Lady of the Lord From the East

Getting the king's permission is as simple as Felix thinks. Felix has paid a lot of taxes to His Majesty the king recently, and he is very favored by the king. The king is willing to give this face.

The most important point is that the gangsters who knew that they intended to kidnap Wei Wei were instructed by the nobles - after the initial worry, the king also realized that the gangsters were not targeting him - but now the investigation team has not caught the culprit behind it. , even the corpses of the gangsters that may die are being picked up by Felix, and the incompetence of the people under his hands makes the king feel a little embarrassed and guilty when facing Felix.

But no matter how embarrassed and guilty, the king actually already has the idea of ​​not going to investigate further. The previous search of the nobles has attracted the dissatisfaction of the nobles, but they haven't caught anyone yet, and if they continue to make trouble, they will probably A joint protest.

In this way, I feel a little sorry for Felix. For this reason, the king generously agreed to his request, not to mention that Felix sent him a sum of money.

Even the king is short of money.

After receiving the compensation, the king turned a blind eye to Felix's recruitment of free people. Anyway, those people would go to the slave market by themselves if they couldn't survive, and sell it to anyone.

If there is no one to obstruct, the recruitment will be much simpler. Don't look at the fact that Felix's visit to the capital is just an accident. In fact, Felix has already planned to recruit freemen in various places, and naturally he has no intention of letting go of the capital.

Kingsley personally led a team to the Xiacheng District to recruit free people. Anyone willing to become a serf could receive a "sell money". This fee is based on the current market price of the slave market. The price is different according to the age. For example, the adult labor force is worth almost a gold coin, which is equivalent to a ploughing horse, while the price of the older and younger serfs is cut in half, and the price is different for men and women.

(This shows how profitable Wei Wei's business is.)

Of course, if they are skilled or sold as slaves, the price will be higher, but they are serfs, and the price is already very favorable.

So there are a lot of people in line, but not everyone is willing to give up their status as free people. Compared with selling themselves, more people choose to sell their children and sell their daughters.

Whether it is in the East or the West, the general public has a characteristic that the poorer the family, the more children they have, because they must have as many children as possible to ensure that some of them live smoothly to adulthood.

And in many cases, children are also part of the property. When they can't survive, they can sell the children of the right age in exchange for the chance for others to live.

No one thinks there is anything wrong with this, there are many such cases every year when the cold winter comes, and most of the people who are sold are girls.

The children who were brought by their parents were numb, and they had obviously accepted such a fate. Some good-looking girls even showed a hint of happiness. If the Count was not recruiting serfs, girls like them would most likely be sold. The place is the brothel run by the church and nobles.

In comparison, it is better to be a serf.

Standing behind the temporarily moved table, Kingsley looked at the large line of spectacles in front of the table with a headache, and the girls were all around ten to twelve years old.

The reason why they are all girls of this age is because the older girls have either been sold or married.

Although there is a shortage of people in Sardinson County, can a girl of this age really be able to do things? Kingsley even doubted they would ever make it to Sardinson.

If you consider the needs of Sardinson, Kingsley doesn't want to accept these girls at all, they don't seem to be able to work, everyone is skinny and skinny, as if the wind can blow Blow away the same.

They shouldn't have accepted children of this age. After all, they want serfs who can do things, not a group of children who need to spend food to take care of them.

But the chivalry rule made it impossible for him to ignore these people, so Kingsley had to send someone back to ask Felix what he meant.

The soldiers sent to inquire hurried away and hurried back, and the news brought back to Kingsley could be accepted, but the price was lower for children under the age of twelve.

The soldier also added: "The Count is out, this is what Miss Weiwei meant."

Having just experienced the danger of being almost kidnapped, Wei Wei used this as an excuse to turn down some of the invitations and hid at home busy reading and writing new plans. Felix was not so lucky, and there were various banquets every day. Waiting for him, and because his fiancee was not around, he had to deal with Yingyingyanyan who were more enthusiastic than before, and finally had to bring Dolores as his dance partner, which caused the latter to enter the social circle early.

The little girl is also proud of herself. She really thought Wei Wei was frightened, and she saw so many people taking advantage of her not to fight her brother's ideas, and they raised the courage to overcome their introvertedness and acted as guardians for her brother. After a few days, the whole thing happened. People are more confident.

Although it wasn't an order from Lord Earl, Wei Wei's had the same effect. With these words, Kingsley also let go of recruiting people. Even if some people charge their children who are obviously not even ten years old, they will also One eye open and one eye closed.

On the other hand, after knowing that many parents in Xiacheng were selling their children, Wei Wei recruited the housekeeper and asked him to contact some merchants to buy shoes and warm clothes.

"The fabric doesn't need to be too good, but it must be warm enough, and the shoes should be suitable for walking. Contact a few more companies, and the number may not be small."

She can't be sure of the exact number, but it's always right to prepare first.

Wei Wei's preparations were really useful. After about two hours, Kingsley sent someone back to tell her that the parents who bought the children took the food and left the children at the recruitment site. They didn't plan at all. Send these kids home and wait for them to pick them up.

In their words, since the people have been sold to them, the children have nothing to do with them, where can they bring back the food that was not much wasted.

The soldiers who came back to report the letter couldn't help but say: "It's really cruel."

Wei Wei also frowned, she nodded and said, "I see, how many children are left behind?"

"There were about forty or so when I came back, and there should be more now." The soldier thought about it and added: "There should be eighty-six children in the line at the beginning, and many more came later. "

These soldiers mainly maintained the order in the past. The soldiers themselves did not know how to count, but his companions did. When he was bored, he counted them by the way, and he remembered when he heard it.

Wei Wei came to a conclusion and told the soldiers: "Go and see which knight is available in the house now, and let him send a team of soldiers to watch over those children. I will send others to take over later."

"Okay lady." The soldier nodded and went down.

Wei Wei turned to look at the maid behind her: "Penny, you go...Penny?"

Penny, who was in a daze, came back to her senses and replied in a panic, "Yes, miss?"

"what happened to you?"

Penny said embarrassedly, "I just remembered my past."

Wei Wei realized that she remembered that Penny was also sold by her parents, and if it wasn't for the butler Patton to take her back to Sardinson Castle, Penny would have been sold to a brothel.

He patted her hand comfortingly: "Don't think about those unpleasant things, aren't you having a good time now?"

"Yes miss!"

Penny said excitedly, she is really living a good life now, not only eat well and wear warm clothes, but also get a salary every month, and the owner is easy to get along with, there is nothing better than this.

"Miss, what do you want me to do?"

"Yes, I want you to organize the maids in the house, and let them run with them later to take care of those children."

Since they were all girls, it would not be suitable for the soldiers to take care of them. Wei Wei had to send the maids in the house. Fortunately, some more people were added to the house recently. The maids and the four brought from Sardinson had a total of ten. The four of them, Qin had been sent to the river for the past two days to help manage the maids who were in charge of cooking. They were not at home, so naturally Penny had to bring them in.

Wei Wei arranged: "You go over first, count the number of people, and take you to Qin's side to eat something - remember to inform Qin's side first - and then wait for the housekeeper to contact the good people and let them bring their clothes and put them on. Don't freeze."

Penny took notes one by one and asked again, "Miss, where should we arrange for so many people to live? There aren't that many places to live in the Earl's House."

This is indeed a problem, and Wei Wei can't help it herself.

So I can only say: "I'll ask Felix when he comes back."

Knowing that someone is staring at her outside, Wei Wei can't go out, so she can only arrange people to do things, and stay at home by herself and wait for Felix to come back.

Today Felix accepted an invitation from a nobleman to have lunch, so he came back early. When he came back, he found that there were a lot fewer people in the earl's mansion, and the housekeeper who usually appeared immediately was not there. Take off the cloak and go to Wei Wei.

Following Dolores behind her, she went back to her room to rest.

"What happened, where did the housekeeper and the others go?"

"There's something wrong over there in Xiacheng District." Wei Wei helped him pour a cup of steaming maltose **** tea, boiled **** slices and maltose for 20 minutes, then filtered out the **** slices, drinking it to warm the palace and warm the stomach. It can dispel wind and cold to prevent colds, and it is most suitable for drinking in winter.

Felix tried the temperature, and it felt just right, so he drank it all in one breath, then poured himself another glass, drinking slowly this time, while listening to Wei Wei talking about Xiacheng.

Listening to her worrying about how to settle the children, Felix thought for a while and said, "I can go to Alan for help. He has a spare manor house outside the city, and he should be able to borrow it temporarily."

Ellen's manor house is just a house with no attached land. Felix has been there before. The big stone house was in tatters from the inside out because the owner didn't care. There were only two old servants guarding it. Now, with his friendship with Allen and future partnership, it's not difficult to borrow for a while.

Felix did what he thought of, got up and went to Alan to borrow the house.

On the other hand, Penny also took the maids and went down to the lower city under the **** of the soldiers.

Compared with other areas, the environment in Xiacheng is really bad, the roads are dirt roads with potholes, the houses are dilapidated like dilapidated houses that may collapse at any time, and every door is full of garbage or "" A stench permeates the air, making people suspect that there is such a place in the capital.

Wangdu is a prosperous big city with the largest population in Prady, but there are only about 30,000 permanent residents in the entire Wangdu (excluding the serfs living in the surrounding noble territories), among which the poor people in the lower city. The population of more than 16,000 people occupies half of the population of the royal capital.

The poor in the lower city do not have their own land and it is difficult to find stable jobs, which makes their lives very difficult. Apart from occasional odd jobs, more people choose to engage in some illegal activities. It can be said that in the eyes of residents in other urban areas, Here is the sinful lair of thieves, robbers and prostitutes.

Compared with some maids who frowned and covered their mouths and noses, obviously unable to adapt to such an environment, Penny had to be much calmer, not to mention that Sardinia didn't smell very good at first. Before she became a maid, she lived in a The place doesn't get much better than here.

Fortunately, the recruiting site is at the gate of the lower city, and they don't need to go too deep into this chaotic place.

"Lord Knight." Penny saluted Kingsley, explaining the origins of her group.

Kingsley was having a headache. When he saw that someone had finally come to take over the group of children, he turned his chin happily: "You came just in time, take them all away first."

Perhaps because this year is colder than in previous years, life in Xiacheng District is even more difficult, and there are many people selling children. They received nearly a hundred of them in one day, most of them are girls, but there are also many boys .

It doesn't mean that all the people here are sons and daughters and only sell girls, but Kingsley doesn't accept children who are too young, at least ten years old. Boys of this age are considered older. It is the labor force of the family. If you keep it, you can still do something. But when the girl reaches the age of marriage, the family will prepare a dowry. If you don’t have a dowry, you can’t get married. People have a way of life.

Of course, there are still many people who prefer sons to daughters, and some even give birth to daughters to raise money for money.

Penny took the maids to take over the children, and the soldiers who followed them said that these children were sold alone, and some children from families whose whole families became serfs were brought back by adults and were not here.

According to Wei Wei's instructions, Penny planned to send the people to the river first. Although the place where the body was thrown has been roughly determined, because there is no trace of the remaining four people, there are still people in different sections of the river. After picking up the corpses, there were people boiling water to boil **** soup and porridge every day along the river. I had already sent another person to inform me that the number of boils was increased. Now the maid's job is to bring the children to fill their stomachs.

In order to take these people away, they even went to the carriage shop to rent a few carriages when they came. These children were all skinny and skinny, and it was more than enough to squeeze twenty children into one car.

The maids and the soldiers arranged for this group of children who were naked and shivering in the cold winter to get into the car. Because it was too cold, these children could only huddle together to warm each other, which looked even more pitiful. The maid who was too willing to come to Xiacheng couldn't help showing a trace of sympathy.

But Kingsley warned Penny: "You guys have to be careful, some of the kids here might run away, so keep an eye out."

Not only did he instruct them like this, but he also specially arranged for some soldiers to follow them so that no one would actually escape.

"Why?" Penny was puzzled. "Aren't they sold by the family? Even if they run away, there is nowhere to go, right? Even if they want to escape home, they should know that we can find them, right?"

"Not everyone is sold by the family." Kingsley motioned her to look at the boys among the girls: "Some of them were orphans who were originally living on the streets, and not all of these people were They came voluntarily, they were very cunning and could run away at any time."

What Kingsley said was the end of it, and Penny understood.

Those orphans are probably all children who stole from the streets. Such children are controlled behind the scenes. The people who brought them here are not their relatives, but the people who control them. Those people are probably prepared to be empty-handed. Wolf, while selling the children, he turned his head and let these orphans run back on their own. In this way, the money is also available, and people can stay and continue to help them, so they won't suffer any losses.

And these orphans don't have a home, and they may even be black households. They are the kind of people who go out of Xiacheng and become slaves. No one will care. Except for the organization that controls them, they have nowhere to go. Naturally, it is those people. They do what they say.

To put it bluntly, it is a method of fraud, and these orphans may have done it more than once.

Penny raised her heart, and when she looked at the children again, she always felt that some of the eyes were moving too fast, not seeming to be safe.

She said helplessly: "I'm afraid I have to ask the knights and your soldiers to take more care of them."

"Of course, these soldiers will be watching."

When all the children got on the carriage, the soldiers walked beside the carriage, watching the children in the carriage the whole time, so that some children who really planned to escape had no chance to get off the carriage at all.

Especially when the carriage left Xiacheng, these children who wanted to escape would not be able to escape.

"Brother, what should I do?" A boy who was obviously not ten years old huddled beside his brother and looked around in fear, especially the soldiers following the car. Those tall soldiers with spears scared him: "Are we still running away?"

The elder brother who was five years older than him hugged his younger brother, looked at the city gate of Xiacheng District, which was getting farther and farther, and comforted in a low voice: "Don't worry, there is me."

The older boy, Hank, and his younger brother, Chimi, were orphans, the kind Kingsley said were controlled by criminal organizations.

This is not the first time he has been sold. He has been sent to the slave market before, helping them to cheat money and then escaping back by himself. If he is not smart enough, I am afraid that he will not be able to come back after being sold for the first time.

After that, he probably valued him, and Hank was sold twice. Each time he escaped by himself. This is the fourth time he has been sold.

And because the nobles who bought people this time are willing to buy younger children, those people together, they simply sent Hank's younger brother who is less than eight years old. At the age of ten, together with Hank's request for the brothers, the registered soldiers, for the sake of their initiative to lower the price, turned a blind eye to accept it like the other younger children.

In the past, Hank was so desperate to run back because his brother was in the hands of those people, and now that Chimi was by his side, he didn't plan to take any chances.

The carriage quickly arrived at the nearest river. This is the place that was notified before. The temporarily hired servants have cooked a large pot of porridge as required. The pot was specially brought from the earl's house. It was bought for the banquet before. The cauldron, which can cook enough porridge for all the children at one time, along with the cauldron, the wooden bowls and wooden spoons that were temporarily purchased nearby.

Several women in charge of distributing food tapped the edge of the pot with large spoons and shouted at the children who got off the carriage: "Everyone line up, come over one by one."

The children, who were still anxious about the future they were about to face, never expected that the first thing to greet them would be hot food.

The air was filled with the peculiar aroma of barley, and those aromas wafted from the half-height cauldron on the fire.

Children living in the lower city are not unfamiliar with the scent, but many of them have not eaten barley porridge for so long that they have almost forgotten the taste.

The hungry children had already forgotten their fear at this moment, and they lined up obediently one by one, and the children in the back were one step behind, on tiptoe, looking forward, looking forward to when it would be their turn. Own.

Especially when they saw those people who went to eat immediately after receiving the food, the bowl of barley porridge was much thicker than their own home made their saliva drool.

Because she didn't know how long these children were hungry, Penny remembered Wei Wei's advice and told the women who distributed them not to give them too much food, so each child received only half a bowl of barley porridge, but even so, it was enough They had been hungry and had a delicious meal.

After many children received their own food, they didn’t even bother to use the spoon, they just took the bowl and drank it. Even if their mouth was scalded by the hot porridge, they were reluctant to spit it out, and they tried to swallow while exhaling.

Hank and his younger brother also received their share. The brothers went to the side and devoured it. Although they were organized orphans, they usually couldn't eat such food. They could usually eat a small piece of food. Dry, hard brown bread is already good.

Chimi couldn't wait to drink the barley porridge. After he took a few sips, he thought of his brother again and held up the bowl to give him his own.

"No, I have it too, enough to eat."

Hank used to tell Chimi this way when he was short of food, but at that time it was basically a white lie. Only this time, he was really full.

When the aroma of barley porridge rolled in his mouth, Hank felt that if he could eat such good food in the future, it would be okay for him to be a slave.

But is it possible?

Such thoughts swirled around in my mind, and they were all suppressed by the food.

The good days that you can fill your stomach every day without being cheated are probably only in dreams, right?