TALES OF A WITCHER - Season 3 Episode 64

It was harvesting day. The first batch of wheat planted in Border Town was finally being ushered in.

Serfs used reaping hooks to cut off the wheat straws and bundled them up to be delivered across the river under the scorching sun.

Roland knew it was a cumbersome process to split kernels from wheatears. Before the popularization of mechanical tools and combine-harvesters, the process of separating, cleaning, screening and drying to obtain kernels had to be done by manual labor. Now, he once again witnessed the whole process.

Once it was delivered to the camp, the serfs lay the wheat straws flat on the ground to dry. Then, a variety of tools including wooden sticks, stones, and rakes were used to repeatedly hammer the wheat straws and wheatears in order to separate the kernels from the hulls. The whole process normally lasted three to four days. In Roland’s memory, cows or donkeys had been commonly used in rural areas to squeeze wheat in the barnyard by pulling stone rollers. This was not only less labor-intensive; the hulling effect was also much better compared to hammering.

He had to admit that the agricultural industry in Border Town was far more backward.

The wheat was turned over in the barnyard after being hammered. The tools they used varied from prongs to wooden sticks. Sometimes the wheat straws were thrown into the air by hand like vegetables in a stir-fry. After the wheat had been hammered, most of the hulls were broken. The process, in fact, was intended to split the kernel and wheatears.

After threshing, the wheat straws had a lot of functions. They could be returned to the field as fertilizer or used as bedding for livestock. They could also be used to produce fodder or make paper. Regrettably, Roland had no extra plan to develop a green industry, he simply burned the straw stacked by serfs along the river. In the following days, the dusty smoke covered the entire sky of Border Town, it was worse than the previous cement flour pollution.

At the same time, two fusiform islands along both sides of the Redwater Bridge had been cleared up, and the scheduled retention walls were under construction. The pier foundation adopted the same prefabrication system as the main bridge. Concrete columns containing structural steel and rebar were cast in the open ground. Then, the columns were hoisted upright. Lotus was responsible for sinking it into the soil, with half of the steel plate coming out to connect with bridge pontic.

In one week, Roland had shuttled his way from the Redwater bridge to the barnyard. His skin had tanned considerably.

Once the wheat straws had been picked out, only a bed of kernels and hulls remined.

Serfs quickly swept the kernels and hulls together, into heaping small hills. They stood on the small piles and used shovels to scoop up the mixture of kernels and hulls, winnowing them toward the open ground. Due to the mass difference, the lighter hulls blew farther away in the wind, while the heavier kernels tumbled close to their feet. This was how they gradually collected the grain.

Of course, it was impossible to split the kernels from hulls completely using this method. Small pieces of dirt and stones were very likely to mix in with the kernels. Roland made a resolution to prepare a batch of mechanical farming tools for the reaping period next year. Even though it was not likely that he could produce combine-harvesters, it would be easy to manufacture hullers by changing the stone roller into a millstone, installing a screen cloth under the millstones and then using an air blower to filter the split hulls.

Grains of full kernels were laid evenly in the barnyard. The north bank of the Redwater River was covered with golden color. Seeing the golden kernels, a sense of accomplishment filled Roland’s heart. It did not matter whether the grains reaped could support ten thousand people. It was still a day worth commemorating, at least, for Border Town.

From today onwards, the people of his domain would no longer have to rely on importing grains, they were self-sufficient.

After three days of drying, the wheat could be filled into sacks for weighing.

“Your Highness. A bountiful harvest!” said Barov, who bounded happily into Roland’s office in the afternoon. “According to the preliminary statistics, the grain yield per mu (about 666.7 square meters) of each responsible field was four times the previous output, and the highest output was even six times more. It is enough to feed the subjects,” he added.

“Really? It appears that the newly-built granary in the Castle District will come in handy,” said Roland, who could not help but laugh.

“Did you know what this means?” The City Hall Director looked more excited than Roland. “With only an increase of 2,000 serfs we could meet the grain consumption demands of 50,000 to 60,000 people! Unimaginable! It is absolutely likely that Border Town could expand into the largest city in the Kingdom of Graycastle, no…” he paused and added, “the largest city in the continent!”

Low food production capacity was a major factor in the low rate of population. Dozens of nearby villages were needed to provide food for a large city boasting more than 20,000 people. Each village boasted a population of one to two thousand people, like the King’s City. If half of the villagers worked in farming, it revealed that almost 2,000 people supported the lives of another 2,000 people. In other words, the grain yield per capita was just enough to support himself, his family and one more person in the city.

This was also the invisible limitation of the productivity. Barov had hardly imagined that the yield of just one small group could feed tens of thousands of people. Once mechanized cropping became popular, the productivity was greatly improved. Such abundant harvest must be attributed to the “Golden Ones” built by Leaf.

Roland had set a strategy for supporting the people with as few serfs as possible, liberating more labor resources from the farming industry to engage in industrial production. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture had obtained optimum planting processes. The per capita grain yield would inevitably improve even further next year with the aid of iron farming tools and mechanized cropping.

…

At dusk, Roland delivered a bonfire speech. It was just like the time four months ago, with the flaming bonfire, a flood of people and the last touch of afterglow on people’s faces. However, people’s looks had changed from the panic and uneasiness of newcomers to uncovered joy and hope for a bountiful harvest.

Roland waved his hand, and the scene became quiet at once. They all held their breath and waited for the prince to fulfill his promise.

“I know what you want to hear. I can tell you with great certainty that the promotion rules enacted before are still valid and will be carried out later!” Roland said bluntly, without adding his name and title as per the usual practice.

His words greatly enlivened the atmosphere of the scene. They could not help cheering happily, and some of them even got down on their knees and gave thanks for the mercy of the prince. “Long live my lord! Long live Your Royal Highness!”

“After we’ve finished weighing the food, the promotion list will be released accordingly,” said Roland. He continued as the hurrahs quieted down, “City Hall will be responsible for the follow-up arrangements for being freemen, and you can choose either to work in farming or find another job in the town.”

“In addition, if you didn’t rank at the top, in the coming year, as long as the crop yield meets the promotion standards, you can also become freemen. In other words, as long as you work hard, you have the opportunity to rid yourselves of your identities as serfs. As I once said, labor creates wealth, and labor changes fate.” He, paused for a moment and looked around. “I hope one day there will be no serfs in Border Town, and all people will my subjects,” he added.

As Roland finished his speech, the people’s cheers range out in the Redwater River for a long period of time.