Most of the villagers in Esbai Village have accepted Simon as the new lord. They attended the dinner and ate to their full belly in the castle grounds of the wooden castle.
However, some families did not attend the dinner.
It's not that they didn't receive the news, but because their family members were recruited by Baron Quinnier and died in Simon's territory across the river. They thought Simon's hands were stained with the blood of their relatives.
Especially the families of Baron Quinnier's private soldiers.
Some time ago, they learned in panic that none of the baron's private soldiers had returned, and there was a high probability that something unexpected had happened.
This gave rise to overwhelming hatred for Simon in their hearts - they thought, it was this damn new lord who made them lose their husbands, fathers, sons, and the only pillar of their families.
After learning about the situation from the priest, Father James knew that this group of people was likely to become the biggest unrest factor in the entire territory, even if they were just a group of old, young, women and children.
After the fat man learned about this during the conversation between the priest and Simon, he directly proposed a simple and crude method - to expel them from the territory.
The land their family was granted was nothing more than fief-like land, given by the former lord to his private soldiers. This means that without the approval of the new lord Simon, the fief land held by the relatives of the private soldiers is illegal.
Now, except for the two private soldier families who were aware of the current situation and secretly cursed the families of other private soldiers who came to attend the banquet to express their surrender, the other families of the private soldiers were indifferent and even showed hostility - to the soldiers who came to inform the soldiers of the dinner. The figure spat from behind.
Simon thought that now he had enough reasons to expel these "remnants of the former dynasty".
It's time to vacate the cage for a bird, take back these fiefs, and reward the ordinary soldiers of the militia who fought bravely, as well as the people who made significant contributions to the village of Verde.
So, the next day, Fatty and Miller, who were originally going to their own fiefdom, received Simon's mission - to expel all the fief families who did not attend the dinner last night from the barony.
After lunch, under the bright sunshine, Fatty and Miller pinned the swords given to them by Simon, put on their armor, and led fifteen soldiers wearing armor and chainmail. After the two soldiers last night, The family members of the private soldiers who came to attend the dinner led them on the road.
The village of Esbai, the core of the barony, is connected to other small villages in the territory by several winding mud roads. The number of merchants coming and going is relatively small compared to the village of Verde on the other side of the river, where the trade road runs through the entire village.
Fatty and Miller rode side by side at the front. Since the iron Norman helmets would become very hot after being exposed to the sun, the two simply took off the helmets and hung them next to the saddle, and then put on straw hats to protect them from the sun.
Sometimes they passed through large expanses of grassland, and sometimes they passed by lush green woods.
The horses' hooves, the cloth shoes of the private soldiers' families, and the boots of the soldiers waded through the cool and clear streams in the forest, leaving large and small wet footprints on the dry forest paths.
When they walked out of another forest, the beautiful scenery in front of them was eye-catching - a few clouds as white as milk floating in the sky as blue as sapphire, and the green buds in the grass under the sun on the roadside were as green as green agate. **It's almost dripping with water.
"Right there, two lords." A young man with chestnut hair pointed to a small wooden house on the hillside in the distance and said to Miller and the fat man.
"What's the name of this place?" Miller asked the young man leading the way, stroking the smooth horse hair.
"The Monzerland fields, sir," the young man did not dare to look directly into Miller's eyes when he spoke. Even a day ago, Miller was a civilian with the same status as him. "A large piece of land on the outer hills belongs to the private soldier Jack's family. Yes, but Jack’s whereabouts are unknown and he failed to come back after the war, and now his old mother, wife and children live in the wooden house.”
"I know." Miller nodded.
The Monzerland field is the territory conferred to Miller by Baron Simon. Therefore, as the new lord of this area, how Miller deals with this family that is hostile to the baron and his army will greatly affect the local area. How the people will view him in the future.
"Hey, Miller, you know what to do in a while," said the fat man sweating profusely on horseback, "you are the lord here."
"Of course, now they have no right to live in this fief. If they refuse to accept eviction, I don't mind seeing blood and hearing screams." Miller said firmly.
"Very good," the fat man smiled happily, "This is what a lord should say."
Everyone walked towards the wooden house on the top of the hillside.
Miller looked at the other side of the mountain from the hillside - there was a large flat land in the vast forest, and a small village in the center of the plain, surrounded by many irregularly shaped farmland. That's his territory.
"Hey, Caspar," a rough female voice suddenly came from the hillside, "Don't go any further. Who did you bring here? Jack is back?"
Everyone raised their heads, and blocking the middle of the dirt road was a middle-aged peasant woman with mud on her body and hands on her hips. Time had left dense wrinkles on her face. She was holding a hoe and was probably doing farm work that should have been done by her husband.
"They are soldiers of Lord Baron, and this Lord on horseback is the new lord of Monzeland field." The young man who led the way explained.
"What do you want here? I have nothing to give you!" The woman became alert and held the hoe in her hand tighter.
She knew that against those two knights on horseback and fifteen soldiers in chainmail, even if her husband Jack was standing guard here wearing his best armor and holding a long sword, it would be useless.
"Yes, of course," Miller, who put on his Norman helmet again, gently rode forward and pointed at the peasant woman's feet, "We want to take back this land."
"No," the peasant woman took a step back, stamped the soil on the ground hard, and shouted excitedly with fear and anger on her face, "You can't do this, and you have no right to do this. This is mine. Husband Jack’s fief! We will not leave without the land transfer documents or eviction documents signed by Baron Quinnier!”
"Forget Baron Quinnier, this land will no longer belong to you the moment he dies." Miller licked his lips and drew out the knight's sword from his waist. "I say it again, get out of here, otherwise I will kill you like dogs and then throw your bodies out of the territory.”
The peasant woman was obviously frightened, but she could do nothing except overwhelming hatred and deep powerlessness.
She seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. She dropped her hoe and walked towards the wooden house with heavy steps.
"Well done, Miller," the fat man who had been silent next to him praised, "This is how you deal with these idiots who can't judge the situation. Once you let them taste the sweetness of resistance, there will be many others behind you. The people who follow your lead will cause you endless trouble."
"That's right." Miller said, putting the knight's sword back into the cowhide scabbard.
Everyone followed the thin back of the peasant woman to the wooden house on the top of the slope.
Two brown-haired children were happily playing chase around the house. An old woman with silver hair was sitting on a long wooden bench at the door of the house, taking a nap in the sun. She was too old to do farm work. . What a joyful scene.
Miller thought that behind every lord's private soldier who kills without blinking an eye, there is such a warm family, but for some reason, they seem to be different people after going to the battlefield.
Baron Quinnier's private soldiers did a lot of bad things in the Earl of Berg. They killed many innocent villagers on the way, raped many poor girls, and finally robbed them of all their property. A pile of smoldering ruins was left behind.
In a sense, retribution fell on them today - the private soldiers were sold as slaves to England and Scandinavia, and their families were ruthlessly expelled.
The innocent children didn't know what happened. They helped their mother pack things in the house, while the old woman hugged her face and sobbed.
"Will I be regarded as a cruel and ruthless person by the people?" Miller was kind-hearted after all, and he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.
"Maybe it's better," the fat man's answer was beyond his expectation. "Being cruel and ruthless will reduce the cost of your rule. People are afraid of you, so they are more obedient. As long as you are kind once in a while, they will even think that you are better than a saint." Even greater. This is the human heart.”
Miller didn't speak. He needed some time to digest.
"We've packed up." The peasant woman's attitude changed drastically from just now. God knows what kind of struggle she went through in her heart. Her choked voice was full of pleading and flattery, "I beg for your mercy, my dear. New lord, you can do anything you ask me to do! I still have two children. We cannot survive after we leave here, and we will definitely die!"
"Then it's none of my business," Miller's expression was as firm as a rock, and anyone knew that he had absolutely no intention of changing his mind. "Besides, when you meet your husband Jack again, you can ask him , when the innocent villagers in Baron Dorsten begged him to let them go, why did he and his brothers cut off their heads in cold blood and robbed their belongings."
"..." The peasant woman was silent. In the end, she seemed to accept her fate. Carrying a rag bag, supporting the old woman and taking the child, she walked down the slope.
When she passed Caspar, the young man who was leading the way, she gave him a meaningful look. Caspar's breathing quickened. He rubbed his nose and lowered his head, not looking into her eyes.
"Don't look, Caspar," Miller stepped on the horse and said to the young man staring at the family's leaving back in front of the house, "You have to be lucky that you are standing with us now. Keep leading the way, let’s go to the next house.”
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