Chapter 725 Rear Area
Valley Territory, Wellsburg.
While the morning bells were still ringing in the towers, Station Officer Scott had already stepped across the moat with his muddy boots.
This government official in charge of provincial affairs had just returned from the fallow land on the northern slope, with bits of ryegrass still embedded in his fingers.
"Lawrence! You'd better explain why there are 30% less stone in the irrigation canal?" Scott yelled behind him without looking back, his cloak stained with snow water billowing like a sail behind him.
Construction officer Lawrence caught up with him panting, his leather boots wet with morning dew leaving dark footprints on the stone road. The sheepskin scroll held in the arms of this lean middle-aged man almost slipped: "In the name of the Holy Father! Didn't you see the cracks in the south wall? All those stones were filled into that damn fortification..." He suddenly said, in the morning light The figure emerging from the scene made both of them stop at the same time~
At this time, Spencer was leaning under the castle doorway with an oak crutch. The wound with a bandage extending from his neck to his right arm was looming under the linen shirt. The radiant minister, who was forced to recuperate in the valley, looked like a rusty armored statue, his gray eyes fixed on the direction of the government tower.
It wasn't until Scott's muddy palms slapped him heavily on the shoulder that the guy trembled as if he had just woken up from a dream.
"Our Lady of Mercy!" Lawrence gasped, his sharp eyes scanning Spencer's bleeding bandage, "Didn't Doctor Thomas tell you not to move too much?"
Spencer forced out a smile that was uglier than crying, and the tip of his crutch made messy carvings on the bluestone, "If you listen to Doctor Thomas in everything, then let me die happily..." After that, he suddenly started coughing violently.
Scott hurriedly patted his back gently, took off the leather bag from his waist and stuffed it into his hand. "Drink some, the medicinal wine brought by Ron's people from the south will be good for your injury."
Spencer looked at the falcon circling on the castle spire, "I heard that there are Lombard corpses everywhere in Sorlon Castle...
The crutch suddenly hit the ground hard. Spencer raised his head and drank the amber liquid, his Adam's apple rolled like a trapped animal and growled, "They are killing the enemy on the front line, but I am here counting the rat holes in the warehouse!" The bloody bandages on his body were floating in the morning wind~
The giant oak door of the Lord's Hall suddenly opened at this time. Twelve black-armored guards filed out, and the sound of their armors clashing frightened the swifts under the eaves to fly away. The clang of the old butler Cooper's scepter passed through the morning mist, "Come in, everyone, the lady has been waiting in the hall for a long time."
When the three of them stepped into the lord's hall, the sixteen bronze candlesticks had just been lit by the maid.
Countess Lottie sat at the head of the long oak table, her hair under the pearl hair net shining brighter than the morning light. On the high-backed chair to her left,
Old Cooper's walking sticks lay spread out like a sleeping yellow dragon. Minister of Commerce Salter sat quietly on the other side, leaning on the table and calculating the huge figures on the parchment.
"May the morning dew bless those who work hard." Lottie nodded slightly, and the violet sachet on her skirt swayed gently in the wind. Only then did Scott notice that there was a half-open volume of pharmacopoeia on her lap—Mrs. Galvin's high fever last night kept the countess awake all night.
While the station officer was stroking his chest and saluting, the ears of wheat in his arms fell on the Persian carpet, "Please forgive my rudeness, Madam. The rye in the fallow land on the north slope...:.:
"
"It has already headed." Lottie suddenly answered, her fingertips lightly brushed the family coat of arms on the edge of the pharmacopoeia. In the stunned eyes of everyone,
She stood up and picked up the wheat ear, "When you inspected the barn seven days ago, you said that the replanting would be completed before the spring equinox."
Scott's gray beard trembled violently. Of course he remembered that rainy afternoon when the countess stepped into the muddy barn with her skirt in hand, her hair still stained with sage bits from when she made medicine for her mother. At that time, he only thought it was the whim of the noble lady, but he did not expect that "Madam, your powers of observation are comparable to those of a nighthawk." When Lawrence bowed, the architectural drawings in his arms clattered. The construction officer's eyes glanced at the open secret letter on the long table, and the mark of Wells' wolf head on the paint made his pupils shrink.
Ahem～
The sound of coughing broke the momentary silence. Spencer knelt on one knee leaning on the crutches, and the bronze keychain slipped out of his collar, shaking in the morning light and creating an afterimage, "Please allow me..." His voice was hoarse like rusty iron, "At least let me supervise the loading of weapons..."
Boom!
The roar of the cane made the candles sway.
Old Cubby's back suddenly straightened like a pine tree, "I will save your blood until I finish listening to the southern war report." Immediately, the old butler slowly opened the secret letter with his fingers covered with age spots~
The sound of the parchment stretching was like a poisonous snake spitting a message. The medicinal fragrance of Lottie's skirt and the scent of Salt's parchment were strangled in the air until the countess's cold voice cut through the stasis, "...:...yesterday morning, the heraldic flag of the earl was planted in every corner of Sauronburg~"
"Holy Mother!" Station Officer Scott suddenly stood up, his gray beard trembling violently, "Your Excellency has finally taken back the inherent territory of his family!"
"Please allow me to kiss this letter of victory!" Minister of Commerce Salt knocked over the oak chair behind him, and the pearls inlaid on his belt jingled. The shrewd businessman's eyes were red at this moment, and his fingertips were almost poking through the yellowed parchment. "Did you see this? Your Excellency requires us to immediately take over the trade routes in the Lombardy-occupied area! Those fools have hoarded enough goods in Solonborg to fill hundreds of carriages!"
"Great! Hahaha ~ Spencer suddenly forgot about the pain and stood up suddenly.
"Brother Spencer," Bass, the garrison commander who had always been silent, suddenly said, pressing his iron glove on the other's trembling shoulders, "Your current body temperature is enough to ignite each of us~"
"Everyone, be quiet! Old Cooper's cane paused again, and the bronze candlestick hanging on the dome shook in response. When the swaying When the light and shadow passed by the pearl hairnet on Lottie's forehead, the countess, who had always been silent, gently raised her palm.
The hall suddenly fell into an eerie silence. Only then did people notice the stain on Lottie's skirt. The dried medicine stains were stained when she took care of Mrs. Galvin who had a high fever all night. She slowly pushed the sheepskin letter to the center of the long table, and the emerald ring inlaid with the Wells family coat of arms made a slight sound against the oak wood.
“The government needs to transfer half of its staff to go south,” her voice sounded like piano strings dipped in snow, “but the seeds for spring plowing must be sown this month—even if the granary in Wellsburg is filled with Lombard wheat.”
营造官罗伦斯手上的鹅毛笔在羊皮卷上刮出尖锐的声响，「夫人，现在召集农奴翻耕北坡的休耕地..
「不是农奴，」 Lottie interrupted him suddenly, and the morning light cast violet spots on her pale face through the stained window, "Any freedman who participates in spring plowing will be exempted from the tax of one pound of wool for every ten acres of land cultivated - this is the decree signed by the earl before he went on the expedition."
The abacus on Salt's waist suddenly made a crisp clanging sound. This number made the Minister of Commerce take a breath, but he quickly lowered his head in Lottie's eyes as calm as a deep pool, "As you command, I will send someone to post the notice."
Spencer stood up abruptly, the bronze key swinging in front of his chest and drawing an arc, "Madam! Please allow me. I immediately went to the weapons workshop! Those iron bombs require a special filling layer of wheat straw, and the new craftsmen don’t understand it at all—"
"Brother Spencer!" Bass, the commander of the garrison, suddenly spoke, placing an iron glove on the opponent's shoulder, "Have you forgotten the doctor's instructions?"
The chief officer suddenly pulled off the blood-stained bandage, and the ferocious arrow wound glowed with pink new flesh in the morning light. "See clearly? This body can still withstand the bumps of twenty boxes of bombs!" His pupils burned with a flame that was almost paranoid. When the oak door of Wellsburg closed in the dusk, the first drop of spring rain was hitting the watchtower of Wellsburg.
Lottie walked through the inner courtyard wrapped in a chinchilla skin cloak. The sound of copper-white medicine being pounded came from the west tower - Doctor Thomas was preparing new medicine for Mrs. Galvin. She stopped and looked in the direction of the horse. Twelve bullock carts loaded with seeds were driving out of the castle in the rain. The copper bells hanging on the shafts of the carts made a dull whimper in the rain.
"Madam, the drainage canal on the north slope has not been completed yet!" The maid Olly caught up with a whale oil lamp, "My father said it will require at least three hundred laborers..."
Lottie's moccasins suddenly got stuck in the mud. She bent down and picked up the half-broken wooden plow. The violet sachet slipped out from her collar, creating a blue arc in the rain. "Tell the construction officer to temporarily transfer the masons from the south wall repair team." People just said this morning that the cracks in the south wall would endanger...:
"When the seeds of spring plowing rot in the mud, the enemy does not even need a trebuchet." The countess suddenly exerted force, and the broken handle of the wooden plow broke in two in her palm. Only then did Ollie notice that there was dark red blood embedded in the cracks of Madam's fingernails - they were scratched by parchment while flipping through the tax books over the past few days.
The heavy rain turned into silver arrows pouring into the sky at night. On the fallow land on the northern slope, three hundred serfs were digging trenches in knee-deep mud and water. Scott's old horse snorted uneasily in the field, and the constable's hoarse roar penetrated the rain curtain, "Add ten bundles of reeds! These seeds were bought by the countess with her dowry!"
The moment lightning split the sky, everyone saw the slender figure standing in the middle of the quagmire. Lottie's chinchilla skin cloak had already been soaked by the rain, her blond hair was stuck to her pale cheeks, but she held a bronze ruler used to measure the land steadily in her hand. "Two palms to the left." Her voice was like a bowstring soaked in rain, "otherwise the flash flood will destroy Shouda in the southeast corner."
Suddenly, suppressed sobs arose among the serfs. A middle-aged man with a muddy face knelt down in the field and kissed the toes of Lottie's boots with his chapped lips. Merciful lady... My son is still fighting in the south...
Thunder swallowed up the subsequent words. When the Countess bent down to help the middle-aged man up, the medicine bottle hidden in her sleeve rolled down the muddy water - it was the analgesic prescribed by Doctor Thomas to Mrs. Galvin. Ollie's hand holding the oil lamp began to tremble, and she saw that the wound on the lady's earlobe began to ooze blood again, which was left by the amethyst earring that little George had torn off during the day.