landbeastnovel Chapter 85 Imperial Knowledge
Chapter 85 Imperial Knowledge
In early autumn, the hundreds of acres of rice paddies surrounding Mital Village lose their green color, and the layers of rice ears are dyed a heavy golden yellow by the warm autumn sun. The full grains bend the rice stalks, and the continuous fields are like a huge golden carpet.
As the autumn wind sweeps by, the rice paddies ripple in waves, and the delicate fragrance of grains spreads across the entire field with the wind, signaling the arrival of the rice harvest season.
According to the long-standing tradition of this land, a solemn harvest sacrifice ceremony must be held at the start of the autumn harvest. As the head of the Mittal family, Vijay is the chief officiant of this year's ceremony. This is also the first time he has personally experienced the entire ancient harvest ritual as the official head of the family since taking over the territory.
As dawn broke and the morning light pierced through the thin morning mist, dew clung to the rice leaves in the fields, glistening and translucent.
More than fifty Vaishyas and Shudras had prepared early, gathering on the ridge with sharpened sickles and woven baskets of grain. These people were Vijay's servants, but they were also the class qualified to participate in the harvest ceremony.
Bim took off his loose long gown and put on a durable coarse cloth short jacket. He tied a cloth rope around his waist, slung a small bamboo basket over his shoulder, and held a polished iron sickle in his hand.
Rajan also put down his wooden notepad, changed into simple work clothes, and stood solemnly to one side of the group with his mouth closed.
Even Maya, who usually spent most of her time in her bedroom and courtyard, changed into plain clothes and stood quietly beside her father and brothers.
Everyone lined up at the edge of the rice paddy according to their status, quietly waiting for Vijay to arrive and initiate the sacrificial harvest.
Vijay walked slowly to the center of the field ridge, his gaze sweeping over the crowd lined up around him, then over the empty outer plots of land, a question arising in his mind.
The entire hundred-acre rice paddy will take a long time to harvest with only a few people in front of us. However, the thousands of Dalits recruited earlier are all idle in their respective settlements, and not a single one has been assigned to help in the fields.
He turned to look at Bim, who was standing beside him, and asked in a low voice, "Why didn't you let Dalit help?"
Bim bowed respectfully, showing little surprise. He glanced around, then leaned closer to Vijay and whispered, "Master, according to the worldly order established by Brahma, grains contain the spirits of grains that depend on the earth for life. The first harvest is a sacred ritual offered to the Earth Mother and the Goddess of Grains. Only beings blessed by Brahma are qualified to touch the newly harvested rice."
"Dalits are born with original sin and their bodies are impure. Once they step into the harvest field, they will disturb and disperse the spirit of the grain, causing the harvest to be lost for the whole year and the land to be barren the following year. Therefore, during the sacrificial harvesting period, no Dalit is allowed to approach the rice field even half a step."
These rules have been passed down through generations and are strictly observed by all the surrounding villages, large and small.
After hearing the whole story, Vijay clicked his tongue in astonishment.
Although I disagreed with it in my heart, I decided to keep my opinion to myself for a while.
However, with only these people and over a hundred acres of land, even if things go slowly, they won't go that far.
But if tens of thousands of acres of fertile land are reclaimed in the future, how long will it take to harvest all these Shudras?
Does he expect to hire hundreds of Shudras specifically to harvest the harvest?
Thinking of this, Vijay suddenly asked, "Bim, how do the other villages that have more farmland harvest their crops?"
"They are Shudra farmers hired from outside." Bim's answer was as expected. "There are a large number of unemployed Shudras in Harappa and the surrounding towns and villages who are willing to accept employment. If they are too busy, the villages will hire these people who specialize in harvesting rice to help. It only costs a little food and money."
Isn't this just a migrant worker?
Vijay was speechless. It didn't seem to make any sense, did it?
Rather than this traditional approach, Vijay preferred to find ways to get Dalit involved in the harvest.
However, this matter needs to be handled gradually.
Although capitalism is superior to feudal slave society, it's best not to rashly undertake any major reforms in places where the gods are watching, lest some bored deity punish you...
Vijay shook his head, suppressing his somewhat disrespectful thoughts.
The time had come when the sun was high in the sky, and warm light bathed the entire rice field. Bim presided over a simple offering ceremony in accordance with Brahmanical norms.
The group temporarily erected a small earthen altar on the edge of the field, placing freshly picked fruit, pure ghee, and a small bundle of plump ears of rice selected in advance. Vijay presided over the ceremony, chanting Vedic scriptures in a low voice, praying that the spirits of the five grains would linger in the field and bless the year with abundant harvests.
After a brief sacrificial ceremony, the harvesting ceremony officially began. The moment the first clump of ripe rice was gently cut off by the sickle, a strange phenomenon slowly appeared in the field: a wisp of thin, shimmering white mist, barely perceptible to the naked eye, slowly rose from the severed rice stalks, drifting like smoke, mixed with the unique sweet aroma of rice, and hovered leisurely in the low air in the center of the rice field.
As more and more sickles rose and fell, and fields of rice were gathered into baskets, fine spiritual energy rose from the harvested fields. Wisps of white energy intertwined and gathered together, and the originally barely visible mist slowly solidified, transforming into a spiritual body about the size of a fist, with a warm, light golden halo, which floated leisurely in the air above the entire rice field.
This is the spirit of the grain.
One of the offerings that the Brahmin priests designated each territorial lord must pay!
Vijay breathed a sigh of relief; at least nothing serious had happened.
According to the ritual regulations, Vijay, who holds the highest status in the territory, is qualified to personally receive spirits.
Vijay slowly walked to the spirit's body, raised his palm and gently cupped it. The illusory yet real spirit of the grain slowly settled down with the warmth of his palm. It had no feel or weight to it, as if he were holding air. Fortunately, nothing unusual happened.
The spirit of the grain was then carefully placed into an exquisite sandalwood offering box prepared in advance by Bim. The box was made of precious sandalwood and lined with clean Sal leaves. It was specially used to store the sacrificial offerings, waiting to be sent to the Brahman temple in Harappa on a chosen day.
With the spirit-collecting ceremony concluded, Vijay's work came to an end.
However, the harvesting work is not yet complete; there are still processes to be completed, such as threshing and drying.
These miscellaneous tasks were handled by Bim, and Vijay didn't pay much attention to them.
In the past, Mittal village did not pay much attention to rice planting and harvesting, and each time it was almost always done hastily.
The harvested rice was stored in a crude manner and was not even carefully processed.
The entire village's daily food supplies are all purchased from the grain market in Harappa.
Previously, the village only had a few hundred Dalits, and their food supply did not rely on the village. So, with only a few people, their food consumption was not high, and the granaries were always full. From top to bottom, no one cared about it at all.
But now, at Vijay's insistence, thousands of Dalits can receive a small amount, along with occasional so-called rewards, causing the village's food consumption to increase exponentially.
If we continue to waste food in the same way as before and rely on sporadic purchases from outside the city, we will inevitably face some crises if we encounter any unexpected events.
Vijay had also considered this, so he selected several Shudras who specialized in farming from the slave market. These people were already in place to deal with any future situations.
Once these servants got the hang of it, the entire subsequent processing flow, from rice hulling and moisture-proof storage to coarse grain sorting, was managed by professionals, allowing the newly harvested grain to be preserved to the maximum extent.
If another 10,000 mu of fertile land is reclaimed next year, then Mittal Village will never have to worry about food again!
After putting away the sandalwood offering box, Vijay stood beside the drying grain pile, gazing at the vast expanse of uncultivated wasteland stretching across the mountainside. He solemnly gave the order to Bim and Rajan beside him: "Starting next year, the village will be reclaimed!"
"At least 1 mu of farmland must be cultivated!" Vijay ordered. "Even if there's a large investment and little output in the first year, it doesn't matter. Mital Village can afford this small amount of money!"
Bim nodded in agreement, but Rajan pressed on, asking, "Brahma above, Master, do you intend to ensure that all those lowly people also have food to eat?"
of course!
Vijay was about to blurt it out when his eyes caught the worry in Bim's eyes. He paused, instantly understanding what was troubling them.
It's important to understand that Mittal Village has been built on trade for generations, and this traditional farming is not a custom in Mittal Village.
If Vijay were to suddenly switch to traditional agriculture, would all of Bim and Rajan's knowledge and skills be buried as a result...?
"Don't worry!" Now that he understood their concerns, Vijay naturally had an explanation: "I'm not going to abandon the foundation upon which the Mittal family depends for its survival!"
"Trade routes will never be broken!"
Bim understood, and immediately let out a long sigh of relief, his submissive expression returning to his face.
After explaining the land reclamation matters, Vijay had a thought and called upon his own system control panel.
Basic Information: Mittal Village, with a land area of 9.89 square kilometers and a population of 3011; Status: Water shortage.
Economy: Holding 100015 gold coins and 605 units of food.
Armament: 10.5 (Official samurai combat strength count is 1)
Diplomacy: Visible Friendship Level (Zombie 0, Neutral 50, Followers 100)
Treasure: Spirit of Rice x1
'Spectacle: None'
Intelligence: Hostile forces exist in the surrounding area (details omitted)
Gold coins are being used up rather quickly, and the population mortality rate also seems to be a problem.
I opened the map again, and the locations of the developed logging camps and mines were clearly visible.
After all that effort, it seems like nothing much has changed...
In the past few days, Vijay has also set his first core development goal for the year: to achieve self-sufficiency in food, drinking water, and basic supplies throughout the entire territory, based on the existing land reclamation foundation.
After carefully reviewing the system data, Vijay quickly discovered the biggest bottleneck hindering the implementation of the target: although all the newly dug wells in the village produced water, the fresh water produced was just enough to meet the daily drinking needs of several thousand Dalits.
However, the well water reserves are limited and the cost of water extraction is too high, which is completely insufficient to support the large-scale irrigation of tens of thousands of acres of newly reclaimed farmland. If large-scale land reclamation and grain planting are desired, water sources must be drawn from the cross-border river shared by neighboring villages.
"Rajan," Vijay's gaze fell upon him, "what's the situation with the dam in Titi village?"
This question seemed to hit Rajan's sore spot. He immediately frowned, his face full of helplessness, and poured out his grievances: "Master, I have gone to Titi village three times with my entourage to negotiate water allocation. I wanted to negotiate, as is customary, to open the dam and allocate some of the water from the river to irrigate Mittal's newly cultivated land."
"But every time we go there, we either can't find the person in charge of the dam in Titi Village, or the ordinary villagers who come to meet us are all arrogant and rude, speaking harshly and threatening to drive us away at the drop of a hat. They won't even give us a chance to sit down and talk in detail. The water-sharing negotiations are simply impossible to make any progress!"
After listening to Rajon's report, Vijay pondered for a moment, which wasn't really surprising!
After all, they didn't even consult us when they built the dam!
It seems that the village of Titi has decided that the Mittal family is an easy target!
We need to see what they're really made of! Vijay decided to personally lead a team to Titi Village to mediate in person at a later date.
But that's not enough!
Even if we manage to persuade them to temporarily release water, the tributaries flowing through the Mittal region are narrow and the natural water storage capacity is insufficient. The limited river water still cannot cover the irrigation needs of tens of thousands of acres of farmland, and the core problem of the water shortage remains unsolved!
If a large river were to flow through here, there would be no need to worry about it!
Vijay sighed, at his wits' end, and could only hope that the system would work its magic again!
Add points
"Gossip (2/5)"
The system interface refreshes and upgrades the moment the points are used up.
In addition to the original information, there are even more detailed items.
Plannable spaces: wasteland, woodland, mountains, mines
Intelligence Feedback
Among the planarable space options, Vijay saw a flashing dot, so he curiously clicked on the wasteland among them.
The map unfolded instantly, zooming in on the locations of all the wasteland in Mital Village.
The previously general entries on territory resources have been refined and broken down, with each plot of land having its soil pH, fertility level, suitable crops, and shallow groundwater sources precisely marked, clearly dividing the land into zones from barren sandy soil to fertile alluvial fields.
Curious, I clicked on the woodland area, where the number of trees felled and the types of timber were clearly visible.
Looking at the "Intelligence Feedback," there was only one message: the measures of dividing and separating Dalit settlements and isolating and controlling hygiene have already blocked the source of disease transmission lurking among the migrants.
Having gained two useful new features, Vijay was still not satisfied and added another talent point.
At this point, the Royal Points have reached (3/5), and the system unlocks another major feature: Territory Construction Simulation. Various infrastructure plans can be input, and the system will automatically calculate construction costs, water supply, output revenue, and potential risks.
This thing is amazing!
Vijay's pupils dilated involuntarily, clearly astonished by the somewhat intelligent system.
Is this thing really as powerful as he thinks?
Vijay tentatively entered the proposal: "Open the Titi Village dam and divert water from the cross-border river to irrigate 10,000 mu of farmland."
The system almost immediately displayed its deduction conclusion: even if the dam were to be fully opened to release water, the annual runoff of the tributaries passing through the area would still be far from meeting the irrigation needs of tens of thousands of acres of farmland, and the existing river water resources would be insufficient to support the goal of land reclamation.
The plan to reclaim 10,000 acres of wasteland has failed!
Based on the existing river channels, water flow, and well output, it is recommended to develop and reclaim 2133 mu of farmland.
That's not all. The system continues to deduce new clues: there are high-quality water sources in the deep mountains and dense forests of the northeast. If used effectively, they can meet the needs of the plan to build 10,000 acres of farmland!
Vijay looked at the map; he recognized the flashing locations!
It's that abandoned temple again!