Hoffman Manor is located in the southeast of Bochum, a small town in the country of Mark, on the north bank of the Ruhr River. This place is a piece of hills, with only a small portion of plains.
The ancestor of the Hoffman family used to be one of the court guards of Earl Mark, but it was not the kind that received much attention. Therefore, when the knights' territories were divided after a certain war, they were assigned to this hilly area.
In theory, Hoffman Estates had 500 Ugrams (1,000 acres) of fiefdom. But in fact, of the 1,000 acres, only 200 acres (1,200 acres) along the Ruhr River are suitable for farming. The remaining 800 acres are basically hills. Moreover, these hills seem to be very barren, not even a tree can grow, only thin weeds can grow.
This is mainly because the ancestors of the Hoffman family offended the prince of Uncle Mark. Therefore, when distributing the fief, the palace minister secretly manipulated the Hoffman family into this unlucky place. And if those who are lucky enough to seal 1,000 acres (6,000 acres) of land are all cultivated land, then this knight family will be very rich. Even if the level of European agriculture is scum, with 6,000 acres of land there, it is difficult to be poor. If it were in the Ming Empire in the east, whoever had 6,000 mu of land would definitely be a big landlord. Liu Wencai, a big landlord, has only 10,000 mu of land in his family.
But in the Middle Ages in Europe, 6,000 acres of land was really nothing. Generally speaking, French knight fiefdoms are basically 1,500 acres. So, the French knights were rich and well equipped. During the war between Britain and France, the King of France easily summoned 20,000 to 30,000 knights. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, can only gather a few thousand knights. The rest had to be made up with longbowmen.
As for the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, the imperial knights, that is, the knight families who worked for the emperor, generally had a fief area of 1,500 acres. However, the knights belonging to the territories such as the Principality and the Earl Kingdom below have smaller fiefdoms. After all, these duchies are limited in size, and there are not as many territories as the French and the emperor to seal. Therefore, the knights' territory in Markburg generally only has 1,000 acres, and not all of them are arable land. Generally speaking, if more than half of the 1,000 acres of fiefdom are arable land, it is not bad. As unlucky as the Hoffman family, only a small part of it is arable land, so life is tight.
In order to increase income and reduce expenditure, the Hoffmans were all troubled. Today, old Hoffman and Mrs. Mary are very happy to hear that cattle can be used instead of horses to plow the land.
In order to prove Marin's thesis, Mrs. Mary immediately sent Adler to Bochum to buy 5 strong bulls and a barrel of spirits. After returning, everyone followed Marin's method and brought down 5 bulls with spirits. Then, the 5 cows were tied up with ropes.
After that, the professional Marin came on the stage, and pierced the weak spot in the middle of the bull's nose with a copper ring. Then, Marin cleaned the piercing wound with spirits to avoid infection.
At the beginning, the five bulls were of course not used to it, but with the copper rings on their noses, they did not dare to move around. A few days later, several bulls finally resigned to their fate and stopped recklessly resisting.
Then, the old Hoffman hurriedly asked the serfs to lead 5 oxen to the 600 acres of fallow land, and tried to use the oxen to plow the land...
"What? Wu Niu raised the bar..."
Marin looked at the five cows in the field pulling a heavy plow together, some Spartans...
"Saxon heavy plow, haven't you seen it?" Adler looked at Marin contemptuously. Rarely, Adler found a chance to crush Marin in terms of IQ.
"5 oxen pull a plow, what a waste of oxen..."
"There is no way to do this. The Saxon heavy plow plows deeper, which is good for the crops. But with the Germanic light plow, a horse or an ox can be pulled. Unfortunately, the plowing is too shallow, which is not good for the crops." Lady Mary explained from the sidelines.
The reason why Hoffman Manor has as many as 25 draft horses is that I use the Saxon heavy plow with 5 horses in parallel. The deep-plow Saxon heavy plow can make the rye yield higher.
"I'm such a pig, why didn't I think of Qu Yuanli!" Marin patted himself on the head. In so many time-traveling novels, Qu Yuanli is a magic weapon that must be used!
"What's wrong?"
"I suddenly thought of an oriental plow taught to me by my teacher. It is efficient and labor-saving, and it is much better than the Saxon heavy plow!" Marin said flickeringly.
"Is there such a good thing?" Old Hoffman and Mrs. Mary's eyes lit up. Only Adler, who has not been in touch with the management of the manor, is not very sensitive to agricultural matters.
"Just wait and see!"
Then, Marin found serfs who knew how to blacksmith and carpentry in the Hoffman Manor, and began to tinker with the Quyuanli...
On the second day, Qu Yuanli, with a wooden body and iron head, made a splendid appearance. The Hoffman family came to the field again to watch the effect of the "Oriental God Plow".
Under the guidance of Marin, a serf put the Quyuan plow on the shoulder of the cow, pulled the rope connected to the nose ring of the cow with one hand, and supported the Quyuan plow with the other hand, and started the farming experiment...
After half a day, the serf gradually mastered the use of Quyuanli. Then, he excitedly shouted at the old Hoffman:
"Lord, this is amazing! A plow pulled by an ox is as effective as a heavy Saxon plow drawn by five horses!"
"Really?" Old Hoffman couldn't believe it. But after he went to the ground, he pushed aside the land plowed by the Quyuan plow just now, and measured the depth with his hands. It was indeed close to the plowing depth of the Saxon heavy plow, and the effect was very good.
"It's amazing. In this way, doesn't it mean that I can easily plow 50 Ugrams (600 mu) of land in half a month with 10 cows?"
(Note: A cow cultivates an average of four or five mu of land every day.)
"In theory, father!"
"Can a horse draw a plow like this?"
"Try it!" Marin said lightly.
Then, the serf put the Quyuan plow on the shoulder of the horse and started the experiment again. It turns out that a draft horse can also pull this "Oriental Divine Plow".
After the success of the experiment, the old Hoffman decisively sold 15 draft horses for farming and exchanged them for 15 cattle. Then, another batch of "Oriental God Plows" were built in the manor for spring plowing in the coming year.
Even, Qu Yuanli and the Ox Nose Ring were regarded as strategic secrets, and were temporarily ordered by the Hoffman family not to spread them to the outside world. Hoffman Manor is basically surrounded by hills, or the Ruhr River in the south, with few people. So, old Hoffman decided to close the door and enjoy the benefits for himself.
As for dedicated to the emperor or earl? Old Hoffman thought about it, but gave up. Because, in Europe, apart from military exploits and the favor of the emperor, it is difficult to obtain fiefdoms by other means. If you donate this technology, you will be rewarded with a few dollars at most. It is impossible to reward titles and affordable fiefdoms. Old Hoffman didn't care much about not giving titles and fiefdoms, or a little money reward. Therefore, he simply enjoys the benefits of Qu Yuanli and the ox nose ring to himself, and forgets to get some benefits for himself...