Lady of the Lord From the East

Since Claude wanted to gain favor, he would not forget to send a message to Felix when he persuaded Baird to go to Sardinson County.

His letter was delivered earlier than Baird, and Felix told his subordinates to pay attention, so Baird had just arrived at Dingle with the team, and Felix knew it before contacting the castle. Baird was invited to the castle to talk in detail.

When the slave merchant was satisfied and took the certificate written by Felix himself and left the castle to collect the goods he wanted, the group of slaves also became Felix's private property.

There were so many people in the castle all of a sudden, it was impossible to live in it. The original number of slaves in the castle was only about a hundred people. These people used to work mainly for grazing and farming for the count, and their food was worse than that of serfs. It was crowded with the sheep in the barn, and the conditions were very, very poor.

But now there are more than 1,000 slaves. It’s okay to crowd the barn for a while, but it’s not suitable for a long time. After all, they plan to raise more cattle, sheep and horses this year. Now these animals are still small, and the slaves live in them. It won't take up too much space, but when they grow up, there will be no place for slaves

As soon as Wei Wei heard it, she said, "Since it's not a long-term thing to let them live in the barn, it's better to build some houses in another parcel of land. If there are new slaves in the future, I'm not afraid that there will be no place to live."

Although I feel sorry for those slaves, but the system at this time is like this, Wei Wei can't say anything about liberating slaves, ordinary serfs can't be liberated, let alone the lowest slaves, all she can do is to make their lives relative to each other. better.

Other nobles may think it is too wasteful to house the slaves, and the slaves have to worry about them escaping when they move out of the castle, and the safety is also very problematic.

But most of this batch of slaves were originally foreigners, and those who were unfamiliar with the place of life would be caught if they escaped, and the punishment for escaped slaves was very severe. In a foreign country, as long as they were not subjected to too much persecution, they really couldn’t survive. , they themselves are unlikely to run.

And Felix's knight education made him have a certain compassion for the weak, maybe not very much, but enough for him to agree with the slave house.

They looked around the castle, and finally decided to choose a plot of land behind the castle against the vegetable field. At that moment, it was an open space vacated for the safety of the castle. There was no farming, and there was a river beside the vegetable field. The river came from In the further woodland, the villa is on the upper stream, so this open space is also very close to the road, and the existence of the river and the moat makes the land at an angle. There is no bridge on the nearby river, but there is a moat and a castle. If you block one side, there are two out of the four directions that cannot pass. If you want to leave, you can only take the road on the right or follow the river to the woodland direction, and these two directions can be surrounded by only building a fence, so I chose this block. The local, more or less, also means to reduce the intensity of supervision.

After deciding on the location, the next step is to build a house. Naturally, the slaves did not have a good house to live in. They built an earth embryo room. They mixed the soil and chopped wheat straw and put them in a wooden frame to make embryos. It is dried in the sun, and when it is dried, it becomes a block of adobe bricks, and then use wood as a pillar and then use these adobe bricks to build a house like bricks, without cement or lime mud, only coated with the same soil and chopped wheat orange After stirring the mud paddle evenly, when the square walls are covered, the doors and windows are left, the roof is erected with beams, and the house is covered with thatch or wheat straw.

This kind of soil embryo house can be seen in many rural areas in China in later generations. It doesn't look like a lump of soil on the outside, and it seems to collapse when the wind blows, but it is actually solid.

Because the work is expedited, there is nothing in the soil embryo house, and the place to sleep is the wheat straw on the ground. At first glance, it looks like a barn for livestock, but it looks bad. The house is comfortable, moisturizing and keeping warm.

It only takes a few days to build an earthen house. Wei Wei and Felix thought that it would take a few days. They simply let the slaves solve the housing problem first and then think about other things, so they didn't pass. After a long time, a large number of soil embryo houses were built in that open space. The orientation of the houses was planned in advance, some face to face and some back to back, leaving a way in the middle of face to face, and the neighbors were close to each other, waiting to be built. From the heights of the castle to look over there, the soil embryo houses lined up in a line look extraordinarily neat and orderly.

After it was built, the slaves could not believe that the houses were for them.

Although the steward in charge of the overseers told them early in the morning that these houses were for them to live in, and asked them to work hard and try to complete their tasks earlier, none of the slaves believed him. live in a house? Even better masters wouldn't do this, they just thought the overseer was trying to fool them.

But when the house was built and the foreman asked them to divide their teams and live in a house for every five people, they didn't know what he said was true.

While the slaves were completely stunned, the overseer was still chattering: "The Count said, there are fewer houses now, so you can squeeze them temporarily, and I will build more later, and I will give them to you. If you want me to say that the Count is too kind, how can such a big house be crowded, let alone five, ten people can live there, so you shouldn't be given such good conditions."

In his opinion, these houses are only used for sleeping. Since it is only for sleeping, it is natural to put as many people as they can. The empty space is a waste, that is, the Count and Madam are kind-hearted, otherwise how can these slaves be allowed to themselves Have a house to live in.

In his nagging, the slaves finally determined that this was really a house for them!

This group of slaves who had just been sold to Sardinson didn't feel much. They were just glad that they seemed to have met a good master, but the slaves who were in the castle before were different. A large part of them were slaves for generations. , not to mention owning their own house, they have never lived in other places except the barn, and now they can have their own room, even if they still have to live with others, this is never a good thing.

After clearly realizing that these houses belonged to them, these slaves couldn't help crying, holding their tears in large drops, and they couldn't stop chanting words that even they could not understand, like In gratitude to their masters, it seems like they are praising those houses.

The scene was a little excited for a while, but it was quickly stopped by the overseer, who urged them to quickly choose a house and move in.

"Tomorrow, the earl will arrange a new job for you. No one is allowed to be delayed. Can you hear me!"

The crying slaves stopped crying. They quickly divided the housing. The more than 100 castle slaves are all old acquaintances. It is clear at a glance who has a good relationship with whom. Moreover, slaves cannot intermarry with other people, they can only digest it internally. , so many slaves have family members, and they are quickly allocated their own accommodation, and the new slaves are even simpler. The men and women are separated, and they go to those houses. The number of people is not enough, everyone in the house is not familiar with each other, and they live in the same place.

After the residence is determined, the slaves born in the castle have to move. Although they are slaves, they still need some belongings, such as the old clothes and blankets sent from the castle in winter, and the broken bowls that are usually used for meals. I don’t know. It was only after cleaning up that they found out that after the succession of Lord Earl, they also had some belongings one after another.

These slaves are also vigilant. Everything is packaged and sent to their own houses, and those new discoveries are not allowed. Don’t think that there will be no disputes between slaves. In order to survive, they are even more likely to fight than other classes. It's just that this kind of scramble is generally limited to food and warm items, and unfortunately, the castle slaves have the latter.

It’s not that the new slaves didn’t find out what they brought, but it’s not cold this season anymore, blankets and the like are temporarily unavailable, and they don’t dare to mess around even if they’re envious. If they changed hands and sold again, where else could they find such a good owner?

So it was okay for a while, but after everyone got acquainted with it, and found that life here is better than imagined, and there are people above it, naturally there will be no major conflicts.

The day after the slaves moved, Felix and Wei Wei couldn't wait to arrange everyone.

Felix has a list in his hand, which records the list of new slaves who are skilled and literate. Among them, those who have skills work with other craftsmen, while those who are literate are not arranged to work with other unskilled slaves. These people Divided into two batches, one part was taken away by Wei Wei to process the raw materials for cosmetics, and by the way, the small serfs who handled the beetroot were replaced, and the other part was responsible for grazing and farming just like the previous slaves. The castle has raised more sheep and pigs. Although there are also farms being built in the town of Uk, the castle will not be left behind. After all, like the town of Uk, there is also a large pasture not far from the castle. Even bigger than the one in Uk Town.

After Wei Wei has someone under her command, the production of cosmetics can begin. Of course, these new slaves are currently only responsible for processing raw materials, and the work of blending and production is handed over to the original castle slaves. Compared with the newcomers, these old people are more comfortable. They are relieved.

When the first batch of cosmetics finally arrived, Wei Wei breathed a sigh of relief. She no longer had to worry that someone from the capital would write to her urging her.

"We can't increase the business volume any more. There are too many projects now. We have to slow down, but we can't be too tired."

Wei Wei got herself a cup of dandelion coffee to refresh herself.

Although it is called dandelion coffee, it actually contains no coffee ingredients, especially caffeine. It just uses the roots of dandelion to fry and dry it, grind it into powder, and then boil it like coffee. The taste is similar to coffee, and it has the same refreshing effect. It is an alternative that later generations of doctors prescribe to patients with coffee dependence.

Of course, dandelion itself is also a Chinese herbal medicine, so you can't drink too much, you need an appropriate amount.

Wei Wei didn't plan to do this, but she and Felix have been busy recently. She's okay, it's time to take a rest, but Felix often needs to work overtime until late, and there is no coffee or tea. In order to make him feel better, Wei Wei made dandelion coffee. It tastes as bitter as black coffee, but the taste of milk and sugar is no different from that of instant coffee, except that he was not used to it at first. Recently, Felix also Enjoyed it a bit. But you can't drink too much, at most one cup a day, and you can only drink it during the day to refresh yourself, so as not to lose sleep at night.

Wait until next year, she planted last year, and the tea trees that have been transplanted to Melk Town this year can barely top to pick some tea leaves. If only the two of them can be used by then, there should be no problem. Then wait a few years, this year, all The thousand tea trees that have been planted can be picked on a large scale. Thankfully, although Melk Town is by the sea, there is a very suitable place for growing tea. Otherwise, her tea tree seeds will eventually die.

Although it said that they will not increase their business for the time being, it does not mean that they are not busy. Felix still needs to handle all matters in the territory. He has lost a lot of weight after being busy. Wei Wei, who is distressed, has been running to the kitchen recently. , make soup for him to replenish his body.

Fortunately, before Felix, there were still some achievements in the abduction of people from the Royal School in the capital. Several people he valued came to Sardinson County one after another and became Felix's subordinates, sharing a part for him. Official business, let him finally have a breathing time.

Because of this, Wei Wei wants to set up a government department belonging to Sardinson County.

She couldn't help but brought up this plan with Felix. Although it was just a delusion at the moment, who let them have no decent cities. Now the management of several towns is the responsibility of the mayor, and the village has a village chief, and In addition to Felix, the supreme ruler of the castle, there are knights for security and defense, and stewards for other chores. When the county government comes out, I don't know where to put it.

Felix thinks he can try: "Let's make a smaller scale in Dingle, and arrange it according to what you said. If there are not enough people, we can recruit people externally. Let them manage Dingle well first, and then manage more. Big places are not at a loss.”

This is a good idea. Because Dingle is close to Fort Sardinson, the road has been repaired well, the number of foreigners is increasing, and the town has been expanding, and the original mayor was not a very capable person. At that time, the town was generally managed, but now it is even more difficult to manage when there are too many people, which led to some chaos in the town. Felix sent soldiers and stewards to take over most of the affairs to control it.

Wei Wei patted her head, she just wanted to get it right in one step, but she didn't expect that she could sit up from a young age. The county government couldn't get it out, so it would be good to get a county government first.

"Then post an announcement to recruit people first. There are no restrictions on births. As long as you have the ability, you can sign up. If you want to come, you can find a lot of talents."

This is the recruitment of officials. The first requirement in other places is to have aristocratic blood. The commoners are not eligible to participate in the recruitment. Now they have relaxed the requirements, and then set out the benefits and promotion conditions, so that no one will come.

Felix: "How to assess the ability of those people? Go to the school to find a teacher in this area to help out the questions?"

"Don't be so troublesome, I'll just come up with the questions."

Isn't it just an exam? She says that no one dares to take the second place in this aspect. She has never participated in the civil service exam, but she thinks that there will be a lot of information in this encyclopedia. She proposes some questions based on the actual situation. It's not that simple.

Felix didn't say anything else when she saw that she had taken over the matter. After another two days, Wei Wei wrote down the positions and requirements to be recruited and handed it over to him. Felix turned his head and asked someone to post the announcement.

So after the population registration, there was another major earthquake in Sardinson County. Let's see what officials the Earl recruited this time. Although many people don't understand the meaning of the long list of positions, they I know this is an announcement for a recruiting officer.

This kind of thing is not to mention in Sardinson County, that is, the entire Prady Empire has never appeared. Officials are generally only equipped in those big cities, and those positions are not obtained by external recruitment examinations, but high-ranking positions. It is not uncommon to use power for personal gain and cronyism, even a small city gate guard must have some connections to be able to be, let alone a higher position, every noble is born without a network background, it is impossible. .

But now Sardinson County is openly recruiting officials, and there is no restriction on birth, let alone ordinary civilians and even serfs can apply. As soon as this condition came out, many children of civilians were born, and those who had read books, knew words and asked themselves some abilities were moved. .

And those ordinary people who are illiterate but also feel that they are capable are also moved, because the recruitment time set in the announcement is very long, probably to make the news spread farther and attract more talents, the final assessment period is set at It's September in the fall, and now it's only April. There are five full months. If you work harder, it's not impossible to learn common words and participate in the assessment during this period.

So as soon as the announcement came out, people in the whole county, whether they were local residents or outsiders, began to talk about it, because this recruitment is not limited to locals, and outsiders can participate as long as they have the ability.

And a new question arises. Those who are illiterate but don't want to miss this opportunity, where are they going to learn and how can they learn writing?

Others don't know, but the freedmen and serfs around Sardinson Castle invariably went to the church.

Originally, the clergymen of the church would also teach ordinary people at ordinary times - of course, they had to collect some donations - so when they needed to learn, they naturally thought of the church for the first time.

What's more, there was a group of small serfs studying in the church. In the past, everyone was a little criticized about this. Everyone thought that how could the group of small serfs go to class, and their children couldn't? When the group of little serfs went to register, the other people in the manor didn't say anything, but they were jealous in private.

Therefore, people often bring their children to the church hoping to send them in for education together, but they didn't agree because Father Matthew couldn't take care of them, and the castle didn't let go. In the end, they could only leave with regret. Naturally, I was even more jealous of those little serfs.

But in the past, jealousy turned into jealousy. In fact, they couldn't study with their own children. They didn't have any other thoughts except some regrets. They just hated that their luck was not as good as those little serfs.

But now it's different. Seeing a bright road in front of them, as long as their children can learn, they can try to walk on that road and lead the whole family to live a better life together, maybe there is more The opportunity to break away from the status of a serf, and then work hard to accumulate some family property, in the future, the children in the family may be sent to be knight servants, and have the opportunity to become knights? And knights, in the eyes of ordinary people, are already infinitely close to nobles. As long as there is one in the family, others can also benefit from it, and they are superior.

And even if you don't pass the exam this year, there will still be opportunities in the future. Seeing that Sardinson County now knows that their Count is very capable, they will definitely develop this place better in the future, with more population and income. , the management class will naturally continue to expand.

So this study is absolutely necessary, even if you have to pay for it.

If it was in the past, if they had to pay to study, the commoners would be helpless, but they have been living a lot better recently, and each family has some savings, and they can make up for the tuition fees set by the church in the past. Not to mention sending all the children to study, but it is fine to send the boy they feel is the most qualified (most favored) in the family.

So this group of free folks and serfs who lived near the castle and farmed the land for the Count thought again and again, and finally brought their savings and children, and went to the church next to the castle in a team.

They consciously didn't want to make trouble, but they did not want to force Father Matthew to accept their children because of the crowd.

not accept? You are not saying that God loves the world, so why can priests teach those little serfs but not their children?

Mainly taught by the countess' maids? That's even better, we'll raise money for the church, and you can teach our children, priest, anyway, don't the people of Wuhu have maids to teach?

Father Matthew, who was surrounded by circles, also had a big head. Probably because of his remote location, the gospel of the church could not shine here, and the previous priest was not a capable person, and he was always suppressed by the previous earl. , so the beliefs of the people of Sardinson County are actually very unstable.

And Father Matthew, who has only been to Sardinson County in the last two or three years, has not had much contact with him, so naturally he is even less deterrent to the territorial people.

Although they come to the church regularly for worship, they actually come for the free food given by the church. As for the doctrines preached by priests on weekdays, they don't really listen to them, because many of them don't understand. , saying that believing in God will make their lives better, but have their lives been better over the years? Even because the church has to collect tithes, their annual harvest is reduced by one tenth. How can people with low faith be happy about this, it is just because everyone has to do it, and the church is so powerful that no one dares to do it. Just don't listen.

Therefore, at this time, it is a request for help, but in fact, it is better to say that there is a bit of coercion in it, and Father Matthew probably did not expect such an appearance. He is very old and feels uncomfortable after being surrounded for a while. .

Fortunately, even if Wei Wei and Felix, who heard the news, came and rescued Father Matthew from the crowd, Wei Wei saw that he was not inviting him to take him to rest and relax. Not sure what will happen.

When she came out again, Felix had already reprimanded a group of people and dared not look up.