If the lord wants to engage in civil engineering construction on a large scale, this naturally requires all kinds of technical personnel.

However, there is a serious shortage of craftsmen on Leon's territory, which makes many works unable to be carried out smoothly.

This is mainly due to the fact that the territory is expanding too quickly and not accumulating enough.

Originally, White Deer Fort actually had no shortage of craftsmen such as carpenters and stonemasons, but after returning from the Bacchus Empire a few months ago, Amy transferred most of the craftsmen to rebuild the Shield Wind Fortress, and they would not be able to return for a while.

In the Pande Continent, it is actually more difficult to recruit craftsmen directly, because most craftsmen are owner-owned, so they can only try to buy or rent at present.

Yes, it is true that artisans can be bought and sold or rented in a big city like Changhe Town, and this is not a hire or solicitation, nor is it sold like a slave, but it is done through a contract transfer.

When Leon first arrived in Long River, Ralph asked the nobles of Long River to lend some carpenters to Leon - and he didn't return them......

Most of the craftsmen in the Pande Continent actually have 'certification', which is probably a relatively primitive 'qualification certificate'.

However, this certification is not reflected in the certificate, but through a special household registration and labor contract.

Those who possess a certain skill usually go to the local magistrate to register and settle down, and then find a guarantor to accompany them, and sign a service contract with the local lord - of course, this refers to a master craftsman whose skill can be recognized by the guarantor, but apprentices are not qualified to do so.

This kind of contract will determine the type of work, but the classification is relatively rough, roughly that is, blacksmith, carpenter, stonemason, etc.

Broadly speaking, this type of household registration can be called the 'craftsman's household register'.

It is worth mentioning that the miller is also included in this special household register.

Only those who have a household registration as a craftsman can perform the work specified in the contract, and even if they can do it, they cannot do it casually, otherwise they will be fined hefty - this is basically the same as a modern license.

The craftsmen who signed the contract were equivalent to vassals of the local lord, which allowed them to be exempt from military conscription and all kinds of hard labor, and they were also exempted from many taxes, and they could receive the agreed salary for doing the work arranged by the boss's family.

When the lord has no work arranged, they can also take over business nearby to earn some extra money, but they can't take on business from other places without authorization, because they have to avoid capital enemies.

As a result, artisans usually earn much more than the average commoner—after all, they pay less tax, and they are not paid agricultural taxes and most surcharges.

This can be regarded as a special consideration for skilled jobs.

However, there is a price to be paid for these benefits, and the contracted craftsmen cannot just leave the territory of the nobles, and must let the boss find someone at any time - if there is no assignment, those who run around unruly will be caught and beaten half to death.

Of course, if you don't have the corresponding craftsmanship and insist on finding a relationship and mixing up a craftsman contract, then the fate after being found will be even more tragic - this belongs to deceiving the lord, not only will you have your tongue cut out, but you will also be sold into slavery, and this life will basically be over.

In fact, when the Pande Kingdom ruled the mainland, the craftsmen did not need to get this special household registration.

Because there were many guilds established in the Pande Kingdom at that time, craftsmen could take over business through guilds, and they could also cooperate with each other to complete relatively large projects through guilds, and craftsmen at that time did not need to be attached to local lords.

The city of Kavala, now known as the Lion City, was the result of the combined efforts of the original stonemasons' guilds – especially the fifteen-meter-high walls and the huge griffin floats that dotted the walls, and the ten-story tower of the House of Nobles.

The current Lion Kingdom is no longer able to complete such majestic and exquisite construction, so the exterior walls of the Lion City can only be painted and hung with wall flags to hide the traces of the original griffin float after it was eradicated.

Today, the countries of the Pander continent are divided and have been fighting for a long time, and those guild organizations no longer exist, and the craftsmen can only be attached to the nobles of each village and town.

The reason why this is a dependency is that the relationship between the craftsmen and the lord is neither a traditional relationship of allegiance nor a master-servant, but an intermediate state between a servant and a servant, and can be regarded as a contract worker of a dependent nature.

To put it simply, it cannot be regarded as a subordinate, but it has a much higher status than the average farmer.

This kind of attached artisan is equivalent to the resources in the hands of the lord, and many small lords will let the artisan take on some work elsewhere to make money - the administrator comes forward to take over the business in other places, and then sends the craftsmen to do it, which is very similar to the nature of labor dispatch or outsourcing companies.

But the 'labor dispatch workers' of this era are actually living a good life, and for the ordinary civilians of the Pande Continent, becoming a craftsman is a very decent thing, more respected than a mercenary, and there is no need to take the risk of a mercenary.

Blacksmiths and carpenters, in particular, are almost equal to the actual social status of both professions.

Generally speaking, the number of blacksmiths and carpentry workshops in a territory is also a reflection of the prosperity of the territory.

This is mainly due to the fact that blacksmiths and carpenters are indispensable characters at all levels of the realm.

From the equipment in the castle, to the various equipment of the soldiers, to the production and living tools such as farm tools and kitchen knives, it is necessary for blacksmiths and carpenters to build them.

Crucially, they are one of the few craftsmen who regularly accompany the army, as almost all of the baggage equipment is done by a blacksmith and a carpenter—such as catapults, ladders, gate hinges, or thorns.

While guarding the bridge in the village of Fletcher, Leon had the carpenters perform the task of cutting down the bridge piles during the battle, and gave them the spoils for this purpose.

Therefore, artisans are a strategic resource for the lords of the Pander continent.

And as long as it's a resource, it's all tradable.

Although the status of the craftsmen is higher than that of ordinary commoners, their contracts are dependent after all, and the lord can transfer their contracts, but most of the time the craftsmen themselves need to be happy.

Moreover, the buyer must also be a nobleman with a territory or estate, otherwise the artisans would not have been able to settle down and enjoy the privilege of being exempt from taxation and conscription, and the trade would certainly not have been completed.

This is perhaps the earliest two-way option......

In fact, it is very similar to the transfer of players between clubs, where the buyer usually pays a transfer fee to the seller lord, and then the wage earner who is listed for sale and the buyer renegotiate the contract.

Of course, it's okay to talk about it or not to talk about it, but it is likely to lose its current social status, and there is a high probability that you will have to be beaten badly - usually the lords who plan to sell artisans are very short of money, and they will definitely be beaten if they prevent the boss from making money.

So sometimes the artisans may reluctantly move to another lord's territory, and then pray that the new boss is a kind and good man.

The nature of the lease is similar to that of labor dispatch, the contract and household registration are still in the hands of the lord, and the lord collects a lease fee and then sends people out to help others work.

The carpenters that Leon and Ralph had previously loaned back belonged to Lady Bella—but she was a heretic and had lost her nobility, so she really didn't have to pay it back.

Blacksmiths are special, and blacksmiths are generally difficult to buy and can only be borrowed.

Because under normal circumstances, a qualified blacksmith is basically a qualified warrior, after all, it is difficult for a person who does not know how to fight to create a good weapon, and the time to train a qualified blacksmith is often as long as more than ten years.

Moreover, the transfer of the blacksmith's household registration and contract generally needs to be transferred together with the blacksmith shop, which is not a simple transfer, unless it is on the verge of bankruptcy and intends to sell the territory, it is difficult to negotiate.

However, fortunately, Leon had no shortage of blacksmiths, and he had a large group of good blacksmiths from Metenheim.

Klose is on the verge of owning his own blacksmith shop, but it may be difficult for him to realize his dream of building a greatsword, as he already has a new class, knight.

The Silver Hand was registered by Leon as a family guardian knight, and in the Lion Kingdom, newly registered knights were required to have at least five knights who had fought for the kingdom.

Therefore, Leon directly canonized Klose's old fellows as knights.

According to the rules of the Lion Kingdom, this is actually illegal, because these Metenheim people are neither nobles nor natives of the Lion Realm, and they are not even related to any nobles.

Normally, they should marry a noble girl from the Lion Realm before they are eligible to be canonized as knights.

But Leon didn't care, anyway, he had the final say in the entire east, and if any nobleman had an opinion on this, then maybe their family would have a few more uncles and uncles from Metenheim......

Klose's knightly domain is just outside the Maichan Realm on the banks of the El River, where construction is now underway, with a number of water-powered mills and blacksmiths under construction.

However, the progress of construction was extremely slow, because there were not enough carpenters and stonemasons.

Therefore, Amy is actively purchasing.

According to the practice of the Pander Continent, human trafficking and the like are usually carried out in taverns, and the trading of artisans is no exception.

In fact, Amy is very experienced in recruiting all kinds of craftsmen, after all, she has lived in White Hart Fort for so many years, Godric often let her manage government affairs, and she has participated in the expansion of White Hart Fort in recent years.

Due to the shortage of manpower, Amy made a high price in the tavern, basically buying a salary package that was twice the market price.

In order to spread the word, Amy also asked Eric to cooperate, and posted advertisements for purchases everywhere in Long River Town.

In general, this kind of procurement method is very effective.

But this time, Amy encountered a more special situation.

There are indeed many nobles in the adventurer's tavern, who plan to sell the craftsman contract in their hands, and even some nobles say that they can lease people to Amy for a long time.

Looks like it's going well.

But none of these nobles were locals, and most of them were from the same place – around Lion Lake City.

And, they all seem to be followers of Prince Alrique, and Amy is not familiar with them.

Probably after Prince Alrique took over Lion Lake City, there was no business to do there, anyway, no matter whose subordinates these nobles were, as long as they were willing to sell, Amy would certainly be willing to accept it.

They did have a large number of craftsman contracts in their hands anyway—Amy was familiar with them, and they were all true.

So one transfer after another or loan deals began to take place in the tavern.

In order to improve efficiency, Amy generously paid the deposit first, and then agreed with them to bring the craftsmen to Changhe Town in half a month.

But the problem is that the day after Amy paid the deposit, just as she was about to arrange for the carriage to pick up the craftsmen with the nobles, all the so-called 'nobles' disappeared!

Obviously, Amy was deceived, and this should be a gang to cheat......

In fact, this way of disguising himself as a nobleman and using a non-physical transaction such as a contract transfer to cheat the deposit is very common, but Amy really has no defense this time.

In fact, the deposit that was cheated out of was not much, and the sum of the multiple deposits was only about 5,000 dinars, but Amy was quite angry.

Because Amy really didn't expect that at a time like this, someone would dare to lie to her?

Although Godric and Leon 'fell out' on the surface, many outsiders may think that Amy does not have Leon's support, but as long as they stay in Changhe Town for a few more days, they can know that Amy can still be half of Leon's territory......

Besides, even if you don't consider Leon, just Amy herself, it's not something to bully!

It's a princess of the kingdom, you want to have status, you want to have troops, and the group of female soldiers with griffin claws are quite ferocious. And everyone knows that Amy will definitely be able to pull a large group of Noldor mercenaries from White Hart Castle - White Hart Castle has always had a large number of Noldor elves roaming the streets!

It stands to reason that someone went to Changhe Town to form a group to cheat on this kind of thing, and Amy should have to inform Li Ang.

But Leon is not in Long River Town right now.

Due to the need to build a lot of infrastructure, Leon went to Karon Deer Fort to pull labor - the rebels brought out by the gladiators only recognized Leon, and they were not so obedient in other people.

In Leon's absence, Amy planned to maintain her dignity, so she didn't tell anyone else about this humiliating matter, and she planned to take matters into her own hands to recover the loss.

After all, in Amy's opinion, there are really a lot of women around Leon......

Wentilf has to look good, has the ability and ability, and is a strong competitor;

And some time ago, Li Ang's expedition to Dexia also brought back an Alina, who was also a fierce rival with both beauty and wisdom......

Although Leon claimed that Alina only came to take refuge temporarily, Amy didn't believe it, she felt that Alina was clearly sticking to Leon after meeting Leon last time when she came to ask for help!

So Amy is in crisis now, and she doesn't want these two competitors to know that she has been deceived......

The griffon-claw women were still very capable, and it only took a few days for Amy to determine the whereabouts of the liars.

They did go to the Lion Lake City district, but they scattered to the surrounding villages and towns.

Moreover, those liars are really nobles - basically the low-level lords of various villages and towns, most of them are knights or manor owners.

Therefore, the contract in their hands is indeed genuine, which means that there are indeed so many craftsmen in their territory.

Then there is nothing to say, in this case, of course, Amy will take the troops to collect the debt - the deposit has been paid, then either bring back the craftsmen who have been promised, or catch those crooks back to work as coolies, or where will the princess of the kingdom put her face?

So Amy gathered most of her men and took 400 female explorers into the Lion Lake City precinct and began her debt collection journey.