As the weather warmed up, the snow melted.
The ice and snow on the northwestern highlands melted into a gurgling stream. The stream converged and poured into the river. It then split into several branches in the low-lying lands south of the Great Tree Pass and flowed along the terrain all the way to the southeast. The crisscrossing waterways in the low-lying lands irrigated a piece of fertile land near the Great Tree Pass, making it one of the largest grain-producing areas in the Plains of the Holy Spirit. It also became a strategic location that the rebels and the royal army in the east repeatedly fought over.
The flames of war were burning very close. They had been temporarily extinguished in the winter, but as the weather warmed up, the haze of war returned to the land along with the rising river in the river.
The white-haired Sam brought his children to the upper reaches of the river. The stones that were piled on the Harvest Stone last year were still there, but a few were missing. Most of them were kicked away by animals that passed by to drink water. Under the remaining stones, some rough carvings could be vaguely seen. It was the sacred emblem of the three gods of fertility that was crudely drawn.
Sam stepped forward and cleaned up the stones on the Harvest Stone with an almost reverent look. He then took out the red ginger grass that he always carried with him, squeezed out the grass juice and smeared it on the emblem of the three gods of fertility. His two sons picked up new stones of suitable size from the nearby river bank and placed them on the flat surface of the Harvest Stone into a small pile. After that, the youngest daughter came over and stuck a green twig in the middle of the pile of stones.
Sam lowered his head and whispered, "Goddess of Spring, you are the first messenger of the Month of Recovery. May the red ginger grass dye your skirt red and lead you to this land..."
The children lowered their heads and prayed together with their father.
In the beliefs of the humans, the God of Fertility was made up of three different goddesses. The eldest was the Mother Earth Goddess Gaia, also known as the Goddess of Life and Mother Earth. She ruled over the entire earth and all the plants that grew on it. The Goddess of Harvest, Eve, was the younger sister of the Mother Earth Goddess. She was in charge of the crops among the plants to protect the harvest of the mortals. The Goddess of Spring, Flora, was the youngest of the three, but also the most lively.
The Ansu believed that every time the Month of Resuscitation came and the ice and snow on the earth melted, the Goddess of Spring, Flora, would be the first to run out of her palace and come to the earth to look for evidence of the end of winter. The red ginger grass could attract the attention of the goddess, and the first green twigs in the Month of Resuscitation would make her happy. She would remember the position of every green twig, and after returning to her palace at the end of spring, she would tell the Goddess of Harvest what had happened on the earth. The farmers' harvest for the year was guaranteed.
Almost all the peasants believed in the Three Gods of Fertility. Even if they were followers of the Holy Light or the Blood God, they would not neglect to worship the God of Fertility every spring.
But could they really live in peace just by collecting three to five catties of grain?
After a short prayer, Sam looked up and saw the green twigs in the middle of the pile of stones that were gradually turning into dust and drifting away with the wind. He sighed and said, "The goddess has accepted our worship. This year's harvest will not be bad."
"Last year's harvest was not bad either, but we still had to go hungry," the eldest son whispered. "The goddess can only bless the harvest, but she can't let us go hungry."
"Don't talk nonsense in front of the goddess!" Sam immediately turned around and glared at his son. "That's because the nobles are at war. Of course, we have to hand in our food!"
The two sons looked at each other, and then the younger son said, "Father, I saw soldiers again when I went out today. They passed by the road in the north and went east."
"That's Count Solin's cavalry," Sam said, shaking his head. He had been a farmer all his life, and he did not dare to have anything to do with the noble soldiers. "You didn't provoke them, did you?"
"I hid as far away as I could!" The younger son shook his head vigorously. "They were very scary. They carried swords that I had never seen before, wore armor that I had never seen before, and rode on tall horses. They looked very fierce."
"… The weather is getting warmer day by day. I'm afraid there's going to be a fight again."
Sam muttered. He knew what his younger son meant by the swords and armor that he had never seen before. A few days ago, he also saw a team of Knight passing by the north of the village. Those Knights were wearing different equipment from last year. It was said that those swords and armor came from the south. Count Solin seemed to be confident that the weapons made by the southerners could help him take back his territory and fortress. But these things were hard to understand for the people who dug for food in the fields, and they were not interested to understand.
He only hoped that this battle would end quickly, or at least that they would not continue to fight here. Either the royal army would drive the Easterners out quickly, or the Easterners would drive the royal army away quickly. It did not matter who won or lost.
Last year, when the Easterners' army reached the Great Wood Road, Count Solin said that he wanted to organize a defense, so he collected a wave of food from the neighboring villages. But in the end, he could not hold on and the Easterners still broke in.
After they broke in, Prince Edmund did not collect any food, but took one-third of the village's young adults to repair the road. Several people died outside.
Halfway through the road, the royal army and the Ecclesiastical Templars fought their way back and chased the Easterners out of the Great Wooden Road. However, this was not a good thing. In order to feed the knights and priests of the Ecclesiastical Templars, Count Solin collected another wave of food.
Last year was a bumper harvest, an unprecedented bumper harvest. Every family had an extra twenty to thirty percent.
Ten people starved to death in the village, and eight died from exhaustion.
So it was no wonder that his son would say such bold words in front of God.
"Let's go home. We don't want to encounter water ghosts and evil spirits later." Sam shook his head, grabbed the tattered hat and put it on his head. "Too many people have died recently. The wilderness is getting more and more dangerous at night."
The children followed their father's footsteps and walked along the relatively flat stone beach on the riverbank back to the village. The younger daughter followed behind her two brothers and suddenly asked curiously, "I heard that John next door was selected to be a soldier. Lord Knight rewarded his family with two bags of wheat, and they don't have to pay taxes this year …"
"Don't even think about it!" Sam heard the voice behind him and immediately turned back to glare. "It's a real war now. Soldiers have to fight with the Easterners. If you're not careful, you'll die outside. And look at your two useless brothers. Look at their thin arms and legs. Do you think Lord Knight will like them?"
The younger daughter was startled and quickly shrank her neck, not daring to say another word.
Smoke rose in front of them, and the wooden fence at the entrance of the village came into Sam's sight.
A cavalryman riding a tall horse, wearing a strangely shaped armor with runes and a black one-handed sword at his waist, stopped at the entrance of the village. After seeing Sam and the others, the cavalryman immediately waved the whip in his hand. "You guys, come here!"
Sam's heart skipped a beat.
Collecting grain again? The winter had just passed … where would the family have grain?!
But he still did not dare to be negligent. He quickly led his children to the front of the cavalryman and stopped at a distance where they would not be kicked by the horse or hit by the whip. He bowed deeply and said, "Lord Knight."
This was just a soldier on a horse. Looking at his fully armed appearance, he was at most a captain of the soldiers. He was certainly different from the real aristocratic "Lord Knight". But even if Sam knew this, he still had to respectfully call him "Lord Knight". This was very pleasing to the soldier on a horse. And even if someone investigated, Sam could cover it up by saying that he was stupid and did not know the rules.
The cavalryman was indeed very pleased. The fully armed man curled up the corner of his mouth and nodded with satisfaction. Then he pointed the whip at the two sons behind Sam and asked, "You have two sons?"
"Yes … Yes …" Sam nodded repeatedly. "They're both honest young men …"
"That's good. That's what I want." The cavalryman raised his chin. "Pick one. Your son has been conscripted."
"Ah … Ah?" Sam raised his head in astonishment. After a brief moment of astonishment, he finally panicked. "My lord, they … they can't fight! Look at their arms and legs, and they can't even stand straight. If they go to the battlefield, dying is a small matter. I'm afraid they can't even pick up a weapon. They'll be a disgrace to the lord! "
"Go to the battlefield? Do they deserve it? "The cavalryman waved the whip in his hand and said impatiently," They're going to work! "
Sam was startled by the sound of the whip, but he still plucked up the courage to ask, "Work … what kind of work?"
"Repair the road," the cavalryman said loudly. "Under the orders of the Grand Duke Regent, Victoria Wyndham. Wyndham Devon? The order signed by Franklin and Prince Wales to repair the Kingdom Avenue. The loyal Viscount Hancock has put your family on the list. You can't disobey! "
The cavalryman left.
It was the 15th day of the Month of Recovery, the traditional Ansu festival. On this day, the Kingdom Avenue, which had been abandoned for a century, finally began to be renovated.
On the same day, after a series of intensive preparations, the White Sand Mining Company, led by the Minister of Commerce, finally chose the first mining site in the White Sand Hills in the Eastern Region.
The young Knight Belk Lauren looked down at Lauren. He watched the Cecil people busily working between the rocks in the distance. As the messenger between the Eastern Region and the Southern Region, and as the "representative" appointed by Prince Edmund, this young man meticulously fulfilled his duties. He closely watched the activities of the Cecil people on this land. Naturally, it was his job to watch the first mining site of the Cecil people.
As for the Cecil people from the Southwest, Lauren was always wary and wary. He knew what the founding Duke had done in the Southern Territory. Within a year, he had used brute force to destroy the aristocratic system in the Southern Territory. Within three days, he had attacked and occupied Firmrock Fort. He was definitely not a good person. He had sent the "White Sands Mining Company" over. Although it was only a mining company in name, who knew if the Cecil people would infiltrate the Southern Territory and gradually devour the land around the White Sands Hills to become the Cecil people's own?
After all, this place was only separated from the Gilan Region at the border of the Cecil Principality by a river and a small forest.
Below the lookout was a temporary mining camp. The Cecil people had transported a large number of strange equipment from the Gilan Region. They had set up a magic net in the mine, built a makeshift house, and cleared a simple road. Although the tools they used and the layout of the buildings were very strange, at least until now, these people had only done the necessary preparatory work for the "mining".
"Marquis Belk, I hope this mine can satisfy your curiosity," a voice came from the side. "After all, there's nothing to see in such a desolate place."
The speaker was a thin, dark-skinned man named Holme. Lauren knew that this young man, who did not even have a surname, was the person in charge of the White Sand Mining Company. He was a "mining expert" sent by Cecil. Lauren did not know why the person in charge of such a huge industry and hundreds of workers was a commoner, but he still nodded politely to Holme. "I'm not here for the scenery. I'm just here to see your mine. Please don't mind my bluntness, but I have to emphasize that although the mining rights have been given to you, this is still the land of the Eastern Region. I'm responsible for every inch of land outside the mine."
Holme nodded. "Of course, Mr. Marquis. We're only interested in mining. We're not interested in any land outside the mine and the road."
In the distance, the Cecil people, who were busy between the rocks, had finally completed some kind of preparation work. Accompanied by a loud whistle and a few loud flutes, the miners in coarse clothing quickly ran to a place far away from the rocks and hid behind a boulder.
Belk looked at the scene in astonishment. He had never seen such a situation in any mining process that he knew of. "What are they doing?"
Holme smiled. This man, who was born a slave worker, had never smiled so brightly in his life. "Mining."
In the distant mine, someone waved a few eye-catching flags from high above. Then, all the miners near the rocks covered their ears.
Belk? Lauren was curious. "Mining?"
A loud noise came from the distance.
Then, there were even more loud noises, one after another, like rolling thunder.
The whole watchtower trembled slightly in the continuous loud noises. Under the impact more terrible than Pyroblast and Earthquake, the rocks in the distance, which would take hundreds of people a month to excavate, suddenly collapsed.
Belk had almost drawn his sword. His ears were buzzing. He heard the voice of the person in charge of the White Sand Mining Company.
"Yes, mining. We're only mining, Mr. Marquis."
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