Lady of the Lord From the East

Sardinson in September is not only a harvest season, but also a season suitable for hunting.

In autumn, the prey is fat and strong, and the fur is the best. In this season, not only nobles and knights, but also ordinary people will organize teams to hunt in the forest with their own bows, arrows and weapons. Their goals are general. It is a small animal such as a hare and a pheasant. The former takes its fur for winter, and the latter's feathers are the hat decorations that have become popular recently, and whether it is rabbit meat or pheasant meat, it is also a good game.

There are also hunters who specialize in hunting in Sardinson County. These hunters hunt in the forest all year round, but because everyone's business has improved this year, and their Count likes to hunt, he will regularly bring knights with them. Clearing the wild beasts in the forest and the small animals along with them has become more difficult than before, so many hunters have given up hunting in other seasons. Farming the land and working part-time jobs is much safer than drilling everywhere in the forest.

However, in autumn, when the animals are at their best, some hunters will still bring weapons and organize people to go hunting together. Whether they keep or sell the things they get back, they can get a good price.

This year, the consumption level in the whole county of Sardinson has risen sharply, and the price of game has naturally increased. When many people want to sell game, the first choice is to send it to the castle and ask them if they want it.

Everyone knows that the owner of the castle is the most generous, and if the castle wants it, the residents would rather be cheaper than trade with them. After all, they can directly deduct the hunting tax.

According to European law, everything in the noble territory belongs to the lord, the land is, the grass is, and the forest is also, and everything in it, even if it is a grass, a tree, or a flower, also belongs to the lord, not to mention the wrong ones. The prey is gone, so the subjects have to pay taxes every time they go hunting. This is especially true for hunters. It depends on the amount of prey they hunt. There is no need to pay, just pay the prey.

So every autumn, the castle will receive prey sent by the residents to replace the tax, mostly hares and pheasants, and occasionally wild boars, deer, foxes, etc., of course, the latter are usually sold to the castle. , after all, if taxes are collected, everyone is more willing to exchange less valuable prey.

This year, because the hunters have reduced the number of hunts in other seasons, when autumn comes, the prey will increase, and the pheasants and hare are better than before, and naturally more prey will be sent to the castle.

"Several hares and pheasants were delivered today. Some of the hares are still alive, are they still being raised?" Lisa was reporting to Wei Wei after hand-picking the prey that was delivered to the castle today.

Among the six maids, she was the only one who used to work in the kitchen, so after serving as a personal maid, Wei Wei handed over the communication with the kitchen to her, what ingredients were in the kitchen every day, what menus were prepared, It will be relayed by her. If Wei Wei wants to change the recipe, she will communicate with the kitchen.

Wei Wei used to run the kitchen very diligently, and she would cook when she was in the mood, but since the news of her pregnancy came out, the kitchen seemed to be a dangerous place. Approaching there, Butler Patton will suddenly appear, politely ask her to go somewhere else, and express that he can do anything for her.

Well, also listed as forbidden areas are the towers of the alchemists, the sugar-baking room that will be reopened recently, and the factories in the manor.

The danger of the former is higher than that of the latter, and it cannot be approached at a distance of 100 meters. It can be seen that the last explosion scared everyone.

Seeing that everyone cares so much about themselves, you can't go if you can't go, so Lisa, who is a microphone, runs more diligently on both sides.

Drinking today's sparerib soup, Wei Wei instructed, "Keep all those who are sure to survive. What's going on in the cage?"

Felix brought her several hares from hunting in the spring. At that time, Wei Wei had thought about raising rabbits. After all, rabbits are very fertile and can produce a litter in two months, with an average of 3-5 rabbits per litter. Even more, and rabbits grow fast, and the meat tastes good. Prady people are very used to eating rabbit meat, and they are not afraid that no one wants to raise them. No matter how you look at them, they are an economic animal that is very suitable for breeding.

However, no one has raised hares before, and Wei Wei only has some experience on paper. The actual domestication still needs to be explored, so the live rabbits caught in the spring have become her experiments. She was raised to death, but fortunately, Felix helped her replenish hares. After tossing for more than half a year, most of these rabbits survived, and a few new litters of young rabbits were added. Wei Wei’s slaves who were responsible for taking care of the rabbits also accumulated With some experience, you can try to raise some more.

The hare here is a European hare. This kind of rabbit is larger than the average rabbit. It can weigh more than five pounds in adulthood, and the heaviest can even grow to ten pounds. It has a lot of meat and is not picky eater. , It is very easy to feed, and they are different from the cave rabbits, they can't burrow, so they don't need to be kept in a cage, just circle a hill, and build a high wall from about 1.5 meters underground to prevent them from escaping opportunity, free-range on it.

Of course, the scale of raising rabbits has not yet reached the point where free-range breeding is required, and the hares caught at the beginning are wild and have a high probability of escaping. I chose a place in the garden to build a cage with wood.

Monica, who was temporarily in charge of this piece, replied: "Some of the rabbits sent to me recently died, but most of them survived. They said that after getting used to it for a while, they should be able to fully recover."

The newly bought slaves are responsible for taking care of the rabbits. Since the first batch of slaves were sent, they have bought a lot more, and they have all been placed in the slave village next to the castle. They were originally despaired of becoming slaves. After the people found that the life of slaves was better than before, these people quickly accepted their destiny and worked hard in their work, for fear that they would be sold by the new master if they didn't do well.

She paused and continued, "But Mrs. Nancy has complained a few times before that the place where the rabbits are kept doesn't smell good, but Miss Caroline likes them very much. Can she remove the rabbits if she wishes?"

The smell of rabbits is really unpleasant, because they cannot be bathed. Even if the place where rabbits are kept in captivity is often cleaned, it is inevitable that there will be a peculiar smell. It can be ignored if the rabbits are kept less in the past. The smell of that piece was really unpleasant after a good number of hares in the past.

In particular, the place Wei Wei chose before was still in the garden. Although it was an open space in the corner, it was still in the garden. It was easy to smell it when you got close. This was a bit unbearable for those who were used to the cleanness of the castle. of.

Especially the little girl Caroline is at the best time to move. She likes rabbits very much. After seeing it once before, she runs everywhere every day. It is no wonder that Mrs. Nancy has an opinion.

However, it is really difficult to move there for the time being. The free-range site Wei Wei values ​​is a small hill near the pasture grass. Even if he starts to repair the free-range site now, it will take a lot of time.

"Caroline has stopped chasing kittens recently?"

The two-year-old little lady's body has improved a lot under Wei Wei's care, and she has gained a lot of weight. Once her body is healthy, this little girl's naughty energy is also revealed. As the youngest little master in the castle, it is not every day. Tossing flowers and plants in the garden is chasing the half-sized kittens in the castle. If they don't let them chase, they will cry. When they cry, Mrs. Nancy will have nothing to do with her, and will follow everything.

Speaking of this, several maids wanted to laugh: "I'm still chasing, but you know that she can't catch up, so when I saw the rabbit, I turned my attention and wanted Mrs. Nancy to catch her a little rabbit and go back. ."

If it was another cat, Mrs. Nancy would definitely not let Caroline approach, but the cats in the castle would bathe regularly and feed them with deworming medicine, and they also had external deworming medicine bags hanging on their bodies to prevent fleas, lice, etc. The parasitic parasites are cleaner than humans, and those cats become more and more lonely as they grow up. People who are not their owners are not allowed to approach them. Chance.

But rabbits are different. In the eyes of others, these unbathed rabbits are not clean at all.

"The rabbit can't be removed for the time being. In this way, you can ask the carpenter to make a small cage, and then pick a good-looking little rabbit into it and send it to Caroline."

If there is a rabbit around, Caroline should not want to run to the rabbit house.

A rabbit smells better than a group of rabbits, and Mrs. Nancy should accept that.

Monica took the order and made arrangements, while Wei Wei was still listening to other people's reports.

"The tables and chairs needed in the vestibule have been prepared. Butler Barton asked someone to come over and ask when the arrangement can begin. In addition, the paper mill said that the exam papers are ready and can be delivered at any time."

After Felix came back, there were only a few days left before the recruitment exam, and all the preparations could start.

This part of the test paper is very important, and it is especially important to be careful not to leak secrets. So recently, the people responsible for printing in the paper mill have been staying there, and they are not allowed to contact the outside world. They have also sent soldiers to guard outside. People who are literate, so don't worry about them seeing the title leak out.

Therefore, to send the test paper, the castle must nod and send someone to pick it up.

"Let Felix send someone to get it, get it back and let me know, I want to see the paper."

"Okay, ma'am."

"Then about the security of the castle on the day of the exam..."

"Go to Lord Earl and let him deal with it." She couldn't make up her mind about this, and Wei Wei never got involved.

One thing was arranged, and the exam papers were quickly packed in boxes and sent to the castle. Wei Wei and Felix turned over the exam papers together. The contents of those papers were not the same, but three exam papers with similar question types. , each test paper has fifty questions, mainly involving all aspects of arithmetic, law and territory management. Considering that this is the first test, everyone has no experience and no reference books to use, so most of these questions are They are all true and false questions, multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-blank questions. Only the last five questions with high scores are more difficult. The exams are essays, and they ask what to do if you encounter a certain problem at work.

These exam papers were written by Wei Wei herself, and she could only say that the basic ones couldn't be more basic. After she finished the exams, she felt embarrassed.

But in Felix's point of view, this paper is very good, because after reading it himself, he found that one-third of the fifty questions he did not understand well. If he was asked to do it, he would probably fail. .

He felt that those who could get a good score on this exam paper, at least in terms of law and territorial management, had something to do with others.

"After the written test, it is estimated that most people will have to be brushed off." It is unknown how many people who remain will pass the test.

"It's not that difficult, right?" Wei Wei thought it was okay. Except for some major questions, the rest of her exam was basically related to the law. When she made the announcement before, she told everyone about the scope of the exam. It happened a month ago, and Prady's law is relatively simple. Going back to study hard for a month, how can I remember some?

Of course, she is not too worried about whether civilians can buy books related to the law. Before the paper mill produced a batch of "Praddy Code", the price is slightly more expensive, but it is much cheaper than the parchment book. Possibly, but a few people buy a copy together, and then buy some white paper and go back and copy a copy for themselves, otherwise they will have it all.

"In the future, we will have to produce a Sardinson code by ourselves. The current code is unclear, and many places are unreasonable and must be revised."

This is the best part of the noble territory. It is up to the lord to decide what he wants to do, except that there are people who are in charge of tax collection. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is an independent small country.

Here they looked at the printed exam papers, and after confirming that they were correct, the forecourt of the castle also began to arrange the exam room.

The candidates who signed up for this exam also received a notification from the castle, telling them when to take the exam at the castle and what to prepare for.

In order to prevent these candidates from running around, the castle specially rented a carriage to pick them up for this exam. Everyone must leave the manor after the exam and let the next batch of candidates come in.

On the day of the exam, many people in the manor ran to the outside of the castle gate to watch, among them the group of small serfs who lived in the church.

Hank stood by the crowd with his younger brother Chimi, looking enviously at the candidates who were sent into the castle by carriage. He hoped that he would be one of them, but unfortunately this exam is limited by age, fifteen years old. The following children cannot participate. Hank's age is naturally not acceptable. Even most of the small serfs are not of the age to apply. Therefore, many of them today can only watch the students they usually teach enter the castle to take the exam. How envious.

But envy is envy, because most of the small serfs are girls, and although there is no gender limit for this exam, most people assume that women will not get jobs even if they pass the exam, so only a small number of women sign up. Most women still chose to watch.

However, they also have an expectation in their hearts. They hope that the women participating this time can get good grades in the exam, and then see how the castle arranges them. If it is determined that women can also become officials, then they will definitely try it next time. .

When the first batch of candidates entered the castle, the gate was closed, and other onlookers left one after another. Hank also stood there with his younger brother staring at the castle gate in a daze.

"Brother, are you unhappy?" Chimi carefully pulled Lahank's clothes. His academic performance has never been very good, so he never expected this kind of test, but he knew that his brother's grades were always the best The top few among the people were selected to become junior teachers. Recently, they were asked to teach the serfs who were going to take the exam to learn the law. If he could take the exam, his grades would definitely not lose to others.

"I'm not unhappy." Hank came back to his senses and looked down at his brother. They have lived in Sardinson for more than half a year. In the past six months, both brothers have grown a section taller, not as much as before. Thin, he is very satisfied with the life he has now.

"Don't be unhappy, brother, I can't take the test now, we'll sign up later!" Chimi cheered him: "When your age is up, brother, you can still take the test."

Hank was excited: "You are right, we will sign up in a few years, and we will work hard together!"

we? Chimi said with a bitter face, "Am I going to sign up too? But I want to be a knight."

He is really bad at studying, and he doesn't like it either. Since he started exercising with the soldiers, Chimi prefers to take "physical education classes", especially since the soldiers he taught recently have been replaced by knight attendants. His expectations for the future have become Became a knight of the Count.

In the past, there was no possibility of this kind of wish coming true. They couldn't even feed themselves, not to mention the equipment and horses that knights should have, and they didn't even have the chance to be taught.

But after becoming a serf, both Hank and Chimi have their own future goals. Hank wants to be a steward or an official to serve the Count, while Chimi's goal is to be a knight, and their goal is not too far away. In the past, Hank's academic performance has always been among the best, and his physical education class is also good. Although Chimi is a partial subject, but after he takes good care of his body, even the knights who teach them say that he is very talented in swordsmanship, and he needs to exercise hard. It is possible to become a knight.

Moreover, after Hank becomes a junior teacher, the castle will also pay him a salary. When he grows up a little, he can do more work, and even after taking the civil service exam, he has a more stable income, and Chimi wants to make a knight. equipment is not impossible.

Although he did not go through special study, the knights who struggled on their own belonged to the genuine knights, but as long as the Count was willing to accept their allegiance, then he was a real knight.

"If you want to be a knight, you have to study hard. You can't be a knight without culture. That way, you can't serve the Count and his wife."

The longer he learns, the more Hank realizes the value of knowledge. Even if he wants to become a knight, there is a difference between a knight with knowledge and a knight with no culture. He knows that the earl and the countess prefer literate people, and such people are more likely. He had a chance to get ahead, so he had to let his younger brother work hard with him, and he couldn't be an uneducated person.

With this thought in mind, Hank glanced at the closed castle gate again, and led his brother to the church.

Recently, I heard that the house for them has been built. It won’t be long before these little serfs will move out of the church. They have to take advantage of today’s rare rest time to pack up and move. It's convenient.

The people outside the castle gradually dispersed, and the exams in the castle finally began.

The forecourt of Fort Sardinson is a huge square. On important days of the year, everyone in the entire county will gather here to listen to the lord's speech, so it is more than enough to place thousands of people for exams.

There were more than 3,000 candidates in the first batch of exams. They found the corresponding seats according to their number plates and sat down. There were more than 20 rows of long tables in the open space of the vestibule, with seats on both sides, and one row was crowded to sit next to each other. There were seventy or eighty people, and everyone could occupy not much space, almost arm to arm, but no one complained, no one dared to talk to each other, and even dared not write their heads on other people's papers.

Because in addition to them, there are also a group of "proctors".

The soldiers in the castle were all brought in to maintain the order of the scene this time. There were two soldiers patrolling back and forth between the table and the table. There were also soldiers standing guard around, and even the high city wall was full of people. There are always more than two hundred people.

Under the watchful eyes of so many people, not many people dared to act rashly, especially not long after the exam, when a candidate who tried to cheat was discovered on the spot, and after they were caught and thrown out of the castle to be banned from taking the exam, others would not dare to mess around. .

In particular, some people found that on the balcony on the third floor, the Count and his wife were standing there looking down.

Who dares to mess with them? No one dared.

The exam time is two hours. They start the exam at 7:00 in the morning and end at 9:00. Then the next batch of candidates comes in, from 10:00 to 11:00, and the candidates for the third session are arranged in the afternoon.

During this period, Wei Wei and Felix stayed on the top and watched. Of course, they didn't do anything to watch. The third floor was high enough that the people below didn't know what they were doing. In this rare free time, talk and chat, by the way, point to the candidates below. If there is any problem, just point it out and let the maid go downstairs and notify the soldiers to take them away.

For this exam, Wei Wei specially asked someone to make a telescope, because it was the first trial work, and the multiple was not too high, but it was enough to watch the exam of the person below at such a close distance.

This telescope is a pair of binoculars, but it can be detached in the middle to become a monocular. Now Wei Wei and Felix are just right for each other. Felix only saw this thing today and immediately realized its strategic significance. The telescope was studying with great energy, and every time someone looked up, the candidates at the bottom would see their noble earl on the third floor holding a strange object and looking down. looked up.

"This thing is really good, but the picture is a little blurry. It would be nice if it could be made clearer."

"This is made by craftsmen who practiced their hands. They are not so particular. They are now studying how to improve the clarity and multiples. The next time they make it should be better than the current one."

They have a great demand for glass in Sardinson County. They used to buy directly from businessmen in the neighboring county. Now they simply cooperate with each other to build a factory. Of course, the glass factory is not opened in Sardinson, but in the county where the businessman lives. , they are only responsible for the money, the management and production are all handled by the partners, and the glass merchants sent a few glassmakers with good skills to Felix. These people are raised in the manor and have a small workshop, from time to time. Helped burn some special things, such as the telescope this time.