Chapter 6 Agricultural Production

Because the bittern was poured out, the salt tastes better than other places, which has become one of the important export commodities of the Chamber of Commerce.

"By the way, have they bought what I want?"

Alexander did not dare to neglect Peter's request and answered immediately.

"Your Highness, our people have purchased some artillery and muskets from Buda, Vienna and other places. It's just that the number is very small, but we have recruited some craftsmen who can make firearms. I believe that artillery will be mass-produced in the future."

"Well" Peter agreed, and the next few questions were soon over. Because he still has a lot of things to do.

Although Constanta is suitable for economic development, it is too close to the border. If the Ottoman army comes to kill, it will be over, so defense preparations must be made.

At present, the population of the entire Dobruja region is 30,000, of which Constanta and surrounding areas account for one-third. If there is no war, then it will soon exceed 50,000 people.

In Constanta, Peter started to build a defense system here very early. Including a series of work such as castles, artillery, soldiers, etc. Now a standing army of 500 people has been trained, and there are 500 mercenaries recruited at the beginning. When necessary, there are also the help of conscripted militia and some vassals. At the same time, there are some artillery and a large number of long-range troops.

At the same time, Peter also used his knowledge to command the workers to build a large building they had never seen before. Including a series of organizations such as trenches and low walls, Constanta became one of the strongest cities in the Balkans. And Peter also began to prepare to form the first navy of Wallachia. It seems that he will also have a place in the Black Sea.

Compared with Western Europe and Central Europe, Eastern European countries are relatively backward. From Wallachia, Moldova to the various principalities of Russia, productivity is still not up to standard. In order to improve productivity, Peter confiscated all the land of the fleeing lords, left one-third of the dead but with families, and the rest were either given to free farmers or enfeoffed to new lords. These became the basis for Peter's rule over Dobruja. Don't think that centralization is so easy. It's impossible to move the Eastern set to the West. Moreover, the titles of nobility in Europe and the East are completely different. If you copy and paste, you will make a fool of yourself.

And these lords are also loyal to him. They are usually responsible for handling manor affairs and obey the call for war. Of course, Peter also proposed that as long as they paid money, they would not have to serve.

Peter conferred several barons, including his three supervisors. Alexander, the economic supervisor, was conferred as the Baron of Medilia, Boris, the civil supervisor, was the Baron of Pavlon, and Constantine, the military supervisor, was the Baron of Dumai. For these three loyal subordinates, Peter was also very considerate to relieve them of their military service obligations. They can continue to serve in the military, and if they don't want to go, they can pay more money to be exempted.

Influenced by trade, some manor owners began to circulate monetary rents, and farmers also became rich and gained freedom through trade. Compared with the vast mainland of Wallachia, Dobruja is considered to be the best treatment for farmers.

Compared with Western Europe and Central Europe, Eastern Europe has more serfs. Wallachia is no exception. Among all the population, the serf population accounts for 10%, which is relatively low, while the number of slaves in Constantinople has reached one-fifth.

Peter did not think the use of serfs was anti-human. After all, in order to speed up development, he also bought a batch of serfs from Hungary and Moldavia. But he proposed that as long as they saved enough money, they could regain their freedom, and they might not see such a humane lord in their lifetime.

Peter also made great efforts in agriculture. Although the land here is fertile, the production tools and methods are still very primitive, resulting in low production. Therefore, Peter started with production tools and fertilizers.

On the one hand, Peter sent people to nearby cities to recruit a group of blacksmiths with good skills and settled here. At the same time, he bought a lot of iron ingots, wood, and some forging equipment...

After the blacksmiths arrived, Peter immediately arranged for them to work with the carpenters to make a batch of curved plows and various iron labor tools according to the drawings he drew.

Compared with the straight plow, the curved plow has made significant improvements. First, the plow was changed from straight to curved, from long to short, and a plow disc was installed on the head of the plow, which can rotate freely, making the operation flexible and saving manpower and animal power. Secondly, the curved plow has added plowshares and plowshares, which control the plow arrows downward or upward by pushing and lifting the plowshares, so that the plowshares can be deeply or shallowly inserted into the soil. The curved plow also improved the plow wall, which was round and could push the turned-up soil aside to reduce the resistance to the advance, and could overturn the soil to cut off the growth of weeds. Therefore, it was not improved until the Qing Dynasty.

However, this thing invented in the Tang Dynasty has not been invented in Eastern Europe. It can be seen how backward the local production methods are, even more backward than Western Europe.

As for the second one, it was somewhat resisted by farmers, that is, the use of farmyard manure.

As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, people knew that weeds in the field would promote the growth of millet after rotting. "Qimin Yaoshu" detailed the methods of planting green manure and the methods of rotating leguminous crops with gramineous crops; it also mentioned the method of mixing crop stems with cow dung and urine, and trampling and composting them into fertilizer.

However, after the great decline of agricultural technology in the Middle Ages, Europe still did not know this method. So Peter decided to help them personally.

After the excrement of humans and animals was piled up and fermented, it was poured into the fields under his order. This caused protests from the serfs, who believed that this would dirty their fields. But the protests were ineffective.

Moreover, they sowed in holes, not in the broadcasting method commonly used by farmers in medieval Europe. Broadcasting is indeed easy, but the seeds are unevenly distributed and the sowing is shallow. Because the seeds scattered by hand may sometimes gather in piles and sometimes miss some parts. If they gather in piles, the seedlings will compete for fertilizer when they grow. As a result, none of the several seedlings in the pile will grow well. And the places where the seeds are not sown are prone to waste.

But hole sowing is different. When sowing, the rows have been divided long ago, leaving appropriate growth space for the seeds. Before sowing, Peter also instructed the serfs to use the salt water seed selection method to select good varieties with full grains. At the same time, the depth of hole sowing is deeper than broadcast sowing, which is more conducive to seed development. Therefore, this sowing method is effective and has a good yield.

But soon, it was harvest time. When the harvest began, Peter specially sent people to count the yield. As bundles of wheat straw with wheat ears were sent to the threshing floor, the serfs divided their hands and began to separate the wheat grains.

After a month of busy work, the grain on Peter's own land had been harvested. According to calculations, the grain produced per acre in Dobruja was about 180 to 220 pounds.

This yield cannot be compared with the distant East, but it is no problem to beat Europe. According to the data at this time, the sowing and output ratio in Britain was 1 to 3, and in Central Europe it was 1 to 6. One acre of land can produce about 120 pounds, while here it is directly 200 pounds.

After collecting grain and paying taxes, the grain owned by Peter directly filled the granaries of Constanta and Tulcea, and a considerable part of it was not put in. With so much grain, Peter and Dobruja, which he governed, became the richest region in the whole of Wallachia.

With so much grain, Peter sold part of it to obtain funds.

Because of the access to the sea, Peter's grain was sold effortlessly. The Chamber of Commerce directly loaded it onto ships and transported it to various places in the Black Sea. However, at this time, the currencies in various places were varied, and they needed to be converted after the sale. In the end, Peter received a total of 250,000 Wallachian ducats.

For selling grain, the Chamber of Commerce decided to take risks. They knew that Persia and North Africa were in serious food shortages, and there was also a large amount of gold that could not be sold. So they cooperated with some smugglers to first transport the grain to Trebizond by sea, and then transport the grain to various places by land. In the end, they all returned safely.

With the first success, the farmers did not object to pouring organic matter on the land. However, in order to take care of their emotions, Peter asked people to pile up leaves, straw, stalks, etc. together, so that they could also become organic fertilizers. It depends on which one they choose.