Life in the territory is much more stable than traveling outside.
Under the auspices of Simon and Ryan, various construction projects in the village are carried out in an orderly manner.
Although the severe winter made the construction of the trebuchet turret and tavern an extremely difficult task, Simon always had an uneasy feeling in his heart, urging him to at least complete the construction of the trebuchet turret before spring.
Simon once thought carefully about the source of this uneasy feeling before falling asleep one day. Perhaps it was revenge for a larger-scale Viking invasion? Or is it a war that may break out at any time between Earl Berg and Earl Loon?
The more wealth and property you have, the more you fear others will covet you, the more insecure you become, and the more you want to improve your own strength. Everyone understands the principle that a common man is guilty of carrying a jade while he is innocent.
Just a few days after Simon returned to the territory, this uneasy feeling became even stronger.
It turned out that the group of soldiers sent by the old Baron Keother to assist in the garrison of Verde Village had completed their garrison mission after Simon returned to the territory, so they packed up and set off on the road back to Dorstenberg.
As a result, counting the new soldiers and new archers selected from the refugees sent from Cologne City to join the militia, there are now a total of thirty soldiers and nine archers in Verde Village.
For safety reasons, the village chief only arranged for 16 refugees to join the militia and three refugees to join the archery team.
If too many strangers from the same place join the village militia, something might happen.
In addition, the village chief arranged for ten men who did not look so weak and twelve women who had been working with the land for many years to serve as serfs to reclaim the abandoned fields and new farmland near the village. Collect feces and dig more new "sacred pits".
In addition, twenty-two men and eight women worked as builders, three children worked as handymen, and four women worked in the village workshops.
In the end, there were eight old, weak, sick and sick people left without work arrangements. Because they are Simon's "property" now, they can't just stay in the house and eat free meals, so the village chief arranged some easier tasks for them, such as helping cook in the lord's kitchen, helping the lord feed livestock and poultry, Work as a village lookout, warehouse keeper, or night watchman.
The life of these refugees in Verde Village is much better than when they were begging in Cologne City. At least they don't have to worry about whether they will not be able to see the sun the next day because of hunger.
But Simon worries that when they take a brief breather, will they remember their better lives before the war?
Some of these refugees must have owned a hut of their own in their own village, a field of their own, and could occasionally eat meat.
But now, they can only sleep in a small wooden house that can accommodate about ten people. They become serfs of another lord, eating wheat porridge every day and doing heavy work.
Admittedly, this is definitely better than sleeping on the streets of Cologne full of feces and begging, but people are always greedy and unsatisfied with the status quo.
So Simon went to the small church in the village because of this worry and discussed this issue with Father James.
Father James told Simon that Simon's worries had not yet appeared, perhaps because the horrific war and the displaced refugee life made them temporarily satisfied with life in Verde Village.
In addition, James reminded Simon that he had overlooked the important point that only one-seventh of these refugees had previously been free farmers and craftsmen, with their own independent houses and their own property.
The rest of the people, as serfs, lived the same life as they do now, or even a little worse.
What the war brought to them was that they changed from serfs of one lord to refugees, and from refugees to serfs of another lord, and the latter seemed to treat them better than the former.
After all, not every lord is like Simon and can keep the serfs well fed without over-exploiting them.
"Well, it seems that I was overly worried," Simon breathed a sigh of relief, thought for a while, and continued, "Those dozen or so refugees who were previously free status, I have to find out what each of them did before. Yes. Make the best use of things and make the best use of people. I will not let those with crafts and skills to be soldiers, or to work as serfs or construction workers."
In fact, the village chief at that time also planned to let the skilled refugees resume their old jobs in Verde Village. However, if he wanted them to become Simon's personal craftsmen, he would have to spend money to build workshops and purchase tools and materials for them.
These things all had to be approved by Simon himself.
So the village chief could only arrange jobs for them as construction workers or serfs for the time being.
As for the village chief's concern about too many outsiders in the militia, Simon seemed to think that it was not a problem at all.
This kind of worry is nothing more than distrusting these refugees, not daring to allow them to account for too high a proportion in the militia, and even daring not to issue armor and weapons to them.
In this case, let more former Verde villagers serve as militiamen, and let the new refugees fill the vacancies and engage in production.
Even if these refugees want to rebel, they are just a group of serfs wearing thin linen clothes and holding hoes and pitchforks. What they have to face is Feld, who has killed people and seen blood, wearing armor and holding iron spears, swords, axes and shields. Soldier.
What's more, Simon won't squeeze them to the point where they have to rebel. These extremely resilient refugees live a tolerable life, so what reason do they have to rebel?
Therefore, Simon decided to ask the village chief to inform all the original Verde villagers that the militia and archery team would recruit 20 more people, young and middle-aged, both men and women.
As for the positions vacated by the former villagers of Verde Village who were recruited into the militia, after the trebuchet turret and tavern are built, they will be filled by the more than 20 refugee construction workers.
………………
It is a tradition of the Germanic people for both men and women to serve in the army. The strong village women in the village of Verde who have been doing heavy work all year round are quite interested in joining the militia and archery team.
After the village chief released the news, three qualified women and two young men joined the archery team led by Hunter Bill, and five women and ten men joined the militia led by Miller and Fatty.
"Fat man, Miller, the militia still have to train every day, but the intensity doesn't have to be as intense as in summer. In addition, if the supply of meat is not much, the meat and offal can be chopped into fine pieces and cooked into porridge. This is also considered meaty. As for Bill, they go out hunting every day, so don't worry." Simon told the two of them.
"And you, Gabriel, I have selected four young men from the militia. They will learn riding skills from you and become our scouts and cavalry in the future. You too, have to train every day!"
"Leave it to me, Master!" Gabriel raised the corners of his mouth confidently.
Just kidding, he is an old mercenary cavalry who has been on the battlefield for many years. If he can't even bring out a few new cavalry, he might as well go back to England to farm.
"In addition, our wood reserves are indeed almost used up. In two days, I will personally go to the lumber camp under Lange's name in the south and order a batch of wood." Simon stroked his beard and said with a frown.
To be honest, Simon didn't want to see his brother Lange.
Being around Lange always made him a little uncomfortable. He could feel that Lange was always on guard against him, as if he was afraid that Simon would assassinate him and seize his position as the first heir to the baronet.
After all, the two brothers spent most of their time apart, except for a brief moment together during childhood.
Lange was sent to Count Berg's castle to work as a knight's attendant, gaining knowledge and making connections.
As for Simon, he was originally going to be sent to a relative of the old Baron Cooser to be a valet, but Simon's mother was really reluctant to let him go and tried her best to dissuade him. In addition, the old Baron himself liked Simon better, so he simply decided not to do it. Simon stayed in Dorstenburg and grew up.
In the summer when Lange came of age, he returned to Dorstenberg to attend his knighthood ceremony.
However, little Simon noticed that unlike the lively and cheerful Lange who talked about everything in his childhood, Lange now became gloomy and silent.
Little Simon also noticed that there were several ugly scars on his back. Simon had only seen similar scars on servants who had been whipped. God knows what he went through with Count Berg.
On that day, Lange's knighthood ceremony was held very successfully. He received a set of brand-new equipment that made Simon look straight at him, a fine iron sword with a cold light, and he was awarded the title of two wealthy villages and farms in the barony. , a lumber camp on the Rhine River and a pottery workshop in the town of Dusseldorf.
As his first heir, after the old baron passes away, he will legitimately inherit the title of Baron Dorsten and own Dorsten Castle and three other villages currently under his father's name, as well as other assets and real estate.
Everyone was cheering and congratulating Lange, but Lange's face didn't seem to be very interested, and he just smiled slightly.
The old Baron Keother was quite happy to see this. He believed that Lange had now become a calm and rational man, and he could control his emotions and remain calm even during his own canonization ceremony.
But Simon, who was standing behind his father and mother, was a little numb by Lange's intentional or unintentional glance.
Perhaps Langer had stubbornly believed in his heart that the relationship between his second son Simon, who grew up in Dorstenburg, and his parents was infinitely better than that of his eldest son, who grew up in the Earl of Berg. If this seemingly harmless brother of his own secretly harms himself...
Simon sighed.
All the misunderstandings and heart knots started from the moment they separated when they were young. From that moment on, a wall began to separate the two, and it became stronger and stronger as time went by. .
"No matter what, the wood matter must be settled as soon as possible. Buying it from Lange is the most convenient and cost-effective for transportation." Simon shook his head and brought the memory back to reality.
