Agricultural Outlook

Translator: Cinder Translations

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After confirming the collaboration with Hansel, Paul Grayman began to consider the agricultural issues in his territory.

Firstly, regarding land ownership, nominally, all lands in Alden's domain belonged to the Grayman family, much like how in ancient times all lands in the Celestial Empire belonged to the emperor. However, practical terms for agricultural production are as follows:

Nearly one-third of the arable land directly belonged to the Lord's Manor, and the output from these lands belonged entirely to the Grayman family. Just over one-third of the land was held by various village landlords and gentry (including retainers of the Grayman family) who paid taxes to the Lord's Manor annually, with the remainder of the output belonging to themselves. The weaker one-third of the land belonged to numerous small peasant farmers or small landowners.

According to the usual approach, the Earl should initiate a violent or gentle land redistribution reform, ensuring that every farmer in the domain has a piece of land sufficient to support themselves and their families, achieving the ideal of "those who work the land own the land," thereby earning widespread praise for the Lord's valor.

However, what Paul anticipated was not the idyllic pastoral life under a small-scale agricultural economy. He envisioned industrialized mass production, and the small-scale agricultural economy was a significant obstacle on the path to industrialization.

Firstly, the small-scale agricultural economy binds a large number of farmers to small plots of land, limiting the formation of a free labor force, which in turn restricts the pace of industrial development.

Secondly, the self-sufficiency and instability of the small-scale agricultural economy led to poverty among a large number of peasants, who lack the purchasing power to buy more consumer goods, thereby creating a narrow market and hindering the development of a commodity economy.

Furthermore, the weak economic strength of the small-scale agricultural economy makes it difficult to purchase expensive machinery or adopt other new technologies, undertake large-scale soil improvements, or engage in extensive irrigation projects, thereby hindering the increase in agricultural output.

Lastly, the long-term existence of small plots of land impedes the strengthening of agricultural specialization, restricts the expansion of cash crops, and delays the progress of agricultural commodification.

All these factors will hinder the development of industrialization. Leaving aside the negative impact of the small-scale agricultural economy in the recent history of the Celestial Empire, a comparison with the effects of the modern land systems in France and England sheds light on many issues.

After the bourgeois revolution in France, the destruction of the old feudal land relations and the redistribution of lands from the nobility and church to the peasants, turning them into small landowners, had profound progressive significance at the time, increasing the initiative of the peasants and promoting economic development.

However, due to various reasons, this small-scale private ownership of land-based small-scale agricultural economy persisted in France for more than a hundred years. The small-scale agricultural economy gradually became a hindrance to industrial development, delaying France's transformation from an agricultural to an industrial nation in the late 19th century, which was one of the important reasons for the relatively slow economic development in France during that period.

In contrast, England's experience was different. Although likened to the "sheep eat people" enclosure movement that ruined countless farmers and caused widespread tragedy with violence and oppression, objectively, it provided favorable conditions for England's Industrial Revolution.

The farmers who lost their land, in order to survive, entered the cities, accelerating the process of urbanization and providing cheap/free labor for industrial development.

The enclosure movement allowed large swathes of previously fragmented land to be consolidated, making it easier to cultivate new crops, apply better fertilizers, use improved tools, reform irrigation systems, and adopt advanced farming methods—things that small farmers and landowners couldn't afford alone—thereby significantly increasing overall agricultural production.

This is also one of the key reasons why scientific development flourished in 18th-century France, yet the Industrial Revolution first occurred in England.

Therefore, Paul not only opposes equal land distribution but also aims to further consolidate land. While the lands owned by the minor and major landlords are already concentrated in terms of ownership, they are geographically dispersed. Paul needs to coordinate all landowners to conduct land exchanges, promote land circulation and centralized management through a series of policies and regulations, facilitate the establishment of large farms, promote agricultural mechanization, and undertake large-scale irrigation projects based on the distribution of arable land.

Regarding small peasant farmers and small landowners, Paul's upbringing and education from the previous life prevent him from considering violent means to strip them of their ownership. Since they already exist, they will complement the large farm economy under equal conditions, achieving higher unit yields. After all, the Celestial Empire's intensive farming feeds billions of people and has many advantages.

He plans to establish agricultural cooperatives or similar organizations on a village basis. The manor will finance the purchase of farming tools, oxen, and other production materials, renting them out at low prices to peasant farmers to help them improve labor efficiency.

As for the labor force needed for industrialization, Paul has set his sights on another large group within his domain—serfs. Slavery exists in this world and is widespread.

Ironically, the Church, which Paul despises and fears, is one of the staunchest opponents of slavery. One of its founding principles was equality under God, and after the Church's status was widely recognized by various countries, it vigorously promoted several abolition movements. However, due to resistance from vested interests, these movements eventually came to naught. As the Church hierarchy and the nobility increasingly converged, this principle gradually remained merely a slogan.

But Earl Paul does not intend to merely chant slogans. Subjectively, he cannot accept the existence of slavery, and objectively, developing industry requires a large labor force. Therefore, abolishing slavery within his domain is imperative.

For serfs directly under the manor, Paul plans to grant them freedom and allow them to stay or leave. Those who stay will be trained as agricultural workers on his new large-scale farms. As for serfs owned by major landlords, if they refuse to release them, they will face the wheels of history.

As for the agricultural labor lost due to abolition of slavery, it can be completely supplemented by promoting new agricultural tools. Machinery or equipment that is useless on narrow land can be effectively applied in new large farms.

Paul plans to manufacture agricultural machinery such as the Rotherham plow, the Crosskill clod crusher, harrows, seed drills, harvesters, threshers, etc. These tools can be manufactured under current technological conditions and operated solely by animal power, proving to be effective weapons in the 18th-century agricultural revolution in England.

Another method to increase land productivity is the four-field crop rotation system, dividing all arable land into four farming zones for turnip, barley, clover, wheat, and other crops, rotating annually.

This system abolishes fallow land, and land previously used for grazing is converted into arable land, expanding the area under cultivation. It plants legume grasses and applies stable manure, accelerating soil fertility recovery and enhancement, promoting steady growth in crop yields, facilitating long-term rational land use, and providing high-quality feed for livestock, transitioning from grazing to stable feeding, thereby improving livestock production.

Selective breeding is also essential, although Paul is not very knowledgeable about it and will have to wait until he recruits relevant agricultural experts to implement this.

Paul firmly believes that through these reforms, the agricultural output of Alden's domain will definitely see a substantial increase, thereby releasing and sustaining more labor for future industrialization.

(End of the Chapter)