When Richard returned to the territory, the time had already entered early June.

In March, they went east to hunt and returned in the middle of summer.

The 240,000 indentured slaves will expire this fall, and they have served Harland for more than four years, and were pardoned as freedmen by Richard in advance in the spring, and with the 240,000 freedmen this year, the number of freedmen in Haaland's territory will reach 680,000.

A freeman divides six acres of wasteland, plus the task of clearing the government-run farm this year, and this year it is necessary to open up 2 million acres of cultivated land, which is a very heavy task for Haaland to lead more than 900,000 indentured slaves.

After all, there are only 600,000 young and middle-aged indentured slaves, and a large part of them need to build infrastructure, graze cattle, and work in factories, and only about 360,000 can really participate in land reclamation.

It is not an easy task for each person to reclaim more than five acres of wasteland.

Clearing the land requires cutting down trees, digging tree roots, building canals, picking up stones, filling up swamps, and even with the help of large animals, it is also hard work.

According to the statistics of the territory's agricultural department, it takes eight and a half labors to reclaim one acre of wasteland, even with large livestock. This is still in the plain area, to go to the mountains to build terraces, just cutting down trees and digging tree roots requires dozens of work, and it is not easy to build terraces.

Haaland's territory is now sparsely populated and does not need to be terraced, and the farmland reclaimed this time is mainly in the Tanit Valley, the Im River Valley, the area on both sides of the Grotta River, the swamp basin, the Lota basin, and some of the Greyforsen have also been reclaimed.

In order to complete the task of clearing the wasteland, Rogge found the territory garrison, hoping that the territory garrison could take on part of the task of clearing the wasteland.

The system of Haaland's domain, the barrel of the gun is almost entirely in Richard's hands.

The only thing that the city hall can influence is the second-line army city defense army, and even the cross-regional transfer of the city defense army needs Richard approval.

Richard was not in the territory, and Rogge could not mobilize the garrison at all. Although the Stoke family has a lot of influence in Haaland's territory, the garrison will not listen to Rog's words at all.

In the end, Rogge could only find Audrey with personal connections, and asked the griffin cavalry to venture into the vicinity of the kobold cave, sent a letter explaining the reason, and brought back Richard's warrant for the transfer of troops.

Counting the second-line auxiliaries, the army led by Haaland has swelled to more than 70,000 people, and there are many professionals in the army, and the strength of these people far exceeds that of civilians. With the help of the garrison, I volunteered for more than half a month, and this year's task of clearing the wasteland was successfully completed.

After the land is cleared, there is spring ploughing, this year's spring ploughing is relatively smooth, not only came a just right spring rain, but also did not suffer from war damage.

For the last decade or so, peace has been a luxury for the people of Haaland's leadership.

Fortunately, the Harland Territory has established a basic industry, developed a relatively high level of magical civilization, and invented new weapons in an endless stream, although it cannot be crushed against the orcs, but it can successfully hold the territory.

Over the years, they have basically fought outside the borders, and the damage to the production of the territory has not been serious.

This year's battle was relatively small, and only more than 600 people were mobilized before and after, and the impact on the territory was even lighter.

This year, many people have made meritorious contributions to the two battles against legendary dragons, among which Wendy and Vito have accumulated ten great merits and will be awarded a barony each.

Wendy was the younger sister of Richard's mother, and unlike other nobles, Richard was reluctant to keep her domain on the border.

However, it is not possible to seal Wendy's territory near Fort William, because the vicinity of Fort William is the core of the Haaland Domain. In order to set an example for future generations, Richard made the rule that the core territory could not be divided, and eventually Wendy's territory was sealed near Flying Eagle Castle.

This territory is located on both sides of the Black River, adjacent to the Barony of José, the area is not very large, only more than 800 square kilometers, but the land is very fertile, more than 80% is flatland, and more than one million acres of fertile land can be cultivated. The territory has been superficially developed, and 4,000 slaves purchased this year have been assigned to cultivate the territory.

According to the political system of the Grant Kingdom, the hereditary nobility has a great deal of independence, and although Wendy is his vassal, he can decide the policies and decrees within the territory.

Richard already had seven vassals under his name, all with different laws and policies, and these vassals were basically very traditional, and did not give land to serfs, nor did they make laws to amnesty freemen.

There is a huge gap between the living standards of the serfs in the vassal domain and the freedmen in the Harland domain, and the political status is even more different. In Haaland's territory, as long as you work hard and are lucky, even if you are generally talented, there is a high probability of achieving a class jump.

Because of the proximity to the Harland domain, news will flow naturally, and the problem of fugitive slaves in the vassal territory is very prevalent.

Dealing with the problem of fugitive slaves, there are often some frictions and contradictions between vassals and dukes. It's just that the difference in strength between the two sides is too big, and the vassals can't afford to provoke Haaland.

In fact, even his uncle Soros came to the door several times because of the problem of fugitive slaves. But Richard resolutely refused to give in, only sent back the fugitive slaves, and never changed the Haaland Collar Decree.

Soros has been in the army for many years, and of course he knows that pardoning serfs has greatly improved the strength of the territory.

Turning serfs into free people can not only increase the enthusiasm for production and greatly increase crop yields, but also increase the prestige of the territory among the people and greatly increase the morale of the serfs who joined the army.

Haaland led the army to fight strongly, laid down more than 100,000 square kilometers of land, and severely damaged the orcs several times, in addition to the invention of new weapons and equipment exceeding the orcs, the high morale is also the key reason.

In order to maintain this high morale, Richard vigorously improved the social status of soldiers, and established a system of soldiers' bereavement pensions, a system of honors and rewards for soldiers, and a system of clothing for soldiers. A decree was also enacted to amnesty indentured slaves, and the freedmen were given land to win over the hearts and minds of the people.

Soros is a high-level member of the territory and has participated in the discussion of various policies many times, so it is impossible not to understand it. However, he wanted to maintain the monopoly of the Dak family, wanted to be a prince for generations, restricted the upward channel of the lower classes, and wanted to avoid competition between the middle and lower classes and the Dak family.

Even if a person is very wise, once he touches his own interests, he will immediately burst into a rage, after all, it hurts more to touch interests than to touch his soul.

Although Soros is Richard's maternal uncle, he has a very close relationship with Richard. When Richard was in his career, the Soros family also helped him a lot, which can be called a great kindness.

But when it comes to major policies, Richard's will is very strong, as long as he lives for one day, the system of pardoning serfs will definitely be implemented in Haraland's territory. Soros's opposition will not affect Richard's determination at all.

Wendy has been Richard's follower since she was a child, and Sanguan was very deeply influenced by Richard, and the same decree was enacted in the fief as the Duke of Haaland.

The territory was almost entirely managed by the bureaucracy arranged by Richard, and Wendy herself still lived in Fort William, specializing in magic and not enthusiastically involved in the management of the territory.

Vito is Sophia's distant cousin, who is close to seventy years old, and he defected to the Harland Command very early, and was one of the first squadron leaders in the territory. After more than ten years of struggle under Richard, he finally succeeded in being knighted before he retired.

Although Sophia's brother Rogge and Alto have a high position in Haaland, they are the highest-ranking people in the civil service system, and they can mobilize far more resources than a hereditary baron. But social status, family honor, and hereditary aristocracy like Vito are not at all comparable.

Vito's knighthood is seen as another revival by the people of the Stowe family.

The Kingdom of Grant is a country that attaches great importance to strength and military merit, and has an extremely stubborn militaristic tradition. Without military merit, he is not a hereditary nobleman, he is an inferior person in political status.

Rogge and Alto are the most powerful territories, and they have to dismount and bow when they encounter hereditary nobles, and they can't speak out loud when they quarrel or quarrel at meetings, and they can only swallow their anger when they are beaten by hereditary nobles. In future generations, as long as the Vito family keeps its territory, it will still be the top of the Duke of Haaland, and the descendants of Rogge and Alto will most likely disappear and fall to the ordinary professional class.

Even if it is put in Nolan, a court earl can influence the country's major policies, but when encountering a hereditary baron at various celebrations, he must also give three points of courtesy. Because the court counts are only the bounty of the kingdom, and the hereditary barons have done great things for the country.

In fact, when the Grant royal family chooses the earls of the court, they often choose people from the hereditary aristocratic class who have made many military achievements.

Barony Vito is located in the northern part of the Twin Star Castle, adjacent to the three baronies of Vader, Grumment, and Morgan, which covers an area of 1,100 square kilometers, although the area is larger, and the population carrying capacity is far less than that of Barony Wendy.

The Vito family can be regarded as a large number of people, with more than 20 children and grandchildren who have reached adulthood, including thirteen professionals, most of whom are in the army.

Even if it is an aristocratic class, there is a breathing method inheritance, can endure hardships, and is willing to practice the breathing method from an early age, and only some of them can persevere. The northern Xinjiang region is better, because of the perennial war, most of the noble members can insist on practicing the breathing method, and in the capital Nolan area, only about a quarter of the nobles can be promoted to the profession.

In order to avoid the depravity of the nobility, the Kingdom of Grant also enacted the Decree of Succession for the Profession. If you cannot become a professional, you will not be able to inherit the title. Even so, the second son of the nobleman who gave up the right of inheritance, this daughter, still spends every day drinking, enthusiastically participating in various banquets, and is active in entertainment venues.

But these nobles who had no military exploits, in the upper echelons of the Grant Kingdom, could not stand firm at all, nor did they get any respect.

Richard never participates in all kinds of aristocratic gatherings, nor does he like all kinds of aristocratic activities, and even has contradictions with many nobles in the country, which does not prevent him from being the top five powerful nobles in the Grant Kingdom, even if it is a prince or princess, he must take the initiative to bow when he sees him, and he must be careful when he speaks.

Vito's second son, Warren, was the most talented, surpassing his father, who had just turned forty and was already a fifth-order warrior, serving as the captain of the 15th Brigade, almost equaling his father.

After Vito was knighted, he consulted with his children and grandchildren and decided to retire from the army to manage the territory, and Warren continued to stay in the army with some of his people.

The Vito family was originally from a noble background, and with a large number of people and a fairly solid economy, everyone tried their best to come up with 13,000 gold coins, plus part of Sophia's funding, and actually bought 3,000 people from the slave market in one go.

The Vito family itself has no shortage of professionals, and has recruited more than a dozen veterans from the army, accepted dozens of mercenaries, and trained five hundred soldiers with these people as the backbone.

With the Barony of Vito, there are already four Baronies near the Twin Star Castle, and the total number of noble coalitions is already 1,600 people, which is also a big addition to the defense of the Duke of Haaland.

When Richard returned to the territory, the summer harvest had already begun, and he looked around and found that this year was going to be a good harvest.

This year, the focus of Haaland's reclamation is on Nit Fort, near Ib Castle, both of which are nestled in river valleys surrounded by towering hills.

The Iamburg area, in particular, sits near a ridge with high cliffs on both sides of the Im River.

Because of the abundant meltwater in the high mountains, the Im River has abundant water, but due to the limitation of the topography, it can only flow into the large salt lake, which is the most important water source around the salt lake.

On both sides of the Imu River, there is also a large area of flat valleys, but the Imu River is located deep in the Eagle Mountains, which is difficult to develop.

This year, as much as 260,000 acres of farmland have been reclaimed on both sides of the Im River, and 36,000 new freedmen have migrated.

These freedmen were civilians of the Grand Duchy of Starnik, who were captured in the Harland Territory because of the war, and after four and a half years as indentured slaves, they finally regained their free status.

Some of these indentured slaves came from the middle and upper classes of the Grand Duchy of Starnik, some of them were city citizens, and some even came from professional families. Because of their ability and knowledge, they gradually established prestige among their fellow villagers and became the administrators of the same batch of indentured slaves.

Because the kingdom of Grant provoked a war, destroyed their hometown, and the army led by Richard, killed their relatives, and reduced them to slavery, there was a grudge against Harland in his heart. Look at the book

After more than four years of hard work, they gritted their teeth and persevered, and this year they finally became free people, and their hearts were very happy at this moment.

The more middle and upper you are, the more insightful you are. They were very satisfied with Richard's decree to pardon serfs, but they hated Richard for leading troops to invade their country and kill their relatives.

If there is a chance, this group of people will definitely provoke trouble and find an opportunity to take revenge, but the disparity in strength between the two sides is huge, and the gap is as big as fireflies and bright moons, so that they dare not have resentment at all. After all, they are also war-torn, have a very deep understanding of troubled times, and know that Richard is not a soft-hearted person.

If you jump out now, you can only die in vain. Even the bad words of Haaland's territory, they didn't dare to say it easily, they could only sing the praises of virtue insincerely, and they were full of grievances in their hearts.