Late at night, candles were lit in the earthen house, and William stood alone in front of the magic mirror.
The mirror of the magic mirror lights up, showing a clear picture.
Several villagers gathered together secretly, with a mixture of caution, fear, and hesitation on their faces.
Looking at them in the mirror, William drew an arc at the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were indifferent. His fingers slowly passed over the figures on the mirror. Suddenly, the sound of soft footsteps came from outside. Not long after,
There was a knock on the door.
"Lord Baron, someone wants to see you!" Old John's voice sounded from outside the door.
"come in."
William's eyes were focused, and he touched the mirror with his palm, and the magic mirror immediately became ordinary.
The door was gently pushed open, and Old John walked in with someone.
William turned around and saw the people brought over by Old John, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.
"The harvest monsoon brings a good mood, Lord Baron, good evening!" the man said to William.
"Actually, I'm not in a very good mood..." William said with playful eyes, "The arrival of the Harvest Moon makes me smell restless!"
The man was silent for a while, and then said calmly, "Nothing can be hidden from the eyes of the Baron!"
"There are so many things that I can't see with my eyes!" William sneered, paused, and then said calmly, "Actually, I didn't expect that it would be you who came over! I thought about many people, Mark, Merton
, even Adams who loves to play tricks! But I never thought that it would be you coming! After all, you are so smart and well-informed, and you will carry out the decision unswervingly... But, really, I
I didn’t expect you to come here!”
The man was silent again.
William was not in a hurry and just looked at him quietly.
After a while, the man carefully thought about his words and said, "Please forgive my audacity!"
"Sweet words are used to deceive others, or they are used to deceive yourself, and the truth will be harsh." William said, "I will never punish an honest citizen for speaking the truth!"
"You gave me courage, Lord Baron!" the man said immediately after hearing this.
William just smiled.
The man paused, looked at William, smiled, and then said, "In fact, you caused my cognition to collapse!"
"oh?"
"Yes, Lord Baron! I have never seen a lord like you!"
"It's just that you haven't seen much!" In this territory, there were not many people that William needed to worry about, so he spoke bluntly.
"You are right, Lord Baron! But you are indeed the most unusual nobleman I have ever seen!" The man nodded.
"So?" William looked at him with bright eyes, "What's your purpose of coming tonight?"
"I am very confused, Lord Baron, more confused than ever before! And the final answer lies in your hands!" The man raised his head and looked deeply at William.
"What do you need me to do for you?" William felt a little interested, "I mean, I have always emphasized that when I first saw you and what you did during this time, you
They all clearly and unmistakably show me that you are a smart person! I believe this without doubt! In my imagination, you should have already found a way out!"
After a pause, William added, "Old John told me about that a long time ago!"
As he spoke, William looked at the man with indifferent eyes. His status as a knight-level creature and a nobleman put great pressure on him.
A wry smile appeared on the man's face, "Stupid guy!"
"Haha!" William just smiled and said nothing.
"Lord Baron, I don't understand. Why don't you punish them?" The man had doubts in his mind.
"I said they can come and go freely after the Harvest Moon! I will not keep those who leave, but I will confiscate their fields and property, and those who remain will bring them glory and sunshine. If the small village of Nisei will perish, then so too
After my body!" William said casually, "In that case, why should I punish them?"
"You are truly a unique noble!" The man opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't. After a while, he sighed.
William smiled and accepted the compliment!
"Lord Baron, I am willing to stay and watch with my own eyes the fate of your small village of Nisei!" The man no longer hesitated and said to William firmly.
Old John next to him changed his face slightly after hearing this.
William rolled his eyes and said, "Do you really believe me?"
"Lord Baron, your life is much more precious than ours!" the man said meaningfully.
"Aren't you afraid that I'm lying to you?" William looked at the man playfully.
"Actions don't lie, Lord Baron!" the man responded, "Besides, Lord Baron, I don't see the need for you to deceive us!"
"Hahaha... Very good. From the current point of view, your words make me very happy. But what I want is not just happiness. I want to ask you, what can you bring me?" William smiled slightly, and then looked at it.
Looking at that person.
"I can convey your will and persistence to other villagers, so that they can understand your true intentions!"
"Oh, you can influence all the villagers?"
"No, Lord Baron, but some villagers will consider what I say!"
"oh……"
"Moreover, not all villagers can have tickets to enter the city of Patras! It's too expensive! There are always some villagers who spend all their money, but they can't enter!" the man said.
"So these people will stay in the small village of Nisei?" William became interested.
"Staying in the small village of Nisei is a dead end... I'm sorry, Lord Baron, I mean, before your arrival, no villager would choose to stay in the small village of Nisei!" The man realized that he had said the wrong thing.
, explained quickly.
"Then where did they go?" William was curious.
In fact, William had this question in his mind when he knew that the entry fee to Patras in winter was one pis gold coin per person.
This era is not communism!
Each villager's land is different.
Some have more, some have less.
There are many like the Addams family, which has 12 Crooked acres of land. If converted into acres, it is about 360 acres.
The few are like Mark's family, which has many people but little land, only 0.8 crookes, which is about 29 acres of land.
The difference is huge.
William asked the villagers and calculated that one acre of land could harvest about 120 kilograms of rye depending on the weather.
0.8 Crooked can only harvest about 3500 kilograms of rye.
But one-third of the land is used for fallow.
This means that the maximum harvest of rye is only 2,400 kilograms.
1 kilogram of rye can be sold for three copper coins.
2400 kilograms of rye can be harvested for 72 silver francs, which is equivalent to 7.2 pis gold coins.
There are only seven people in his family, and the entrance fee to the city costs seven gold pis coins.
But the problem is, 7.2 gold pis coins are their harvest for one year, and their seeds and food for next year will come from it.
After paying the entry fee, what do they have left?
Last winter, the money to enter the city had drained their family's life, and they had to sell part of their land to the Adams family to have enough money to live on until now.
But the land has decreased, and the harvest has also decreased. In order to enter the city, it is estimated that the land will have to be sold to others, which has fallen into a vicious cycle.
Until one day, there is no land to sell!
Then he was ruthlessly rejected by the City of Patras.
But Mark is not the worst in the village!
There are also villagers who have less land than a mark and a population greater than a mark!
So how do these people spend the winter? This is what William is curious about!
"Enter the Cordillera Mountains and become a wild tribe!" The man spit out a new term!
"Wild tribe? This is quite novel."
"Yes, Lord Baron, any villager who cannot enter the city of Patras and loses his land will enter the Cordillera Mountains and struggle to survive!" The man said in a serious tone.
The city of Patras was originally built to resist the lizard people in the dark forest, so it was built at a pass on the road to the south, next to the Cordillera Mountains.
The city of Patras does not allow villagers to enter the city, and the villagers do not even have the option of going elsewhere.
"Did they survive?" William asked.
The man shook his head, "Very few people can survive until the arrival of spring! There is very little arable land in the Cordillera Mountains, and it is occupied by some powerful wild tribes. In addition, there are endless dangerous animals in the mountains.
so……"
The man stopped talking, and William nodded in understanding.
After thinking for a moment, William asked again, "How many wild tribes are there in the mountains?"
"I don't know!" The man shook his head first, then thought for a moment, and then replied, "I once heard people from Patras say that there are thousands of wild people in the Cordillera Mountains!"
"That's a lot of money!" William said thoughtfully.
"Aren't they coming to steal your harvest?" William asked directly. The Cordillera Mountains are not far from here.
"They do want to! But they don't dare, and they don't have the chance!" There was a sarcastic and self-deprecating smile on the man's face.
"Viscount Green is more active than anyone else! Tomorrow Viscount Green will send people over to take away most of the harvest from the small village of Nisei in the name of city entry fees! Without enough food, how dare they risk irritation?
What's the risk for Viscount Green, come and rob him?" The man told the reason.
"Okay!" William always knew almost everything about the situation in his territory.
The wild tribe, the lizard people, and Viscount Gerien are really exciting! William said in his heart.
He paused and said to the person in front of him, "You have gained my trust. If you can satisfy me tomorrow, then you will receive glory!"
"This is a baron's promise!" William said seriously.
"Please wait and see!" The man tensed up and said.