Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 157 - 29: Since We’re Here

Chapter 157: Chapter 29: Since We’re Here

Digesting them was actually very simple.

Because they were taken by plunder.

They had nothing, but they had gained freedom.

Roman severed the many chains that once bound them: social ties, attachments to their homeland, and personal dependencies.

These people no longer served any nobles on this land.

From now on, they only needed to follow the commands of one person.

It was like a flock of sheep being given a vast pasture; as long as they kept grazing, Roman could do whatever he pleased behind them.

Even if he thrust forcefully, in any position, even if he hammered them into the ground, there would be no resistance.

The pleasure was sheer ecstasy to the bone!

Too wonderful!

Too suitable!

Praise slavery!

Was there anything more docile than these slaves across the land?

If there was, it was only more of the same!

Roman didn’t actually do much killing.

Those slaughter mandates he issued targeted only specific groups.

First were those who dressed well, lived well, had some fat to cut, and looked respectable.

Those were the ones who deserved to die!

Of course, skilled craftsmen were not included in this.

They relied on their skills to eat, so they were not worth mentioning.

Roman targeted certain groups that did not engage in specific production yet lived comfortably.

That being said, Sige Town once had 16 stewards, equivalent to 16 steward families, including wives, children, and parents.

All of them together, at least 50 people weren’t a problem, right?

Roman was being conservative.

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there were a hundred!

All with their tangled interests and connections!

In an era when most lived worse than pigs and dogs, and the majority were reduced to beasts of burden, these people lived with dignity - not that they didn’t work. They just did the least and took the most, and that’s why they looked decent.

If they weren’t killed, were they to continue managing the grassroots and holding power on this land?

Why?

Simply because they had management experience from the old era? Because they knew how to embezzle? Because they knew the ratios of sawdust, stones to black flour?

Bullshit!

They had to be killed!

Not even Jesus could stop it!

Would these people obediently and peacefully farm for him?

No!

They would only use their past illusions of power to form cliques, collude with Earl Kant, and make trouble for Roman.

And Roman only needed competent producers!

He plundered this time to capture people to work for him, not to bring in foreign stewards to teach him the art of ruling.

But it was different for those at the bottom.

Not only should they not be killed, but their entire families should be bound and brought over to farm.

Bringing their whole families helps with social stability.

Unless it’s the old, weak, sick, disabled, and pregnant women who couldn’t be taken away because they couldn’t endure long marches and the risks were great. Of course, there weren’t many of these people, and not every household had one, so it was highly likely that the entire household was caught in one fell swoop.

You’ve become a slave? Won’t your family worry about you?

What! Your whole family has become slaves! Well, that’s reassuring.

If someone resisted stubbornly... well, it couldn’t be helped if they died.

Desperate times, desperate measures.

But there were very few who dared to resist.

Because, when you saw the village chief’s entire family killed, the church blood-washed, and the high and mighty stewards falling one after another into pools of blood, and you still felt the urge to resist...

Then you should’ve been dead a long time ago!

Such brave folks would’ve been hanged by the stewards before Roman ever plundered them.

Those who survived had their fighting spirit ground out of them, docile as sheep, obediently following instructions the entire time.

The military servants couldn’t do all the work, so Roman specifically picked out many strong-bodied individuals from the slaves to help him with tasks.

Such as distributing food;

Such as having the mother of a crying baby on a cart come over to nurse;

Such as carrying children of five or six who couldn’t walk far.

Roman could only say they managed the journey without a hitch, all because they had a very strong sense of self-management, fully utilizing their initiative.

Even some slaves were more eager than Roman himself, hoping that their good performance would lead to better treatment than other slaves in the future, so they rushed to be the first to offer help.

This incited the hatred of other slaves.

As for Roman?

They hated him quite a bit as well.

Not because Roman had gone on a killing spree.

Because tenant farmers wouldn’t hate the bandits for killing the steward of their landlord’s estate—unless they were relatives of the steward.

The village chief’s death had nothing to do with most villagers.

You kill the village chief and I could hardly be happier, who knows, the Landlord might give me a better one.

But you wronged me by making me climb the mountain, and besides... did the Liang Mountain heroes teach you that trick?

...

The adaptability of the human race is strong.

Especially for those whose vigor had been worn down.

They endured oppression and wouldn’t rebel until the very last moment—just as the unrest Roman had quelled when he first arrived at Sige Town.

Roman pushed them toward a dead end, but even so, it had not yet come to the very last moment.

And this couldn’t be blamed on them.

Because they were born in such a terrible era, and they lacked the courage to act in righteous anger, to avenge insults with bloodshed.

As long as there was food to eat, rebellion was an impossibility, never possible in their lifetime.

In the end, it all came down to one phrase.

Since I’m here already.

...

Roman did not arrange for them to work immediately.

He wanted to register the identity information of all the slaves and incorporate it into the resident registration management of the local government.

Most terrestrial nations had corresponding systems of registered residence.

The census could improve operational efficiency, ensuring accurate distribution... or at least relatively accurate.

Slaves, being seen as the property of their masters, typically weren’t counted as population, but became free citizens entitled to land after the Lord’s grace, and only then could they be registered as population.

But the methods of household registration in this era were essentially crude.

Sige Town’s household registration system was no different.

After all, productivity was low, and Roman’s strongest advantage over everyone else was that—Sige Town had sufficient paper.

This was something most lords and kings today did not possess.

It was said that the Human Clan had invented some kind of grass paper during the rule of a certain empire.

But that was at least hundreds of years ago.

If the legend were true, it should date back to before the birth of terrestrial nations.

Before the establishment of nations like Cangyue, Wandong, the plateau, Free City... etc., it was that ancient Human Clan Empire that ruled over this vast land.

Because it was so long ago, no one believed the ancient empire was real.

People preferred to believe it was just a lie made up by minstrels, wandering tribes, and circuses for the sake of livelihood.

In their known legends, the most illustrious was the tale of the Conqueror who subdued the entire land.

As a descendant of the Riptide, Roman had indeed heard Ihe, the scholar of the Riptide domain, mention that the Divine Mystery Kingdom located in the fjord was a relic of that ancient empire, thus having close ties with the Church Court.

The King of Divine Mystery and the Pope still possessed the technique of making grass paper.

But it was never to be disclosed.

Whoever dared to meddle in the art of papermaking would inevitably attract the enmity of Divine Mystery and the Church Court!

Decades ago, this had led to a "Battle of Paper."

A Duke of Cangyue died because of it, causing turmoil within the Cangyue Royal Family.

It wasn’t until the Scarlet Baroness stood out and became Queen, quickly suppressing the situation with her iron fist.

But I digress.

Aside from Divine Mystery and the Church Court, the rest of the nobility had to rely on parchment to register the population.

Parchment was exceedingly precious, so naturally, the household registration system was a complete mess.

After all, there were hardly any materials to write on.

But Roman’s situation was different.

In this period of time, he had accumulated enough paper.

However, the process of recording identities was complex, requiring people to line up one by one.

Roman, Jimmy, Nillie, Seth, Moor, and other literate administrators were all involved in the record-keeping work.

More than five thousand slaves, divided among each registrar, meant hundreds of people lined up in front of each.

Once their names were registered, they would officially be residents of Sige Town.

Some had complete family units, while others had relatives who’d escaped during the plundering, or for other reasons, were not captured.

No matter, those not captured could still survive in Kant Territory.

After a year and a half, they would be reunited.

By then, it wouldn’t just be a simple springtime plan but rather a plan to exterminate households.

...