Chapter 68: Prestige before Grace
Three kilometers below the hill camp, there is a large camp, which is the temporary camp of the freedmen ordered by Victor to be built to house the freedmen who came to him.
The area of the temporary station is quite acceptable, it is 1 square kilometer, and there are residential areas, squares, and a water reservoir in it. It's just that the facilities in the camp are a little rudimentary, and the living area on the right is full of low shacks, densely packed together. The camp's fence is a fragile fence made of clay and red pine branches, which can be easily dug by ordinary farmers with tools, so it only serves the purpose of dividing the area.
To the left of the temporary station is the square area, where the ground is flat and clean, and there are rows of tables and chairs in the corner of the square, which is where the freedmen eat.
Paul is eating his breakfast in the dining area, a plant root called sweet potato. Paul carefully peeled off the blackened skin of the roasted potato, and the white flesh inside was suddenly revealed, steaming hot, and with a smell of aroma, he smiled and ate it heavily.
Paul liked the sweet potato very much, it was sweet and sweet, and most importantly, it filled his belly, and a boy like him was always very hungry.
In fact, Paul had dug up this kind of sweet potato before, but those mountain people told him that this kind of thing can only be eaten by wild boars, and people will have diarrhea and even poison to death if they eat it.
Therefore, when the temporary station provided them with this food, they were resisted. In the end, it was the honorable villager leader who took the lead in eating it, and they dared to try it.
Later, the manager of the station told them that the raw sweet potato is indeed poisonous, whether it is eaten raw or stewed, it will make people diarrhea, but as long as it is dried for three days, the toxicity of the sweet potato will disappear, and after baking, the taste is particularly sweet.
Paul felt that life in this camp was good, at least he could eat wild boar meat here regularly, and when he was in the free camp, the meat was eaten first by the leader and his men.
"Paul, don't eat too much, you'll have to go out to work later. ”
It was Wood, Paul's father, who was also an honest farmer.
"Oh. Paul agreed, but the sweet potato in his hand was not put down.
Wood shook his head, but a smile appeared on his lips, he was also very satisfied with the life here, not only was he fed, but he also did not have to be beaten often. Therefore, the father and son work very hard. The leader of the villagers, the old man, had already told him that he would recommend their father and son to become the lord's lords, so that they could move to the hill camp and live.
"Hopefully, nothing has changed. ”
Yesterday's turmoil made Wood a little worried, in the past, the village leaders had sent people over to beckon them to work, but today there was no movement.
"Dang", "Dang", "Dang" Three bells rang in the square, slowly and distantly.
Wood and Paul looked up in surprise, not the same as yesterday's hurried alarm bells, the bells of the assembly, the difference they knew as former lords.
"Assemble all in the square! Lord, summon everyone!"
Several heavily armed guards shouted loudly in the camp.
Victor stood on the high platform of the square under the sanitation of the guards, looking down at the black crowd below, with a grim expression, today, he is here to kill!
"My lord, the people have arrived. Sheriff Linda, dressed in leather armor and carrying a long sword at her waist, whispered to Victor.
Victor nodded, stepped forward, and spoke up to the freedmen below.
"Villagers, I am Baron Victor Wimbledon, lord of the kingdom of Gambis, lord of this land. ”
Hearing the lord's voice, the freedfolk below held their breath and showed expressions of awe.
"Although most of you are free people, I, as lord here, also provide shelter and food, shelter and order. Victor continued.
"But just yesterday, a small group of people, in this camp, openly killed people, causing a riot throughout the camp, which eventually caused more than a dozen deaths and injuries. ”
"This kind of behavior, which endangers the safety of all of you and goes against my will, is a provocation to me. According to the laws of the Kingdom of Gambis, the murder of innocent people should be hanged!
Following Victor's order, several guards approached with three men who were tied up.
Victor noticed that although the three men were dragged by the guards, they were still struggling back and forth, not that they refused to leave, but they didn't want to be grabbed by the guards, so they were pushed and shoved in front of Victor.
These prisoners were tied up with flowers, their mouths were still strangled by knotted hemp ropes, their bodies were stained with blood, their noses were blue and their faces were swollen, and they seemed to have been severely lectured, but their eyes were still fierce, and they glanced at the crowd of onlookers from time to time, and they did not have a look of fear that they were about to be executed, but revealed a kind of recklessness and wildness, which was the mountain people.
Physique 10, Spiritual 8, Perception 9, Life 10. This is the data that Victor collected from a mountain man led by him.
Victor was a little surprised by such elemental attributes, which had already reached the data standard of elite soldiers.
Victor looked at it again, and the data of the other two mountain people were basically the same, which made Victor's heart move, and he ordered the guards below: "Untie the hemp rope from their mouths." ”
The ropes in their mouths were untied, and the eyes of the three mountain people showed a hint of joy, at least they had the right to defend themselves.
"You three killed people for no reason, and I will sentence you to hang, do you have anything to say?" asked Victor in a cold voice.
"Lord Lord, we didn't kill people for no reason, it was those people who robbed my woman, so we killed them. The mountain people at the head shouted loudly.
"My lord, this man is talking nonsense, his woman is the wife of other freemen, and he has usurped it. After taking refuge in our camp, the woman returned to her husband. The mountain man was very unconvinced, and beat the couple many times, and was severely whipped by our people before they became honest. Unexpectedly, this time he led people, took advantage of the chaos to stab the husband to death, and killed a free man who had fought against them. Linda explained in a low voice to Victor.
Victor sighed in his heart, now the ratio of men and women in the villagers under his command is seriously imbalanced, reaching 8:2, not to mention these free people who have just taken refuge, even the first people to follow him, because of jealousy, frequent conflicts, so Victor asked Nelson to find a way to recruit some women to come.
"The woman you snatched can also be counted as your woman? Even if it is your woman, why don't you go to the sheriff to deal with it?
Victor looked at this mountain man coldly, he would kill these three people, but he also had to figure out the difference between the mountain people and other free people, and the management of the free people's residence.
"My lord, that woman followed me, it was mine, I gave her the best food, the best fur, why did that weak fellow fight with me? We have been like this for generations, whoever is the strongest will pick the woman first. ”
"When we arrived at this camp, the sheriff ignored the requests of us mountain people, and asked those women to choose men again, there are many of them, and they will please the team leader, how can we fight?
The leader of the mountain people shouted loudly, which caused some mountain people in the crowd to echo. It was only then that Victor realized that the freedmen were clearly divided into two groups. The men on the left, though few in number, are distinctly strong and wild, and they are all mountain people among the freedmen.
"You stinky fart! You wild people, you are lazy when you work, you grab meat when you eat, and you bully people at every turn! You deserve us to promote you?" a villager leader couldn't help but scold.
"Master Leader, we people are not as good as you, but we are all good hunters, every time a beast attacks, don't we drive it away? Another mountain man argued loudly.
"Fart! Even the wild wolves have been killed, so what wild beasts are there? It's just some wild boars, and they've been driven away by the militia! Can you get rid of them?"
Victor had already understood that these mountain people were originally the leaders of the free people, and after taking refuge, they still wanted to climb on the heads of ordinary farmers as before. And these farmer-turned-freedmen hated these domineering fellows very much, which naturally caused confrontation and exclusion.
"My lord, we obeyed your will and took our men to join you, originally thought that we could at least get a villager leader to do it, but in the end, we had to do farm work like those homeless people, but we really don't know how to do farm work, we are all first-class hunters, they squeezed out us, this time it was that guy who scolded me first, and I did it. ”
"My lord, we are better than those farmers, we should be soldiers, not farmers, and ask the adults to call the shots!"
Hearing the words of the leader of the mountain people, the mountain people in the crowd suddenly clamored, as if they had been wronged, but in fact, they just wanted to fight for more benefits.
The peasants on the other side were quiet, not just because of cowardice, they knew very well that they had to be in awe before the lord, or they would be thrown out.
"That's enough!" Victor shouted, and there was a sudden silence below.
"Murder is to be put to death! Since you think you have been treated unfairly, then I will give you a chance, I will send a guard to fight you with your bare hands, and if you can kill him, I will pardon your capital crimes. Renault, you go!"
There was a hint of anger in Victor's eyes, and he whispered to Renault, "Leave no one alive!"
Although these mountain people took refuge in the hill camp because they were afraid of Nelson's iron-blooded methods, they were unruly, fierce and aggressive, and even insisted on their own rules, which is to seek death!
The ropes of the three mountain people were untied, and the mountain leader determined that the big man on the other side was not Nelson, and he cautiously asked Victor, "My lord, can we be pardoned if we kill him?"
"Don't you think you're strong, prove to me that you are brave and good at fighting, and that if you can kill him, you can become a soldier of your family and gain the status of a vassal. ”
"Good!" said the leader of the mountain people with a fierce expression.
"Let's go together!" the leader of the mountain people roared angrily, and these fierce mountain people immediately rushed up, they didn't believe that three people couldn't kill a single guard!
Renault bowed his body and rushed towards the mountain people who rushed over, and with a punch, there was a bang, and the mountain leader immediately flew backwards at a faster speed, his sternum was shattered, and he vomited black blood on the ground, and he was no longer alive.
All this happened so quickly that the other two mountain people did not realize that their companion had been killed, but threw themselves down on Renault's side, and the big fists rained down on Renault's head, and with their physique they could really kill a cow!
But Renaud is not a cow, 17 points of physique gives him strong strength and an incomparably tough body, not to mention that after loading the Barberry Secret Form, his strength skyrockets!
Renault ignored the fist that fell on his body, and as soon as his body moved, there was a "click" sound of broken bones, and the two fierce mountain people also fell a few meters away, their chests were concave, and they were bleeding from seven orifices, and they were killed on the spot.
With just one contact, the battle was over.
This devastating scene was no surprise to Victor, but it was extremely shocking to the free people who were watching, especially the mountain people who had just been noisy.
"They were taken out and buried. Victor commanded lightly.
Several guards immediately dragged the three bodies down, and Victor shouted to the stunned crowd.
"You are all free people, but as long as you are in my realm, you must obey my will, this is the power of the lords of the Radiant Code, and anyone who will not obey me must leave the territory. ”
"Today, I have executed three criminals, and if any of you disagree with this, you are free to leave this camp now, and it is also your right. But as long as you leave this camp, don't try to be my lord again!"
"Make your choice!"
As Victor spoke, the gate of the camp was opened, and the mountain people looked at each other, and after a while, several mountain people took the lead in leaving the group and walked out of the gate, followed by more and more mountain people, and it didn't take long for more than half of the mountain people to choose to leave the camp.
In the end, only half of the mountain people chose to stay, most of them were old and infirm, and those who were young and strong basically chose to leave.
"Very well, you should rejoice in those who choose to stay! Just two days ago, my guards spotted the traces of the ferocious wolf. Now, they have been driven to the outskirts of the camp by the guards. ”
Victor's intimidation caused a commotion in the camp, and the freedmen realized why the camp guards had left yesterday, and they had gone to encircle and suppress the wolves.
"You don't have to worry about the safety of the camp, as long as you stay here, the camp guards will keep you safe. At the same time, I have ordered a moratorium on the construction of the village and the reinforcement of this temporary camp first. For those who choose to leave, we can only wish them good luck!"
The freedfolk fell silent, and Reynolds' arrogance led everyone to think he was a knight. With the knight guarding it, the ferocious wolf will definitely not dare to move around.
"As for the mountain people who choose to stay, I assure you as a lord that you will be treated fairly, and if you are excluded and oppressed, you can report to the sheriff, and as long as you work hard, I will give you the status of a lord. ”
"Now, I will promote twenty of the best freedmen and grant them the status of lords, so that they can move to the hill camp and be sheltered by their families, they are 。。。。。。。 ”
When Victor read Wood and Paul's names, the father and son couldn't help but hug each other and burst into tears, the life of the Freedmen was like a nightmare for them, and now the nightmare is over.