Chapter 93

Sōma brought more than just new farming methods and tools to the land of Bornis.

At this time, the form of rural communities and social systems underwent significant changes.

At that time, most of the pioneer villages on the Solbiant Plain were mere settlements of a few families related by blood.

Originally, the Norfolk farming method introduced by Sōma involved the consolidation and abolition of multiple farmers' lands and the village's common property, the common land, to create a vast single farm, a process known as "enclosure."

However, Sōma's knowledge of the Norfolk farming method came from light novels and subsequent internet research, which focused heavily on crops and their crop rotation methods, leading to a lack of knowledge about the "enclosure" aspect. Additionally, since the Solbiant Plain still had vast open fields, it was possible to secure sufficiently large farmlands without enclosure, and Sōma had no concept of enclosing farmland.

However, without this, the large-scale agricultural management in which wealthy landowners hired agricultural laborers who had lost their farmland for money, as seen in the development of Norfolk farming and enclosure, would not have occurred in this world.

However, Sōma would promote large-scale agriculture from a different perspective.

This was based on the difference in agricultural forms between Japan and Europe that he had seen in modern Japanese news.

While Japanese agriculture is primarily managed by individual households, European agriculture involves large-scale management with vast farmlands and a large number of machines and laborers, resulting in higher yields and lower prices, which Japan could not compete with.

Knowing this, it was natural for Sōma, who aimed to increase food production, to aim for large-scale agriculture.

In this process, what was implemented was not the "enclosure" of Norfolk farming land but the "enclosure" of villages.

This involved consolidating villages into a single unit, working together on a single farm, and equally distributing the harvest.

This led to taxes being collected collectively from the entire village, making all villagers responsible for the tax, similar to the goningumi system in the Edo period, which stabilized tax revenue. Furthermore, since taxes could be collected in bulk from the village, the burden on tax officials, who previously had to tour individual settlements, was reduced.

However, there was a risk that individual labor enthusiasm would decline if the harvest was distributed equally among all villagers.

But Sōma, who had learned in social studies about how the equal distribution of wealth regardless of individual effort in former socialist countries led to a loss of labor enthusiasm, had also considered a solution.

This was the introduction of the teppō system.

The teppō system was one of the methods of tax collection in the Edo period, which determined the annual tax based on the average harvest over the past five to ten years. Therefore, regardless of the actual harvest in a given year, the tax was fixed, and the more the harvest increased, the more the farmers' share increased, making it impossible for them to lack motivation.

However, if there was a good harvest, the farmers' share would increase, but in a bad harvest, it would result in heavy taxes.

But Sōma, who expected the harvest to increase year by year with the introduction of the Norfolk farming method, introduced the teppō system to boost the farmers' labor enthusiasm.

Of course, Sōma was also aware of the disadvantage that heavy taxes would be imposed in a bad harvest, as he had learned in history class. Therefore, when introducing the teppō system, he promised a significant tax reduction in the event of a bad harvest. Although this was not something Sōma had learned in school, the teppō system implemented in the Edo period also allowed for a significant tax reduction in the event of a bad harvest, so it was not an original idea of Sōma's.

However, the introduction of the teppō system brought about an effect that Sōma had not anticipated.

This was further increased and stabilized tax revenue.

At that time, in the Seldias continent, tax collectors and lords toured the villages after the harvest, collecting one-tenth to one-half of the harvest. In this system, the tax to be collected was determined by the discretion of the tax collectors and lords, leading to frequent demands for bribes and hospitality, which became a significant burden on the farmers.

Among them, the most notorious were the tax collectors.

Touring the villages for several months to collect taxes was a significant burden for the king and lords. Therefore, they sometimes sold the right to collect taxes to others, who would then collect the taxes on their behalf.

Those who bought the right to collect taxes and actually collected taxes from the farmers on behalf of the king and lords were the tax collectors.

For the tax collectors to make a profit, they had to collect more taxes than the amount they paid for the right to collect taxes. Therefore, they imposed much heavier taxes than the prescribed amount and collected them from the farmers. Moreover, many tax collectors were moneylenders who lent money at high interest rates to farmers who could not pay their taxes, and if the payments were delayed, they would take away the farmers' wives and daughters as collateral. It is no wonder that the tax collectors were hated by the farmers like Genobanda.

However, with the introduction of the teppō system, which strictly determined the tax rate, such harsh tax collection practices were reduced, and the farmers, who now knew the exact amount of tax to be paid, paid their taxes with peace of mind, leading to stable and increased tax revenue.

Furthermore, the benefits of the teppō system were not limited to this. Since the tax for the year was determined in advance, it also made it easier for the government to prepare the budget for the year.

Through the introduction of new farming methods and institutional reforms, the farmers' lives became increasingly prosperous year by year.

However, later, historians harshly criticized Sōma's series of agricultural and institutional reforms, stating, "The Child of Destruction, while preaching equality, in fact created a gap between the rich and the poor among the farmers and produced serfs."

Indeed, the large-scale agriculture promoted by Sōma led to the creation of a relationship between landlords and tenant farmers, where influential people in the village owned the land and the villagers were hired for money, and eventually produced serfs. Moreover, the fixed tax rate under the teppō system meant that the more the harvest increased, the more the farmers' share increased, but this worked to the advantage of the landlords who owned more land, creating a significant gap between the rich and the poor.

However, tenant farmers existed even in Sōma's time, but they were not necessarily serfs.

This was because, unlike other regions where the movement of farmers was restricted to prevent their dispersal and they were tied to the land, Sōma's country was the only one that recognized the freedom of farmers to move to different lands. This allowed tenant farmers to choose landlords who offered better conditions without being tied to the land.

Therefore, as the expansion of farmland increased, landlords who needed laborers had to promise high wages to secure capable tenant farmers, and it was not a one-sided exploitation by landlords.

Moreover, it seems that the landlords were more troubled by the difficulty of securing tenant farmers.

This is evident from the records of the court at the time, which include mediation between landlords over the poaching of capable tenant farmers and a petition signed by landlords to the government to set a legal upper limit on the wages paid to tenant farmers.

Archaeologist Martin S. Ackerson states the following:

"Researchers tend to be quick to dismiss anything related to the Child of Destruction, influenced by the lessons of 'The Reaper' Otto Seidenbecher, who was a follower of the Child of Destruction. However, if we set aside such preconceptions and examine his achievements, we can see that they are worthy of praise. The advanced society revealed by today's archaeology in the ancient city of Bornis is far from the image of ancient times we imagine. It is undoubtedly a society brought about by the Child of Destruction, Sōma Kizaki."

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However, not everything went as Sōma had planned.

"I'm sorry, Sōma. It seems no one has ever seen the plant you described."

Shemul's words, seemingly deeply regretful for not meeting Sōma's expectations, made Sōma sigh.

"Looks like there's no 'clover' in this world, huh?"

In the Norfolk farming method, the fields are divided into four parts, and barley, clover, wheat, and turnips are rotated. Sōma had asked Shemul to find these plants. Wheat and barley were already cultivated in this world, and a root vegetable similar to turnips, though slightly different in shape, was also available.

However, only clover could not be found.

Reflecting on it, this was an alternate world. The presence of wheat and barley, which were from the original world, was almost miraculous. However, the absence of clover was a significant disappointment for Sōma.

"Without clover, it's not just about using it as fodder, but also about restoring the soil's fertility..."

Clover helps restore soil fertility because it hosts rhizobia bacteria in its roots.

The three major nutrients for plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Among these, nitrogen is the most important and is required in large quantities. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the Earth's atmosphere, and its supply is virtually inexhaustible.

However, plants cannot directly absorb this abundant nitrogen. To be absorbed by plants, nitrogen molecules in the air must first be converted into other nitrogen compounds—this process is known as nitrogen fixation.

In nature, this was done by lightning.

The energy from lightning converts nitrogen into nitrogen oxides, which fall to the ground with rain and become nutrients for plants. Since ancient times, lightning has been called "inazuma" because it was believed to improve the yield of rice, and the term "inazuma" comes from the idea that lightning makes rice grow.

Another way nitrogen fixation occurred in nature was through rhizobia bacteria that live symbiotically in the roots of certain leguminous plants.

"Maybe I have to use another leguminous plant?"

Unfortunately, what is not available cannot be helped. Sōma considered using another leguminous plant instead of clover.

Fortunately, this world had various edible beans, including some that resembled fava beans and chickpeas. It was difficult to identify plants that did not have seeds that looked like beans, but if they were eaten as beans in this world, they were definitely leguminous.

Sōma, who was pondering which plant to cultivate instead of clover, casually glanced at the cows in the enclosure. The cows, now accustomed to the enclosure, had calmed down and were leisurely grazing. The pastoral scene made Sōma momentarily forget his worries.

After staring at the cows for a while, Sōma's gaze suddenly fell on the plant being eaten by the nearest cow.

"...Huh?"

For some reason, Sōma was intensely curious. Looking around, he quickly found the same plant.

It was a withered grass about as tall as Sōma's waist. From a distance, it looked like brown, withered leaves hanging down, but up close, the leaves turned out to be split and open plant sheaths. Looking closer, two or three small, yellowish-brown round seeds were visible inside the open sheaths.

"Have I seen this somewhere...?"

The plant's appearance stirred a memory in Sōma, and he tilted his head.

"Maybe I'll make enough for the beans to scatter during the Setsubun festival..."

Suddenly, the image of his grandfather, wearing a straw hat and carrying a hoe, came to mind.

Sōma's deceased grandfather had a small plot of land where he grew crops. Sōma often helped his grandfather, and he noticed that the plant in front of him looked very similar to what he had seen then.

"...! Could this be...?!"

Comparing it to the memory, the sheaths should naturally split open, and