Chapter 484: Meeting an Old Friend
After entering the 3282nd year of the Dawn Calendar, Harland is still accelerating immigration.
The first is to migrate the people of Rex Province.
Rex Province has only 280,000 square kilometers of land, but has 12 million people. The population density almost exceeds that of the two provinces of Central and Black River.
The two provinces of Central and Black River have a large number of factories, and the industry has developed to a certain extent. A considerable number of free people live in towns.
William Fort, Black River Fort, Light Fort, Salt Lake Fort, Malte Castle and other cities have a large population. The urbanization level of these two provinces has reached 35%.
In Rex Province, there is basically no industry, and a large number of people are distributed in rural areas.
Although Rex Province has fewer mountains, most of it is fertile and easy to cultivate coastal plains. The East Coast United Kingdom has been operating for many years and has reclaimed more than 80 million acres of land. On average, one person can cultivate seven acres of farmland.
But the land cannot be divided equally.
Most of the land in Rex Province is in the hands of hereditary nobles. Although Harland Lord broke through Kanas Castle and abolished the hereditary nobles of the East Coast Kingdom, it also accepted some local nobles.
These local nobles were basically sealed in the border area of the Kingdom of Sis. About 6 million acres of arable land in Rex Province are controlled by traditional nobles.
In addition, there are tens of thousands of gentry in Rex Province. These people are descendants of hereditary nobles, local landowners, and local power groups. After Richard occupied Rex Province, he did not encroach on their interests. The land they controlled exceeded 14 million acres.
The official land that truly belonged to Harland Lord was about 60 million acres, and the serfs under his command were roughly more than 9 million people.
Richard occupied Rex Province and did not immediately implement Harland Lord's decree. At that time, in order to ensure the stability of the occupied area and avoid violating the interests of local nobles and gentry, Richard adopted the original decree of the East Coast.
It was not until the Kingdom of Grant signed a peace treaty with the countries of Ryan and Delong, and Richard was crowned king successfully, and the external environment had stabilized, that Richard gradually promoted the new policy and issued the decree to liberate serfs.
The decree to pardon serfs as freemen was the foundation and core of the major policies of the Kingdom of Harland. In fact, there were people who opposed it from the beginning.
This decree violated the interests of the feudal nobles. If it was in a force where the interests had already been divided, it would inevitably lead to opposition from both sides and could not be implemented at all.
Instead, Richard painted on a blank sheet of paper and established a different social order, and this decree was successfully implemented.
When Richard first led the army, he had few soldiers and generals. In order to win over the serfs, Richard issued this decree. At that time, the knowledgeable people under his command did not dissuade him because of the situation. The opponents of this decree at that time were mainly external enemies.
In order to avoid provoking external enemies, Richard won over the nobles nearby and gave up some commercial interests, while strictly ordering the army to block the border and send back the escaped slaves to avoid affecting outsiders.
At that time, there were hereditary nobles nearby who were ready to join forces to deal with Richard, but due to the threat of the orcs, Richard needed to lead the noble coalition to resist the orcs.
This process lasted for about thirteen years. When Richard was promoted to hereditary earl, the Harland family became a great noble and began to enfeoff meritorious officials. The opponents of the decree to liberate serfs became internal nobles, led by Richard's father William, uncle Soros and a group of people.
At that time, Richard had established prestige in the army and his prestige in the territory far exceeded that of his father.
Despite the large number of internal opponents and severe pressure, Richard pushed hard, and neither William nor Soros could change his determination.
In order to establish prestige, Richard took advantage of the issue and severely dealt with the son of his third uncle Bernie. With this ruthlessness, he suppressed the group of opponents in the territory.
In the next seventeen years, the Harland Territory developed faster and faster, and was promoted from earl to duke. Then Richard was crowned king successfully, and his prestige was at its peak. Although there were still many opponents inside, they could no longer shake Richard's determination.
In fact, in recent years, the nobles appointed by Richard have been divided a lot. For example, Wendy, Jennings, Odaye, and Immorton have all copied the decree of emancipating serfs in their territories. The remaining traditional nobles have implemented their own customized decrees.
In fact, in recent years, in the Kingdom of Harland, serfs of hereditary nobles have fled to the royal territory every year. In the past few years, Richard also asked the security forces to cooperate, either to send back the fugitives or to buy the fugitives. But after Richard was crowned king, Rogge has issued an order to the government departments not to send back the fugitives.
Because of this decree, many hereditary nobles have impeached and criticized Rogge in the noble parliament in recent times, demanding that Richard dismiss the Prime Minister.
The political system of the Kingdom of Harland is seriously different from that of the Kingdom of Grant, and the status of hereditary nobles is not as important as that of the Kingdom of Grant.
In the Kingdom of Grant, the royal family only controls one-third of the power. The remaining one-third is the great noble class, and one-third is the small and medium noble class. The royal family has no dominant power, so of course they have to rely on the Noble Council, and the authority of the Noble Council is naturally very strong. Even the Kingdom of Roger can only execute what the Noble Council decides.
In the Kingdom of Harland, because it was just founded, the king's authority is the most important, and the number of hereditary nobles is relatively small, with a total of more than 70 people, and only three great nobles.
Satton, who has the highest title and the strongest power, has similar ideas to the elves. He voluntarily gave up the secular territory. The elves are only willing to live near the Tree of Life. He and Sylph do not oppose Richard's decision to liberate the serfs.
The two earls, Romen and Soros, are left alone, and they cannot shake Richard's authority at all. Moreover, after thirty years, Soros and Romen admire Richard's great talent and strategy. They were promoted to the noble class with Richard's support.
Because Harland Territory developed industry, Soros and Romen also made a lot of money following the general trend, which was far more than squeezing serfs to grow food. The finances of the two earls no longer rely on agricultural accumulation, so they will not oppose the implementation of the decree to liberate serfs.
Last year, Rogge communicated with them by letter. The two have already understood the policy changes in Harland Territory. Like Wendy and Odaye Territory, they have begun to implement the decree to pardon serfs.
The most important point is that the central government of Harland has 270,000 soldiers directly under it, while the noble coalition has only 30,000 soldiers. The combat effectiveness of the two sides is fundamentally different.
The Kingdom of Grant is a kingdom of aristocratic feudalism, while the Kingdom of Harland is a centralized kingdom. Richard's authority is far greater than that of King Roger.
After Richard implemented the decree to liberate serfs in the province of Rex, there was a moment of public excitement, and the nobles on the border began to submit letters of surrender to the Kingdom of Sith, wanting to pay for their territories and become vassals of the Kingdom of Sith.
Although the Kingdom of Sith was greedy for small gains, it did not dare to provoke the prestigious Kingdom of Harland.
In the past twenty years of fighting experience, Richard has established a great reputation in the eastern countries of the Dawn Plane. Whether it is a legendary dragon or an orc army, an ogre or an undead, they all fell in Richard's hands.
The three countries of East Coast, Delon, and Ryan, with nearly 1.5 million troops, set off Richard's brilliant military exploits.
Although the Kingdom of Sith wanted to expand its territory, it was unwilling to send troops to the north. The Kingdom of Parame in the south is the headquarters of the Church of Dawn, and it is even more difficult to provoke. The Kingdom of Sith has already focused on the Mayan Kingdom in the west.
After the court discussion, the Kingdom of Sith sent a messenger to request a peace agreement with Richard and sent some letters from rebellious nobles.
Richard was not a war maniac. After analyzing the pros and cons, he decided not to start a war in the short term.
Foreign Minister Jonathan personally came forward and signed a 30-year peace agreement with the Kingdom of Sith on the condition of market opening. Because Richard was promoted to a legendary magician, the royal power contract could no longer restrict Richard. At the request of the Kingdom of Sith, the Kingdom of Harland could only use the prince Philip to sign.
Philip was already 21 years old and had just been promoted to a third-level professional. He had been married to King Roger's daughter Vivian for three years and had given birth to two grandchildren for Richard. With the addition of a new member to the royal family, Richard, Sophia and other elders finally put down their worries. The Harland family had a successor.
The eldest daughter Margaret was 25 years old and had been promoted to a six-ring magician for a year and a half. Margaret is a top-class magic talent picked out of a million, and she has a pair of legendary magic master mothers to support her. According to her current promotion speed, she can try to be promoted to the legendary realm before she is 40 years old.
Although her professional level is not high, she has used the Water of Life and the legendary Styx Potion. Her mental power has reached 32 points, which is very close to the weakest nine-ring magician.
Like her aunt Wendy, Margaret likes magic very much and doesn't like to fall in love and get married. Richard introduced several rising stars in the territory to his daughter, but Margaret didn't feel anything and was unwilling to agree.
Richard and Sofia are more open-minded. Seeing that their daughter didn't want to fall in love and get married, they didn't force her to follow the secular requirements. Anyway, according to Margaret's intention, she was also happy not to get married or fall in love.
After signing a peace agreement with the Kingdom of Sith, Richard directly dealt with the rebellious nobles and took back the fiefdom. There are 40,000 garrisons in the Rex Province. Although the local nobles and gentry are dissatisfied, they dare not provoke a rebellion.
The nobles had a much deeper understanding of the situation than the serfs. Although Richard's implementation of the decree to liberate serfs violated their interests, they did not dare to rebel easily without the support of external enemies.
In order to smoothly implement the decree to liberate serfs, Richard has been in charge of the Rex Province during this period. With this famous continental general in charge, the situation in Rex Province is also very stable.
Entering the 3282nd year of the Dawn Calendar, Richard began to increase the intensity of immigration, and a large number of serfs in Rex Province began to migrate to the east coast. The two provinces of Prilan.
At the same time, funds from the Black River and the Central Bank Province also began to flow into the Rex Province.
The spring in Rex Province is very charming.
Looking from both sides of the Maya River, tall and straight pine trees, clear river water, dense irrigation canals, neatly planned rice fields, and curling smoke, all these scenes tell the prosperity of both sides of the Maya River.
From the perspective of agricultural conditions, except for the frequent typhoons in summer and autumn, the Rex Province is richer than both sides of the Black River, otherwise it would be impossible to support a population of more than 12 million. From the perspective of geographical conditions and climatic conditions, this area is somewhat similar to Jiangsu in Richard's previous life.
A steam passenger ship is sailing on the Maya River, and the passengers on the passenger ship are all immigrants from Harland.
The immigration policy of the Harland Kingdom not only aims to migrate the excess population of the Rex Province to the east coast and the Prilan area, but also to migrate grassroots bureaucrats, school teachers, technical workers, etc. from the mainland to the Rex Province.
In the past two years, the ships of the Harland Kingdom have been active on the coastline. Magic ships have begun to hunt marine monsters in coastal areas on a large scale. The number of coastal monsters has decreased a lot, and the difficulty of offshore navigation has been reduced. Even the steamships of Harland have begun to sail in offshore areas without the protection of magic ships.
Because a large number of steel plates are used on the bottom of the steam passenger ship, the weight of the ship is very heavy. Although a powerful steam engine is installed and there are sails to assist navigation, the speed of this steam passenger ship is not fast,
especially after entering the inland river, it seems stable.
Odaye came out of the first-class cabin and prepared to enjoy the scenery along the river.
The first-class cabin is for nobles only. There are two rooms inside. The area of the cabin is more than 60 square meters, and there are relatively expensive red wines. Of course, the cabin conditions are good, and the ticket is naturally very expensive, 30 gold coins per ticket. Even if ordinary people are rich, they cannot enter the first-class cabin if their social status is not enough.
Each passenger ship has only three first-class cabins, which are basically on the top of the steam passenger ship.
Odaye was already a hereditary nobleman with a lot of capital, so of course he could ride in the first class. As soon as he came down from the first class cabin, the passengers on the deck made way and gave the best viewing position to Odaye.
Although the Kingdom of Harland promulgated a series of decrees such as the Emancipation of Serfs, the Legal Equality Decree, and the Patent Decree, these decrees were strictly enforced under Richard's attention.
But in reality, people know that there are still many differences between nobles and civilians in terms of status.
In the real social environment, nobles are not equal to most civilians.
Odaye stood on the side of the ship and turned his head to see an old man staring at him. The old man was about fifty years old, his hair was gray, and his posture was still upright. It seemed that he had been through a long period of military training. There seemed to be a look of astonishment on his face.
"Who are you?
I'm sorry I forgot your name, but I remember your face very well. I think you should be a veteran of the First Squadron."
After years of business training, Odaye is very good at dealing with people. When he met an acquaintance on the ship, he immediately took a step and took the initiative to shake the old man's hand and asked.
The white-haired old man shook Odaye's hand, and suddenly felt a little excited. After all, a hereditary noble knew him, which made him feel particularly honored among his relatives and friends.
"My name is Berens. I joined the army in 3254 of the Dawn Calendar and was assigned to the First Squadron. Is your name Odaye? I think we have experienced the war of orc invasion together."