Chapter 311 Nelson 1

It was already late October when Richard returned from the Losa Basin.

October is the late autumn season, and it was very cold in the late autumn.

Although the temperature had dropped below zero degrees, the ground had frozen in the morning and evening. In the fields, a large number of contract slaves and free people were busy, seizing the last window to collect fodder and fuel to prepare for winter.

Richard rode a warhorse, followed by a dozen personal soldiers, and came to the Nelson area for inspection.

This territory was only incorporated into the Harland Territory this year. Because of the war, there were almost no living people when the Harland Territory took over. Richard exchanged 20,000 contract slaves with the Duke of Guise for food. After being arranged in this area, whether it was living habits, national culture, or even speaking accents, they were very different from the original ones.

Because of the large number of contract slaves purchased, there were about three languages ​​in Harlan's territory. The first was the local northern border language, the second was the Stannic language, and the third was the language of the Kingdom of Delong. In fact, the language of the Duke of Guise's territory is basically the same as that of the northern part of the Kingdom of Delong.

In order to better rule the people, Richard has learned the Stannic language and the language of the Kingdom of Delon in the past decade or so, and can communicate directly with the population of these two regions. However, the official language of the Harland Territory is still the Northern Frontier language. From schools to factories, from the army to the government, you can't get in without speaking the Northern Frontier language.

In order to avoid the awakening of national consciousness in the future and the outbreak of ethnic conflicts like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Richard formulated a strict ethnic integration policy very early, and all the people in the territory were collectively referred to as Harlanders. In order to prevent the people from different regions from sticking together, generally speaking, the contract slaves purchased will be dispersed and incorporated into different villages.

In fact, the 20,000 contract slaves in the Nelson area are not the owners of this territory. The free people who have divided the land in this area this year are mainly the second sons and daughters from the Williamburg area.

These second sons and daughters have no right to inherit property, and if they want to divide the land, they can only go to the desolate areas to reclaim wasteland and operate.

The Nelson area spans the Black River Basin, and the land is very fertile. Although it was captured by orcs twice, it belongs to the rear area of ​​the Duke of Harland from a geographical point of view. As long as the Tani Canyon is guarded, the Nelson region will not be invaded by orcs.

The Nelson family has been operating in this area for many years, reclaiming a large amount of farmland and building many houses. There are also three ready-made castles in this territory.

Compared with cutting trees, digging tree roots, picking stones to open up wasteland in the wilderness, and guarding against orc invasions, living in the Nelson region is undoubtedly a good thing.

After Harland obtained this territory, many smart people tried their best to the government, hoping to assign their second sons and daughters to this territory.

The free people in the William Fort area were close to the water and relied on the geographical advantage to grab the first batch of quotas. About 600 young people were assigned to the Nelson area. This year, the land and houses have been divided and they have become the first batch of free people in this territory.

As for the 20,000 contract slaves who built water conservancy and resumed production, it was not their turn to divide the land in the Nelson area.

In fact, in October, this part of the contract slaves had begun to be split by Rogge, and thousands of people were transferred out.

A small village near Flin Castle in the Nelson area.

Clayton carried a bag of grain and made his way home with difficulty. This grain bag made of thick woolen cloth can hold 120 kilograms of grain at a time.

Because of the good economic development, the Harland Territory has accumulated a large number of craftsmen, who can produce almost all kinds of daily necessities. For example, there are two types of bags for daily grain, sacks and cloth bags. Generally speaking, sacks are rough and used to hold coarse grains, and cloth bags are used to hold fine grains.

In fact, the bag of grain that Brighton carried on his back was the flour ground in the mill.

After more than ten years of development, the free people in the Harland Territory have greatly improved their living standards, and many people's food has changed from wheat rice to bread.

Clayton is eighteen years old this year. He was born in the Kingdom of Delong. After countless hardships and dangers, he was sold to the Harland Territory with his family. Clayton's family is the first batch of Harland people. Although he is from the Kingdom of Delong, he does not speak the language of the Kingdom of Delong well, but he is very proficient and proficient in the Northern Frontier dialect.

Clayton is the third son in the family. In fact, his parents gave birth to seven children, but one sister was sold to the nobles of the Illinois Province, and one brother died during the migration.

Because he became a freeman very early, Clayton's family has a high standard of living. His eldest brother joined the army ten years ago and retired due to injury. After retiring, he received a pension every year. In addition, the eldest brother also inherited his parents' inheritance, not only land and houses, but also dozens of gold coins in cash.

Clayton's second brother also caught up with the good times. He was one of the first batch of elementary school graduates. Now he is a small bureaucrat in a prosperous castle. It can be said that he has jumped up the social ladder.

When it came to Clayton, he seemed to be abandoned by the times. He also graduated from elementary school, but unfortunately encountered the devaluation of academic qualifications and did not become a government civil servant. Now he is still an unemployed vagrant, and his parents' inheritance is not his turn at all.

With the help of his eldest brother, Clayton has married. At the age of eighteen, he is already the father of three children. Their small family only has five acres of land under Clayton's name. Five acres of land can't support five people at all. They rely entirely on the help of their two brothers to barely survive.

In order to develop remote areas and control the population of the capital, the area near Fort William has formulated a strict policy on the division of public land, with at least hundreds of acres of land divided every year, which is not enough for the population of the capital.

So people like Clayton who wanted to live a good life and obtain land had no choice but to immigrate.

This year, the Halland Territory won the Nelson region. Clayton keenly seized the opportunity, found his second brother, and obtained the immigration quota first. The family was allocated thirty acres of land, and the land wealth in his hands increased sharply. .

Clayton's eldest brother had many years of military experience and did not take money too seriously. Before leaving, he gave him five gold coins as a gift, which greatly improved Clayton's living standard.

Good luck seemed to fall on Clayton's head. Because he could speak some of the language of the Delon Kingdom and could communicate with the indentured slaves in the Nelson area, Clayton finally became a civil servant, became the mayor of this small village, and entered the government. middle.

Clayton is now responsible for directing more than 500 indentured slaves in the village to build ditches. They also completed the construction of the mill in the village this year.

When Richard came to this small village, he happened to see Clayton walking heavily.

"What's your name? Are you a newly assigned free citizen this year?"

Generally speaking, indentured slaves work in groups, food is provided centrally, and clothes are distributed uniformly. Although they have some freedom, they don't have much freedom. So at a glance, Richard knew that Clayton was a newly assigned free citizen.

"Master Duke, my name is Clayton. I am a freeman from Fort William and was appointed the mayor of this village."

Seeing Richard riding a Warcraft horse, Clayton hurriedly bowed and showed great respect.

"You look very young. How old are you this year?"

"Master Duke, I am eighteen years old and the father of three children."

"How many people are there in your village now? How is production recovering?"

Seeing Richard, Clayton felt a little panicked. He carefully organized his words and said: "Our village has twenty households of freedmen this year, with a total of 112 people. In addition, there are five other households near the village. One hundred and twenty-six indentured slaves have been repaired this year, and a water-powered mill and water-powered sawmill have been built. The village has more than 3,000 acres of farmland, and some people should be allocated to it next spring, if they can be rented. There are enough plowing cattle, and no indentured servants are needed to help with spring plowing.”

It was already June when Leader Haaland took over Nelson Viscounty, and the spring plowing had already been delayed.

This year, the region's food supply is entirely dependent on Graveson County. Fortunately, Graveson County has developed agriculture and a large population, and there is enough food in the grain storage to support the restoration of production in the Nelson region.

Otherwise, long-distance transportation to supply food for more than 20,000 people would be a very troublesome matter.

Seeing that Clayton spoke very orderly, Richard was secretly happy, feeling that the quality of the new generation of young people in the territory had improved a lot. Many of the first-generation serfs he came into contact with were incapable of beating with three sticks, had no knowledge and culture, and seemed dull and stupid.

"There is no income this year. Can you guys live on?"

Clayton hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to tell the truth: "Our village is all freedmen from Fort William. We have some savings, and with the food subsidy issued by the city hall, we can still survive this year. The only thing The problem is to collect fuel for the winter. The territory does not allow us to cut down big trees, and coal is not available on the market. The fuel collected in the village is now somewhat insufficient. "

After hearing about the difficulties at the grassroots level, Richard thought to himself: "The situation below is complicated, and the implementation of legal provisions is too rigid. This is also a common problem of bureaucracy, and it is almost impossible to solve."

"I'm writing you a warrant to allow your village to cut down a hundred big trees. You must also seize the time to cut down trees to prevent heavy snow from falling and making the mountain roads difficult to pass."

Although he spent most of this year in the Losar Basin, by reading the documents sent by various departments, Richard knew that the territory had used steam engines and the output of the coal mines had greatly increased.

According to Chavison's report, as of September, the output of the Harland Territory coal mine has exceeded 130,000 tons, and the annual output is expected to exceed 160,000 tons, which has doubled from last year without much increase in miners.

But now there are more than 900,000 people in the Harland territory, and industrial coal consumption is also increasing rapidly. Coupled with the consumption of steam engines, the coal produced this year is simply not enough.

What is even more troublesome is that it is difficult to increase the production of coal mines near Fort William. According to calculations by coal mine personnel, the production can increase to more than 200,000 tons at most.

As the territory's coal consumption increases, more than 200,000 tons of coal a year are simply not enough.

The top priority is to find new coal mines, but now the prospecting technology is relatively simple and geology has not developed to a certain level. Finding new coal mines depends entirely on luck.

The prospecting team has been searching for more than ten years, but still has not been able to find a second coal mine.

Richard sighed, walked around Clayton's village, and then went to the wooden shed where the indentured servants were.

There are very few houses in the village, and they can only be provided to freedmen who are allocated to them first. There were only a few houses reserved for indentured servants, and they were inhabited by people who were old, weak, sick, and in poor health.

A large number of indentured servants could only live in simple wooden work sheds.

Richard looked at the thick straw on the roof of the work shed. Because there were no glass windows, the interior was very narrow and dark, and he suddenly felt depressed. He frowned and said to the flattering supervisor beside him: "How are you going to solve the problem of heating in winter?"

"We built a kang and a fireplace. Although we don't have much fuel in reserve, as long as the weather is not too cold, people won't freeze to death."

"The conditions are simple this year, so this is the only way. Next year, the territory will improve your living environment. We will definitely do what we promised you. You will be restored to freedom in five years, and each person will be given five acres of land. Those who have made contributions will become free citizens in advance. But you also have to learn the Northern Frontier language and integrate into the territory as soon as possible.

The living environment is not good, so you must pay attention to hygiene. If someone gets sick, gather them as soon as possible and send them to Graveson Hospital for treatment. If many people die, I will hold you responsible."

Now Harland Territory has built five hospitals in William Castle, Vick Castle, Graveson Castle, Salt Lake Castle, and King Castle, and there are qualified surgeons in each hospital.

Especially in William Castle Hospital, there are more than 20 doctors in the surgical department, three magician doctors, and six advanced apprentices. Ten operations can be performed at a time. With the addition of some new drugs developed, the strength of the hospital has greatly increased.

Because the territory has formulated a medical treatment activity in the countryside, the hospital must dispatch doctors to the countryside to see patients.

The contract servants here have seen doctors cut open the patient's stomach to treat diseases with their own eyes. They are very confident in the level of the Harland Territory Hospital.

"Some time ago, we sent a group of people with poor health to the hospital for treatment, and those who stayed were all healthy. We have warm clothes on us, and we don't need to work outside in winter. There is also a large amount of fuel stored behind the house. Please rest assured, Duke, no one will freeze to death."

In order to better manage, Richard learned the language of the Kingdom of Delong. Since becoming a magician, Richard's memory and thinking speed have increased a lot, making learning a relatively easy thing. After learning the language of the Kingdom of Delong, Richard can communicate with the contract slaves in person to avoid being deceived by the bureaucrats below and being kept in the dark.

Recently, Richard inspected several contract slave camps and found that the situation was not bad.

After his continuous attacks, the administration of the Harland Territory seemed to have improved a bit.

It was already evening when we left the village, and there was a biting northwest wind in the wild.

Richard looked up and found that several children were still playing in the wild. Although they were frozen and bruised, they still looked very happy. Several rural women came out of the door of their house, as if calling the children to eat, but these bear children almost ignored their mothers.

The mothers seemed to have no patience, and beat their children severely, dragging these troublesome urchins back home.

Richard rode on his iron-horned horse, watching the scene in the village, and only urged his horse back to Flynn Castle when there were no people on the street.