landbeastnovel #610 - Wolf hunting and wool
#610 - Wolf hunting and wool
"Damn it, you rebellious people, how dare you hit my men?!"
He slammed his hand on the wooden table, his expression twisted with rage.
Henderson truly hadn't anticipated that, just because of the wolf hunt preparations, during the three weeks he hadn't been paying attention, over 20 families of villagers had defected.
Just because someone helped them harvest two acres of land? Was their loyalty so cheap?
Clutching his chest, Henderson forcibly suppressed his anger.
He turned his head and saw the morning light shining on the idler's buttocks, a patch of purplish-blue clearly visible, even the outline of a footprint.
"Manor Head Henderson, this kick isn't just to my butt, it's clearly a kick to your face!" the idler lying on the bench whined, seemingly aggravating his injury with the large movements, causing him to cry out in pain.
The other three or five idlers chimed in, as if the kick had landed on them.
Looking at the idler's pathetic cries and pockmarked buttocks, he turned his head away in disgust and asked the villager beside him, "About how many families have joined his harvesting team?"
Bowing, the middle-aged villager pressed his straw hat to his chest: "Including my family, there are more than 20 families."
"What do they usually do?"
"They just help each other harvest wheat. Unless you proactively ask about permanent tenancy rights and the Hundred-Household District, he won't bring it up." The villager hesitated for half a second, then gritted his teeth and continued, "They seem to be announcing something at the village church tonight, probably about the permanent tenancy rights."
After listening to the villager's account, Henderson frowned and leaned back in his chair, his eyes closed in thought as he considered his next move.
This Ansel truly had some tricks up his sleeve. He had managed to win over more than 20 families without making a sound.
Were these villagers mindless? Weren't they afraid of being deceived by these two people of unknown origin?
But no matter what he thought, no matter what he wanted to do, now that he knew about it, he wouldn't let them succeed.
Henderson took out two denarii from the cabinet and stuffed them into the man's hand: "Here, this is for you. Go back and don't let anyone see you."
"Yes, yes, thank you very much."
The villager naturally left the courtyard gate with profuse thanks, clutching the denarii.
Watching the informant villager leave the small courtyard, one of the idlers suggested, "Why didn't you have him write down the names of the people involved?"
"With the new church backing them, the knight won't help, and we can't let anyone seize the handle." Henderson picked up a chickpea and tossed it into his mouth. "Besides, do we need him to tell us?"
The manor was only so big. Everyone knew which families had joined the mutual aid team. There was no need to ask the farmer.
"He's holding a prayer meeting tonight, is he?" Flicking a chickpea into his mouth, Henderson sneered. "Tell the villagers that the fox and wolf hunt will begin in mid-September. Anyone who wants to participate in this year's wolf hunt should come to my house tonight to discuss it."
Henderson's eldest son agreed and prepared to leave, but Henderson grabbed him. "There's one more thing. Help me deliver this letter to the manor head of Coslan Manor. Deliver it yourself, don't enter the manor, wait in the hunter's cabin."
"Yes, Father."
............
As someone from the Plains County, Ansel always felt a sinking sensation, as if falling into a ravine, when he stood on the road at the entrance of this manor village.
The mountain county's unique cold wood was known for its hardness and was often used for crude furniture and shields.
They grew tall and large, with few branches, arranged densely together.
Although there were steep slopes of less than twenty or thirty meters on both sides, the towering, stepped, dark black cold wood on the slopes created a sense of quiet, deep valley, with even the sky appearing as a narrow path.
Bryson was already familiar with this feeling. He wore an acorn wine pouch around his neck and took a sip from it from time to time.
Larol supported two wheelbarrows and would occasionally ask Bryson for a sip when he was thirsty.
Occasionally, Bryson would offer the wine pouch to Ansel's mouth: "Take a sip. There's ginger juice in it. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's late August in the manor, it's already October in the forest."
However, Ansel always refused. As a Saintly Path follower, he didn't forbid drinking, but he didn't encourage it either.
From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., as the sun approached its zenith, even Ansel couldn't help but become impatient.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait much longer. The caravan finally arrived.
As the crisp sound of horse bells rang, Ansel, who had been crouching behind the wheelbarrow, perked up and quickly stood up, walking towards the source of the sound.
Two large carriages were escorted by twenty or so soldiers. The wheels rolled over the stones on the ground, causing the entire carriage to bump or jump, and the wool loaded on the carriage would fly into the air.
Slowly stopping at the entrance of the village, the nag snorted, and the soldier driving the carriage jumped down.
He hammered his right hand on his left chest, then swung it out parallel to the ground until it formed a right angle with his body. This was the Savior Army's salute from the El Era, quite different from the empire's current common hat-raising salute.
"You're just arriving now. Will the later manors be able to transport everything?" Ansel didn't make things difficult or question the leading soldier.
The soldier complained: "The dirt roads in this area are either stones or potholes. The bridges over the streams along the way are too fragile, we forded them several times. Next time, we'll have to send more carriages and split up."
"You've worked hard." Flipping out a ledger from the carriage, Ansel signed his name on it and pressed his handprint. "Two dan of wool, two gallons of salt, and a bag of woodworking tools."
After the soldier confirmed, he directed the laborers on the carriage to unload two dan of wool. Larol and Bryson immediately pushed the carts for loading and unloading.
Taking advantage of this gap, Ansel exchanged briefs and letters from the superior monastery with the soldier, and submitted his weekly report for signature. Then, Ansel began reading the briefs on the spot.
Laboriously lifting the four bags of wool and throwing them into the wheelbarrow, Bryson leaned his head over: "Any news?"
"The progress in Kasha County is very smooth. It is estimated that a batch of new manpower will be sent soon to help." Holding this wide sheet of paper on both sides, Ansel's eyes scanned back and forth. "Saint Son has extended the deadline for us to before the heavy snow seals the mountain and made important instructions. The affairs of South Mande County would rather be slowed down than messed up."
Speaking of this, Ansel's expression suddenly changed, even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were squeezed out. Then, he burst out cursing for the first time: "What's going on? How did the superior monastery allow it?"
"Ah?" Bryson quickly leaned his head over, only to see the brief reading "... Coslan Manor's permanent tenancy rights have been successfully implemented, but the armed farmers maliciously resisted the reform. Facing the investigation, they refused to comply and fled into the mountains. Fellow monks, please pay attention to safety recently."
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"Is there any problem with this?" Bryson's eyes even lit up. "Isn't this a success? Let's just call in the army."
"It's not that simple." Ansel folded the brief and stuffed it into his satchel, then mustered his strength to push the wheelbarrow full of wool, heading towards the manor. "Saint Son warned us before we started that the army is the last resort, to be used only if necessary.
Chano tried to send troops to detain and force evidence without evidence. It's lucky that nothing happened now. If he's not careful, the entire South Mande County will explode.
It is estimated that Kasha County is progressing so rapidly, and we are progressing so slowly, that the priests are a little anxious."
In fact, the problem Ansel faced was the problem that Herman raised in the Privy Council.
The right seat of the Privy Council cannot represent all knights and nobles. Horn and Melia touched their lips and established laws, but the knights under this law may not necessarily implement it.
These laws have exploded the pressure on the knights. All powers in taxation, agriculture, military affairs, and politics have been reduced.
Melia is very clear about the average acceptance limit of the nobles, so she is almost dancing on the bottom line of the knights.
If it is the Mande area or the Hotam area, it will be better, but the mountainous areas of South Mande County are different.
The knights here have all made meritorious contributions and shed blood in the Qianhe Valley War, and Horn cannot ignore their outstanding contributions.
It's okay not to give rewards, but the result is that the knights have to cut meat and bleed.
Although the mountain knights recognize Melia's prestige, in this era of hierarchical enfeoffment, they cannot expect prestige to bring much control.
The most important reason they accept the Hundred-Household District reform is that they cannot beat Melia and the Kingdom of Leia.
In the eyes of the nobles who had to accept the Hundred-Household District reform after winning, Melia was killing three birds with one stone.
She took her own people to the Plains County, took her lover Horn, and took their unlucky knights.
Some extreme knights even shouted the extreme remarks that "Melia is Horn's dog", and many mountainous areas are spreading "Permanent tenancy rights and the Hundred-Household District are just a sheep's head selling dog meat, and the essence is to abolish the status of knights."
Once the pressure is detonated, the knights will launch a rebellion. Although it will not succeed, it will ruin Horn's affairs.
If they make trouble, at least the reform in the mountainous areas will have to be suspended for a year, because a lot of troops will have to be spent fighting guerrillas with the locals in the deep mountains and old forests.
How long is the window period left for Horn by the situation? Not to mention wasting a year, half a year is not enough.
For the rebellious mountain people, the other mountain counties may still be sympathetic.
If you want to continue to promote the Hundred-Household District reform in other mountain counties in the future, the resistance will increase exponentially.
This is still thinking in a good way. If it expands, it may be that several mountain counties will unite to revolt, and that will be really bad.
Laboriously pushing the wheelbarrow, Larol couldn't care about Ansel and Bryson's conversation, and didn't understand the twists and turns, just panting and asked: "Monk Ansel, what are you doing with so much wool?"
Ansel did not directly answer his question, but instead took out a piece of salt from the bottle and threw it to Larol: "In the evening, I will host a small collective prayer, spread the word, each family that comes will receive half a pound of wool for free."