Lady of the Lord From the East

The freedmen relocation benefit jointly implemented by the two directors of Sardinson County quickly caused a great sensation in Sardinson County, and even this benefit soon spread to other counties with the caravan.

As a border county, the poor geographical location of Sardinson County could have been classified as a poverty-stricken area, and the economic conditions of other counties around it are actually similar. .

After the development of Sardinson, with the traffic of caravans, the main road from Sardinson to the outside world, the towns passing along the way have also been affected to a certain extent, and the business of the taverns and hotels in the town has been driven a lot, and there are also many Young and middle-aged people came to Sardinson to make a living, but these people did not move their household registrations. They were still freemen belonging to other counties.

However, after the introduction of the relocation policy, as long as it is determined that the freedmen who are willing to farm the land for the Count and are willing to become naturalized as his subjects can be assigned to the homestead, such a good condition for a single share, the first place in Sardinson County will be The freedmen in other noble territories left their original place of residence with their families and ran to go to Fort Sardinson. As expected, these people got the homestead, and after that, even the freedmen from other areas also came over. wish to register.

Of course, this kind of welfare has corresponding obligations. The freedmen who have obtained the homestead are not allowed to move out again for at least ten years. At the same time, each household must rent a certain acre of land for cultivation, and the land area is adjusted according to the labor force of the family. .

That is to say, only free people who are willing to farm the land for the Count can have such benefits, and other types of work are not available.

Although this is indeed a pity for some free people who do not make a living by farming, the most shortage of agricultural labor in Sardinson County is that it is impossible to recruit these first. As for the manpower needed by other factories, they will provide The salary is enough.

Soon, more and more freedmen moved in, and most of the vacant land recovered by Felix was rented out, so there is no need to worry about not being able to farm this year.

For this reason, Wei Wei had to revise the plan that she had just written. Although the plan could not keep up with the changes, it was a trivial matter to revise the plan compared to no one farming.

At the same time, while benefiting the outsiders, they did not forget to appease the insiders. The freedmen who have been farming for Felix can apply for a homestead if they don’t have a house. tax and servitude for three years.

One thing I have to mention is that after all the vacant land was rented out, the recruitment process came to an end temporarily, so they modified the original recruitment conditions. You have to reclaim wasteland. After the area of ​​the reclaimed land meets the requirements, you can also own a homestead. At the same time, the reclaimed wasteland is exempt from tax in the first year, and only 20% in the second year. After that, it increases year by year, and returns to normal taxation in the fifth year.

Of course, even if the area of ​​reclaimed land does not meet the standard for obtaining a homestead, the benefit of tax reduction is still there, and it is not only for those free people who are willing to relocate, but all Felix's subjects, even serfs can have it Such a benefit.

At this time, the residents who originally thought that this welfare policy had nothing to do with them were also happy. The tax exemption is very tempting to everyone, even if the land that has just been reclaimed will hardly produce much output, but since there is no need for it Taxes are paid, even if they are only used to grow vegetables and beans, they can make more income, and when the wasteland becomes better, they will not be able to continue farming, and they can return it to the count. Of course, this situation will not be too much, because there are Those who spare no effort to open up wasteland are basically those whose rented land is not enough for their own consumption. When they have new land, they will only take care of them carefully.

Such residents usually live in villages far away from Fort Sardinson and the three small towns. The land that can be rented around the village is limited, and the pasta factory and meat sauce factory in the town cannot work for them, so they can only Do odd jobs for those caravans selling coolies.

Originally, although there were many wastelands in Sardinson County, without the permission of Lord Earl, these lands could not be reclaimed casually even if they were deserted. Apart from paying a reclamation fee, there was no land tax benefit for those who wanted to reclaim them. Increasing the fertility of the wasteland is the most difficult problem for them. Instead of laboriously reclaiming a wasteland that is destined to have little output, everyone is more willing to spend more time looking after other good land, or find other things to do with money.

But now it's different. Reclamation of wasteland can be tax-free without paying fees, and there are ways to increase soil strength. If you don't take advantage of the count's kindness to add more fields to your family, what are you waiting for?

So when the weather was still very cold, there were many more farmers who faced the loess and turned their backs to the sky in the area that could be reclaimed by Felix himself on the map of Sardinson County.

This can make the management of various places busy. There are many people who come to apply for land reclamation every day, and they have to send people to measure the land area. If two people choose the same place, they have to adjust and other work. Every day they are busy and keep talking, and some illiterate stewards have to pay literate people to help with the registration—they dare not ask the count to arrange someone. Now everyone knows that the new countess likes learned subordinates. Literacy, what if she was unhappy and found someone to replace their work?

The stewards below are busy, and the people in the castle are also unable to relax, not to mention the servants who were originally responsible for everything. Recently, due to the migration of the free people, the unruly methods of the stewards made Wei Wei feel more and more. They need a well-organized and well-regulated management department.

Her plan is to establish a county government in Sardinson, and the internal structure of the government can be cut down according to the composition structure of the Huaxia Municipal Government in the future to construct an organizational structure suitable for Sardinson County.

Of course, considering that there is not even a bigger city in Sardinson County at present, and this is just Wei Wei's sudden idea, so she just talked to Felix, and the specifics will have to be planned slowly. .

Felix thought that the construction site that he had divided into a future city was still just a barren grassland area, and he very much agreed with her plan for a rainy day.

And just listening to Wei Wei talk about the structure and scope of work of government departments, Felix was keenly aware of the benefits of this kind of management, not only better than the original management system of Sardinson, but even better than that of the capital built by the king. Compared with the two, the government system in the capital is like an empty shelf that is messy and full of mistakes. It will collapse with a slight push, while the county government system proposed by Wei Wei is to lay a solid foundation. The castle, one layer after another, the power is dispersed into the hands of different people, if something goes wrong, find the responsible person, as long as it is managed according to the rules and regulations, there is no need to worry that someone will dominate the family and surpass him as the lord.

He looked at Wei Wei with glowing eyes: "Is this the political system of your hometown?"

Wei Wei shook her head, half-truth and half-truth: "This has been changed according to the situation of Sardinson. My country's power is in the hands of the emperor and ministers. The nobles are only honored and have no real right to manage the territory. The actual situation is not the same."

Recently, I heard Wei Wei read a lot of books and tell a lot of historical stories about China. Felix also has some understanding of China, but she is not surprised why the Chinese nobles she said are different from themselves.

Given that it is a busy farming season, the construction of the county government has been put aside for the time being, and they have other things to deal with.

Felix took out the letter he had just received: "These are sent by the barons."

Wei Wei took it over and looked at it, eliminating the useless aristocratic words, all the letters expressed the same meaning - they were dissatisfied with Felix's recent order, because when he expanded the number of his own people, the barons Lost the people that belonged to him.

Of course, given that Felix is ​​their loyal noble, the barons dare not be too critical, but the implicit meaning is that they hope that Felix will pay compensation.

Wei Wei put down the letter and looked up at him: "Do you want to pay?"

Felix nodded: "There is still some compensation to be given."

Although it is stated on the surface that the freedmen have the right to come and go freely, that is just a good thing, because the lord can deprive the freedmen of this right at any time. The five barons did not do so due to Felix's status, but It doesn't mean that they will accept their losses. If Felix can't give them a satisfactory account, these people can even use this as an excuse to break away from the control of the Williams family and no longer be his direct vassals.

Of course, they both knew that Felix couldn't let them do this. If anyone dared to declare a betrayal, then the Williams family's army would be waiting for him. An earl wants to conquer a baron's territory. easy.

So the Baron just wants to be compensated, and this compensation is best to the satisfaction of both parties.

"It just so happens that the castle is going to hold a celebratory banquet, and the invitations have also been sent out. I will talk to them about it later."

The celebratory banquet was a banquet to celebrate their wedding and return, so not only a few nobles in the territory, but also nobles from other surrounding counties were invited. Wei Wei had seen the guest list, and there were dozens of nobles, large and small.

And preparing the banquet is what the hostess needs to do, so Wei Wei is in charge of this banquet, and even Butler Barton and Mrs. Nancy are just helping her.

Fortunately, the castle has its own set of procedures for holding banquets. There are standard procedures for preparing for banquets of different levels and scales. As long as Wei Wei follows the procedures, there is basically no possibility of errors.

According to her request, Butler Patton quickly arranged a new maid for her. In addition to the Maca she hand-picked, there were three others, Lisa, Mary and Monica.

All three maids have worked in the castle for many years, among them Monica and Mary were originally the valet maids of Felix's sister-in-law. After the unfortunate death of the young lady, they stayed with little Miss Carlo Lin and Mrs. Nancy took care of her, but as the people in the castle became more and more busy, the maids who were not needed by Caroline were transferred to other positions. This was the case with Mary and Monica. Now Wei Wei is here. In need of manpower, the three maids, including another Lisa, were transferred to be her personal maids again because they met the double standards of Wei Wei and the housekeeper.

Being able to work beside the Countess is the dream of all the maids in the whole castle. They can be said to be ecstatic when they are selected. Fit yourself to the Countess's liking.

Unlike nineteen-year-old Jean and sixteen-year-old Penny, these three maids were all married maids—in fact, it was rare for the first two to be unmarried—aged between twenty-five and thirty. The appearance is not outstanding, but standing tall and straight, with standard demeanor, it can be seen that they are excellent maids who have been trained for a long time.

In comparison, Karma, who was standing beside them, seemed very out of place. She didn't look like a maid at all, just an ordinary peasant woman.

However, Wei Wei did not see any inferiority complex in her. The face of this woman who was tortured by life was much older than her peers, but her eyes were bright and she showed a grass-roots tenacity, which she admired very much. .

And what's even more different from the other new maids is that Karma looks at her as if she is looking at the savior, eager and loyal, like a fanatic, as if she will do whatever she says.

And Karma really thinks so. Wei Wei's order freed her and her daughter from their slave status and became the target of everyone's envy. She is now Wei Wei's personal maid, and her daughter has become A little maid in the castle, because of the right age, Mrs. Nancy intends to train her to be Caroline's personal maid, so that they will not have a difficult life for mother and daughter in the future.

And all this was given by Wei Wei. Their mother and daughter were able to survive this winter because of Wei Wei's reward, and now it is because of her that they are freed from the fate of slaves. Kama can't wait to dedicate her life. give her.

The four newly arrived maids, Wei Wei, had all the impressions. From memory, they all met her criteria for selecting people, so she nodded to the housekeeper, accepted these people, and turned to Penny: "They I'll follow you for the time being, and you teach her what a maid should do."

"Okay, ma'am." Penny saluted, her expression a little excited. In the past, the piano used to control her, but now she can also control other people.

As for worrying about whether the new maid will take away her position in Wei Wei's heart, Pannic doesn't worry, Wei Wei has already made it clear to them that Karma will mainly train in the direction of herbalists in the future, and the remaining three A maid is not so much a personal maid as a secretary. If she behaves well, she will also help Wei Wei manage different affairs, while Qin's goal is a housekeeper, and the housekeeper has more things to do, so she will really stay in Wei Wei's side to take care of her is probably still her.

Penny is not an ambitious girl, and she doesn't have a clear future goal like Qin. She just wants to stay by Wei Wei's side to take care of her, be a competent personal maid, and occasionally do other trivial chores according to the master's instructions. Will suffice.

Not long after the four new maids took office, except for Kama, three people found that their work and the personal maids they knew seemed to be different. The other personal maids stayed by the hostess every day to take care of her daily life. And they, although they also have to do this, are more often assigned by Wei Wei to pass orders and send documents everywhere, and even many times they have to deal with various paperwork, such as sorting and statistics.

That is to say, although they are maids, they actually do the work of secretaries.

Although it feels a little strange, the serious maids quickly got started. They were specially selected by Butler Patton. They have good learning and adaptability. With a little training, they can become qualified secretaries. No, personal maids .

The celebration banquet was scheduled for the fifth day of March, before the spring ploughing, avoiding the fasting day of the church, and the guests did not need any taboos.

Similarly, the day before the banquet started, the invited nobles came to Sardinson Castle one after another.

And the nobles from other places were almost in a state of shock after entering Sardinson, and their eyes were about to pop out.

The territories of these nobles are all near Sardinson. In the past, when the old earl was there, they would be invited to banquets, and the most recent one was to attend the funeral of Felix's father.

At that time, Sardinson County was no different from their territory. It was deserted and remote, the local population was not large, and outsiders were even rarer. It was a place with few characteristics in my impression.

But now, bumpy dirt roads are covered by smooth concrete roads, such a good road is not necessarily seen in those bustling big cities, let alone in such a remote Sardinson.

And the caravans on the road are also envious of them. If there are so many caravans in their territory, they can collect a lot of business tax.

The carriage cubs walked in. The original dilapidated town of Dingle has not only changed greatly, but the town has doubled in size. The curious nobles stopped here for a while and found that there are many more shops in the town, among which are Williams In the shop with the family crest, popular products such as essential oils and perfumes are neatly displayed. Businessmen are waving their money bags and lining up to wait for transactions. Pasta and meat sauce are not only one of their target products, but also local residents. Patrons, the residents of the town will go to the store to buy a bunch of them to take home from time to time, some for themselves to eat, most of them are prepared for the guests who temporarily live in their homes, and judging from the cheerfulness when they pay for it, I know that everyone's consumption level has increased by many times than before.

Of course, in addition to perfumes and essential oils, the ladies who accompanied their husbands saw the latest dresses in the tailor's shop. It is said that this dress was brought by their countess and was given to Her Royal Highness as a birthday present. , Now this style has swept the entire capital. If you don't own a skirt like this, you won't be able to keep up with the fashion.

The ladies who always prided themselves on imitating the trends of the capital looked at the beautiful dresses displayed on wooden shelves in the tailor shop, and then looked at the dresses they were wearing. They paid for each and every one of them quickly. They cared more about gold coins. Will I lose face at the banquet because of outdated attire.

In addition, there are many kinds of goods brought by foreign merchants in Dingle Town. Walking between those stalls, they almost think they are in the commercial street of a big city, not a small remote in the town.

It's been a year since they last went to Sardinson, and the place has changed almost completely. Everyone can see that it is booming. Maybe it won't be long before this originally unknown frontier county, It may become the most prosperous area in the eastern part of the Prady Empire.

"Taking advantage of this opportunity, we should talk about cooperation with Earl Williams."

"I heard that the earl has been begging to buy all kinds of flowers. Isn't our territory very suitable for planting flowers? If he wants, we can grow some flowers this year. Our territory is close and the transportation is convenient. It's still fresh, I think he will be interested."

"Our olive grove..."

"Didn't we plant a lot of wheat..."

"Cow and sheep in the pasture..."

The guests discussed possible cooperation projects on the carriage, took a turn around Dingle, and looked at the announcements posted on the notice board. It was enough for them to figure out what Sardinson County needed at present, and the above was decided. The price is also very good, and it is more profitable than selling their things to the caravans who regularly go to the territory to buy grain, fruit, vegetables and livestock.

In the face of profit, these foreign nobles also forgot the unhappiness of the free people in their territory migrating to Sardinson, and they were even very happy, because if they could use this reason to exchange more from the Earl of Williams Interests, just a few free people, what can't they bear.

- They may not think so when the freedmen are lost in large numbers in the future, but for now, let them be happy first.

In the castle, Wei Wei, the hostess, had to entertain the guests in person. Fortunately, these guests are not higher than Felix. There are a few of the same class as him, but Felix recently The news of being recognized by the royal family has spread to every corner of Prady. With the bonus of the royal bloodline and the king's respect, his status is invisibly higher than the other nobles invited to this banquet, but As the host of the banquet, it is also their job to receive guests, so it is still necessary to have the courtesy.

Therefore, Wei Wei and Felix had to put down their official duties on this day, and received the guests who arrived early together. While arranging accommodation for them, they should also write down the identities and backgrounds of these people, so as to avoid troubles when they meet each other in the future. joke.

This is not an easy task. Even if Wei Wei has a good memory, it is not easy for her to distinguish the faces of Westerners. She can't really remember people when they see them.

So at the beginning of the evening banquet, Wei Wei, who once again amazed the audience in her white wedding dress, would have no idea which guest she had met during the day was the one who spoke to her if it wasn't for the double reminder from Felix and Mrs. Nancy. .

Fortunately, with her current status, even if she doesn't remember anyone, she just needs to nod and smile to get away with it. No one will investigate this issue, and they will even introduce themselves first.

Under the background of the enthusiastic conversation of many guests, the five barons of Sardinson County and their families have naturally become marginal figures, not to mention discussing the issue of free people with Felix, or recalling the original time with Wei Wei. It's time to get along with them, even if you want to squeeze in and talk to them, you can't do it.