"Spring is here! Let's go see how the farm tools are arranged." Roland turned to Caslo and said.
"Yes, sir." Kaslo nodded. After all, spring plowing was about to begin. If farm tools couldn't be distributed to the people, it would affect the plowing process. Roland didn't want to eat black bread anymore. Being starved of food was really uncomfortable...
"Make sure to arrange farm tools for them! Tell all the blacksmiths to free up their hands to make hoes, and focus on making the urgently needed farm tools first!" Roland ordered.
"Okay!" Caslo responded and walked out of the tent.
"Someone come here!" Roland called out after thinking for a while.
"What are your orders, Your Highness?" A Lordaeron ranger wearing chain armor walked in.
"Prepare the horses! Gather the guards and the knights! Let's go to the farmland!" Roland said. He wanted to go and see if there was anything he had missed.
"As you wish, Your Highness!" The Lordaeron Ranger nodded respectfully and retreated.
…
"Your Highness, why did you think of coming here?" Renault asked Roland curiously about 5 kilometers north of Jiliu City.
"I'm still worried. I have to come and take a look. If something goes wrong with the spring plowing this year... Swiftstream City will be finished!" Roland sighed helplessly.
"What could go wrong? The orcs are no longer able to move south in large numbers! The scattered orc farmers can knock them over with dung forks!" Renault smiled. The situation in River Rapids was very good now. In the north, there was the Lonely Mountain blocking the way. In the west, in addition to the city of Lorcelannier ruled by the White Winged King, there was also the wide River Rapids as a barrier. The Centaur Lord Baldur in the east would block the enemies in the Tupout Forest. The only enemy might come from the south, but River Rapids's current military strength was enough to withstand the attacks of ordinary enemies. As long as there were not tens of thousands of orcs besieging the city, Roland could still struggle.
"We will have a hard time this year! Except for the necessary troops who stay behind, everyone else needs to join the spring plowing. We have to race against time!" Roland sighed. Now their biggest enemy is time!
Assuming four mu of land can support one person, the population of Jiliu City is less than 5,000. This means 20,000 mu of farmland would be needed to feed and clothe everyone here! This doesn't even include the area for vegetable cultivation! After all, the system doesn't provide seeds for high-yield crops, and the yield of ordinary crops in Middle-earth is really not much different from that of ancient China!
"Hiss!" Renault took a breath. He realized that River Rapids was now completely broke and without any resources. This year's spring plowing also required the storage of grain reserves for the future, which would increase the workload. Reclaiming so much land during this period of time was simply a matter of life and death for everyone...
"I think we can melt the weapons and make them into hoes..." Renault opened his mouth. Now the two blacksmith shops can only make a few hundred hoes without stopping the furnace. This gap is simply a catastrophic pit!
"Nonsense!" Roland glared. His weapon had melted, so he had to fight the enemy with his fists?
"I'll go look for Thorin. Looks like I have to ask the dwarves for help again!" Roland said helplessly. Although the Lagrangians had done a favor for the dwarves of Erebor, Roland was too embarrassed to ask for help. He had been getting help from Thorin for so long. Although the Thorin in the movie was a little stupid, the Thorin in this world was still very kind to Roland.
"Oh! Let's send someone to Erebor to order two thousand hoes..." Roland said helplessly, holding his forehead. The gap was too big. If the blacksmiths in Stormwind were really asked to make them, everyone would starve to death this year.
"Oh right! Take this gold with you! Don't go empty-handed!" Roland took out a large wooden box of treasured gold and silver from the system space and said to Renault with a painful look on his face.
"As you command!" Renault responded, turning his horse around and pointing to a few people, giving them some instructions. He then told them to take the gold to Iluber City to complete the task he had assigned them...
"Have you given the order?" Roland asked Renault who had returned quickly.
"Yes, the order has been given." Renault confirmed.
"By the way, do we have a carpenter?" Roland suddenly asked.
"This... really doesn't exist!" Renault answered after thinking for a while. Although he didn't pay much attention to this aspect, there were only a few people with craftsmanship in Jiliu City. Renault should know any carpenter.
"This is trouble!" Roland said with a headache. He had just found the blueprint of a "divine artifact" among the miscellaneous items signed in by the system a few days ago - a curved plow!
"This thing can make farming more precise and significantly increase yields!" Roland said proudly. He held in his hands the culmination of ancient Chinese technology! A treasure passed down from our ancestors, something that could be used for millennia!
"Uh...what's different about it? Is it a magical item?" Renault looked at the drawing in confusion.
"Sir!" Kaslo's voice came from afar, but the voice arrived before the person did!
"What's wrong? You're so jumpy!" Roland rolled his eyes at him. He was almost frightened off his horse by this idiot! Don't you know that you can't interrupt someone who is lost in thought?
"If you don't explain the reason to me today, you're ruined!" Roland became more and more angry.
"Um... sir, there is a huge shortage of agricultural tools! At least three-quarters of the people do not have farming tools, not to mention the soldiers." Caslo frowned.
"Okay, I understand. I've already placed an order with Ireber!" Roland howled like a defeated dog.
"What's wrong?" Caslo was startled by the sadness that was so thick that it seemed tangible on Roland's face. He quickly nudged Renault beside him with his arm and whispered.
"Well..." Renault smacked his lips and then whispered, "Your Highness just spent all his wife's money to order farm tools. He must be feeling distressed right now!" Renault looked at Roland who was in a state of despair in front of him and shrugged helplessly.
As one of Roland's earliest followers, how could he not know what Roland was like? While Roland wasn't exactly stingy, he was still keen on accumulating wealth. Ever since his wealth was almost gone, he no longer dared to wander the mall. Everything looked beautiful, but he was short on cash... He'd finally saved some money, but he'd thrown it all away during the spring plowing season...
"How pitiful..." Kaslo sighed sympathetically, looking at Roland. He had seen how Roland saved money. He had spent so much time searching for gold and silver from the corpses of orcs, but only managed to get half a box. And now, he was back to the days before liberation...
"Crackling~" Soft spring raindrops fell drop by drop. Roland subconsciously stretched out his hand, and the raindrops playfully danced and rolled in his palm...
"Spring is here! Let the people with farm tools come and reclaim the wasteland first!" Roland looked at the sky. Hmm, it wasn't raining heavily, so it was a good day to work.
"Your Highness, let's wait a while. It's raining! It will be troublesome if some civilians get sick from the rain and cause a plague!" Renault said solemnly. The medical level in Middle-earth is just so-so. A flu may cause a plague. There is no need to rush for that day now.
"Yeah, let's wait until the snow melts!" Roland looked at the white spots stretching across the ground. They were the snow that had not yet melted.
"Let's go back! It's so cold!" A gust of cold wind blew, and the biting cold wind slipped in through the seams of Roland's clothes, making him shiver.