Lady of the Lord From the East

Almost everyone had a very happy Christmas in Sardinson this year.

People who enjoyed the holiday went back to their jobs with a happy mood, and businessmen lighted their rich wallets, hoping that such a good day would come more often. Soon after Christmas, it's a new year.

A few days before the arrival of the new year, Wei Wei and Felix convened all relevant personnel and held several consecutive meetings to summarize this year's harvest, formulate plans for next year, and arrange for each person in charge what needs to be achieved next year. Target.

Commercially, they have conquered the relevant domestic market. Don’t look at the fact that Sardinson seems to only do business locally and in the capital, but they have cooperated with many merchants. Sardinson’s products are supplied by these merchants from all over the country. Take it away and sell it to various regions. After more than a year of development, Sardinson's name has been known to everyone in China, and even abroad, there are also merchants who come from thousands of miles for their products.

In terms of agriculture, they have achieved great results. Last year, all crops almost doubled, and the full grain of food is proof that if all of them are kept for food, there will be enough for the entire county to eat for two or three years. , Although there are many new crops that have not been disclosed, they are also known. The output of vegetables and fruits such as strawberries and tomatoes are also surprising. Many people are planning to plant some in the new year. According to statistics, the newly opened wasteland is about 3,000 acres. Although these new lands are not yet within the scope of taxation, the food they grow is also solid. After seeing the returns from last year's wasteland reclamation, there will definitely be more this year. of people want to open up wasteland.

In animal husbandry, the method of re-feeding castrated piglets has also been recognized. The weight of pigs in the territory has increased significantly, bringing them more meat resources, and has also cultivated a bunch of pig rearing experts. The fact that pigs are easy to raise makes everyone very happy. This way of inciting pigs has been spread to other nobles' territories through word of mouth. Many people went to Sardinson to learn about this. Many people have tried Sardinson's way of raising pigs, and the local residents have begun to put "bad ideas" on their own sheep, eager to try and incite them, maybe they will get better results. A lot of mutton, as for cattle, is still as scarce as horses, and needs to be kept for breeding.

In terms of population, excluding foreign migrants, the total number of registered people in Sardinson County this year exceeded 47,000, an increase of more than 9,000 over last year. Among them, the largest source is the free people who moved from other places, followed by The serfs and slaves were bought back, and finally there were a large number of newborns-according to the report of the staff responsible for the management and registration of household registration, the number of newborns in the entire Sardinson County is now about 2,000. Of course, these children are not. All of them were born this year, and a large part of them were born before, but were concealed by their family members and deliberately did not come to register to avoid paying the poll tax. This year, because of the implementation of the new poll tax regulations, all these hidden populations are They are all registered in the register. If a child is born in the Lingmin’s home, the parents will immediately go to the nearest town to find the household registration manager in the town to register the household registration, because now everyone knows that as long as they go to the registration, they can receive the new students. Children's things, sometimes small pieces of sugar, more often a few eggs, and when things happen to be divided, they will even give coins of the same amount, so the residents are very active, and no one is procrastinating. refused to go.

Finally, it is a summary of the development of the territory. In the past year, they have repaired the transportation routes of the whole county, built many factories and residences, expanded Dingle, opened a farm in the town of Uk, and opened a chain of The town has increasingly large fish canning factories, and if you count Slot, they have small salt pans, a wharf under construction, and a new town also under construction.

All of this adds up to the reason why they all almost became dogs this year.

Next year, they will plant more land, raise more livestock, attract more people, and engage in more construction.

In short, there are more and more things to do, and there is no leisure for a moment.

"Sure enough, we still have to continue recruiting people. How is the training of the previous batch of people? Can it be used?"

In the civil service examination they held, although only 100 people were finally admitted to become the future team of the government, in fact, they did not intend to let go of those who scored in the top 1,000 in the two exams. Gather together and assign these people to different people for training according to their intentions for future development at the time of the interview, so that they can get in touch with relevant jobs in advance. After three months of training, they have excellent grades and those who intend to stay can continue. Join the work directly, and those who fail to pass will be dismissed, euphemistically called an internship.

At present, these people are exposed to unclassified parts. For example, the first 100 people participate in the training of government employees together, or they are assigned to the management department of a certain factory as documents. They will not be exposed to actual production, especially It is a factory that needs to be kept secret, such as essential oils and perfumes, and even the management department will not let them intern.

Moreover, these people are all temporary workers. If they want to become regulars, they must either take the civil service examination in the future, or participate in the internal evaluation of the unit.

Of course, because the news was not announced at the beginning, the people who took the test did not know it at first, so later those who participated in the disturbance were removed from the internship list, and some gave up on their own. Yes, after removing these, they chose a substitute from the lower-ranked people, collected 900 interns, and assigned training with the top 100. It should have been a month of practice now.

The Countess wanted to know this, so everyone should answer it properly. The Count's stewards and the heads of different factories stood up one by one to report the training of these interns. The conclusion is that most of them are indeed good, but some are still in training. Not doing well and they're thinking about what to do with these people.

"Since it was agreed at the beginning that the unqualified would be dismissed, there are still two months of the internship period, you can let them stay and continue to observe for a period of time to see if there is any possibility of improvement. But remember to give them the salary for the internship period."

Felix also added: "If you find someone with a strange whereabouts, immediately notify the soldiers to arrest them, and leave the interrogation to Beerus." Beerus is one of his knights, but he is mainly responsible for torture Interrogation, he has done a lot of research on this aspect, and he is likely to serve as a prison director in the future.

Regarding security and defense, they can never take it lightly.

The meeting went on for several days, and when all the meetings were over, the new year came.

Sadinson in January is the coldest time, but people's hearts are hot. The heavy snow in winter cannot hinder their pace. Even if many things have to be suspended because of the heavy snow, everyone can still find things to pass the time. .

Just as Hank expected, the castle did start to select people when the new year came.

To be precise, it is not just the selection of people, but the arrangement of this group of small serfs.

It’s impossible not to arrange it. The majority of this group of small serfs are girls, and they are all over the age of twelve. The little girls of this age are going to get married. The girls are very precocious. After a year of stability After living, their appearance has expanded a lot, from a skinny girl to a young girl. Beautiful girls are always pursued by young men. When a group of little girls get together, they become other single boys in the manor. Every day, people linger outside the collective dormitory where they live, courteously to please, boldly pursue, and then the girls who are thinking of puberty are naturally tempted. They have no parents, and they can decide their own marriages. Although they are serfs, as long as the man can pay They don't need to worry about the right to the first night.

Of course, no one is worried about this. It has been nearly two years since the earl took over. In the past two years, many serfs have married, but they have never been asked to exercise their first night rights. When he went to the castle to announce his hope, he didn't accept the bride's first night, and he didn't give this right to anyone else. He only added a few days of labor to the married family. Compensate for taxes owed.

After that, more people want to get married, and when everyone is rich, everyone can afford a little marriage tax, but in the past, there were more men than women in the manor (boys can work when they grow up, girls can only work when they grow up) Can marry other people in exchange for dowry, and it may not be much, so the survival rate of boys is always higher than that of girls), there are more single young men than girls, it is not easy for single dogs to find a partner, people with girls, Even serfs can be critical of the man's family and character, and have high requirements for dowry. Those who love their daughters will be willing to give dowries and sell their daughters as goods. After receiving the dowry, they will not even give out a dowry, only the bride Bringing your old clothes and old quilts to the groom's house, and this situation was not uncommon in the past. Now, although everyone's life is better, they are more or less willing to give some dowry, but it is actually disproportionate to the dowry. .

But this group of new little serfs is different. They were all sold separately. They were all poor girls who were almost sold by their parents to the women's branch. Naturally, they didn't look too bad, even if they weren't the most beautiful. Middle-to-high-level beauty, and they don't have parents who are in charge of marriage. If they can find someone who is willing to marry, they will return the full amount of betrothal gifts they have given in the past. It is simply a waste of a daughter-in-law. A beautiful and learned daughter-in-law, who wouldn't want such a girl.

Therefore, these girls are very popular. Each of them has several suitors behind them. These suitors take various opportunities to court them, and they are considerate and enthusiastic. How can a young girl stand up to this? Many girls Before I knew it, I fell into the fall, and on Christmas day, many young men invited their favorite girls to go on a date outside the manor, walked around the lively Dingle, and found a place with good scenery and few people to tell themselves. He took out the pre-prepared engagement ring and knelt down to propose marriage. The little girls who had not passed through such a splendid expression naturally agreed to the other party's proposal with a shy look. thing.

Originally, it was the slack season, which was the most suitable time to hold a wedding. Many people thought that the wedding day of the count and his wife was very good, so they also decided to hold the wedding in the church on February 1.

To hold a wedding in a church, you must first agree on a time with the church. In addition, serfs need to notify the lord in advance to obtain permission and pay taxes, so these young men who are ready to get married take the prepared marriage tax and face the wind. Xue went to the collective dormitory of the little serfs first, and picked up her fiancée to go to the castle to report the incident.

When they got to the collective dormitory, they found out why there were so many people on the road with them, and then took a closer look, yo, everyone still knew each other, and they were all people who usually wandered around here, so they got together and talked about it. After talking, I knew that everyone had the same goal, and came to pick up someone to go to the castle to report their marriage.

And everyone chose this day to report because the girls had a holiday together today.

As soon as the news was confirmed, everyone had a bad feeling in their hearts.

"When are you going to get married?"

"February 1st, how about you?"

"I'm also on February 1st."

They looked at each other, and they were about to get married on the same day.

Getting married on the same day means they both need to use the church on that day.

For sure, it is the person who wants to rob the church with himself.

The boys looked at each other with a hint of hostility in their eyes, and then speeded up their pace in tacit agreement, secretly vowing to get to the castle faster than the other party, so as to be strong enough to have a good day, otherwise, what if they were one step ahead and missed the good day?

These young men who are about to get married look like they are drawing their swords, but one by one, they only hurry with their heads down. In heavy snow, the carriages are not willing to run at this time, for fear that the snow will slip and the carriages will overturn, so they can only Choose to walk.

And the girls have long been prepared, put on clean clothes, washed their faces and hands, combed their hair, brought cheap and beautiful hair accessories, and waited for their lovers to pick them up with excitement.

Unlike the lads, these girls who live together every day are in a good relationship, even knowing that each other may be married on the same day is not a problem, although it is good to be married on the same day as the Countess, but if not one day, they There is nothing to be dissatisfied with.

A year ago, these girls were still worried that they would be sold to a dirty place by their parents, living a life better than death, waiting to wither in despair. But they always thought that it might be after they went through hardships and couldn't make money for the women's ward, then if they didn't die unfortunately, the women's ward would sell them like slaves to the poor who couldn't afford it. A bachelor who can't marry a wife with a betrothal gift lives a painful life of doing housework every day and being scolded and beaten by her husband. Maybe one day, her children will be sold for money just like herself.

This is not their imagination, but what they saw when they were in the capital. People in Xiacheng District are very poor, and many men can't get a wife. The daughters came back to live, and even the mothers of these girls were sold like this.

But now, they live a normal life without going hungry. They can fill their stomachs every day as long as they finish their work, and they can also get the opportunity to study. , but what they like, and the other party also likes their marriage partner, which is like a heavenly life for them.

The girls were quickly picked up by their lovers, and they were going to the castle to report.

Also because of the snow, Hank, who didn't need to be a teacher, looked at the group of girls who left, and shook his head regretfully behind them.

"Brother, what's the matter with you?" Chimi, who was watching the fun at the door with him, looked at him suspiciously.

"It's okay, it's just a pity."

"What a pity?"

"It's a pity they're getting married." Another voice came from beside them.

Hank and Kimmy turned to look at each other.

It was a little girl about the same age as Hank. She had brown hair and eyes. She was very beautiful, but she always gave people a cold feeling. This girl was called Meng Na, and she was very low-key. She was almost impossible to find. To the sense of existence, she is one of the girls who compete with Hank in the top three in terms of academic performance. Besides, she not only has good academic performance, but also has good swordsmanship. She is often praised. one of the seedlings.

Kimmy didn't understand: "Why, isn't it bad to get married?"

Mona is not a talkative person, so she didn't speak, but looked at Hank.

Hank touched his brother's head and explained, "It's not bad, it's just that they are married now, and I'm afraid that will be the only way to go in the future."

"What's the only way to do this?"

"They're married, they should be moving out of here, and they may not even be able to study with us anymore."

This is not only a question of whether the girls are willing or not, but also the idea of ​​the object they choose. At this time, people get married to find someone who can help them with housework and have children. Since they are all married, girls They naturally have to work wholeheartedly for their husband's family, and it is impossible to have much of their own time. When they agreed to get married, they basically agreed to give up this point. Otherwise, even if they agreed to the marriage proposal, they could delay the marriage time. Say it some time ago.

And they also know that the Countess will not force them to continue to study, because as early as the beginning, the teacher who taught them Qin said that if someone wants to leave their life, they can help to place them in those serf villages Yes, but no one did that at the time.

This is also the fundamental reason why they dare to decide their own marriage so directly, because no one is forcing them to do what they have to do.

Chimi now somewhat understands, and he was surprised: "If you don't study, doesn't it mean that they won't be selected by the castle, right?!"

He has been listening to his brother's analysis of possible selection events recently. He knows that when the castle is looking for servants, especially maids, being single is a very important criterion. It doesn't mean that people who work in the castle cannot get married. It is best for people who go to work to be single, because in this way they can put all their minds on work, instead of thinking about their small family every day, so married, especially newly married girls, they basically will not choose Yes, even the selected girls will be asked how long it is best not to get married. If they do get married and become pregnant, they will likely be fired later.

Of course, if it is now, the castle is reluctant to dismiss the maids who have spent a lot of effort to train them, especially they also have Wei Wei, the mistress, pregnant maids are more likely to get a maternity leave of up to three months, and wait until after the delivery. Go back to work.

And if the news is correct, the castle selection is a recent matter, so the girls who choose to marry now will obviously be excluded from the selection range.

It's really a pity for those girls, because they could have had a good job that would have made them even better at their husband's house.

Meng Na suddenly said: "You really know that the castle is going to choose people."

Hank also replied to her: "You don't know too."

The knight attendant will tell Chimi, and naturally he will also tell Meng Na, who is often praised by him, because this is a good opportunity, and the people who are sent from the castle to teach the little serfs know that their master plans to choose some women for the mistress. Bodyguard, the talented Meng Na with good grades is very likely to be one of them. Maybe she will be one of the important maids by the countess's side in the future, just like Qin who has almost become a reserve female housekeeper. Such a person Of course, it is worth making an investment in advance.

Meng Na thought thoughtfully: "It seems that this matter is true."

Hank nodded: "Yes, and I think there should be other people who know about it."

Meng Na glanced at him again, turned her head and left, leaving only one sentence: "I hope to see you in the castle."

"Each each other."

He turned back and looked at the castle in the distance, looking forward to that day.

In the castle, Wei Wei heard that a group of serfs had come to apply for marriage. It was not a surprise at first, but when she heard that their marriage targets were all small serfs who had been raising them for nearly a year, she was still a little confused, and then What comes is the depression that the cabbage that I planted has been arched by the pig.

Those are cabbages that haven't grown up yet!

However, everyone has their own aspirations, and the people who get married at this time are all young. Although there is a feeling of destroying the children, she has suppressed her three views and asked the servant who came to speak: "How many people want to get married?"

"There are about 30 pairs, and they haven't registered yet, because they are all arguing that they are the first, and they almost didn't fight just now."

Is there only thirty of her more than two hundred little serfs? Wei Wei sighed and said strangely, "Why grab the first one, this kind of thing doesn't need to come first, right?"

The servant couldn't help but looked up at his mistress, lowered his head and said, "They all want to get married on February 1, but there is only one church. Even if several weddings can be held in one day, it is not enough for them to allocate."

On February 1st, isn't it her wedding day? These people will really join in the fun, Wei Wei shook her head and laughed: "Since they all want to get married on that day, then arrange a mass wedding, so that Father Matthew will also There's no need to hold ceremonies for thirty weddings." That would make the elderly sick.

After listening to Wei Wei's words, the servant left to inform Butler Patton, who was having a headache, while Wei Wei thought about it and felt that the rest of the people had to be arranged earlier, otherwise there would be pigs, no, people will come to the rescue Her cabbage!