Chapter 10

◈ Situation Assessment

The flow of events was like a tangled thread; once the intractable part was cut, the rest could be handled with ease.

The same applies now.

Numerous pieces of information jumbled up in his mind, but at a certain point, everything became blocked.

What exactly is this place?

It's August, yet the climate is cool, the opposite of Korea.

And the constellations are familiar yet unfamiliar.

The nutria, which should be found in South America.

And the map he saw yesterday.

The quality of the map was poor, typical of this era, and it was drawn very roughly.

A map drawn with a thick brush on dried sheepskin.

However, the coastline depicted was quite familiar.

The Rio de La Plata.

The vast estuary where the Paraná and Uruguay rivers meet.

How could he, a seasoned player of grand strategy games, not recognize such distinctive geography?

Why, exactly?

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out the reason.

In fact, he couldn't even explain why he had ended up inside Universal Kingdoms.

He gave up on thinking.

There might have been a bug in the game, or he might have clicked something wrong.

He couldn't be 100% sure.

But it would be foolish to ignore the numerous pieces of evidence.

After his morning shift, Sangmin hurriedly set out.

He had a lot to do today.

—

On the west side of the Soyoung River, a military farm under the jurisdiction of the Shinui Army was situated.

Since it was located between the stronghold and the river, it did not benefit from the defensive advantages of the stronghold.

However, the land was fertile, and it was said that crops would grow well.

The reclamation had just been completed, and people were moving about the vast fields.

Since the land was not granted to the farmers but rather they were working it as tenants, one might expect a lack of enthusiasm.

But perhaps the thought of starving to death if they didn't work, or the innate farmer's instinct to cultivate such a vast plain, led them to cultivate a vast area.

'This requires a lot of labor.'

While it looked good to have taken on such a large project, it might not be very practical.

Especially in a situation where people were more valuable than land.

Deep plowing using oxen, which had already been introduced in the Three Kingdoms period, was already widespread in Goryeo.

But at this moment, ox plowing was not possible.

If people were more valuable than land, then oxen were even more valuable.

Even if the government, or rather the military, managed important livestock like oxen, horses, and sheep, it would take years for them to breed enough.

It would take several years for the benefits to reach the common people.

Sangmin clicked his tongue as he watched the human-drawn plows.

People were even using wooden hoes.

Perhaps the ironworkers were busy with other tasks.

'Even if I suggest it to the higher-ups, they won't respond.'

He shook his head and erased the already concluded impossibility from his mind.

Tongjeong had granted Sangmin quite extensive authority over this military farm, including administrative and judicial powers.

Several elderly men, representing the commoners, approached at Sangmin's summons.

"Oh, General, did you have a peaceful night?"

Sangmin quietly nodded.

He tried to look stern, but in fact, it was a difficult task.

Speaking informally to someone with gray hair was one of the hardest things for a 21st-century, well-mannered young man to adapt to.

"I have something to tell you."

"Yes, sir."

"It would be better to stop planting the winter barley and winter wheat that were originally planned for sowing."

"Really?"

Sangmin spoke about what he had pondered all night.

Even as he spoke, he felt he was taking a big gamble, but it was inevitable.

If he didn't believe in himself, he couldn't do anything.

Currently, Goryeo's agriculture was divided into dry farming and rice farming.

Naturally, rice farming was on a larger scale.

The Korean Peninsula's love for rice was so strong that if the Korean people were to land on an alien planet, they would first figure out how to cultivate rice.

However, with the land overgrown with shrubs and trees, there was no time to improve the irrigation channels, so transplanting was out of the question, and even direct seeding in paddy fields seemed difficult.

They were trying the dry direct seeding method, managing the fields like dry land.

While he wasn't an agricultural expert, he knew how to listen to the experts (the gray-haired elders).

The crops grown in the fields included all five grains: barley, soybeans, millet, sorghum, and foxtail millet, as well as wheat and red beans.

Goryeo was at the beginning of the era when the three-crop rotation system over two years was being introduced. After growing sorghum, they would plant winter barley, and then soybeans.

The farmers, who had spent their entire lives farming, would know what to plant.

However, he gathered them and advised them not to plant winter crops if possible.

If they planted winter crops when the weather was mild, they would grow well at first, but they would not flower later and would be useless.

The farmers looked at the general, who seemed to know nothing about farming, with puzzled expressions as he gave such orders.

It was natural. He didn't have a family in the countryside to help with farming.

How often would an orphan born in the city have to do farming?

The few phrases he knew were from his history studies.

Fertilization methods, composting, crop rotation, double cropping, and transplanting.

Knowing and doing were clearly different.

He felt a slight sense of guilt for being a typical desk-bound bureaucrat.

He had no information on the agricultural methods of South America, Uruguay, or Argentina.

This decision was purely based on his own judgment.

'Damn.'

Of course, it was a very rational decision.

But only time would tell the results.

—

However, regardless of this, Sangmin was a trusted figure among the farmers.

First, he didn't beat people who didn't work, which would earn him one star.

Second, he didn't privately plunder people's belongings, which would earn him another star.

Even if he started with two stars, it was a good start.

Answering questions politely.

Mediating disputes among the commoners.

Making logical and fair decisions.

Strictly controlling the soldiers and the Shinui Army from exploiting the commoners.

The farmers looked at him with admiration, as if he were a righteous judge holding a magic cudgel.

"Tell me the next matter."

"Actually..."

This was not a task assigned by Tongjeong.

He wasn't the type to take the initiative in such matters.

If he had to say, it was because the way people lived in this era was so pitiful that he felt like a volunteer in Africa.

This reputation spread within a few days, not only to the commoners cultivating the military farms under the jurisdiction of other armies but also to the people from the "so" (special administrative regions).

The "so" were special administrative regions of Goryeo, where people with various skills lived and worked, rather than the commoners who cultivated ordinary fields.

The origin of these regions was debated among historians, but their nature was clear. They did harder work than the commoners and paid tribute to the state, so they were treated poorly and heavily taxed, similar to 3D jobs.

Goryeo had many "so," and during times of war, many people from places like the Da-in Ironworks fought against the Mongols.

When the Sambyeolcho fleet sailed south along the west coast from Ganghwa, many people unexpectedly joined in response.

It could have been out of hatred for the Mongols or dissatisfaction with the discriminatory social structure, leading them to join the new government forces.

He didn't know the exact reasons.

He couldn't conduct a survey to find out.

In any case, there were not a few of them in this new land where Goryeo had landed.

The most important group, the ironworkers, were repairing the weapons of the soldiers and making iron farming tools.

The people from the fish weir were setting up fishing nets in the river and catching fish, while those from the porcelain and tile workshops were busy firing pottery and tiles.

The people from the paper and tea workshops were no different from the commoners until the seeds they brought sprouted.

However, despite the common work they were doing, the social discrimination that pervaded still existed.

Society doesn't change overnight.

Especially not in this feudal society.

It was natural that people's perceptions wouldn't change overnight, but if the leaders of the soldiers had made better judgments, such incidents wouldn't have happened.

If the people who came down voluntarily were treated better, it might have been different, but they were likely ignorant (or uneducated) and uninterested in such minor matters.

The commoners despised the low-class people from the paper workshops and arbitrarily took the land they had worked hard to reclaim, and when the victims protested, they were beaten.

The couple suffered continuous harassment and fell ill, and the mother even died, saying the oppression was severe. The couple's son came to Sangmin, crying and pleading for justice.

"Please save my father and mother!"

The boy, who seemed to be from Haeyu-do (Haeju), spoke with a strong dialect and cried as he bowed his head to the muddy ground.

He must have hit his head on a rock, as he had a wound on his forehead.

It was a pitiful sight, but there was nothing he could do.

It wasn't in his jurisdiction.

Yonggil whispered to him.

"The situation is dire, but there's nothing we can do."

Sangmin felt deep mental fatigue.

His actions were extremely limited in this ad-hoc system.

As Sangmin hesitated and seemed to give up, the boy wailed and crawled over, grabbing Sangmin's legs with his dirty hands.

'Well, what can I do?'

"This boy has disrespected me by touching my body and weapons. How can I let this go?"

Sangmin roughly shook off the boy and suddenly changed his expression, shouting.

"To a warrior, his sword and armor are his life and pride, and this boy has dared to defile them."

He then ordered Yonggil with a face full of anger.

"Bring the boy and his family and punish them severely. Jeong Sanwon, carry it out immediately."

The boy, terrified by the harsh words, lay still, crying and trembling, while the people around him averted their eyes.

If you're too kind, people will think it's a right, and indeed, because he was sometimes kind, more people demanded things.

He did things out of pure goodwill, but it often led to frustration.

It was time to show some anger.

So now he was half serious.

Sangmin pretended to be angry and turned to go back to his quarters.

A few hours later, the boy and his family were brought before Sangmin.

The boy's parents were severely injured from the beating and were carried on stretchers.

Sigh.

A sigh escaped him.

Fairy tales often portray farmers as foolish but kind.

But like the underdog fallacy, the weak are not always good, and the strong are not always evil.

Look at this.

The commoners, who were part of the lower class, had bullied the people from the "so," whom they considered even lower.

Moral superiority does not come from one's social status.

Once the witnesses were gone, Sangmin spoke more calmly.

"Before punishing him, his family is in critical condition from the beating. It would be better to give them food and care for them."

"…Yes, sir."

Yonggil, knowing Sangmin's character, muttered and went to call a doctor.

"What I said was partly true. Even if you are young, the kind of behavior you showed earlier could cost you your life. Remember that."

Grabbing another soldier's legs and clinging to them?

This boy was already crossing the line.

The boy, finally realizing the situation, cried and bowed in gratitude.

"I will designate a place for your family to live and work. Take a few lashes and go."

The boy, who received a light ten lashes as a formality, bowed repeatedly and left the building, but Sangmin's face remained dark for a long time.