about these things?" Nyx quietly approached Roland, looking at him curiously. After all, it was quite puzzling for a war profiteer to suddenly start caring about people's livelihoods. Few nobles or even kings cared about these things; their main concern was whether taxes could be collected. As for the livelihoods of commoners? As long as no one starved to death, it wasn't a problem.

“Sigh…” Roland sighed and didn’t speak. He now understood why the entire Lagrange Kingdom couldn’t supply its army with so much land. It wasn’t just because of the low yield of unoptimized crops, but also because of the poor agricultural technology. Wasn’t this just like medieval Europe? The only good thing was that the sanitation in Swiftstream City was slightly cleaner.

“Don’t blame yourself too much, you’ve done very well…” Nyx comforted him. In her opinion, Roland was incredibly kind, and calling him a benevolent king was not an exaggeration at all. In the harsh environment of the North, he had done his best to protect the people, which was the best a king could do.

"It's not self-blame, just a sigh..." Roland was somewhat speechless. Having been busy with military affairs and neglecting political affairs, Roland only now realized what a mess the people's livelihood of his kingdom was. The kingdom's farmers were practically engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture, and at this level of farming, it would be a long time before they could support the army.

Now Roland understands why Rohan and Gondor, with their vast landmasses, could only muster such small armies. With that level of productivity, who besides orcs could afford a full-time army? There's a reason the Shire is doing so well… (The Shire doesn't have an army; it's all self-governing towns.)
“If we plant this land, everyone will starve to death…” Roland shook his head. He was shocked to find that the level of farming in the magical world was probably only in Middle-earth (humans).

“Isn’t this how everyone always is? We don’t have any wood-type spellcasters…” Nyx shook his head. Although Yunfeng was a wise man who could create all sorts of alchemical items, including some that increased crop yields, those things couldn’t be widely distributed. If Yunfeng were to manage all the farmland around the Kingdom of Lagrang by himself, he’d probably have to go and chop down Roland again…

"We need to make changes. We need to find a way to increase food production. My reserves aren't unlimited." Roland shook his head. Although the system's military rations were cheap, Roland didn't have the money. He couldn't rely on the system to support him for the rest of his life.

“Oh.” Nyx nodded as if she understood. Although Roland was acting strangely today, as his wife and future queen, Nyx decided to support all of Roland’s decisions.

How could the mere Central Plains possibly know the insane grain production of Earth? The lovable old man in the East ushered in a new era for rice. Besides rice, wheat, corn, and even sweet potatoes and potatoes—the two essential items for time travelers throughout history—would all be considered divine treasures in the Central Plains.

However, Roland currently has nothing and can only hope that the system will provide him with high-yield grain seeds in the future. As for developing biotechnology in the magical world... Roland says he's not a great biologist—Saruman. In a magical world, wouldn't it be better to solve problems with magic? Another option is to have the Smurf dragon act as a dragon-shaped fertilizer machine, using natural magic to accelerate crop growth. However, given the Smurf's personality, there's a greater chance he'll petrify Roland with a single breath of dragon breath.

Fortunately, the kingdom is now free to deal with these matters. Without external enemies, Roland can handle the kingdom's internal affairs instead of leaving everything to Yunfeng and the others. If all else fails, Roland, as a transmigrator living in an era of information explosion, should at least have some advanced management experience.

Roland went out for a short walk and discovered a major problem with agriculture. The grain varieties were poor, not only were they not high-yield varieties, but the planting techniques were also a mess. If things weren't changed, Roland would probably become the first king to starve to death in the capital.