After breakfast, Niu Zida had Seretina put on silk stockings at home and carried her to the lord's archive in the castle, where he began to check the population, household registration, and tax records of the territory.
"Seretina, sort all the knightage territories within Dore Territory by population for me."
"Yes, Master."
Niu Zida placed a large pile of documents on the table, having Seretina sort them one by one according to population. He, on the other hand, comfortably lay on Seretina's beautiful back, pinching her large breasts from behind while kissing Seretina's snow-white and slender neck, leaving purple hickey marks on it. It wasn't until Seretina had finally sorted out the information of all 103 knight territories within the territory that the beautiful woman, her face flushed red, began to say with a slight pant:
"Ah... Master, your slave has sorted everything. Please check."
"Oh, oh, oh, you've really worked hard, Seretina."
"It's nothing."
Seretina gently held Niu Zida in her arms, making it easier for him to lie on the table and check the population, land, and corvée labor of each territory. These tax registers also detailed what feudal obligations each knightage territory should fulfill to the lord of Dore Territory.
In order to obtain accurate data, Niu Zida had been deliberately avoiding mentioning this to make Amelie lower her guard, waiting until Amelie was preoccupied with childbirth before checking himself. This was to prevent Amelie from interfering, as she was the regent of the territory. If Niu Zida had brought Amelie along, she might have deliberately concealed some things from him.
"It seems that the original conditions of Dore Territory were not bad."
Although it was said to be 100,000 people, it was estimated that many of the immigrants who had reclaimed the borderlands were also included. If those people who were not under the territory's control were excluded, the registered population was not as high as expected. In fact, the registered population was only about 50,000 to 60,000 people, not counting the population lost due to conscription and famine caused by the war.
"Master, why are you so concerned about the land and population of Dore Territory?"
"Of course, it's for the next step of integrating the resources within the territory. The land and population that can be directly attributed to the lord within the territory are very limited. I need to first understand the family wealth, and then I have a plan to bring those unregistered people who have reclaimed land within the territory into the direct territory. Moreover, not only humans, but also beastmen, elves, dwarves, goblins—these people can all enter the territory to cultivate as long as they can pay taxes and land rent."
Seretina felt somewhat surprised that Niu Zida, a Goblin, actually had such thoughts. She originally thought that this Goblin was just a treacherous person who possessed some cunning schemes and had obtained some mysterious power, but she didn't expect that he, like humans, was really thinking about how to govern the territory. No, it could even be said that his ideas were more governance-savvy than those of the greedy nobles.
"If you really want to do this, Master, do you need to conduct a land survey first? This could touch the interests of the nobles within the territory."
"After defeating the punitive expedition this time, all the territories handed over hostages, so I won't touch the interests of these nobles for the time being. I can only start with the direct territory of Dore Territory first."
No wonder Niu Zida wanted her to sort out the territory's population and household registration. If he had asked Amelie, she would definitely not have been willing to help, Seretina thought to herself.
"If it's the direct territory, the registered population is here."
Since the target was not Echeveria Territory, Seretina was naturally relaxed and happy to help. Niu Zida took it and looked at it. Currently, the direct territory of Dore Territory had a population of about 20,000 people, but how many there actually were was hard to say.
The cultivated land area directly under Dore Territory was about 60,000 acres, with an average of about 3 acres per person. Looking at the household registration, most of them were tenant farmers, and there were very few owner-cultivators. It seemed that in this kind of marginal area, the registered population was generally dominated by tenant farmers. After all, in this border area, one either had to rely on the protection of the nobles, and could only helplessly become a tenant farmer, or one would be overwhelmed and flee to the wilderness to reclaim land.
There were also advantages to this tenant farmer-based economy. If most of the land belonged to the lord, it would be easier to implement top-down reforms. If it was the kind of plain area close to the interior, where commerce was prosperous, leading to an excessive number of ordinary small and medium-sized landlords, and even merchants in the city owning land in a complex situation, it would be unfavorable for promoting reforms.
"Master, what do you plan to do with the direct territory of Dore Territory next?"
Seretina blinked her beautiful eyes and asked about Niu Zida's next plan. She also didn't understand what this lecherous Goblin wanted to do, but from the conversation just now, Seretina felt that Niu Zida, this Goblin, was not ordinary. If she underestimated him, she would be greatly mistaken.
"You will naturally know the next step."
Niu Zida didn't say much, but continued to knead Seretina's large breasts while carefully checking the population and tax documents of the territory. He carefully read them. Seretina discovered that Niu Zida was paying close attention not only to the land directly under the territory, but also to the territories of the various knightages. She vaguely had a bad premonition... After the territories handed over hostages after defeating the punitive expedition, and the previously neutral territories offered oaths of allegiance, the territory briefly entered a period of peace. During this time, Niu Zida continued to flip through the genealogy, territory, and origin information of various families in the territory's archives every day, deepening his understanding of the territory. On the one hand, he continued to have Amelie, Seretina, Aponia, Yor and Misato Shizuku, these five maids, become pregnant and give birth. However, in about a month, each of them became pregnant 4-5 times, increasing the number of Goblins to 320 in total. Unfortunately, there were still only 3 elite Goblins.
Seeing that the time was now early February of the Continental Calendar 1046, winter was coming to an end, and the climate was gradually warming up, Niu Zida began to conduct a large-scale land survey in the direct territory of Dore Territory to determine the actual population and household registration data. Of course, this land survey could only start from the baronial lands within the lord's direct territory. When implementing any policy, one should try to narrow the scope as much as possible at the beginning in order to avoid strong resistance in the initial stage. Therefore, Niu Zida didn't even involve the landlords and owner-cultivators in the baronial direct territory during the first land survey, only involving the lord's own rented land and landless tenant farmers.
"Master, after this period of land survey, there are a total of about 7,000 tenant farmers in the lord's direct territory."
"7,000 people? Wasn't there originally 20,000 people registered in the direct territory? How come there are only 7,000 direct tenant farmers?"
Hearing the number Seretina reported to him, Niu Zida immediately felt that something was wrong...