On the second day of the feast, Art had breakfast and went out of the wooden castle south with Cooper, and he planned to inspect the valley before leaving.

At this time, the grain has changed its appearance, it was a barren land in the early winter of last year, and now it is slowly becoming fertile farmland, two large fields are distributed on both sides of the river, the gray-black soil extends to the edge of the tender yellow grass, five or six farmers carry cloth bags to replant wheat seeds in the field, and on both sides are farmers who carry water from the fields and rivers to water the wheat seeds with wooden barrels.

When the two of them went out of the valley and went straight to the gentle slope next to the valley mouth, several peasant women and children who were reinforcing the fence around the gentle slope saw Art's arrival and hurriedly stepped forward to curtsy, greeting their "lord" in their mouths.

Several thatched huts had been erected on the gentle slope less than thirty feet high. Lawrence's wife was making a fire in a makeshift wooden hut to boil water, and the boiling water in another clay pot was already cool, and another peasant woman was carrying a clay pot full of warm water and walking to the farmland down the gentle slope, where the people who had been busy all morning were in dire need of clean hot water.

"Good day, sir." Lawrence's wife, though still emaciated, had a polished face, and she saw Art and the others walking towards the room, and got up and bowed her head to say hello.

Art nodded at her and asked, "Catherine, where is your husband?" ”

"Back to my lord, Lawrence went to the wasteland to the south with a few men of the Fort Guard early in the morning, and knowing that you were coming to the valley, he said that he was going to catch a few hares for you to taste."

"Well, then I have to thank him."

Art leaned over to look at the water in the clay pot and asked Lawrence's wife, "Catherine, do you know that Baron Antayas has recaptured Alsburg?" ”

"Yes, Lawrence told me that it was you who helped the Baron recover Alsburg. Several of the Patrol's brothers were also killed in the battle to reclaim Ars. ”

"Catherine, tell me the truth, do you want to go back to Alsburg?"

Lawrence's wife stood up from the fire and asked in a terrified manner, "My lord, did Lawrence make you angry?" I make amends to you. As he spoke, he knelt on the ground.

Art quickly helped her up and said, "Lawrence has been doing a good job, I just thought that you might prefer to go back to Ars to live, after all, it is your homeland." ”

"My lord, we are only free farmers who rent the land of the lord in Ars, and we are only slightly better off than those serfs. Now we can rent more land here, pay less agricultural taxes, and you've given Lawrence an errand and we're willing to stay here and become your lords. ”

"Well, Catherine, these words have already been spoken to me by Lawrence yesterday, and I will only ask you again. Since both of you think so, then stay here and do things for me in peace, and I won't treat you badly. ”

"Alright, let's take us to see the granary first."

Catherine agreed to put half of the firewood in her hand into the fire, and led Art towards a densely walled barn in the middle of the clearing.

The small door of the barn was bolted with an iron lock brought back from Wincheston Manor, and Catherine took the key from her waist to open the iron lock and pushed the wooden door open. The barn was small, no more than eight feet square, and inside were shelves made of several layers of wood, on each shelf were bags of grain, and on the top floor were large bags of salt and bacon jerky.

"My lord, these are the food reserves of the people in the valley, and eight hundred pounds of husked wheat, Lawrence goes to the wooden castle every half a month to find the old butler to get food, these grains are stored here, the keys are kept by me, and I cook for everyone every day."

Art entered the small barn and opened a bag of wheat, reached in and took out a handful to see that the wheat was well preserved and did not have any mildew, he put the wheat in his pocket, clapped his hands and said to the old butler and Catherine: "You must take good care of this grain, first, to prevent anyone from stealing it, second, not to let rats steal food, and third, to prevent the grain from being damp and mildewed." This grain is the life of all farmers. ”

"Master, don't worry, everyone regards food as more important than life, and they won't let anything happen to food."

"Alright, let's go see some shacks." As he spoke, he walked towards some of the large shacks.

The shacks on the gentle slope were hastily erected, and Art walked into the largest one, which was simply divided into seven or eight single rooms by the peasants with rags, and in the middle of the shacks was a hearth, but the weather was gradually warming, and there were only some burned ashes in the hearth.

The furnishings in the house are simple and messy, and there are ragged clothes and pots and pans brought by the farmers everywhere, and there are some utensils for excrement and urine in the corner.

"Cooper, I told them not to laze in the room, why is it still so stinky?" Art covered his nose and said responsibly.

Old Cooper looked helpless and said: "Master, I have dug a big pit under the gentle slope and covered a thatched hut for everyone to pull according to your request, but these people are not noble lords, they are used to spreading wild everywhere, and everyone is reluctant to go out in the cold winter, they are not soldiers, and I can't force them to change their ......."

"It doesn't matter if he's a noble lord or not, it has nothing to do with whether he's noble or not, it's too easy to breed germs if he goes on like this......"

"Master, what is the germ breeding thing?"

"Hey, forget it, let's talk about it later!" Art wasn't going to discuss these out-of-time things with Cooper.

With a brief glance at it, Art went out of the hut to inspect the implements and the barn, which had been vacated and the animals that had worked hard for a spring had been brought back to the wooden fort, where they would be better cared for.

At this time, Lawrence, who had gone out hunting, also returned to the gentle slope with a few young farmers. Lawrence and the others carried two hares that had been beaten to death with sticks, and Lawrence handed the hares to Catherine and told her to make a honey-smeared rabbit and came to Art's side.

"Your Excellency, you're so early."

"Yes, I'm going out at noon, so I'll have to come to the valley sooner and see if all the fields are now planted with wheat?"

"Yes, my lord, all the cultivated land has been planted, and now everyone is replenishing the wheat seeds in the sparsely sown areas. Moreover, we also planted these peas and onions and some miscellaneous vegetables in the slightly barren areas on the west side of the gentle slope, so that we could have vegetables to eat in the summer and autumn. ”

Art glanced at the western side of the gentle slope, where the weeds had been replaced by sprouts of various vegetables that had just sprouted.

"My lord, do you want to call all the farmers back now?" Lawrence asked.

"Forget it, let's hurry up and finish the work in the field, there are still a lot of things to do in the wooden castle, so don't delay everyone. I'm here just to see what's going on here, and then to hear if you have anything else you urgently need that I can bring back with me this time. ”

Lawrence looked down and thought for a moment, and replied, "My lord, there is food and shacks here, and we are already very satisfied. It's just~just~"

"Just what? You can say it, and if I can do it, I will find a way to do it. Art said.

"Adult~ That's the ......"

It turned out that after the banquet yesterday, Lawrence returned to the valley and told the farmers that Art would come to see everyone, and several farmers asked Lawrence if he could ask Lord Art to build a simple chapel, so that these wandering people in a foreign land could have a soul belonging and the light of God.

After hearing this, Art did not answer in a hurry, but asked, "Lawrence, I heard the old butler say that you have built a small shack for yourself, can I go to your house to sit?" ”

"It's a great honor. Please! Lawrence got out of the way, leading Art and Cooper to a small shack behind the big shack that was slightly more elaborately worked.

"My lord, this shack was built for me by the old housekeeper and Bud, and it is a little smaller, but it is quite sturdy."

Art and Cooper went into the little shack, which was much cleaner than the big one. The hut was also made of miscellaneous wood and thatch, but the surrounding wooden walls were indeed impermeable, and a hearth was dug in the middle of the hut, but now a small wooden table was placed on the hearth, and on the wooden table were neatly placed a small clay pot and several sets of wooden bowls and cutlery, and under the wooden table there was a wooden bed covered with soft hay, and there was a wool felt blanket and a few cleaned linen shorts on the wooden bed.

Lawrence invited Art and Cooper to sit down at the table, and Art motioned for Lawrence to sit down as well, and said to the two of them, "You two are people I trust, and I want to say that I don't plan to build a church here now, for three reasons." First, now that everything is just beginning to be built here, we have to put all our time and energy into building the valley. Second, this is not a fiefdom of any lord, we can quietly cultivate the land here, no one will collect taxes, and no one will interfere with our ideas. But in any case, it's not reasonable for us to reclaim land here, and I don't want it to be too conspicuous. If we want to build a church, we must ask the diocese of Tignets to send a priest or a priest, and then this will not be a land that no one knows, and the greedy lords and nobles will not sit idly by and watch this fertile land be occupied by a commoner without a territory for a long time. Mistress Pierre allowed us not to pay taxes because he thought I was cultivating wasteland in a wasteland outside the dense forest, and they all knew that there was not a grain of grain left in those places. Third, once the church intervenes, we have to pay the church's tithes, which are paid by the farmers......"

Of course, Art would not tell Lawrence the fourth reason—that he was a religiously devout believer in God and the gods, but he knew what kind of disaster the clergy filled with lust and greed would bring to this paradise, and besides, it was a time of theocracy, and it was easy for the church to go into a lot of unnecessary trouble. Therefore, until he has rightfully acquired this "territory" and found the "suitable" clergy, he will not let the church meddle in this valley.

Lawrence and Cooper chewed on Art's words, although they also wanted to build a church to pray to God for their sins, but if the construction of a church would affect the future development of the valley, then they would not agree.

Seeing that the two of them had basically accepted his idea, Art continued, "Of course, I also know that everyone wants this to be the land of the gods, so I think you can organize everyone to prepare for the construction of a temporary chapel in your free time, and the location is in the wooden castle. But for the time being, I don't plan to ask a priest to settle in, after the repair, Cooper can take everyone to do some prayers, as for the Mass, prayer, confession for the time being, I will talk about it later, when I find a suitable priest. ”

Cooper's face was full of suspicion and asked, "Master, I~ Can this work?" ”

"There is God in the heart, and heaven everywhere. That's it, how do you tell the burghers that you can do it yourself. ”

Next, Art, led by Lawrence and Cooper, went to the farmland to see the land and the sowing of wheat seeds, and talked to the farmers in the field, encouraging everyone to work hard under the leadership of the old housekeeper and Lawrence and Scott, so that everyone could live a prosperous and stable life as soon as possible.

At noon, Art and Cooper had a roast rabbit meal with the farmers in the valley, and in the afternoon Art returned to the wooden castle and left the wooden castle with Ron Simon and the "stupid soldier" Jason who had been "retreated" again......