The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 73 The countertide of slavery

After recalling many things that had happened in the past two months, Hugo turned his attention back and scanned the city of Hugo today.

The first thing that caught Hugo's eyes was the wooden wall standing outside Hugo's city. This wooden wall was made in the form of stacked boxes, that is, the wood was assembled into a box, and then the boxes were stacked one by one. Forming a wooden wall, and then filling the wooden wall with stone and soil - Hugo did not plan to build an ordinary wooden wall outside Hugo's city, that would be too cheap.

However, even now this wooden wall still looks very cheap.

To be honest, compared with the white City of Hugo, this wooden wall looks like scribbling on the corner of an elegant painting. Even if it is painted with white paint, it cannot compare with the color of the City of Hugo. Compared with marble buildings, the two standing together are called Beauty and the Beast at best, and like a beggar and aristocrat at worst.

When the war is over, this wall will be replaced immediately. There are marble mines everywhere in Andas. To be worthy of the city of Hugo, it must be a white wall made of high-quality marble - let alone this one. The ancient meaning that the city represents, and just the fact that it bears its own name, is destined to deserve the best.

Taking one last look at the uncomfortable wooden wall, Hu Ge left the window and began to walk down the spiral staircase. Counting the time, it was time for today's interview.

Hu Ge would allocate three hours every day as audience time, so that small and medium-sized nobles and even civilians could make complaints and requests to him, and Hu Ge would also use this opportunity to meet his ordinary subjects.

This interview took a long time, but now is the time when Hu Ge needs to have more contact with his subjects. At the very least, he has to let the local nobles and powerful people see his face.

As he walked, Hu Ge's right hand traced the wall of the tower from time to time. Hu Ge was full of sighs for the palace he was in. Every time he felt the solidity of the tower, he could not believe that it was built thousands of years ago. Architecture - Even if you understand that this is the power of the Seven Gods, your thinking inertia will always change involuntarily.

Under the Father's Tower, little Gleicher had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Hugo walking out of the Father's Tower, he immediately offered Hugo's cloak with both hands. After Hugo nodded, he allowed the young man to put it on for him. Cloak, and taking care of clothes.

The audience is an important channel for Hugo to meet ordinary subjects. He must maintain his dignity as a ruler.

"Little Gleicher, if we have to deal with that matter next, what is your father's opinion?"

Although the audience is a channel for ordinary subjects to meet Hu Ge, according to Hu Ge's practice of not liking things to go out of control, the words discussed next and the people interviewed are all under control.

So Hu Ge already knew what was going to be discussed next, and of course the people around him also knew it.

When little Gleicher was taking care of Hugo's clothes, Hugo asked him, and little Gleicher showed an indignant look on his face, "Sir Hugo, my father has expressed to me that no matter what you do, He will fully support your decision. In my personal opinion, you should execute all these guys who are living with slave owners. They have violated the will of the Seven Gods and were tempted by mortal wealth, so they should receive the most severe punishment. .”

"Little Gleicher, it is good to have piety to the Seven Gods, but in many cases, piety cannot be used as the benchmark for action. If so, it will be misled, and it will be counterproductive, leading to what should have been Those who can be fought for have been pushed to the other side. Didn’t the Seven Gods also tell us that we must have a compassionate heart? We must not shout and kill at every turn."

Looking at this young man's fanatical believer, Hugo taught him that being pious is a good thing, but it cannot be too fanatical. Hugo's words made little Gleicher's eyes flash with confusion. For this person who has a superior life, For a young man who has always regarded the Seven Gods as his life creed, he still couldn't understand Hu Ge's words - after all, he had always been too well protected by his father.

"So, watch carefully and study hard next." After saying this, Hu Ge looked at the clothes that had been taken care of. The child was still so straightforward in doing things, which was very good.

Hugo still remembered that Duke Eddard Stark said that when he went to court, he would take out the Duke's mask. Hugo did the same now. As the ruler of Andas, he took out the mask called the Ruler of Andas. mask.

Amid the salutes of many subjects and court members, Hugo walked through the gate and came to the hall of the Seven Gods Hall. This hall is called the Hall of Sculptures because the walls are covered with sculptures created by Andas craftsmen in the past. Most of these murals are about the story of Hugo, the king of the hills, being crowned by the Father, blessed by the seven gods, and his glorious rule over the vast kingdom of ancient Andas.

And now, a monarch also named Hugo sits on Hugo's throne. Like the city, Hugo's throne is also made of marble, with exquisite matches and lines all over it.

To be honest, it's not comfortable to sit on, but it's tradition.

Since the former herald Bonifer has now led his army to Ashenvale as the leader of the Holy War Knights for support, Hugo found himself a new herald.

Hugo's new herald is a local young man named Harlan Lagert. He has standard Andal blond hair. He was born in a family of river valley lords. His family is relatively strong among the river valley lords. He is a very calm young man.

As Hugo gave the signal, Harun announced the beginning of the audience. When his words fell, the long-awaited audience members were filing in. Many of them came to this environment for the first time, so they brought There was great restraint, and they didn't even dare to raise their heads. However, although the young people among them were very restrained, their lively nature still made them uncontrollable and glanced around.

Harlan, the herald, began to introduce the purpose, requirements, and matters that Hu Ge needed to solve one by one. The person whose name was called walked up to Hu Ge in fear and made a complaint to Hu Ge.

In fact, most of the people who can go to the city of Hu Ge to meet Hu Ge are not ordinary people. They are at least local rich peasant landlords. Therefore, they are naturally unlikely to bring any trouble to Hu Ge. Most of them are Regarding the distribution of local benefits, there are also requirements to resolve ancient grievances.

The Pentos people have never cared about this kind of thing. They push it as they can, but Hugo has now reestablished feudal rule in Andas, so this is something he must take care of.

Although these things are important, to be honest, they are also very boring. But this is not the first time Hu Ge has experienced this kind of thing. The various tasks in the past two months have basically tempered him. As usual, whenever Hu Ge makes a referee, of course the winner is all smiles and almost kisses Hu Ge's boots, while the loser is resentful, but still endures his dissatisfaction - of course, there is also the inability to control it. The resident scolded him on the spot, and then he was dragged down and beaten.

Today Hugo dealt with four real estate disputes, two ancient vendettas, and gave a piece of land to an illegitimate son whose father died in an expedition and wanted compensation - these are the various matters Hugo handles in daily meetings. Although the things are trivial, it is these that form the cornerstone of Hugo's power.

After sending away the young man who was delighted to inherit his father's surname and obtain land to become a knight, the topic finally came to the most important topic today.

As the herald Harlan called the roll call, a group of ragged farmers walked in. Their appearance in the hall attracted everyone's attention. It is difficult to see such attire in the audience of Lord Hu Ge, even if they are Poor people will also put on the most decent clothes. If they really have no clothes, they will also wash their clothes.

People with a keen political sense will understand when they see this that something big is going to happen, and even people who are not aware of that much will pay attention to this scene when they see it.

The farmer walking in the front is an old man. The heavy labor has completely crushed his waist. His hands are extremely rough, and his skin has become darkened by the constant exposure to wind and sun. For this kind of person, Hu Ge is very familiar with it. This is what the working people are like.

Leading them in was Farmer Chief Snow. This farmer-turned-noble stood beside these farmers, constantly giving encouraging glances to the farmers. The farmers were timid after entering the Temple of the Seven Gods, but looking at After seeing his figure, they also regained their courage, and the old farmer at the front stood up.

"Lord Hu Ge, we are a group of farmers from Anle Land. Our village is called Baishui Village. It is said that our ancestors came from the East. In this generation, we were once managed by a Pantos slave owner..."

Oh, God, Hugo whined in his heart, but this is also everyday, it is difficult for these poorly educated farmers to explain things clearly, this is how they talk.

And in the old farmer's chatter, the words finally came to the topic.

"...I want to issue a complaint. You have announced the abolition of slavery, but some people still continue to perpetuate slavery and impose slavery on us. Lord Hugo, we ask you to punish the evildoers and let those who violate the seven laws be punished." Let all God’s men go to hell.”

After saying this, the old farmer knelt down to Hugo. He was already in tears as he told the story of his shattered hope, and so were the farmers.

The Hall of Sculptures was very quiet at the moment, because everyone present understood that now we have to deal with something that everyone avoids talking about, which is the legacy of slavery. This involves the interests of many people present, and some people started because of this. Beginning to panic.

The disintegration of the slavery system cannot be accomplished by just saying a few words, but by moving your fingers. As a system that has lasted for nearly a thousand years in the Andas, the impact of slavery has penetrated all aspects of society.

For example, among the principles brought by the expeditionary force, slave manors must be disbanded, and all slaves must obtain free status and their own land. However, in fact, many places found that after the slaves were released from the manor, the land On the contrary, the output dropped - after all, slave manors are all concentrated in production, and rash dispersion will naturally lead to a drop in output.

Therefore, the revival of manors directly appeared in many places. Farmers who found that the output of their own land was not as good as when they were slaves returned to the manors, established personal dependence relationships with the new owners of the manors, river valley lords or the nouveau riche of the expeditionary force, and signed contracts. A new contract - and this kind of thing is jumping on the edge of the expeditionary force's principle of liberating slaves.

But this is considered a good thing, and it is very particular. In many places, slave manor owners directly attached themselves to the expeditionary nobles to continue slavery in fact, or the former slave manor managers did not know how to manage. The new aristocrats of the land were invited back to manage the land, and slavery was essentially reinstated.

Moreover, these people also know how to psychologically deceive themselves. I burned their debts and no longer called them slaves. Doesn’t this count as liberating them? And then I did this, so it is appropriate to get rewards from them. Bar.

As for the farmers who dare to resist, the knights' armor and weapons will come into play at this time. Suppressing the farmers is something they are very familiar with. Everyone has it at their fingertips. When the armored knights roar towards them, the farmers can only collapse at the first touch.

After Hugo noticed this situation, he immediately sent people to conduct an investigation. The final result was not optimistic, and many of the valley lords and upstarts of the expeditionary force were involved.

Especially among the nobles of the expeditionary force, there are a large number of knights and mercenaries who do not know how to manage production. For them, restarting the past system is the only way to quickly obtain the past output from the land - after all, these people came to the East Those who are just for land and wealth don't care about slavery or not.

This has caused a very bad impact, and there are still some nobles who are raking in the water and squeezing the Andal farmers even more seriously than the former slave owners. Although the new regime of Andal has benefited most people, but in Guangyao Below, darkness is still spreading.

After learning this information, Hu Ge became very serious. He understood that this was actually digging up his own roots, which was related to the foundation of his rule. If this phenomenon was allowed to develop, the collapse of his rule would only be a matter of time. .

"Everyone." Hu Ge stood up, "We came to the east to liberate our relatives, instead of continuing the vicious exploitation and oppression like slave owners. As devout believers of the Seven Gods, we must deal with this phenomenon. Scorn firmly."

Hu Ge's words made many people present lower their heads, and some were even more frightened. However, most people still expressed their resentment about this - whether they were pretending or not - Hu Ge took all this into account, "So, the Seven Gods above, I will never tolerate this kind of behavior. In a week, I will start a patrol throughout the Andas, so I will find out all the behaviors that actually continue slavery. out."

Hu Ge's tough words aroused cheers from many people present, and some people secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Lord Hu Ge still gave them a way to survive, but some people were still very worried, because what they did was not It can be cleaned up in a week...

(End of this chapter)