Chapter 85 Daily Life of Baron 85
In October, after the autumn harvest, the vegetation in the wasteland turned yellow and the deep forests in the north entered the rainy season. The cold rain drizzled, white fog filled the sea and the forest, and the wet cold air suddenly covered the entire earth.
At dawn, when the barracks were still quiet, Caesar had already practiced swordplay for an hour.
He returned from the training ground, changed out of his casual clothes, wiped his body with cold water, and planned to put on an exquisite and elegant robe.
Now I am not a knight. According to etiquette, there is no need to wear armor and ride a horse around every day.
As a baron, more time is spent on completing various ceremonies.
Today was a day for prayer, so he walked to his suitcase and, following the original order, picked up a dark grey suede robe that was just the right thickness for the season and put it on.
Put on tight pants and boots.
She walked to the jewelry box again and pinned various medals on her chest in the order they were placed. She also put some family crest rings and personal signet rings on the hand that only had a wedding ring.
Then, a silver buckle was tied narrowly around his waist, and on the belt hung a dagger given by the earl, with the scabbard inlaid with various gems.
It was almost breakfast time in the barracks when he walked out of his bedroom.
In the center of the second floor of the port barracks, there is a long table dining room with a total of seven seats.
The top seat belongs to Caesar, and the first seats on each side belong to the knights Galt and Lannis.
The second positions on either side belonged to Squire George and Sheriff Tani respectively.
The last two positions belonged to cavalrymen named Omins and Lolon.
Seats are arranged according to status.
These two already have knighthoods, so they sit higher than the other four.
Galt and Lannis used to work under Ssonar and are now in their thirties and forties.
For the Earl's attendants, becoming a knight at this age was already a sign of retirement.
Once order is restored in the towns and cities and there is no shortage of manpower, Caesar will grant these two men fiefs and tenants and let them guard the manor.
The two of them sat near the front, but had no real influence.
George and Tani were both Caesar's confidants who followed him out of the manor.
George's official title was squire, but he didn't do the kind of work that required waiting on the horse.
George was responsible for handling Caesar's complicated official duties and recording matters.
Supervise the progress of various urban construction projects, inspect port taxes and city defense, and handle various matters related to other towns.
Although Tani is called the sheriff, his main job now is to lead soldiers around.
He was responsible for public security in the city, patrolling the city walls, official transportation and mail delivery, collecting taxes, investigating crimes, and had hundreds of soldiers under his command.
They have actual power in their hands, are young and promising, and in the future they only need to be recommended by Caesar to compete with the count to obtain the title of knight.
Caesar has nominated George to the Earl. George will go to Anko City to participate in the martial arts tournament this winter. He will have to stay in the Knights Templar for a few months and will be a knight when he returns next year.
Given Tani's personal level, he has a great chance of obtaining the title of knight after another year or two of training.
The two cavalrymen at the end were Osmin and Luolong.
Osmin is 25 years old this year and is one of the earliest cavalrymen to follow out of the village, but his family is just an ordinary self-employed farmer.
He had been a soldier since Caesar's father was still alive.
He was originally an old soldier who had followed Caesar for the past one or two years.
Repeated hard training, fighting with wild beasts, experiencing the cold, learning combat techniques bit by bit, and real war, he suffered a profound baptism in all aspects.
After seeing the world and realizing the differences between people, I have become very stable.
The latter were local Legians, recruited from among the able-bodied men after Caesar arrived at the port.
Because of his good physique, this man was imprisoned by the rebels and forced to work as a laborer at the port.
Not only him, the rebels also enslaved twenty or thirty laborers.
Later, Baron Lavoisin occupied the port to show that he was an army of justice.
Baron Lavosen, on the advice of old Renault, released slaves including Lolong.
After Caesar came here, Loron brought these able-bodied men to recruit soldiers in exchange for food.
Seeing that Loron had some influence on the local Laenians, Caesar picked him out, arranged him to be a cavalryman, and treated him well as a sign of appeasement.
Osmin and Luo Long were responsible for leading people to patrol the large territories outside the city and the various manors, and were responsible for long-distance transportation.
When Caesar arrived at the dining room, the other six people had already arrived and were standing upright beside him, waiting for his signal to sit down.
The breakfast for the seven of them was very simple, but it included meat, eggs, milk and vegetables.
After Caesar sat down, there was a piece of white bread, a piece of roast chicken, a piece of cheese, a bowl of vegetable soup, and linden tea on the plate in front of him.
The same dish was in front of other people.
After a simple pre-meal prayer, they began to use their knives and took a few bites very quietly. Then Caesar began his routine and asked them about their respective work progress.
George said that everything was normal at the port and on the coast. He received a letter from Baron Renault last night asking if they had received the Earl's invitation to the banquet and whether they wanted to go together.
The Earl here refers to Eslo Everk, who has settled in the city of Sharwuz in Constant County.
A child of fifteen or sixteen years old.
George continued, "The Earl has indeed sent someone to invite you to his birthday party. Are you ready to go?"
"go."
Caesar nodded and said that he did not intend to give up just because the little count was just a puppet of his father.
George nodded and replied, "Mrs. Gift is ready to be delivered."
After the schedule was set, Caesar began to ask about the defense of the city of Tani and how the guarding of the town's warehouses and granaries was arranged.
Ask Osmin and Luo Long about matters outside the city, such as the detailed map surveying progress. I heard that there are many wild beasts near a certain farming estate, and whether they have gone to clear them out.
Galt and Lannis are currently serving as the royal guards, accompanying Caesar as security.
Apart from these two people, the other four people were sweating profusely from the questions.
Whenever they made the slightest mistake or took something with them, they would be noticed and pointed out immediately.
Whether it is slackness or mistakes, they are all obvious and cannot be hidden at all.
However, even if he fails to do something right, the Baron will not have any emotions.
It's not about scolding or preaching, but it's even more difficult to deal with.
For example, when Tani first became a sheriff, he was very proud of himself until he encountered a small dispute between businessmen.
The two businessmen had considerable assets and were very cunning. They both yelled at the young sheriff, each claiming to be right, and each having his own faults.
Faced with such a situation, Tani was somewhat overwhelmed and hesitant inside, which first led to the loss of his dignity as an official.
He first went to Fanon for help and advice.
Fanon, however, was quick-witted and said he could do nothing to help, as it was not within his jurisdiction.
Once the case is settled and the crime is found in the law, he can determine the punishment according to the doctrine.
Tani was undecided, afraid of messing up and setting a bad precedent.
But when he came before Caesar, Caesar did not remove him from his position.
Instead, he asked Tani to do what he could to the end and find out the true whole story.
If you understand it clearly enough, you won’t be at a loss as to how to judge.
As a result, Tani, who wanted to resign, was not only not removed from his position as sheriff, but had to continue to deal with the dispute.
Tani had no choice but to go ahead.
He thought about what the Baron said. To do what he could, wasn't that just using the sheriff's power to the extreme?
So, Tani did not shirk his responsibility and made up his mind to investigate. It took him two full days, and he did not eat at all. He repeatedly questioned a dozen people.
He carefully interrogated all the workers, family members, and guests related to the two businessmen, went to the place where the dispute occurred, and questioned the neighbors.
After repeated interrogations, Tani found that the testimony of one of the men did not match for a period of time.
Only then did they catch the lie of one of the merchants, follow this clue, sort out the case, and legally charge both merchants.
Finally, Fanon followed the teachings and punished the two dishonest merchants, who stole weights and shortchanged each other, with fifteen lashes.
After that, Tani realized that when encountering such things, he should have more patience and not be afraid of trouble. Since he has power, he must use it boldly to live up to the responsibility on his shoulders.
Regarding this matter, they also realized that the Baron's attitude towards his subordinates was not purely to use them, but to shape them.
This makes it more difficult to let go of responsibility and slack off as a matter of course than to treat them directly as tools.
After breakfast, Caesar took two knights and rode in a performance style, taking the main road to the temporary church in the city.
Most local residents and foreign merchants are very curious about the Baron.
In their view, the baron was too low-key. There was no information about his preferences or itinerary that could be found out.
These businessmen, a small number of whom were very powerful, had met the Baroness when they purchased large amounts of land or leased land on a large scale.
Sheriffs and knights are also often seen.
But none of them spoke to the Baron.
These businessmen all have their own little schemes, and they are all looking at the pot while having their fill, and they all have complaints about Eindhoven's current business model.
This is a good port city. It is located in the seaport and has rivers, which gives it natural advantages in shipping.
It is also a newly built town, which should be the most suitable for them to expand their business. They can even monopolize an industry at the beginning of the city's construction, so they will definitely make a lot of money in the future.
However, the market here is very special now.
Most of the businesses that have a profound impact on the public are firmly controlled by the Baroness's agents, and the control is very tight.
Whether it is quality, price or quantity, it is all average.
If other businessmen want to do the same business as the direct sales industry, there are only two ways to go.
Either improve the quality, bring the quality of the products to the baseline, and make your own profits through this effort.
Or, just be more responsible.
We honestly follow the standards for directly sold products and set prices according to these standards.
They can at least get a piece of the pie. Because of the geographical advantage, they have no problem surviving and can make a profit.
However, the profits were not as much as they had originally imagined.
Some businessmen think, why should it be the Letilen family?
The Baroness trusts them, but the Baron may not trust them completely, right?
These businessmen also knew that they couldn't do anything to the Baroness, but maybe they could get the Baron to do something about it?
So, seeing that the baron's regular schedule was prayer, these merchants did not miss any prayer days and came to the church every day.
In order to cater to the baron's piety, they brought their families with them, donated money to the church, and fought for better seats so that they could speak to the baron and recommend their abilities.
Sometimes, the baron would also symbolically say a few words to civilians and businessmen.
The merchants who had already spoken to the baron came to the baron for the second time to deepen their impression, but found that the baron seemed to have forgotten them again.
The businessmen who had been defeated repeatedly had no choice but to give up the idea.
Today, after Caesar finished praying in the church, he saw that fewer and fewer merchants wanted to approach him, and he couldn't help but feel funny.
After the prayer, he and Fanon spoke privately for a while about the conversion of the local Lenians to Protestantism and the various minor lawsuits in the city recently.
Fanon only stated that the Leninians here were not very resistant to converting to Protestantism.
Now, after leading the prayers every morning, he would go to teach the children of the Lenian soldiers to read the scriptures.
Every day the church would see a few Lenya workers who were accidentally injured, treat their injuries, teach them to identify medicinal herbs, and dig herbs for them to eat.
Fanon thought, in order to spread the gospel, he and other monks did everything they could, so couldn't they control these Lenians?
"Tani has been handling the recent lawsuits better and better. I think he has completely adapted to being a sheriff. Of course, there is nothing difficult for me to do here."
Caesar learned about the situation and took two knights to the fortress under construction.
The group rode into the center of the fortress, a four-acre open space surrounded by buildings.
Rows of temporary long houses were built on the open space, with wood, bricks, stones, tiles, slates, hemp ropes, bags of mud and undried mortar piled everywhere.
The longhouse is the residence of designer Loski and the construction workers.
The most spacious one is Loschi's office.
Caesar and the knight walked in with ease. Loschi was already in front of the desk, ticking off items one by one.
Now in October, the second floor of the fortress has been completed, as well as half of the third floor.
In another half a month, we can start covering the roof and tiling, and decorating the interior.
In another month or two, the main building of the fortress will be ready for occupancy.
Caesar was very concerned about the construction progress of the fortress. He took time to come here every day, so that the workers and managers here did not dare to slack off.
But the designer Slochi was not in a hurry at all and just continued to do what he had to do.
Although the Baron didn't say it, his face always showed great anticipation.
Slochi knew that he wanted the fortress to be repaired quickly so that he could invite his wife to settle down.
However, Slochi is very principled. Even if the Baron is so anxious that he is going around in circles, he has to work step by step to ensure quality and quantity.
Otherwise, how could the Baroness offer him such a high salary?
Caesar could clearly sense what Loschi was thinking, and he didn't feel embarrassed at all.
After the routine supervision was completed, around noon, Caesar and the knights went to the city in a very low-key manner to check the progress of the construction of the ditches and fire towers, and occasionally visited the large warehouse under construction.
They usually never say hello. Once the blueprint is drawn, they just go wherever the construction is going on.
The desired effect is suddenness.
They returned to the barracks at lunchtime.
In the afternoon, Caesar usually stayed at home, dealing with the various matters that George had gone through in the morning.
Occasionally, I would also meet other barons and their officials who passed by from Einweiden or came to visit specially.
For example, the sheriff of Onido.
South of Einweden, on the other side of the river, in the northern part of Desiso County, there is a town called Anido.
The beach on the Anido side is very shallow, with many reefs and cliffs on the shore. The coast is frozen in winter, and there is no deep-water harbor for large ships.
However, the fishing industry in this area is very developed. On the steep reefs, there are all kinds of seafood and shellfish, and even shrimps and crabs weighing several pounds can be caught in the sea not far away.
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