It takes a lot of manpower to dig a ditch...... Uh, sorry, this one has already been said. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

But when it comes to manpower, it means workers, when it comes to workers, when it comes to workers, when it comes to working meals, when it comes to food, when it comes to food, then we have to mention that spring has not yet passed, and it is still the season of spring ploughing.

Farmers should grow crops at home, not run here to dig ditches.

-- Some book lovers with good memories should remember that as mentioned earlier, only the lord who let the peasants plough in spring is a good lord, and if a lord dares to prevent the peasants from ploughing in spring, then the peasants even dare to start a rebellion.

Why, then, could Magnus pull farmers over to dig ditches during spring ploughing?

On this subject, it is necessary to emphasize first of all that according to the sacred feudal contract of the Middle Ages, it was necessary and necessary for the peasants (freedmen) to serve their lords for three days a week free of charge.

A year is 120 days, and this service can be paid in advance, that is, the lords can spend all the year's weight in the spring, so that the peasants cannot plough in the spring.

Of course, no one would actually do such a stupid thing.

No matter how arrogant the nobles were, they knew that their power came from the peasants, and that the more peasants there were, the more solid their foundation became; As a rule, the aristocrats would take up half of the peasants' spring time - this time, when the peasants went to the manors to work with the serfs, enough to finish their estates, and then give the peasants a sustenance.

But Magnus, he has already occupied half of the peasants' spring, and looking at the posture, he still wants to occupy the remaining half!

Then the question arises, why didn't the peasants rebel yet?

Don't talk about faith, at the time of God's judgment, Magnus had clearly realized that faith is a good thing when you can eat well, it is similar to morality, and can regulate everyone's behavior; But once you are hungry, Guan Zi also said that Cang Liao knows etiquette and knows honor and disgrace when he has enough food and clothing!

Lao Tzu is dying of hunger, and you still tell me to respect the gods? Believe it or not, I dare to eat him in front of me!

Hence the introduction of a new term, the Joint Committee on Agriculture.

This was the reason why the peasants did not rebel.

Although it was only a new thing made by Magnus, because it was beneficial to himself, it was fully supported by the peasants almost in an instant.

The Joint Committee on Agriculture has few regulations and only a few purposes.

First, to safeguard the interests of farmers; Second, when a farmer who participates in the committee dies due to natural or man-made disasters, or when there is a fire in the field and there is no harvest, the farmers are organized to help each other; Third, when a lord, knight, or mayor oppresses a peasant, the council will take his place; Fourth, in a year of calamity, the Council will directly advise the Supreme Lord, that is, Magnus, to request a reduction in taxes.

These four are not so surprising rules and regulations today, and most of the neighborhood committees, village committees, and other grassroots organizations undertake this kind of work; But in the eleventh century, this 'committee' of Magnus was suddenly three hundred years ahead of its time.

In fact, Magnus's council can be regarded as the precursor and evolution of the union – the first union of Europa was founded in the fourteenth century, the guild of blacksmiths.

The only difference is that the unions are in the hands of the workers themselves, while the committees are in the hands of Magnus.

He was the chairman of the committee himself.

There is nothing to say about this, if the Council of Agriculture wants to protect the interests of the peasants on the weaker side, it will inevitably harm the interests of the vested interest class, that is, the interests of the aristocracy, and in the entire Grand Duke, who else can bear this translucent black cauldron except Magnus?

In fact, there have been quite a few knights who have disputed this.

The reason why they are knights is because the barons of the higher ranks have been expelled by Magnus.

However, to repeat here, Magnus really did not look down on these feudal knights who were full of bloody violence.

What he wanted was a cavalry with harsh discipline, collective honor, and deep unity, similar to the Polish hussars and Swedish dragoons, which could maintain tight order even when charging in groups, not as it is now, once on the battlefield, they are wild horses that are freed from the stiffness and cannot be found.

Not to mention that the hussars are connected by the national spirit, and they will never back down even if they fight to the last man, while the feudal cavalry must also be coaxed with fiefdoms and money.

However, the training of hussars is not an easy task, and must be raised from an early age - brainwashing to put it mildly - in the same way that the Duke of Brittany did in the past, except that the object of ideological education is not to be loyal to a single individual, but to the whole nation.

Because there are individuals who have rebelled against the nation, but there is no whole of the rebel nation.

Getting back to the point, if we talk about the Joint Committee on Agriculture, we need to talk about why farmers are embracing it.

Because the current situation falls under Article 2 of the Committee's Mutual Aid Regulations, when a farmer is unable to cultivate his land because of something, he can ask the Committee for help, and the Committee will then provide support as appropriate.

The lord's conscription, which is 'force resistible' in the eyes of the committee's support, must be helped.

As a result, 500 peasants were assigned to work the land for the farmers who were digging ditches.

Where did these 500 peasants come from?

Originating from Magnus's estate, they were all serfs.

Because Magnus now has a three-garden system, the amount of land to be cultivated this year has been reduced by one-sixth while the size of the estate remains the same, so a large number of serfs have been left idle.

How much is this mass?

For example, the average feudal lord had a quarter of the total area of farmland in his domain, and the serfs who worked for him sometimes exceeded a third or more of the total population of the territory.

This means that, although no specific number has been calculated, and it is impossible to calculate the specific number - in these days, knowing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is a high-level talent, but a rough estimate shows that there were about 10,000 serfs in Magnus.

Of these 10,000 people, all of whom had no old people (the average life expectancy in the Middle Ages was no more than thirty), it was not a great loss to remove the women, then the children, and the five hundred out of the remaining male laborers.

But in this way, new problems arise.

Since so many serfs can be pumped out, why not simply let the serfs dig ditches and save so much trouble.

The answer is simple, because the serfs can't do it.

Digging ditches is a lot of work, especially in this day and age.

-- We always think that farming is tiring, but in the Middle Ages, borrowing from the famous 19th-century French painter Millet's famous work, a work that is said to be 'in harmony with man and nature, completely restoring the real scene', a farmer squatting in a posture, pulling his arm into a semicircle, trying to scatter the seeds farther, while a flock of birds is eyeing the sky.

Nima! What is the difference between this way of sowing seeds and buying lottery tickets?!

Do they really know what farming is?!!

Magnus was speechless, and thought sadly, no wonder the peasants never had enough to eat, even in the best of years.

They can only blame themselves for this!

Let the serfs help the peasants to plant the land, there is also this consideration, Magnus has given a death order, and I don't ask you to plant all the crops neatly, but you at least, at least dig a pit for me and bury it!

However, even if Magnus were to support the peasants, they would not necessarily be obedient.

After all, this kind of 'sprinkling in the sky' is a way that has been passed down from generation to generation and has been effective for hundreds of years.

This kind of major event related to the life of the whole family, even if it is whipped with a whip, may not work.

But serfs, it's a very different story.

They did not cultivate their own land, so they were not so bothered, and could do as Magnus commanded; Moreover, because of the existence of the overseers, even if they wanted to be lazy, the serfs did not dare to be blatant, otherwise it would immediately be the echo of the leather whip.

In this way, even if the peasants do nothing and do not plough the land or apply fertilizer, their incomes should increase by a small margin during the autumn harvest.

It's not that Magnus is brilliant, it's just that the foundation of the peasants is too bad.

In this era of worse than the worst, even if it's just a little bit of effort, that's a great progress.

However, Magnus did not set up the Joint Committee on Agriculture for the sake of such an 'exchange'.

If it was just an exchange, there was no need for him to make such a big fanfare.

He also had other, more serious considerations.