Lady of the Lord From the East

Fortunately, the village chief didn't faint, and he recovered quickly after being frightened. No matter how much the earl had to spend, the territorial people would still make a lot of money.

He didn't care about being polite, and directly asked the soldiers: "Can everyone who registers really get a piece of candy? No matter how big or small?!"

"Of course." The soldier said impatiently, "The Count's orders have been posted. How can you go back? Look at what we brought, or they are all for you."

As he spoke, he opened the baskets, revealing the neatly stacked candies inside.

Hank, whose registration was interrupted, also said, "The candy is very sweet and tastes very good. You can bring the children in your family to register for the candy, they will definitely like it, otherwise we will lose their share after the registration is finished. already."

The village chief looked at the candy cubes in the baskets, listened to Hank's words, and saw that the two soldiers also looked clear, and knew that they could see what the villagers were hiding.

The village chief's face was embarrassed. It's not their fault. Don't we all worry about the same thing? After all, the earl suddenly gave such an order. Who is not afraid that his order will be deceitful? The subjects are still very unfamiliar with him, they don't know enough about him, and naturally they don't trust him enough.

If it wasn't because of the changes in Sardinson County over the past year, the residents could see clearly and know that everyone's life has improved because of the new Count and Madam, which made them trust the Count's character. The order has some expectations, I am afraid that these soldiers and children who have come to register will not be greeted so eagerly when they arrive at the village.

The little secret was revealed, but it was told by a little boy. The village chief couldn't bear it, but he looked down at the candy he was still holding, and he immediately forgot about it.

There is nothing more tangible than the benefits of having it in your hands.

Seeing that he didn't move for a long time, the soldier frowned impatiently and reminded: "If the order of the Count is not registered this time, it will be fined to make it up later, and the fine will be doubled if you owe it. If you are willing to pay double the tax later, you can continue to hide it and tuck it away.”

Another soldier also said: "Don't think that the count has graciously reduced the tax now. Those who are found to have not registered will pay the new tax, and the fine will be calculated according to the previous tax. Think about which one. It's worth it."

What he said is to name everyone's careful thoughts. I am afraid many people think that since children under the age of seven do not need to pay taxes, they will look at the situation and determine the authenticity of the new law before giving it to their own children. Register, so you don't have to pay.

Now the words of the soldiers tell them directly that it is impossible not to register. If they register late, they will have to pay the previous poll tax and double it. If they calculate the amount a little, they will have to pay the count how much service they have to serve to make up for it. Come on, if I can't make it up, will I be arrested and become a slave?

The more the villagers thought about it, the more scared they became, but they were undecided, and they all looked at the village chief.

The village chief was also woken up at this moment. In addition to the temptation of sugar, he did not hesitate any longer. He turned his head and shouted to the villagers: "Everyone go back and bring the children over to register, and don't miss any of them."

He raised his hand high and let the villagers see the sugar cube in his hand, and continued: "Look at what they brought, this is sugar, it tastes as sweet and expensive as honey, then the price of a piece of sugar is It’s worth one person’s annual poll tax, how could the earl lie to us if he can give us such a precious thing.”

The villagers' eyes widened because of his words, and their eyes began to heat up when they looked at the candy in his hand.

Sugar, that's an expensive food they've only ever heard of and never seen before. If someone has eaten even one bite and can brag about it for years, how could they not know the name of such a good thing.

This time, everyone wanted to grab the candy from the village chief to see if it was really delicious. The quick-responding villagers immediately called their wives/children who were lining up with them to go home. All the younger children brought them here: " Hurry up, don't miss one, one candy per person, what if you run too slowly and run out of candy?"

The teenagers who followed behind their parents watched the sugar swallow their saliva, and then ran away like the wind.

When one person moves, it reminds everyone else that the words of the villagers are still ringing in their ears, yes, who knows how much these candies are, and will those who are slow will not get them?

So, what are you waiting for, hurry back and call everyone.

A group of people immediately emerged from the well-formed line, and people from every household went back to call for people. The scene was spectacular.

And Billy, who had the best grade at the earliest, also wanted to leave. The queue was arranged by house number. He was the first, followed by his wife and eldest son. The people behind this situation will be willing to let them jump to the first place in the queue - it's not as good as he registered to go back and bring the rest of the children.

But before that, the ratio looked at the soldier who made sugar.

"Lord Soldier, if the candy is taken by the village chief, it is his? Can I take another piece?"

He could see that the candy was licked by the village chief. Didn't it take advantage of his family, so he had to replace it with a new one.

The village chief is angry, he hasn't disliked him for dirtying the candy, and he doesn't know what his hand has caught before!

Billy successfully got the new candy, but he was reluctant to eat it. He just licked it like the village chief. After confirming that it was really sweet, he hurried home and called the rest of the children.

Oak Village suddenly became lively, and there were voices calling for children to look for children. It didn’t take long for the children who were originally asked to hide by adults to come out. Among them, there are a lot of babies who are just born and still in swaddling, and almost every family has carried one out.

"Last year, the life of the residents was much better than in previous years, and the birth rate of newborns has also increased. According to statistics, there were 365 newborns born around this winter. In addition, according to the team that went out to register, the number of newborns brought back. According to the news, there are also many women who are pregnant, and many new babies will be born this year."

The race that loves to have children is not only the Chinese people, but also in Europe during this period. The poorer the place, the more children are born. Everyone thinks that this is the way to get rid of poverty. Of course, the high number of newborns died. rate is also one of the reasons why they are more keen to have children.

In the past, the residents of Sardinson County were not rich, but as long as they did not reach the point where they could not be revealed, they would still work hard to have children, hoping to raise some to add more labor to the family and make life better.

But now, life in Sardinson County has begun to improve. As long as you work hard, there are job opportunities everywhere. Whether it is joining the road construction team to build roads or going to the town to do some hard work for the merchants, the reward you get is Enough to feed their family.

Life is good, and you don’t have to worry about not being able to support the child after the birth, so what are you waiting for if you don’t take advantage of the better conditions at home and give birth to a child when the winter is more leisurely.

So in this year, the birth rate in Sardinson County can be said to have reached an all-time high. Almost one in three households has a newborn, and the remaining two are either about to give birth or preparing to conceive.

It's like jumping on the trend of having children.

After most of the team completed the population registration, the data was integrated and sent to Felix and Wei Wei, and they found that the population growth in Sardinson County was higher than expected.

"Fortunately, they brought some more candy bars in advance, otherwise they would have to make a trip if they were not enough." That would be a waste of time.

The double temptation of adding sugar and deducting taxes is really unstoppable, at least for now. After learning that there are sugar collars registered, the citizens have been very active, and even a woman with a big belly came to ask if they could Including the child in the womb, the due date is only a few days away anyway, so they felt that if they didn't take advantage of this registration to get a little more candy, they wouldn't have such a good opportunity in the near future.

Of course, this kind of thing is not allowed, and of course there will be no sugar in the future. After all, it is a benefit given to the newlyweds of the count, and I will give it later. Is it to encourage him to get married a few more times?

"But you can consider giving some other benefits." Wei Wei pointed at the table with her pen, making a slight and rhythmic sound.

The data returned from the statistics gave her new inspiration. Now Sardinson County must encourage production. Although raising children is expensive at first, when these children grow up, the population increase is very considerable.

"If there are new babies born in the future, you can consider sending them some food or something. What do you think?"

Wei Wei turned her head to ask Felix, and saw that he was also looking at her, with a look of anticipation in her expression, she couldn't help but wonder: "What's wrong?"

Presumably seeing the information stimulated, Felix blurted out: "When are we going to have a baby too?"

Wei Wei didn't expect him to suddenly mention this.

According to Wei Wei's own opinion, she feels that her body is still young now, and it is too early to give birth to a child, so it is best to regenerate it in a few years.

But thinking about Felix, it's not that he couldn't understand his expectations.

Felix is ​​25 this year. For future generations, he may still be a young man who has just left the society. It is too early for some people to talk about marriage, let alone having children.

But this is not the twenty-first century, but the thirteenth century. People in this period generally have short lifespans, with an average lifespan of less than fifty years. Felix has already passed half of his life, and the Williams family's life expectancy is not long. The situation is there again, except for him, there is no male. If there is no heir, it will be a disaster for the entire family, so it is indeed normal for him to expect the birth of offspring.

From his point of view, Wei Wei thought about it and felt that it was acceptable to have a child earlier. Anyway, she didn't hate children, or even called it a favorite. Of course, the premise was not a bear child.

She thought a bit too much, and suddenly fell silent again, and Felix mistakenly thought she didn't want to have a baby.

Felix really loves Wei Wei, he doesn't want to have a dispute with Wei Wei because of this kind of thing, and this is what he suddenly raised. Before, he was more planning to go with the flow, so seeing that she didn't want to give birth, although he was a little disappointed, But still said: "Of course, you are still young, and we will prepare for a few more years to regenerate."

Wei Wei came back to her senses, just in time to catch his pretended indifferent tone, her eyes blinked, and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "Really?"

Seeing her smile, Felix was even more convinced that she didn't want to give birth, and nodded: "Of course."

"That's a pity." Wei Wei slowly turned the pencil in her hand: "I thought you would expect a healthy child, and was planning to take some time to recuperate and prepare for pregnancy. Since you don't want it, Just wait, anyway, we are so busy now, we really don't have time to take care of the children."

Felix froze for a while, and suddenly posted it excitedly, looking expectantly: "Are you really going to have a child? Really?"

Wei Wei betrayed: "I had this plan originally."

Felix only listened to the point, and she agreed.

He suddenly leaned in and kissed her hard, then stretched out his arms to hug her, and strode out.

Wei Wei, who was suddenly hugged by the princess, exclaimed, and subconsciously stretched her arms around his neck to prevent herself from falling: "What are you doing?"

"Go back to the room and have the baby."

That day, when they were supposed to work, they left a pile of papers and stayed in the room all day, not showing up at the dinner table until noon the next day.

Seeing them again, everyone up and down the castle unanimously showed a touch of aunty smile.

The relationship between the count and the lady is really good,

Although the population registration took only a few days to complete in the rush of a group of children, the integration and verification after the event and the adjustment of the new tax were not their ability.

On the contrary, most of the candies received by the residents were not eaten, but they were collected together and taken to the town to exchange for money. Although you don’t have a lot for one piece, I can still make up a few kilograms in a village, and the money in exchange. Take a cent, it's much more affordable than sugar.

Of course, not all of them are sold. More or less, I will leave a piece or two for the children to taste and let them remember the taste.

At the same time, foreign businessmen also learned that Sardinson still produces sugar.

The Prady Empire itself does not produce sugar, they eat cane sugar, which is shipped from other countries, and it is expensive, but more or less wealthy merchants have eaten it, and they have tasted Sardinson The sweetness of sucrose is lower than that of beet sugar, and the taste and aroma are slightly different, so it is easy to distinguish.

It can give candy to tens of thousands of people, even if there is only a small piece per person, the total amount will not be small, and the merchants who are staring at the castle have not found that the earl has bought so much candy, so, What could it be that they did not produce by themselves.

I don't know what this sugar is made of. Sardinson is not a place where sugar cane can be grown, and they haven't seen a convoy that transports sugar cane through here.

There are many people who are curious about the origin of these sugars, but more people are thinking about the production and price of this sugar, and whether they can buy a batch from Sardinson County. After all, foreign businessmen do not go to Prady every day. Run, the market often wants to buy but can't sell sugar.

It didn't take long for the idea to begin, when the businessmen living in Dingle discovered that there was another shop in the town that was quietly selling this kind of sugar, and it was a lot of weight.

Some merchants came in and asked the price, and found that the price of these sugars was much lower than the price of sugar set by foreign merchants.

The shop assistant said: "This is the wholesale price. It is only for merchants who buy sugar in large quantities. The starting price is one hundred kilograms. If it is retail, it will still be at the market price."

The wholesale price is relatively low because merchants have to transport it themselves after buying it, and they have to pay taxes and sell it to the destination, which is a lot of money, and the price of beet sugar cannot be higher than that of sucrose. If the price is fixed If it's high, they won't make a profit from the price difference, so naturally they won't buy it.

Of course, this wholesale price is still very high for Satinsonburg. After all, how much is the sugar beet worth, and what is the price of sugar, one in the sky and one in the ground, they will not lose money no matter how they sell it.

The sugar price in Fort Sardinson has obviously stimulated these merchants. The first day the sugar shop started nutrition, there was a situation of rushing for goods. Some merchants with deep pockets could not wait to wrap up all the sugar in the shop, but unfortunately, at most there are only They are allowed to buy 100 catties of sugar, and they also want to make an order with the store manager, pay the deposit first and then wait for the shipment. It cannot exceed 1000 catties at a time, and after the order reaches a certain amount, they will not sell it.

They were allowed to order because new beets were delivered. The beet merchants who signed the contract with Wei Wei sent a large batch of beets, which amounted to tens of thousands of kilograms. This year's harvest season.

Therefore, the sugar business can not be done at any time. Wei Wei will start to squeeze sugar from the beet harvest season, and then squeeze it until the end of winter in the new year, and will not do it at other times.

And the question they are considering now is whether the sugar business should be done alone.

Wei Wei: "I'm afraid that beets can squeeze sugar, I'm afraid I can't keep it a secret for a long time."

Felix nodded. Now everyone in Sardinsonburg is watching closely. The news of their large-scale purchase of beets cannot be kept secret forever. Even if they don't tell them, the beet sellers may leak the news. go out.

And by the time those watching them discover that none of the new products in Fort Sardinson are sugar beet-related, they might guess that the vegetable has something to do with sugar.

After all, sugar cane extraction is actually not a secret. It’s just that the Prady Empire is not suitable for sugar cane cultivation, so no one does this business. However, it is impossible for businessmen who often do business across borders to not know the origin of cane sugar. Not a secret.

So, instead of trying to keep this unlikely secret, they want to trade beet sugar for a greater good.

Felix took out the map of the Prady Empire, swiped his fingers across several counties near Sardinson, and finally stopped at a territory by the sea.

"Sloot County, a county adjacent to Melk Town, is nearly half the size of Sardinson. The people in the county mainly live by fishing at sea. This county originally belonged to an earl family, but that family offended After being a big noble, the title has been reduced to a baron, and most of the territory has been recovered, and it is now considered a land without owners."

Noble titles are not static. If there are nobles who offend the king and powerful nobles, they will be downgraded or even deprived of titles. After the titles are downgraded, the extra territory will naturally be taken back, leaving only those who meet their status. The area and population of the territory, and the recovered territory will be distributed to other nobles as fiefs depending on the situation.

Now Felix is ​​looking at it.

Sloot County is not a rich county. Its own resources are limited. Although it is a county near the sea, there is no dock built in the county. No foreign merchants will dock there, and naturally it is impossible to attract business opportunities. The owner is not good at business, so the place is really poor.

In such a place, other nobles who have a little choice would not choose such a poor and unpromising fief, so it has been without a master for many years, only the king's tax officer will make regular trips to collect taxes.

Some people may think that it is a good thing that there is no lord in the territory, because then everyone does not need to serve.

But the truth is, their life is more difficult than others, without the guards of soldiers and knights, the beasts cannot be driven out, the robbers can go in and out and loot at will, and they still have to pay taxes, but the king's tax collector only collects money and food, Do not accept labor in lieu of taxation. In this case, people often have to starve to death after paying enough tax. If they hadn’t fished and hunted, they wouldn’t have to pay additional taxes, and they could barely survive without food. Time to make ends meet, I am afraid that after all these years, there is not even a living person there.

Many free people who can walk have moved to other places, leaving only a few old, weak, sick and numb people who can't walk to survive day after day.

They desperately need a lord.

And Felix, it's just such a place.

"Do you want to compare the price of sugar with the king for this territory?" Wei Wei easily caught his thoughts.

"Yes, many of the royal territories are in the western part of the empire, where beets are the main producing areas. I know that a lot of beets are also grown in His Majesty's territory, and the formula for making sugar will be a big temptation for him. , for such a piece of territory, he is very likely to agree."

Wei Wei looked through the information about Slaughter County that Felix had arranged for him, and found that the place didn't look very good, but it was actually very promising.

Sloot County is a coastal county. It has a large seafront area, and according to the detection results, there is an area that is very suitable for building a wharf. It turned out that the original lord did not want to spend this effort, or he was originally poor. It can't be repaired, but if you can get this land, with Felix's financial resources, you can build a good dock.

"It's a good idea, but the size of Sardinson should be a standard earldom, right? Can you have other territories?"

"Of course you can." Felix knew that she didn't know much about this, and explained carefully: "Although the size of each noble's territory should be fixed on the surface, in fact, the territory of the real great nobles will never be It's just a few places in the regulations."

"It is not uncommon for a noble to have two or three standard territories at the same time. For us, this is just a matter of adding a noble title."

"Take Ellen's father, Duke of Devonhill as an example. He now has three titles. This is not only a question of title, but also means that he has three territories, one duchy, and two earls, although there is one earl. The land is nominally his wife's, but in fact it belongs to the Duke of Devonhill now, and will belong to Alan later."

Therefore, it is not difficult to think of an additional territory, it only depends on whether the king is willing to give it.