lerbook #291 - Welcome to Chateau Jeanne d'Arc
#291 - Welcome to Chateau Jeanne d'Arc
After the Knights of the North garrisoned Jeanne d'Arc Fortress and began to gradually eliminate the bandit knights while guarding the checkpoints, the Holy Musket Riders were finally able to free up their hands.
Starting from the second day of the Assembly of Believers, 15 Holy Musket Rider brigades, in coordination with 15 military police squads, used Jeanne d'Arc Fortress as their center, transforming into dozens of columns of dust, and stormed into various villages.
“Wuwuwu——”
The horns sounded, and the peasant women in the manor immediately picked up their children and dashed into their houses like a gust of wind.
The remaining villagers, under the pushing and shoving of the people's representatives, dared to walk towards the cavalrymen with one step forward and three glances back.
An armed peasant representative, angered, kicked a villager in the tailbone: “It’s not like you’re going to the execution ground, hurry up!”
After the villagers meekly gathered, the low-level monks escorted by the Holy Musket Riders began to open the notice and preach.
The content was nothing more than warnings to the villagers to change to the Savior Army's flag, such as “The Savior Army is here, there is hope for justice, the Savior Army is here, Kush is at peace,” and to be honest.
However, within this, they heard something different.
Only after the Holy Musket Riders left with rolling dust clouds did the farmers with close relationships run to the representative to inquire.
“Cousin, what does this talk about dividing the fields mean? Are they going to divide the lord’s land among us?”
“Almost.” The representative said smugly, “According to the church’s tax register, you’ll be allocated as much land as you pay grain.”
“There’s such a good thing?” Turning to look at the other land-taxed peasants, an armed peasant named Cersei dragged his cousin to a quiet place under the big locust tree, “Cousin, how are we going to divide it?”
The representative frowned, hesitated for a moment, and finally puffed out his chest: “It will be divided as it should be. In a few days, the military police squad will come with the land division team.”
“Cousin, we are all good people in the village…”
“I advise you to send the grain that you underpaid in the past three years to Jeanne d'Arc Fortress. This is the last inside information I'm giving you as your cousin. It won't harm you.”
Patting his cousin's shoulder, this representative who was eager to improve walked to the other villagers who had not yet dispersed.
“Listen up, from today onwards, you are no longer the Duke’s subjects, but the subjects of the Pope and the Holy Father.” The representative pointed his index finger at the sky, “His Eminence is virtuous, exempting us from a year of tax. We will take good care of the spring plowing, ah, don’t have any crooked thoughts…”
“It’s still the Holy Father who is merciful.”
“Yes, a year of tax, exempted as soon as it is said.”
“Big brother, is it really exempt?”
“Maybe it’s just talk, and they’ll collect it all back in the tribute later.”
This representative was holding a big meeting above, and the villagers were holding small meetings below, angering the armed peasant representative to cough repeatedly to quiet the villagers.
“Finally, this time, to preside over the land division, we need to recruit the Protectorate Army to help with the land division, selected from the land-taxed peasants. Who wants to sign up?”
The villagers present immediately became as quiet as chicks, with only a few young villagers raising their hands.
“Okay, it’s you few then.”
Standing on the high hillside, Martin and Sissy coldly watched the changes taking place in the village below.
They had seen such scenes many times since they entered the territory of the Kush Territory.
By the mill, by the waterwheel, by the fence, in the fields and lanes, groups of villagers and townspeople gathered around the representatives, listening to the new decrees they brought with joy or worry.
Departing from Rapid Falls City, because they entered a state of war, with checkpoints questioning them at every level, the two of them did not arrive near Jeanne d'Arc Fortress until March 22nd.
However, such scenes were only on the periphery, in some manors where the land division work had not yet begun.
When Martin and Sissy could see the steeple of the Jeanne d'Arc Fortress church, the countryside was a different scene.
The monastery on the hill was wide open, with thick smoke billowing out, and a row of neat corpses lay beside the courtyard wall.
Low-level monks with ropes and shackles around their hands and necks were being led forward step by step with mournful faces.
Carriages of gold and silver coins made crisp sounds as the vehicles bumped along.
Those dazzling jewels and ornaments even emitted a dazzling light in the sun.
After this dazzling light passed, there were fields upon fields, and the landmark stones and shrubs that had been forcibly divided by the manor lords were being removed one by one by the Protectorate Army.
“Let’s dismount and walk.” Monk Martin could feel the strange gazes around him, especially since he was being led and protected by three Holy Musket Riders.
After dismounting, Martin could see the actions of the people in the fields more clearly.
Next to the large rock that served as a manor landmark, a simple shed was set up, and several monks under the shed were reading out names according to the account books.
“Delis of Relier Village, 33 years old, a family of four, allocated 65 acres of land, come forward to press your fingerprint and sign.”
“Delis of Relier Village… why is it Delis again? You are the short Delis, let’s call you Delis Shaw, a family of eight, allocated 92 acres of land, come forward to press your fingerprint and sign.”
One by one, the villagers whose names were called were led by the Protectorate Army to the edge of the fields after pressing their fingerprints.
The Protectorate Army and the Child Army were holding long rulers, slowly measuring the fields, and then using dozens of wooden sticks to knock them into the soil to divide out the approximate area.
Hohn had always felt very puzzled about the Empire’s mathematical level, that is, their geometric level was outrageously strong, even touching the edge of modern times.
But their arithmetic level was still stuck in the early Middle Ages, calculating a two-digit multiplication and division still required a calculation ruler, which was a mess.
Their thinking was very strange, always using geometric methods to solve arithmetic problems, not to mention algebraic operations.
But a good geometric level allowed Hohn’s land division movement to run quite well.
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Even Rafael, the captain of the Child Army Military Police, had summed up a mathematical rule, that is, the accuracy of the monks' land division was directly proportional to the number of bruises on their faces.
In the fields, those villagers knelt on the ground, holding the wet, smelly soil in both hands, and one by one they burst into tears.
They kissed the land while repeatedly prostrating themselves in the direction of Jeanne d'Arc Fortress, shouting the name of “Pope!” and dancing and jumping on the fields.
Squatting down, grabbing a handful of sticky soil, looking at the dancing farmers, a smile couldn't help but appear on Martin's face.
But such peaceful and joyful scenes were not everywhere. Before they had walked two steps, they saw an armed peasant being sandwiched between two Protectorate Army soldiers, dragged towards the village entrance.
His feet kicked wildly, leaving a long shallow ditch in the ground.
“What’s going on?” Leading the horse, Martin stopped.
“Let’s go take a look.” Sissy suggested.
Passing through the crowd of onlookers, they saw the armed peasant being pressed on a large stone, his wool tights pulled down, revealing his dark buttocks.
A military policeman wearing a pointed needle cap picked up a long whip and swung it casually, creating a cracking sound in the air.
“Snap!”
The muscles on the faces of the surrounding villagers twitched at the same time, and some even turned their faces away in unbearable pain.
The first whip made the armed peasant cry out:
“It’s you who want to steal my own land, I didn’t do anything, my only mistake was not becoming that representative… it’s too painful!”
The manor's people's representative crossed his arms in front of his chest, sneeringly educating the villagers:
“Look, this is the consequence, taking the land that should be divided and selling it to the land-taxed peasants who are being allocated land, allowing the land-taxed peasants to redeem it in installments, illegally buying and selling land, whipping!”
Looking at the bloody buttocks, the other villagers present felt a faint pain in their own buttocks.
“I advise everyone, don’t have any crooked ideas, divide it as it should be divided, and those who have evaded taxes before, make up for it as soon as possible, and the past will not be blamed, otherwise even I can’t save you.”
“You are a people's representative, your land hasn't been divided, of course you can stand and talk without back pain…”
“Who, who is talking?” Pointing at the crowd, the people's representative was furious, “My land hasn’t been divided because I made up the tax, what about you?”
“You representatives can make up for it with money, of course it’s good, everyone else is making up for it with grain, it’s a huge loss…”
“Who? Who is it? If you have the ability, stand up!” Being exposed time and time again, the people's representative completely lost face, roaring at the crowd with a flushed face.
“Is this representative the grassroots official of the Papal States?” Martin asked Sissy in a low voice with interest.
Before Sissy could answer, a voice laughed: “Barely, but if you really want to talk about the grassroots of the Papal States, I’m afraid they don’t even qualify.”
“Jeanne!” Sissy smiled and reached out to say hello, and Jeanne slowly walked over leading her horse.
“You must be Friar Martin.” Jeanne and Martin bowed with a hand on their chest at the same time, “My brother is injured and it’s inconvenient for him to travel, so he sent me to welcome you, welcome to Jeanne d'Arc Fortress.”