Chapter 25: Bravery and Sincerity
In fact, when Gervis saw seafood such as oysters, his first thought was that the villagers were squandering resources. They had such a vast ocean but did not try to find a way to survive, but instead fought hard on the land.
If we can sell seafood outside the territory, it will definitely be better than farming honestly and we can make money faster.
Gervis has even begun to consider whether he should get all the villagers involved in his grand seafood trade plan.
However, this plan was ruthlessly shattered before it was even planned out.
When Gervis learned that the transportation of seafood was restricted, it was like a bucket of cold water was poured on him. In weather like today, even if the fish are alive and kicking when caught, they will become rotten fish and shrimp after being kept in the car for two or three hours and exposed to the sun.
Unless there is ice, but that is impossible. In this season, the price of ice is dozens of times more expensive than live fish, and he has no brains. It seems that the only way is to find a way to make aquatic products such as salted fish and dried fish.
"Ahem... ahem... so that's how it is. Then after you farm the fields and pay taxes throughout the year, can you guarantee that your family will have enough to eat?" Gervis stopped paying attention to the seafood and started asking other questions.
The village chief was stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment. They must not be full, otherwise those children would not be malnourished and they would not cook seafood every day.
But if they were not well fed, it meant that the Earl was exploiting them. After all, before Gervis took office, their territory was also managed by the Jones family.
But if they lied and said they had enough to eat, then if the lord raised taxes again, they would all starve to death. Not only the village chief looked troubled, but the other serfs also looked nervous.
Apart from Gervis, no other noble lord would ask such a question to a serf.
"My lord, I'm not full. I'm hungry every day!" Just when everyone fell silent, suddenly, a child in the crowd shouted. He was not tall, only about four or five years old, but his shout was very loud and everyone present could hear it.
The mother next to the child was startled. She quickly pulled the talking child away, covered his mouth, and a look of horror appeared on her face.
"My lord, please be magnanimous. I am just a child and do not know my way. Please forgive me!" The old village chief also looked terrified and quickly knelt on the ground.
Gervis ignored the village chief and walked straight towards the boy.
"Sir, please, the child is ignorant, please forgive his offense!" The child's mother was trembling with fear when she saw that Gervis had a bad look on his face and ignored the village chief's plea.
However, Gervis just walked up to her and took the child in his arms. The mother did not dare to resist and easily let Gervis take the child away.
Because she knew that if she disobeyed Gervis and he got angry, not only the child but also her whole family would suffer.
Everyone present thought that Gervis was going to punish the child. They all kept silent, trembling with their heads down. Even the village chief did not dare to say anything at this moment, but just secretly watched Gervis' actions in fear.
To these serfs, the nobility was inviolable, including the slightest offense. They all thought that Gervis had offended the Earl because of what the child said.
Gervis looked at the child in his arms. The child was wearing a pair of tattered linen shorts, with his upper body bare. His ribs were protruding from his chest. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was just skin and bones.
"You are a brave child who dares to speak the truth!"
Gervis began to praise the child.
As soon as Gervis opened his mouth, everyone was stunned, including Gervis's guards, who had just thought that Gervis was angry.
After all, although he was a child, his words seemed to be complaining about the nobles. In this world, nobles were taboos for serfs. Anyone who dared to belittle the nobles in private would be hanged by the nobles no matter which noble knew about it.
What's more, Lord Gervis is the Earl's husband.
"I say, this kid is very brave! He dares to tell the truth!" Seeing that everyone was stunned, Gervis spoke loudly to the audience again, and the volume of his voice increased significantly.
"To commend him, I will reward him with 20 copper coins!"
As he spoke, Gervis waved to Laurie behind him. Laurie immediately stepped forward, took out a copper coin from his pocket and handed it to Gervis.
Gervis took the coin and put it in the child's hand. When the child saw Gervis put the coin in his hand, he stopped crying and struggling.
He picked up the coin curiously, looked at it from left to right, and liked it very much.
The copper coins were small and had strange patterns on them. The child thought it was fun to grab the silver coins, but the serfs present knew the value of 20 copper coins. Two or three copper coins were a day's wages for an adult. Now, just because of the child's truth, he got 20 copper coins.
All the serfs looked at the child with envy, especially the child's mother. After she realized what was happening, she burst into tears of joy.
"Thank you, Lord, for your reward!" At this time, the village chief remained rational and knelt down to thank Gervis.
"Both of you get up!" Gervis put the child on the ground. The child took the copper coin rewarded by Gervis and quickly returned to his mother. He held the copper coin in front of his mother like offering a treasure.
After hearing Gervis ask them to stand up, the village chief stood up first. However, the mother kowtowed to Gervis first and said to him with sobs, "Thank you, Lord, for the reward!"
After saying that, he stood up with one hand on the ground and the other hand supporting the child tied behind his back.
Gervis smiled and nodded to the child's mother, then looked away and said to everyone: "As long as you work hard, I believe your life will get better and better under my leadership!"
"Yes, Lord, we will work hard on farming."
After hearing what Gervis said, although everyone thought in their hearts that we have never been lazy while working, we still can't eat enough, but they still answered Gervis in unison.
"Very good, then I'll leave today! You just work hard, believe me, I will make your life better and better!" Gervis certainly knew that these serfs would definitely not be lazy at work, because daring to be lazy would mean that they would starve to death.
They may not take what they said seriously, but time will prove everything. If life really gets better in the future, they will think that it is the credit of Lord Gervis.
"My Lord, take care!" Seeing that Gervis had already mounted his horse, the village chief immediately greeted him.
"Oh, by the way, what's your name, village chief?" Gervis, who was sitting on the horse, suddenly remembered that he didn't know the name of the village chief.
"My Lord, my name is Avery Hoe."
Gervis wanted to laugh, but was afraid of ruining his majestic image, so he raised his head slightly and looked at the sky. The literacy rate in this world is very low, and only the nobles would give their surnames beautiful and pleasant sounds.
The serfs, because they had no education and were worried that some of their surnames would conflict with those of the nobles, used things they saw in daily life as their surnames. For example, the surname "hoe" of the village chief was very serf-like. In addition to this hoe, there were also hammers, iron bars, stones and even cow dung. The choice of surnames was completely random, as long as there was no overlap in the scope of activities.
"Oh, Avery, ask someone to pick up some oysters on the beach and send them to my castle." Gervis suddenly remembered oysters and said to Avery.
"Yes, Lord!" the village chief responded quickly.
"My Lord, take care..."
After asking Laurie to leave another ten copper coins, Gervis rode away on his horse with his guards. The serfs gathered at the entrance of the village hurriedly said goodbye.
After Gervis walked away, everyone looked at the boy who had just been hugged by Gervis with shining eyes, and most importantly, they looked at the copper coins in his hand.
When the boy's mother saw everyone's gazes, she quickly snatched the coin from the child's hand and held it tightly, as if she was afraid that the coin would slip away. She glared at those who were looking at her with a fierce look.
When the others saw the copper coin being taken away by the boy's mother and her fierce look, they all looked away.
The adults with children looked at the boy, then looked at their own children beside them, and suddenly became very angry. They grabbed their children's ears and twisted them.
"Wa... wah... wah..." From a distance, Gervis suddenly heard crying sounds coming from behind, and it was the crying of many children. He turned back curiously to look, but it was too far away. He could only see a few human figures dispersing, and nothing else could be seen clearly.
"???" Gervis was a little confused. But as they got farther and farther away from the mountain village, he turned around and focused on riding.
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There are changes!
(End of this chapter)
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