In late April, the weather warmed up, and the valley and around the valley were full of greenery, and the banks of the stream outside the wooden fort were full of blooming flowers and wild grass shoots growing wildly.

On the flat grass by the stream, the kitchen servant of the mansion was making a fire to bake a few peeled honey hares, and two hunting dogs lay on their stomachs, their eyes moving with the roast rabbits.

A large freshly woven wool carpet was spread out in the lawn around the campfire, and the carpet was filled with wine, bread, and dried fruit preserves, while Lottie's maid, Camille, and Salt's youngest daughter, Crez, were cutting and plating food with a knife and silver fork, while Camille's nurse-like peasant woman was nursing her baby wrapped in soft fur.

A little farther away in front of the stream, Art sat on a special low stool, holding a fishing rod in her hand, staring quietly at the goose feathers floating on the water, while Lottie held a piece of raw silk in her right hand and a thin needle and gold thread in her left hand to draw a picture of the Virgin and the Child.

This is a rare reunion between Art and his family, now Art not only has to train the army but also take care of the civil construction of the valley, even the general affairs outside the valley must also participate, a month is rare to stay in the wooden fort for two days, in order to spend extremely precious time with his wife and children, Art has given up his favorite hunt, picked up the old carpenter Bard for him special fishing rod in the stream pool.

The husband and wife were fishing and knitting like this, chatting without a word.

"My dear, I heard that you wrote a letter asking your father to pay the county for the taxes that you owe over the years, right?"

Art hoisted the fishing rod, glanced at the bait and flicked it out again, "Yes, I also took the lead in paying the county a total of 110,000 fennigs from Wincheston Manor, Southwestern Farm, and Lane Manor. ”

"I read the newspaper from the Northland, is it because the palace ordered all localities to pay taxes? But I don't think there will be many places willing to honestly follow the palace order to make up the payment? "Lottie was able to enter Art's office, so she was able to get the news from the newspaper from the Northlands.

"That's right, most of the provinces and counties will not pay attention to this edict, and it is precisely because of this that Viscount Pierre will be the person who is different, this time can attract the attention of the marquis, the whole county has been in arrears over the years with more than 1.5 million fennigs, as long as he can collect all the millions, then the marquis can praise him."

"Then the marquis will only praise Viscount Pierre for governing the county well, what kind of fun are you following~ Can you still ~" Lottie knew that her husband would not do anything that was not profitable.

Art laughed, "I have discussed with Pierre, as long as I take the lead in paying the taxes, the other lords in the county will not dare to say a single word "no", as long as I do not object, no one in the county will dare to resist Viscount Pierre." Bazel's bastard is dead, the Dean family has also been destroyed, and now the county is much cleaner, and Pierre has two hundred county soldiers in his hands, and if anyone dares to resist, the weapons in the hands of the county soldiers can also kill. ”

"As for the income~ My money is the bait on the hook, and the tax I paid will be returned in full in secret, and I can also take one-sixth of the tax share, the size of that fish is not small."

"And only if I let Pierre successfully complete this matter, he will have enough merit to get the fief, and he will not leave Tignets until he has a better belonging, and then I will have the opportunity to become the warden of Tinets......"

Before the words fell, the goose feathers in the waterhole floated violently twice, and Art screamed, and suddenly lifted the fishing rod, and the fishing line was pulled out of the water with a hiss—

Empty pole!

Lottie couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, "Lord Baron, don't lose your bait and catch a fish. ”

Art sat for half the afternoon, not even a loach was caught, he threw the fishing rod and yelled at Ron, the head of the guard who was laughing and amusing Lottie's personal maid Ollie, downstream from the stream, "Ron, you kid knows how to make girls happy, what are you doing?" Did you catch a fish? At noon, I'm going to make fish soup for my wife myself! ”

Ron heard Art's voice and stopped flirting with Ollie, picked up a wicker fish basket, and replied with a smile, "Master, my fish basket is almost full!"

Art was stunned for a moment, sat back on the low stool, and scolded in his mouth: "A guy, you stepped on shit, you can get things done while scolding~"

Lottie stopped laughing and scolded softly, "As far as you are in a hurry when fishing, I don't know how you calm down when you are hunting." ”

Lottie turned her head to look at Ron and Ollie, the two loving young men, and suddenly remembered something, and said to Art, "Lord Baron, since you have put me in charge of the internal affairs of the territory, I have to tell you one thing. ”

Art picked up the rod on the ground again, checked the bait on the hook, and asked with interest, "Oh?" What is important to my Excellency the Interior Officer? ”

"Do you remember when Little George was naming the feast, many of the lords and squires of Sapsburgh came with their families to congratulate them?"

"Well, remember, what's wrong?"

"I have been offered a marriage to your legion commanders, and more than one or two."

"Really?"

Art dropped the rod and asked, "Who are the lucky ones?" ”

"All knights, lords! Including the Cadet Knights. ”

"They want to serve it in one pot~ I'm afraid it's not my father-in-law's conspiracy?" Art laughed.

"It's not in shape! My father didn't have the energy to pay attention to these trivialities. ”

"How? Should we promise those squires? ”

This question stumped Yate, several core officers and several civil affairs officials under his command have not yet married, and they are either busy fighting or building on weekdays, and many officers and officials are taking advantage of the rest of the day to go to the county town or village for recreation, which is indeed not a long-term solution.

"This ~ marrying a wife is not something I can decide with a word, it mainly depends on the guys' own meaning."

After pondering for a long time, Art raised his head and said to Lottie: "In this way, next month, in the name of the Baroness, you invite the squire lords of Sapburg, Andermatt, and the county to hold a spring ball in the wooden castle with their families. If there is really a match, you, the internal affairs officer, will be responsible for liaising with both parties, and everything needed for their wedding will also be funded by the civil administration, well~ You can also hold a group wedding. ”

"Spring Ball ~ Group Wedding, haha, I didn't expect it, it seems that you really have a lot of flowers and plants in your head~"

............

"From this day on, you are no longer the children of soldiers and farmers, the flowers and plants in your minds should be thrown away as soon as possible, what you have to learn is the ladder to another world - words, I know that in your eyes these strange symbols are definitely not as interesting as the flowers and plants in the field. But remember that this is something that will never seem possible to others, and that you would not have had such a precious opportunity in your eternal life if it were not for the Baron. ”

"You may not know what it means to you to enter this school, so I'll tell you. Entering the academy means that you will enjoy the right to read that only the nobility and the church can have; Entering the academy means that you will bid farewell to the fate of peasants, and will no longer devote your life to the land and the ploughshare like your fathers and ancestors; When you enter the Academy, you will be promoted, and you may become a clerk, a steward, a clerk, or even a knight like Lord Cooper, or a messenger of God on earth like me! ”

"This is not a beautiful vision for you, but it is a real honor that has already been obtained, not to mention that everyone can be as lucky as Master Cooper, at least everyone knows the apprentices who have walked out of the academy, your predecessors have entered the army and civil affairs to become officers and officials in charge, enjoying the support and salary of the military and civilian government, and those deacons in the newly built villages have also walked out of this academy......"

In the parish school of Mubao in the valley, Father Hamish is teaching the second apprenticeship of the parish school, apparently because these children do not study hard.

Some of these half-grown children were brought back from outside the caravans, and some were stranded in the first batch of apprentices, but more were selected from the families of officers and soldiers of the army and civil administration.

The apprentices of the first parish school basically entered the military and civil affairs system as apprenticeships, becoming low-ranking officers and civil affairs officials and even deputy stewards, and these children will become the backbone of the military and civilian government after three or five years.

A boy of twelve or thirteen years old raised his hand, Hamish closed his eyes and asked, "Weaslo, what do you want to say again!" ”

The boy touched his head and said embarrassedly: "Father Hamish, I understand what you said, my father also said the same thing to me, but every time I see those symbols on the wooden board, I think of them as earthworms, and then I think about whether to catch them to feed the chickens or take them to fish~"

The boy's words made the other children laugh along with him.

Father Hamish patted the long table in front of him with the Bible in his hand, "Quiet, quiet! ”

The apprentices slowly fell silent.

"Weslow, your father, Sart, was a great merchant who was good at calculations and writing, but why can't you inherit some from your father? If you learn arithmetic, you can't even remember numbers, if you learn words, you treat it as an earthworm, let you learn to forge, and you can't wield a hammer. What other advantages do you have besides a clever mouth? "Father Hamish really hates iron and steel, and the representative of the first apprenticeship who stayed in the second phase is this precious son of Salt, who is smart and articulate, but he just doesn't study seriously.

"Your father told me that if you can't read a hundred words before summer, he'll send you to the construction officer to work with the war slaves!" Hamish carried out the boy's father.

Weaslow immediately half-fledged and obediently sat back on the low stool.

"All right, children, today we begin to study the Gospel of Matthew......"

............

When the recitation of the scriptures sounded in the parish school of Mubao in the valley, the sound of the trumpet of labor also sounded in the newly cultivated land in the southern valley.

The spring ploughing season has come, hundreds of war slaves {slaves} who used to be farmers are pulling ploughshares, holding hoes, and shovels under the supervision of a standing peasant squad holding spears and swords, pulling ploughshares, holding hoes, and shovels to cultivate the land, because the recruitment of displaced people has basically stagnated, and there are still nearly 1,600 acres of newly reclaimed land last year that have not been rented, and of course these lands cannot be idle, so the civil administration selected more than 100 war slaves under the jurisdiction of the construction official after obtaining the consent of Yat and transferred them to the cantonment officer to temporarily become serfs. This year's grain harvest will also be fully collected by the civilian administration.

There were not many people in the valley, but there was no shortage of labor in the valley, and almost every time the army fought, a group of enemy soldiers would be captured and returned to the valley to serve as war slaves, who had to plough the fields, build houses, cut wood for the workshops or carry goods for the caravans, and in any case, wherever hard labor was required, these war slaves had to do it unconditionally.

To tell the truth, these people are even more miserable than the serfs outside, but strangely not many people choose to escape.

The reason is simple - they don't want to run and can't run away.

First of all, Art knows that there is a limit to human patience, so his oppression is not indefinite. Most of the enemy soldiers who were able to avoid beheading on the battlefield and were selected as war slaves were relatively honest enemy soldiers, and Art told them at the beginning that the price of their lives was to accept a two-year war slave reform, and promised that they would return to their free status after passing the two-year transformation, and the war slaves had at least one hope in their hearts;

Secondly, although the war slaves worked like cattle every day, they basically did not have the worry of freezing to death and starving, and the construction officials would not let them have enough food and strength to make trouble, but they would never let them work on an empty stomach, and the food they obtained every day was just enough to support a day's heavy labor.

The last is a harsh punishment, once a war slave dares to resist and make trouble, the face will be as small as being locked in a prison without water and food, and as big as chopping off hands and feet and throwing them in the wild to feed wolves; As for the escape, it is not that no one has tried, but all of them have become food in the bellies of the beasts of the mountains and forests and ghosts under the swords of the peasants and soldiers.

In addition, the civil administration will occasionally provide a little meat and wine to the war slaves after completing a certain task, and the parish priest Hamish will also go to the war slaves from time to time to preach God and self-redemption......

All this, over time, the war slaves gave up their useless struggle.

Looking at the hill peninsula on the southwest side of the busy spring ploughing site, more than 60 newly captured war slaves were under the strict supervision of two small groups of heavily armed peasant soldiers and used heavy hammers and picks to chisel down the rocks on the left and right sides of the hill, making both sides of the hill completely cliffs.

At that time, if you want to enter Wellsburg, which is built on the hill, you can only find a way to rely on the gentle slope of the river on three sides, which will improve the defense of Wellsburg a lot, and the stone obtained from the excavation of the cliff will also be used to build Willsburg.

Civil Affairs Officer Cooper, accompanied by Lawrence, inspected the castle construction site, and he held a copy of the castle footing design drawings in his hand and said: "Lawrence, the lord has high hopes for Willsburg, and he has repeatedly emphasized that the footings of the castle must be solid, and we would rather spend a few more years to ensure that Willsburg is the strongest castle possible." ”

"Don't worry, old butler, I won't let your adults and you down."

Cooper nodded and glanced at the war slaves who were working shirtless, and ordered: "These new war slaves are still angry, you must take strict care of them, and you must not make trouble." ”

"You can rest assured, these garrison peasants in charge of guarding are carefully selected by Lord Bass, and it is no problem to deal with these surrenders. And during this time we will not give enough food to the war slaves, and the hungry will not make trouble. ”

While Cooper and Lawrence were talking, there was a cheer from the workshop area below the hill, and after a while, the steward of the weapons workshop hurried to Cooper's side, "Master Cooper, the first set of homemade full-body plate armor in the workshop has been assembled!" ”

"Let's go! Check it out~"