How does it feel to have a different sun in the sky?
The answer is simple: if it is the same as the previous sun, then there is no feeling.
Such is the case with the citizens of Gevaudin.
Everyone watched in confusion as some people left the city and some entered the city.
According to the most widely circulated and most logical statement on the streets, what happened is this:
The garrison officer went out to the city to suppress bandits and died;
Bandits entered the city and looted everything, causing chaos;
The new captain drove away the bandits and became the new garrison officer, that's all.
The "new garrison" deliberately did not correct this perception, but instead strengthened it.
Because Winters' strategy for dealing with Gévaudin is to "stay still".
He had only four regular officers at his disposal—Moritz and Juan were not under his command.
There are no more than two dozen people under him who can read and write.
Winters knew very well that he did not have the ability to take over Gevaudan, nor did he have the desire, nor the need.
All he wants is stability and no chaos.
The disadvantage of the strategy of "staying as is" is that it "has no feeling".
The citizens of Gévaudan have no feeling, and naturally they will not have any recognition of the new regime.
Bread must still be eaten, work must still be done, and shops must still be open.
What it was like before is what it is like now. Everyone is living in peace and contentment and continuing to live their lives.
Not only the citizens of Gevaudan didn't feel it, but the sixteen towns in Tiefeng County didn't feel it either.
The farmers and townspeople in the southern towns still knew some news, and the northern towns didn't even realize that Gévaudan had a new owner.
But after discussing it in the six-person group, Winters decided to inform everyone.
…
Tiefeng County, Qingfeng Town, Shibi Village.
Three cavalrymen rushed into the center of the village at lightning speed. The leading cavalryman held a green flag high, which meant that he had brought an important message.
Following a familiar process, the three cavalrymen first found the village chief, rang the bell, and gathered the villagers.
Many villagers saw the cavalry breaking into the village and had already hid in the forest surrounding the village.
It will take a lot of effort to get them all back.
The leader of the cavalry did not waste this time. Dozens of people came to the village square.
He found a carriage to stand on, and read the notice to the villagers of Shibi Village.
After reading it, he posted the notice on the notice board in the village square. Then he got on his horse and left, heading to the next village.
After the cavalry left, the farmers who ran into the forest returned to the village one after another.
They gathered in the village square and looked at the notice on the sign.
The newly posted notice is extremely large, with a piece of paper taking up half of the notice board.
Each letter written on it is also very large, as if for fear that readers will read it wrongly.
There is also a huge lacquer seal in the lower right corner of the notice. Even the most ignorant villagers understand the meaning of this lacquer seal: whoever dares to tear it up will be hanged.
The few people in the village who could read crowded in front of the notice and read to the others with squinted eyes.
…
Winters originally did not plan to write the notice because he felt that it would be useless if farmers could not read it.
"You are wrong." Bud explained with a smile: "Most farmers can't read, but there are always people in the village who can read, and they can read to others. The small leaflet with the teachings printed on it was from Calais back then. One of Wenzong's important means of attracting believers. Don't worry, they will know what is written on the notice."
So Winters drafted a notice himself.
After seeing it, Bud smiled even more happily: "You can't use this kind of grammar. There are literate people in the village, but they can only understand it roughly."
"Isn't that okay? I have simplified the grammar as much as possible."
"Writing notices is not an easy task. You have to write it according to a standard that an eight-year-old child can understand." Bud's smile grew wider: "It must be concise and the key points must be grasped. Otherwise, before you finish listening, I have completely forgotten the previous content. It’s best if it rhymes and is as catchy as a children’s song.”
Andre on the side said, "I thought of a good sentence."
"What?"
Andre cleared his throat: "Eat his mother! Wear his mother's clothes! The blood wolf will not pay for its food!"
"If you don't pay for the food!" Winters grabbed the toilet paper into a ball and threw it at Andre: "If you don't pay for the food, what will you eat!"
"Aren't political promises meant to be broken?" Andre said nonchalantly: "If we can really capture Maplestone City, will anyone dare to ask us why we need to pay for food?"
"Okay, don't irritate him." Bard knew that the problem actually lay with the "Blood Wolf".
Winters felt aggrieved, really aggrieved.
He has never called himself "Blood Man" or "Blood Wolf", and he is not the kind of soldier who is proud of scary nicknames.
But for some reason, each of his nicknames became worse than the last, and they became more widespread and more evil.
Captain Speyer once taught him, "If you don't want to have an unpleasant nickname for the rest of your life, stop doing such stupid things."
He didn't take this sentence seriously at the time, but he regrets it now.
On the third day after he entered the city, all the guilds of Gévaudan suddenly collectively donated a large sum of money.
Winters was very happy at first, personally meeting and thanking the presidents of each guild.
Until one of them spilled the beans and said that these were all money "given to Lord Blood Wolf".
Upon hearing this, Winters' expression suddenly changed.
The person who spoke was so timid that he was so frightened that he became incontinent on the spot.
In the end, it was Bard who cleaned up the mess for "Lord Blood Wolf", and afterwards gave Winters a good lecture.
All in all, the last thing Winters wanted to hear was the word "blood wolf."
"But this slogan is quite good." Bud smiled and took the pen and paper: "Let's change it to [eat his mother, wear his mother, and no food this autumn]."
…
Yegeni "Big Eye", who lives in the west end of Shibi Village, carefully stayed in the forest for a while.
He only walked out of the woods after confirming that the cavalry holding the green flag had not returned, so it was relatively late to return to the village.
When he walked to the village square, he found that the villagers were gathered in the square, chatting in small groups.
The notice has been read, and has been read several times.
"What's going on? What did you say?" Big-eyed Yogenni hurriedly found his neighbor, the fisherman and farmer [Ilya]
"I don't quite understand it either." Fisherman Ilya scratched the back of his head and said, "It seems that the garrison in the city has a new boss."
"Has the village chief changed?"
"No."
"Has the mayor changed?"
"nor."
"Bah, what does that have to do with us farmers?" Yogenni spat.
The farmers who remain in Shibi Village are all homesteaders. They own land and houses and cannot just walk away like long-term workers and tenant farmers.
In times of peace, the living conditions of homesteaders were much better than those of landless peasants at the bottom.
Now, they are just struggling to survive.
But that doesn't mean they're willing to endure exploitation, they just can't escape it.
"The new master is very good. He won't pay the grain tax this autumn." Ilya muttered: "Eat his mother, wear his mother, and I won't pay the grain this autumn."
"Go to hell!" Yegeni's big eyes widened even more: "It's almost time to sow winter wheat! It's still autumn! Besides, didn't they send a grain requisition team down to cut our wheat a while ago? "
Another farmer [Pushian] interjected: "The new master also said that he would suppress bandits."
"Which master didn't say that he wanted to suppress the bandits? But which one really took care of it? Didn't the bandits still bully us?" The more Yogeni spoke, the more angry he became. He stamped his feet fiercely: "Damn it! What kind of bullshit is the new master, or his mother? The same pair of pants, except the crotch is open to the back! Fuck!"
Several farmers around him were also said to be sad.
Bandits, taxes, and military disasters, farmers work hard to live on the land, but they are oppressed all year round.
In Shibi Village alone, several farmers have been forced to flee their homes. I don’t know if he became a soldier, surrendered to the bandits, or died.
The farmers around him were silent.
"That's right." Ilya told his neighbor happily: "The new master said that there will be no millstone tax in the future! Grind it as you like, grind it as you like, and whoever wants to make it can make it!"
Yenigan was stunned.
After standing still for a long time, Yenigan said: "The new guy is a good old man."
…
Winters’ strategy is not only to “move away” from Gevaudan, but also from the countryside.
"There was too much chaos in the past." Winters explained his thoughts to others: "Everyone misses the old life, and everyone longs for a sense of security. So we must first stabilize Tiefeng County, and we will not move if we can."
And we have no administrative experience running a county. If the carriage is not broken, don't knock it. If Tiefeng County is still functioning normally, let's don't mess with it. Do we still need to take care of farmers’ land? "
But Winters soon discovered that he was talking to a bull.
There are now six people who can participate in the decision-making meeting, Winters himself, Bud, Andre, Mason, Moritz and Juan.
Senior Juan and Andre don’t care about this at all;
Lieutenant Colonel Moritz was always drowsy during meetings;
Senior Mason was obsessed with his idea of "horses pulling cannons", and his mind was full of "where can I get two real cannons?"
Not to mention Lieutenant Colonel Moritz and Senior Juan have other agendas.
…
"Do you know what other tasks I have besides collecting your body?" Moritz asked Winters.
"I don't know." Winters replied, "But I guess it has something to do with your choice of battle plan B."
Moritz pointed to Andre and Bud and asked: "Then do you know why they don't have Venetta?"
Winters had some guesses, but he didn't want to say them out loud.
"It is Veneta who wants them to stay here." Moritz sighed: "Not only does your home country not want to take you back, it also wants you to stay in Plato. When you return to the country, Venetta will only have a few more lieutenants. . If you stay in Plato, Venetta will have many valuable hands and eyes."
"Is that so?" Winters asked Andre.
Andre nodded, his eyes were complicated.
"They're all the same, I'm not surprised." Winters was already numb: "The Platoans don't treat us as human beings, and the same goes for Veneta."
"You are quite mature." Moritz smiled.
Winters asked: "So? You and Senior Juan think that my small business is a good investment opportunity. If it can grow as soon as possible, it can contain the new reclamation army and even the Red Rose of the Kings' Castle? So you Did you decide to adopt a backup plan? For Venetta?"
"No, I helped you because I was happy." Moritz replied sincerely: "I just prefer Plan B. Since I can annihilate Ronald's department in one go, there is no need to cause more harm to everyone."
"Me neither, I'm just here to take you back." Don Juan interrupted: "I help you fight because I am idle. Besides, didn't you beg me?"
…
In the end, Winters sadly discovered that in the small conference room, the only two people who really cared about the farmers were Bud and him.
The six-person meeting turned into a complete formality, and in the end only Bud and Winters discussed it.
"That's right." Bud agreed: "If the carriage is not broken, don't knock it. With our current ability, we are simply not enough to control the entire Tiefeng County. So it is best to keep things as usual."
Therefore, the rural areas of Tiefeng County are also temporarily "immobile".
The disadvantage of not moving is that there is no feeling.
The advantage of not moving is that there is no feeling.
No one felt anything, and life went on as usual, which was exactly what Winters wanted.
Just because the citizens don't feel it and the farmers don't feel it doesn't mean that other people don't feel it.
The refugees, disaster victims, and prisoners in Winters' hands who gathered outside the city of Gevaudan...their lives were undergoing earth-shaking changes, making them feel deeply uneasy, anxious, and frightened.
Because Winters wants to "register households and bring together the people."
