Chapter XIX Count Kalinin

Romanov fortress

When I crossed a white stone arch bridge, it became clear that the castle, which looked sturdy and beautiful from afar, was in fact an illusion, where everything was in disarray, the floor was littered with broken planks and chests, servants and peasants walked around, and on a high tower, several craftsmen were using ropes to hang down the unloaded window frames

It seems that the Romanovs were ready to take everything they could: window frames, gold and silver objects in churches, troughs in stables, bedside decorations, painted beams, stone carvings of the Virgin, everything I feel like if time is enough, they are even ready to unload the Romanov Castle into stone pieces and take them to the East

Now the only thing that has not been demolished is the barn, this barn was bought by a merchant at a high price, and the merchant also ordered all the grain in the field, he paid the fixed money, and then paid the rest of the money after the grain was harvested The Romanovs still have more than ninety barrels of wine in the cellar that have not had time to be processed, these things cannot be taken to the East, you can only find someone to sell this period of time, in the Romanov fortress, there is no limit to drinking, as long as you can go down the cellar by yourself, no one cares how much you drink

I noticed that both Vladimir and Alexei became nervous when they returned here, and it was only when we went to an auditorium to meet the true masters of the Romanovs that we learned the reason for their uneasiness

The old lord of the Romanov family was killed by rebels on his estate, leaving behind his wife and two brothers

These two men were Vladimir and his elder brother Kalinin, after the death of the old lord, Kalinin inherited the position of count, and now became the backbone of the family, while the widow of the old lord fully supported Kalinin, which allowed Kalinin to carry out his plan to the East without resistance

Vladimir and Alexei each expressed their willingness to support Kalinin on behalf of his own family, but of Kalinin's own descendants, only his eldest son was willing to go to the East, and the rest expressed their willingness to stay and serve the king, which was considered Kalinin's arrangement: never put jī eggs in one basket

Because of the example of the Earl's family, each family left some members in the west, and these people would get a sum of money after losing their territory, which they would use to enter the city to earn a living, and it stands to reason that young people should be attracted to the adventures of the East, but in reality, young people born in the warm hometown of the west have no feelings for their distant homeland, and they are not willing to go to those wild places to bury themselves, so they will stay at the first opportunity

Among the young people, only Alexei and others chose to go to the East

None of Kalinin's sons can do as well as Alexei, and recently Kalinin is also actively cultivating Alexei, such as signing a contract with Gil and sending Alexei to come forward Vladimir himself only has a daughter, and has always regarded Alexei as a son, and the clan has speculated that after more than 20 years, after Kalinin's energy is exhausted, Alexei is likely to inherit the count

This inheritance method of the Romanov family is also one of the factors that others dislike, they choose the most capable person in the family to be the leader, not the most prestigious and senior, for hundreds of years, the Romanov family has been accustomed to this, but for other old nobles, this will always make the family in turmoil, so that they have to be always vigilant and vigilant, so when Emperor Fidred consulted, these families united to exclude the Romanovs

But didn't they see it? It is because of this approach of the Romanovs that the family has been on an upward trend for hundreds of years, and no one can use qualification and prestige as a reason for incompetence, the son of the patriarch is not necessarily the patriarch, and the son of the sī may not only be able to be a manor guard when he grows up, it is this kind of continuous screening that allows the Romanov family to always have the youngest and strongest count, although in the eyes of others, the Romanovs do this as a random barbarian practice, and it will also bring bad young people in their own family, Let them think differently

The youngest brother of the old lord was Alexei's father, who died of lung disease while Alexei was in school, and after his death, Alexei had to give up his studies and return home to accept his father's inheritance

After Alexei had settled all his luggage for the return trip, he took us to visit Count Kalinin, and Leo and his daughter and Renaud did not need to visit the Count in the first place, they would attend a separate banquet later, and Count Kalinin valued them very much

Inside the auditorium, the widow of the old lord was holding a cross in her own hands, muttering to herself under the statue of the Heavenly Mother, if I hadn't known in advance, I wouldn't have believed that this emaciated fù man would dare to denounce the emperor's close ministers, saying that they were all idiots

"You drove out the best people of the empire and gave them to your future competitors for thousands of acres of land."

And Kalinin waited quietly aside

I can tell from his silhouette that he is related to Vladimir, they both have broad foreheads, bulging noses and dark green eyes, and brown heads, but Count Kalinin is more thin, but he looks much more energetic than Vladimir, Count Kalinin is not smiling, and when Alexei and Vladimir go to kiss him on the cheek, he is also expressionless, he hangs up his beard like a young man, and cuts his head very short, almost as short as I do

While we waited at the door, he whispered something to Alexei and Vladimir until the lord's widow had finished praying and stood up, and Count Kalinin motioned for us to leave

We were taken to a room next door, where there were many long benches, several of which were stacked on top of each other

Tom looked curiously as Amy was carried away by an old woman, and a group of maids happily came over to poke Amy's face and pinch her nose, and now Tom was dressed in a washed white linen suit and pedaled a pair of leather boots that Vladimir had thrown at him

The Count and the Madame spoke a few words, and the Madame nodded, and then looked at us blankly and walked away

I felt that the lady's expression was the same as that of a nun, without any warmth, but when Count Kalinin began to look at me, I felt that the lady's gaze was very gentle, and the count just looked at us, and I felt a great oppression, his green eyes were peaceful and wide, but they were like a sharp sword that could easily pierce people

"You brought these people back?" Kalinin looked at us and said to Alexey

In addition to Tom and me, Vladimir brought back a blacksmith, a carpenter, a joiner and a beekeeper from Kudan, and a mercenary had agreed to follow us, but in the end the man repented, but he had squandered the deposit paid to him, and Vladimir found someone to whip him and strip him of his armor The man gathered a group of accomplices to come to us for trouble, but Christopher and his fellow Zenda arrived in time and blasted away the rabble

Now, we stand here, being inspected by the Count

"Yes, uncle" Alexei always called Vladimir 'Daddy', or by his first name, but for Kalinin, he did not dare to call it that, only dared to use honorifics, "When people heard that we were going to the East, they did not want to go"

"What about these people?" The Count asked

"The blacksmith broke a knight's sword, and the knight slaughtered him if he said he would not get out of Kudan; The carpenter broke down the door of a shopkeeper, gained notoriety, and could not receive work; The carpenter stole someone else's wife and was ordered by the judge to pay all the property, and when I found him, he was fishing in the river wearing only a kù to eat; The beekeeper usually buys honey, and after collecting the beeswax, he sells candles and sells the candle shop he supplies to the candle shop, and people say that the candles he made flew out of the sparks, so he lit the shop, so he had to come with us."

The Earl pouted: "The sages are all the best"

Alexei was a little embarrassed, "Uh, yes, I follow your orders, as long as I want to go to the East, I will bring them all"

"I remember what I said," the count interrupted Alexei, "and what about these two?" He pointed to me and Tom

"These two were not hired by me, I found this kid on the Blue Glacier, he was lying in a boat, dying, as for this man, he has a grudge against Lord Leo, whom we are going to see in the evening, he volunteered to join us, and he also brought a little girl of seven years old with him, and Uncle Uncle, a little girl of seven years old"

"The story I heard was that this kid is your sī son, and this man is a pimp"

Tom bowed slightly: "My lord, I don't do that job anymore, I am now your faithful servant, and I am willing to do whatever you tell me."

The Count turned to look at Tom sideways, and did not say anything, but asked Alexei, "Didn't you teach him when to speak and when to be quiet?" ”

"Uncle, I told him, but it's my fault, my lord," beads of sweat welled up on Alexei's forehead

The Earl said to Tom, "I don't like this set of clothes on you, change into a short coat of coarse cloth, I heard the butler say that there are not enough people in the field, since you came to defect voluntarily, I will not be polite to you, settle down, and you can go down to the field early tomorrow morning to collect grain."

Tom smiled and said, "My pleasure, my lord"

"You four also go," said the Count to the four craftsmen behind me, "and someone will take you to your quarters."

Suddenly, I felt the atmosphere cool down, people were withdrawing one after another, and I was left alone

"Well, we have one little gentleman left," said the Earl's deep voice, 'we have one last prisoner to judge'

"He called," Alexey was ready to speak

"I know some people call him Victor. Alekseev. Romanov first, I will not allow him to be called 'Romanov', enough people have tarnished the word, Alexey, you see"

"Yes," Alexei bowed his head

"So, what we're going to talk about now is, is he 'Alekseev' or not? Tell me, did you rescue him from the river, or did you take it from the hands of some woman you slept with? Does he have your blood in him? ”

"He is indeed the one I rescued from the river, not my sī son, uncle"

"Very well, I see," the Count nodded, "There is a shortage of a young man in the stable, the one who used to drown while you went to swim in the river while you were gone, let Victor pass"

"Uncle," Alexei said in surprise: "Vidor knows a few prophecies, it is very likely that he is a big family and he is very smart, it would be a pity to be a horse boy."

"He's really not your son?"

"Really"

"Okay, let him go to the stable, if nothing else, you can go about your business"

The Count had taken care of everything here, turned around and left the room, Alexei came over and told me to stay in peace first, and then talk about other things, and after that, he also left, he was going to follow the Count to prepare for the evening banquet The Count was going to talk to Renault and his party about friendship with Jill, and also to discuss the matter of going east with Leo and his daughter, and for me, he only had a stable waiting for me to work

An old servant came over and took me by the hand

He gave me a black sè kù and a blue cloth coat, and a whip, which he said was left by the old boy, and that it would be mine in the future, and he gave me a wooden bowl, a wooden spoon, a sling, and three slingshots

"Your name is Wick?" The old servant asked tremblingly, his face was blue and sickly, as if he was too cold to do so

"My name is Victor, Daddy"

"Well, Victor is good," he led me to the front of a stable, and the smell of horses came to my nose in the corner of the stable, and a dirty flannel cloth fluttered on the moldy straw, and some jars and jars were placed around it, "Before going to the east side of the mountain, you sleep here"

I only realized my situation at this time, and I shook my head, "I don't live here"

"This is your bed, the straw of the good bed is replaced in the spring, this cloth is worth two copper plates, you don't sleep here, some people come to rob it, the wild children in the surrounding villages have long been red at this job, they are well fed and warmly dressed, they can ride horses at any time, they are hanging out every day, relaxed and spirited, I am sixty years younger, I must do this job"

"Then you do it, I'm going to live with Alyosha, I don't live in this place," I yelled

A few of the horses inside shook their heads and cleared their nostrils, not paying any attention to my roar

"Alexei is a young master, who are you? Hehe," he laughed, wrinkles pushed aside, "the hay is running out, you can fill the trough later, remember, sprinkle a handful of oats every night and I'll come to see it in the evening, if a horse's belly is not round enough, you don't have to eat dinner, it's the easiest job, you have to do it well."

After that, he ignored me, walked away to catch his breath, turned the horse circle and disappeared

In the afternoon, the sun shines warmly on the earth

There were no clouds in the sky, the sky was blue and high, and there were birds singing