In the third month of the Season of Fire, Randall's castle construction is in its final stages, but there are still thousands of people busy on the construction site.

Alda is one of them. The sturdy man in his thirties is carrying a rattan basket full of pebbles and climbing up the spiral pedals at the edge of the tower. The scorching sun shone on his sweaty back, and under his bronzed skin were knotted muscles, which looked extremely strong and muscular. The two-hundred-pound basket seemed like nothing to Alda, and in a few moments he was up to the tower.

The towers of the castle were an important part of the defense and needed to be reinforced very carefully. The walls of the tower are made up of three floors, and the inner and outer walls are made of ashlar and plastered with a special mortar made by Randall, so that they are very strong. The space between the interior and exterior walls is filled with pebbles, crushed stone and mortar. These materials need to be brought in little by little by the workers.

Transporting building materials to towers is not a job that anyone can do.

The tower is more than 40 meters above the ground, and the timid people will feel weak when they stand on it and look down, let alone carry heavy loads on the pedals. The people who do this job are not only strong but also bold and careful, but despite this, there are always people who fall to their deaths when building castle towers. As a result, Arvada earns 14 copper soles a day, twice as much as the average worker.

Alda had repaired many castle towers, and only the Randalls were paid the lowest, but he didn't complain at all. The overseers of the Randall family ordered a three-layer fence to be set up around the perimeter of the tower, and even if someone accidentally falls, they will be caught in the trap, as long as they are not hit by the weight on their shoulders, they can always save their lives. And the Randall family has a very high pension, but no one has received this life money yet.

The three-tiered barricade doubled the courage of the workers, and Arvada's heart warmed every time he saw this protective measure.

The setting sun cast a slanting shadow on the castle, and it was time for the end of work, and Alda and her group of workers lined up to receive their wages for the day.

Shaking the copper sol in his hand, Alda said to one of the workers beside him, "Kairi, I invite you to have a good meal." With that, Alda beckoned to the other companions, "Come together, everyone." ”

"Arvada, you're not going to invite us to sweet potato porridge, are you?" the man named Kairi rolled his eyes and laughed, "Why do you want a portion of pig's head?"

"Okay!" Arvada gritted his teeth, "just eat the pig's head." ”

Carey licked his lips and said with a smile, "Then go to the goat hotel, their pig's head meat is the most abundant and the price is cheap." ”

The other freedmen looked at each other, and they and Alda had traveled north and south for more than ten years, eating and sleeping in the open, huddling together for warmth, and knowing each other as if they were brothers. They knew very well that Alda's conditions were not good, there were two women in the family, four children to support, and they were usually reluctant to spend even a copper sol. Why did he suddenly invite Carey, a miser who loves to take advantage, to eat pig's head meat today?

"Alda has a treat today, what are you still doing in a daze?"

Carey happily beckoned back, and the hired workers suppressed their doubts and quickly followed.

The castle is only close to the town of the estuary, and after walking about 800 meters along the iron oak fence, everyone arrives at the suspension bridge at the south gate of the town.

On the drawbridge, two guards meticulously checked everyone's wooden signs.

Unlike other realms, Randall's lords allow freedfolk hired workers to live in the village, but each hired person must show his or her wooden badge to the guards in order to enter the village.

Alda's wooden plaque is only the size of a palm, with a triangle engraved on the front and two sets of numbers engraved on the back, namely 4 and 49, representing No. 49 in District 4 of Pinghu Town. This is actually the residence of Alda's family in Pinghu Town.

Each of the freedmen in Randall's ranks would have such a wooden sign, which the Randall family's steward called a residence permit. With a residence permit, freedmen can be hired by the Randalls.

It was not easy for the freedmen to get the residence permit that Randall had received.

More than half a year ago, Arvada and three partners and their families moved from Buryatia to Randall. The guards at the border guard inquired in detail about their identity, skills, and purpose of coming, and after checking what they were carrying, the short knife used by Arvada for self-defense was confiscated, but the guard did not take it for nothing, but gave it to him at a discount of 20 silver soles. The guards told Alda that when they left Randall's Territory, the weapons could be redeemed.

Despite the strict scrutiny, Alda's partner, Alwin, was denied permission because he was a bachelor and the Randall guards' guards forbade him from entering.

The rule at that time was that a family could vouch for a bachelor, but if he was not honest in Randall, the guarantor family would be kicked out. In the end, it was Alda's family who acted as guarantors, and Alvin was allowed to enter.

After the guards let them go, Alda and her party did not go directly to Pinghu Town, but were taken to a temporary camp set up by the church. The church attendant in charge of the camp set aside a small area for Alda and the others to rest and bathe, and also examined their bodies, treated their injuries and diseases, and provided them with free food and medicines. On the third day, the Randall steward explained to all the freedmen the scope of the hired laborers' work, including farming, raising pigs, grazing, building castles and roads, weaving, digging canals, etc., and the corresponding remuneration. Those who did not agree were allowed to receive two days' rations and return the same way, while those who agreed were taken to the town of Hekou by the steward for resettlement.

Alda later learned that the makeshift camp had been funded by Lord Randall, and that in addition to helping the church with the relief of the homeless, it was also a quarantine measure to prevent outsiders from spreading the disease.

Entering Bayoutown, the Randall family steward arranges a place for the Alda family, and since Alvin is a bachelor, he is placed in the barracks. Arvada was shocked when he saw the brick house allocated to him, and he was nervous and told the steward that he had no money to pay the rent. The steward told Alda that the residence was free, but that cooking was not allowed, and that food could be purchased in the large canteen in Pinghu Town. Then they were each given a wooden plaque, which was a residence permit.

"Good day, Lord Angus. Good day, Lord Garst. ”

Carey greeted the guards as he handed the wooden signs. After the guard checked the wooden sign, he twitched the corners of his mouth, which was a response to Carey, "Go in." ”

"Thank you, two adults. ”

Carey happily took the wooden sign and turned to the workers to pose as if I knew the guard very well.

In fact, the freedmen entered and exited the south gate every day, and Arda had known the bridge guards for a long time. It's just that these two guards are iron-faced and selfless, and they only recognize the brand and not the person, so it's useless to stammer.

Once, Carey accidentally lost his residence permit, and he wanted to enter the town by relying on his acquaintance with the guards. As a result, the two guards had no intention of accommodating at all, and forced him out. In the end, it was the steward of Carey's work group who came forward to vouch for him, and the guards let him in. For this reason, the steward scolded Kaili and fined him 5 days' wages.

A few people put away the wooden signs and followed the crowd into the south gate.

Pinghu Town is 5 square kilometers in size, and the area to the south is a residential area for freedmen, and Alda's family of seven lives in an independent dormitory at No. 49. The roads here are clean and tidy, with green landscape trees planted on both sides, and blue brick houses neatly arranged on both sides of the road, which is even more beautiful than the vassal districts of other towns.

Alda never imagined that she could live in a brick house, and in fact they would have to build a shack in a vacant lot outside the village if they were in another territory. The Randalls, on the other hand, not only allowed freedmen to live in the fence, but also provided freedmen with independent brick houses for free. Of course, only hired workers in Pinghu Town enjoy this treatment, and several other villages only offer traditional mud huts. However, Alda heard that the freedmen living in the village could collect berries and vegetables in the wild and keep 20% of them, which was already the treatment of the lords.

The living environment in Pinghu Town is very good, and the rules here are also very big. It is not allowed to recognize garbage, open defecation is strictly prohibited, and pedestrians walk on the right. Those who dare to disobey will be fined at the least, flogged at the worst, and escorted out of the country if they do not change their ways.

At first, Alda was a little unaccustomed to it, but over time he liked how clean and orderly it was. Seeing those latecomers who were punished, Arda and their companions always had an inexplicable sense of superiority, just as the leaders looked down on the homeless.

Following the straight street paved with blue bricks, Alda and his companions walked to the square of Pinghu Town. Father Miller's chapel is located here, and on days off, freedmen and freemen like to gather in the square to listen to Father Miller's teachings. It's just that on both days, people walk around the square.

In the center of the square stood a row of gallows, on which more than a dozen corpses were hanging. It was getting late, and several guards lit two bonfires next to the gallows. The corpse's hideous face flickered in the light of the fire, and the purple-black tongue drooped outside the mouth, a terrifying scene that made Alda feel terrified and at the same time had an indescribable pleasure.

"Phew! deserve to be hanged!"

Carey spat viciously in the direction of the corpse, and Alvin gloated, "Yes! hang these bad hairy villains!"

During this time, Randall led the construction of castles and the excavation of reservoirs, and the labor became more and more heavy, requiring more young and strong laborers, and the Randall family gradually relaxed the restrictions on bachelors. In just over four months, more than 3,000 people poured into Randall's territory, and more than half of them were bachelors. The arrival of these people eased the workload of freeman workers, but also created many problems.

Where there are people, there is conflict, and there are many gangsters among the bachelors, and if they fight each other, it will be fine, but many people are involved. Alvin is a bachelor and lives in a barracks known as a group dormitory, while Carey's family does not work in Pinghu Town, and he also lives in a group dormitory. Ever since a group of bachelors moved in, the dormitories have been uneasy. They caused trouble, extorted money, and coerced their fellow residents to join the gang, and Alvin and Carey were often beaten and bruised because they refused to join the gang.

Later, these villains found that the number of security soldiers led by Randall was scarce, and the sheriff was still a beautiful pregnant woman, and began to become unscrupulous, and they gradually formed three forces, fighting each other openly and secretly, and finally there was a bloody conflict, and it became more and more intense, even to the point of murder.

Just when the freedmen hired people were panicking, the Randall family acted decisively, and the escort team wiped out the murderers and villain leaders. Immediately afterwards, the lord issued a death warrant, and the new magistrate pronounced the death sentence of these people, and executed them himself, and then hung their bodies for three days!

On the day of the execution, the square was crowded with people, and when the death row inmates twitched and struggled on the noose, the cheers of the onlookers were like a mountain roaring tsunami.

Since then, Pinghu Town has returned to its original order.