After spending a day returning to the Borderlands, Roland felt sore and exhausted. He washed up and went to bed early, only recovering his energy near noon the next day.
It seems I must have a soundproof cabin and soft reclining chairs on my personal ship, he thought to himself. Ideally, there should also be a spacious bed. Otherwise, sitting on a constantly vibrating hard bench, listening to the repeated roar of the steam engine, is a double torture for both mind and body.
Walking into the office, Roland's first act was to summon Chief Manager Barov Mons and Minister of Agriculture Senni Dari. With only one week left until the scheduled Spring Offensive, he was confident in Iron Axe's handling of the military, so the most important thing was to focus on agricultural production and prepare for spring planting. After all, having grain in hand ensures peace of mind.
"I've already seen the seeds being transported at Longsong Wharf. As long as we have Golden No. 1, even if the harvest there is poor this year, it won't be disastrous. But the Borderlands is the key. We are the example, the proof, the demonstration for everyone to see!" he said, tapping the table. "So, how is the spring planting progressing? Who wants to tell me?"
"Your Highness, the current situation is as follows," Barov began, "Only three gren of the first batch of promoted serfs are willing to continue farming. Adding the newly recruited serfs, the total agricultural population is now around ten thousand. According to last year's average wheat yield, these ten thousand people should produce enough grain to feed forty to fifty thousand people." He paused, adding, "I'm calculating based on the official residents' wheat purchase limit, which is much higher than the daily consumption of ordinary citizens in other cities. If we only require not starving to death, then we can add another twenty thousand."
"That's roughly it, Your Highness," Senni continued. "However, the above conclusions are based on data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture the year before last. This year, about half the serfs—mainly the newly recruited batch—will be using Leaf's improved Golden No. 2… Frankly, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe that so many ears of wheat could grow on a single stalk. Plus, there are two thousand people who will be switching to planting potatoes and corn, so I can't predict the final actual yield."
"As for the planting, the fields are currently being plowed. According to the previously compiled crop planting manual, the land needs to be plowed repeatedly three times, and the fermented compost mixed in—this process usually takes three to four weeks, depending on the number of people working on a plot of land and the agricultural tools used. The serfs from last year have basically rented iron tools, which should shorten the plowing time considerably."
"As for how deep the ditches should be dug and the spacing between seeds, I have arranged for apprentices to promote and explain, teaching them to sow according to the optimal methods in the planting manual."
It was clear that this former Wolf Family knight had put a lot of effort into agricultural matters, considering all aspects thoroughly. Even Roland couldn't help but nod in approval.
The underdevelopment of agriculture in this era lies in its excessive dependence on the land itself. A field is equivalent to the entirety of planting. In order to protect the field, it is necessary to cultivate for one year and let it lie fallow for two years, resulting in extremely low land efficiency. Now, Neverwinter City has controllable irrigation, natural fertilizer, and rational planting methods, plus the seeds modified by Leaf, making the yield naturally astonishing in the eyes of the locals. However, for Roland, having more than ten thousand people engaged in agricultural planting out of a total population of thirty thousand is still too high. The most effective way to reduce the agricultural population in the future is to start with agricultural tools, such as manufacturing agricultural equipment that utilizes animal power or mechanical power.
"Very good, keep up the momentum," he said with satisfaction. "Also, the personnel sent to Longsong District must keep good records. If we want to promote this model to other cities in the future, we will execute it accordingly."
After dealing with agricultural affairs, Roland left the castle and headed to the Redwater River shipyard accompanied by Nightingale and his guards.
The ship being built by Anna had entered the weapon installation stage two days ago. The hull, coated with gray-red anti-corrosion paint, stood quietly on the sleepers, its size, equivalent to three cement ships, appearing quite robust. Unlike the open-deck cement paddlewheel ships, its side was nearly two meters high, allowing the boiler and steam engine to be completely stuffed inside the hull, and the paddlewheels on both sides had been removed. In addition, another feature was the raised bridge in the center of the hull, which, although only one story high, looked quite striking.
Of course, as a shallow-water monitor, the most important equipment was undoubtedly the 152mm heavy gun. In order to save construction time, Roland did not have Anna manufacture a naval gun version separately, but dismantled the fortress gun from the city wall, intending to install it directly on the ship.
Now, it was placed next to the shipyard, waiting for the final hoisting.
"Your Highness," Anna immediately waved to him when she saw Roland appear. "Over here!"
The prince walked over with a smile. "How is it going? Is the construction process going smoothly?"
During the week he went to Longsong District, Anna took care of the entire construction of the gunboat. Although he had given her the blueprints for the key parts, this was, after all, an unprecedented project, so encountering various problems was quite normal.
"Not very smoothly," she shook her head. "The more troublesome issues were the deformation of the hull sides, the leakage of the propeller, the tilting of the hull to one side after welding the bridge, and the problem of the gun mount not being able to lock the cannon in place, but I have solved them all."
"All… solved?" Roland asked in surprise.
"Yes," Anna said with a brilliant smile, counting on her fingers. "The side deformation was caused by the steel plates on the hull sides being too thin, so I installed fixed support frames on the easily deformed parts. The propeller leaked because there were always gaps between the sleeve and the connecting rod, so I surrounded it with a water tank, so that the water that leaked in wouldn't run around everywhere, and could be pumped out by the power of the steam engine. The bridge was tilted because of the asymmetrical weight, so a little modification was enough. The gun mount problem was the most difficult to solve. In the end, I found inspiration in the revolving gun—first, cut a row of teeth on the bottom ring, and then add a hook that can be inserted between the teeth, so that the rotating gun mount can be fixed in any direction you want to aim."
Roland blinked, and it took him a while to utter a sentence, "You are truly a genius." Although none of these were difficult problems to deal with, that was for someone who had drawn countless mechanical drawings himself. Especially the last point, being able to connect the revolving gun structure to the gun mount fixing method, probably only Anna possessed this meticulous observation.
"By the way, Your Highness, does this ship have a name yet?"
"Not yet," he raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"
"Those First Army soldiers come to see it every few days, and they are fighting to have their names engraved on the bridge," Anna chuckled. "They said you promised that the person with the best gunnery skills can own a ship named after themselves."
"Ah… there was such a thing," Roland recalled Rodney and Nelson of the artillery battalion. "But this one won't do. You know that the name of the first warship not only represents the ship itself, but also represents the class and model." He raised the corners of his mouth. "I can't give this honor to others, so let's call it Roland—Roland-class, ship number one." (。)