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Completed

People who are still typing on Singles' Day are so sad... I'm sorry to ask for a new week's ticket

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The takeover of the territory seemed to be quite smooth.

First, I verified my identity, and then received a magic parchment contract with the terms written on it, plus the seal ring and signature, and the process was completed. The original pride of the guy in charge of the handling had disappeared when he saw the black robe with vaguely revealing the magic pattern, and his movements were so fast and his smile was so bright that he was better than the Kaifeng cuisine waiter in someone's memory.

The process of arriving at the territory seemed to be very smooth.

Although this territory is not too close to Romanty, if the straight-line distance of 300 miles is replaced by a real road, it will be at least a day to gallop, but there is a little girl who can use teleportation techniques to follow her. This distance is just a time for teleportation techniques. Even if the teleportation techniques are somewhat deviated, this is not a problem for those who carry horses, so they only use less than an hourglass scale, and the destination is already vaguely visible.

The first impression is also pretty good.

The hills here have left the plain viewing field and entered the hilly landforms of Mislian River, bringing some mountains to the meaning. Although most of them are small hills of more than a hundred feet above sea level, when you look into the distance, you can even stretch out dozens of miles. The sparse wood forests reveal the continuous shrubs under the sun, and the sunlight shines in it, outlining the greenness of the suitable thickness and light.

So standing on the hills, you can see the village in this small valley at a glance - if there is no error marking on the map, then this is the territory of Master Edward, named Burgundy.

However, from the first sight of the territory, Viscount Edward frowned deeply.

This territory is really... a little bad.

The main road, surrounded by two earthen mountains, runs through the land of the two dukes, but the village on the west side of the road does not have the prosperity near the main traffic road. A piece of earthen fortress is built on the gentle hillside, which distinguishes it from the cultivated fields. However, the rough craftsmanship seems to be no different from the sand piles with several wooden stakes in the distance. The rows of thatched huts surrounded it are low and broken, and seem to be still using branches to cover the roof, and some of them reveal dark holes. On the top of the hillside, it seems that it is a castle in the center of the territory and a stone building, but it has obviously been abandoned for a long time, leaving only a vague outline.

"Hey, Edward. Is this a town? The village is better than here, right?" A horse beside him, Baroque, Ye Yu carelessly pierced the window paper: "Did the young lady send us too crookedly and run to somewhere on the edge of the territory?"

Of course, his suspicion is not unreasonable. After all, what Edward told them before was a viscount's territory. But it seems that even if it is given to a baron, no, even a knight who is granted seems a little shabby.

But then, the dwarf immediately paid the price for another suspicion that he had not kept his mouth shut. Lisa, who was standing beside him, whipped his horse's butt, and the warrior who claimed to be invulnerable to swords and guns immediately flew to the end. His legs were so short that he could hardly reach the stirrups that he was immediately lifted down by his "death beast" and smashed the ground with a thud!

Edward shook his head, ignoring the half-elf's laughter and the dwarf's curse.

Although humans in this world occupy the main body of the continent, the harsh natural environment makes their development speed far from reaching prosperity. A small noble can be granted a land of hundreds of miles, but less than one ten of them have been reclaimed. There are monsters, humanoid robbers and bandits on the land, so most of the lords' management of their territory is actually limited to the core area. The more remote the area is, the more chaotic the public security is.

But the place in front of me seemed a bit too closed.

The valley is a road that goes back and forth, but it is still full of the remains of mudslides left over from the rainy season. As a branch of this road, the road leading to the territory is even worse. There are only a few passages for people to pass through - or in other words, they can only be considered larger ridges. Except for a flat-panel truck pulled by a livestock, it is a troublesome thing to want the remaining vehicles to pass through.

Moreover, some farmers can be seen busy in the farmland, but the land that has been reclaimed on the hillside is pitiful. Edward has done farm work for several days, but he still doesn't know what exactly he planted - a short piece, and a sparse planting, one piece in the east and one piece in the west, like a dysentery on a bald man's head.

"What kind of crop is that?"

"There are some cassava, but most of the remaining ones are beans. Black beans and beans. These things do not have that high requirements for land, but they cannot be used to satisfy hunger. Most of them are used as feed for horses." After a casual look, Melianne said, as a mercenary, he seemed to be knowledgeable: "In this kind of remote land, it may only be used for this purpose."

Edward was speechless for a moment.

He was a farmer himself, but James's Poplar Town was not as bad as this place even before he was transformed.

Not only because there is a whispering forest called the treasure house of magic resources next to it, you can rely on mercenaries and beasts to make money - at least in the years when Edward was born, their town already had iron farm tools, one or two oxen oxen, and a tavern and caravans that came regularly in the village. Even if it was barren, people would not eat or wear too much.

On the other hand, as the horses advanced, the things used by the farmers became clearer. They lazily carried some wooden sticks and poked caves in the middle of the crops in the fields that were indescribable. They actually had no hoes on their faces, let alone livestock such as cattle and horses. Not to mention fertilization. Although it was midsummer, the plants still had a little yellow color. Obviously, they didn't even water much.

This is almost the same as the slash-and-burn farming of the primitive people.

Edward is also experienced in the construction of the territory... Even if the land is a little bit deserted, it seems that it is developed from the woodland, and it will not be too barren. There is no way to transform it. As long as you turn it over and then use fertilizer to make it for two years, it should not be a problem to cultivate barley and wheat. As for the mountains, the hillside here is not steep, and it is not difficult to turn it into terraces. More importantly, the woods that stretch out to the distance are gradually dense, and although it is impossible to become a commercial town like the Whispering Forest. However, the development of agriculture is not a problem when it is well managed.

Of course, what he could see might not be impossible to see. It is not easy to put it into practice.

All these transformations need to be invested. Various investments are required, and there are still people who understand the guidance. It is impossible not to lose some money in the first two years. The population here seems to be less than one thousand, and even if you want to develop, you probably don’t have that much manpower. There is too much land to cultivate, and there is no one to plant it. It is better to directly develop the old densely populated areas.

But since that's the case, what are these people doing here?

Logically speaking, no one would be willing to survive in this barren land. As long as there is some common sense, they would probably leave this kind of village and go to nearby cities or farms to make a living - the work of farming requires going out early and returning late, and it is very tiring, but they get very little money. In the usual aristocratic farms, at least half of the crops produced in the fields need to be paid taxes. About 20% of them are handed over to His Majesty the King, while the other part is the local lord. The ratio of planting and harvesting is generally one to four, which means that the seeds have to account for 25%.

Even if there is a bumper harvest, the tenant farmers work hard for a year and the final harvest is almost a quarter. However, there are no pragmatic experts in this era. As the main plant planting wheat, the yield per acre is only two or three hundred pounds. The backwardness of farm tools and the lack of technology, and even with the strength of animal life, it is already a very high level for a family to be able to cultivate more than ten acres.

Or because of his careful calculation, many farmers on barren land have given up farming. In larger cities, even if women do sewing and men have two copper coins a day, men earn more. Even if a guy with only strength can earn three copper coins. After a month, he will have almost one silver coin. It is even more amazing to know some skills. He can even earn five or six silver coins a month.

It’s hard to leave my hometown?

There is no such strong attachment on the faces of the residents here. In fact, I can't even find any decent expressions on those faces.

Men and women all have pale faces and thin skin, and there is only a few patches away from being covered in clothes. They look at the people riding horses into their villages and towns with dull eyes, but do not show any basic curiosity. They are like a group of walking corpses, unable to see hope for the future.

The sandy ground in the village was kicked by horses' hooves and dust was flying. The dry air was filled with the smell of livestock manure. People in this era did not have much concept of disposing of garbage, and it was even more extreme. You could see a bunch of smelly things in front of and behind the house, and flies and other things crawling on it at will. From time to time, one or two fat white maggots were arched out, causing the entire garbage pile to sway slightly.

This is not a good thing in this summer season. Miss Lisa has used two barriers around her, but she still frowned while covering her nose. "Oh my God, this is a big pig's nest...it's so stinking!"

Edward did not comment on the half-elf Miss. In fact, in his opinion, even the pigpen here is not as good as the pigpen. At least his pigpen is cleaned every day, which is cleaner than here. However, the residents of this kind of place may not know what pigpen is. From the entrance of the village to the center, the only domestic animals that can be seen are one or two lazy and licking dogs, which are skinny and bony, and not even the most basic chickens and ducks.

Edward thought that this was the worst sight he could see, but when their horses came to the front of the castle, he realized that he had underestimated the poverty here.

Well, that thing is more of a ruin than a castle, a tower made of stones. It has been disrepair and has been half-deformed. It seems to shake gently in the wind. If the vines in the cracks of bricks and stones are pulled off, it may collapse. Below is a main castle made of wood. The wood that has been old and old has already taken a black color. It is covered with tans, and the stables hiding behind the low stone walls are more than half a person tall. A circle of simple stone walls is scattered, which is not much different from the teeth of the mouths of the civilians here.

If paired with the background of lightning and thunder, this is almost the most suitable setting for ghost movies.

"Oh, this is a place where the mage lives. Well, if you add a few more undead creatures and a row of tombstones, it will be even more like that." The half-elf-like lady rolled her eyes and then let out a giggle.

But soon she couldn't laugh because under the row of nearly collapsed walls, there were really a few zombies - or thin human bodies beyond her imagination. They were crowded together, as if they were shaking in the tenth winter, and looked at the crowd of people riding on horseback with a look of panic.

"Ye... who are you guys? What are you here for?" When Edward and his party finally approached, a guy with a white haired, wrinkled face but a little bit human-like voice spoke, and his voice was still fluent.

"I am the new lord, the master here."

Edward snorted coldly. He looked at these unlucky guys, "What are you doing? He actually made my castle like this?"

The poor looked at Edward's gorgeous robe and the fully armed mercenaries around him in horror, shook his head in a daze, and then fell to the ground one by one, trembling.

"Master... This is not something we have done. We have great courage, and we dare not... We have no money to pay taxes, so we were confiscated. We had no money and had nothing left. But Mr. Lihae, who is in charge of this place, did not allow us to leave here..." The white-haired old man defended. It was obvious that he was a little bit popular here and could be a speaker.

"Nothing?" Edward smiled, "so guys snatched my place?"

"I'm sorry, sorry, mercy, sir, this is not... no one lives here. If we know this is yours, we will give us the courage, no, let's leave here immediately..." The old man hurriedly knelt down and gave a heavy blow. More than a dozen people behind him hurriedly knelt on the ground, screaming bitterly, mixed with the cry of children, and the chaos was in chaos.

"Shut up!" Edward shouted loudly, "Get up, line up, I have something to ask." The poor people got up one after another, supported each other, and looked at Edward in fear, with a few half-elf mercenaries riding horses and fully armed, most of them trembling constantly.

Edward pulled the corner of his mouth, his eyes swept across the crowd, and finally fell on the leading old man: "What's your name? How long have you been here? Are you familiar with the surrounding environment?"

"I am Hans, and some people call me Hammer Hans. I have lived here for more than forty years. I was originally a blacksmith, but Lord Lord... Oh, it was my former Lord Lord who confiscated my workshop, so..."

"Very good. Please recall it carefully and tell me all the minerals, terrain, roads, beasts or monsters here... as long as you know it." Edward did not give him a chance to talk, and directly ordered, "I will let my people record it. If the situation is true, I will give you four silver coins as a reward."

The old man's eyes immediately became a little straight. A silver coin may not be anything to Edward's eyes, but it is almost a guarantee of living here for three months.

So the half-elves began to listen to the old man's nagging, and let out a sigh. Edward shook his head and frowned and looked at the timid civilians in front of him and said, "You guys, you don't have much ability, but you should be able to run, right? Go outside and call someone. Come to me and find all the people nearby. I want to give me a lecture! If you find them all in half an hourglass, each person will give you a pound of black bread!"

This was obviously a great temptation, so in the blink of an eye, there were only a bunch of foot bindings and shoes left in front of Edward... and then a bronze bell was knocked by Dangdang.

But before the villagers gathered, some

"You guys xxxx's bad bones, you're ringing the clock! Are you itching and wanting to eat a whip?"

Twenty-something rode before the villagers were surrounded by the twilight. It seemed to have come from somewhere in the back mountain, and drove away the villagers like a flock of tigers and sheep. They soon noticed the strange guests: "Who are you? What are you here for here? Spread a little and unload the weapons for me! Don't you know that our place is the territory of the Blake family? You want to make trouble..."

His voice came to an abrupt end, because a cold snorkeling was already ringing in his head, making everyone tremble.

"I am the lord here, who are you?"

"... The leader of the lord? You're wrong. This is the territory directly under Blake. I haven't heard of anyone being rewarded and becoming the lord here." The man in charge trembled, but obviously the outfit of Edward and his group was enough to prevent them from acting rashly.

"Nearby here, there is a second Burgundy?"

"No."

"Then it's right. Who are you? If you are local residents, then stand aside and follow the arrangements. Otherwise, there will be no private armed forces in my territory, and I will be disarmed by myself and wait for me to take it down later." Edward continued without saying a word.

"Bastard, are you crazy? You dare to come and pretend to be the lord if you say nothing, and don't see whose territory is here. Brothers, give it to me..."

The big man gritted his teeth and shouted angrily. At the same time, he reached out to pull out a crossbow by his waist, but before he could finish his words, he disappeared into a scorching blue lightning bolt. Then there was a dull sound, like a hammer on his flesh, and then a bloody rain sprinkled around him! (..)

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Chapter completed!