Rome Must Perish

The legion leaders were eager to earn merits and momentarily forgot this principle. They quickly closed their mouths but quietly moved their chairs towards Quintus, intending to persuade them privately first.

The Cultivation Department subordinate standing by the side of the hall noticed and immediately went over to stop them from doing so.

Even though the legion leaders held ranks higher than him, they had to comply obediently because maintaining order at the tribal meeting was the responsibility of the Cultivation Department.

Maximus turned a blind eye to this and, looking around at everyone, loudly asked, "Does anyone else have anything to report?"

Volenus stood up and said, "Leader, this year we’ve been blessed by the Divine. According to the Aldeans, the rainy season was shorter than in previous years, the river waters didn’t surge as they did before, and the climate has been quite good. The wheat we planted in early spring has all sprouted and is starting to mature—it’s estimated we can begin harvesting by mid-August.

Moreover, according to our Agricultural Department’s observations over the past days, each ear of wheat in the fields has about 20 to 30 grains, and the grains are quite plump. Except for some fields far from the riverbank, near the mountains and forests where fertility is poor, based on our estimates, barring any unexpected events, each acre of land can produce about 75 to 85 jin of wheat. This is indeed a bountiful harvest!"

At this point, Volenus grew excited, looking at Maximus with fiery eyes. Influenced by some rumors in the tribe, he felt the tribe benefited from Maximus’s luck, and the Divine who favored this young leader was also blessing the tribe’s fields.

An output of around 80 jin per acre is considered a harvest?!... Maximus was somewhat disappointed, even suspecting if the other party had miscalculated.

In his previous life, he knew that in China, the wheat yield per acre was above 800 jin, with many areas exceeding 1000 jin. Even though agricultural technology was backward in this era, a few months ago, he had exerted a lot of effort, leading the Agricultural Department to help the tribal citizens improve farming techniques and boost field fertility... he always felt it should be at least two or three hundred jin to justify his efforts, not expecting it to fall short of even a hundred jin.

"Leader, achieving 80 jin per acre is already quite a good result!" Volenus had worked with Maximus for over two years and was his important assistant. He knew full well that although this leader was young and born from a Gladiator background, he was knowledgeable about agriculture and often came up with astounding ideas and suggestions regarding farming—he indeed had the blessing of the Divine. However, he lacked practical farming experience and wasn’t very familiar with the agricultural conditions of the Mediterranean.

Thus, Volenus patiently explained, "Our grain planting and harvest ratio has reached 1 to 8. In many places in Italy, wheat yield per acre is only 50 to 60 jin, with a planting and harvest ratio of just 1 to 5, and in the Samnium Mountain Area, it’s even a mere 1 to 2. Only the yield in Campania’s Vesuvius Region can reach 120 to 130 jin per acre, with a planting and harvest ratio of 1 to 11, 12, or even 14. It’s said that the wheat yield along the Egypt Nile River can also reach this figure, but in the Mediterranean, such cases are few. Overall, our tribe’s wheat yield per acre for this year is relatively high!

And considering this is our first time farming along the Kupa Riverbanks, some lands have lain fallow for several years and are no longer familiar fields; there are also some mudflats and small swamps just being cultivated. These new fields yield low per acre, thus dragging down the tribe’s average yield per acre.