When spring turns to winter, when the goose feather snow falls over Mecklenburgshire, it is known that the cold wind from northern Europe is mixed with snow flakes, and this seemingly beautiful and cruel snowflake from heaven is the yoke of the poor, but Arold has signed an order that the poor people in Mecklenburg can pick up dead branches in the forest as fuel for fire, and the forest and river are the property of the nobles, and when most of the Slavic nobles are locked up in the Mecklenburg dungeon, these properties belong to Arold as a matter of course, and the generous earl used the upcoming earl's ordination ceremony as a reason for the poor to warm their huts with dead branches.

"Ah, it's so cold~~." Dressed in a thick linen shirt, which was bulging with inferior wool, the poor man Milu rubbed his frozen red hands, and when he opened the wooden door of his hut, he saw a world of ice sculptures and jade pecking, and in just one night the heavy snow had covered the entire county, and the ground was tired and thick with snow.

"It's snowing." Milu's wife, who wrapped herself in a turban of coarse woollen fabric, poked her head out to look at it, and then retreated into the thatched hut where the flames burned in the pond in the middle of the house.

"Yes, if the Count hadn't let us use the dead branches in his forest, I really don't know how we would have survived this winter." Milu picked up a wooden shovel from behind the door, shoveled aside the thick snow in front of his house, stomped his numb foot, and said to his wife in the hut.

"That's right, may God bless the generous and merciful Earl, yes. I heard that the Count is going to hold a celebration in the castle today? Milu's wife held her sleeping child close to the flames in the pond, the flames warmed her body, although the cold wind came in through the cracks in the huts, but there were shelters from the wind and snow and bonfires in the ponds, which made them feel that there was no better place than their warm home.

"Crunch, crunch~~." Suddenly, Milu saw that on the path in front of his house, Todd, the chief of his village, was walking towards him with a few people, one foot shallow and one foot deep, and when he saw the chief of his group, Milu didn't dare to be careless and hurriedly put down the wood in his hand. A woolen felt hat was taken off from behind the door and put on his head. And go forward.

"Milu, the adults from the castle have come to distribute money and things to us." Todd saw Milu waving his hands at him and shouted at him.

"What? What to distribute? Milu's eyes widened in confusion as he saw several attendants in black square robes following Todd. These squires were very young, though. But they were exercising power on behalf of Count Arrode.

"Ladies and gentlemen. The home of one of the last armor guards in our village. Todd stood by the side of the road and bowed to the attendants.

"You're Milu?" At this time, the young squire, who had just grown fluff on his lips, looked at Milu who had taken off his hat and followed Todd and asked. As he spoke, he took out a roll of parchment, which Miru seemed to recognize, which he had seen in the castle before, and drew a cross with a quill in the place designated on it.

"That's right, I'm Milu." Listening to Milu's words, the attendant asked Milu to squat on the ground and draw a cross in the snow with his fingers, Milu did not dare to disobey the order from the lord in the castle, and hurriedly did so, but at this time he still did not know what the other party was going to do.

"Well, well, this is your income for a year of service to the noble Earl, and as for some bread and smoked fish, you have to go to the castle and collect it yourself with this wooden plaque, which is your identification from now on, and you must not lose it." The attendant handed him a bronze coin, which he had paid for the month after his service to Arrod, and a wooden plaque with a flax rope on it, which was written in Latin by the monks of the Abbey of St. Jom, and carved with a knife so that it could not be easily damaged.

"This money is for me?" Milu looked at the copper in his hand in disbelief, these coppers were enough to buy many things in the market, in fact, he was a defender completely with the crowd, seeing that most of the families in the village did this, as a newcomer, he did not dare to join the ranks of the armor guards, and went to the castle to serve in the army less than two months after receiving training.

He knew that as a peasant, he could only survive in this land as long as he obediently listened to the words of the nobles, and the nobles said that they would pay taxes if they wanted to pay taxes, and the nobles said that they would take up arms to fight, as long as they could let their families have a foothold in the land, Milu didn't think too much, this was the case when he lived in the former territory, and he believed that it was the same in this new land, but he heard that the taxes here were relatively light, so he brought his family to immigrate.

"Well, it's good, Milu, so I'm right to say that I joined the armor guards, Haluha." Todd stepped forward and patted Milu on the shoulder and said to him.

"That's right, I didn't expect to get so much money, I've never seen so much copper in my life." Mi Lu looked at Huang Cancan's copper in disbelief, trembling with excitement, this money was enough for him and his family to spend a comfortable winter.

"By the way, you can also go to the castle to get food and things with the wooden sign, and don't forget, I'll leave first if I have something to do." Todd saw the attendants who had turned away, and hurriedly trotted after them, leaving only Milu standing in front of his house.

When Milu brought the money into her house, she was stopped by his wife, who had been hiding in the house, and asked endlessly, this poor woman had never seen her husband take so much money, she burst into tears of joy and excitement, and knelt on the ground to pray to God and the Count in thanksgiving, and looking at her happy wife, Milu, an honest Germanic peasant, rubbed his face with his rough hands, and finally smiled on the face that had gone through the hardships of life.

"Take this basket of mushrooms, which I picked in the last week of autumn, and I originally intended to eat them in the harsh winter, but because of the merciful Earl, our days are much better, so I bring this basket of mushrooms to the Merciful Earl, and greet him. We always pray to God Lang for his health and longevity. Milu's wife nagged and said to Milu, who was about to go out.

"Yes." Milu nodded and tied his straw rope belt, and walked towards the castle with the mushrooms in the basket, their village colony gathering point is near the castle, so it can be reached on foot, along the way, Milu was surprised to see many people walking towards the castle with things and things, it seems that everyone's purpose is the same.

As the castle of Mecklenburg is dressed up in a new mood and awaits the date of Arold's knighthood, the attendants who have grown up in the academy of the castle are assigned to various jobs in the castle, some of them shuttle between the corridors of the castle to deliver Arold's various orders and bring back news, and some prepare various kinds of food in the lord's kitchen, because many noble guests soon come to the castle. Some of the attendants were sent outside the castle to distribute the honorariums to the guards.

Servants and handymen washed the walls and towers. But the cold air caused the water to freeze quickly, and Mecklenburg Castle seemed to be covered with a shiny shell. The castle guards stood at the castle's gatehouse, stamping their feet and holding their long-handled weapons in a white breath. Faithfully performing their duties. The guards who did not perform their duties hid in the guard room with a burning fireplace. Sip a steaming ale and play with dice on an ale barrel.

As the armor soldiers walked through the castle gatehouse into the open space in front of the tower, Martin and the Swiss mercenaries set up a table. Stacked next to the table were bread and smoked fish, which were year-end gifts for the armor guards, who consciously lined up to receive bread and smoked fish with the wooden plaques in their hands, which could only be obtained by those who had served Arold for more than a year.

"Lord Earl, you have given these peasants so much that it seems to me to be a complete waste." Brother Elvet said puzzled to Arold, who was standing at the window of the tower, looking out into the square, and the long line reached the gatehouse of the castle.

"It's not much, these people are loyal soldiers to me, and it's too cost-effective to gain the loyalty of a soldier with a little bread and smoked fish." Arold knows what a year-end reward is, this seemingly very beautiful incentive system, in fact, is just an illusion, but when employees or farmers hold real things, they will only be grateful to the person who gave the gift.

"Let me see the wooden plaque, this is yours, don't forget that this is given to you by the noble earl, and you will have to fight bravely on the battlefield in the future." Martin shouted loudly as he handed the things to the peasants who received them, and the Elvet monks in the tower seemed to understand a little bit of Martin's actions, and at the same time he glanced at Arrod, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart for Arrod's cunning. "Why don't you leave after you get it?"

"Your Excellency, please give this to the Honorable Earl." Milu handed the basket to Martin, who he didn't know who to give the things to in this castle, and Martin seemed to be in charge of the place, so he handed the mushrooms in the basket.

"What is this?" Martin strangely uncovered the dirty linen on the basket, frowned and saw the shriveled mushrooms inside, and couldn't help but be a little impatient, "Lord Earl won't want such a thing, take it." ”

"But, but." Two Swiss guards immediately stepped forward and pushed Milu aside, Milu had never dealt with nobles in his life, and Mu Nezhong didn't know what to say, while the other people in the rear saw Milu being pushed away, and put away their things in disappointment.

"Wait a minute." At this moment, Arold's voice came from the window of the tower, and he stood at the mouth of the window to reveal his purple woolen robe, and his young and noble countenance, which had been sewn for Arold by the court tailor of the Duke of Mason, and the wool was the finest velvet from Milan, and the sides of the robe were wrapped in mink fur, which was warm and graceful.

"Lord Earl, Lord Earl." The guards who lined up to receive the things shouted excitedly when they saw the noble Count Arrod, and they stretched out their hands to cheer at Arrod, and the square in front of the castle tower was full of people's noise.

"What's wrong?" When the guards heard the commotion, several put on their helmets and picked up the weapons on the racks and rushed out of the guard room, where they saw people cheering at the top of the tower.

"Thank you, my warriors, for your courage in defeating the terrible infidels, may God bless you." Standing at the window, Arold waved to the guards in the square, with a gentle smile on his face, without the arrogance or arrogance of the nobility, which made the peasants who were born at the bottom of the house loud and good.

"What a strange nobleman." Brother Elvet was puzzled in his heart, the nobles always maintained their authority with arrogance and arrogance, and they did not know what it meant to be close to the people, because I was noble because of my noble blood.

"Sometimes, people need inspiration." Arold measured himself and said to Brother Elvet. (To be continued......)