Seeing that Dipu was about to leave, Blake hesitated again, and then asked, "Master Dipp, are you going to keep these people all the time?"

"Keep it!" Dipp shrugged absently.

This time he agreed to recruit slaves, and Dip learned that the labor of the Black-Eyed Collar was so cheap. Basically, just eat and live, and the reward is absolutely symbolic, and you don't need to spend any money at all.

In fact, it's not just the black-eyed collar, but the ecology of the entire Yuansheng Continent is like this. As a result of the long years of peace, the reproduction of human beings has reached a stage of extreme surplus, and it has become more and more difficult for the common people to make a living.

First of all, it is necessary to strictly control the movement and relocation of civilians, and all localities do not accept displaced people. It is difficult to solve the problem of local labor, and it is impossible to take care of the problem of foreign labor. Therefore, in a relatively poor territory like the Black-Eyed Collar, those civilians could still move in the past, but now they have nowhere to go if they want to, so they can only stay here and suffer.

Secondly, the living conditions of civilians are also deteriorating, and it is good to be able to make ends meet. It is definitely a good job to be a slave of the noble lords, at least to ensure the harvest in drought and flood, and there is no need to worry about the livelihood of the whole family.

Of course, there were wealthy commoners like Pooh, whose social status and wealth were not even inferior to those of some minor nobles. There are also ways to change the living situation through guò civil officials, magicians, military exploits, etc. However, such people are also quite rare among civilians.

So now, there is even a ridiculous phenomenon that some aristocratic slaves live better than most commoners. Because in addition to the lack of freedom in life, the birth, old age, sickness and death of slaves will be borne by the nobles.

As a result, some commoners who could not survive desperately wanted to be slaves of the nobility, and the number of slaves was quite tight. Of course, it must be those nobles with a good reputation, after all, the life and death of slaves are also in the hands of these nobles.

And now Dipu does not know about these situations. He always thought that no commoner would give up his freedom to become a slave until he was cornered. Not to mention selling yourself into slavery. Therefore, in order to establish the Self-Defense Forces for the time being, Dipu did not hesitate to spend more money and food to support them. Anyway, it's not a lot of money.

But Dipp didn't care, Blake had to think about him.

From Blake's point of view, it is very inappropriate to raise people for nothing, and one day they will sit on empty seats. After all, if Dipu wants to run the black eye collar for a long time, he must at least make a balance between the two years! Otherwise, no one will be able to make money for a long time.

In the final analysis, although Blake once told the alarmist, in his heart, he still hopes that Dipu can continue to operate for a long time. Because of the lord of Dipu, he can also make the life of the people of the black-eyed collar better.

So Blake came up with the idea, "Master, in fact, you can arrange for them to do some farm work during the day." You can also let women and children raise pigs and sheep that have just been delivered. In the evening, I will arrange to take turns on duty, and nothing will be missed. ”

"Okay, then you can arrange it!" For these little things, of course, Dipu is indispensable. This time, there are a lot of seeds sent by Zhiju Jian, and there are dozens of livestock and poultry, so it must be great to have these people to help.

"So...... Master...... How do you collect the rent?" Blake asked, stammeringly.

"Collecting rent?" said Dip had never thought about it. But now that he had said that, he was also a little interested in his belongings, "Blake, how much farmland is there in my territory?"

"Less than a thousand acres. The rest is deserted, alas!" Blake lamented.

"Is there no water?" asked Dipp.

"Not exactly!" Blake shook his head, and then he gave Dip the details of the farmland.

The spring of the Blackeye Collar used to produce a large amount of water, and even formed a small lake next to the Blackeye Town. Although the current water output is much smaller, it is still enough for two or three thousand people to live and cultivate tens of thousands of acres of farmland.

The reason why there are less than 1,000 acres left is that there is no one to cultivate it by hand, and the ditch water conservancy is in disrepair, so it is impossible to make effective use of these springs, and second, because the environment is complicated. Every autumn harvest, there are always bandits in the vast plain who come to grab the harvest, and they can't take care of it at all. So you can only cultivate some farmland near Blackeye. And these farmlands are just barely enough for the townspeople of Blackeye Town to make ends meet.

I see!" Dipu nodded. However, he has no idea of building water conservancy or reclaiming wasteland. Although it stands to reason that the farmland of the Black Eye Collar is owned by Dipp's private individuals, he has no intention of taking food from the mouths of the people.

Then Dip considered it for a moment, and then commanded: "Those who enter the castle shall cultivate three hundred acres, and give the rest to those who are under the mountain! The remaining half is considered the income from joining the Self-Defense Forces! There are no other taxes to pay. ”

"Huh!"

"Also, if there is a surplus of iron and salt sent this time, you can also find a way to sell it. I'll also think of more ways to get more in the city in the future. Although the total amount is not much, it is more or less a compensation. ”

"Huh!"

Although the current Dipu is not bad for money, it is impossible for him to be extravagant, not to collect land rent, not to collect taxes, and to throw away his income in vain, after all, he is also a poor child, and he pays attention to being a thrifty housekeeper.

But it was true that Dip didn't want to bother with these trivial matters, and it was certainly much more important to him than to study magic. It would be nice if there was a housekeeper by his side, and now he would have to trouble Blake first.

......

At this moment, a "mummy" also staggered to the top floor, and it was Keyi, who was bandaged all over his body.

"How's the injury?" asked Dipu with concern.

"It's all skin wounds!" said with a smile, "and you'll be fine with it for ten days." ”

"It's better if it's all right!" Dipp laughed, too, "and when you're done, let's go to the city again! It's still the same old tricks, leather armor, stainless steel armor, and then buy a handy weapon. Why do you think we're carrying it like this? How many things have we broken in the past few days? I don't have time to buy them. It's not enough to pile up a mountain of gold coins!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Kyi was amused by Dipp's words.

"Also, I'll take the glass pill later. When the injury is healed, let's rush to level 5 as much as possible!"

"......?" said Kui, who seemed a little embarrassed.