In the Valley Wood Fort, in a detached cottage.
Art sat in a armchair, wiping his knight's sword on the table with a piece of oil-soaked linen cloth. The fine lines on the dark gray blade were still clear, but the dark red bloodstains were deeper, having permeated the blade and becoming impossible to remove.
The hot oil-soaked linen cloth restored the knight's sword to its metallic luster. Art returned the wiped longsword to its scabbard, then tidied the white surcoat in the wooden chest. The surcoat, emblazoned with a red holy cross, had not withstood the test of time; its pure white color was gradually turning gray and yellow.
After half a year of intense fighting, Art's mind was highly focused every day. Upon returning to the Valley Wood Fort and entering this detached cottage, Art felt incredibly relaxed. After tidying his belongings, Art felt waves of sleepiness wash over him. He put away the wooden chest, lay down on the bed, and was soon snoring...
.........
On the evening of the army's triumphant return, a lively celebration banquet was held in the Valley Wood Fort. This banquet was held without internal or external worries, so everyone ate a lot of food and drank a lot of wine.
Emma, Ron's mother, was in charge of the Wood Fort's kitchen. Quartermaster Spencer also brought several army handymen to help in the kitchen these past few days.
Emma, this once frail woman, had surprisingly begun to gain weight after living in the Wood Fort for over a year. Now, in the Valley Wood Fort, Emma's family was the wealthiest. Scott was the Wood Fort's Steward, receiving the Combat Squad Leader's salary. Ron was the Sentry Cavalry Captain, with squad leader treatment. Emma was in charge of the Wood Fort's kitchen, and her and Camille's daily meals were supplied by the Wood Fort. This family barely needed to spend a single coin on food and drink. Moreover, this industrious woman often took the women and children of the Wood Fort up the mountain in her spare time to gather wild fruits to make fruit wine and preserves. The homemade wines and preserves were then sold to Soldiers and farmer-Soldiers who had surplus money with nowhere to spend it.
Over the past year, her family's house had transformed from a thatched hut into a wooden house, and this also became the only place in the entire Wood Fort where one could spend money. Initially, Cooper worried that Emma would mix public and private affairs, using the Wood Fort's grain and supplies to make fruit wine. However, as time passed, Cooper found that this woman indeed had no such small tricks, so he agreed to her selling some wine and preserves in the Wood Fort. Furthermore, after batches of supplies were continuously transported back to the Wood Fort from the battlefield with the army, Cooper obtained Art's permission and directly allocated a batch of salt, cooking utensils, daily necessities, and a small amount of farm tools to this woman, allowing her to exchange these items for money and grain from Soldiers and farmers, which she would then hand back to the Wood Fort. Of course, Emma would also earn some small, miscellaneous sums from this.
Gradually, Emma's house became a general store in the Wood Fort. Besides the salaried Soldiers (farmer-Soldiers), the first farmers who had been allocated farmland and harvested grain would occasionally come here to exchange their grain for iron pots, cooking utensils, pottery, wooden bowls, salt, and other goods, or to rent farm tools and ironware like shovels and axes.
"Camille, don't just be greedy. Go give your father and brother a bowl of hot soup. Tell them not to drink too much." Emma scooped two bowls of meat soup from a large earthenware pot and handed them to Camille, telling her to take them to her husband and son, who were clinking cups and having a lively time with the officers and Soldiers.
Camille, with a stripped lamb rib in her mouth, carried a bowl of meat soup in each hand and walked towards Scott and Ron, who were having a boisterous time with everyone at a large long table in the Wood Fort's open area.
Old Carpenter Bard's granddaughter and Gil's two children, holding wooden bowls filled with meat porridge, stood beside the long wooden table, gnawing on a few pieces of bone with meat shreds that kind Soldiers had given them.
Around the bonfire at the end of the long table, several Soldiers skilled in singing and dancing swayed their sturdy bodies amidst enthusiastic cheers, roaring boisterous songs.
On the other side of the bonfire, closer to the detached courtyard, a small bonfire was lit separately. Art, Angus, Odo, and Baskazak were tilting their heads back, downing fruit wine and mead from their cups. Their faces glowed even redder in the light of the bonfire...
.........
After the banquet, Art drank quite a bit of mixed liquor, so much so that he didn't wake up until the sun was high over the mountain the next day.
When he left the wooden house, Ron had already prepared saddles for them in the detached courtyard's stable. Angus was also nearby, cleaning his warhorse's hooves and grooming its mane.
"Sergeant, you're not drunk?" Art said to Angus by the stable, as he tied the sword belt around his waist.
"Of course I'm drunk, but you said yesterday that you would take me to patrol the Valley Land today, so I got up earlier. But I didn't expect you to sleep for so long. I got bored waiting, so I just helped Ron clean the warhorse," Angus replied.
This made Art feel a bit apologetic. Last night, he had indeed been relaxed and drank too much mead and beer, which was why he slept until noon. Art rubbed his hands sheepishly and said, "Then I made you two wait a long time. Ron, call Cooper and your father. We're going to the Valley Land."
"My Lord, Old Butler and my father rode the mules to the Valley Land this morning. Sergeant and I stayed behind specifically to wait for you," Ron replied.
"Alright then, let's go!"
Ron led out a riding horse and handed the reins to Art, then pulled out two more ordinary riding horses from the stable. The three mounted their horses and galloped towards the Valley Land to the south...
Because they were on horseback, even though the road was narrow and not conducive to fast travel, the three only took less than an hour to reach the Valley Land outside the Valley Mouth.
As soon as they exited the Valley Mouth, Angus's eyes lit up. A river rushing out of the canyon divided a large area of Valley Land into two sections. Both banks of the river near the Valley Mouth were cultivated, leveled land. Dozens of farmers were tilling and fertilizing the soil after the snow melt, making final preparations before spring plowing.
On the gentle slope to the right of the Valley Mouth, a dozen or so thatched huts were surrounded by a fence made of mixed wood and branches. Several farm women with children were carrying wooden buckets to fetch water from the river below the slope to cook at home. Gray-white cooking smoke rose from the roofs of several thatched huts.
The farm women fetching water saw Art and the two others emerging from the Valley Mouth and quickly ran back up the gentle slope to inform Scott and Cooper. Soon after, Cooper, Scott, and Lynn came out of the fence to greet Art and his companions, who had come for inspection.
"My Lord, you're here. I guessed you would be arriving soon. I've already had Lawrence's wife prepare food for you. After you've had lunch, we can go inspect the Valley Land," Cooper came forward, took the reins from Art's hand, and led the three into the settlement on the gentle slope.
Entering the fence, the first thing that came into view were two wooden-walled, thatched-roof houses. These were converted from the original two large shelters. One of these wooden houses housed about twenty displaced people who had recently been transferred to the Valley Land, while the other house was the Valley Land's public hall, also serving as a storeroom. On either side of the two wooden-walled, thatched-roof houses were about a dozen small thatched huts built spontaneously by the first batch of farmers who had surplus grain, especially after the autumn harvest last year. These thatched huts were built under the guidance of Old Carpenter Bard. Although the shelters were small and simple in structure, they were built with great care and were very sturdy and durable. In the open space in the middle of the settlement was a granary and a small kitchen. The granary stored rations for the newly arrived displaced people (captive laborers) in the Valley Land, and the kitchen had a deep bucket-sized pot and several stacks of earthenware plates and wooden bowls. At the innermost part of the settlement were a livestock shed and a farm tool house. The dozen or so plowing oxen, draft horses, and mules in the Valley Land were all kept here. The adjacent farm tool house was also hung with various farm tools such as plows, shovels, flails, hoes, and sickles. Inside the enclosing wall, closer to the mountain, there were also a few thatched huts under construction.
Cooper, accompanying Art, introduced, "My Lord, these livestock and farm tools all belong to the Wood Fort. The earliest farmers to harvest grain need to pay a certain amount of grain as rent to use these tools and livestock, but the rent is very low and within the farmers' ability to pay. The newly arrived farmers can temporarily use these livestock and tools for free before they harvest grain, but the land they cultivate also needs to be uniformly distributed by the Wood Fort. Now, most farmers with land have already built their own shelters, and they all manage their own food. Our kitchen only provides food for the newly arrived farmers. Currently, the kitchen and granary are managed by Lawrence's wife, and Lynn's wife occasionally helps in the kitchen."
"Lawrence is out with the caravan, and his wife is working in the kitchen. So who cultivates his family's land?" Art asked.
"Last year, Lawrence's family was allocated five acres of cultivated land by the river. Previously, Lawrence was busy with miscellaneous tasks in the Wood Fort, and now he's out with the caravan, so I arranged for four farming households to help them cultivate the land. Lawrence also has his own salary for working in the Wood Fort, so he gave those few farming households some hard-earned money," Scott explained.
Art considered for a moment and then said to Scott, "Old Butler, needless to say, will be managing all matters in the Valley in the future. He doesn't even have time to cultivate the land near the Wood Fort, so I told him long ago that I wouldn't allocate land to him for now. Scott, you are like Lawrence; in the future, you will both help me manage all matters in the Valley. Your families will be supported by the Wood Fort, and your salaries will not be reduced by a single coin. Therefore, when allocating land, you must also make concessions. I will symbolically allocate one acre of land to you, but you don't need to rely on the land for survival, so leave the land to the farmers who specialize in farming, how about that?"
"My Lord, Old Butler has already discussed this matter with Lawrence and me, and we are both willing. As long as our wives and children don't go hungry, we will follow your arrangements," Scott's family was already the wealthiest in the Valley. Now that Ron was constantly by Art's side and he himself served as the Wood Fort's Steward, with Emma and Camille's food expenses covered by the Wood Fort, there was indeed no need to rely on land for their livelihood.
What Art was most satisfied with was how obedient these Stewards were to his arrangements.
"My Lord, the food is ready. You can go eat," Ron ran over and said.
At noon, Art and his companions simply ate some food in the Valley Land settlement. After a short rest, they inspected the Valley Land's already harvested cultivated land and newly reclaimed wasteland, led by Cooper and Scott.
"My Lord, in the past half year since you set out, we have organized the farmers to reclaim another two hundred acres of land. The newly opened land is mainly wasteland along both sides of the river that is easy to irrigate. Wasteland further from the river can be reclaimed in the future, once grain is sufficient, to plant some fruits and vegetables, and fodder such as black beans. Fruits and vegetables can be used to make dishes and fruit wine, and fodder and black beans can be used to feed warhorses and livestock," Scott said.
Art bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, and kneaded it a few times in his hand. The soil was dark black, and there were a few earthworms wriggling in it. Art threw away the black soil in his hand, turned to the Stewards, and said, "You decide on the cultivation matters. The important thing is to be able to satisfy the food needs of everyone in the Valley. Additionally, the farmers must prioritize cultivating the land allocated for the army's rations. You handle the rest of the matters yourselves." Art only set a broad tone for the Valley Land; Cooper and the other Stewards would arrange all other matters.
"My Lord, I think we can adjust the land allocation amount after we've opened up enough wasteland. The fertility of these lands will decrease after one or two years of cultivation, so crop rotation and fallowing are needed, and the amount of land allocated to each farming household also needs to increase. Furthermore, if we want to increase grain yield, we also need to find a way to divert water from the river into the cultivated land on both sides, especially the cultivated land further from the river," Cooper proposed a two-field cultivation method to maintain soil fertility.
"Diverting water for irrigation is somewhat difficult. I think we can dig wells in the cultivated land. For land far from the river, we can dig one irrigation well for every fifty acres," Scott said.
"We can try digging wells first. These tasks will be completed jointly by the tenants of the cultivated land around the wells. If there aren't enough hands, we can dispatch captive laborers to help."
After an afternoon of inspection, Art surveyed the Valley Land's cultivated land on-site and also had simple conversations with the farmers working in the fields, encouraging everyone to cultivate diligently and produce more grain to achieve a prosperous life sooner.
In the evening, Art did not eat in the Valley Land. He returned to the Wood Fort with Cooper and Angus.
"Ron, tomorrow, take some men to the Border Outpost. Tell Simon to return to the Valley Wood Fort after settling affairs at the outpost. Once the caravan returns in a couple of days, we need to gather everyone to discuss the future development of the Valley."
