Hearing Simon's voice, the villagers stopped in confusion.
"Today is a special day. We solemnly bid farewell to two brave warriors. They gave their lives for everyone's safety and protected everyone from bandits. Therefore, I think they deserve our Respect from all.”
Many villagers were shocked. In their minds, if a peasant soldier recruited by the lord died on the battlefield, it would be his own misfortune, and it was a normal thing.
And those nobles who are lords always only care about their own interests. Since they were born, they have never heard of any noble saying the word "respect" to these dead draft peasants.
"Bah, after all, it's not for your damn rich trophies. Who are you fooling with this pretense now?" An old serf cultivating public land thought to himself, standing behind the crowd and spitting on the ground with disdain.
There are many villagers who have the same idea. They had all seen the enviable loot on the carriage being transported into the tent a few days ago, and the poor family members of the war dead could not even afford the money to make the Eucharist bread and were borrowing money from everywhere.
"I will never mistreat heroes or warriors who risk their lives in battle." As he spoke, Simon took out a Denier silver coin from the small bag he carried with him and handed it to the priest. "Dear Pastor, Please say three more masses to these two brave men."
"Thank you for your kindness and generosity, Lord Simon." The priest took the silver coin, tapped his left and right shoulders on his forehead and chest, and then made a cross on his chest.
Some villagers who originally had ridicule and hostility in their eyes softened a lot.
It is a common belief that the more Masses said by clergy after a person dies, the faster the deceased will ascend to heaven. This is the only long-cherished wish of these villagers after their death.
"At the same time, I believe that the brothers who died in the war are definitely not willing to see their families suffer after he leaves," Simon looked at the villagers in front of him and said loudly, "I hereby declare a decree that all those who are fighting for me will Soldiers who die during military service can not only be exempted from the inheritance tax that their families originally had to bear, but they can also receive a pension from me."
The militiamen in Verde Village had already set off huge waves in their hearts.
Some soldiers looked at Simon with fanatical eyes, and several free farmers who were originally wavering also made up their minds at this time.
"Hannah, Rhea." Simon waved to the two widows, who walked over slowly with doubts.
"Take it. This is a pension to reward your husband for his heroic battle. At the same time, you don't have to pay inheritance tax according to the law." Simon placed two Denier silver coins in the hands of the two widows respectively. The other villagers looked at Almost looked straight.
"Thank you, thank you, sir!" The widow covered her chest and looked at Simon in disbelief, then bowed deeply to Simon.
"In addition to the warriors who sacrificed their lives heroically in battle, those who bravely killed the enemy in battle are also worthy of respect!" Simon winked at the fat man behind him, who immediately walked forward with a bag of clanging coins. .
"Old Bauch, Old Martin, you were the bravest in this battle. Each of you killed two enemies. This is your reward."
In the envious eyes of everyone, the two old guys stepped forward and took a fine Denier silver coin from the fat man's hand with a smile.
"Ion, Bowman, Frank...it's your first time on the battlefield. You can overcome your fear and kill the enemy. It's very good. You deserve it."
A group of young soldiers walked up to the fat man with smiles and rubbed their hands. Each of them received twelve copper coins.
"Hann, Lant, Buhe... although you performed poorly in the battle, you still mustered up the courage to chop off the heads of those tough bandits in the end," the fat man said, and everyone burst into laughter.
"Don't be depressed. Next time, just kill the enemy and prove yourselves again." Simon comforted these blushing young people with a smile.
"Take it, this is because you still have the guts to execute. Don't let Sir Simon down." The fat man gave each of these young people six copper coins.
At this time, several free farmers walked out of the crowd.
"Master Simon, I also want to join the militia!" A young man took the lead and said excitedly.
"Very good, just go to the village chief and register."
"And I!"
"Me too!"
………
At noon, the heavy rain came as expected. But not long after it rained, the weather cleared up.
The Verde village soldiers continued to build the wooden fort while walking on the wet soil under the scorching sun.
At this time, the outer wooden wall has been basically completed, and the soldiers began to build simple scaffolding behind the wooden wall to turn the wooden wall into a preliminary city wall.
"Now we can start building the brewery and wooden castle granary." Simon assessed the construction progress and decided to postpone the construction of the castle for now.
"Master, we have some spare money now. We can invite craftsmen from the northern port to help you build arrow towers and new houses." The village chief came over and looked at the soldiers who were reinforcing the outer walls. "You know, it's just construction." As for a wall, we can handle it, but when it comes to building houses, we have to let professional craftsmen guide us.”
"Yes." Simon touched his head. In the past, I was at most interested in siege equipment and had an in-depth understanding of it. But when it comes to architecture, I'm basically blind.
"When is the Vikings' summer raid approximately?" Simon looked at the village chief.
"It's probably when the barley and oats become golden and ripe for harvesting." The village chief looked at the green wheat ears that were growing vigorously in the surrounding fields and said firmly.
"It's almost late summer. I can take some loot and the animal skins accumulated during this period and go to the northern port to sell them in person. In addition to recruiting craftsmen, I can also buy some bows and arrows and come back." Simon thought. After a while.
After the new city wall and the new arrow tower were built, it would obviously not be enough if only the four people in the village who knew archery could act as archers when the city was besieged. This time I have to go north to buy more bows and arrows, and try to train a group of people who can shoot archery before the Vikings attack.
"But I also have to think about how to open up a new way to make money. I can't just sit back and wait for bandits with huge trophies to come to my door." Simon thought as he walked, but he smelled a strong smell of urine. taste.
Looking up, the old shepherd was peeing into a large wooden basin filled with wool not far away.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Simon looked at the old guy in surprise.
"Oh, my lord," the old shepherd saw Simon and immediately shook his crotch and put on his trousers, "These are all freshly sheared wool, and I am planning to wash it clean."
"Get urine to wash with?"
"Yes, sir, the newly sheared wool is very greasy. If you use another method to nail it and wash it in the stream, not only will it not be washed clean with urine, but it may also be stolen by damn thieves," the old shepherd said. , pouring the water from another basin on one side into the wool basin that was full of urine smell, "Master, I will use wool to pay taxes this month. You can spend a small amount of money to send the wool to Madam Jessica's Textile Dyed fabrics are made in workshops and dyeing houses, and then sold at a good price at the northern port.”
"Made into dyed fabric?" Simon always felt that he had a vague idea in his mind, but he could never catch it.
"Yes, sir. I heard from the workers in Madam Jessica's dyeing shop that the dyed cloth is very popular in Friesland and Flanders in the north."
"Really?" Simon couldn't help but smile brightly. He has thought of a new way to make money.
Purple dye.
In this era, the extraction of purple dye was extremely difficult. If you want to dye a purple handkerchief, you will need more than 12,000 purple conches. In economically developed countries along the Mediterranean, a piece of purple clothing can be worth an average person's income for several years.
Before the invention of synthetic purple dye in the mid-19th century, purple clothing had always been exclusive to the rich, aristocrats, and royalty.
In Simon's previous life, his ex-girlfriend was obsessed with natural dyes. She took Simon to make her own dyes at home every day to dye small items such as handkerchiefs.
In addition to using peach blossoms and rust water to make red and purple dyes, Simon also tried using grape skins and salt to dye purple cloth.
Although using grape skins to dye purple cloth is more convenient and takes less time, such purple cloth does not have a highly recognizable smell of rancid seafood like the purple cloth dyed by purple snails, and it is far less than the famous purple cloth. As bright as Tyrian purple.
"I just don't know if the grape skin dyeing method can be successful. If it doesn't work, I can use the more complicated and troublesome peach blossom rust water dyeing method to dye brighter purple fabric."
The fat man looked at Simon, who was smiling from ear to ear for no reason, and couldn't help but shook his head.
"The young master fell on his head last time. Are there any sequelae?"
