The next day, Evan and Delores got up early in the morning and began to inspect the territory with several soldiers and Anroes and others.

Of course, the purpose of the inspection is not to inspect, but to tell the public that there is already a new owner of this land, and by the way, to understand some basic information about the current situation of Laques, so basically every place is just a cursory look and then go to the next place.

In the morning, Ai Wen and the others went to four villages and manors. But every time I overlooked the village from a distance, and I didn't go inside. Along the way, Aven gained a general understanding of the villages, estates, and castles of England.

Except for a few stone walls and castles left by the Romans, most of the castles in England at this time were made of wood and clay.

To put it simply, it is a frame structure made of wood, separated from each room, and after doing this, the outside is covered with a thick layer of earth. In this way, a wooden castle is completed.

Obviously, these castles were not strong at all, and they were extremely resistant to fire, and it was not uncommon for besieging parties to use flames to force the defenders to surrender.

Of course, although the wooden castle has great disadvantages, it is still favored by the aristocracy, after all, this kind of castle is built in a very short time, often only ten days or even dozens of days can be built, and the most important thing is that it does not cost much money.

The same village is also different from the perception of the village by ordinary people in later generations. At this time, villages often have a wooden fence around the village to ward off the invasion of wild beasts or invaders.

More often than not, these simple means of defense are just a little courage to resist, and have little practical effect.

If you ask how many people live in a village, the result may be disappointing, and although it is a village, it is completely incomparable with the villages of later generations.

Larger villages may have a few hundred people, smaller villages may have a dozen, and most villages have a few dozen people.

The manor was similar to the later collective farms, and the manor was also separated from the inside and outside by a wall.

Unlike villages, where farmland is on the outside, manor farms are inside, the manor is much larger than the village, but the population in it is not necessarily much larger.

"Anros, the current situation in the territory is resting now, you can talk about it a little, let me have a bottom in my heart." Evan sat in the shade of the tree and looked at Anroth on the other side.

"Yes, sir. I'll give you a brief introduction from four aspects: population, number of villages, taxes, and conscription." Evan nodded, worthy of being the person in charge of the Barony of Larquis left by the Count of Morol, and directly said what he cared about the most.

"Barony Laques, through the governance and planning of the Earl and the Lady, has always been in a stage of rapid development. Now the total population of the entire Barony of Laques is about one thousand or nine hundred, and next year it will rise to two thousand. There are not many of them in Middlesex, except in the area of London, which is under the Earl's Lordship."

Speaking of this, Anroes had a proud expression on his face. When Evan heard that the Barony of Raquis actually had such a large population, he was secretly surprised in his heart, one Barony of Raquis could be compared to two Baronies.

If he were the Earl of Morlor, he might not be willing to give this kind of place to anyone else.

"In addition, Láques now has four estates, six villages, plus Láques Castle, and in the event of a war in the future, more than 100 people can be recruited. However, it is better not to recruit so many people, after all, recruiting too many soldiers will have a huge impact on the production of the territory."

Ai Wen doesn't care, he basically relies on the Snapdragon Army to fight in the future. At most, the people in the territory receive military training during the off-season, and become the territorial militia, responsible for the security and patrol of the territory in wartime. Unless the enemy hits the doorstep, they will basically not be allowed to go into battle.

"As for the annual tax revenue, this is unstable, depending on how much grain is harvested. If there is a good harvest, the tax will be almost a hundred gold coins, but if there is a problem with food, it is estimated that it will be a dozen gold coins. During the time of Lord Earl's presence, most of the time it was an annual income of dozens of gold coins, and there was not a lot. Of course, the Earl doesn't take much."

"The storeroom isn't empty now, is it?" Evan asked with a smile.

"My lord laughed, how could the treasury be empty." Anroes said with some tears and laughter, "The Earl used to only draw food and money from Raques when he was fighting. Usually, it is basically kept in Lacis and used as a backup, so there is at least one year's worth of grain and hundreds of gold coins in the treasury now."

"Did Larquis rely on selling food for his money before?" Evan asked casually.

"As long as there are two parts, one part is from the sale of grain, and the other part is from the cost of passing caravans." Anroes opened his mouth to reply, but there was a look of distress on his face. This made Evan very surprised, there was still something that could make Anroos feel annoyed.

"Is something wrong? Anroth." Deloris asked.

"Miss, it is very difficult to collect tolls from caravans." Anroth sighed, and said in a somewhat helpless tone, "Our Essex Kingdom is weak, and many caravans are unwilling to pay tolls. It is also difficult for us to forcibly detain the goods of these people, otherwise it is easy to cause contradictions and conflicts between the two countries, and even war. Like the Mercians, they never pay tolls."

Saying that, Anlos looked at Delores, "Since the Earl and the Kents were at war, many caravans have chosen not to pass through us in order to prevent themselves from being affected by the war. Now that toll revenues have plummeted, it is estimated that this year's tax revenue will be very unsightly."

Deloris heard Anroth's words, and she looked at Aven, thinking that Aven should be able to hear it too.

"It's okay, it's normal to be ugly. At the end of the day, it's still that we're not strong enough, and it's up to all of us Essex to turn this around."

Aiwen's words made Anroes breathe a sigh of relief, as long as Aiwen didn't get angry when he saw the numbers, everything else was easy to do, for fear that Aiwen would be angry and directly put anyone in prison.

After a brief inquiry, it's time for dinner. Because Delores was present, Anlos and the others retreated far away and ate their lunch on the other side, so as not to disturb the two of them.

"Aven, are they really okay?" Deloris asked with some hesitation.

Evan glanced at her, knowing that she was asking about leaving Anroes and the others behind. In this matter, he has no other choice, after all, he doesn't have any team, and if he wants to leave An Roos and the others, he can't do it. But beyond that, Evan could sense something else.

"It's okay, I don't look at the background, I just look at whether they have the ability. Now I'm happy with them." Evan said leisurely, "And if it weren't for you, they wouldn't be here."

Deloris was stunned, "What do you mean because of me, they stay here?"

Evan smiled, "They're your father's men, and they're here to help you and build momentum for you. After all, you are the earl's favorite daughter, and when you are not by his side, you always feel a little uneasy, afraid of being bullied by me. With them here, the Earl will feel a lot more at ease, at least I won't do anything to you on the surface."

Delores blushed and hurriedly said, "Doesn't my father trust you......

Evan waved his hand, correcting Delores, "Lord Count doesn't distrust me. He did it out of a father's love for his daughter, and nothing else."

Deloris felt a little better in her heart, she didn't want to cause conflict or conflict between her father and Evan because of herself.

"In the future, when I have my own power. I will gradually replace them with my own, but in any case, I will not drive them away, at most take some power away from them."

"Eh, why is that?" Deloris asked curiously.

"If there is only one group of people in the court who are prone to problems, and only competitors exist, the whole court can be rejuvenated with its due vitality and other auxiliary means to reduce the level of corruption or other problems." Evan explained.

"You have other methods, what is it, can you tell me?" Delores is like a curious baby.

"Make laws similar to those of the ancient Roman Empire." Aven's eyes drifted into the distance.

The laws of the ancient Roman Empire were only a tool conducive to the rule of the aristocracy, but they did not want this, and some of the concepts of the rule of law in later generations, such as equality of all people, punishment of evil and promotion of good, etc., could be slowly substituted.

It's just that it takes time to precipitate, and it also needs to have a process of adaptation, and it also needs to have a strong fist.

After eating and drinking, Evan and Deloris got back on their horses and continued their mission of patrolling the territory, but it was obviously impossible to complete the patrol in one day, after all, they spent more time on the road than they did on looking.

Two days later, Evan and Delores returned to Castle Laquis. As soon as she returned to the castle, Deloris shouted that she would never participate in the work of patrolling the territory in the future, and that she was too tired.

Evan smiled, rubbing his sore legs with both hands for Deloris to relieve the fatigue.

"After that, you just stay here. After all, I'm a trained knight, and I have better physical strength and energy than you. This kind of life of eating and sleeping in the open may not be suitable for you. If you're really bored, you can also go back to London often. The Earl will be very happy." Evan rubbed and admonished.

"No, I'm going to stay here. Here, I can sort of help you with some of the things." Deloris said stubbornly.

Evan shook his head helplessly, and asked Anroth to be called.

"Anroth, gather everyone tomorrow. I have something to announce to all of you."

"Yes, sir......