Ch40.1 - The First Step Towards Prosperity (Part One)

The steward was slightly satisfied to see that the slaves were leaning on each other’s shoulders and crying. Since the Lord had already suffered from a loss, it was the least these stupid pigs could do to show some gratitude.

If one didn’t take into account the steward’s dissatisfaction, even the other servants were a little envious. The place where they live was just separated by a walkway, the lower class servants couldn’t even have their own rooms.

Those slaves, who had their own rooms, also had their own thatched cottages. Although they were not living in the castle, and it was only something the Lord allowed them to stay in… However, no matter how they thought, these slaves were still worthy of their envy!

When the slaves knew that this was where they would be living, they paid more attention to taking care of it. This wasn’t like their last place, where they were shoved in altogether, where there was no privacy and trash everywhere. 

The slaves made the thatched cottage more comfortable and pasted the mud wall tightly, to not let the cold wind penetrate. They stepped on the mud more firmly, and collected a large amount of wicker grass from the forest to absorb moisture. The dry straw had the scent of sunshine and became a comfortable bed for everyone. They all crowded on this singular piece of “furniture” together.

Undoubtedly, the experience of living in a thatched house made the slaves in the same house closer to each other. Where there were people, there were rivers and lakes, and the slaves began to form small gangs in the castle. Later, Cui QiChao caught wind of it; he heard that it was all about controlling who was picking up cow dung and mixing fertilizer. This medieval “house-fight”, or “fort-fight”, made Cui QiChao very uninterested and unconcerned.

The good thing is that the slaves cherished the thatched cottages like their real home. It was like a dream for them to be able to live here and they had the hopes that, maybe one day, they will be free to live in their own house. Maybe not even a thatched house, but a wooden house.

Once upon a time, the slaves in Northumberland had no dreams, but now they have one, because they never dreamed that the situation they lived in would ever become their reality.

For the people in the fief, while the treatment of the slaves was still far from the servants in the castle and people with houses, they could see how they were treated by the Lord. This wasn’t something that could be kept in the dark by others. It was something that was widely discussed over the winter while the farmers nested in someone’s house, huddled together to keep warm while they gossiped about those thatched cottages.

“Remember old Mike? That damned thief, his family has become slaves and now lives in a thatched house!”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Qtja? Lf’r vburtla iemxs! Ktlfnfr jcv rijnfr jgf cbk jyif ab ufa atlr ufcfgber agfjawfca.”

“Qtfc ws tberf kjr yelia, lc bgvfg ab ufa atf ibgv’r qfgwlrrlbc, P kfca ab atf kbbvijcv ab mea kbbv jcv qjlv j iba bo obbv obg la.” 

“Ktja’r gluta, yea kf tjnf cb lvfj ktja atfs tjnf lc atflg tberf bg ktja kbbv atfs erf ab yeliv yfjwr.”

The serfs still had the concept of social hierarchy strongly imprinted in their minds, so with a clear distinction between nobles and civilians, there was also a chain of contempt between these serfs and slaves, with the slaves being treated much lower than serfs.

So even if it was just a thatched house, it also aroused everyone’s jealousy.

Unfortunately, also because of the concept of social hierarchy imprinted in their minds, they did not dare to raise more dissatisfaction regarding the Lord’s commands. They could only talk about the lucky slaves privately. In short, they were able to obtain the Lord’s woollen clothes, and the slaves could live in the Lord’s thatched house. 

The Northumberland trade team trudged all the way with food and arrived in Abruzzburg. Abruzzburg also only had a Baron ruling the fief. The territory was not as big as Northumberland, and the number of knights they had weren’t as many as Northumberland had.

This year, the grain production in Abruzzburg was also reduced. Even the nobles do not have enough bread to eat, and the Knights are not willing to contribute without good reason. They just muddled through their duty.

When the Northumberland trade team was discovered, everyone thought it was the invaders from other fiefs. They hid near the windows and didn’t intend to go out. Anyway, the function of the castle was to let people hide.

When the invaders couldn’t bear the wait outside, they would retreat by themselves. Of course, the people in the castle may run out of food, open the door, and surrender or starve to death. 

The trade team caught the guard in the fief and asked him to send a message. They didn’t come to invade, but to exchange seeds.

With that, Raymond also showed a batch of grain to the guard to prove their words.

In terms of quantity and quality, it really didn’t look like dried food they brought out to prepare for invasion. If they have so many plump grains, there isn’t a need to rob others, right?

The guard ran outside the castle, raised his head and told the people near the windows what he saw. The Lord of Abruzzburg was sceptical and asked if anyone was willing to negotiate with Raymond. 

The knights all pretended to be dead.

The Lord had no choice but to say, “Then let the guard continue to talk to them and ask them to come to the ditch.”

If the suspension bridge wasn’t lowered, the guard couldn’t escape to the castle to hide. They can only return the same way and report to the Lord.

Raymond led his team outside the castle. In order to prevent archers from ambushing them, they held their shields above their heads and wore armor. When they donned their full armour, they shouted: “Sir, we are from Northumberland. We heard that buckwheat is planted here. Our Lord likes the taste of buckwheat very much, so he ordered us to bring a batch of wheat to exchange seeds with you.” 

Raymond showed them the wheat. If the Lord had good eyesight, he could distinguish it from the castle. Raymond also flipped the wheats a few times and proved that what they brought wasn’t only wheat on the surface. “If you like, we can have a discussion.”

If the Lord saw the crops accurately, those are still precious wheat. The people in the castle could really take advantage of the trade team when exchanging wheat with buckwheat. And even if they exchanged more buckwheat for lesser wheat, they would have reaped a profit. The planting conditions of wheat are harsh, and it would be best to use wheat to make bread, but there is only one season a year to plant wheat, and their output is not as much as that of Northumberland.

The Lord was so excited that he commanded his people to take the buckwheat seeds out of the warehouse and called Raymond. They stepped backwards and the Lord asked all the knights to trade with Raymond using the buckwheat seeds.

Although the number of people in Abruzzburg were way more than their trade team, Raymond and company’s usual diet and the diet of the people in Abruzzburg are not comparable at all. If Raymond wasn’t under Cui QiChao’s order to exchange, or if he harbored bad intentions, he could have robbed the buckwheat. 

Even if Raymond and company were misunderstood, almost every Lord could not resist the charm of wheat. There were many people who wanted to rob their wheat, but they were defeated by the team.

The Northumberland trade team passed through several territories. In Abruzzburg, they exchanged buckwheat, in the territory near the sea, they exchanged beets, and so on. With the information disclosed by Joseph, they knew that the people outside the territory wanted to exchange fresh crops and wheat with them.

The most surprising thing is that in the Northern Territory, they managed to exchange for some seeds of the wool tree. Although the Lord didn’t mention that he needed the seed, Raymond can be sure that the Lord will like it!

. 

At that time, Cui QiChao was asking the knights that remained in the castle to train the serfs in the fief.

When he asked the trade team to exchange seeds everywhere, he didn’t let his people hide where they came from. He hoped that there would be more seeds in the future, but in this way, it’s difficult to avoid being targeted by someone. Therefore, he decided to take precautions and give the serfs some training. Given the scale of war in this era, if male serfs have a certain combat effectiveness, they wouldn’t be afraid of being invaded by others at all.

Some of those slaves are thieves. In fact, they may achieve better achievements in combat training, but the stewards were always afraid of the new slaves. Cui QiChao also felt that he should not give too much trust to the new slaves for the time being.

On the contrary, among the serfs, Cui QiChao was very popular. Everyone respected and was in awe of him, praising him as the best Lord. In addition, the serfs were very jealous of the treatment of slaves, so with some small rewards, these serfs were willing to try their best to express themselves. 

There was also optional military service in each territory. People were selected from farmers to serve. In the past, most of them were self-employed farmers, so they were stronger and richer than serfs, and looked more decent.

Of course, it was hard to supply weapons for so many people, so these people had to just take some wooden sticks and even farming tools to fight. At this time, there’s also not much iron – there wasn’t even linen armor.

Cui QiChao thought that they should use the rattan armor used throughout the history of War by the Chinese. He sent someone to find some suitable vines from the woodland and weave them into armor. The homemade rattan armor could also prevent the assault of ordinary arrows and swords, and its cost was far lower than that of iron armor, but they didn’t have much tung oil to soak rattan armor, so they could only slowly assemble it.

Even ordinary knights were very interested in the rattan armor. They would feel pain towards every loss of armor, so while the rattan armor didn’t look decent when fighting, it was a good choice for training or hunting. 

Compared to their usual heavy armour, it would be much easier to build up their efficiency in training, as observed by Cui QiChao.

Even the knights could not form an array, not to mention the serfs. They were used to doing things in a swarm. Cui QiChao sat next to them and watched them practice moving together, and forming the most basic battle array.

It was a rare sight for the steward who was usually picky to nod his head and give praise. “They all stood up neat after putting on their rattan armor and moved the same way as they picked up their weapons. They looked very imposing.”

Neat? Moved in the same way? 

Cui QiChao felt that the steward was joking with him. To him, their ‘neatness’ was worse than how primary school students stood when doing radio calisthenics.

Ch40.2 - The First Step Towards Prosperity (Part Two)

Chinese culture was very deep-rooted in Cui QiChao. In big events, each action should be neat like a mold carved out by someone. When looking at them horizontally and vertically, they should all be in a straight line. They should also have a standing posture, so they would appear spirited.

If they all stood randomly and separately, they would not look imposing.

Cui QiChao specifically requested that the knight not teach these serfs how to wield bows and arrows first. First, he must teach them how to stand in their positions properly. Cui QiChao found their appearance to be too awkward.

Although the steward did not consider it was necessary, especially because these serfs were more powerful after intensifying their training. He even thought that if they put on their armor, they would be able to intimidate others away. 

When their standing postures finally reach the standards of appearing like high school students doing radio calisthenics, Cui QiChao reluctantly accepted it. And so, these people could finally proceed with the next step of their training. There was no way. Could he still train a guard of honor in the Middle Ages?

After the team was trained, even the serfs were a little proud and thought they were very handsome. After returning to the village, they spontaneously lined up to show it to others.

In the perspective of some, this level of coordination was analogous to that of a regular army. Even the way they elevated their feet appeared to be well-planned. They appeared formidable based on how they moved.

“Heavens, how did you do that!”

“See how straight their waist is. Look how much more handsome they are…”

“Even their marching appears to be so well-coordinated. It’s a delight to look at them! As everyone took the steps, it seemed as if they looked much taller!”

The trained serfs were immensely proud of their accomplishments. Not to add that the Lord provided them with beans while they were in training. It was not difficult to train to move together, and it was vastly superior than doing heavy farm labor.

Under the praises and onlookers of the people, the arrogant peasant soldiers would stand in a formation together even when they went to the toilet… 

When spring arrived, the frost and snow thawed, and the farmers began to cultivate the crops for the next year. They received seeds from the Lord, and borrowed cattle and horses to plough the fields. This year, they received fewer seeds, but no one had any opinion, because the seeds were all plump. At first glance, they knew that it was a seed that could grow good grains. That was the advantage of storing the seeds well.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

As for the barley that was sown in winter, it would mature later and could only be harvested in April. There wasn’t a need to hurry and harvest it now.

Pckjgvis, atf ojgwfgr kfgf fmrajalm yfmjerf atf Obgv tjv rbkfv mgbqr lc jii bo atflg olfivr atf qgfnlber sfjg. Qbeivc’a la yf j ilaaif rlwqifg obg atfw ab rffv lc atf rqglcu? Gfrqlaf atf ojma atja atfs kfgf atf bcfr ktb mbwqifafv atf juglmeiaegji ijybg ijra sfjg, atfs mbcrajcais ofia jr atbeut atfs tjv ajxfc jvnjcajuf bo atf Obgv.

The Northumberland trade team came back during this time. When they went back, no one could distinguish the flag from a distance. Those farmers who had been through “military training” in winter quickly lined up with farming tools in their hands and took on a posture to defend the land. But inwardly, they felt uneasy. After all, they didn’t have actual combat experience. They sent someone to report to the rear. 

They only just realized the other party were allies when they were finally able to see the flag clearly.

Raymond was likewise taken aback when he noticed a group of serfs organized properly, holding farming tools but looking like soldiers. What in the world were these militiamen?  Why do they look so imposing? They gave the impression that their trading team was disorderly.

Raymond was inwardly unhappy and sneered, “What are you doing with your rake? Are you going to rake me to death?”

The serfs looked at each other, and the leader hurriedly said, “Attention!” 

With a whoosh, everyone put away their farming tools and stood up straight.

“Reporting to the knight Lord. Just now we couldn’t see the flag clearly and sent someone back to report about the situation. I’ll send someone back to chase after that person to explain the situation.” The serf shouted. The loudness was also the result of training. What he said must be clear to the officer he was reporting to.

This startled Raymond and other knights. Their waists unconsciously straightened. Heaven knew how relaxed they usually were. “Cough, I see. Go quickly.” Raymond said and unconsciously added, “We have worked hard to complete the tasks ordered by the Lord, and there are additional gains.”

It was ludicrous to think that a noble knight would compete with serfs, yet Raymond did it unintentionally. 

.

Cui QiChao waited at the window for a long time after the trade team returned, telling the cook to take out all the wine and meat. He hurried downstairs as they approached.

“My warriors, it must have been hard on all of you to journey during the whole of winter.” Cui QiChao quickly praised them with a few words and he almost couldn’t wait to ask, “Have you exchanged for all the seeds I asked for?”

Raymond held his chest high. “I have lived up to your expectations. Please look at the branches and seeds we brought back.” 

Cui QiChao yanked away the dirt used to store grape branches and said, “Fantastic, great, prepare clean water right away to wash these branches! Also, hurry ahead and restore the ground that has been cleared for a vineyard.”

After removing the cuttings from storage, they must be soaked in water for a duration of time so that their section could be filled with water to restore their vitality. Then, remove the necrotic and dry parts and stimulate root elongation. When the roots sprout and grow leaves, they become ready to be planted in the ground.

The whole process would take almost a month. Cui QiChao thought it was enough time to make preparations for the grape field during this period.

These branches would be their wealth in the future. 

Raymond was satisfied seeing Cui QiChao being so jubilant and was quite proud. He quickly continued to boast about his deeds, “I identified the seeds according to the method you taught. Look at the buckwheat, walnut, cucumber, beet and other crop seeds I chose. In addition, I also exchanged for several fresh seeds. This is the famous wool tree seed in the North!”

“Wool tree?” Cui QiChao asked a question.

Raymond was quite proud of the seeds of the wool tree. “Yes, the wool tree. The nobles in the north recently bought a kind of fine cloth from businessmen to make clothes. It is said that the raw materials were picked from trees that can grow wool. They got some seeds, but they sowed a batch last year and it suffered from the infestation of pests and insects. As for the rest of the seeds, they gave it to me during the exchange. This was very cheap!”

Cui QiChao looked at the seed after hearing his story and identified it as a wool tree seed. Wasn’t it just a cotton seed? People who weave wool all year long were presumably under the impression that the fine cotton cloth was actually the wool of some type of sheep, and that it grew out of the tree. After thorough consideration, they concluded that this tree might produce wool, thus it was given the name wool tree. 

Cui QiChao, “This thing is good, very good. How many seeds are there?”

The output of cotton was relatively high. Cotton fabric was particularly practical and cost-effective. Seriously speaking, he misses the delicate cotton underwear…

Cui QiChao was thinking about what can be done after cotton was planted. When Raymond spoke up again, “There is another kind of food, which is also from the Far East. It is called rice. There is a small amount planted in Lansburg. I saw it, and felt that this should be no worse than buckwheat?”

Raymond’s tone implied his slight lack of self-confidence. He had never eaten rice seeds, so he only mentioned it in the end. 

“Rice?” Cui QiChao widened his eyes. It’s rice!

The Chinese people had a long history of eating rice. It would be apt to even say that the Chinese couldn’t live without rice. Cui QiChao hadn’t eaten rice for a long time.

“Do your esteemed self recognize it?” Raymond’s heart that was petrified could finally be rest assured. It seemed that the Lord not only knew about it, but also liked it very much.

Cui QiChao was nostalgic as he touched the seeds for a long time, and reluctantly said, “Take it all to the kitchen. You don’t have to sow it. I’ll eat it.” He was afraid that Raymond would think too much and comforted him, “I’ve seen this in the East and I like it very much. You did a good job. I think if you find it in other places in the future, you can exchange some back so that I can make meals, but it’s not suitable for planting in Northumberland.” 

It was as if Raymond’s emotions had taken a roller coaster. He was relieved after experiencing a few ups and downs.

Although Cui QiChao wanted to plant rice very much, he was helpless. Even if Northumberland experienced more rainfall than it did previously, the lands here were still dry. Planting rice required a lot of water, and the climate here likely led to low seedling rate of rice.

In this era, these problems were not easy to solve. It was not as cost-effective as planting other crops. As a Lord, Cui QiChao was responsible for his subjects and land, so he had to give up on rice. These rice would be enough for him to satisfy his cravings.

“Agricultural official.” Cui QiChao began to tell the agricultural officials how to plant these crops. “Cucumbers and walnuts are planted in the vegetable garden and orchard respectively, wool trees are planted in the south, buckwheat is planted instead of some oats, and a batch of selected wheat seeds are also sown. In addition, sugar beets are planted on the white land behind the mill.” 

The agricultural official was stunned and then said, “Lord, there is no problem planting in the front. However, should sugar beets be planted in the vegetable garden, since the white soil behind the farming field is particularly white? Things planted there will die…”

“Agricultural official, how long haven’t you been in the field?” Cui QiChao asked him with a smile.

The agricultural official, “This…”

To be honest, hardly no one wanted to go out in the wintertime. He didn’t have much of a job to begin with. When he walked to the field, he didn’t have to look at the white field. Wouldn’t it be a stupid thing for him to do? 

“You can have a look and answer me again.” Cui QiChao said, “In addition, more beets must be planted. That’s why I asked Raymond to exchange for more beet seeds.”

The agricultural officer wondered, Isn’t the beet a vegetable? What’s the use of planting so many of it?

Cui QiChao did not immediately explain the purpose of sugar beet to him in order to prevent things from going wrong. People ate sugar beet as a vegetable in the Middle Ages, but sugar beet root contained sucrose. People would legally grow it as a sugar-producing crop in the 18th century.

Now, the only sweetener in the castle was honey, which was extremely rare and expensive. Beekeeping wasn’t developed in Northumberland. The honey was bought from other places. 

If the beet was harvested and turned into sugar, it might be sold for a profit or even used to save money. Both grapes and beets had the potential to be the future hope for Northumberland’s prosperity.

Cui QiChao’s calmness caused everyone to wonder. Did the Lord know how to cook beets in a very delicious manner, just like how he cooked the sausages?

With reservations, the farmer walked to the white field behind the mill. This was a fairly saline alkali land that couldn’t grow anything. Large swaths of land had been fallow. Apart from the knowledge that the Lord had commanded them to dig canals here last year and that he had been here to oversee the serfs’ work, he had not seen the field up close.

The agricultural official that hadn’t been visiting the fields for a long time was so shocked that his mouth opened wide and stepped on the white land: When did the land, which was originally white and could not grow crops, revert to only being slightly white and almost becoming a normal land!? 

In other words, Northumberland had a large area of arable land!

The agricultural official turned around. Heavens, was this a blessing from God?