The grain "millet" produced in the Far East is not a stranger in Asia Minor, and has long followed the footsteps of Persia and nomads to the mountains of Asia Minor and the river valleys of Europa, which has a strong resistance to poor climate and soil, and has a short harvest cycle, only three months to harvest; Rye and oats, as the "supporting roles" originally mixed in wheat, are also popular and loved by farmers because of their unique tolerance advantages, and are generally planted with wheat as food for emergency and famine relief, rye is planted in winter, and oats are planted in spring.

Millet and rye can also be used to make wine, and oats can also be used as fodder for livestock.

However, when it was time for the autumn planting, Gawain and Anna, through the Superintendent of Agriculture and the Reforming Society, exercised power and control over the farms of the Holy Estate, semi-obligingly requiring the farmers to pay into the warehouses the wheat and barley they had harvested, the former for exchange with the Cypriot merchants, and the latter for the same strict storage as fodder for horses and raw materials for winemaking.

After that, the Yamen of the Governor of Agriculture asked the peasants to sow 30 percent of winter wheat in the fields, with 70 percent of millet and rye.

Seventy percent of the millet and rye were used for a simple purpose - to feed the more than 10,000 German and Greek tenant farmers for the winter - so that they could eat only a small amount of "white bread" made of wheat, and in most cases rice cereal made from millet and coarse bread made from rye.

According to the "Gospel Farming Contract" signed with the farmers, they only had to pay half of the profits to the military government, but this did not represent a mechanical constant: wheat, for example, was a scarce commodity for export in exchange for money and urgently needed supplies. It is impossible for Gawain to ask the peasants to keep half of it, so the right to share the benefits is only relatively whole. Take advantage of tax leverage. This is easy to achieve, for example, because the regulations of the Superintendent of Agriculture are very clear. Four-fifths of the wheat of the tenant farmers in the holy lands was to be handed over; Millet and rye, on the other hand, only need to be handed over to one-quarter and one-tenth respectively.

But even this is a leap forward for many tenant farmers, and the conditions are much better than what they had been living before: at least they don't have to worry about their winter rations, they can feed their children, and they have enough strength to continue growing tax-free fruit trees in their homes. Build a grape trellis or raise poultry - once the fruit is harvested and the eggs are obtained, they are free to sell them at the nearby market on a set date.

The ingots and bars from Cyprus were transported to the Ordnance Division, where Samuelfa presided over the imitation of the Roman Empire's Fries, and minted Seleucia's own copper coins in large quantities from these materials, which included many Greek craftsmen who had mastered the art of mold making. This food is a complete piece of cake for them.

"Don't underestimate copper coins, although they are only auxiliary coins in the empire, they are to promote circulation and balance prices. An effective means of accumulating gold and silver. Gawain said to Anna, "For merchants who walk the ocean and engage in transnational business, they naturally look down on copper coins. But it was different for many small traders and farmers, who were able to trade quickly and easily with copper coins. The economy of the villages and market towns soon flourished. And after the junta grasps the power of coinage, it can also justifiably claim part of the 'minting loss tax' (and the nature of **** fire consumption). Salaries to support the administration - after all, unlike the previous Brotherhood, the Six Divisions were paid salaries to their employees. ”

"But what about farmers and merchants who refuse the new copper coins?" Anna was a little worried.

"It doesn't matter, as long as the ratio between the Byzanti gold coin and the new copper coin is forcibly removed, so that it is only related to physical commodities, the market is well managed, and the materials are well stocked, there will be no great fluctuations, and when the credibility of the new copper coin is stabilized, people inside and outside will naturally be willing to use it." Gawain was confident about this.

The new copper coin, named "Seleucid", was originally suggested to use the heads of Gawain and Anna, but after careful deliberation, the two decided not to take this risk, but wanted to specify the front of the coin as the head of "St. Paul", but considering that there were still a large number of Paulicians in the territory, they would definitely resolutely oppose the image of the apostle they believed in on the coin, which would inevitably cause trouble, so in the end, the obverse of "Seleuci" was determined to be a local specialty saffron pattern, and the reverse side was engraved with the Bible The Greek inscription reads: The Lord is the most precious thing.

When the autumn planting and coinage were arranged, although the time was still short, the weather under the Seleucian city gradually became more and more vibrant: the workshops of all kinds began to be busy, the improvised roads mixed with poplar trees, horse-drawn chariots, going back and forth between the market of Aqum and the castle, raising the dust of the road, they were much faster than oxen, and among the farmstead settlements of the Gospel Sacred Estate, some peasants were still using waist pole plows, using oxen as draft animals, some supporting the plow, some controlling the direction; But the new wheel plough created by Agnes has also been put into use in small quantities, and the use of horse-drawn ploughs has begun to appear, and their power and efficiency have surprised farmers accustomed to ox farming, but the amount of fodder consumed and the amount of horseshoes needed have also made them feel heartache for those accustomed to small households, even if these are necessary inputs for the superintendent.

The layout of the land, which had previously been fragmented into strips, was lost: because of the concentration of large-scale use of draft animals, and because there were no boundaries or barriers between the various lords in the sacred estates, the land was re-brought together, some were pulled out of the criss-crossing ditches due to flat farming, and some were spiral-shaped furrows because of the topography, and the towers of the Acropolis were spectacular when viewed from below.

In the twilight, Anna crouched down there, and looked intoxicated at the countless furrows, about a dozen men in the prime of life, lined up in horizontal lines, with large and sparse gaps between them, followed by peasants with rakes and hoes, all of whom were "holy sowers," all of whom had been elected by the New Society and the Peasant Association: most of them were articulate, strong, fair, and, of course, most of all, had a few healthy offspring.

On the shoulders of the sowers, they all carried long bags full of heavy seeds, and then, in the sound of long trumpets and hymns, they went forward step by step, and the seeds were sown, facing the twilight sunset, chanting words in their mouths, praying for a good future, and the other farmers silently followed behind them, and the whole ceremony was full of solemn colors, so that Anna could not help but be fascinated by it.

This is the sanctity of the land.

"We should be in awe of them and what is under their feet." Anna muttered as Gawain approached from behind.

"Yes, if the seed and the harvest were one to four, awe would be replaced by joy. If it can be 1 to 5 or 1 to 6, awe will be replaced by ecstasy. Gawain's words are always inseparable from calculation. (To be continued.) )