Chapter 381

In the early morning, by the endless wheat field outside Pinghu Town, dozens of strong guards were scattered into a circle. Their standard leather armor and chest marks showed the identity of middle-level Paladin and combat priest, and the objects of protection were two noble adults, one young man with delicate appearance like an elf, and the other was a middle-aged man about 40 years old, It has the handsome appearance of Knight nobility and natural and elegant demeanor.

"Full grain, Randall collar will usher in a bumper harvest this year."

The middle-aged man took a slightly yellowish ear of wheat, raised his hand to wipe off the grain, chewed it carefully in the entrance, smiled and explained: "for me, wasting food is a crime."

Victor was revered not because of the power and status of the Pope, nor because of the power and wisdom of the legendary priest, but because of Clement's life realm of unity of knowledge and practice, as well as his personality charm of being strict with himself and being lenient to others.

"Every grain of wheat condenses the farmer's hard sweat." Victor thought and said sincerely, "diligence is a respectable virtue."

"Not just farmers." The Pope nodded, threw away the bare ears of wheat, clapped his hands, turned his eyes to the green wheat field and said: "More than 700 years ago, spelt wheat was just common Dogtail grass, which was widely planted in the South as pasture. At that time, the green wheat in the North could meet the food needs of the kingdoms, and the southern nobles mainly relied on animal husbandry, cattle and sheep to accumulate wealth. With the continuous decline of the Northern Territory, the planting area of green wheat decreased year by year, and the people in the North moved to the south through the pass of the boulder mountains Territory, food has become a big problem. "

"Scholars from the church and the white tower began to look for crops suitable for the land in the south, including the cultivation of spelt wheat." Clement pondered for a moment, turned to victor and said, "you can't imagine that the cultivation technology of spelt wheat originated from ancient wizards. They used witchcraft to accelerate the process of plant variation and cultivate green wheat that is twice a year and suitable for planting in the north. It took us more than 300 years to select the variant plants of Dogtail to cultivate spelt wheat."

Victor did not expect that the pope would frankly admit the contribution of wizards to agricultural development. He could only remain silent at the moment.

Clement smiled disapprovingly and said: "Spelt wheat has a long growth cycle and low yield. The South needs other kinds of crops to fill the blank period of wheat shortage. Drought resistant rye and high-yield thorn kidney beans are all our cultivation projects. Unfortunately, the yield of rye is lower, and thorn kidney beans are too easy to rot and deteriorate. It will take longer time and larger planting scale to improve these varieties. But the Lords did not Patience. People need food. All contradictions are reflected in the limited cultivated land. Noble scholars and monasteries can't solve this problem. They can only spend their energy on cultivating seeds, but they never want to change the planting methods and tap the potential of the land. "

"Viscount Randall, you did a good job!" The Pope nodded with appreciation and fully affirmed the achievements of the new agriculture, animal husbandry and water conservancy projects.

Victor secretly rejoiced that he had been waiting for Clement's call since the Pope came to the Renma hill. On the morning after Randall led the carnival, the Pope finally allowed him to meet in the farmland outside the town rather than the church in Pinghu Town. However, it doesn't matter. As clement, informal occasions have a more relaxed communication environment.

The Wellington family cultivated prickly kidney beans and the church awarded a magic ring for delaying aging. The Randall family not only planted prickly kidney beans, but also achieved two major achievements in new farming and animal husbandry and water conservancy projects, which far exceeded the credit of the Wellington family. Therefore, the Pope chose an informal meeting, which allowed him to bargain first and then determine the church's reward to the Randall family.

Victor needs too many things, such as money, magic items, martial arts secrets of the church, loose policies, cathedrals to improve family status or more priests, etc. of course, Victor knows that he can't get all the benefits. He has made a list and can fight one by one.

"This is the care and guidance of the most High Lord." Victor said humbly and respectfully. The Lord should show some attitude.

"Our Lord has always cared for us." Clement smiled faintly and said: "In the early days of Gambis's pioneering work, farmers cut down the purple sugarcane forest and ploughed the soil. In the first year, the wheat harvest was great. Everyone thought it was due to the fertile land, so they accelerated the cleaning of the purple sugarcane forest. In the fourth year, the wheat yield returned to its original state. Only you summed up the planting method of deep tillage and meticulous cultivation, and improved the new farming and animal husbandry system with Edwin... I I'm curious. How did you understand the guidance of the Supreme Lord and connect the purple sugarcane forest with the planting method of wheat? "

Victor touched his eyebrows and said, "I was so poor that I wanted to plant an acre of wheat with one seed. I was willing to try any method. After trying a lot, I found the planting method of deep cultivation and meticulous cultivation, as well as purple cane wine, sweet potato, lizard skin wheel, crude sugar and coffee. In fact, these were the discoveries of farmers. Now they have become my vassals."

"If you don't have a squire and recruit some mercenaries and farmers as followers, you dare to come to explore the territory and achieve today's achievements... Victor, you are really favored by our Lord." Clement shook his head and smiled.

Victor stayed for a moment and said shamefully, "now think about it, I was reckless. Fortunately, Sylvia sent a secret knight to protect me, but I won't do it again."

Clement nodded and said seriously, "the trinity of Lord, priest and people. All territories that the church has not set foot in belong to the wild. Even knights are difficult to ensure their safety. You should understand the reason."

No place can enforce the law of the jungle, anything can happen. The church has been playing the role of supervisor, and the church armed is the cornerstone of the aristocratic order. If the Lord is murdered, the church will find out if it wants to investigate. Because of the existence of the church, even the king can't do whatever he wants. Therefore, the cathedral is a symbol of territorial stability, which is of great significance to the new Lord family.

Victor took the opportunity to say, "under the crown, Randall needs a cathedral."

Clement, without asking whether he could, opened the topic and said, "the church is committed to population growth, but on this day, I found that we are not ready at all." After a pause, he further explained: "we are not ready, which means that the Lords and priests have not considered the problems caused by population growth."

"Randall collar has done well in absorbing refugees." The Pope's tone was gentle and his eyes were deep. "Victor, I want to hear your opinion on population growth."

Victor thought for a moment and said cautiously, "under the crown, your question is a little too general."

Clement sighed secretly. Randall's military parade and Carnival showed that the young Lord was preparing to close the door to the refugees and concentrate on cultivating the next generation of people, and he had received the support of the people. Although this approach is completely in line with Randall's interests, he prefers the rapid expansion of the strength of the people and horses hills and the kingdom of Neville to obtain significant advantages in the large-scale development. Only in this way can he ensure that Benedictine priests hold the leading power of educational reform.

Sylvia and King Neville have high authority over their vassals. They can overcome all opinions, subdue different voices and cooperate with Benedictine's reform plan. Victor can influence Sylvia's decisions, and the success of the man horse hills will stimulate Neville's Lords. It can be said that Victor is a very key figure in Clement's whole layout.

Clement walked along the ridge, Victor half a shoulder behind him. After a while, Clement said, "once the new farming and animal husbandry system is mature, the Lord will expel the refugees first, and you have already done so."

Victor's mind turned and immediately grasped the root of the problem.

When an employee's family has a stable life and higher income, the first thing they think of is to reproduce. They don't want outsiders to compete with their offspring. In the same way, if the leading families become rich, they should strive for more living space for their children and grandchildren. For the Lord, it is certainly better to train the people than to absorb the refugees. When the upper and lower strata of the territory reached a consensus, the refugees became the object of expulsion. For up to 15 years, the great migration of refugees will be inevitable.

The Pope is fretting about the coming wave of refugees.

The efficiency of the rental employment system in transforming refugees is very high, which can rapidly expand the strength of Randall's collar. However, there is no lease without land. In fact, no system can solve the contradiction between population and land.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a big fight between Turks and tourists in a southern province. In just a few decades, more than a million people were killed and injured. The official corruption of the feudal dynasty and the turbulence of the current situation are certainly the important reasons. The root cause is the survival competition caused by population growth.

If we continue to absorb refugees for a long time, Randall's people will certainly form two major ethnic groups, the old and the new, which will be a serious hidden danger. From any point of view, it is safer and more efficient for the Randall family to cultivate the next generation of people than to absorb refugees without restraint. In the future, even if Randall collar absorbs an external population, it will also choose skilled, talented and high-value ones, which will not be accepted by everyone.

Victor weighed it over and over again and said frankly: "Under the crown, the current population of Randall collar and finicos collar is about 85000, and I can resettle 40000 refugees at most. In 20 years, I expect the total population of the territory to reach 500000, and it needs at least 3 million mu of rotating farmland to feed so many people, which is almost the limit of Randall collar's development of cultivated land. Otherwise, the wild resources of the territory will be destroyed. The most important thing is the Randall family Without too many managers and deacons, the huge population will crush the fragile administrative system of Pinghu Town. "

"Of course, I don't have to worry about the flow of refugees. As long as there is enough food, the refugees will gather in the main cities to do some hard work, or engage in goods transportation and trafficking, which will increase the wealth of the great Lord. As long as the church gives appropriate guidance, I don't think the main city owners will refuse the refugees."

"Unfortunately, the geographical location of Randall does not have the conditions for trade." Victor shook his head with regret. Anyway, the population growth policy can't be changed easily.

"Why not let the refugees join the mercenaries and explore the land?" Clement suddenly stopped, turned his head and said, "if I equipped your mercenaries with a combat priest, would you change your mind?"

Victor's heart pounded. The low combat effectiveness of mercenaries is a problem that can't be bypassed. The holy magic displayed by the pope at the military parade has an immediate effect on the combat effectiveness and morale of the Legion. If the mercenary Corps is assisted by a fixed combat priest, it's really a way out. As for the influence of combat priests on the mercenary corps, Victor thinks it can be put in a place for the time being Side.

After all, the big Legion strategy is aimed at ant people. Because the alchemy towers devour each other and bind their souls, the behind the scenes masters of Victor and ant man are exposed to each other's vision, and the two sides are in an endless situation.

Compared with hundreds of thousands of trainee Knight level ant army, the strength of No. 7 alchemy tower is insignificant.

At present, Victor's only way is to take advantage of the situation and strive to unite all forces to resist the invasion of ant tide. The intensity of the war will be very strong, but as long as we firmly hold the three fortresses, the power of No. 7 alchemy tower will grow every time we kill a silver ant man. With this change, Victor could counterattack the ant man's nest and seize the law crystal. It's not too late to consider other things after the upgrading of No. 7 alchemy tower.

But now you have to act like a normal Lord.

Victor hesitated and said, "crown, mercenary..."

"It's a principle that the exile mercenary Corps does not participate in the Lord's dispute!" Clement seemed to see through Victor's mind and added: "the battle priest does not interfere with the actions of the vassal soldiers. This is also the principle."

Vassal soldiers with land? In other words, allow me to convert the elite of the mercenary corps into vassal soldiers, on the premise that the land is canonized first... The fighting priest helps the mercenary Corps develop the land, and then the land selects the elite vassal soldiers... The Pope is taking the refugees as the victims?! Isn't the church protecting the right to survival of refugees? How could there be such an attitude? Why is the Pope so eager to explore?

Information asymmetry confused victor. He tried to say, "what else should I do under the crown?"

"Try to settle the refugees." Clement smiled and said, "I know you are understaffed. It's a good way to imitate the silver and white tower and set up a school. I can call some trainee priests to help you. Although they haven't mastered divinity yet, they are still competent to teach refugees to read."

Grasp ideology!

A flash of light flashed in Victor's mind. Clement didn't give him more time to think, and said faintly: "you can also absorb the saber toothed tiger business group under Sophia's command and let them help you manage the territory. In short, I hope you can become an example of settling refugees."

Secularity belongs to secularity, and theocracy belongs to theocracy. Saber toothed tiger's Knight and church's trainee priest, who will weaken the Lord's power?

Victor's pupils contracted and said slowly, "money is needed to settle refugees and recruit mercenary refugees under the crown. Sophia's saber toothed tiger business group seems to be in trouble."

Clement pondered for a moment and said, "I will help you once within my ability."

Victor saluted, "as you wish, crown."

Clement smiled with satisfaction and said easily, "Victor, what kind of reward do you want? You are not allowed to raise money with me, and there is no discussion on the eleventh tax."

Victor asked nervously, "under the crown, how many requirements can I make?"

"Let's hear it." Clement showed great interest.

"A church will be built in Pinghu Town, presided over by father Miller."

Clement smiled and said, "if you pay, I have no opinion."

"Er... I will prove my piety to the Supreme Lord. In addition, I hope Lord turnans will help Nelson improve his martial arts."

"Yes."

"Besides, I'm going to mint some small copper coins that only circulate in Randall's collar."

"Coinage?" Clement looked at Victor meaningfully and said, "I have three conditions. First, the front of the copper coin must be sealed with the symbol of the holy mountain of light. Second, the exchange proportion of the small copper coin should correspond to the weight of the copper sol. Third, Randall's 11 taxes should be paid in accordance with the church." He was well aware of the shortage of money in Randall's collar and was not afraid of Victor's refusal.

"No problem." Victor quickly nodded and said, "besides..."

Clement smiled brightly and said, "ha ha, little guy, I have nothing else here..."

After laughing for a while, the pope said kindly to victor, "I think Sylvia should be anxious to see you at this time."