At the beginning of October, the vast countryside of Barony Alençon began to get busy.

Hundreds of estates, more than 100,000 acres of land, tens of thousands of serfs and yeoman farmers began to busy harvesting the barley and oats sown in the spring.

Here one might ask, what about wheat? Doesn't wheat need an autumn harvest?

In fact, winter wheat is sown in autumn and harvested in summer, and the land is ploughed by farmers with heavy ploughshares.

In the 11th century, agriculture in Western Europe in the Middle Ages was marked by the promotion of the three-field system. Part of the cultivated land is sown in autumn and summer (wheat and rye), part is sown in spring and autumn (barley and oats), and the rest is left fallow to restore soil fertility.

The spread of the Mita system is premised on the spread of heavy ploughs. This plough is equipped with a moldboard, which can open a furrow when ploughing the land, thus solving the problem of drainage in wet land in spring.

Although most of the heavy ploughs used at this time were wooden, and iron-clad reinforced ploughshares were uncommon, they were enough for the farmer to roughly plough the land.

The advent of heavy ploughshares and mules and horses effectively helped farmers to reclaim wasteland, and by the early 11th century, the area of cultivated land had expanded considerably compared to the time of the Frankish Empire, and Evreux, near the Paris area, was a relatively rapidly developing area.

The autumn harvest of barley and oats and the sowing of winter wheat were important matters for all manor owners in the Middle Ages, and the knight lords under Wilhelm also returned to their estates to personally supervise the autumn harvest and sowing of serfs.

With Sir Hubert presiding over the training of recruits, and Baron Adolph diligently managing the administrative affairs of Alençon, William, who was very bored in Alençon, also followed Osborne's butler to the country estate to inspect the progress of the autumn harvest and sowing.

"Driving... Drive..."

Riding his horse through the countryside, breathing in the scent of grass and grain, William could only feel his whole body jumping.

"His Royal Highness William, please wait for us!" Steward Osborne and his son Faller. Osborne galloped with dozens of cavalry companions and chased after William.

Manage...

William stopped his horse and looked into the distance, only to see that a manor village was already in sight.

"Steward Osborne, I didn't expect this manor to be so huge, and we have been riding our horses for so long before we have just seen the outline of the village." William turned his head and sighed at Steward Osborne, who had caught up.

"It's natural, Master William. This estate is a large estate with 1,500 acres of arable land, and there are many uncultivated plains and wastelands! Osborne's butler rode up to William's side and replied respectfully.

"Oh! That's huge. William sighed and asked Steward Osborne, "Steward Osborne, tell me about the situation of this manor!" ”

"Obey your orders, Master William!" Osborne's butler touched his chest with his left hand and bowed down and replied: "This manor has 1,560 acres of cultivated land, of which 900 acres belong to your own farmland, 660 acres of land leased to the serfs, hundreds of acres of meadow and wasteland for grazing, and hundreds of acres of land that provides timber for the estate.

There was one steward and a number of servants, and there were about forty serfs, most of whom owned 15 acres (90 acres of cultivated land) and a few 30 acres (180 acres)"

"Hmm. This manor is new to us, so let's go inside the manor first and have a good look! ”

With that, William took the lead, and galloped towards the manor cottage, leaving only the people behind him to chase after him.

Stompe... Stompe...

William and his entourage walked slowly into the manor cottage, dozens of dilapidated houses made of thatched adobe were scattered indiscriminately, and the muddy roads were littered with livestock manure, straw stalks, etc., this scene of depression made people can't believe that this is their own manor.

At the gate of the manor cottage, the steward of the manor had already come to greet him with his servants.

"Meet His Royal Highness William, meet Steward Osborne, I'm Sean, Steward of the Manor. Wright. The tall and strong middle-aged man with short blond hair and a simple face with a pair of shrewd eyes led his servant to one knee and respectfully saluted.

"Get up! Steward Sean, take me around the manor and have a look. William stroked his right hand, motioned for Sean to take care of things, and said.

"Yes, His Highness William, please come with me." Steward Sean stood up, pointed forward with his right hand outstretched, and bowed.

"Let's go!" William nodded, turned around and waved to Steward Osborne and the others to follow.

William and the others were guided by Sean towards the luxurious residence in the highlands in the center of the manor not far away.

Looking at Sean's sturdy and tall back, William thought to himself that only such a strong guy could suppress more than two hundred serfs.

When you come to the luxurious residence on the heights of the manor, the scenery here is markedly different from the scene in the serf cottage.

Measuring two floors high and tens of meters wide, this expansive villa is made of reddish-brown brick and stone, surrounded by beautiful landscaping, flowers and trees, and guarded by a one-man high wall.

"Steward Sean, take me to the farmland first, I want to see your harvest." William, who arrived at the door of the manor's mansion, turned to Steward Sean and said.

"This," said Steward Sean with some hesitation, "your status is so noble, how can you go to the fields?" It's all filthy serfs there! ”

"Sean is in charge, I just want to take a look, do you want to disobey?" William said in a serious voice.

Steward Sean was so frightened by William that he bowed down and shouted that he didn't dare, so he had to take William to the farmland behind the mansion in the Highlands.

"Your Highness, this 900 acres of arable land is your own land, and these serfs are being organized by me to harvest barley and oats, plough the land and sow winter wheat for you." Steward Sean took William and the others to the ridge of the cultivated field, pointed to the cultivated land and said.

William looked in the direction Sean was pointing, and saw that one-third of the neatly arranged farmland was planted with barley and oats, and dozens of serf men and peasant women were harvesting with sickles.

On the other side, in the third of the land, several heavy ploughshares drawn by mules and horses ploughed the land under the control of serfs, while peasant women in the rear sowed wheat seeds from baskets to the land.

These heavy ploughshares were markedly different from the rural ox-pulled ploughs that William had seen in his previous life, not only had two wheels in front, but also a wooden ploughshare in the middle of the plough cart, and the frame was also very low, and the serfs had to bend down and hold on to the handles with both hands to use them.

The last third of the cultivated land was not planted with any crops, but some grass was planted on it to feed the livestock on the estate.

Looking at the scene of the serfs busy harvesting and ploughing in the manor field, William was more satisfied with Sean's work as a steward, and turned his head to him and nodded and smiled in satisfaction, while the latter smiled very favorably and bowed.