Under the combined action of whips and radishes, the four mules struggled to pull the two wooden carts off the cement road, and moved even harder on the uneven and muddy wild road.
The mule cart drove slowly into the lord's manor and finally stopped in front of the cellar gate.
Under the shouts of the soldiers, the four serfs hurriedly put down their farm work, ran out of the fields and chicken coops, and came to the cellar to unload and move goods.
The planks of the mule cart were loaded with bulging sacks filled with cabbage, chickpeas, and radishes.
"Huh? What the master bought this time is not wheat flour?" A serf muttered casually while carrying the bag.
"Maybe..." Another serf from the same village was just about to follow the conversation when he was caught off guard and received a whip from the overseer.
"Stop chatting! Hurry up and get to work!" The soldier cursed with a straight face, then slapped his whip on the ground with a 'pop!' sound.
Fierce and evil.
The four serfs pursed their lips, not daring to chat for the time being. Silently, they bent over and slowly carried the sacks into the cellar.
When the lord or the people of the castle need to access the stored grain, these sacks must be transported out of the cellar again - carried on people's backs.
Perhaps, it is still these four serfs,
Or perhaps, it will be the new four serfs.
Otherwise, who will bear the burden?
The lord's soldiers? The servants of the castle? The yeoman who is not in debt? The small worker and peddler in the city of Gus?
Hey, think about it from another perspective: if a hard job has to be done by someone.
Is the question really "who will do it"?
Is there a possibility, I mean possibility, a guess:
Who will do it? The question is irrelevant.
But the real [important question] is, "How are the people doing the work treated?"
(Warning! Positive energy concentration——)
Obviously, this is the most common stage conflict in fantasy Western fantasy stories, and it can easily lead to the plot of "the hero stands up and fights for the weak"!
(——Alert cleared, authors please cherish their writing rights)
Ahem, of course, there are no natural heroes and no noble bloodline.
So where are the heroes of the serfs?
Next to the mule cart, stood a 'Castle Construction Assistant Servant'. He was holding a quill and parchment. He was carefully recording the weight of each sack, the type of materials, and the storage time. Suddenly he heard the sound of a whip and turned his head.
He glanced at the soldier, and then glanced at the serf who had been whipped just now - there was a red mark on his body, but the skin was not broken yet bleeding.
"Okay, okay, just give me two less whips."
The quill in his hand continued to write while shouting loudly.
Apparently he was talking to the soldiers.
"If you get injured, catch a cold, and die, the steward will be unhappy. If the steward is unhappy and reports it to the lord, your two months' salary may be gone."
The serfs carried the sacks silently, neither quickly nor slowly, with slight panting, in and out of the cellar door.
The soldier shrugged,
"I can control my strength. I'm very skilled at this job."
He said to his new 'colleagues' and pointed to the brass water clock (a timing device that uses water flow) in the corner of the manor,
"If I don't whip them, they will be lazy and take an hour to complete the work that can be done in half an hour."
Loyal soldiers know very well that their salary and status are given by the castle, and the wealth and authority of the castle depend on the leader Hamo - the loyal personal guard of the lord, and the big brother of the soldiers - and everyone
Only the common "protection by force" of soldiers can be glorious and long-lasting, long-lasting and glorious.
What? You ask the soldiers whether they are loyal to the leader Hamo or to Master Chuyang?
Of course the soldiers are loyal to the [Castle] first!
Although Chuyang's territory is poor (and there are some dangerous alien antiques buried on the island), it also has some advantages.
For example:
Stable, [Castle] is very stable.
'Retired bandit, leader of soldiers, personal bodyguard' Lao Hamo, Chu Yang's father treated him well, and he treated Chu Yang as his own son. Therefore, bloody infighting between subordinates and superiors has been kicked out of the script
, the audience does not need to worry about the knife in this regard.
As for the housekeeper?
Mr. Chuyang and Hamo are members of the same family. What can the housekeeper think?
Of course he is an ‘honest and loyal’ old butler!
The soldiers were drilled and trained by Guard Hamo.
The newly recruited 'Castle Construction Assistant Servant' (referred to as 'Assistant' to save word count in the future) last month is subject to the dispatch of the butler Ator - nominally so, but in fact it has always been a civil devil.
Send these smart assistants.
These assistants selected from the people of Gusi City are not only the best in terms of learning ability (referring to a certain exam), but more importantly, in terms of outlook and mentality, all of them meet Li Jia Shu's 'shady' screening restrictions
.
Not arrogant, sensitive, kind, not holy.
(But first of all, what Li Jiasu and Chuyang focus most on is the strength of learning ability. This is a hard condition. Talents are required, not mediocrity. Secondly, they screen the character)
In the manor, in front of the cellar gate.
The assistant sighed slightly,
Paper and pen never stop, the steelyard never stops, and the conversation never stops:
"Speed up! After moving these two carts in half an hour, you can rest for 20 minutes. By the way, I will tell you about the new reward policy recently promulgated by the lord!"
Apparently he was talking to the serfs.
"The villages of free farmers are the first batch to receive rewards. The villages of you debt farmers are also expected to receive rewards in two weeks. The contractor said that you will be the second batch!"
When they heard the word 'reward', the four serfs were stunned for a moment, and then they exerted 80% of their strength and slightly accelerated the speed of transporting the sacks.
When the soldiers saw that the four serfs were beginning to work hard, they stopped cracking the whip on the ground or on people for the time being.
"Really? These farmers are all in debt to the castle, and the master still rewards them?" The soldier asked the assistant as the whip was hung back on his waist.
"Really, but not what you think." The assistant simply replied and continued busy with the weighing and recording work at hand.
A water clock is silent and less accurate than a clockwork clock.
But disadvantages are sometimes not necessarily bad things. The sense of oppression of a water clock is much more "fuzzy" than a clockwork clock.
"There are still 10 minutes left until half an hour, speed up! If you exceed the time limit, your rest time will also be reduced!"
"If you exceed the time limit by 10 minutes, you don't need to rest! You can ask others about receiving the reward yourself!"
The assistant shouted to the serfs.
The soldier overseeing the work glanced at the back of his ‘new colleague’ and complained in his heart:
good guy,
I just hit people with a whip,
You are even more ruthless and directly threaten not to give me a break.
The four serfs gritted their teeth and finally used all their strength to quickly move the remaining sacks on the cart into the corresponding warehouse in the cellar.
After the goods were moved, people were panting for heat, sitting down on the dirt floor, wiping the sweat from their foreheads with shabby cotton handkerchiefs.
The brass water clock is always so cold, and the buoy on the water indicates the elapsed time, about 37 minutes?
A water clock is not as accurate as a clockwork clock, a clockwork clock is not as accurate as an electronic clock, and an electronic clock is not as accurate as a time clock.
The soldier glanced at the brass water clock in the corner of the manor and looked at the assistant.
The assistant just glanced at the cold and silent clock.
"You rest where you are for 15 minutes, and then go back to the chicken coop to work."
He made a conclusion.
As for whether the serfs have timed out?
I don't know, the punch card machine knows.
Ahem, in short, in the feudal era when science and technology were not yet developed, [man-governed] was naturally a prominent management feature.
The soldiers brought a barrel of cold boiled water - the lord's decree, the water urns in the manor now store boiled well water - to replenish the sweating serfs.
(Strictly speaking, you should not drink cold water after strenuous exercise. But in an era of scarce material conditions, what kind of bicycle do you need?)
The four people sitting on the dirt floor quickly stood up, received wooden bowls, and wanted to ladle water to quench their thirst.
"Wait a minute." The assistant packed up the steel scale, weighing weights, paper and pen, and walked to the four of them.
The four people shrank their necks, and one of them asked uneasily: "My lord?"
The assistant took out a small bag of sea salt and a small bag of brown sugar from his pocket.
Then, about a dozen grams of sea salt and brown sugar were sprinkled into the bucket with the assistant's hands shaking.
He hid the two small bags back in his pocket - salt was relatively cheap, sugar was very expensive - and then preached to the four people who were in a state of confusion:
"The master said that as long as you work hard, the castle will become rich."
"As long as the castle becomes rich, I will reward you with more sugar and salt."
A stiff smile appeared on the faces of the four of them, and they hurriedly scooped out water from wooden bowls, sipping the faint sweetness and saltiness with great concern and hunger.
For the serfs and homesteaders on the island, the only seasonings they could usually taste were sea salt and marinade, as well as sour wild berries that could be tasted occasionally.
Like the pure sweetness of brown sugar, for them, it is really something they taste once a year and remember for a whole year.
The assistant scooped out a small bowl himself, took a sip, and pondered his emotions for a while.
Then he said: "Hey, those cabbages, chickpeas, and radishes you just moved were not purchased by the lord."
Four people sipping sugary salt water: "?"
Assistant: "The master asked the village of free farmers to hand over all the grain stored in the cellars and warehouses by each household - except for wheat flour. Private storage is prohibited."
"From now on, all the food grown in the fields will be the same. Except for wheat, all will be handed over to the castle."
"Most of the supplies collected were stored in the castle. The castle's warehouse couldn't accommodate them, so we transported two carts and stored them in the manor's large cellar."
The assistant explained in as calm a tone as possible.
"Poof!" x4.
"Ahem..." Someone choked, then wiped his mouth and said in surprise: "The free farmers in the village didn't rebel... uh, didn't make trouble?"
When the serfs heard this, they all called it "scary".
It does sound arrogant, but it's not particularly arrogant.
After all, the largest industry in the yeoman village outside Gusi City is livestock farms, followed by economic crops (such as cotton and linen), and finally the cultivation of staple grains, vegetables, and fruits.
As for the new policy of the lord and a certain devil, only the non-staple grains and vegetables produced by the farmers' villages are forcibly confiscated.
Of course, the policy of [forced collection] sounds really disdainful and tyrannical - but the castle has also provided corresponding compensation and supporting related policies!
For example: Jack's family, a yeoman farmer, handed over 20 kilograms of cabbage, 20 kilograms of peas, and 10 kilograms of radishes to the castle (this month). Then after [internal conversion], the castle will issue 50 copper coins and 40 copper coins to Jack's family at one time.
One [canteen ticket], three [candy tickets], and two [bathhouse tickets].
(For reference only, the actual [conversion ratio] and [bill type] will be subject to the plot below)
([Canteen Tickets] can be obtained from more than one source. By participating in designated work projects, you can also obtain multiple [Canteen Tickets])
(For more specific instructions, see the next chapter)
Just imagine: If farmer Jack takes these 50 kilograms of vegetables to the market in Gus City to sell them, how much can he sell? It may be 2 silver coins, it may be 1 silver coin, or maybe the market is not good and he just sells it.
40 copper coins, and there are many leftovers that cannot be sold.
If you can’t sell it, what can you do?
Try selling cheap.
No one wants to buy it at a low price?
Eat it at home or feed it to livestock.
What should I do if I can’t finish eating?
If it rots and is buried in the ground as fertilizer, there is nothing you can do.
Hey, small farmer economy.
In short, after the messenger read Chu Yang's handwriting to the villagers - the policy details and policy interpretation were written by Li Jia Shu - a small commotion did occur in the farmer village.
The villagers discussed among themselves for a long time.
at last......
Although, the villagers were very unhappy and felt that the lord had become greedy.
However, thinking about it carefully, it seems that I am not at a loss - as long as those [notes] can be used smoothly and the lord is willing to keep his word, it is not that he cannot accept this new policy.
Moreover, it seems, if I understand correctly, the [notes] that the castle is about to issue allow private individuals to trade with each other...
(Yes, yeoman Jack can sell his [bills] to others! Private transactions are allowed!)
Some villagers with flexible thinking immediately thought of:
I can sell the unused (or saved) [sugar stamps], [cloth stamps], [bathhouse stamps], and [canteen stamps] to the residents of Gusi City at a cheap price!
...
in the manor,
The assistant explained for more than ten minutes, slowly telling the changes in the farmer's village in recent days like an anecdote.
The four serfs were sipping sugary salt water in a daze while listening to the assistant's description of the 'magical policy'.
"Master said,"
"The master also said——"
"-Although you, and your ancestors, owe the castle a lot of debt..."
"But don't despair! Because these debts are actually your future blessings!"
Serfs:?
The assistant continued to preach:
"Our lord and contractor are developing the island."
"The new industries on the island in the future - of course all of them belong to the master's property - will be given priority to you to take care of!"
"Because you owe the master a large amount of debt, the castle will give priority to you to be responsible for the work!"
A serf raised his hand bravely but timidly and said doubtfully:
"Sir, I, I don't quite understand why this will be...our...blessing in the future?"
The voice of the question became smaller and smaller, and the last word "blessing" was almost as light as a mosquito, for fear of offending the "Assistant" in front of me.
The other three people were equally puzzled.
In the future, they will be asked to do chores in the new industry. Does this sound like it has anything to do with "blessings"!?
Or is it that the lord and the four of us have different understandings of the meaning of the word ‘blessing’!?
The assistant smiled and glanced at the silent brass water clock.
The height of the buoy indicates that the time has reached 60 minutes.
"The lord and the contractor have allowed you to move into the new house, right?" the assistant asked.
The serfs nodded one after another. Although the cement house was a bit stuffy, the overall environment was much better than the previous dilapidated wooden houses.
"This is a 'blessing'! The lord and the contractor will show mercy and improve your lives, so that you can work better and help me take care of the new industry."
"You will take care of the master's new industry - others have not had this blessing. You debt farmers are the [top priority labor candidates], and the master trusts you more - the castle will be rich, and your life will be better."
Keep improving.”
"No work, no reward."
"You owe debts, and the castle gives priority to your labor, so it will naturally reward you first!"
"Priority, do you understand? Outsiders who have no debts will be pushed back, and those who are in debt will be given priority."
When the serfs heard this...
Although, some details feel not quite right,
But overall, it sounds like there's really nothing wrong with it?
It seems to make sense!
"Okay, okay, the rest time is over, let's start the next round of work." The assistant urged a few words, and soon took the four serfs to the chicken coop to start the next round of work.
The soldier stood where he was, first looking at the whip around his waist, and then at the barrel on the ground.
The serfs drank the cold boiled water, which was both salty and sweet, with salt and sugar added.
The soldiers stood where they were,
He shuddered.
Not daring to think any more, the soldier took away the empty barrel.