The news that the legion is about to return south has already spread back to the valley. The military families living in the wooden castle can't wait to prepare for the triumph of their men, especially the relatives of the new soldiers of the Welsh Legion. They have not yet adapted to the fear of men when they go out to fight. They are very happy to know that their family members have not been killed or wounded in battle.
In a low hut made of thatch branches near the north road outside the wooden castle, a little boy with runny nose looked at the middle-aged woman busy beside the wooden bed. The woman's head was wrapped in thick linen to keep out the cold. She pulled out the broken wooden box under the wooden bed and took out a money bag sewn with old linen.
This purse contains the military pay that the man in the family has saved for several months. The mother and son spend less than half a pfennig every day to buy some barley and oats from the grocery store, grind it into powder at the mill, and bake some simple foods with firewood. It is not that they have no money. The monthly salary of the legionnaires exceeds 60 pfennigs. If they only provide food and drink for the mother and son, they will be very rich.
The main purpose of women's frugality is to save some money to build a decent wooden house in the wooden castle as soon as possible. This shack was built by the Civil Affairs Bureau for the relatives of the soldiers of the Welsh Legion. The shack can barely accommodate a wooden bed and a small Behind the wooden table, the mother and son could only share a stove with several other families of newly recruited foreign soldiers' relatives next to the shack. All the men's military salary was sent home to save, while the woman herself took care of the children while doing chores in the wooden fort for the family members of the officers and wealthy citizens.
However, after learning that her husband was coming home soon, the woman thought about it and took out seven copper pfennigs from her purse and put them into her belt. Then she closed the wooden box, pulled the wooden door open, and walked towards the inner wall of the wooden castle with her child.
The woman took her child to the Woodcastle Bakery and bought a few sticks of fine bread, and cut a piece of bacon and ham from the grocery store. After thinking for a long time, she bought a whole clay pot of Welsh beer produced in the valley for the man who was about to return. After doing this, the woman walked out of the inner castle with a large pile of drinks and food with a satisfied look on her face. The boy beside the woman held a small apple given by Ms. Emma in his hand and jumped up and down while eating.
Just after turning the corner of the wooden castle wall and walking towards his small shack, the little boy ran into a man wearing a cotton robe and regular clothes, with a stainless steel knight's sword hanging on his waist, and holding a brocade box in his arms.
The woman was about to step forward to help the child up. When she looked up, she was so frightened that she hurriedly held the drink and food and was about to kneel down. "Baron, I forgive the child for bumping into you." The little boy patted the boy's head and said, "Young man, you are so powerful. If you were taller, you could break through the enemy's wall. Go back to your mother."
The little boy held the dusty half of the apple and hid behind his mother.
"Get up, is your lady in the wooden castle?" Art asked softly to the woman who was kneeling with her head bowed.
"Back to your lord, Baron, the lady is in the mansion and has not gone out."
"Okay, get up." Art said and walked around the kneeling woman towards the wooden castle. Several castle residents who saw the lord returning wanted to run out and tell each other loudly, but Art stopped him...
In the lord's hall on the first floor of the wooden castle mansion, they learned that the legion was about to return. A servant was cleaning up the long table in the hall. The baron liked to hold meetings on this long table.
In the lord's official room at the back of the lord's hall, the Baroness's personal maid Ollie opened and sorted out the accounts sent back by the Northland caravan one by one and put them on the wooden table. The little maid Camille stood on the other side and carefully sharpened the slit of the quill with a short and sharp carpenter's knife. Then she placed the sharpened quill on the corner of the wooden table, then picked up another smoothed quill and started repeating; in the upper left corner of the wooden table, in addition to a row of five or six freshly sharpened quills, there were also glass bottles containing so-called quills. The precious ink of iron gall ink was purchased by the caravan at a high price from outside. It is a sap extracted from oak galls or the galls of other trees) mixed with copper powder. It also needs to add some gum as a thickener. The price of such ink is certainly not low, but the handwriting is also very clear and does not fade easily.
Behind the wooden table, sitting on a leather armchair upholstered with wool, Lottie Huguet, the mistress of the valley, sat. Eight months into her pregnancy, Lottie's belly was so swollen that she had to lean back slightly to write smoothly.
After January's cold winter, both the northern and southern caravans stopped trading and entered a period of rest. Lottie also took this opportunity to check and calculate the accounts of all teams under Art's command for the past year, including the northern and southern caravans. Some people in the valley could barely master this skill, but no one was proficient in it, so Lottie had to do it herself.
Hlottie held a quill in her hand, sometimes dipping it in ink and writing calculations quickly, sometimes stopping to put the quill behind her ear and pick up the account book to compare repeatedly.
“Oli, give me the penultimate account from the pile of account books on the bottom right hand side at the bottom of the wooden shelf.” Lottie discovered that there was an error in an account at the Southern Goods Store in Lucerne City, Northland, last June, with a difference of five hundred pfennigs. A detailed comparison was required.
As requested, Ollie pulled out the parchment with dense numbers and words and gave it to Lottie. Lottie took the parchment with her left hand and picked up the results of the calculation just now with her right hand. After careful comparison, she found that Lucesien Store had indeed paid out an amount of money marked "Eagle Eye Salary" in June. The corner note had Kenem's signature, so the account books matched.
Lottie picked up the quill and copied the contents of the corner notes to the number of gaps in the general account book. She blew the ink with satisfaction and said, "Finally, the account book of the shop has been reviewed."
After speaking, she started to pick up the transit tax account book of the border outpost.
Ollie saw Lottie opening the next account book and advised: "Madam, you should rest. The account books won't be running around and will be calculated tomorrow." Just to be sure, Art will be back soon. I hope he will be able to see last year’s account verification results when he comes back. "Sir? Master -" The cook who also served as a handyman in the mansion was wiping the long table with a rag when he saw Art suddenly appearing at the gate of the mansion and screamed in surprise.
Ron stepped forward and covered the cook's mouth, "Hush, where is the lady?"
The cook was confused and pointed to the office room inside. Ron nodded to Art, who was holding a brocade box at the door. Art tiptoed towards the office room quietly.
Oli was the first to notice Master Art who slowly opened the door and poked half of his head in.
"Shh" Art put his index finger on his lips to make a silent gesture, and then waved to Ollie, signaling for her and Camille to step back.
Oli walked gently to Camille, covered Camille's mouth and pulled her out of the office. When Camille passed by, Art stretched out his hand and patted her head gently.
Behind the wooden desk in the office room, Lottie was still calmly and intently sorting out the account books of the border outpost since last spring. The tax collector at the outpost was really not very good at writing, so Lottie had to concentrate on identifying it.
Lotti used the algorithm in the "Book of Calculations" to calculate the accounts, which required a large number of calculations, and the manuscript paper used was homemade straw paper waste from the valley workshop. These straw papers were discarded because they were too rough, so the sharpened quills wore out quickly, and Lottie had already replaced them several times.
"Camille, stop being lazy and sharpen the worn pen tip quickly." Lottie wrote softly on the account book and said softly to her side.
After writing for a long time, the tip of the quill became flatter and flatter. When Lottie was about to change it, she found that there was no spare. "Camille!"
After a moment, Lottie stood up and slapped Art on the face, then rushed forward and hugged him tightly...
In the bedroom on the second floor of the mansion, Lottie was lying on a special lounge chair with a happy face, stroking the silver wire pearl-covered gold bead necklace pendant brought back from Paris around her neck;
At the edge of the lounge chair, Art knelt down half-kneeling and rested his head on Lottie's swollen belly to feel it carefully. Five fingerprints were clearly visible on the other side of his face.
Suddenly feeling a fetal movement, Art raised his head and looked at Lottie excitedly, "It's moving! He's moving, he must be a bad boy..." After that, he rested his head on Lottie's belly.
…..
The warmth of the southern valleys cannot be conveyed to the wind and snow in the north. At this time, the northern land of Burgundy is in chaos.
A week ago, the Inquisition sent by the Paris Inquisition entered Besançon. The Inquisition consisted of a bishop and three priests from the Inquisition, as well as a group of clergy and religious guards. The Church of the Duchy of Burgundy also sent a bishop and several clergy to accompany the investigation.
Nowadays, the religious power of the Kingdom of France is getting weaker and weaker, and the Holy See urgently needs to reestablish its authority through a series of actions. The heresy incident in the County of Burgundy before Christmas has become a reason for the Holy See. It is said that Pope Boniface VIII personally inquired about this matter.
After arriving in Besançon, the leading bishop of the Heretic Tribunal rejected the warm reception of Besançon Archbishop Fabio. After learning that the dead bodies of Dean and his son were on their way to Besançon, he directly led the people of the Tribunal to Assassin's lair in Thorne City. The lair was only two blocks away from Thorne Cathedral. Pagans were breeding under the bishop's eyes, and Bishop Thorne could not shirk his responsibility.
As for the wealthy businessman owner of that mansion, he had already gotten wind of it and ran away without a trace. However, the Tribunal immediately declared that the wealthy businessman and his family had committed heretical crimes. Not only was all the confiscated property required to be confiscated and put into the church treasury, but the wealthy businessman and his family were also wanted throughout the church world.
Father Robert, an experienced person who accompanied the Inquisition, complained to the Inquisition that when he left with the heretics, he was chased by Viscount Errol, the Governor of Thorne City, and the defending army. The Inquisition immediately turned its attention to Errol, but after two days of investigation, no direct evidence was found to show that Viscount Errol was involved in the heresy incident, so Viscount Errol barely escaped after paying a huge "commitment fee" to the Inquisition.
However, he escaped the judgment of the church but not the attack of his political opponents. A tax account book of the Saône Province over the years magically appeared in front of the sickbed of the Marquis of the Palace. The sick Marquis of Ivrea was angry and ordered the Palace Justice to investigate the matter.
Count Bernard had no choice but to throw Errol out...
The Heretic Tribunal stayed in Thorne City for five days and arrested several clergy, city nobles, and merchants who might be related to the heresy. Even the owner of the shop that provided food and vegetables to the wealthy merchant's mansion became implicated in the heresy.
In mid-February, the bodies of Dean and his son arrived at Besançon. Dean and his son were convicted of heresy and murder by the Inquisition. Their stiff bodies were tied to a cross and burned at the stake.
Under the strong pressure of the Tribunal, the Holy See of Besancon ordered a nationwide search for members of the Dean family. Within two days, the bodies of the old Mrs. Dean and Dean's mistress' illegitimate son were quietly delivered to the door of the Besancon Cathedral...
The Dean father and son were punished again, the family was destroyed, and many dignitaries involved in the heresy suffered disaster.
Earl Bernard's power was severely frustrated and his arrogance was greatly reduced. Baldwin took the opportunity to attack and manipulate the meeting of ministers to cut off the fiefdoms of several barons and one viscount under Bernard...
The Inquisition, which caused the heresy storm in the North, turned its attention to the south again. They demanded that the Dean family's property and territorial fiefs be turned into church property.
Bernard and Baldwin rarely unanimously opposed the seizure of territorial fiefs. In the end, the tribunal demanded the recovery of all the property of the Dean family. However, Art Lianlian Feige, who received the news, insisted that no property was found in the territory of the Dean family, and hinted that all the Dean family's properties had been transferred to Bernard's hands, and offered to hand over some farm tools, livestock and grain goods for confiscation.
The Tribunal is not a merchant farmer, and they have no interest in farm tools, livestock, or grain goods. In addition, Bishop Olof and Count Baldwin vigorously defended the "heroic believer" Baron Ater, so the matter was dropped.