Medieval Empire Soldier

   Chapter 30 Thirty · The first day of being a lord

   Empire Calendar 2502, September 25th.

   The second day of coming to Oak Village.

   Before the first ray of light in the morning, Lallen had already dressed and walked out of the bedroom.

He searched the documents in the territory last night, and didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, reporting one after another that he was moved into the study by the maid. The affairs officer, Pittman, also slept very late. He needed to report the situation at all times to avoid details. omissions.

   "Good morning, my lord, breakfast is ready." Pittman's room is on the first floor of the inner castle. In the days when there was no lord, he was the ruler of Oak Village. "How did you sleep last night?"

  Lyren yawned, stretched, and said casually, "The smell of wood in the bedroom is too strong, and it stinks the nose. Let the maids open the doors and windows of each room to ventilate."

   "I'm really sorry, this is my negligence. The furniture in your bedroom is newly made by a carpenter. I forgot to taste it." The clerk bowed and explained.

  Kingdom knight waved his hand, not caring about this omission: "Put your breakfast in a food box and take it with you, don't rush to eat it."

   "You're going out now? Okay"

   The affairs officer looked surprised, but he left quickly and prepared a food box to take away the prepared breakfast.

  Laylen took a simple plan of the village from the study and walked around the village with Albert, the Ranger, and Pittman, the affairs officer. Everywhere he went, Pittman would introduce Laylan in detail.

  The day in late autumn was still cold. Layen walked out of the longhouse, exhaled a breath of heat, and started to go around the entire Oak Village, visiting everywhere.

  The village of Oak Village is about the size of four football fields in the previous life, and the main body of the village is not divided into outside and inside.

   There are 37 households with a total of 176 people, including 67 adult males, 59 adult females, 27 children over the age of 13, and 23 children under the age of 13.

   Oak Village has been opened for less than 15 years, and the population structure is not bad. Judging from the total population, the majority of the population is still young and strong labor force.

  Population is the resource that Lallen cares about most.

   If the land is lost, the people and the land will be lost; if the people lose the land, the principle of all the people and the land will be easy to understand.

In the empire, people go missing every moment, especially in the slums of big cities. A large number of poor people are crowded into a small space, and various Chaos sects are active in it. Bizarre incidents occur frequently. This has long been commonplace.

   So much so that the various nobles ignore the disappearance of their own territory, and they have the right to turn a deaf ear.

  All the residents in Oak Village, Lailen instructed the affairs officer Pittman to register one by one, count the number of people at regular intervals, and do his best to avoid disappearances.

  Especially children, Lallen is very concerned about it. When he told Pittman, he said: "Children are our future! Don't make a mistake!"

  On the north outer layer of the village, there is only a low wooden fence. Its only function is to give people psychological comfort. If there is a large-scale attack, small and medium-sized villages like Oak Village are often the first to be destroyed.

  There are also very few defensive buildings in the east and west directions of the village. There are only a few wooden fences placed at the intersection, and the most common wooden sentry towers are also missing.

Pittman explained that the cost of building the wall is too high. Most of the village's annual tax needs to be turned over to the local baron. The remaining money and grain can't even pay for the wood, and the manpower and grain that need to be consumed. For oak The village is also an astronomical figure.

  Laylen's plan to rebuild the outer defenses had to be postponed.

  Since the village is in ruins, the resources at hand need to be used on the edge of the knife, smashing pots and selling iron to build a wall, and it is just an empty shell without human support.

Not far to the west of Oak Village is the branch of the York River. The river is wide and the water flow is not urgent, and the villagers rely on this river for their daily water.

The    river extends to the well-developed fertile farmland in the middle of the west of the village.

  The taxes paid by the villagers every year and the food they need to live need to be "planted" from the farmland, and the current farmland is enough for the entire village

The number and output of    farmland is related to the development of the village, and the amount of food storage is also linked to the population. Lailen does not want to see famine in the village under his rule.

When they came to the logging farm in the north of the village, a dozen lumberjacks were surrounding a few pine needle trees. The axes in their hands were flying up and down. The leftovers can be taken home to use as firewood.

  In the hoarding position of the logging yard, chopped logs one by one and placed them neatly.

  The name of Oak Village has a wood, because it is close to the Dracowald Forest, and the surrounding forest resources are abundant. The sale of wood is the pillar to support the village's tax revenue.

   "Sir, most of your taxes and fees come from the sale of logs. Every month, chariot and horse merchants come from other villages and towns to transport the wood." Pittman walked in front of Laylen and explained sideways.

  Lairn looked at Chengzha's log and nodded.

Oak Village can pay him 40-50 gold coins every year. This money also needs to pay for various expenses and maintain daily military expenses. After that, Laylen also needs to pay religious taxes, which has been due as a knight in the kingdom of Midden. responsibility.

  Lauren can also collect tolls and chariot tolls from passing pedestrians and businessmen. In a large gathering place like Bray Town, a poll tax is required to enter the city.

   However, Oak Village is vast and sparsely populated, and such tyranny of government and miscellaneous taxes is extremely detrimental to the development of the village.

   "Let's go, let's go to the outer circle of the village." After inspecting the work of the lumber mill for a while, Lallen turned and left.

  The villagers along the way knelt down on one knee to show their respect.

  Although Laylen’s identity is only a kingdom knight, he is a legitimately claimed lord of Oak Village. In the Middle Ages, the villagers would not necessarily leave their birthplace in their entire lives. In their eyes, the lord is heaven.

  Lauren also tried to maintain a friendly side, and expressed encouragement to the hard-working villagers.

   "Pitman, have all the winter wheat been planted around the village?" Lallen asked casually on the way back to the village.

   "You just finished planting the day before you came. If you want to harvest, I'm afraid you will have to wait until May next year."

   "How many free people are there in the village now?

   The latter pondered for a while, and said with reservations: "Probably, there are still 50-70 people available. After all, it is already the late autumn season, and the autumn harvest has just ended not long ago, and the people have free time now."

   "Sir, do you want to recruit them for corvée?"

   "Yeah." Lallen turned around and glanced in the direction of the lumber mill. "My fief is still very barren. There are too many things to build for water conservancy construction, village defense, etc."

   "I'm going to expand the lumber mill first, preferably this afternoon."

   "No problem, my lord." The clerk replied immediately. "The tools and lumber in the village warehouse are complete enough for you to expand the lumber mill."

  Maudie Pittman reminded Lallen: "However, there is a shortage of manpower."

   "That's easy to fix." Lyron interrupted. "Stop some work and try to get everyone involved in the construction."

   "But if you do this, many people will be dissatisfied with you, especially the self-cultivation group in the territory"

   "Tell all the territorial residents that anyone involved in the expansion of the lumber mill will have at least one bowl of broth every day." Lallen's tone was relaxed and he didn't take what Pittman said to heart.

  The sky and the earth are big, and the food is the biggest, not to mention the great response from Liwei yesterday.

   At least the villagers believed that the new lord did what he said.

   "Sir. I'm afraid the food in the Neibao warehouse will not be able to support the construction of the logging farm." Pittman is very worried about Laylen's actions.

  If there is no surplus in the warehouse of Oak Village, it will be a big trouble to pay the spring tax at the beginning of the year.

   "You don't need to care about this." Lallen snorted. "Just complete the task I arranged, hurry up and go."

"Yes"

  Lelan and Albert were the only ones left.

  Country roads are crisscrossed by ridges and fields. The cultivated land that has been turned over is covered with a layer of fallen leaves, and a series of wooden fences make the boundary between the dirt road and the cultivated land clear.

  Lauren can't help but look forward to a golden harvest scene in the early autumn next year.

  The joy brought by farming is inherited from the blood of farmers.

  Before natural disasters and man-made disasters, the only thing that can keep you alive is food. If you want to live a better life, it is directly related to the land.

  But the dangers lurking in the deep forest will rush out at any time and destroy all of them. Laylen also has to care about the issue of prevention.

   A large number of people are recruited to build a logging farm and put into logging, and the safety of the people must also be considered.

  The current situation of Oak Village, it is bound to need to invest some resources, on the basis of the existing militia, to train a team of combatable soldiers in a short period of time.

   "Albert, what do you think of these militias?" Lallen looked at the ranger beside him.

  The latter wore a dark green hood and a close-fitting leather armor. He carried a longbow and a pot of arrow feathers with him. He followed the kingdom knight without saying a word.

   When asked about it suddenly, Albert thought for a while and then said slowly, "Poor equipment, insufficient training, and low morale."

   "It's all flaws?" Laren raised his eyebrows and chuckled softly. "In your eyes, they don't have a merit to be praised?"

  The Ranger was stopped by the question. After thinking hard, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: "They are very cheap. They can consume the enemy's forces and delay the time."

   seems to feel that what he said is lacking, and Albert added: "It should be possible."

   "I feel sorry for you to say so much." Laren was amused. "I didn't expect them to have so many advantages."

  Lyren turned his head and looked to the side of the road.

  Hard-working farmers and farmers in the fields, and children with shabby clothes, but carefree, running freely in the fields.

   He continued to ask: "Such soldiers, would you let them guard a village?"

   "Obviously. Not."

   "Then, Albert."

  Lyren turned around, looked at the latter, and said in a serious tone, "I have a very important task for you to do."

   Ask for tickets and collections!

   Double updates on weekends, if you owe more, remember to remind the author.

   (end of this chapter)