According to Chu Yang, compared with other aristocratic territories in the kingdom, the population of Gusi City can probably be ranked in the bottom five.
There are more than 8,000 resident freemen and serfs in total.
Coupled with those small-scale maritime merchants who were more mobile and traveled back and forth between the Kingdom of Spain and other kingdoms (when they passed through the city of Gus, they occasionally stayed for a few days or weeks), this seaport city was full of money.
The population is approximately 10,000.
This data is better than that of some small nobles in the Kingdom, adjacent to the Warcraft Mountains.
As for the age composition, gender composition, and occupational composition of the territorial population?
Haha, Chu Yang only knows that there are 42 households with a total of 160 people in the serfs belonging to his family's property.
There are 80 castle "employees" in total who are dependent on the family (such as the guards, militiamen, kitchen staff, laundry ladies, etc.) and their families.
Other demographic data of the territory have never been investigated by the family's past generations.
Just pay taxes as much as you can collect. Who cares about so much when they have enough to eat?
...
Standing in a dark corner of the woods, Li Jiasu, wearing a linen cloak, looked like a ghost, staring at the farmers gathering firewood not far away.
On the pasture outside the woods, some farmers were grazing sheep and tidying up chicken coops.
On the ridge of the cultivated garden next to it, there are some farmers loosening the soil.
Most of their heights range from 1.4 to 1.6 meters, and years of labor have made their waists and lower limbs appear thick and strong.
However, their upper bodies and upper limbs could not be said to be emaciated, but they did not show much flesh. Moreover, the upper limbs and trunks of these farmers were more or less congenitally deformed.
If you maintain inappropriate postures, spine, upper limb bones, and even internal organs for a long time, acquired distortions will easily occur.
Some people have no choice but to slowly become deformed, stooped and bowed, until they die of old age.
Li Jiasu squinted his eyes, looking here and there for a while.
After observing for a while, I found that the farms of these homesteaders on the island mainly focus on livestock breeding, and some of the processing economic crops (such as cotton and linen) are planted.
And the proportion of grain cultivation is actually the smallest compared to livestock breeding and economic crops?
Previously, Li Jiashu had visited the farming conditions of the serfs around the castle (the village where the serfs lived was very close to the castle).
The serfs who belonged to the Federesh family planted most of the crops in the fields near the castle, followed by livestock breeding, and no economic crops were sown at all.
Li Jia Shu looked up and saw the bad weather on the island.
It's morning, but there's not much sunlight.
After thinking for a moment, he recalled the exchange with Chu Yang last night and came up with some conjectures.
This island is located on the outer edge of the Stormy Ocean, facing the ocean's climate. The weather is bad all year round, and the cultivation efficiency of crops is bound to be low.
Although the island is isolated offshore, it is not as far away from the mainland of the Kingdom of Spain, so some maritime merchants are willing to patronize this place.
For the free people of Gus City, in the presence of maritime trade, the output of self-cultivated grains only needs to be maintained at a suitable minimum safety level, and the bulk of the labor energy should be focused on the livestock industry, which is easier to breed on the island.
As well as relatively more valuable economic crops, it is a more advantageous strategy.
What should I do if there is not enough food? Sell livestock and cash crops to maritime merchants, and then buy cheap local wheat from the kingdom from the merchants.
After all, the weather on the island makes growing food very difficult.
Unlike the free people, the serfs belonging to the Frederic family carried out farming tasks on the manor in accordance with the requirements of the lord and the steward.
For the lord, he must have enough food and cattle and sheep. A large family in the castle has to take care of the food.
After all, taxes are not collected every day. What if the rations in the castle are exhausted before the tax collection day comes? Wouldn't it be embarrassing? Do you have to find a reason to temporarily collect new taxes from the citizens?
Not to mention, there is a risk of not being able to collect taxes (food). If the free people say that there is no food but there are copper coins, then Master Chuyang will have to entrust his confidants to negotiate with the cunning sea merchants about buying food.
.
Therefore, it is no wonder that the serfs mainly grew food crops, while the free people of Gusi did not grow much food.
Port cities and sea traders are key characters that cannot be removed.
After thinking about this, Li Jia Shu walked out of the woods and walked towards the port town.
Some sharp-eyed peasants caught a glimpse of a tall figure in the distance, wrapped in a cloak, walking down the dirt road to the port. They couldn't help but stop what they were doing and gestured:
Ouch! That figure is only 1.8 meters tall, right?
He is taller and burlier than the soldiers in the castle, no, than those pirates!
Who is that? When did such a vicious man come to the island?
...
"Damn it, little Hadir, you have to tell me, is it some bandit king who has escaped to your island?" The fat merchant asked the young waiter.
And he grabbed a glass of sea salt wheat beer from the bar and drank it in big gulps.
"What are you talking about? What kind of bandit king? I don't understand, old Charlie, what are you doing?"
The young waiter rolled his eyes, "A cup of specialty wheat beer, regular customer price, 3 copper coins, Spanish or French or Portuguese will do."
Then he added, "Please tell me clearly, old Charlie, what is the specific matter?"
The maritime merchant took out three copper coins from his pocket, made in the French and Portuguese kingdoms, and lined them up on the bar.
"Huh~ Previously, there was an extremely tall and burly weirdo wrapped in a cloak and a brass mask, 2 meters tall, no, it should be 2 meters 1, walking around in the market."
The sea merchant described it with foaming at the mouth.
"Although everyone was surprised and a little scared, the weirdo did not do anything violent, neither robbed nor molested women."
The young waiter took a piece of clean white cotton cloth, wiped the oak wine glass on the bar, and said calmly: "A 2-meter-1 giant man? I haven't seen him in the past few days, well, then
Woolen cloth?"
The merchant took a sip of sea salt wheat beer, moistened his throat, and continued to describe: "That weirdo was in the market, just walking around, looking at the goods, and asking about prices."
"He seems to be very interested in agricultural products. He asked many stall owners. He even found a few merchants who were exchanging goods, ah, including me of course." The merchant paused and recalled, "The weird man asked
We asked about the prices of various agricultural products on our Spanish-France-Portuguese-Saracen route."
"Oh, little Hadir, let me tell you, I was so frightened at the time that I gave the latest market price an eighty-point score. I was afraid that the giant man would be dissatisfied and tear off my head and use it as a ball."
After listening to the merchant's story, the young waiter shrugged and then said: "So, old Charlie, you think I should know the information you want to know?"
The merchant nodded, "I guess you know. Little Hadir, your father is the Lord's personal guard. If something important happens on the island, I guess he must know about it."
The young waiter smiled and shook his head, "My father, mother, little sister and I don't live together."
"They live in the castle and work for the Lord. I live in the port and work for myself."
"How could I possibly know the information you want to know that my father probably knows but I really don't know?"
The young waiter was very sharp-tongued and spoke like a tongue twister, with no tongue tied at all.
The merchant drank a glass of beer in one gulp, smacked his lips, and asked without giving up: "You really don't know?"
The young waiter nodded, "I have never seen or heard of the 2.1-meter-tall foreigner you mentioned in the past few days, wearing a mask and a cloak."
"This foreigner must have quietly come to the island some time recently."
The two people at the bar of the tavern fell into a brief silence.
At this time, there was a loud noise outside the tavern door.
"Okay! You are awesome! I admit defeat! According to the bet, I treat you to a meal——"
Bang! The wooden door of the tavern was kicked open (it was not broken).
The customers in the store turned around and moved their buttocks to remote seats.
Hadir put down the white cotton cloth in his hand, squinted his eyes slightly, and looked calmly towards the door.
A group of vicious old customers with bruises and swollen faces, oh, pirates, led by their nosebleed-faced first mate (second only to the captain), entered the tavern aggressively.
Then, a tall and burly man, 2.1 meters tall, wearing a linen cloak and a brass mask, also entered the tavern and sat down opposite the pirate first mate.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the store was solemn.
Hadir rubbed his brows, then took out two clean wine glasses and poured half a cup of wheat beer into each.