Farming with Entries: From Lord to Emperor Chapter 14 - 10: Trapped by Manure

Building an iron furnace is a very ti-consuming task, even with two more townspeople helping to mix the clay; it still took over five hours to complete.

It was Luo De’s first ti making such a furnace, so naturally, his speed couldn’t match that of a blacksmith.

Once the blacksmith’s furnace was built, Luo De imdiately used the system to inspect his furnace.

[Na: Fragile Iron Furnace]

[Grade: Green Excellent]

[Enchantnt: Refined Blast Furnace]

"Just as I thought!"

Luo De breathed a sigh of relief and enthusiastically flicked the wet clay off his hands.

As long as the townspeople follow his orders, it counts as his participation.

This way, Luo De wouldn’t have to personally build a furnace every ti he slts iron!

But Luo De likes to see things through to the end; since he started, he would finish setting up his subordinates’ furnace.

Naturally, without any unexpected issues, Luo De’s furnace also ca with enchantnt entries.

"The pig iron slted from these two furnaces can only be used for forging weapons and equipnt, not for sale."

Luo De solemnly gave orders to the two blacksmiths.

As for forging and repairing farm tools, it could only use the previous iron materials.

Next, Luo De didn’t participate in the charcoal burning. Otto had already reported in the morning that the town’s manure had been cleaned.

Luo De had to patrol the town well to see if that wealthy farr had done the job right.

Punishnt wasn’t the point.

Right now, Luo De needed people who could get things done around him. If Otto wasn’t up to the task, he needed to be replaced promptly.

"If I rember correctly, Martha is a widow, right?"

After leaving the blacksmith shop, Luo De suddenly recalled his promise to Hamr and said to Durant, "Try introducing her to Hamr."

"Will that work... They have quite a big age gap."

Durant cautiously comnted.

Hamr was only twenty-four years old, while the mother of three, Martha, was already thirty-six.

"You don’t understand, Durant."

Luo De chuckled lightly, "It’s called eting the strongest him in the most yearning age."

Saying this, Luo De suddenly realized sothing and whispered, "Durant, don’t tell you have an eye on Martha?"

Martha, though a mother of three children, had a voluptuous figure, wide hips, and exuded the allure of a mature woman.

The folk customs of the Broken Rock Empire were bold and open; being married wasn’t necessarily considered a disadvantage.

If not for Martha still nursing her youngest son, she would be very popular as a woman who could still bear children.

Facing Luo De’s teasing, Durant lowered his head without speaking.

Luo De keenly noticed that Durant glanced at his severed hand.

It seed this knight was feeling inferior due to his deficiency.

But Luo De didn’t think Durant was any less because of it.

"Durant, as the Chief Knight of my territory, if you have a woman to take care of you, you can serve better."

Luo De suddenly looked at Durant seriously and said sternly, "So you better pick a wife yourself soon, otherwise I’ll have to assign one."

Since you feel inferior, I’ll use the lord’s authority.

Actually, Luo De didn’t like forcing matches, but such an excellent knight as Durant should have children.

Then sixteen years later, Luo De’s territory would have one more knight.

"Lord Baron..."

"Gang Le, do you have a wife?"

Luo De directly interrupted Durant and looked straight at Gang Le.

Durant understood, this ant the Lord would no longer leave room for discussion, and he could only helplessly give up.

"Hey, running around with my brothers doesn’t suit having a woman or family."

Gang Le grinned and said, "I’ll think about it when I’m tired."

Luo De nodded in agreent, then said, "You can consider settling down with ."

"Noble lord, I don’t have money to buy land and build a house, hahaha!"

"These aren’t problems for you."

Luo De looked ahead, "Gang Le, I’m inviting you; you can take your ti to reply."

Gang Le was a powerful warrior, able to hold his own against Durant in battle without practicing any breathing technique.

Though he ultimately lost, he was still outstanding among everyone, including the guards.

It’s worth ntioning that in this world, knights signify not only honor but also power beyond ordinary people.

Knights would cultivate breathing techniques to enhance their physical qualities, such as strength, stamina, and reaction speed.

According to their strength, they are roughly divided, from low to high, into Knight’s Squire, Junior Knight, Interdiate Knight, Advanced Knight, Top Knight, and Legendary Knight.

Durant is an Interdiate Knight, so even with one hand severed, he can still defeat Gang Le.

Of course, except for Legendary Knights, all other ranks of knights are still just "human".

—No matter how strong they are, they cannot single-handedly defeat a well-trained and well-equipped legion, especially when there are strong archers involved.

But Legendary Knights are an exception.

It’s said that a Legendary Knight can kill ten n with one sword strike, and even take the head of an enemy general amidst thousands of troops.

However, this is written in the history of the Empire. In reality, the Broken Rock Empire has no such Legendary Knights, and no one in the entire world has heard of any.

"Master, do you not mind my lowly background as a rcenary who fought for gold coins?"

Gang Le bowed his head, his smile sowhat strained.

"You don’t fight just for gold coins."

Luo De looked at Gang Le and asked, "Weren’t you a squad leader in the Border City Defense Team before? You even dread of becoming the Commander of the Garrison Army."

Gang Le put away his smile, a bit surprised.

That was sothing from the past, sothing he never ntioned since he retired, except when he murmured under the influence of alcohol.

It seems this noble master had investigated him before.

No wonder he was so generous.

"That was just youthful nonsense, I forgot about it long ago."

Gang Le scratched his head, then ca to his senses,

"But I will seriously consider the suggestion."

"Don’t think too long, I’m not always in need of people."

Saying this, Luo De quickened his pace.

As they talked walking around the town, they indeed didn’t see any dung, but the ground showed marks of being thoroughly scraped.

However, so places still had the sll of urine because the old urine had perated the soil over the years.

Luo De did not nitpick or punish Otto for the sll of urine.

Outside the town, they saw piles of dung.

[Two tons of manure fertilizer collected, entry unlocked: Master of Fertilization]

As Luo De approached the pile of dung, the entry completion prompt appeared.

Luo De then opened to check,

[Master of Fertilization (Blue): The compost pits you built or participated in building have a ferntation speed increased by ten tis.]

[Next entry: Cultivate five thousand acres within the territory, unlock: Lord of Crops]

Truly worthy of being a Master of Fertilization!

Fresh manure cannot be directly used in the fields. It must undergo placent or compost ferntation, otherwise, it will "burn" the crops to death.

Hot weather is more conducive to composting, taking roughly two to four months.

But in the Northern Wilderness, where it gets close to zero degrees at night, it often takes seven to ten months, even if spring is warr, at least six months for ferntation.

However, with the Master of Fertilization entry, Luo De can complete the ferntation of the manure in less than a month.

For the May spring plowing in the Northern Territory, it’s just in ti.

"But to cultivate five thousand acres, this amount of fertilizer is not enough."

The dung piles in front of Luo De were not big, about three tons each.

There were fourteen such piles, so estimating all the manure combined, it was about forty tons.

Compost also requires adding so straw, sawdust, wood ash, and soil, at a ratio of two to three tis the manure.

After accounting for water evaporation, the final remaining fertilizer would be only about eighty tons.

And in this era without chemical fertilizers, each acre requires 1-3 tons of organic fertilizer.

Even using one ton of fertilizer per acre, for five thousand acres, that’s an astronomical figure, not achievable by relying solely on the people of Frost Leaf Town.

"Otto, tomorrow find thirty n in the town to dig pits, and find thirty won to go into the mountains to collect hay, as well as decaying leaves, the more the better."

If the manure isn’t enough, Luo De can only increase more organic matter.

Perhaps his Master of Fertilization entry can also speed up the decomposition of ordinary dead leaves.

"Tell them to do a good job, not only is there labor credit this ti, but also a al at noon!"

"No problem, they’ll be happy to do this job!"

Otto, who wasn’t punished for the manure, responded cheerfully.

He’s now immune to Luo De’s odd commands, as long as there’s no scolding or hitting, he’s willing to do anything.

Luo De turned and instructed Durant, "Have Lawrence pick ten slaves to dig silt in those muddy pits nearby, also as much as possible."

Durant nodded and turned to convey the order.

Without enough manure, Luo De can only opt for intensive cultivation on so of the fields.

He was calculating in his mind exactly how much fertilizer was needed to produce 300,000 jins of grain, and at the sa ti, pondering where to get more dung.

Luo De truly didn’t expect that one day he’d be troubled by manure.