"Fireside chat, what's that?" Listening to Evan's plan, Deloris asked, a little stunned, as if her father had never done this, and she had never heard anyone do it.

"It's very simple, just invite some nobles and commoners, and I will be with them by the fireplace, chatting, and asking them to talk about the problems they have encountered in the past, or what problems they have now, or what they hope the future will be."

Evan reached out and pinched Delores's face, sighing that it felt so good.

"But what's the point? Most of the difficulties encountered by civilians are the problems of food and clothing. The problem of the aristocracy is nothing more than how to obtain more benefits and gain more power. None of these problems can be solved in a short period of time, can they?" Deloris was a little confused.

Evan smiled and patiently explained, "As lords, we all need to consider the situation of the territory when formulating strategies. The quickest way to find out about the territory is to see for yourself. But now the territory is small, and you can still go to patrol by yourself, but in the future, when the territory is large, it is impossible to go and see it by yourself, so listening to the voices of the people at the bottom is the fastest way."

"I did it for other purposes. Not only can I create an image that I am willing to listen to the voices of the people, but also that the people have hope for the future life, so that there will be less rebellion in the territory. Finally, I did this to remind myself that life is still difficult and that we, the lords, cannot be greedy for pleasure."

Deloris moved her thin lips, not knowing what to say. Every time I talked to Aven, he always said something he had never heard of, and he didn't know where he heard it.

In retrospect, what the Archbishop of London said, was it really God who taught Evan? For a while, Delores could only think so.

Evan seemed a little dazed when he saw Delores, as if he was thinking about something, and didn't say anything more, he had something to say that he could only let them think about slowly.

After all, these are all truths that have been tested in later generations, and the question is not whether it is right or wrong, but whether it is suitable or not, and whether to make any adjustments.

After leaving the study, Evan summoned Anroes and asked him to pick the right person according to his previous idea. Anroth was also stunned when he heard Aiwen's request, but he quickly reacted and went out to find a suitable person.

What Evan didn't expect was that Anroth would spend days searching for all the attendees. This made Evan wonder, in his opinion, isn't it just to find a few people and nobles to chat, it won't take so long.

After understanding, Ai Wenjun knew that Anroes had the intention to invite some people to come, but many people refused, and they were afraid that after speaking, they would be retaliated by the nobles.

In the end, Anroes had to spend a lot of time explaining the matter, repeatedly reassuring them of their safety, and promising that no one would retaliate against them for this. The public reluctantly agreed to attend the fireside chat.

Ai Wen can't say anything about this, once born and twice cooked, the first time it can be opened, it can have an effect. If we have a similar conversation in the future, we won't worry that no one will participate.

Two days later, in the parlor of Laques Castle, Evan and Delores were dressed in civilian clothes, with three ministers and Deacon and others sitting on the left, and four lords sitting on the right.

Like Aven, several of the nobles were also dressed in civilian clothes and did not wear formal gowns. It's a pity that the people have never seen this formation, and they are so nervous that they don't even know where to put their hands, and others may think that they are trying criminals.

"I have gathered you here today in the hope that you will speak freely and tell others about your past experiences or current situations. I would like to listen to your opinions and experiences today, and in the future, I will address these problems in a targeted manner in the governance of the territory."

Evan made a simple opening statement. The protagonist of this meeting is someone else, not him, more often than not, he is an audience, so after a few simple words, he motions for others to speak.

In the living room, Horst looked left and right, saw that no one was speaking, and at the signal of Delores, he stood up and began to make his own statement.

"Lord Aven, miss. I'll start with a few of them. First of all, there are still a lot of homeless people around Láquez. These people are usually people who can't survive in the surrounding territories and live here. The existence of a large number of displaced people has not only brought great public security problems, but also bred many robbers and bandits. We've struck it several times before, but we kept getting it."

"Last but not least, since the borders of Larquis stretch all the way to the sea, the territory is very large, and the transmission of information is very slow. Sometimes, the Kents take advantage of this to sneak up and run. It's been half a day since we got the news."

After speaking, Horst looked at Evan nervously, for fear that he would be scolded by splitting his head and covering his face. However, Evan was expressionless from beginning to end, and seemed to not care at all what Horst said, just nodded his head, indicating that he knew.

Seeing this, Horst looked at Deloris with a plea of help.

"Sit down. Today I just want you to talk about the problem, if you have anything to say, as long as you seek truth from facts, do not conceal or exaggerate, I can accept it. If there is a problem, it means that we still have something that we are not doing well, and once there is no problem, that is when we need to be extremely careful. As for the issues raised today, they will be resolved one by one when the think tank meets later."

How could Evan not see Horst's small movements, and said out loud at the moment. Horst hurriedly said yes and sat down. With Horst at the beginning, the parlor began to be lively, and one of the commoners plucked up the courage to complain to Aven.

"My lord, I want to say that taxes are too high these days. We civilians can barely get enough to eat, and once the harvest is reduced, we don't have enough to eat."

The words of the civilians made the living room quiet, and no one dared to answer. Anroth subconsciously frowned, but he looked at Evan and finally didn't stand up to refute.

Ai Wen was not angry when he heard this, now at this time, the income of the peasants has been decreasing, and the income of the nobles is rising. This trend continued until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries when it reversed.

"Anros, how is Raquis's tax collected now?" Evan turned to look at Anroth.

"My lord, there are four main types of taxes that people pay, namely, land rent, household tax, miscellaneous tax, and church tax. Church taxes are not given to us, so we don't know the amount, I remember it used to be one out of ten. As for other taxes, we don't collect them more often than in other territories." Anroth said with a look at the parchment.

"How many people are in your family?" Aiwen's sudden question made the civilian shrink his neck, and after a while, he answered cautiously.

"My lord, there are seven of us in our family."

A family of seven? Aven looked at the civilian with some suspicion, and his sideburns with hoarfrost were particularly conspicuous. After thinking about it, Evan knew how these seven people came to be.

"I see what's wrong. I'll fix that."

Evan turned to look at Deloris and said meaningfully, "Time passes, and the situation in the territory will change. As lords, we need to keep abreast of these changes and develop realistic policies for them."

Deloris carefully considered what Evan had just said, and she somewhat understood that many of the things Evan had said before, and now that she thought about it, it seemed that they were meant for her. The only thing that she couldn't figure out was why he did this, did he want to govern the territory himself?

Seeing that Evan promised to solve the problem, the civilians all looked happy and thanked each other. More problems were thrown out one after another, and Ai Wen kept them in his heart one by one, and discussed them with others after preparation, and solved them if they could be solved, and tried to alleviate the contradictions if they couldn't.

"My lord, I have some questions, too." Anroes stood up and prepared his own speech.

"First of all, as I told you before, the tax will be reduced a lot this year, because the caravan tolls will be reduced a lot. We don't know how long this will last, and it's best to come up with a way to fix it. Otherwise, I am afraid that in the days to come, I will be very poor. In addition to paying taxes, when there is no war, we will organize labor according to the situation, but the effect is not good every time. We have exhausted all our means, and none of them have good results."

Evan nodded, "These are tricky questions, but I think they can be solved in one sentence." Aven's thoughts slowly drifted into the distance, as if he had returned to a distant time.

"Make a big cake first, and then divide the cake."

Cake? Everyone in the living room looked at each other, no one knew why Evan mentioned this, and no one knew what the cake was or what it looked like.

After a while, Evan came back to his senses, and he smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I'm a little distracted. These can be solved, and I will come up with a good solution when I have a meeting, so I don't need to worry."

Hearing that there was a way to solve it, Anlos breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and a curiosity also rose, he tried many ways to solve these problems, but the effect was not good, I don't know what this young knight will do.

"My lord, I hope you can go to the blacksmith shop, and I say that there are some results." A soldier reports loudly at the door of the meeting room.

"Well, since no one is still asking questions, that's the end of this fireside chat. I'm going to continue organizing this time next year, and hopefully I'll hear different voices when the time comes."

Evan stood up and raised his glass to the few people present, "For Laqueth, for Middlesex, for the Kingdom of Essex!"

"For Lacquis, for Middlesex, for the Kingdom of Essex!"