On the second day of the military merit banquet, Art left the wooden castle and headed south, accompanied by Cooper, after breakfast. He planned to visit the valley before leaving.
The land between the valleys has changed its appearance at this time. It was a barren land in the early winter last year, but now it is slowly turning into fertile farmland. Two large farmlands are separated by the river on both sides. The gray-black soil extends to the edge of the bright yellow grass. Five or six farmers are carrying cloth bags to resow wheat seeds in the fields. On both sides, there are farmers carrying water in wooden barrels between the farmland and the river to irrigate the wheat seeds.
The two of them walked out of the valley and headed straight for the gentle slope next to the valley entrance. Several peasant women and children who were reinforcing the fence around the gentle slope quickly stepped forward to curtsy when they saw Ater's arrival, greeting their "lord".
Several thatched shacks had been built on the gentle slope less than thirty feet high. Lawrence's wife was lighting a fire to boil water in a temporary wooden shed. The boiled water in another clay pot nearby was already warm. Another farmer woman picked up the clay pot filled with warm water and walked towards the farmland down the gentle slope. Those in the fields who had been busy all morning were in urgent need of a mouthful of clean hot water.
"Good day, my lord." Although Lawrence's wife still looked thin, her face was also polished. She saw Art and others walking towards the kitchen, stood up and bowed her head to say hello.
Art nodded to her and asked, "Catherine, where is your husband?"
"Back to my lord, Lawrence took several people from the fort guard to the southern wasteland early in the morning. Knowing that you were coming to the valley, he said he was going to catch some hares for you to try."
“Well, then I have to thank him properly.”
At leaned over and glanced at the water in the pot, and asked Lawrence's wife: "Catherine, do you know that Baron Antayas has recovered Alsburg?"
"Yes, Lawrence told me that it was you who helped the Baron recover Alsburg. Several brothers from the patrol team are also recovering Alsburg. "Kathleen, tell me the truth, do you want to go back to Alsberg?" Lawrence's wife stood up from the fire and asked in fear: "My lord, did Lawrence make you angry? I will apologize to you." Then she knelt on the ground.
Matt quickly helped her up and said: "Lawrence has always done a good job. I just thought that you might prefer to return to Als to live. After all, it is your homeland." I have given Lawrence a job, and we are willing to stay here and become subjects under your rule. "
"Okay, Katherine, Lawrence already told me these things yesterday, and I just want to ask you again. Since you two think so, just stay here and work for me, and I will not treat you badly."
"Okay, let's take us to see the granary first."
Kathleen agreed and put half of the firewood in her hand into the fire, and led Art toward a barn surrounded by logs in the middle of the open space.
The small door of the barn was locked by an iron lock brought back from Wincheston Manor. Katherine took out the key from her waist, opened the iron lock, and pushed open the wooden door. The warehouse is not big, only eight feet square. Inside are several layers of wooden shelves. There are several bags of grain on each layer of shelves, and a large bag of salt and dried bacon is placed on the top layer.
"Sir, these are the food reserves for everyone in the valley, as well as eight hundred pounds of shelled wheat. Lawrence goes to the wooden castle to get the food from the old housekeeper every half a month. The food is stored here. The key is kept by me, and I cook for everyone every day."
Matt entered the small warehouse and opened a bag of wheat. He reached in and took out a handful. He saw that the wheat was well preserved without any mold. He put the wheat into his pocket, clapped his hands and said to the old housekeeper and Kathleen: "You must take good care of this food. First, you must prevent people from stealing the food. Second, you must not let rats steal the food. Third, you must prevent The grain is damp and moldy. This food is the life of all farmers. "
"Sir, don't worry, everyone values food more than their lives and will not let anything happen to it."
"That's good, let's go check out some shacks." He said and walked towards several large shacks.
Several shacks on the gentle slope were built in a hurry. Ate walked into the largest one, which was simply divided into seven or eight single rooms by farmers using rags. In the middle of the shack was a furnace, but the weather was getting warmer, and there were only some burned ashes in the furnace.
The furnishings in the house are simple and messy. There are rags, pots, dishes and other items brought by the farmers everywhere. There are also some utensils for storing excrement and urine in the corners. The whole house stinks. Fortunately, the shack is poorly built and has ventilation leaks all around, otherwise people would have to be suffocated to death.
"Cub, I told them not to poop in the room, why is it still so smelly?" Art said responsibly, covering his nose.
Old Cooper looked helpless and said: "Sir, I have asked you to dig a big pit under the gentle slope and cover it with a thatched shed for everyone to relieve themselves, but these people are not nobles. They are used to running wild everywhere, and in the cold winter, everyone is reluctant to go out. They are not soldiers, and I can't force them to change..."
"It doesn't matter whether he is an aristocrat or not, it has nothing to do with whether he is an aristocrat or not. It is too easy to breed germs if this continues..."
"Sir, what are germs?"
"Hey, forget it, let's talk about it later!" Art had no intention of discussing these ultra-era things with Cooper.
Att held his nose and took a brief look before leaving the shack to check the farm equipment house and the livestock shed. The livestock shed was already empty, and the livestock that had been working hard all spring had been brought back to the wooden castle, where they would be better cared for.
At this time, Lawrence, who was out hunting, also returned to the gentle slope with a few young farmers. Lawrence and others were carrying two hares that had been beaten to death with sticks. Lawrence handed the hares to Kathleen and asked her to make a roasted rabbit with honey and then came to Art's side.
"Yes, sir, all the cultivated land has been planted, and now everyone is replenishing wheat seeds in the sparsely sown areas. Moreover, we have also planted peas, onions and some vegetables in the slightly barren areas on the west side of the gentle slope, so that we will have vegetables to eat in summer and autumn."
Art glanced at the west side of the gentle slope, where the weeds have been replaced by the sprouts of various vegetables that have just sprouted.
"Sir, are you calling all the farmers back now?" Lawrence asked.
"Forget it, let's hurry up and finish the work in the fields. There are still many things for everyone to do in the wooden castle, so don't delay everyone. I'm just here to see the situation here, and to hear if there is anything you need urgently. I can bring it back when I go out this time."
Lawrence lowered his head and thought for a while, then replied: "Sir, we have food and shelter here, and we are very satisfied. It's just~just~"
"Just what? You can say it, and I will find a way to do it if I can." Art said.
"Sir, it's like this..."
It turns out that after yesterday's banquet, Lawrence returned to the valley and told the farmers that Art would come here to see everyone. At that time, several farmers asked Lawrence if they could ask Lord Art to build a simple chapel so that these people who were wandering in foreign lands could find their souls and be illuminated by the light of God.
After hearing this, Art did not rush to answer, but asked: "Lawrence, I heard from the old housekeeper that you built yourself a small shack. Can I come to your house to sit there?"
"It's an honor. Please!" Lawrence stepped out of the way and led Art and Cooper to a slightly more exquisitely crafted small shack behind the big shack.
"Sir, the old housekeeper and Bud built this shack for me. It is a little small, but it is still strong."
Matt and Cooper entered the small shack, which was much neater than the big shack. The shack was also made of miscellaneous wood and thatch, but the surrounding wooden walls were indeed airtight. An earth stove was dug in the middle of the shack, but now a small wooden table was placed on the earth stove. A small clay pot and several sets of wooden bowls and tableware were neatly placed on the wooden table. There were three low stools under the wooden table. Facing the firewood door inside the wooden table, there was a wooden bed covered with soft hay. On the wooden bed, there was also a wool felt blanket and several clean linen jackets.
Lawrence invited Art and Cooper to sit at the table. Art motioned for Lawrence to sit down as well, and said to the two of them: "You two are people I trust. I want to say that I don't plan to build a church here yet. There are three reasons. First, everything here is being built now, and everyone must spend all their time. Second, this is not the fiefdom of any lord. We can cultivate the land quietly without anyone coming to collect taxes, and no one will come to bother us. However, it is illegal for us to cultivate land here, and I don’t want it to be too much. Eye-catching. If we want to build a church, we must ask the Diocese of Tyniec to send priests or priests. By then, this will no longer be an unknown land. Those greedy lords and nobles will not sit back and let this fertile land be occupied by a landless commoner for a long time. The reason why we are allowed not to pay taxes is because he thinks that I am reclaiming wasteland outside the dense forest. They all know that there is no grain in those places. Thirdly, once the church intervenes here, we must pay the church's tithe, and these taxes need to be paid by farmers..."
Of course, Art would not tell Lawrence the fourth reason - he believed in God and the gods very devoutly on the surface, but he knew very well what kind of disaster those clergy who were filled with selfish desires and greed would bring to this paradise. Moreover, this was an era of theocracy, and it was easy for the church to cause many unnecessary troubles wherever it went. Therefore, he will not let the church interfere in this valley before he has legitimately acquired this "territory" and found "suitable" clergy.
Lawrence and Cooper chewed Art's words carefully. Although they also wanted to build a church to pray to God and atone for their sins, they would not agree if building a church would affect the future development of the valley.
Seeing that the two of them had basically accepted his idea, Art continued: "Of course, I also know that everyone hopes that this place will become a place of God, so I think you can organize everyone to build a temporary chapel in the wooden castle in your free time. But for the time being, I have no plans to invite a priest to settle in. After the repair is completed, Cooper can lead everyone to pray. , As for mass, prayer, and confession, I won’t do it for now. I’ll talk about it later after I find a suitable priest.”
Next, Art, led by Lawrence and Cooper, went to the farmland to look at the land and the sowing of wheat seeds. He also talked to the farmers in the field and encouraged everyone to work hard under the leadership of the old housekeeper and Lawrence and Scott, so that everyone could live a prosperous and stable life as soon as possible.
At noon, Art and Cooper had a roast rabbit meal with the farmers in the valley. In the afternoon, Art returned to the wooden castle and left the wooden castle with Ron Simon and the "idiot soldier" Jason who was "retired" again...