Chapter 329 - 83: How to Begin?
"My lord! It seems we're almost there." Ais approached Robson and pointed north. "That's the Guman River ahead, a tributary of the Larzis River. Once we cross it, we'll have arrived."
After a long and arduous march, Robson's army finally reached the banks of the Guman River on the first of March.
Just across the Guman River lay the Affleck Domain—Robson's future territory.
At this point, the entire procession was down to about six thousand people. Nearly two thousand were refugees, while the rest were Robson's own soldiers.
Baron Boyang had already left to take up his fief, but Claude had remained with the army. The man had no intention of being enfeoffed. Robson had previously planned to assign some of the refugees to Claude for him to develop his own land, but he had adamantly refused.
Originally, Robson's personal domain had made up half of Clichy County, but now it comprised three-quarters. The remainder was held by a few Little Knights who had followed him from Qimo Fortress.
'So, we've finally made it?' Robson rode his horse to the front of the column. Before him lay a small river, just a few meters wide. On the other side, a boundless plain stretched as far as the eye could see.
Seeing this sight, Robson couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
It wasn't that his Inner Strength was lacking; it was mainly because of his memories from a past life. Robson had an inexplicable obsession with land and farming.
After all, before he'd transmigrated, he came from an agrarian civilization.
"My lord, have you decided yet? Where should we head?" Ais asked, looking at Robson.
With a new domain, the first order of business was to develop the land.
The first step in that process was to choose a location for their main settlement before they could proceed.
Robson's original plan was to simply take over the former Affleck City.
For one thing, Affleck City was near the Guman River and was an established human settlement. The surrounding area was all developed, cultivated land. Although reclaiming land in this world wasn't as arduous as it was in his previous life, it was always best to avoid trouble where possible.
For another, Affleck City was a strategic point in the north, commanding the entire region.
However, recently, whenever Robson found a spare moment, he had begun carefully reading the documents he'd seized and had discovered something deeply troubling.
"April, Year 4211: Flood in Affleck City. Viscount Affleck borrows five hundred Gold Coins..."
"May, Year 4212: Flood in Affleck City. Viscount Affleck borrows one thousand Gold Coins..."
...
In the accounts of the previous Count Ehrlichland, Affleck City was hit by floods virtually every year!
Robson analyzed the situation using his basic geographical knowledge. He surmised that melting snow from the Demon Beast Mountain Range was the cause. As the Larzis River's tributary closest to the mountains, the Guman River naturally bore the brunt of it, its water flow surging in the spring.
But understanding the cause was one thing. Actually solving the problem of Affleck's annual floods was another matter entirely.
He could build a dam, but the time and effort required for that could be used to develop twice the amount of farmland Affleck already possessed.
That was clearly not a viable option.
If he didn't build one, then Affleck City was untenable. 'Who could possibly afford to sink several hundred Gold Coins into disaster relief every single year?'
Of course, Robson had considered other methods, like digging irrigation channels to divert the water.
But digging channels was slow, meticulous work. Furthermore, the Guman River flowed from the Larzis River, which in turn originated high in the Demon Beast Mountain Range, home to the world's highest peak, Mount Laguchi. The massive change in elevation made the river's current incredibly turbulent. Emulating Yu the Great's flood control would be no easy task.
With Affleck City ruled out, Robson could only rely on the smattering of geographical knowledge from his past life to judge what kind of place would be suitable for farming.
But Robson wasn't a local, after all. He didn't know the specific conditions of this frontier, and he wasn't even a qualified farmer.
It wasn't that he had zero experience with farming, but his only memory of it was helping his family harvest sweet potatoes as a child.
This decision concerned the future of his domain and the lives of tens of thousands of people. Robson didn't dare make a rash judgment based on his meager knowledge alone.
"Sigh... Didn't we take in a group of refugees?" Robson asked, looking at Ais. "Go and ask them. See if any of them are familiar with this part of Clichy."
To be honest, Robson wouldn't have resorted to asking the refugees if he had any other choice.
Although they had made a good impression on him, they weren't his own people. Entrusting such a critical decision to outsiders felt far too risky.
'What if someone, just trying to curry favor, pointed to a random spot? It would be a disaster if they couldn't harvest any crops by summer.'
"As you command!" Ais accepted the order and departed.
...
Ais's task went incredibly smoothly.
He went to the refugee caravan, and not long after his soldiers spread the word, the entire group descended into chaos. The soldiers had to intervene to gradually restore order.
In the end, many of the refugees collectively pointed out one old man.
The old man was somewhat thin and frail, and his clothes were tattered.
However, unlike many of the other refugees, the cloth this old man was wrapped in was a single, whole piece.
Upon further questioning, Ais learned that when Robson's soldiers had distributed food, this old man had traded a portion of his rations for the cloth.
Ais didn't give it much thought and brought the man to find Robson.
When Ais found Robson, he was sitting on a stone by the river, studying a map. A few members of his Personal Guard stood watch nearby.