Upon hearing Horn's inquiry, Busak, with his exceptional memory, began to narrate to Horn.

However, Horn didn't listen for long before he started feeling drowsy.

"How about this?" Horn stood up and stretched lazily, "Take me to the Saint Hoe Monastery for a look."

With the division of land work concluded and transformed into the Hundred Households system, the burden on Horn's shoulders was significantly reduced.

Today, with not much to do, he took the opportunity to visit the Saint Hoe Monastery in person.

His original intent in setting up the Saint Hoe Monastery was to absorb surplus labor and cultivate wasteland.

According to the survey team, there are quite a few uncultivated arable lands in Kush Territory, with nearly 200,000 acres left fallow.

However, due to poor fertility and excessive oppression by lords, the Public Register Farmers preferred to flee rather than cultivate, leaving the lands idle.

The first task of the Saint Hoe Monastery was to reclaim these fallow lands.

Leaving the City Hall, Horn and a few Holy Gun Cavalry, accompanied by Busak, walked towards the Saint Hoe Monastery.

The Saint Hoe Monastery was originally one of the three monasteries near Joan of Arc Castle, investing 30,000 gold pounds with Horn Angel.

Even moved by the saintly grace of the Saint's Grandson, they willingly offered this well-renovated and beautifully decorated building for Horn's use.

Thus, this monastery became the shared headquarters of both the Saint Hoe and Saint Scythe Monasteries.

As for the other two monasteries, they became the headquarters of the Child Soldiers and the officer school for the Salvation Army, respectively.

The Child Soldiers preserved the previous monastery name [Lubyanka Monastery].

As for the Salvation Army, under Jeanne's suggestion, the monastery was renamed [Saint Dangji War Academy].

Crossing the wooden bridge over the river, a vast field of Joan of Arc Castle lay ahead.

He hadn't even reached it before hearing a well-matched chant.

"One hoe, one hoe, forty percent new land in the house!"

"Two hoes, two hoes, no worries for the whole family!"

In the crisscross paths between the fields, farmers dressed in linen vests or bare-chested stood in a row.

Sweat glistened like wax on their sun-kissed backs, and the hoes in their hands gleamed brightly under the sun.

The hoes rose and fell, mud and weeds splattering onto their clothes and skin.

Countless hoes moved like centipede legs, rising and falling like waves.

The plowing horses pulled the wheel plows, the sharp plow blade sliced through the soil, leaving neat parallel furrows in their wake.

In another already cleared field, hired laborers scattered seeds of green manure like alfalfa, followed by workers spreading farm fertilizer.

In front of several pre-built wooden huts, a few cooks and helpers were stirring spoons in large pots.

Since the Pope's Palace was the major shareholder of the Saint Hoe Monastery, there wasn't a strong pursuit of economic benefits.

Therefore, Horn ordered Elder Ximus, the abbot, to provide food and lodging for the hired laborers.

In the reclamation teams of the Saint Hoe Monastery, specific personnel were responsible for laundry and cooking.

Those skilled in crafts handled delicate tasks, such as the skilled plowmen who received special treatment.

Those unable to do fine craftsmanship were straightforwardly tasked with non-technical farm work like carrying, weeding, and plowing.

Besides food and lodging, the Saint Hoe Monastery distributed ten gallons of grain and some firewood and peat as wages for land reclamation every month.

If used sparingly and supplemented with potato roots, this could barely fill the food gap for their families.

To motivate the farmers, Horn ordered that 40% of the reclaimed lands be directly divided as dividends to the reclaimers.

Of course, if they didn't want the land, they could opt for shares in the Saint Hoe Monastery.

However, most people chose the land, especially the numerous refugees.

Despite Horn's decree that tillers shall own their land, granting large patches of land to the refugees,

there was a condition that they had to cultivate the same land for more than three consecutive years, or the taxation records couldn't validate it.

Many refugees worked as hired laborers on different estates every year, suffering significant losses.

Hearing that 40% of the reclaimed land from the Saint Hoe Monastery would be rewarded to reclaimers, these refugees worked until their hands bled, eager to claim the land.

After all, the land they tilled might end up being theirs.

"Approximately how many people are here?" Horn squinted as he asked, pointing to the bustling scene in front of him.

Busak, who accompanied him, blinked, "The Saint Hoe Monastery has more than 10 reclamation teams, this one so close to Joan of Arc Castle, should be the second team, with over 420 members."

After Horn abolished the "Fugitive Slave Law," farmers could freely leave estates and work during off-seasons.

To date, the Saint Hoe Monastery's reclamation teams across various locations recruited over 3,000 hired laborers.

According to Horn's plans, the target is to recruit 5,000 hired laborers, 200 cooks, and 800 helpers.

Such an initiative creates close to 6,000 job opportunities, absorbing a large number of starving and displaced people.

Since most of these lands are semi-fallow, the Saint Hoe Monastery can reclaim at a rate of roughly 3,000 acres per day.

Estimated to complete the 200,000 acres of fallow land by mid-June, two months later.

After mid-June, just as the rice harvest begins in early July, hired laborers seamlessly return home to harvest, smoothly surviving the famine.

Though some previous refugee laborers haven't planted their land yet, they can join the Saint Scythe Monastery to engage in agricultural product processing and other industries.

By next spring, with newfound skills in agricultural product processing and farming techniques, they'll be able to return to their land to cultivate it.

"How much has the Saint Hoe Monastery invested to date?" Horn leaned against a nearby European Beech and inquired.

"Currently, it's invested a total of 2,000 gold pounds; the Salvation Army invested 300 gold pounds, the Pope's Palace 1,000 gold pounds, and citizens 700 gold pounds."

The Salvation Army's 300-gold-pound investment is actually funded by various corps.

During war, each corps can claim 20% of the spoils, recorded in the corps account as public funds.

Of the Pope's 1,000-gold-pound investment, 200 gold is offset by providing land and grain.

Once the reclamation goal is achieved two months later, deducting the land divided among laborers, there will still be 120,000 acres remaining.

If the standard is a year's total output, 120,000 acres would be equivalent to 10,000 gold pounds, multiplying the Saint Hoe Monastery's assets fivefold.

Of course, this is only a nominal profit, as selling or leasing the land to recoup investment will take a long time.

Of the 2,000 gold pounds in the Saint Hoe Monastery's accounts, except for the 500 gold pounds as a bond and reserved wages, most were spent on buying tools, cattle, horses, and seeds.

The farm tools used by the Saint Hoe Monastery were mostly ordered from village blacksmiths in various Hundred Households Districts by Horn.

Though these village blacksmiths may not possess the skills of master blacksmiths from Gray Furnace Town, they are adept at crafting simple farm tools.

As for plows and wooden implements, those were tasked to village carpenters in the Hundred Households Districts.

By the government placing orders to create demand, the economy could be revitalized, ensuring logistics and a steady supply of manpower and resources.

"Are 2,000 gold pounds enough?" Horn asked with his back to Busak.

"Enough, given the famine, they weren't planning to make a profit, just enough for basic sustenance, so the order prices are pressed very low."

"What about the Saint Scythe Monastery?"

"The Saint Scythe Monastery is currently still training personnel, trying fish farming and pig rearing with potato roots, anyway, we have enough peat, and detoxing potato roots is quite convenient."

Even purified potato roots still have mild toxins; mishandling them could be fatal.

So, where there's a choice, potato roots cannot be staple; they can only be a supplemental food.

But the catalyst for launching the entire economic wheel wasn't the gold pounds in Horn's hands but the grain from Kasha County.

After all, gold pounds can't be eaten.

A few days ago, Horn waited and waited, finally receiving news from Kasha County.

They agreed to exchange 10,000 gold pounds for 500,000 gallons, and swap 40,000 gallons of goods like peat and mortar for 90,000 gallons of grain in total.

But they also imposed a condition: Horn must bear the transportation costs during this period.

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