The Black Dragon Castle was said to have existed for a thousand years of history, experiencing many ups and downs. In its most glorious era, real dragons used to reside and fly here. However, as time passed, through wars and natural disasters, coupled with a lack of repairs, it had basically collapsed. Only the ruins of dilapidated walls remaining on the ground could barely allow one to recognize the majesty and colossal scale of the former Black Dragon Castle.
Stepping out of the main gate, the first thing Jasmine saw was piles of moss-covered rubble scattered around, some large, some small, piled atop one another. They must be the fallen construction materials of the former castle. Currently, most were obscured by weeds taller than a person's head and thorny bushes, highlighting the surrounding dilapidated, desolate, and bleak atmosphere.
Jasmine's carriage was still parked not far away on an empty patch of ground. Beside it was a rickety stable makeshiftly erected from rotten wood and thatch. The sickly old horse the old Butler rode yesterday and the healthier horse Jasmine brought were tied inside, eating dry grass.
Because of the hasty departure from the capital, the luggage Jasmine brought was not much, only a few sets of clothes and some personal items. The old Butler had already moved the things in the carriage into Jasmine's bedroom.
She still had not had time to arrange them. She intended to go arrange her luggage after patrolling the territory and check if there were any assets of value left in the adjacent warehouse.
The old Butler saw Jasmine looking toward the stable and took a step forward, asking solicitously: "My Lord, the road is a bit far, do you need to take the carriage?"
"No need." Jasmine shook her head firmly. She did not know how to ride a horse, and the roads here were too bad for a carriage. On the way here, in order not to expose the fact that her insides had been swapped, she also did not dare to learn horse riding from those knights.
"Lead me to see the fields, and tell me about the situation of the territory while we are at it."
"Yes, my Lord."
The Black Dragon Territory was counted as an Earldom, occupying an area of nearly ten thousand acres, equivalent to the area of a province. It included the wasteland and dark forests surrounding it, as well as the towering Black Dragon Mountain that pierced the sky, and the vast ocean behind the Black Dragon Mountain.
Leading out from the castle were vast stretching fields. It was just that the fields here were not like in Jasmine's imagination; they were not the neatly divided squares Jasmine was familiar with. Instead, everything connected into a long, endless strip. Without looking closely, one essentially could not distinguish which was the cultivated field and which was wasteland full of weeds.
Wheat, barley, and black beans were planted intercropped in the fields.
Black beans were the main food for slaves, but due to poor farming techniques, the yield was not high. One day, they could only provide each slave with a bowl of thin bean soup to maintain life.
Before Jasmine arrived, wheat was usually piled onto carriages and transported to the border town to sell for money to pay taxes. Now, it had to be kept as food for the Lord, which also meant that the territory would lose an important source of income in the future.
"Isn't the grass in the fields pulled up?" Jasmine looked at the lush green weeds, growing even more vigorously than the yellowing young seedlings in the field, and frowned, asking the old Butler.
"It is pulled, but the grass here grows very fast and is very tenacious. Not two or three days after pulling, they grow back up." They did not have many slaves and absolutely could not keep up with handling so many weeds. Moreover, the slaves had other work to do, such as chopping wood or repairing stables, and could not be out in the fields every day. Otherwise, before the wheat and beans in the fields could be harvested, all of them would starve to death from exhaustion.
Jasmine squatted down and parted the dense grass, looking at the withered young seedling, its stem fragile as if malnourished, and could not help but frown deeply.
The farming method here was too crude and primitive. The soil was compacted, and looking at it, it seemed no fertilizer was applied either. The little nutrients in the soil were all snatched away by the strong roots of the weeds; it would be strange if there was a good harvest.
"Why are there so many stone fragments in the soil?" Jasmine reached out to lightly dig the surface soil and very quickly discovered another problem: jagged stones were scattered everywhere.
"Is there a problem with stones?" The old Butler did not understand farming, his face blank. "There have always been stones here. Black Dragon Mountain is a stone mountain; the stones to build the castle were transported down from Black Dragon Mountain, so it is normal for the surrounding land to be mixed with stones."
"With so many stones in the soil, tree roots cannot penetrate deep. How can crops develop well?" Jasmine sighed and explained.
"Then... need to find people to pick up all the stones in the fields?" Although the old Butler did not quite understand Jasmine's meaning, since the Lord did not like them, clearing them away would suffice. The Lord's command was absolute.
Jasmine nodded, telling the old Butler to remember this task first, lest he forget it later when busy.
The two continued walking along the bumpy field ridge. Very quickly, Jasmine discovered another more serious problem.
The wheat in the fields grew densely crowded together in some places, while in others, it grew very sparsely, exposing large patches of bare ground. Only every three or four steps could one see the silhouette of a weak seedling swaying in the wind.
"Our seed quality is not good. Kept for a long time, so much of it became moldy and spoiled; the germination rate is not high." The old Butler explained to Jasmine with a helpless tone as he walked.
Their entire territory only had this many people. Manpower was scarce, and the nearest border town was two or three days away by carriage. Wanting to buy some supplies was very difficult and expensive.
Without money to buy good seeds, they had to save seeds from the previous harvest themselves.
But the soil in the territory was not fertile, and the crops grew stunted. The quality of the seeds harvested naturally was not good either, creating a vicious cycle.
In years with bad climates, encountering droughts or storms, the food harvested was not even enough to save seeds for the next crop. Everyone in the territory could only rely on weeds, mushrooms, and tree bark in the forest to barely hold on day by day.
Otherwise, from top to bottom, from the old Butler to the slaves, they would not all have such skinny, withered appearances with sunken eye sockets.