In fact, when Gervais saw seafood such as oysters, his first thought was that the villagers were squandering everything, guarding such a big sea and trying not to find a way to survive, but instead slogging away in the land.

If you can sell seafood outside the territory, it will definitely be better than just farming, and you can make money faster.

Gervais has even begun to consider whether to involve the entire village in his great plan of seafood trade.

However, this plan was ruthlessly shattered before it was even planned.

When he learned that the transportation of seafood was restricted, Gervais felt as if he had been poured cold water on him. In weather like this, even if the fish were alive and kicking when caught, they would be covered up in the car for two or three hours before being caught again.

If exposed to the sun, it will turn into rotten fish and shrimp.

Unless there is ice, which is impossible. In this season, the price of ice is dozens of times more expensive than live fish, and he has no idea. It seems that he can only think of ways to make salted fish, dried fish and other aquatic products.

Already.

"Ahem... cough... So that's it. Then after you farm in the fields and pay the taxes all year round, can you ensure that the whole family has enough to eat?" At that moment, Gervais stopped paying attention to the seafood and began to ask other questions.

The village chief was stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment. He must not have enough to eat, otherwise those children would not be malnourished and still cook seafood every day.

But if they don't have enough to eat, it means that the earl is exploiting them. After all, before Gervais took office, their territory was also managed by the Jones family.

But if they lie and say they have enough to eat, then if the lord wants to increase taxes, then they will all starve to death. Not only the village chief looked embarrassed, but other serfs also looked nervous.

Except for Gervais, no noble lord would ask such a question to a serf.

"Lord, I don't have enough to eat. I am hungry every day!" Just when everyone fell into silence, suddenly, a child in the crowd shouted. He was not tall and only looked like four or five years old, but his shout was very loud.

It was loud enough that everyone present could hear it.

The mother next to the child was startled, quickly pulled the child who was speaking, and then covered his mouth with a look of horror on her face.

"There are many lords, but the children are ignorant, please forgive me!" The old village chief also looked frightened and quickly knelt on the ground.

Gervais ignored the village chief and walked directly towards the boy.

"Sir, I beg you, the child is ignorant, please forgive his offense!" The child's mother shivered in fear when she saw Gervais's expression was not kind and she ignored the village chief who begged for mercy.

However, Gervais just walked up to her and took the child over. The mother did not dare to resist and easily let Gervais take the child away.

Because she knew that if she disobeyed Gervais and Gervais got angry, not only the child, but also her whole family would suffer.

Everyone present thought that Gervais was going to punish the child, so they were all silent and trembling with their heads lowered. Even the village chief did not dare to say anything more at this moment, but just watched Gervais' actions in fear.

To these serfs, nobles were inviolable, including the slightest offense. They all thought that Gervais had offended the Earl because of what the child said.

Gervais looked at the child in his arms. The child was wearing a pair of tattered linen shorts and had no upper body. The ribs on his chest were bulging. It would not be too much to say that he was skinny.

"You are a brave child, a child who dares to tell the truth!"

Gervais opened his mouth to praise the child.

As soon as Gervais opened his mouth, everyone was stunned, including Gervais's guards. They all thought Gervais was angry just now.

After all, even though he is a child, what he said meant to blame the nobles. In this world, nobles are taboos against serfs. If anyone dares to belittle nobles in private, no matter which noble knows, that person will definitely be punished by the nobles.

Hang him up and hang him.

What's more, Lord Gervais is also the husband of the Earl.

"I say, this kid is very brave! Dare to tell the truth!" Seeing everyone in a daze, Gervais spoke loudly to the audience again, the volume of his voice significantly increased.

"To praise him, I will reward him with 20 copper coins!"

With that said, Gervais waved to Laurie behind him, and Laurie immediately stepped forward, took out a copper coin from his pocket, and handed it to Gervais.

Gervais took the copper plate and put it in the child's hand. After the child saw Gervais placing the copper plate in his hand, he stopped crying and struggling.

Curiously, I grabbed the copper plate and looked around. I liked it very much.

The copper plate was not big, and there were strange patterns printed on it. The children found it quite amusing to grab the silver coins, but the serfs present understood the value of 20 copper plates. Two or three copper plates are a day's wages for an adult. Now

Because the child told the truth and got 20 pieces

All the serfs looked at the child with envy, especially the child's mother. After reacting, she was crying with joy.

"Thank you, Lord, for the reward!" At this time, the village chief remained rational and knelt down to thank Gervais.

"Both of you, get up!" Gervais put the child on the ground. The child took the copper coin that Gervais rewarded, quickly returned to his mother's side, and raised the coin in front of his mother like a treasure.

.

After hearing Gervais asking them to stand up, the village chief stood up first, but the mother kowtowed to Gervais first and said to Gervais in a choked voice: "Thank you, Lord, for the reward!"

After saying that, he stood up with one hand on the ground and the other holding the child tied behind his back.

Gervais smiled and nodded to the child's mother, then looked away and said to everyone: "As long as you work hard, I believe your life will get better and better under my leadership!"

"Yes, Lord, we will work hard to cultivate."

After listening to Gervais' words, everyone thought in their hearts that we had never been lazy in our work, but we still didn't have enough to eat, but they all answered Gervais in unison.

"Very good, then I will leave today! You work hard, believe me, I will make your life better and better!" Of course Gervais knew that these serfs would not be lazy at work, because if they dare to be lazy, it means

He will starve to death by then.

They will not take their own words seriously, but time can prove everything. If their lives really get better in the future, they will think that this is the credit of Lord Gervais.

"Lord, please walk slowly!" Seeing that Gervais had mounted his horse, the village chief immediately greeted him.

"Well, by the way, what's your name, village chief?" Gervais, who was sitting on the horse, suddenly thought that he still didn't know the name of the village chief.

"Lord, my name is Avery Hoe."

Gervais wanted to laugh a little, but he was afraid of ruining his majestic image, so he raised his head slightly and looked at the sky. The literacy rate in this world is very low, and only nobles choose their surnames to look good and sound good.

The serfs, because they were uneducated and worried that some surnames would conflict with the surnames of the nobles, used things they could see every day as their surnames. For example, the surname of the village chief's hoe was very serf-like. In addition to the hoe, he also had a hammer.

, iron rods, stones and even cow dung. The choice of this kind of surname is completely random, as long as there is no overlap in the scope of activities.

"Oh, that Avery, you will ask someone to pick up some oysters from the beach later, and then send them to my castle." Gervais suddenly thought of oysters, so he said to Avery.

"Yes, Lord!" the village chief responded quickly.

"Lord, walk slowly..."

After asking Laurie to leave ten more copper coins, Gervais rode his horse and turned away with his guards. The serfs gathered at the entrance of the village hurriedly said goodbye.

After Gervais walked away, everyone looked at the boy who had just been hugged by Gervais with bright eyes, and the most important thing was to look at the copper plates in his hand.

When the boy's mother saw everyone's attention, she quickly snatched the coin from her child's hand and held it tightly in her hand, as if she was afraid that the coin would slip away, and glared at those who were looking at her with fierce eyes.

When the others saw the coin taken away by the boy's mother and her fierce gaze, they all withdrew their eyes.

The adults with children looked at the boy and then at the children beside them. Suddenly they became so angry that they all grabbed their children's ears and twisted them.

"Wow... wow... wow..." A long way away, Gervais suddenly heard crying coming from behind, and it was the crying of many children. He couldn't help but turned around and looked back out of curiosity, but he was too far away.

In the distance, I could only see a few figures disappearing, but nothing else could be seen clearly.

"???" Gervais was a little strange and didn't understand why. But as he got further and further away from the mountain village, he turned around and concentrated on riding horses.

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Chapter completed!