After Simon walked around the village with the priest, he came up with many new ideas.
First of all, Simon felt that the village needed a blacksmith now.
The blacksmith was one of the most important professions in the Middle Ages. Almost every castle or village had a blacksmith who was good at making farm tools, weapons, or armor.
In Simon's memory, the blacksmith in the village below Dorstenberg was a lean and capable man who was good at making sickles, rakes, and hoes.
He occasionally made iron spearheads at the request of Simon's father, but more often than not he made sharper and more durable military sickles and military rakes for soldiers. Sometimes, Baron Karl from the neighboring territory would even send someone to deliver the order.
In this era of constant chaos and conquests, every blacksmith who can forge weapons is a treasure cherished by the lords in each territory. Simon really doesn’t know where to recruit a blacksmith to settle in his territory and create a new blacksmith. shop.
In addition, if Simon wants to build a turret that can house slings in the southwest corner of the village wall, a large number of rivets are indispensable. Judging from this alone, Simon will not be able to bypass the blacksmith in the end.
"It seems that in the short term, tools and ironware can only be ordered from the blacksmith in Dorstenberg." Simon shook his head helplessly.
The reason why the village was able to quickly build so many houses and renovate the fortress walls and lord's tower two months ago was thanks to the stonemasons, carpenters, roofers, skilled builders, and various complete tools sent by the Cologne Church. Material.
If Simon is willing, he can ask the priest to write a letter asking the bishop for assistance and ask him to send some craftsmen and building materials again. But he didn't want to waste this precious favor just for a smithy and a trebuchet turret.
In addition, Simon also noticed that on his property, farmers still used primitive dry plows and wipe plows.
During his last trip, Simon could often see wealthy villages near the capital Dresden and Meissen that would use heavy plows imported from the Slavic areas, but other vast territories in the kingdom included the Earl of Berg. In the rural areas, it is rare.
Simon thought that no matter what, he would get a heavy plow and bring it to the property.
As long as a draft horse is hitched and a horse leader is added, productivity can be greatly improved. The quality of the land plowed is much higher than that of farmers who plow the land by hand with one pit deep and one shallow. Why not do it? Woolen cloth?
Simon knew how to make a heavy plow, but the territory currently lacked carpenters. As a lord, it was not impossible for him to make it himself, but it would inevitably attract criticism.
"There is really a shortage of talents in the territory now," Simon couldn't help but feel helpless and sighed, "Well, it seems that we will have to send Fatty and Gabriel to Dusseldorf Town and Abel in a while. Duolun Port is looking for craftsmen."
The sun rose higher and higher, and it was almost noon. Simon said goodbye to the priest at the door of the church, and went to the village brewery with the fat man.
The brewery is not complicated. The main building is a thatched wooden house. There is a straw shed connected to the house in front of the house. There are many brewing tools in the straw shed, as well as a set of oak tables and chairs for people to drink and have fun.
Several militiamen and villagers were sitting in twos and threes on the oak tables and chairs. They were eating wheat porridge brought from home and drinking cheap red wine and rye beer. Seeing Simon coming, they seemed to be frightened. He quickly stood up like a little rabbit and saluted Simon.
Simon waved his hand and asked the old brewer where he was going. As a result, they all looked confused and shook their heads that were heavy and dull due to alcohol.
Only a young man who was slightly drunk but seemed relatively sober said that maybe Simon could find the old brewer in the yard behind the brewery. He was digging the wine cellar with Alice.
Simon asked the fat man to wait in front of the winery, then opened the door and passed through the old winemaker's wooden house where beds and various raw material wine barrels were placed. As the young man said, he found the old winemaker in the backyard of the winery.
This kind-faced and kind old man's smile when he saw Simon was as reassuring as a peaceful stream.
"Master, we have been digging this wine cellar since autumn. Now it is almost deep. As long as it is built with stones and the cellar door is installed, the wine we brew can live in a new home!" the old winemaker said happily and Simon introduced.
In addition, he also plans to collect a large amount of ice and snow to store along with the wine barrels after the wine cellar is built. In this way, even in the hot summer, Simon can enjoy cool and refreshing frozen wine in the territory.
Speaking of this, the old brewer suddenly thought of something. He asked Alice and a hired man to continue digging the cellar, while he led Simon to the side room of the wooden house.
The old brewer took down a clean wooden cup from the wooden shelf beside the wall, walked to the corner of the warehouse, and carefully opened the lid of a wooden barrel.
For a moment, Simon smelled a strong fragrant and fruity aroma. Looking closely into the barrel, the wine was as golden as ears of wheat, shining brightly in the winter sun shining through the window.
"Sir, please."
The old winemaker scooped out a glass of noble rot wine from the barrel with trembling hands and carefully handed it to Simon, fearing that even a drop of precious wine would fall to the ground. In his view, this was an absolutely unforgivable waste.
"That's great. You've done a great job. You've been able to brew such delicious botrytis wine. It's really unreasonable not to give you a reward." Simon took a sip from the wooden cup and admired sincerely.
Seeing that the wine he brewed received such high praise from the lord, the old brewer simply smiled from ear to ear. What could be more satisfying than being praised by others for something you made with your own hands?
Simon gave the old brewer a reward of ten Denier silver coins, and then discussed with him about opening a tavern in the village.
The red-faced old guy patted his chest confidently and vowed that he could handle the source of the tavern's drinks and even help Simon manage the tavern.
This made Simon very satisfied. He exempted him from the money the old brewer owed him for tools and the money spent on building the brewery. In exchange, the price of alcohol supplied by the old brewer to Simon's tavern in the future would be 40% lower than that of his peers.
"Huh!" After coming out of the brewery, Simon stretched and walked back to the wooden castle with the fat man.
……………
Winter afternoons are lazy and drowsy.
Miller, who was patrolling the walls of the new village, wore a soft armor hat and a pointed Norman helmet. He wore thick soft armor and Sir Kun's chain mail given by Simon. He also wore a coat with the coat of arms of the Dorsten family. wearing a green burqa and a sharp armed sword at his waist.
Not to mention those poor wandering knights, even the knights in the territory who were financially well off might not have better equipment than Miller.
As the captain of the Foldburg Militia appointed by Simon, Miller gained further trust from Simon after loyally following Simon through his journey to Dresden, so he was qualified to wear these enviable armors. .
"Look, is that Miller? I thought it was some noble gentleman who came to our village!" On the oak table in the brewery, a middle-aged villager with thick eyebrows took a sip of beer and rubbed his eyes, a little unbelievable. said.
"Yeah, who would have thought that the child of the miller in our village would be what he is today? At that time, everyone thought that Miller would most likely become a new miller as cunning as his father." The young serf with a runny nose said: I couldn't take my eyes away from Miller's shining chainmail, I was so envious.
"Well, maybe he inherited the blood of his father Dietmar. You know, being a miller requires not only cunning, but also a strong body and extraordinary courage. Only if you have such conditions , it is possible to stand out in front of the lord." The young serf said, sighing and shaking his head.
"Speaking of his cunning father Dietmar, aren't there many rumors in the village that Dietmar often secretly contacts some unscrupulous people to make some dirty money? But who knows? His son has become a soldier appointed by Master Simon openly, how ironic!" The middle-aged thick-browed villager curled his lips, apparently believing those rumors.
Because the mill in Verde Village is on the Rhine River in the north of the village, which is a bit far away from the village, the miller Dietmar is often the object of gossip in the village.
The villagers' accusations against him were all kinds of things, from selling flour for a short amount of money, to stealing and picking locks and trading stolen goods, to digging people's graves to steal funerary objects to provide shelter for wizards and witches, to having private contact with pagans and colluding with the devil to learn black magic. Magic... is getting more and more outrageous, but what's even more outrageous is that there are still a few ignorant villagers who believe the serious slanders and slanders mentioned below.
Miller didn't know what the villagers were talking about him and his father. At this time, he was performing his duties, patrolling the village, and supervising whether the militiamen were on duty seriously.
Fortunately, Miller is still young, and he can recover well from the injuries he suffered in Cologne City and Dresden a few times without leaving any sequelae.
"Hey, Miller, you're back!"
"Miller, how many new scars have you added?"
"Miller, tell me about your journey with my master."
Many militiamen greeted Miller warmly after seeing him and asked him to share what he had learned during his travels.
The colorful world outside is what these young militiamen who stand guard in the village every day and have never left the village a few times since their birth yearn for.
"Okay, let's start from when the master and Hoffman and I just left the village on horseback..."
