Lady of the Lord From the East

Even without a snow-white wedding dress and a group of black dresses, the mass wedding of hundreds of couples is also very spectacular. As the officiant of the wedding ceremony, Father Matthew is very glad that he only needs to officiate the wedding for them, not one. Saying their names one by one and asking the bridegroom/bride one by one if they would like to marry each other, saying the vows that are not too short two hundred times, it is daunting to think about the scene.

The priest can save a lot of trouble because of the mass wedding, but for the Earl Williams and his wife, who suddenly thought of being the witnesses for the newlyweds, signing hundreds of marriage certificates is asking for trouble.

Wei Wei wrote a fancy English signature on the parchment again, raised her head, and looked at the newlyweds who were holding their marriage certificates after the wedding ceremony, and were waiting in line for them to fill in the witnesses. , secretly glad that their marriage certificate was not in duplicate, otherwise the signing work would have to be doubled.

Although paper is now being sold to the outside world because of the increased production speed of paper mills, and at the same time because it is much cheaper than parchment paper, it is slowly spreading among the people of Sardinson, but at this important moment, people still They are more willing to spend a little more money to buy a piece of parchment for solemnity, and in their opinion, parchment is more waterproof than ordinary paper and is more suitable as a proof of marriage.

Even Wei Wei had to admit this. Her and Felix's marriage certificate was written on the best parchment, and then he carefully kept it in a secret place in the study. From time to time, he would take it out to check to make sure it was in good condition.

Wei Wei, whose wrist was about to break off the autograph sign, seemed to be a popular star. It was hard work, but she still had to keep smiling, especially when someone couldn't help but shout at them under the protection of a group of guards. When asked if she would have the opportunity to ask them to witness the wedding in the future, she had to bite the bullet and say, "If there is time."

Hearing the Countess's answer, there was a burst of cheers from the group of relatives and friends who were blocked by the guards. Wei Wei's extraordinary ears even heard them say that when she got married, she would also hold a mass wedding with others. Maybe they can also invite the Count and Madam to attend the wedding as their witnesses.

Wei Wei: What should I do? Although I really don't want to, I still have to smile and nod.

Who made her the lord's wife, and this seems to be one of her obligations.

When the signatures were finally completed, the highest-ranking couple in Sardinson exchanged a relieved look, said goodbye to the newlyweds hand in hand, and returned to the castle.

"Next time something like this happens, I still have to limit the number of participants. My hands are really sore." As soon as she got on the carriage, Wei Wei immediately massaged her sore right hand, rubbing her wrist red.

And Felix is ​​all the same, agreeing with the electric push: "I would rather do the practice of swinging the sword 10,000 times, than signing so many names in a row."

Although the usual work is to seal and sign, but it is not so frequent.

But complaining is complaining. Next time they encounter this kind of thing, they will still agree, and this has gradually become a customary thing in the manor. They hold a group wedding together on a specific day, and invite their masters to witness the wedding. For them, the parchment wedding book signed by the two masters has become a family heirloom.

Sardinson in February is probably the coldest time of the year, but it is also about to usher in the season of spring blossoms. At this time, in warmer places, some territorial people have begun to reclaim wasteland.

Last year, the people who reclaimed the wasteland got a taste of the field, and this year they are even more interested. When the land is a little thawed, they will carry their hoes to reclaim the wasteland they like. Of course, the wasteland cannot be reclaimed at will. For example, now The three towns do not allow the townspeople to reclaim the land adjacent to the towns because of their own development. Although those villagers who live in the countryside do not have such restrictions, they also need to report to the village where they live before starting. The village chief will then invite the officials responsible for measuring the land, who will determine the area of ​​the land and whether it can be reclaimed before starting the construction. If the reclamation is carried out without permission, the villagers will even have to pay a fine.

It has to be mentioned here that although the area of ​​the standard earl is 86,000 acres, which is about 348 square kilometers, the total area of ​​the county of Sardinson is between 1,100 and 1,200 square kilometers. Three to four times as much as the collar, this figure was originally the area of ​​territory owned by the Williams family in the most glorious period.

When Felix first took over the family, the land owned by the family was only the size of a standard earldom, but it did not mean that the rest of the land in Sardinson did not belong to his family, in fact, it was only because of those The land that is not included in the territory was distributed to the barons and knights by his ancestors. For example, the territory of the five barons was originally owned by the Williams family, but because they were awarded to the barons, so Felix only has the right to collect taxes, but has no real management rights. Even according to national law, these fiefs belong to barons. Unless they are deprived of their titles, these lands cannot be returned, and five The baron's territory is almost half the size of a standard earldom, or even more.

Then there are the knights belonging to the Williams family. Each knight has his own fief. The standard size of a knight's fief is 700 acres. At present, Felix has 120 knights under his command, and the fiefs they occupy have been There is a standard earl size, and after the knight's own management, and the owner's reward to them, their fief will also expand, so this number will also be larger, but it is not the same as the real noble. Yes, as long as the knight family has no heir, or the heir cannot become a knight and continue to serve the lord, their land will be reclaimed, so these lands still belong to the master of the knight in essence,

That is to say, the knight works for his loyal master, and the reward in exchange is that all the output of the fief belongs to them. As long as they give up the job, the fief will also be taken back, so all the knight families are in order to make their own For the family to continue, they must pay their loyalty, including their own lives, and the existence of the fief is also a necessary condition to ensure their loyalty.

The standard territorial area left by the Williams family, the fief area of ​​five barons, and the fief area of ​​120 knights, plus the land area owned by ordinary merchants and freemen, are combined together. That's all the land area in the entire county of Sardinson.

Of course, this number is not only the land that can be used, but also the forest. In fact, the forest in Sardinson accounts for 36% of the entire county land, which does not include the one on the east side of the county, which is separated from the neighboring country next door. The mountain range, although it belongs to the Prady Empire in name and also belongs to Sardinson, but because most of the mountain range is snow-capped mountains that cannot be climbed by ordinary people, only a very few areas are passable, but it is also difficult to pass because of the wild beasts. People drive away, so it is always ignored intentionally or unintentionally, and no one can calculate its actual footprint.

The former land in Sardinson County, except for the forest land, was used as cultivated land and pasture, and because of the small population in the past, most of the land was used for grazing. Now everyone wants to open up wasteland, and it is those grazing The former may affect grazing, while the latter is easy to be attacked by wild animals because it is close to the forest, so the requirement for reclamation of wasteland is to connect as much as possible and be as close as possible to human habitation. Watching each other and helping each other will not affect the grazing, and these need to be determined by the surveyor first.

In addition to the original group of people, the surveyor in charge of this year also brought many interns to let them carry out practical operations and accumulate experience. Some of them will be specially responsible for this work in the future.

This year, because there were too many people wanting to reclaim wasteland, the surveyors had to run around with the interns, but the land that was finally allowed to reclaim was only half of the land that was applied for, because they were ordered to ensure that there are in the county. There is enough grassland for grazing, so all applications that choose to reclaim pastures are basically rejected, and only those who choose land close to woodland and areas with degraded grasslands are allowed to reclaim.

Those who didn't get permission were naturally dissatisfied with the result, but since it was the lord's order, they didn't dare to mess around. In fact, they dared to do it in private, and the villagers in the same village would not allow it, because the grassland is a public grazing area. If it is reclaimed into arable land, it will lose everyone's interests. After all, every household now has cattle, sheep and pigs, and the first two need to be grazing.

What's more, most of the people who want to open up wasteland now don't have a lack of land at home, but want to take advantage of the tax exemption and tax reduction for the first three years of wasteland development. Return it directly to the lord, and you can get a little subsidy. If you really plant food crops, they may not be able to take care of it at all, so the surveyors will also refer to the applicant's home population and the land being used when reviewing the application for land reclamation. , to determine whether they have the ability to plant so much land, and those who do not have so much labor will naturally be rejected.

Even, when rejecting it, I will specifically tell the village head the reason, and then I will come forward to reprimand the villagers, let them be honest, don't make those small ideas, otherwise they will be punished if they open up wasteland but don't plant them. This land does not mean that it can be retired.

After being scolded and named the little abacus in their hearts, these people will be honest, and soon, the enthusiasm for land reclamation will go down, and only those who really need it will apply for land reclamation.

Before the wheat was grouted in March and the spring ploughing began, Felix received a letter from Bishop Umberto, along with a group of people.

The letter was the result of Umberto replying to him about his entry into the banking industry, Umberto managed to get it done for him, so Felix could open his own bank in Sardinson, and those who came with the letter The people who help him build the internal structure of the bank are the staff who will stay in Sardinson for a while, teaching them how the bank works and training the staff, and when his people get started, they will leave.

At the same time, Bishop Umberto also stated in the letter that to open a bank, Felix still needs to pay a large "bank entry fee". At the same time, he needs to inject a security fund into the newly opened bank to protect the bank's Running smoothly.

"The entry fee is 10,000 gold coins? They can really say it." Seeing the amount stated in the letter, Wei Wei was stunned for a while. If an ordinary earl lived close to the land production, his annual income was only 5,000 gold coins. Opening a bank requires paying 10,000 gold coins, and she doesn't believe that other people have the same conditions.

If this is the case, I am afraid that Prady's banking industry has only been played by the nobles themselves since the beginning. Where is there room for the church to intervene, what? Without the guarantee of the church, the bills issued by their banks cannot be converted into currency in other countries? It doesn't matter, they can cooperate with a few countries next door, and the scope is small. Anyway, they haven't gone to such a distant country to do business. That's a headache for businessmen.

"Otherwise, let's talk to the bank in the capital directly. Didn't the king also participate? If we can persuade him to help, we should be able to succeed."

"The situation is stronger than people, and we can only take a step back temporarily." Felix shook the parchment in his hand, he believed that Bishop Umberto's strong intention to cooperate with him, if this cost can be reduced, he must have already It was reduced, and since this number was written in the letter, I am afraid that even if they were really at the bank in the capital, they would only get the same result.

But Wei Wei still didn't want to give away the hard-earned money in vain. It was easy for them to take out 10,000 gold coins, but instead of giving the money to those in the church, it was better to use it on the people.

Felix can only comfort her: "Don't bother with this, sooner or later we can make them spit out what they eat - what do you think we won't pay tithe this year?"

He looked slightly cold, did he really think their money was so easy to get?

Wei Wei laughed when she heard the words: "Good idea, not only will we not pay it this year, we will not pay it in the future, anyway, doesn't the church say that the tithe they collect belongs to God? All believers need to pay taxes, and we We are not believers in the first place, so we don’t have to pay it in the first place. Even if we want to give it to God, we can make offerings ourselves. In the future, we will send someone to be responsible for the weekly donations at the church, so that they have no reason to collect taxes, right? ."

The church says "tithing" is for God, but in fact everyone understands who the real beneficiaries are. It's just that the church is mainly aimed at ordinary people, and has always turned a blind eye to the tax payment of the nobles With one eye closed, the nobles wouldn't care whether the church's behavior was appropriate, and it was just the ordinary peasants who suffered.

And if Felix really no longer pays taxes, or even allows ordinary people in Sardinson to pay tithes, the king will not care about him, and the church will not care about him, they can only do it themselves Find a way to increase the faith of the people of Sardinson and get them to pay this tax voluntarily, but judging from the level of belief in the church of ordinary people in Sardinson, it is very difficult to do this, and it will even become more and more in the future. Difficult, when people have knowledge and are no longer ignorant, they will know how to think, and they will no longer believe in the church's seemingly reasonable and contradictory set, and will doubt whether the church's clergy can really represent God, because What they do is often inconsistent with the teachings.

Of course, they will still believe in their own gods, but they will no longer trust the church that has already carried a lot of discredited reputations, especially since they were born in Prady, a country that rejects the church.

The church probably didn't think that because of an entry fee, they would let them lose all the "tithes" from Sardinson in the future, and they will never receive a tax from Sardinson from now on. Some of the property donated by the believers voluntarily, and that little thing is enough for the daily use of the local church. In the end, this place that will become the richest aristocratic territory in Europe in the future has become the area that the clergy of the church do not want to be stationed in. .

And these they don't know yet, so when the messenger in charge of sending the letter and bringing the money back is racking his brains to figure out how to make the owner of Sardinson pay the fee, he did not expect Felix to be so The money was sent the next day after receiving the letter, and the messenger who hadn't responded was swept out of the house, and only a group of banking staff were left to teach the people sent by Felix.

Of course, this group of people didn't have to come here to help. In fact, most of them have special tasks, such as mastering the exact information of various incomes of Sardinson. If possible, they should try to explore some secrets as much as possible. Bishop Berto's unfinished plans are also carried out by secret agents hidden among them.

It's a pity that even the original Pope and his party didn't get any favors in Sardinson County, and this group of people is even more impossible. They are just ordinary people who are not even allowed to enter the manor. They are only arranged in three towns. The town of Wu Ke with the smallest population, and there are no other factories in this town except for a pasta factory and a farm. Although these two places are not allowed to enter, they can be said to have no secrets. For example, pasta can be made by any ordinary peasant woman in Sardinson. The way of raising pigs in the farm is also something that anyone who has raised pigs will learn. The people have less.

And the person in charge of arranging them also apologized with a smile: "I'm really sorry, there are not many vacant houses in Sardinson now, and the only suitable place we can find is here, of course you can rest assured, the accommodation prepared for you is still Yes, we will arrange for you to live in the homes of the townspeople, and they will also be responsible for your three meals a day, all the expenses will be paid by the Count, to ensure that you have no worries."

Looking at the "kind" smiles of the villagers in charge of receiving them, the group couldn't help but complain in their hearts: Isn't this really surveillance? Is this surveillance? They live in scattered places, and there are townspeople watching around everyone, and their movements are completely monitored, not to mention that this is the town of Uk. Except for the carriage convoys that regularly come to deliver goods from the pasta factory, the outsiders only occasionally come back from the nearby villages. The villagers who bought it, they are out-of-towners, it is too conspicuous here, let alone explore the secrets, I am afraid that they will not even find the opportunity to act alone.

However, they couldn't refute the Earl's arrangement, after all, they were only here to help train bank employees.

And soon they found out that the townspeople were not the only ones monitoring them. After they were separated, because there were not many empty houses in the town, they also gained a cohabitant, that is, the "student" they needed to train. .

And these students are more difficult to give birth than the townspeople, because they not only eat and wear together, but also work and rest together, twenty-four hours a day, as if they can only be separated when they take a shower and go to the toilet.

Gradually, the group of people who were originally purposeful could only accept the facts numbly, and concentrate on educating students to finish their work as soon as possible and leave here. They no longer hope to inquire about news or steal secrets. Things, people and things are trapped in this small town, and no important information can be accessed.

And because the banking industry is not yet developed, there are only basic functions such as storage and lending, and there is not much content they can teach. Plus, the people who are selected to learn are people with smart brains and quick-witted characters, so they don’t teach much. Within a month, these people had completed their work and were politely sent out of Sardinson.

During this period, they only got a piece of news that was important but not useful to them, that is, Sardinson County is preparing to build a city, and the location is where Sardinson County and Slaughter are connected, and Slaughter A pier was also built for this purpose.

Although they knew that this news would not satisfy the church, they had no other news to say. Could it be that they went back and told them that the people of Sardinson County are very good at raising pigs. Are pigs fat and delicious?

...Well, it doesn't seem to be impossible, at least it's a way to get rich, right?

When I came, I only brought luggage, and when I left, there were big bags and small bags, and people who bought a bunch of Sardinson specialties, and left here reluctantly against the people who have gained a lot of weight this month. They will miss it... … gourmet.

During the training period for this group of people, Felix also transferred a group of people from the construction team to build a bank in Dingle. Time, the outside of the bank has no decoration, and the inside looks very simple, but it takes up a lot of space, and there are counter desks and chairs that should be there, and the businessmen know that a bank will be opened here, and they are very supportive. With the rise of Dinson County, there are gradually signs of robbers appearing on the road. Businessmen have to hire more mercenaries. Even so, they are always worried about being robbed. Now that there is a bank in Sardinson County, at least They don't have to worry about the money being robbed. The money order issued by the bank needs to be certified when they are exchanged at the bank. , although it is not a 100% guarantee, it is much safer than if real money is stolen and never found again.

So when the bank is built, even if only a bank's signboard is hung at the door and it starts business, it will not stop the businessmen from entering the door.