William saw that Yang still didn't react, and added from the side: "Now that the mayor of Valuno has taken a turn of rest, before I take office, my father will act as the agent for the affairs of the town. ”

The townspeople's expressions began to grow a little strange. If there were more than just Hams's cronies and a few guards, that sentence alone would have been enough to make William lose his position as the next mayor, no matter what the reasons were for this purpose.

After hearing William's introduction, Young's face finally changed, and she tightened the sword in her hand a little tighter, as if she was about to stab the sword into William's neck at any moment.

The faces of the town's guards changed, and a hunter who had survived the defense of the town took his bow and arrow from his waist and aimed it at Jan by the light of the fire, and as soon as Jan pressed his sword against William's neck one more inch, he would plunge the arrow into the little girl's face, which was smoother than an egg.

William's mother was also panicked, and she tried to run to protect her son, but Hams stopped her. She was just a proper girl, and she didn't know what her husband and son were doing it for, and she collapsed to the ground, her lips trembling slightly, but in the end she didn't say anything, like a statue in tears.

"Mr. Hams, I'm here to talk about business. ”

Jan looked around at the faces of the people around her, and when she heard this, several of the residents were about to splash their spat stars on her face.

"We have nothing to talk about with the Wigand people, unless you can bring back to life all the Great Prus who have died over the years. And hand over the heads of the murderers, and we'll come back to negotiate later!" said one of the townspeople angrily.

Jan looked into Hams's eyes before he spoke, but he only saw the calm face of a middle-aged man, and he couldn't see the slightest ripple. Yang has a bottom in her heart and can talk, but she has to give an explanation to the people in the town.

"To answer your first question first, as far as I know, you Great Prus originally had four kingdoms, and they also fought against each other in history, and the tribes and populations that died in the war were far above us, and since you can become a nation through negotiation today, then why can't you talk to us Wigand people. ”

"As for what you said about handing over the Wigan warriors, then you can't do it. The backbone of our Hope Swamp has been broken by you, and in the last war, the hero of the Wiggans, my father, Thoreau Campbell, is dead. The rest of the people with blood on their hands are old men, and we can't hand over these people who have shed blood and sweat for the tribe. ”

Hams frowned highly, and rebuked loudly, "Age is not a reason to get away with it! The heroic spirits of the Northland cannot close their eyes for a day when they do not see their enemies destroyed. ”

His words caused a response from the citizens, only William's eyes became strange, and he seemed to understand his father's position.

Hams and Young seemed to have collapsed, and in the nightlight, everyone fell into a deep silence, and no one blamed Young, and everyone began to calm down, although the hatred between the Wiegand people and the Great Pruth could not be solved by unraveling, but at least it was too much to find a man to take the blame, and it was too much to find a little girl who had just died of her father.

When the few onlookers in the town looked at Young's eyes, and changed from outright hostility to hatred and pity, Hams called the girl into his home.

"Thank you all for coming over and helping, but the next business I may have to talk about with her is the ransom of the dog, so I won't worry about it. ”

A few of Hams's men closed the door to the house, and the crowd dispersed. The town's guards returned to their posts in silence, their taut bowstrings slackening again.

"Put my son down, in my house, you don't have to worry about your life being threatened. The two townsfolk who had helped Hams in the house picked up Mrs. Hams and brought her back to the back house, where only Hams, Young, and William, who had been taken hostage, and two torches on the shelves, shone faintly in the dark night.

Jan slightly loosened the blade that tightened William's sword, and William let go of Young's clenched embrace. When he left there, he was still a little reluctant, regretting that he was wearing leather armor instead of a single coat today.

Hams was clearly mistaken, thinking that William, who was standing next to him and hesitant, was thinking about whether he would stay.

"Since the old mayor is going to let you take over, then you can stay and listen to it. Maintaining a rule in the Northland depends on more than just bravery, and if you lose two fingers this time, you may lose your life next time. ”

William naturally would not refuse, he wished that he would have the opportunity to contact Jando.

Yang quietly waited for the two fathers and sons to finish negotiating, and then made his own conditions.

"The losses from the previous war were too great, and we needed some cloth and food. In exchange, we can promise not to loot the caravans of Grand Pruss again, and that we will have a day of peace as long as I am still alive. ”

Hams quickly entered the negotiation mode, and he carefully analyzed the meaning of Young's words.

"You're offering too low, girl. If you still have the strength to continue invading us, your promise now is nothing more than a mouthful. ”

Hearing Hams's words, Jan couldn't help but secretly think: If you are a member of any famous Wiegand family, in this case, they will definitely shout loudly, you are looking down on our family's honor! Maybe you will be stupid to duel with others. But at the same time, it occurred to Jan that if the previous war had been fought with the Wiegand tribe, she would not have had any room to negotiate with the leader of the other party, and if she did, it was probably a question of whether she wanted to be a prostitute or if she wanted to be chopped up and fed to a dog.

Jan lowered his head slightly, then raised his head again, and pulled out the words he had already thought of.

"The Wiegand tribe has more than one owner of our Campbells. ”

Hams couldn't help but ignore the question, and if any more tribe invaded Valuno, the recent victory in the town would have been a joke. He waved his hand and motioned for Jan to continue.

"There are still many powerful tribes who covet the land of your Great Prus, but if we are still here, it will be difficult for them to attack you. ”

"You blocked them?" William asked.

"Almost, they were beaten back by us. Jan replied without hesitation. "The war between the Wiegand tribes is far more intense than this kind of external war, and every war within the tribe is a total war without compromise at all, and the winning tribe can take everything from the losing tribe. Although, as a rule, nothing can be left except a small amount of loot. ”

"The conditions you spoke of are starting to be valuable to us, but if that's all there is to it, it's not enough. Hams's voice was calm, and while supporting Young's Wiegand tribe would provide peace for the town in the short term, if there was no means to restrain the tribe, the tragedy of the past would soon be repeated.

"We can afford to buy grain and cloth at your market price. "The Campbell family's tribe has been robbing for so many years, and they have a lot of savings, and now they can solve a lot of problems with the advance.

"Now you can impress a businessman, but not enough to convince a mayor. Hams spread his hands helplessly, "You can see the attitude of the citizens, there are more than 4,000 of them in our town who hate you Wiegand people like this. It is conceivable that if this were daylight, this anger could have spread a hundredfold. Grain and cloth are a bulk trade, not a silver coin business that allows you to take it and leave. ”

"I have a way to silence the citizens. Jan replied in a low voice, but in a firm tone, with a sense of unquestionableness.

"Then I'll do this business with you. Hams reached out and took the saber that Jan had handed back, but he was stunned to shove it into Young's hand.

"This is another business I've done with you. Hams said with a hint of self-deprecation. "Anyway, my son can't hold a sword well in his life, so it's better to leave it to you to hold it safely. ”

William stretched out his hands in a daze, staring at his left hand, which had lost his little finger and ring finger, in a daze.

For the first time, Jan saw William's appearance, and for the first time felt a hint of self-reproach for the blood on his hands. She took William's scabbard from his waist and hugged him inadvertently. Then he pushed open the door and swaggered out of town along the town's road.

William wanted to shout to Jan, he was worried that Jan would be in danger on the way back like this, and wanted to give her a ride.

Hams saw through his son's thoughts, and he couldn't help but tease

"William, that girl is more measured than you, and it is the safest to walk out of our house like this. ”

The next day, Jan did not return to town. But Hams sent men to raise a quantity of grain from a few villages further south and put it in the town's warehouse, and several merchants who were also foreigners did the same.

On the seventh day, Jan still did not come to town. William sat on the fortified walls of the town, staring blankly at the swamp in the distance, while beneath William, a caravan laden with linen drove into the town.

On the thirtieth day, the merchants who had learned from Hams's purchase cursed and sold the goods from their warehouses, and some of the townspeople inexplicably ate whole wheat white bread and put on freshly made linen shorts, as if it were another New Year.

William looked at his father's puzzled look at his father's piles of warehouses.

There was no expression on Hams's face, except to watch mechanically as the workers stuffed bags of grain, bacon, and bundles of cloth into the warehouse.

On the thirty-first day, the sentry in the town of Valuno brought back unusual news that a party of Wiegand had arrived in the town from the direction of the swamp. Hams stopped the knight José as he drew his sword and dragged him up to a newly erected watchtower in Valuno.

In the distance, a group of disarmed Wiegand men walked into town, and behind them were two large carts, one loaded with bells and whistles, while the other lay silently dozens of human heads, several of which were still stained with bright red blood.

A man of great height, Wiegand pulled the cart full of heads to the north gate of the town and pulled out the wooden root that was stuck in the door. The head "flowed" out of the carriage like a river with the floodgates opened, paving a meadow in front of the north gate. Rao was a newcomer to the town who had just experienced a war, and he was also a little shocked by the bloody scene in front of him.

The man spread out his empty hands and signaled that he was not carrying a weapon. After making sure that the eyes of the defenders on the walls were drawn to him, the man shouted in a fluent Great Prussian:

"Ladies on the walls, look down with your eyes wide open, these heads, and if you ask me who their master is, then I can only say that this is the hero of our Wiegands, the executioner and demon of your Great Pruus. Keep your eyes open, this is our sincerity, peace, great Pruus, we need you!"

Many people were stunned by this scene at the moment, even if they had a blood feud, his heart would inevitably soften.

Hams saw a man lying on the wall, almost ten years older than himself, considered a long life in the town, but now crying like a child.

Hams knew the man, who was not a citizen of the town, but had lived here for more than a dozen years.

In the previous bloody battle, those who usually swaggered in the town were pale with fright, and they did not dare to come forward, and those young people who were mobilized before the war were loud to respond and defend the township were so frightened that their snot was about to flow out. Only this man walked silently in front of the crowd, and always maintained restraint in fear and emotional calm, in which he was in no way inferior to the veteran.

The man turned out to have a family, a large family, and because he was the youngest son in the family, he lived with his parents. The man is married, and his wife is not very beautiful, but gentle and virtuous. By the way, he was a father of three, and when the Wiegand attacked, his eldest daughter was nearly sixteen years old, a lot taller than her peers, and young people from all over the world loved to revolve around her. A friend of the man reminded the man with a smile, and he could vaguely hear his friend's voice echoing in his ears: "This is a long-legged beauty, you have to jail her." ”

When the man tells his story in the tavern, he can still show the expression of the past, which is the unique smile of a man who has been serving the crops all year round, as if looking at that face, you can see a field of wheat with a good harvest. But that's the end of the man's story, and that smiling face is the only proof of his past life. The Wiegand came to the village and took everything with them, and the most ridiculous thing is that the man did not escape by going out, but in his own cattle pen.