Herald of Steel

Chapter 913 Dividing the Lands (Part-3)

?The 2 million tons of grain that Tibias produced was large enough to sustain 7 to 8 million people.

Alexander got this answer by assuming an average citizen would need on average 200 kg of wheat annually (less than 1lb a day) to properly sustain himself.

This was an average number, taken as an aggregate of the population, i.e. men, women, and children combined, with one man usually being counted as being equivalent to a pair of woman and child.

This method yielded a population of 10 million, but it had to be also remembered that farmers needed to keep a quarter to even a third (25% to 33%) of their produce as seeds for replanting next year.

Thus Alexander’s more reasonable answer of 7 to 8 million.

And upon figuring so out, Alexander commented in a pleased voice towards Philips, “It seems the country can produce a surplus of feed at least 1 million people. That is very impressive. Especially when you consider it happened amidst all your recent troubles.”

The man sounded impressed.

And the Crown Prince in this case was not humble, quickly nodding, “Yes, it all thanks of the mighty Diannu, the lifeblood of our country. Its annual flooding deposited fertile rich silt across the lush floodplains, letting us cultivate a diverse array of crops. Wheat, barley, flax, and all kinds of fruits and green produce come from it. A gift from our ancestors.”

Philips had a tinge of reverential undertone to his voice as he finished, his eyes slightly glazed, as if he was reminiscing about the good old times.

The Diannu was like Egypt’s Nile, The Chinese Yellow River, or the Indian Ganges, regularly flooding its surrounding settlements and then leaving a layer of extremely rich sedimentary soil when it receded, making the plains around it one of the most productive agricultural regions in the ancient world.

Due to this gift, the reverence the Tibian people held for the Diannu was firmly religious, with there being even an annual ceremony of making animal sacrifices along the banks of the river and its tributaries as a way to pray for a good harvest.

It would not be wrong to say the entire Tibian civilization was basically based around this river, as pointed out by Lord Theony

“The Diannu not only sustains us but also fuels our economy, my lord. For instance, just two years ago we exported more than 250,000 tons of grain and other surplus produce to other countries for a total of almost 400 million libras (200 million ropals)! That one year’s harvest had been enough to cover our annual budget for the next two years and we even managed to pay back much of our debts, haha.”

The portly lord had a pleased flushed face as he recounted that happy memory.

It had been a bumper harvest that year with good weather all around, and thus the export of massive quantities of grain had generated more than half a billion ropals for Tibias and its people. 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚

The state treasury had taken a third of that pie as fees for facilitating the trade, with the rest of the money getting split up by all the other actors involved- all the nobles who owned the land, the numerous merchants and distributors acting as middlemen and last and least of all, residing in the lowest tier- the farmers, who did all the hard work but was really paid scraps.

But that was the tragedy of being a farmer in this time period.

Anyway, for Alexander, hearing that 200 million ropals had been generated in taxes certainly pleased him too.

That was a lot of money even for him.

Thus he grew to be quite expectant towards the revenue from next year.

Although he also knew to pace himself as that 200 million ropal sale was really an exception fueled by exceptionally good weather that year.

It was not an example to be expected as evidenced by previous records of state revenues, where grain sales usually accounted for 70 to 90 million ropals.

Along with feeling pleased, Alexander had also found the whole situation a bit ironic, because he was more than a hundred percent sure that a lot of that grain Tibias exported had made their way back to Zanzan, and had been critical in helping him pull through some tough times, such as building up his granaries for this campaign as well as feeding the urban populations.

So inadvertently, it seemed Tibias had saved its very own conqueror at some prior time.

Thus with a chuckle, whose meaning only he understood, he commented with a large nod,

“I have had Tibian wheat before. It’s famous for its quality and taste. I liked it very much.”

It was a positive answer that quickly promptly the Crown Prince Philips to nod in agreement,

“It is an honor that you have enjoyed it, my lord. My family over the past century has undertaken numerous irrigation projects to take care of the country’s agriculture.”

“All kinds of canals, dikes, and dams had been constructed by skilled engineers and laborers, ensuring easy distribution of water to the fields and plantations, giving us the best crops this side of the Central Sea.”

As Philips went on to highlight his family’s accomplishments, he sounded quite proud.

Although in Alexander’s eyes, their practices were still quite rudimentary.

Because, for one they did not practise any sort of crop rotation.

Now in fairness that was partly due to the fact that Tibias largely did not need to rest its fields to allow it to regain its fertility back.

The annual floods from the Diannu did that for them.

Sure the rising waters might destroy crops and fields when they came, but as a sort of apology, they would leave a layer of rich, decadent soil for the farmers when they left.

And this compensation would be so rich that many would not even care about their previous loss, for the gift would allow the Tibian farmers to farm all their land all year round for the foreseeable future with the promise of bumper harvest.

Which was much, unlike their Zanzan counterpart who could only utilize two thirds (2/3) of fields at any one time.

It was also because of this that Alexander had no intention of implementing the three phase crop rotation system in Tibias.

At least not around the fertile banks, perhaps around the more inner parts.

But although Alexander could probably forgive this lack of innovation, there were a few more egregious examples that he certainly could not.

For example, from what he had seen during his travels up and down the country during the campaign, the farmers here seemed to only employ weak and light wooden plows instead of Zanzan’s new heavier plow, and with the use of draft animals for labor here yet to be universally adopted.

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Instead, Alexander saw many farmers, too poor to even afford an ox or mule, take on the role of these beasts of burden for themselves, plowing and tiling the fields with the heavy wooden yoke of the plow on their own shoulders, their strong legs quivering due to the strenuous work, as sweat dripped off his nose like rainwater due to the scorching summer heat

It was a hard life.

And made all the more harder by some of the tools they still used, such as the one they used to cut wheat.

It was a sickle, looking very similar in appearance to the Egyptian weapon Khopesh, and was quite backdated even for its time, for even before Alexander came along, Zanzan had already adopted the much more efficient hand held long scythe, allowing for easier and faster slashing, thus making the back breaking work a bit more manageable.

But due to Tibias’s lack of metal mines, and thus the high cost of importing metal, the poorer farmers were unable to afford much ‘metal rich’ equipment.

All of which combined seemed to suggest to Alexander that Tibias’s generally fertile lands had actually led to holding it back, stifling innovation, and proving once again the saying,

‘Necessity is the mother of all inventions.’

Since Tibias did not have a want of food, and the lands naturally produced ample food to sustain the people, they never bothered to improve upon the tried and tested technique.

After all, humans were creatures of comfort and familiarity, so it was very reasonable for them to ask.

‘Given we already have a good thing going, why take the risk and innovate with the possibility of losing everything?’

But now that Alexander was here, things were of course bound to change.

Heavy plow, horse collars, crop rotations, and long scythes were just the things that came to the top of his head, all of which would increase Tibias’s production by 30 to 50% at the very least.

But he did not bother discussing these terms with Philips or Lord Theony.

Because he knew these high born lords knew as much about the intricacies of farming as a potter did about smithing.

As for enticing them with greater rewards, Alexander feared they might not want to try these new technologies as the old ways had served them well enough.

Thus Alexander planned to introduce these innovations directly into the field, skipping the lords as the middleman.

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