Chapter 138: Establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture

The forest south of the Shishui River had been nearly cleared, and the day to begin cultivation was approaching.

To move workers and materials across the water, Roland had commissioned a pontoon bridge — nearly a hundred meters of wooden rafts connected by thick hemp rope, their ends shaped to a point to cut the current. Four pillars on each bank anchored the line. Between each raft, four long planks bridged the gaps, two meters apiece, giving the crossing a walkable width of four meters side to side.

A raft bridge was simple to build and longer-lived than it looked. As long as the water level didn’t swing far enough to strain the hemp, the same structure could serve two or three years. The giant trees of the surrounding forest took well to river work — Border Town’s pier had been standing since the town’s founding, still sound beneath its creaking, still refusing to give way.

On the western bank, the first parcel of reclaimed ground had become Leaves’ testing area. It was neatly enclosed now, its perimeter walked by soldiers from the First Army. From the third-floor window of his office, Roland could see the wooden fence and the plot within it, and what the plot contained was something a person could watch for a long time without entirely accepting: in the morning, green seedlings; by afternoon, a golden sea of wheat heavy enough to harvest.

One day from planting to yield. If an outsider saw it, they would fall to their knees.

With land, population, and seeds in place, there remained only one element left to arrange. Roland sent for Barov.

The assistant minister arrived with the particular energy of a man who had been interrupted mid-task and intended to communicate this without saying so directly.

“I need to establish two new departments at the Town Hall,” Roland said.

Barov’s expression shifted at once into something politely pained. “Your Royal Highness — our manpower is not adequate for this.”

You used to agree first and argue afterward. Roland kept this observation internal. “I assigned you a group of knights. What happened to them?”

“They are — not suited to the work. Their copying is slow and error-prone. Their responsiveness—”

“How you discipline them is your affair,” Roland said. “If any of them refuse outright, send them to the North Slope Mine. But these two departments will be established.” He waited until Barov had folded his protest away. “The first is a Ministry of Agriculture. It will supervise agricultural land and the planting process.”

Barov absorbed this. Then: “Your Highness — has this not always been the serfs’ own concern? We collect taxes. What and how much they plant has never been our business.”

“Which is precisely why the harvests have always been what they are.” Roland reached for his cup. “The Town Hall’s responsibility is to ensure that the people in this territory have enough to eat. If it cannot do that, it is failing at its function — and so, for that matter, am I.” He set the cup down. “I don’t know what the capital’s City Hall regarded as its purpose. Perhaps the lives of civilians mattered less to them. But here, I want a functioning political organization — one the people understand and trust. That requires this ministry, and it requires it to take this work seriously.”

Barov wiped his forehead. “Understood, Your Highness.”

“Go to the archive population records and find three or four experienced farmers — people who know the soil, people who have worked it. Pair them with two of your own apprentices for record-keeping and statistics. Six people total to begin.”

A long pause. “You want — civilians — to become Town Hall officials.”

“They’re obedient. They’ll work with genuine enthusiasm. They know things your apprentices don’t.” Roland watched Barov process this. “Officials are not the same as nobles, Barov. The Ministry of Agriculture needs professionals, not titles.”

“Most of them cannot read—”

“That’s why you’re sending two apprentices with them.” He moved on before the objection could reform. “This problem will be shorter-lived than you think. The education program I’m implementing will eventually mean that nearly everyone in Border Town can read and write, at which point your staffing concerns become a different question entirely.”

Barov’s mouth was slightly open. Roland had the impression that several things were happening inside the man’s head simultaneously and none of them were winning.

“The Ministry’s initial task,” Roland continued, “is observation. When the serfs begin working their land this spring, every farmer will use different methods — different plow depths, different spacing, different timing. That variation is valuable information if it’s collected properly. Divide the farmland into sections of six and assign a ministry member to each section. They record everything: depth, interval, seed density, date planted. Everything, in as much detail as possible. I’ll provide measuring tools and have someone train them to use the instruments.”

“You want — a controlled comparison,” Barov said, and something sharpened slightly behind his eyes. He was a quick thinker when the concept aligned with something he recognized.

“Exactly. We’re not expecting a record harvest the first year — we’ll continue purchasing food as we have been, and we’ll be introducing new seed varieties to ensure no one goes hungry. The ministry’s job is to find the best method, then teach it and maintain it.” Roland leaned back. “In the longer term, every new crop we try, every technique we develop, runs through the same process. The goal is to raise output enough that we stop depending on imports entirely.”

Barov nodded slowly, and then hesitated. “Your Highness — there is one thing I have never understood. When the serfs become free people, why charge only twenty percent in tax? Even fifty percent, and you would still be considered extraordinarily generous.”

“Because there is no purpose in hoarding coin in a basement.” Roland considered how to make this plain. “When I need grain beyond what the tax produces, I buy it from the farmers at a fixed price — in Border Town, trade in food is the Lord’s right alone. They deliver their surplus to the castle and are paid for it. Then, as they accumulate earnings, they want things: cattle, iron tools, cotton cloth, brick houses. I provide all of those. They want to buy food, they buy it from me as well. The coin goes out and returns — but in the cycle, it raises everyone’s standard of living. The twenty percent stays modest because the cycling generates more value than extraction would.” He watched Barov’s expression. “You don’t need to follow all of it today. Follow the orders, and think on it afterward.”

The assistant minister rose as if moving through water, reached the door, then turned back.

“Your Highness — you said two departments. What is the second?”

“The Ministry of Education,” Roland said. “I’ll be overseeing that one myself.”

Chapter 138 Establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture

The Forest south of the Shishui River had been nearly been fully cleared out, and the day to start with its cultivation was getting ever closer.

In order to facilitate the people who were crossing over the Shishui River, Roland had commissioned for a nearly one-hundred-meter-long pontoon to be used. The pontoon was created from tens of wooden rafts, which were connected together with thick hemp ropes. He had also specially ordered for the carpenters to build the rafts both of the ends being pointed, in this way minimizing this the amount of water resistance as far as possible. The hemp rope had been tied around four wooden pillars on both sides of the river, fixing the rafts position together as far as possible. Between each raft laid four long planks with one end of it on each deck, they were two meters long and together they were four-meter wide from side to side.

A pontoon built out of rafts was very simple to set up, yet its service time wasn’t as short as would be expected. As long as the water level didn’t rise or fall by too much, which could lead to the wearing out of the hemp rope. The pontoon could easily be used for two or three years – the trees of the forest was an excellent material. For example, the Border Town’s pier was a good indicator and built out of the giant trees of the forest, it was nearly as old as the town itself by now. Despite the fact that walking on top of would give off a creaking sound, it still didn’t show any sign that it would collapse.

On the western side of the pontoon, the first part of the reclaimed land of the forest became Leaves’ testing area. Now that they were no longer surrounded by the forest, it had now been tidily enclosed by the members of the First Army. During these past few days with the exception of eating, going to school and sleeping, Leaves spent all of her time here inside of her garden. Out of the window in his third story office, Roland could faintly overlook the scene in this wooden enclosure – where the wheat was growing at a crazy

rate, while in the morning there would only be green seedlings, and in the afternoon the whole area has turned into a golden wheat sea.

When relying on magic, her Golden Ones would only need one day after being planted to become ready to be harvest, if this was to be seen by an outsiders, they would surely fall to their knees in disbelief and cry out “Miracle, truly this must be a miracle”.

Seeing that the land, the population, and the seeds had all been set, Roland decided that it was time to decide on the last element— the custodian.

He called his constantly busy assistant minister Barov.

And when he entered his office, Roland asked him: “Your chief apprentice should be able to take over by now, right? I need to set up two new departments at the Town Hall.”

“Your Royal Highness, this is… our manpower is not enough for this.” Barov insisted.

Previously you would always first agree with me and only later would we slowly work out the details. But now it seems you always directly start with complaining. Roland secretly criticized his assistant minister, but on his face, nothing could be seen of his thoughts, “How can it not be enough, didn’t I recently allocated a group of knights to you?”

During his preliminary round of screening, Roland had discovered that more than 50 knights met his requirements of reading and writing. Naturally, that would be too many teachers, so after once more screening for the best ones, he finally selected nine knights as junior teachers, and assigned all the others as apprentices in the Town Hall.

“Your Royal Highness, those people are totally lazy and dragging their feet on every job, their response time is also very slow and by the time they finally manage to copy over some information, they even end up making a lot of mistakes, in the end they are simply unqualified to become apprentices.”

“How to discipline them is up to you,” Roland slammed the table, “If they bluntly disobey the arrangement, send them directly to the North Slope Mine! But these two departments must be set up!”

“Well, Your Highness, you will always have the final say.” Barov gave up helplessly.

Roland said: “The first is the Ministry of Agriculture, which will be responsible for supervising the agricultural territory and the planting process.”

Barov was immediately stunned, it was the first time that he heard that the Town’s Hall was even responsible for managing food production, “Your Highness, shouldn’t this matter be directly decided by the serfs themselves? We have nothing to do with how much and what they decide to plant, we are only responsible for making sure that all their taxes are paid in full.”

“That’s exactly the reason why you… no, I mean why the crop’s we harvest in the past was so low.” Roland quickly took his cup and drank some water, trying to cover up his slip of the tongue, “The Town Hall should be responsible for taking care that everyone has enough to eat and drink.”

“Let everyone have enough to eat and drink… certainly you must be joking, right?”

“Of course not, how important it is that everyone should have something to eat and drink doesn’t even need to be said, if the town’s hall is unable to ensure that everyone has enough to eat, then they aren’t doing their job, but by then I will also be guilty of neglecting my duty. As for the latter part, wasn’t the public toilet project started for exactly this purpose?” Roland no longer spoke in a relaxed voice, and instead seriously said, “I don’t know how the Capital’s City Hall used to handle this, perhaps the life and death of the civilians do not matter so much to them, but here in Border Town, I want to implement a holistic political organization. It is absolutely necessary that the people in my territory know about it so that they will wholeheartedly support us, and we can easily keep on governing them. At present, it is important that we create this ministry and have them undertake this mission.”

“Understood, Your Highness.” Barov said as he had to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“You will go to the archives and look for three or four people who are experienced farmers and can work in the Ministry of Agriculture, and you will then choose two of your own apprentices who will be in charge of the keeping the records and statistics, finally forming a group of six people.”

“Wait… you want those civilians to become Town’s Hall officials?” Barov looked shocked at the idea.

“Not only are they obedient, they are even more likely to work with plenty of enthusiasm, so why shouldn’t they serve as officials? Officials aren’t equal to nobles, and the Ministry of Agriculture also need some professionals farmers to guide the future generation.”

“Most of them do not even know how to read or write…”

“That is exactly the reason why you have to send two of your apprentices out there, they will go along to do the paperwork,” Roland directly interrupted.

“And this problem won’t exist for too much longer. I’m going to implement an educational program for everyone soon, or at least that is the plan for now. By then nearly all of the people will be able to read and write and you will no longer have to worry about whether you won’t have enough hands.”

Obviously, the message that civilians would start to work in the Town Hall was an enormous surprise for Barov, his mouth was slightly open and for a long time he was unable to say another word.

Roland, disregarding whether Barov could accept it or not, just continued with giving his speech: “Back to the topic of setting up the Ministry of Agriculture, when the serfs began to farm their own land, it’s bound to happen that they will use various kinds of methods, for example how deep they will plow the soil will all be done differently.

This is an excellent opportunity for observation, so the Ministry of Agriculture should split all the farms into groups of six and each member of

the ministry will record every step taken by his designated farmers. Things like how deep they plow, what kind of planting interval they use and so on. It will be necessary that they work on it in as detailed a manner as possible, and that all of them will get some measuring tools and be taught on how to use them.

“You mean we are going to measure their… contrast?” Barov was clearly old fashioned in some areas, but he was definitely a quick thinker overall.

“That’s right, for the first time, it was needless to care too much about the harvest. We will still maintain importing the food as we have been… furthermore, we will also start to use some new wheat seeds to make sure that no one has to starve anymore. The job of the Ministry of Agriculture is to find the best method to planting, and later they have to promote, teach and supervise the way in which wheat is planted in the future .

Roland didn’t know much about farming, but this did not prevent him from using a scientific approach to summarize a set of optimal solutions. With this program, both the expansion of the cultivated area, or to add several new kinds of seeds to try, would help him to raise the average output to a whole new level.

Barov nodded at first but then he hesitated and after a while, he finally asked, “Your Highness, there is one thing that I don’t understand, when the serfs are promoted to free people, why will you only charge them 20% of their harvest as a tax? Even if you asked them to hand over 50%, letting them keep 50% for themselves, you would still be seen as extremely benevolent.”

“Because there is no meaning in hoarding all the money in the basement,” Roland explained, “When I need more than the 20%, I will buy the rest of the food from them at a fixed price – in Border Town, the trade with food only belongs to the right of the Lord. They have to deliver all the food to the castle and will be paid for it. After some saving they will most likely want to buy things like cattle, iron tools, beef, cotton clothes, and good brick houses. And all of this can only be provided by me for the town’s people, if they want to buy food it will be the same thing for them, they can only buy it from the castle. In this way, the coin will still flow back into my pocket, but as long as

it is cycling, it will be able to raise everyone’s standard of living. Are you able to follow me with this?”

Barov wore a frowning expression, it was clear that he was still caught up in processing this information.

Roland smiled and shook his head, “It isn’t a problem if you don’t understand it yet, you can go back and think about it later, at the moment it is more important that you follow my orders.”

Hearing this the assistant minister stood up as if he were in trance, but when he reached for the door, he suddenly looked back.

“Your highness, you just said you want to build two departments, what is the other one?”

“The Ministry of Education,” Roland replied, “However, for that I will be the one personally responsible.”