The church bell rang and Severin got up from the wooden bed. He put on his underwear sleepily and sat vaguely on the edge of the bed for a while. Then he put on his coat and yawned and went outside.
At dawn, he must rush to the village office. There, frank, the steward under village head George, is responsible for assigning today''s work. If he goes late, the good work will be taken away by others. Severin has just turned 15, has not learned much craft, and has not done much work. In that case, I can only help my family today. I can''t earn a copper sol.
After washing his face with cold water, his mind suddenly woke up a lot. Severin casually wiped the drops off his face, crossed the yard and walked to the kitchen.
The yard was full of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Savilin came under the wooden frame, raised his head, chose a heavy round melon, thought about it, and picked a bigger round melon.
"Savilin? Is that you?"
"Aunt Marcy, it''s me." Savilin shouted into the kitchen as he put two round melons into the back basket.
A tall and strong woman with a headscarf stood at the kitchen door and said, "breakfast is ready. Come and eat it quickly. Robert will come back later and scold you again when he sees you go to work."
"Aunt Marcy, you''re the best." Savilin touched his messy hair and walked into the kitchen with a smile.
The kitchen is located in the north corner of the yard, built of green bricks, with two wooden tables in the middle, enough for 16 people. The tall and strong woman skillfully picked up a handful of charcoal with iron pliers, threw it into the stove, pulled it twice to make the fire burn more vigorously, and nagged painfully: "it''s a waste to eat hot food on a hot day. This charcoal is bought with money... Black bread can be full as raw lettuce."
"Only decent people are qualified to burn charcoal and cook. We will be laughed at if we don''t start a business." Savilin said indifferently, "charcoal is not expensive. A copper Sol''s charcoal is enough for three days."
"What''s wrong with that? We didn''t even know what breakfast was... Oh, praise the Supreme Lord of glory for giving us breakfast, houses and, uh, charcoal." Aunt Marcy put the small basin full of food on the wooden table, clenched her hands and prayed piously.
"Praise the great supreme lord and give me food... I pray for your mercy to make me succeed today." Savilin whispered a prayer.
"I hope you succeed, too, little fellow." Marcy scooped a spoonful of hot porridge and poured it into the bowl in front of savilin.
"I stopped taking lizard eggs last month! Aunt Marcy, I''m an adult." Savilin yelled and chewed hard on the black bread.
Breakfast is green porridge with prickly kidney beans, goat''s milk with black bread, plus two slices of oily pickled pork. The rye bread in George village is made of rye and sweet potato flour, and mixed with crude sugar. It tastes sweet and delicious. Severin ate with relish, and the happy cry of the watchdog came from the door.
"Boy, you should work for your family when you are an adult." A middle-aged man opened the wooden door and stepped in on the dew.
When the man returned from the night on duty, Marcy picked up a towel and politely wiped his face. "Robert, you''re early."
"Come back late, the boy will run to work again." Robert scooped up a bowl of bean porridge, stared at his little son and said, "your aunt Katie has a big stomach, and your brothers and sisters are still young. Your family has 80 mu of farmland, three vegetable fields, six pigs and dozens of geese. Your mother and I can''t be busy alone. Your eldest brother and second brother have serious work to do, and we still lack your salary? Don''t go to work today. Honestly help the family!"
Severin swallowed the black bread in his mouth and said quickly, "unless you give me two copper sols!"
"Have your big head dream!" Robert scolded angrily, "is paper so easy to make? If you rent Sid''s paper mill for half a day, you''ll give them eight copper sols. You''ve spent four silver sols at home and haven''t made a fart! Do you want me to give you more money? If I have this money, I''d better hire two helpers!"
"Unless you give me two copper sols!" Severin insisted stubbornly.
Robert was so angry that he rolled up his sleeve to teach the boy a lesson, but he couldn''t move with a big hand on his shoulder.
Marcy pressed her husband like a chicken, "Sabins became a mercenary and Carl became a cook. We should also give Severin a chance. What if he did? Rogge, the old rascal, improved the spinning machine. The generous and kind Master Randall rewarded him with 300 gold sol and 30 mu of land. It''s a fief! The fief is not a lease, okay? Rogge is a fief now. Now you have to salute the former employee and call him master 。”
Rob struggled without any fruit, and said fiercely, "smelly mother, I has the final say, I am the master of the house."
"I''m in charge." The tall woman shook the wooden spoon under Robert''s nose.
"Well, you''re in charge." When Robert saw his wife''s strong arm, he immediately counseled and muttered, "I said I couldn''t... if I could, would the SID family rent out the paper mill?"
"Let the little guy try, that''s it!" Marcy''s words are as heavy as her weight.
"Aunt Marcy, no! Mom, I love you so much." Cried Severin happily.
Robert said, "Marcy, I''m just afraid you''re too hard."
Massey opened his hand and smiled: "is it harder than when he was a refugee?"
Robert and Marcy are half way refugee couples. Randall led the implementation of the policy of building houses into households, and Robert couldn''t come up with 30 gold sols. When he was at a loss, Marcy, the former refugee leader, found Robert. Marcy proposed that as long as Robert and she were sworn in as legal husband and wife in the church, she was willing to make up 30 kinsol to help Robert build a house.
As a result, the Robert family became the people of Randall''s collar. Sabins, the eldest son, became the hired soldier of Randall''s collar. Marcy became the mistress of the Robert family, while Katie, the original woman of Robert, stayed at home as a personal maid.
Robert''s life has undergone earth shaking changes. He has not only a green brick house with a yard, but also 80 mu of leased land. The church will take 10% tax on the harvested crops, and Robert will take 30% of the remaining crops and all hay.
The first year, the Robert family harvested more than 4300 pounds of wheat, more than 8000 pounds of hay, and 5300 pounds of sweet potatoes. Randall''s hay is cheap. A hundred pounds can only sell a copper sol, or 15 pounds of charcoal. Marcy sold hay and half of the new wheat, and the other half was deposited in village head George''s bakery to exchange for old grain.
Most territories implement the policy of exchanging new grain for old grain, and Randall collar is no exception. One pound of new wheat in George village can be exchanged for two pounds of three-year old wheat or 1.5 pounds of green wheat, which can be cashed by the village head''s bakery, but it can''t exceed 20 pounds a day. The wheat returned by the Robert family alone is enough to eat for the first half of the year, but the right to build a house and enter a house is more than that.
Robert raised six pigs. In two months, he could keep the smallest two, but even so, it added up to more than 700 pounds. In addition, Robert has three vegetable fields, and he can''t eat all the vegetables he grows. The extra vegetables Marcy used to raise red headed geese.
Although the red headed goose does not grow as fast as the ground lizard, its feathers are the material for making feather arrows and crossbow arrows. Lord Randall encouraged his people to breed red headed geese. Therefore, raising geese does not need to be handed over for worship. If a certain number of goose eggs are handed over, it can also cover half a month''s hard labor. The only disadvantage of raising geese is that they consume too much feed. However, this is not a problem for the Robert family.
George village has 400 square kilometers of public land, which belongs to Lord Randall. As long as the mayor of George village allows, Robert has the right to collect public land resources to subsidize families, raise pigs and geese. In fact, the traditional collar people live on the properties of the Commons.
In addition to farming and breeding, the Robert family regularly collects public land resources, and the work tasks released by George village are also given priority to them. But Robert really didn''t have the energy to accept employment. His eldest son sabins served in the mercenary corps, his second son Mark helped cook in the canteen, and he himself received a week-long militia training every month.
Robert didn''t know whether he was a leader or a vassal, but he was sure he was Lord Randall''s people and was proud of it. He deeply understood that the family had no worries about food and clothing, a stable life and a balance every year, but if he wanted to be better, there must be more people. At present, Katie is pregnant and her other children are minors. The heavy work at home and abroad depends on him and Marcy. Now he just wanted Severin to help the family.
Marcy had a different idea.
Migrants have no fixed place to live, and they flow there when there is work. For the refugees, it is a very foolish act to go on the road alone, which is no less dangerous than being exiled into the wilderness. Refugees need to guard against the same kind (refugees, bandits), wild animals, and the unwarranted killing and extortion of the superior. Moreover, job opportunities need to be seized, and whoever has a big fist has food to eat. Therefore, refugees must hold together to keep warm, ranging from dozens to hundreds, unite around the leader of the refugees and make a living everywhere.
Masi is such a refugee leader. Although she is a woman, she is tall, strong and powerful. Two or three strong men can''t control her. As a refugee leader, she dares to fight and fight. A mace has killed more than a dozen people. As a woman, she also has a delicate mind, handles things fairly and knows how to win people''s hearts. She only sleeps with the most handsome and weakest men in the gang. She doesn''t need to rob women with strong men, so the relationship between gang members is relatively stable.
Masi has always enjoyed prestige in the gang. Even if she was defeated by other refugee gangs and had to leave Yeliu City, a group of people followed her to landland.
Different from other territories, Randall''s leader could not accommodate prestigious refugee leaders, and those refugee leaders who were unwilling to be lonely were ruthlessly suppressed. At this time, the delicate side of Marcy''s mind played a role. She no longer contacted her men and moved to Philo village with a man and a pair of children to be a woman.
Randall led the implementation of building houses and recruiting stewards and mercenaries. Marcy thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She encouraged men to join the army, but the loser dared not live or die. Marcy simply kicked him, and then she took her children to George village to find her former subordinate Robert.
Robert was at the bottom of the refugee Gang, but he was very tolerant of women and children. As long as women were willing to follow him, he regarded women''s children as his own.
No matter how big or small, every mouth has to eat. Not many refugees are willing to raise other people''s children with hard-earned money. They laugh at Robert as a donkey and lose his mind when they see a woman. Marcy thinks Robert is affectionate and righteous. Except for the one in Katie''s belly, none of Robert''s five children are his own flesh and blood.
Can you eat with love and righteousness?
Women with oil bottles are despised by refugee men, and men with oil bottles are despised by refugee women. Robert dragged five children and was so poor that Marcy, the refugee leader, absolutely didn''t like him. But under Randall''s leadership, Robert was something Marcy could trust for life because he had five children.
Marcy found that Viscount Randall gave special treatment to refugee families. The boundaries of refugees, leaders and vassals led by Randall were very vague, but the treatment of families and singles was very different, and families with children and families without children were also different. For families with children, parents will get more job opportunities. Father Miller''s church only helps children. The chapel in each village will even help parents take care of children aged 3 to 5, giving them time to work, make money and improve their lives.
Marcy suddenly realized that the Randall family valued children. Although she didn''t know why, Robert had five children. It must be right to choose him!
She took out all her family resources to help Robert build a house and enter the house. Sabins became a mercenary soldier. The status of Robert''s family in George village rose sharply. Later, saibinsto got into a relationship and got a job as a cook for Marcy''s own son Carl, and Robert worked very hard for her. Marcy''s married life can be called husband and wife harmony. According to Robert''s words: in fact, I''ve wanted to sleep with you for a long time.
If Marcy is a man, she must be a mercenary herself. Unfortunately, she is not. The mercenaries led by Randall do not recruit women. Therefore, Marcy is determined to be a good wife and mother. She always goes all out. Either she doesn''t do it or she will do her best. The same is true for running a family.
The wife respected her husband, and Marcy did it. Mothers of large families should not only be kind to their children, but also be fair. Although Robert''s children are not her own flesh and blood, Marcy has this ability. She was a refugee leader.
Now that sabins and Carl have their own careers, at least give Severin a chance to pursue their dreams. The Robert family has this condition. They are now Lord Randall''s people.
"Boy, how many times are you going to try? Can''t it be endless?" Robert asked sullenly.
"Five, no, ten, ten more." Severin wiped the corners of his mouth and said happily, "I know two uncles, Wright and Tunan. They know a lot. These two days they helped me make paper. Although they didn''t succeed, Wright thought that if two kinds of weeds were added, they might succeed!"
"If two single men have this ability, why should they help you?" Robert sneered scornfully.
Marcy frowned and asked, "is Tunan a bald head with black skin?"
"Yes, yes, yes... He even has bald eyebrows." Severin nodded repeatedly and said with a smile, "Tunan is very edible. I picked two round melons for him."
"Your brother came home today. You invited Wright and Tunan to lunch. I''m going to steam goose and pig''s feet." Marcy turned her head, stared at her husband with a pair of ox eyes and said, "first go to the node reservoir to buy two green salmon, and then come back to make up for sleep. The green salmon should be at least 2 feet long."
"That''ll cost a lot of money..." Robert muttered in a low voice.
Marcy ignored him and said to Severin, "when you finish eating, go to work quickly. Don''t give people a seat."
"Thank you, mom." Savilin put a basket on his back and went out through the door.
Robert finally couldn''t help asking, "why invite two bachelor men to visit our house? We are now a decent family in the village."
"It''s your turn this week to watch the night outside the village and go to bed when you come back. Where do you know what happened in the village?" Marcy squinted at her husband and said, "I heard that Wright and Tunan were introduced by father David. Village head George was very polite to them and arranged their accommodation in person. It seems that they must be relatives of father David."
"It''s time to curry favor with them." Robert perked up, got up and said, "I''ll pick some good fish now while there are few people in the morning."