Work Prophet
Chapter 309 - 67: True Farming

Chapter 309: Chapter 67: True Farming

Aside from calling on his vassals to take the lead in adopting new agricultural tools and methods of farming,

Ireya also contacted several dozen blacksmith shops in Iron Horn City through the Golden Fleece Commerce, ordering a large batch of plow blades and coulters. She then gathered all the carpenters on the estate to rush the making of plow frames.

Once the plow blades and coulters were delivered to Green Field, they could be assembled together with the wooden plow boards to form chisel plows, which could later be enhanced with wheels to adjust the plowing depth.

After weighing his options, Li Yu chose the seed drill over other devices.

The seed drill, which originated in the Western Han dynasty, not only could trench and sow seeds but also cover the seeds and tamp the soil. It served multiple functions and greatly enhanced sowing efficiency. Most crucially, having been around for more than two thousand years, it had not been completely phased out and was still used in some remote rural areas.

Of course, it couldn’t compare with modern seed-sowing machines, but its advantage was that it did not require diesel or gasoline, which were only available to Li Yu from another universe; thus, the seed drill was the best choice for him.

In addition, the seed drill was not difficult to manufacture; its main body was a wooden structure, and only the legs needed plow blades—which were made by the blacksmiths of Green Field.

Besides, since long-handled sickles were only used during harvest, there was no rush to make them and they could be crafted slowly later on.

In summary, through internal division of labor and the procurement of parts, Li Yu and Ireya managed to have each craftsman responsible for producing a single part, greatly increasing the manufacturing efficiency of the new agricultural tools.

With this approach, they managed to produce enough new implements before the onset of spring plowing.

At the same time, the lady also issued several decrees, encouraging everyone to reclaim wasteland by offering tax deductions as incentives.

Based on Li Yu’s initial estimates, the new tools could increase farming efficiency by two to three times. Considering the shift from two-field to four-field crop rotation, the workload had also doubled. Each farmer could, in fact, expand his planting area by at least half again.

The nobles of the west lacked many things, but land was not one of them.

The Arias family was no exception, so Miss Rabbit took this matter to heart; even though the rent was reduced, as long as the number of farmland plots was growing, her total income would also increase.

However, as the new agricultural tools spread and the cultivated area increased, the previous strip farming land layout obviously became inappropriate.

The traditional farm shapes on the Bratis Continent and those of medieval Europe were similar, consisting of long strips, and a family often owned several plots, scattered around the village.

To the descendants of Hua Xia, the distribution and shape of these fields were undoubtedly strange, but behind this lay the disparity in productive tools.

Both the Bratis Continent and medieval Europe used the heavy plow, which required four to eight oxen to pull and was very difficult to turn. Farmers could only let the oxen move straight forward until they could go no further, and then they would switch to another location to continue plowing.

Now, however, with the switch to lightweight chisel plows, one or two oxen were sufficient to pull the plow, and turning was not so difficult. Given the increase in cultivated area, there was no longer a need to farm scattered strip fields, requiring people to run all over the place.

Thus, Ireya had to send her administrative officers to the villages to redistribute the land.

After a month of reshuffling, which exhausted the local officials and inevitably led to various conflicts—some people felt their new land was not as fertile as before, and others complained that their plots were now farther from their homes—

the main issue was that many people did not know how to farm their land after the changes in its shape.

Fortunately, the clerics of the Double Rest Sect stepped in in time, and even Li Yu himself personally demonstrated how to use various new farming tools.

For this purpose, he specifically visited rural areas on Saturday, especially consulting the elderly locals for farming advice.

And his efforts had not been in vain.

Seeing the Prophet roll up his trousers and work hard in the mud, the discontent among the followers diminished a lot, and they began to study seriously.

After the demonstration, Li Yu had each farmer come up in turn to try it out, correcting them as he did so. He kept busy until sunset, then Li Yu returned to Teacup Castle for some food and discussed politics with Ireya for a while.

The main purpose was to borrow a few legal officials from Ireya to promote legal awareness in the territory of the Double Rest Sect.

Li Yu did not plan to let the Double Rest Sect establish its own laws, although the idea was tempting, as it would contradict his initial intention of keeping secular matters secular and Church matters within the Church.

He established the Judgement Court not to deal with common crimes, but as an internal inspection organization within the Church, responsible for supervising members of other organizations.

Although it was proven that the previous incidents of two Sabbath infringing and murdering a farm girl were framed by the Silver Moon Church, Li Yu still remained vigilant against such occurrences.

Especially as the Double Rest Sect continued to develop and expand, the power in some people’s hands was bound to inflate, and Li Yu needed a department to supervise and restrain those people in a timely manner.

As for the routine management of public order, it would still be governed by the laws of the Bratis Continent, where Sabbaths and believers alike, if committed any crimes, would be punished normally without any special treatment.

...

This was probably the busiest period Li Yu had experienced since his arrival at Green Field; neither dragon slaying nor dealing with the Silver Moon Church had exhausted him so much before. His hands and feet were blistered and his shirt was stained with sweat after work.

However, he still went to the industrial park afterward to take another look. Zhang Yanlin had sent him the design and effect drawings four days earlier.

Li Yu saw no issues and Zhang Yanlin contacted the construction team to start work.

Since it was after work hours, Li Yu didn’t contact her but went there directly.

Unexpectedly, he found that construction was still ongoing inside, and Zhang Yanlin hadn’t left either; she was supervising the workers.

Upon seeing Li Yu, Zhang Yanlin was also startled, "You’ve gotten tanner; I haven’t seen you these past few days. Did you go to the beach?"

"No, I got this tan from farming." Li Yu took off his "game sunglasses."

The annoying thing started flashing wildly upon seeing Zhang Yanlin, popping up enthusiastically and suggesting a potential romantic target.

"..."

"Come on, you telling me you’ve taken up farming? Don’t joke around, didn’t you grow up in the city just like me?" Zhang Yanlin widened her eyes.

"Had no choice but to learn on the spot."

"As expected from my boss, even your jokes are unusually cold," laughed Zhang Yanlin.

"I wasn’t joking." Li Yu said, "Also, why haven’t you left yet? Our company always finishes work on time."

"Er, I thought, being new here, I should show some initiative," said Zhang Yanlin, "You really don’t need to look after me specially; it actually puts pressure on me."