Chapter 16: Four Years of Tax Exemption
In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of November. The weather was freezing cold, and even the traveling merchants who rode their mules to sell fine salt, frankincense and myrrh did not come.
Since the sheriff came to pick up the people two nights ago, there was another snowfall this morning, covering the land in the front and back yards tightly.
The craftsmen who came to work in the manor early in the morning were all freezing, so Olivia asked them to build a pointed shed in the yard, build a fire in the shed, and put an iron pot on the fire to boil hot water for drinking at all times.
This work of tamping the ground is the most difficult, but it must be done in one go, then wooden boards must be laid and a house built to cover it, otherwise the soil will be softened again.
However, despite the difficult climate, these craftsmen still came on time, if for no other reason than to receive three meals a day delivered on time by the kitchen of the manor.
Every morning, noon and evening, the cook would cook a large pot of dry porridge made from aged oats and various grains from the warehouse for the craftsmen to eat.
Even though it was aged grain, it was still much better than the sourdough bread made by the craftsmen themselves, which was mixed with bran and stones.
These craftsmen eat this kind of food all year round, and none of them has good teeth.
Not only was there no stone in the big pot of rice in the manor's kitchen, it was also cooked very dryly, with some leftover meat from cooking for the lord occasionally in it.
If the cook had time, she would make a separate pot of salty gravy with pork skin and blood sausage, and sometimes there would be dried fish that had gotten damp from the bottom of the box to eat.
For a craftsman who can only eat meat twice a year, this is already a very good meal.
Even the richest blacksmith among them only had a skinny hen at home, and he had to save the eggs to sell.
Each craftsman was given a plate of food in the kitchen, ate it quickly, and then went back to work.
The work on the soil compaction and main beams has been almost completed. The next step is to fill the walls of the courtyard-style farmhouse.
Olivia came here for inspection as usual early every morning, and first went to see the cattle and sheep that had been mated with stud horses the day before.
The current breeding method is still very primitive. It is to separate the cows and sheep and the breeding bulls in a corner, and then release them after a day and a night. If the cows and sheep's bellies swell up after a month, it means that the breeding is successful.
If nothing happens, then look for a stronger stud.
For the sake of the development of the manor, Olivier now just unscrupulously hopes that these cattle and sheep can give birth to eighteen babies in one litter.
But Lucy, who was milking the pot, refuted Olivia's fantasy and said:
"Ma'am, how is that possible? The most powerful cow I've ever seen only gave birth to two calves at once.
This cow has a long gestation period and only gives birth once a year. If it were a ewe, it would be about the same."
"Some have three or four lambs, and some have one or two."
Lucy finished the milking work quickly and filled half a can of cow milk and goat milk. She took them back to the kitchen to put them into the wooden wheel churn to skim the fat.
Olivia went to the chicken coop again and looked at the hens that were neatly sitting on their eggs. The incubation period for these eggs was twenty-one days.
Every day, Lucy would manage the eggs, mark those laid on the same day, and put them in the same grass nest.
The first batch of eggs to be hatched was located on the outside. Olivia picked up one and walked out of the chicken coop. Under the light of the snow, she could clearly see that there was a red mass of blood-colored filaments condensed in the eggshell.
About a few days after Christmas, the chicks in this nest will hatch.
By then, the new chicken coop will be built and they won’t have to squeeze into this small nest anymore.
After checking each egg, Olivia went to check the feed trough.
These chickens eat the bran left over from threshing the millet. The farm has plenty of bran, so there is no need to worry about the chicks having nothing to eat after they hatch.
Finally, she returned to the dining room of the main house and waited for dinner.
However, before Caesar left in the morning, he said that the Baron would send someone to deliver the reward today.
So Olivia's mind was not on breakfast. After eating a little, she paced around the house, and from time to time went to the back of the house to watch the craftsmen building the house.
Watch them saw the wood into flat pieces, put them into the house piece by piece, and hammer them with iron nails. It looks like they are playing with large building blocks.
This pile of long iron nails was also bought by the steward in the town. It was expensive, costing several silver coins. It was mainly used to fix the wood on the top. These carpenters did not know how to make mortise and tenon structures.
The snow fell and stopped, until it was almost noon, when the sheriff's men hurried to the manor to report the news and bring rewards.
Olivia and the butler greeted them in the hall.
It was a small box, about the size of a palm, made of wood, with a copper lock. When it was opened, there was only a thin parchment-signed document inside, tied with a ribbon.
Olivia looked at the flattering expressions on the sheriff's men and opened the paper suspiciously.
After taking a quick look, they realized that the reward they received was an official document exempting them from taxes for four years.
The sheriff's men said that there was also a reward from Knight Renault, and it was also tax-free, but the Baron knew that it was because of Caesar that these people were captured, so he only exempted her father from taxes for two years.
Fifty gold coins can be saved in two years. Olivia felt quite comfortable because she could save a hundred gold coins.
This reward, although it is valuable, is actually just that they will not be exploited for four years, but it is also not important to say that it is unimportant.
With this document, it means that in these four years, no matter how the manor develops, how much grain, livestock, goods it can produce, or how big the business is, the baron will no longer have any reason to take a penny of tax from the manor.
Olivia, who was delighted to get into the duty-free zone, immediately realized how important this document was in her hands!
Perhaps the Baron just wanted to save trouble, or perhaps the Earl gave the Baron more rewards.
But now Olivia is satisfied, and this is what she needs most at the moment.
As for four years later, it will be a whole different world, so there is no need to worry.
Olivia suppressed her emotions and remained expressionless, only giving some coins to the person who delivered the letter.
The housekeeper watched from the side and couldn't help showing a look of joy. Then, in the next few years, he wouldn't have to sell grain in fear to raise money.
In previous years, after the autumn harvest, he not only had to collect taxes from the millers, but also had to find buyers to sell all the grain, crops, and handicrafts collected to offset the taxes.
By the end of October, you have to collect enough gold coins and send them to the sheriff.
Every year after the autumn harvest, he and the miller would grow an extra layer of white hair. It was a nightmare, a nightmare.
It's okay now.
After sending the sheriff's men away, Olivia and the butler went to the restaurant and carefully discussed what would happen next.
Olivia took the opportunity to bring up her previous thoughts and said:
"Since we don't have to pay taxes anymore, Steward, next spring I want to take over all the tenant farmers' land and manage it together with the manor's private plots to prevent the tenant farmers from planting crops at will."
After hearing this, the butler showed a bitter look on his face, as if he understood that there was a lot of work waiting for him to do, but he couldn't refuse.
"Madam, this is not impossible, but what about these tenant farmers?"
Olivia thought about it and didn't speak directly. Instead, she calculated with the housekeeper how much food an adult worker would need to eat in a year.
The butler frowned and did some calculations. He figured out that, assuming a normal adult laborer would need to eat oats worth six or seven silver coins a year to survive.
"In our village, a family of three would need to eat more than a dozen silver coins worth of food a year."
"Then give them these dozen silver coins as monthly wages so they can buy their own food."
In the future, the system will unlock more crops, and she will use these lands as experimental fields.
After all, we don’t have to pay taxes now, so we can still afford to pay the tenant farmers a stable salary.
Olivia thought that she didn't have much ability, so she could only let every tenant farmer live an ordinary life, getting paid according to the day, going to get off work and leaving on time, and having enough food and clothing to avoid starvation.
After listening to this, the butler thought about it and agreed. He thought the same way.
Anyway, we don’t have to pay taxes anymore, so if the business fails, it won’t be a big problem.
He didn't think that in the future all the tenant farmers in the fiefdom would really live such a good life, which sounded like a dream.
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