Our family is in decline

If a small town wants to use agriculture as its pillar industry, it must meet one condition, which is that the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the average cultivated land is relatively high. Otherwise, it will be difficult to export agricultural products if it cannot support itself.

This was the situation before Hamlet. Except for the farm controlled by the farmer, there were many fields around the town, but due to the continuous disasters, they were all divided up by the farmer and the mayor.

It wasn't until the arrival of Lance that the reform was promoted, and the acres of land were measured and allocated to those urban residents.

This part of the land requires a 30% tax, and they have no trading rights. It is essentially leased to them.

Even though you need to pay so much, it is already a huge bargain for those people.

You must know that when Lance didn't come, it was 37%, 70% still belonged to others, and with the 10% religious tax, they only had 20% left.

No matter how hard we try, we can only survive, and having enough food is just a luxury.

If you encounter any problems and want to sell your land, you will end up becoming a serf of a certain farmer. That is completely losing everything and becoming a cow and horse, and it will be the end of your life.

Now Lance has directly eliminated all miscellaneous taxes and there is no religious tax. It can be said that the remaining 70% is directly put into his own pocket.

This is why most people support him. In the final analysis, it is their own interests.

However, agriculture is destined to just make a living, and if you really want to strengthen Hamlet, you still need to look at infrastructure.

The largest project is urban reconstruction, which is a project that benefits most townspeople.

A large number of jobs will be created in this process, so that those people will have jobs and money to earn.

Those professional craftsmen are organized into engineering teams, and their wages are more formal, usually monthly.

At the same time, during the reform, Lance also standardized their treatment. Originally, food was provided because they had no money to buy food. Now that they have money, Lance canceled this treatment and let them eat by themselves.

Only in this way can we expand domestic demand and use food to recycle the money they have and circulate it.

Otherwise, there will be no channels for consumption, and the value of money will decline by then, and saving all the money will not be conducive to urban economic development.

At the same time, give them some pressure in life to prevent them from failing.

Not many people object to this, because joining the engineering team is stable and there are projects being worked on all year round. Compared with farming, it is easier to ensure a good harvest despite droughts and floods.

But the salary is limited to this. Being able to pay wages on time is beyond most jobs in this era.

In this era, the productivity cannot support other social security systems, not even the industrial society. Lance is not a fool and knows that this is unrealistic.

Sometimes one step ahead of the times is a genius, two steps ahead is a madman, and there will be no room for maneuver in the end.

Of course, only formal residents can enjoy this kind of policy treatment. Most refugees need to work for Hamlet unconditionally for one year and have no bad records before they can be regularized.

Whether it is to become a regular member or to survive in this troubled world, they are willing to turn into oxen and horses and carry Hamlet on their shoulders.

In order to absorb this group of people, Lance developed three farms and moved out most of the refugees without special talents to let them cultivate and do the most familiar things.

However, after the land around Hamlet was measured and sorted out, only a small part was divided, and a large part still needed to be taken care of.

For this reason, Lance simply released a number of fields for cultivation by those refugees who had not yet become regular workers.

Things like cultivating land require careful care, not to mention the fact that we have to provide them with food to sustain their lives.

So Lance simply agreed to give them 20% as food rations. The harder you work, the more you will gain, and the more you will have left, stimulating their struggle.

Everyone knows that the reclaimed land must be better, so ordinary refugees are not yet qualified to obtain these quotas.

Only family members of some soldiers, those with outstanding performance or meritorious service are eligible to apply, so these places are all given out as rewards.

The same group of people also stayed in Hamlet and did not need to go to other farms to open up wasteland.

This resulted in some people having more free time during the off-season, and it would be easy for them to cause problems if they were allowed to wander around before Hamlet was perfected.

For this reason, Lance chose to give some quotas to each engineering team and recruit some daily handymen on the construction site, such as transportation, which only require effort and do not require skills.

These are not within the system of the engineering team, and the daily wages are even less in comparison.

A regular worker can earn three copper coins a day, while a handyman can only earn one or two copper coins depending on the difficulty, but for refugees who have no income sources, they are both worth cherishing...

Hamlet The sun was blazing in the sky, and the blazing sunshine shone on these workers who had to work in the open air. The sweat did not cost half the money and scratched through the skin, causing burning pain.

But what's more terrifying than this is that this kind of weather reminds many people of the severe drought, and they can't help but feel a little fear in their hearts.

It wasn't until the noon break bell rang that the workers could temporarily put down their work.

Everyone hurried to the big wooden barrel. After unscrewing it, what was poured out was not wine, but water.

They all know that this is not ordinary water, but purified water, and they will not get sick or have abdominal pain after drinking it.

After drinking ordinary water, it is easy to cause gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea or vomiting, and even worms. The fundamental reason is that the hygiene of the raw water is not up to standard.

Simple life experience tells them that drinking fermented liquid will prevent so many diseases, and beer brewed from grain is very expensive. All ordinary people can do is pick berries or throw fruits into water for fermentation.

Fermentation kills some bacteria and insect eggs, which is indeed disinfection to a certain extent, but the sour fruit wine is not delicious at all, and although the diseases it causes are better than drinking raw water directly, it is still risky.

Choosing this for thousands of years is simply a matter of choosing the lesser of two powers, which reveals the helplessness of ordinary people.

So when drinking water stations were set up, boiled water spread due to the pressure caused by the plague.

Most townspeople, after experiencing it, honestly say that no one would want to drink those sour fermented drinks if they could.

Each filled a glass, and then drank it in big gulps. The cold water passed through the throat and seeped into the limbs, suppressing the heat and replenishing the thirsty body at the same time.

Nothing can be better than this!

The lunch break was just for eating. Those formal workers went home to eat, but those without formal status could eat from the lord's big pot.

Everyone gathered around the central square to receive their own food. The standard was two pieces of multigrain bread and a bowl of fish stewed with vegetables.

The bread is about the size of a palm, and is actually black bread without the addition of wood chips and grass roots.

As for the soup, most of it is filled with vegetables, and there is very little fish, but it is quite salty, and I am willing to add salt.

But even so, the food they ate was extremely sweet. Compared with before when they didn't even have anything to eat, what they had now was already very good.

Soak the bread in the soup and eat it after it softens a bit.

Everyone gathered in a shady place, eating bread and drinking soup. As soon as they stopped, everyone started chatting.

From things on the construction site to various things happening in the town, the one that deserves the most attention is naturally the lord.

"Have you heard? The Lord has entered the wilderness to the north again."

"I've heard about it a long time ago. It seems that there is a lack of some kind of herbal medicine to cure the disease. The lord is looking for it himself."

"..."

Chatting during the break was inevitable, and soon the story that the lord personally went into the wilderness to find medicine and save people in order to treat the wounded spread in the town.

Even the porter, who was sweating under the scorching sun, couldn't help but feel proud when he heard this.

In this huge empire, how many noble lords would personally go into the dangerous wilderness to find medicine for a few sick ordinary people?

I'm afraid this sounds impossible to others, but they believe it because it's not the first time this kind of thing has happened.

There have been cases in the past where lords brought back doctors for the wounded late at night, and many people knew about this.

This is Hamlet!

But soon a new recruitment notice was posted in the square, and a man stood on the side and shouted loudly, explaining the general content to these illiterate people.

"Recruiting people to develop the wilderness in the north, three copper coins a day, only 100 places available, voluntary basis, first come, first served, come and sign up."

When this spread, it immediately aroused discussion among the workers.

This condition is not attractive to regular workers, but it is a rare opportunity for casual workers.

"The wilderness is dangerous, right? And the plague hasn't been completely eliminated yet."

A man expressed uneasiness about this, but the people around him seemed indifferent.

"What a fright, the lords are over there, not to mention there are troops patrolling."

"That's three copper coins a day. We're not craftsmen. Where can we find a job with this kind of salary?"

It was just when the two of them were saying this that they discovered that the man actually stood up and walked out with his rice bowl in hand. Only then did they realize that he said all that just to sneak away, and they rushed forward to complain.

"Good guy! Didn't you say it was dangerous?"

"That's right, it's actually faster than us."

"It's dangerous, but after I finish this project, I'll have money to buy some chicks, and when they grow up, I'll have eggs to eat." The man smiled honestly and didn't care about the two men's teasing, but his pace quickened. .

Similar things happened in the surrounding areas, and soon the hundred people were recruited, and those who didn't get it were annoyed why they didn't hurry up.

Naturally happy to get the quota, I will go to the wilderness to start work starting tomorrow as required...

As the sun sets, workers busy at different construction sites finally put down their work.

The foreman is extremely busy at this time, because he needs to be responsible for registering the handymen and then paying them.

Most people are illiterate. All they need is to press their fingerprints on the paper and then collect today's fee from the foreman.

The man looked at the handyman in front of him and took away a copper coin. After a hard day's work, he could only see a smile at this time.

Even just one or two copper coins are precious assets for these refugees who have no wealth at all.

"Next."

As the foreman shouted, the man quickly followed, pressed his fingerprints and received today's salary from the foreman.

His salary could be better, maybe two copper coins, but you can tell the price by looking at his sweat-soaked clothes.

"Brother foreman, I won't be coming tomorrow." The man greeted the foreman with a smile.

"You have also signed up to develop in the north, right? You must work hard not to waste this opportunity and contribute to the construction of Hamlet."

The foreman wasn't too surprised when he heard this. There were several similar ones just now, but he was happy for him.

Anyway, there are still many idle people in the town, so it is not difficult to recruit them all. The departure of a few people will not have a big impact on the project.

"Yes, yes." The man nodded with a naive smile, and he heard others echoing behind him, "You must work hard and you will not let down the lord!"

At this stage, Hamlet has not been able to cultivate class differences. On the contrary, Lance has instilled in them a collective consciousness. Everyone is his people, everyone is Hamlet, and they fight for Hamlet.

The man clenched the copper coin in his hand. Just thinking of his wife and children at home, smiles appeared on their faces, and even his pace quickened by half a minute.

The newly built residential houses in Hamlet are not the kind of longhouses where livestock live together, although the core technology is still thatched houses with a wooden frame and mud for meat.

It's just that the design has been streamlined, most of them are square and square, with a small yard separated by fences, which are left for them to raise some livestock.

Only separation can make it more hygienic and less likely to cause diseases.

As for large livestock, such as cows and pigs, a piece of land is specially planned to build pig pens and cattle pens, and unified placement can be better managed.

It's just that not many people can afford to sell pigs and cows to raise them now. The fact that these positions are reserved can only mean that Lance has thought very far.

"We're back. The food is almost ready. Wash your hands quickly and get ready to eat."

The man pushed the door open and could see his wife's busy back.

The man had been actively assisting in camp management and performed well before, so the family applied for a piece of land. Logically speaking, it was relatively easy. However, since there was a three-year-old child at home, he still wanted to work hard for his child.

He chose to work on the construction site at a time when farming was not busy, and his wife had nothing to do. She took on the responsibility of taking care of the farmland and taking care of the children.

"Look what I bought?" The man took out the things in his hand.

The woman couldn't help but exclaimed when she discovered that it was actually a piece of fish meat and more than a dozen eggs.

"Why did you buy so much meat!"

"Hehe! I changed my job to a higher-paying job, let's celebrate." The man smiled and handed the things over, "I just can't come back often, so I need to buy some vegetables first. The lord has said that eating more meat is good for your health. "

The woman didn't react happily when she heard this. She just took the things silently before speaking.

"Did you sign up to go north? The whole town knows about this. Do you know how dangerous it is?"

"Don't worry, the Lord is in the northern wilderness, and there is an army to protect us." The man was originally afraid that his wife would not let him go because she was worried about her safety, so he did not say it clearly. Now that it was said, he quickly comforted her.

"On the salary of three copper coins a day, I only spent two copper coins to buy so much meat. Work harder and save some money for your children to go to school. Maybe I can buy you a new set of clothes."

It has to be said that the temptation of this treatment is indeed hard to refuse. Everyone wants a better life, so the woman can only agree after a moment of silence.

"I'm going to cook some fish. Sit down quickly. You've been tired for the whole day."

"Okay!" The man's smile became even brighter when he heard his wife agree, and he held up the child beside him, "Thanks to the lord, life will get better and better."

The incident passed quickly. For this family, they didn't have much choice. All the woman could do was pray.

"Lord Lance, bless you~"

There is no such thing in the small family that shouts about dedication to Hamlet. What they value is always the interests that are actually related to life.

But it is these small homes that constitute Hamlet.

"Here comes the fish soup!" The woman came out holding the fish soup.

Fresh sea fish does not have much fishy smell. On the contrary, it is fresh and sweet, which surprises people who have been inland before.

The child didn't know so much, and most of the fish went into his mouth, but the parents didn't pay much attention. A mouthful of fish soup satisfied them.

This life is so good...