The hot summer wind wreaked havoc in Baron Jean's territory, and the scorching sun shone on the land. The serfs were sweating profusely as they worked in the fields. Large drops of sweat dripped onto the muddy ground. Sweat carried the hopes of the serfs for a bountiful harvest. It also represented their hard work and the livelihood of their families. The serfs farmed, paid taxes, and made offerings. The knights collected taxes, fought, and guarded. This formed almost all of their lives.
The only way for the serfs to rise was through war. They had to accept the conscription, join the army, and conquer the enemy. Then, they hoped to be favored by the nobles and be promoted to sergeants or even rangers to change their fate.
The serfs got up at five in the morning to work. By ten in the morning, they stopped working because the weather was too hot.
Two serfs were sitting under the straw hut, enjoying the cool air. There was water in a crude clay pot, and they drank it directly from the clay pot with bowls, one mouthful after another.
"Wow, I'm so tired."
"Why are you so tired?"
"Yeah, I'm really tired today."
"I don't want to farm anymore."
"Yeah, I'm almost done too."
The two serfs complained. They always felt that farming was hard, but in fact, that was all they could do for the day. The rest of the day was their rest time.
The serfs were not as hardworking and hardworking as they imagined. Many serfs often did not have enough to eat, but most of the time, they would rather starve than work hard. The reason was simple. The tithes would squeeze out almost all of the serfs' efforts. The result of the kingdom's resources to feed the knights was that the kingdom's resources were concentrated on the knights and not the serfs.
"This situation has its pros and cons. Do you know? My Baron, 30% of us in the Empire are tramps. " In the distance, Laing, Olivier, Lopes, and Katzenberg were sitting on the second floor of a tavern on the edge of town. They were also cooling off.
Olivier had performed outstandingly in this battle. He had taken care of several graveyard guards and Bloodthirsty Heavenly Demons by himself.
In this war, about 50 of the 200 elites who followed François were lost. Among them, more than 20 were injured and could return to the team after recuperation. The rest were either dead or disabled.
Disabled soldiers could be incorporated into the patrol team that was in charge of public security, or they could receive a pension.
"Vagabonds, without any property, no one is willing to take them in. They are peasants who have lost their land, homeless exiles, defeated deserters, and bankrupt nobles." Laing condensed water into ice cubes and poured it into the red wine. "Unlike the Brittany, where every serf belongs to a noble, the nobles not only accept them unconditionally but also protect them when needed. The nobles of the Empire hate these vagrants who can't generate income the most. They are driven everywhere and rely on odd jobs to survive. The corruption of Chaos spreads in their hearts."
"Yes, I was deeply enlightened when I was studying in Brunswick, the capital of the Empire." The knight-errant Hexus nodded. "Brunswick is a very large city. It is also known as the 'Heart of the Empire'. But in fact, it is a city built on slums and mud. Every port in the city is filled with tens of thousands of people. Chaos, corruption, and corruption spread everywhere."
"It is very similar to Fort Marlin. When the population of a city breaks through a critical point, this is the inevitable result. With too many people, health and public security will face a severe test. The clustering effect of the city is not as simple as one plus one," Katzenberg said.
"Now it seems that the enthusiasm of the people is not bad. They are not slacking off." Olivier was not interested in talking about these things. He wanted to talk about the war. "Baron, I think we should reorganize the army now. At the same time, we should take advantage of the Midsummer Festival to recruit good soldiers."
Laing did not have any opinion about the new recruits. "This time, the plan is to recruit 50 to 100 people. Hexus, I'll leave the recruitment to you."
"Understood." Hexus nodded.
"My Baron, several new windmills have been put into use. We only collect a small part of the windmill tax, but we have a rule that if the windmills in the area are damaged, the serfs will have to bear the responsibility of repairing them." Katzenberg took the form and continued, "It is also worth noting that the wood elves have recently tried to spread the faith of Yisha and Kunos among the serfs. But I stopped them."
"You are right to stop them." Laing said impatiently. "The wood elves are not really trying to spread their faith. They just want to kidnap the children to become their servants. Warn the wood elves. If they only need labor and helpers, it will be fine. After all, it is normal employment. But if they intend to use the children for rituals or sacrifices, I will raze their observation post!"
"My Baron, your reputation and prestige are unparalleled. In fact, after I negotiated with the Wood Elves, they already expressed their apologies and promised that they wouldn't do such a thing again," Cassenberg added.
"That's good." The news of Laing killing the Blood Red Duke had already spread throughout the kingdom. His reputation in the Knight King Kingdom was now like the sun in the sky. Even the people of the Empire and the southern kingdoms knew of his name and deeds. Under such circumstances, the wood elves naturally would not clash with him. He was the only trading partner of the wood elves.
Laing began to think about his territory.
Currently, his territory was very prosperous. All kinds of construction projects were proceeding in an orderly manner. The trade with the wood elves had brought him a lot of wealth and a hospital. Taking in the dwarves had brought him three workshops, but it was still far from enough.
After this war, Laing realized that if he did not have a strong army, how could he fight against evil? An elite team of a few people had risked their lives to burn a few siege weapons. He could not always do that.
Speaking of which, the vampires really liked to change homes. Once was not enough, they came for a second time. Thinking of this, Laing shook his head with a bitter smile. Now, Muxilon's vampires would have to be quiet for many years. To the vampire army, corpses and skeletons were everywhere. However, the loss of the Blood Knights, Bloodthirsty Heavenly Ghosts, and Bloodthirsty Batwolves was enough to make Muxilon's vampires feel heartache.
Change homes? That's good!
A Blood Knight needed to be nurtured for hundreds of years. They also had to go through life-and-death training with an extremely high elimination rate before they could be considered a qualified Blood Knight. In this battle at Turis Castle and the battle in Chalon Forest, the vampires had lost dozens of Blood Knights. This was a truly terrible loss for Muxilon. It might take many years to make up for it.
The same went for the Bloodthirsty Heavenly Ghosts and Bloodthirsty Batwolves. These creatures had to be nurtured from a young age.
"Baron, the blacksmiths in the town have an opinion. The quality of the goods made by the dwarves is too good and the price is fair. They have no food to eat, so there are some conflicts." Katsenberg continued to report the situation in the territory.
"Then let them learn from the dwarves. They rely on their skills to make a living. If they are not as good as the dwarves, they will naturally be eliminated. The dwarves did not forbid them from recruiting human apprentices." Laing gave his instructions calmly. "Those who do not want to learn can scram."
"Yes, my Baron. Also, the craftsman Deron said that another group of dwarves have learned about the treatment here and are trying to settle here. He wants to ask if you are willing to accept?" Katsenberg took out a piece of parchment and continued.
"How many?"
"About … … four hundred."
Laing thought that this number was not too bad. However, he did not want to make a decision so hastily. "Let's go to the dwarves' new home first. Deron seems to be resting today."
"Then please let me lead the way, my Baron." Katsenberg stood up and the four of them hurried along under the sun.
After riding for about half an hour, they arrived at the dwarven community.
This was an independent community. The dwarves built their residence under a hill. Yes, under the hill. When Laing arrived at the dwarven community along the flagstone road, he found that the dwarves had hollowed out the bottom of the hill and created a deep basement for living. Only a small number of dwarves were willing to build outside. The dwarven houses were simple and unadorned. Most of them chose solid pointed stone structures and lacked decorations outside, except for the statue of the dwarf god in the middle of their community.
Two dwarves were standing guard on the watchtower with long guns. When they saw Laing appear, they saluted happily. "Hello, Mr. Laing. May your beard be long and beautiful."
"Pfft!" The two rangers could not help but laugh. Laing did not have a beard at all. He did have a little stubble when he came back from the war, but he shaved it off quickly. This year, Laing was 28 years old. He was not yet at the age of growing a beard.
Laing did not say anything. He just smiled. "Thank you. Is Mr. Deron here?"
"Oh! My old friend, Mr. Laing. "The dwarf rune craftsman, Deron Fiennes, came out of the community." Welcome! "
They entered the community. Olivier looked around as if he had discovered a new world. There was nothing special about dwarves, but it was the first time he had seen a dwarven community. Hex and Katsenberg tried to keep calm, but they were also curious about the dwarven community.
Many dwarves despised the curious look of humans, thinking that these stupid students were really ignorant.
Yes, although most dwarves had a good relationship with humans, they thought that humans were their stupid students in their hearts. Since the Empire and the dwarves formed the "Sacred Alliance," the dwarves taught the human weapon manufacturing technology. The dwarves generously shared the human siege weapon technology, and the dwarves selflessly gave the human gunpowder technology and steam weapons.
So in the eyes of the dwarves, humans were their friends, but at the same time, they were also stupid students who were not very talented. Whenever humans had a major breakthrough in technology, the dwarves always felt embarrassed. The Dwarven Engineers Association would immediately come up with new research results to suppress the human technology and show off at the same time.
Deron noticed that Laing was constantly looking around, so he took the initiative to say, "My baron, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I noticed that your houses are very thick, and you even use boulders to cover them. Is there a reason?" Laing looked at the stone houses of the dwarves. Even though the materials were monotonous, the dwarves still built their houses very neatly and beautifully. There were no gorgeous decorations, but there was a sense of seriousness unique to the dwarves.
"Building a house is a science, my baron." Deron pointed to his stone house and said, "If the walls are too narrow, the house will be very hot. If the walls are too thick, the house will be very cold."
The dwarf's words sounded irrelevant, but Laing did not care. Deron opened the door of his house. His house was the largest and most luxurious in the whole community, nearly three meters high (for dwarves). "Please come in, Mr. Laing, gentlemen."
Laing and the others bent over to enter the house and sat down in the living room. Deron took out several glasses of ale and put them on the table. At the same time, he brought out some smoked meat and roasted bacon. "Please enjoy. I'm sorry, Mr. Laing, I should treat you with Bagman beer, but I don't have it now. But … I should have it soon. I asked someone to go to Breezy Castle to buy a few barrels."
"It seems that Mr. Deron is doing well now!" Laing smiled. The dwarf's beer was very strong, and the taste of the meat was very salty. It was just barely edible.
"It's okay. As you can see, many of my compatriots are still not used to living under the sky, so they opened up a group of basement groups in the hills." Deron stroked his white beard. "I wasn't used to it at first, my baron. Don't you think that when you look up at the sky, you're afraid that you'll fall into the infinite stars?"
"I don't think so. On the contrary, whenever I look up at the stars, I always feel very small." Laing shook his head gently. Deron did not mind. He then said, "Mr. Laing, you must have come this time because of Sven, right?"
"Yes, it's not that I don't welcome your people. I just want to know their origin and what I can provide," Laing said calmly.
"Of course, of course." Deron nodded. "He's my friend. His name is Sven, Sven Novigrin. He's a powerful dwarf chief and rune blacksmith. He's an eighty-seven-year-old young man (dwarves can live for at least four hundred years). His fortress was destroyed by the night goblins, and most of his people died in the war. After a desperate struggle lasted for more than ten years, Sven finally realized that the remaining four hundred people were not enough to take back their ancestral fortress. They needed a place to rest and recuperate, so I suggested that they come here."
"There are not many people left in the Novigrin clan, but they are all excellent warriors. They are willing to exchange their hands for the necessities they want. This can be work or killing, as long as you provide them with a place to live and work and enough ale." Deron was not good with words. He could only use these dry words to try to gain Laing's trust.
"Rest and recuperate, is it?" Laing thought for a while and finally nodded. "Okay, let them come. I approve."
His territory also needed to rest and recuperate.
At this time, a squire riding a horse came from afar. He told Laing a piece of news.
The king's envoy had arrived.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
