The village of Kwen is very large, and the farms are sparsely distributed, so it is very difficult for the lord to find the center of the village.

In the center of the village, there is actually only one street.

This street is made up of shops and bazaars, and it bears the burden of daily trading and communication within a radius of dozens of miles.

The reason why this is the center of the village is that there are many aristocratic estates around this street.

The Countess's estate is in the immediate vicinity.

As a veteran nobleman of the Lion Kingdom, the manor of the Countess's family has been built for more than a hundred years, and the overall area is very large, covering an area of thousands of acres.

But her estate is not for food.

There are a lot of grapes planted in the estate, but now in this season, the grapes have not yet come out, only the green shoots are neatly arranged.

Behind the estate, there is a large oak forest.

This is clearly a winery, and presumably the property of the countess's family.

Thousands of acres of vineyards are rare, and the lord thinks that this is likely to be the largest winery in the entire Pande continent.

The sunny weather in Kwyn, with good rainfall and very little wind and heavy rain, is indeed ideal for growing grapes.

There are hundreds of people working on the farm, and the weeds in the fields are cleared.

And the Countess was among them, wearing a gauze hat and holding a cane, directing the servants to work.

Seeing Leon's flag, the Countess greeted her.

"Your Excellency Li Ang, I really didn't expect you to come to my country place."

After more than two months of not seeing each other, the countess's complexion was much more ruddy, and perhaps doing farm work and making wine on this estate was the life she wanted.

"I'm here for help, ma'am, I need to buy a ...... of food."

The lord expressed his request straight to the point, and he thought that the countess would agree.

Unexpectedly, after the countess understood the situation, she said that she could not do anything.

"Fort Shield does give me half of the agricultural tax, but it was all booked the other day - it would be nice if you came a few days earlier."

"Did they all sell so early?"

The lord couldn't believe it, he thought he had come early, and he hadn't harvested it yet, so he sold it all?

The Countess shook the dirt off her body and looked back at her vineyard: "Your Excellency Li Ang should also be able to see that I don't need much food now, and if someone buys it, I will naturally sell it." That tax is expected to be 300,000 pounds, and I don't want to spend a lot of effort transporting it, so it's good to change it to dinars sooner. ”

This is also true, the Countess does not need to raise soldiers now, and her estate only has more than a hundred people, and the local output is enough for her.

"Can you tell me who bought it?"

The lord has a bit of a headache.

The Countess pointed to the east: "Lady Bella of Changhe Town, she wrote a few days ago to say that she wanted to buy it, and the bid was quite high. ”

Now my brain hurts even more - what is Mrs. Bella, a 'pregnant woman', doing with so much food? This must have been bought by Alma......

This is a problem, Alma will buy grain, so naturally he will not sell it, and Amy's business will definitely not be negotiated.

The lord was a little unwilling, looked at the other manors nearby, and asked, "Madam, you should be in charge of the taxes of Kewen Village now, and there should be a lot of grain produced here, can you help me buy some?" ”

The Countess shook her head and laughed: "Your Excellency Li Ang, you probably don't know that Kewen's situation is very complicated and will be more troublesome......"

It's really complicated, the village of Kwyn is full of nobles......

Although most of Kwyn's land belonged to Baron Leofric's fiefdom, and Leofrick was indeed the lord of the area, in reality, the best territory in the center of the village was in the hands of other nobles.

This is not an uncommon situation, and in the Lion Kingdom, this situation is quite normal, especially in the kind of village where the environment is good and more livable.

Yes, Kwyn is a great place to live.

Two hundred miles further west from Kwen is the famous Goddess Mountain, the highest peak in the Lion Kingdom and the source of the Tongtian River.

The main peak of the mountain is covered with snow all year round and is surrounded by snow-capped cliffs on all sides, and it is said that no one has ever reached the summit, and the people of Gupande believe that this mountain is the abode of the goddess Unomia, so it is named the Goddess Mountain.

In fact, the absolute height of the Goddess Mountain is not particularly high - according to Li Ang's estimate, the elevation of the main peak of the Goddess Mountain should be more than 5,000 meters, which is actually not much higher than the Dengier Mountains south of Mai Xiangling, and it is not comparable to the snow-frozen plateau snow-capped mountains in the Misty Mountains.

However, because Mt. Goddess is a steep mountain rising from the plains, its relative height far exceeds that of other mountain ranges, so it looks extremely majestic.

The Goddess Mountain blocked the monsoon wind from the west, making it difficult for people and beasts to walk for dozens of miles at the foot of the mountain, and the fog was connected with the uninhabited area in the southern basin.

But a hundred miles east of the mountains, there is another world.

Because the warm and humid air flow from the west cannot combine with the north wind, the eastern part of Mt. Goddess rarely produces severe weather such as thunderstorms.

Therefore, a hundred miles east of the Goddess Mountain, this hilly area by the Tongtian River has a suitable climate and abundant water, making it a very livable place.

The village of Kwen is the heart of this habitable area.

As it has been a habitable place since ancient times, the village of Kwen has a very long history.

The Countess's family is the century-old nobility of Kwyn, and her family fief was originally this area.

But by the time of her generation, she was unable to lead troops to fight as a woman, and the family power gradually shrank, and the fiefdom gradually stayed in its original state.

Originally, this situation should have recruited a son-in-law to pass on the family.

Unexpectedly, the Countess fell in love with Auden, who was only a pioneer lord at the time, and married him.

It's not about recruiting, it's about marrying.

After marrying Auden, in order to support Count Auden's expansion of the territory and to build the Shield Castle, she sold part of the land to other nobles to build a manor - Auden can become a powerful earl of the kingdom, in addition to his own ability, the Countess's strong support plays an important role.

The climate in Kwyn is very good, and the nobles of the kingdom are willing to come here to build houses for vacation or retirement.

As a result, in addition to the vineyard of the countess, more than a dozen aristocratic estates appeared in Kwyn, all of which were built by the great nobles above the baron level to support their retirement......

The nobles came to build a lot of the estates, and many of the freedmen had to move to the outskirts of the village—the land was occupied or 'bought' so that the nobles could build estates.

Landless freedmen would repopulate nearby to reclaim wasteland, and the new land they occupied would become borderland—illegal settlement.

These borderlands, which were not originally part of the village of Kwyn, were re-divided to Baron Leofrick ten years ago to collect taxes and to protect the nobles' property with lords who could lead troops to fight.

And because these new sites almost surrounded Kwen, in order to facilitate management, they were also unified under the village of Kwen.

So, Baron Leofrick is now the titular lord of Kwyn, but his actual territory is only a large slum north of Kwyn near the Tongtian River.

And now, probably in order to quickly improve his strength, Baron Leofrick has also divided some knightly domains and sold a lot of land......

As a result, now in the entire village of Kwyn, there is a county (countess's), a barony (Leofric's), a dozen knights' orders, plus twenty or so noble estates......

It's really impossible to tell whose family belongs to Kewen Village......

Baron Leofric's willingness to run to take over the Shield Castle was probably a bit of a hassle - it was quite difficult to collect taxes.

The estates of the great nobles could not be taxed, and the freedmen could 'suddenly become' tenant farmers of the estates of the nobles at any time in order to evade taxes, and the boundaries of which were often inexplicable.

On the other hand, the Countess, since she had sold the estates, was more familiar and easier to distinguish, so it was relatively easier for her to deal with the taxes of the village of Kwyn than Baron Leofrick.

"Your Excellency Li Ang, don't look at Kewen Village as big, but I estimate that the agricultural tax that can be collected is only about sixty or seventy thousand pounds of winter wheat, except for the daily expenses in my manor, and some grain and reserves, there is not much ...... left."

The countess sighed and shook her head: "The aristocratic manor does not pay agricultural taxes, and there are not many farmers who really belong to the village of Kwen, and Baron Leofrick even collected more than 40,000 pounds last year, which is not even enough for his subordinates. So he would rather not have Kwin's taxes and go to Fort Shield. ”

The lord also sighed, this is very troublesome.

The aristocratic manor does not pay agricultural taxes, and there must be surplus grain, but there are dozens of them, and it is not easy to talk about buying grain from one family.

Wholesale becomes retail, and you have to find a way to transport, and the head is big.

And each of the dozens of estates doesn't have too much to harvest, and after a cursory calculation, they will surely say like the countess, 'There is not much left'.

But the Countess was indeed willing to help, and she sent people to various noble estates to inquire if she could help Leon buy it, but this would not be done in a short time, and the exact amount could not be determined.

fo

"Your Excellency Leon, come with me, this matter will probably wait a few days, and you can taste the wine from my manor by the way."

No way, although it is troublesome, but at least there is a bit of a spectrum, and there is a ground snake to help, so I can only wait here first.

At least the Countess's wine is really good.

……

On the other side, the administrative hall of Changhe Town.

Amy is talking about procurement.

She had planned to find Duke Alma, but Lord Duke returned to Lion Lake City, and she was received by Duke Alma's son, her own son, Fawsett Houghton.

Presumably, Archduke Alma was also a ......

If you look at the names of their sons, the real son is called Forster and the illegitimate son is called Fischer, which is easy to confuse at first glance......

Lord Forsette is now the lord of Herminerd, a subordinate village of Long River and the closest large village to Long River, between Long River and Fletcher.

Archduke Alma has not been idle for the past few months, and he has let his own son take over Herminerd, apparently intending to take full control of Long River.

Lord Fawsett is still very kind to Amy, after all, if you count it seriously, Amy can also be regarded as a princess - the daughter of a princess, in fact, she can also be called a princess (both called Princess).

It's just that as soon as Amy mentioned food, Forsette immediately changed the topic.

"Lord Forsette, how much can be harvested in the wheat fields of Changhe Town......

"Ah, Miss Amy, the wheat fields in the spring are great for an outing, and it reminds me of the first time I saw you last spring......"

It's basically playing the piano to the cow...... The conversation between the two is not on the same channel at all.

Fawsett didn't respond to a word of business, just a simple awkward chat.

After a few words, the topic gradually turned to a strange direction......

"Miss Amy, you may not know it, but I am your most fervent suitor!"

Forsette still looked quite thick-skinned, and seeing that the two had no common language, he actually jumped out directly.

This was not a surprise - Forsette was also a member of the Lion Knights.

A lot of young lion knights have ideas about themselves, and Amy can certainly see that......

If we talk about the single list of conditions, the conditions of Forsette are actually very good.

He is the heir to the first duke of the kingdom and has a great family; Educated in the strictest and quite talented; led the family's elite cavalry troops, and his skills were very good; Plus, he's pretty handsome......

The family is rich and powerful, he is both civil and military, and his appearance is good, there are not many young people like this.

But the problem is that Amy doesn't like these noble knights, and she's not an ordinary aristocratic girl - how can she be an ordinary girl who is interested in swordsmanship and deception......

Therefore, she directly took Fawsett's intentions as air: "I'm sorry Lord Forsette, I'm not going to talk about these topics......"

But at this time, Forsette reiterated Amy's needs: "Aren't you going to buy food? I can show you my sincerity - I can supply you with 300,000 catties of food, and I only hope that you will respond to my quest......"

That's why Amy doesn't like these lion knights - they only rely on their family history to do nonsense, and they treat women as a commodity.

So Amy frowned and got up and left, and said a dirty word that she had just learned from the lord's mouth: "Let your sister respond to you!" ”

Amy didn't swear originally, but Mai Xiangling's 'college entrance examination' made her realize that being too gentle and polite is often not a good thing, so she spoke a lot more unrestrained these days.

Unexpectedly, this swear word caused her a lot of trouble - Forsette's face changed drastically and he closed the door and blocked the door.

"Amy! Are you spying on me? You arranged spies on my side!? ”

Amy is stupid, what's the situation?

Is this so casual swear word hit the truth?

I knew that these big nobles were chaotic at home, but I didn't expect that they could meet like this......

The rule of not swearing among the nobles seems to come from the painful experience of their predecessors, rather than out of etiquette......

This is the administrative hall of Changhe Town, and it is the official office.

Amy didn't bring the Metenheim to the Hall, because she didn't think anything could happen here.

But who knew it would happen......

Amy looked at Forsette, who was blocked in the doorway with a hideous face, took a step back, and put her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist.

"Get out of the way, Forsette, I don't know what you're talking about!"

But Forsert had already frowned, drew his sword, and his eyes shone dangerously.

"Amy, you know that...... I don't want to, but you can't get out of here right now! ”

Amy also drew her sword, she knew that she was definitely not Fusette's opponent, but now that it looked at the situation, Fusette probably wanted to detain her. She wasn't going to rest on her laurels.

"Forsette, think about it, what will happen if something happens to you!"

Amy bowed slightly, holding her sword in both hands in a defensive gesture.

After a long hesitation, he changed his face, put away the sword in his hand, and opened the door.

Amy ran out quickly, all the way to the outside of the administrative hall, and called Klose, who was waiting outside, intending to leave Long River Town quickly.

She felt that it might be dangerous for her to linger here.

But after only a few steps, she stopped again.

She saw Forsette coming out of the door of the Executive Hall, the lord staring at her, and the servant beside him had a horn in his hand.

On the opposite side of the administrative hall is the garrison camp.

The camp was hung with the banner of the Grand Duke of Alma, and there were probably thousands of garrisons in it.

And one of the cavalry teams of at least two hundred men, wearing Forsette's four-sword heraldic robe, was at the outermost part of the camp, and it could be seen directly.

Amy immediately realized the real danger - if she and Klose and the others left River Town and went into the uninhabited wilderness, it would be really troublesome......

In Long River, Forsette didn't dare to do anything - Forsette couldn't let anything happen to Amy, and he didn't dare to detain Amy publicly.

Otherwise, not only Baron Godric would have killed him, but perhaps even King Ulrik would have killed him, and the kingdom might even have a large-scale civil war.

Amy's mother was a princess after all.

But if you leave Changhe Town and go to the plains and wilderness, most of the ten or so great swordsmen can't stop the two hundred cavalry, and they can't run away.

In a place where no one knows, kill Klose and them, and then arrest Amy, and no one will know that he did it.

Maybe it can be called a bandit......

Even the cavalry under Forsette may not know who they killed at that time - these cavalry from Lion Lake City certainly don't know Amy.

After more than two months of studying with the lord, Amy was already able to take these situations into account.

So, Amy didn't go out of town.

She thought of the way the lord could relieve the siege of White Deer Castle.

Klose...... Follow me and line up the line. ”

Amy said quietly, "Let's go kidnap the ticket!" ”

Klose nodded.

He didn't know what Amy was talking about, but what he had to do was that he would do it even if he didn't understand.

Then, Amy glanced back at Forsette with contempt, mounted her horse, and walked in the direction of the main castle in the interior of Long River.

As a dozen or so Metenheim marched in a neat line in the middle of the road, the Mengmen guards, with an average height of more than 1.9 meters, looked quite energetic.

The king did not have such a strong guard of honor around him......

It was obvious that this little girl was not ordinary, so everyone on the road gave way to both sides of the road.

Some merchants had already recognized this as Lord Godric's daughter, and also recognized Klose and the others, waving to greet them.

Forsette looked at Amy with a blue face, he didn't expect Amy to go out of the city, and deliberately swaggered through the city.

Seeing her go in the direction of the main castle, Forsette gritted his teeth and followed with a dozen servants.