Chapter 913 Dividing the Lands (Part-3)

Chapter 913 Dividing the Lands (Part-3)

The 2 million tons of grain that Tibias produced was large enough to sustain 7 to 8 million people.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Alexander got this answer by assuming an average citizen would need on average 200 kg of wheat annually (less than 1lb a day) to properly sustain himself.

This was an average number, taken as an aggregate of the population, i.e. men, women, and children combined, with one man usually being counted as being equivalent to a pair of woman and child.

This method yielded a population of 10 million, but it had to be also remembered that farmers needed to keep a quarter to even a third (25% to 33%) of their produce as seeds for replanting next year.

Thus Alexander's more reasonable answer of 7 to 8 million.

And upon figuring so out, Alexander commented in a pleased voice towards Philips, "It seems the country can produce a surplus of feed at least 1 million people. That is very impressive. Especially when you consider it happened amidst all your recent troubles."

The man sounded impressed.

And the Crown Prince in this case was not humble, quickly nodding, "Yes, it all thanks of the mighty Diannu, the lifeblood of our country. Its annual flooding deposited fertile rich silt across the lush floodplains, letting us cultivate a diverse array of crops. Wheat, barley, flax, and all kinds of fruits and green produce come from it. A gift from our ancestors."

Philips had a tinge of reverential undertone to his voice as he finished, his eyes slightly glazed, as if he was reminiscing about the good old times.

The Diannu was like Egypt's Nile, The Chinese Yellow River, or the Indian Ganges, regularly flooding its surrounding settlements and then leaving a layer of extremely rich sedimentary soil when it receded, making the plains around it one of the most productive agricultural regions in the ancient world.

Due to this gift, the reverence the Tibian people held for the Diannu was firmly religious, with there being even an annual ceremony of making animal sacrifices along the banks of the river and its tributaries as a way to pray for a good harvest.

It would not be wrong to say the entire Tibian civilization was basically based around this river, as pointed out by Lord Theony

"The Diannu not only sustains us but also fuels our economy, my lord. For instance, just two years ago we exported more than 250,000 tons of grain and other surplus produce to other countries for a total of almost 400 million libras (200 million ropals)! That one year's harvest had been enough to cover our annual budget for the next two years and we even managed to pay back much of our debts, haha."

The portly lord had a pleased flushed face as he recounted that happy memory.

It had been a bumper harvest that year with good weather all around, and thus the export of massive quantities of grain had generated more than half a billion ropals for Tibias and its people.

The state treasury had taken a third of that pie as fees for facilitating the trade, with the rest of the money getting split up by all the other actors involved- all the nobles who owned the land, the numerous merchants and distributors acting as middlemen and last and least of all, residing in the lowest tier- the farmers, who did all the hard work but was really paid scraps.

But that was the tragedy of being a farmer in this time period.

Anyway, for Alexander, hearing that 200 million ropals had been generated in taxes certainly pleased him too.

That was a lot of money even for him.

But although Alexander could probably forgive this lack of innovation, there were a few more egregious examples that he certainly could not.

For example, from what he had seen during his travels up and down the country during the campaign, the farmers here seemed to only employ weak and light wooden plows instead of Zanzan's new heavier plow, and with the use of draft animals for labor here yet to be universally adopted.

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Instead, Alexander saw many farmers, too poor to even afford an ox or mule, take on the role of these beasts of burden for themselves, plowing and tiling the fields with the heavy wooden yoke of the plow on their own shoulders, their strong legs quivering due to the strenuous work, as sweat dripped off his nose like rainwater due to the scorching summer heat

It was a hard life.

And made all the more harder by some of the tools they still used, such as the one they used to cut wheat.

It was a sickle, looking very similar in appearance to the Egyptian weapon Khopesh, and was quite backdated even for its time, for even before Alexander came along, Zanzan had already adopted the much more efficient hand held long scythe, allowing for easier and faster slashing, thus making the back breaking work a bit more manageable.

But due to Tibias's lack of metal mines, and thus the high cost of importing metal, the poorer farmers were unable to afford much 'metal rich' equipment.

All of which combined seemed to suggest to Alexander that Tibias's generally fertile lands had actually led to holding it back, stifling innovation, and proving once again the saying,

'Necessity is the mother of all inventions.'

Since Tibias did not have a want of food, and the lands naturally produced ample food to sustain the people, they never bothered to improve upon the tried and tested technique.

After all, humans were creatures of comfort and familiarity, so it was very reasonable for them to ask.

'Given we already have a good thing going, why take the risk and innovate with the possibility of losing everything?'

But now that Alexander was here, things were of course bound to change.

Heavy plow, horse collars, crop rotations, and long scythes were just the things that came to the top of his head, all of which would increase Tibias's production by 30 to 50% at the very least.

But he did not bother discussing these terms with Philips or Lord Theony.

Because he knew these high born lords knew as much about the intricacies of farming as a potter did about smithing.

As for enticing them with greater rewards, Alexander feared they might not want to try these new technologies as the old ways had served them well enough.

Thus Alexander planned to introduce these innovations directly into the field, skipping the lords as the middleman.