You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 32 The Right of First Night

Roman scoffed, "If you don't finish this morning, you're not allowed to have lunch!"

Upon hearing this, Green immediately deflated.

People are iron rice and steel, and if they don't eat a meal, they will be very hungry.

Our livelihood is in their hands, so we should just work honestly.

Twenty years ago, at his peak, Borg was at least a fourth-tier superhuman. However, he hid in the mountains and starved for twenty years, causing his physical condition to decline dramatically. In the end, he couldn't even defeat a first-tier superhuman. Otherwise, he wouldn't have died from exhaustion.

Dick and Jet's strength likely declined after entering the mountains. Without sufficient food, it was extremely difficult for them to maintain their original strength, let alone train.

Green doesn't want to end up like that.

"Following other lords means plenty of fish, meat, and white bread..."

Green muttered to himself as he worked with Aaron to attach the yoke, and then led the oxen to the field.

It's truly pathetic that a warrior knight has fallen to such a state.

If it's like this every day, how can I train and improve my skills?

Aaron, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to everything and appeared very grounded.

He held the heavy plow, which was quite bulky and difficult to turn due to its wooden wheels. When plowing, it would naturally move forward and create a long straight line. The knight had a strong sense of direction, so he didn't have to worry about the plow line being slanted.

Gweil looked at Roman with bright, sparkling eyes: "My lord, what about me?"

She was no stranger to farm work and was looking forward to what Roman would assign her—she had no idea what the lord and his attendants were supposed to do. She just felt that the lord was indeed a lord; even the plow he used to till the land was heavier, bigger, and wider than Lord Moor's.

Roman raised his chin and commanded, "You just stay here and don't wander around."

Too small, weak in limbs, a reincarnation of a skinny creature, not helping is helping, can't do anything.

He brought Gweil out purely for fun.

Don't rush things now. Once she gets her nutrition back, the good days are yet to come.

"Oh." Upon hearing this, Gweil sat obediently on the oxcart, glancing around from time to time, much like a idly watching its parents work in the fields.

"Hmph hmph hmph..." Roman hummed a little tune as he held the heavy plow and drove the oxen.

He tilled the land at a leisurely pace, the thought of "Planting Experience +1" popping into his mind from time to time.

Roman's task today is simple: to define a specific area for the land to be planted this spring—the effect being like white lines on a playground.

But it took Roman more than an hour to walk that short distance of 1,300 meters.

Roman wiped the sweat from his brow and looked back.

A straight, deep furrow appeared before us, and the black soil, several centimeters deep, was completely turned up—the old light plows could never achieve this level of depth, and due to the limited fertility of the shallow soil, the harvest was far from satisfactory.

This intensive cultivation has also brought up the deep soil.

The vertical plowshare penetrates deep into the ground, driven by oxen, clearing a path for the plowshare. The plowshare turns up large swaths of soil behind the plow blades. The plow plate is a slanted flap installed behind the plowshare. The soil turned up by the plowshare is tilted and piled up to the right side of the plow, thus forming a furrow and ridge in the field.

It's similar to drawing lines on the beach with a stick; the sand will automatically pile up on both sides.

Looking at the neat row of furrows, Roman felt very pleased.

He lifted the heavy plow, drove the oxen to turn a corner, and continued to plow the land for another kilometer, forming a right angle.

Green and Aaron were already waiting at the end.

The two of them took turns holding the heavy plow, and were faster than Roman. Aaron also picked up all the hard mud, stones, tree roots, and withered grass that the plow turned up and threw them all onto the ground next to him.

From a bird's-eye view, one can see Roman holding a heavy plow, being pulled by two oxen, drawing a straight line and slowly blocking the rectangular gap.

Roman joined the two men and pulled the plow upwards—this vertical, hard, pure iron plow could adjust the depth of tillage.

Finally, the three of them were all sweating when they returned to the field. Seeing the expectant look on Gweil's face as she sat on the oxcart, Roman knew she was hungry.

Roman snapped his fingers and said, "Let's go eat! Let's go eat!"

After going through the work process these past few days, the farmers now know when to have lunch.

This is a free lunch, and the food is of excellent quality.

They returned to the town of Sig. Roman's meals were prepared, and although he ate the same food as the farmers, his meals were noticeably more refined.

Both the oatmeal and the black bread looked very clean.

Therefore, Roman tacitly approved of Mor's little tricks. Superhumans are not afraid of getting dirty, but it is better to be as clean as possible.

After he finished eating, the deacon Seth stopped him.

“I think you need to take a look at the financial situation of Sig Town.”

Seth handed Roman a stack of thick parchment paper.

Roman took it and looked at it for a moment.

The power of the nobility in this world is unimaginable; they are only responsible to their superiors or the king.

In addition, they possess most of the rights in their own territory, even the right of first night.

Roman knew that some nobles would actually exercise these rights.

For ordinary people, tenants who could rent land were called free people, while those without land were basically slaves. However, this only applied to the fiefdoms of minor nobles; the fiefdoms of major nobles could be divided into more classes.

The financial situation of Sige Town is very strange; it's a mess and has no reference or statistical value.

That's normal; this used to be Moore's personal fiefdom.

He would write down what business he did when he thought of it, and not write it down when he didn't feel like it.

The tax collectors in the Grand Duchy collect a fixed amount of tax each year and have never checked the detailed situation of Sig Town.

Moore has been here for so long, yet he doesn't even know the population of Sig Town; perhaps this is intentional.

All he knew was to prevent farmers from starving, to have as many children as possible, to cultivate more land, to harvest more grain, and to exchange the grain for more money. When necessary, he would even lend grain to farmers during difficult times to help them through the crisis.

This isn't necessarily wrong, but a lord shouldn't act this way.

Roman's arrival changed everything.

All accounts must be recalculated, and all expenditures and incomes must be listed in detail, so as to facilitate long-term rule.

Roman even saw in the financial records of Sig Town that at some point, 100 jin of rye had been lent to the Nova family, 150 jin had been returned after the autumn harvest, and another 100 jin would be returned next year.

Even loan sharks have emerged...

Roman called Moore over, and while Moore was sweating profusely, he took the quill from Seth's hand and crossed out all the thick paper.

That movement was reminiscent of Sun Wukong rewriting the Book of Life and Death.

Roman said, "All previous accounts are wiped clean, understand?"

He took back all the land. How are the farmers who owed him grain now?

Of course, Roman also knew that no matter how strongly he publicly demanded the concentration of labor, most farmers would definitely secretly grow some miscellaneous grains and cereals.

Not allowing cultivation of those wastelands during the day doesn't mean they actually don't farm.

But as long as it didn't interfere with the daytime work, Roman turned a blind eye—after all, the farmers had to hand over 50% of the land's output to him at harvest time, so the crops in the fields couldn't be hidden at all.

(End of this chapter)