Our family is in decline

When the first ray of sunshine in the morning shone on Hamlet, the central square was filled with people. Most of them were neatly dressed and their faces were not as pale as those of the refugees, but their spirits were a little uneasy and they couldn't help but look away. A man speaking on a high platform in the middle.

"I am the Lord of Hamlet..."

Lance has never liked long speeches. No matter how many words he says, they are not as good as the reality before him.

But in order to encourage these migrating refugees, he had to start using words.

Lance told about the tragic scenes he saw along the way, and the painful memories these words brought to those people. Some people in the audience couldn't help crying when they thought about their original lives.

They have been oppressed by the empire, the church, and the nobility at all levels, and they have been exploited and oppressed by bad people among the refugees at the bottom. No one can understand their pain except themselves.

Emotions are contagious, and as they continue to spread, even the aboriginal people in the town can't help but feel sad. To a certain extent, they are not much different from the refugees.

"I saw everything! I saw the disaster spreading across the empire, and I saw the pain on you..."

Lance's voice suddenly became agitated. In his mouth, his purpose of recruiting refugees was no longer to exploit them and strengthen himself, but to choose to do his best to save them after seeing this scene.

Lance's voice became more and more passionate, denounced those man-made disasters, but in his words, he stirred up their distrust of the empire and the church.

There were some words that couldn't be said from Lance's mouth, but they could say that the atmosphere was aroused with a few leaders.

They vented their emotions towards the Empire and the Church, and saw the chaos getting worse and worse, but Lance sat back and watched, instead his eyes swept over those who reacted inappropriately.

People who really want to be rescued by these two forces will not appear in this place. It can be said that no city, village or town is willing to accept them along the way, and they will even send troops to drive them away and kill them. Otherwise, who would be willing to go such a long distance?

So Lance took aim at this survivor bias. He deliberately guided them to vent their emotions to those guys and try to expand his influence. It is self-evident what the two stepping stones he stepped on were.

Even if he doesn't know the actual situation, sometimes it's no brainer to sit in this position.

What can these guys do?

They could only howl twice at most, but that was it. Even though there were five thousand people here, they were still like a pile of scattered sand.

Lance watched as they vented their anger before getting to the core of today's drama.

"but!"

This sound touched the hearts of those refugees.

"Just because I saved you doesn't mean you will be fine, because Hamlet does not welcome lazy people. You must work hard to survive on your own and contribute your strength to Hamlet and me!"

The refugees seemed a little uneasy. They had promised to farm for food, but they didn't know what the actual situation would be.

Lance could feel their uneasiness, and then launched to them the pioneering plan, collective farm plan, and town reconstruction plan that they had been planning before.

"For a period of one year, those who work hard and do not violate the rules will be reinstated as free citizens. Those who have outstanding abilities or have made major contributions can be reinstated early."

In one year, all the labor output of these refugees belongs to Hamlet. They receive no wages, only three meals to fill their stomachs and allocated houses.

That's their value, and that's why Lance spent his resources to save them.

As for those who attacked the convoy before, they have all been sent to the farm, and they are not even qualified to stand here.

“All freemen who officially belong to Hamlet will be allocated fields according to their family size, regardless of gender, as long as they are ten years old or above. The fields cannot be traded, but they only need to pay 30% of the tax.

Freedmen's children who are over six years old will have the opportunity to go to school, and I will subsidize part of the tuition fees, and then subsidize the students' meals..."

Various preferential policies were proposed, which was something they had never heard of before. They felt that they were not civilians, but were treated like nobles.

Both the aboriginal people and the newly arrived refugees were all more excited than ever and wanted to dig a few acres of land now.

Why did Lance let all the refugees join as slaves? It is to put pressure on them. Being different from free citizens will bring about differences in policy preferences, and will also promote their desire to get rid of this identity. Only when they have hope will they work harder and be more diligent.

Next, Lance announced another big news, conscription of 500 soldiers. When the conditions were laid out, the refugees became excited.

Especially the people in Totnes, they know that the lord keeps his word and has not been picked before, so they will give it a try no matter what this time.

The disbanded camp guards also knew that they had to enter again and could not be brushed off. They wanted to fight beside the man.

Lance looked at their fanatical emotions. Only the five thousand people he had selected could withstand his "military" conscription.

You must know that an ordinary small town with a thousand people only has twenty or thirty police officers, and a temporary militia is formed when an incident occurs.

Why? Don't they want more powerful force?

The real reason is still money.

The cost of making retired soldiers is expensive, not to mention the treatment they provide. At the same time, drawing one out of ten is a very exaggerated ratio, because difficulty in supporting them can easily lead to economic collapse.

But he doesn't care about money. In this chaotic world, money is useless. Only force can make him feel at ease.

However, the speech was not over yet. Lance asked the ten soldiers who had accompanied the team to come on stage, and rewarded them with real money and silver. At the same time, they were awarded military merits. At the same time, the status of soldiers was further strengthened and they were given glory.

He also made a big deal about the guard who died in the battle, directly invited the family members of the deceased to praise him, and read out the promise again.

If you die, you will receive a subsidy, and your children will study for free.

Empty words, no matter how much you say, can't compare to this action. Those soldiers wanted to die for the lord, and those people in the audience wanted to become soldiers in the next second.

Whether it's for the benefit or the honor.

But at this time, Lance made another very strange request.

"In the afternoon I will personally hold the body burning ceremony and send the ashes to the Heroes Cemetery. All those who died for Hamlet will have their names engraved on the stone tablets and become Hamlet's eternal heroes."

This sentence caused a lot of commotion, although Lance had previously instilled in them various Hamlet rules. All people who died in Hamlet must burn their bodies and then be buried in a specific cemetery.

But in order to reduce the resistance, he adopted a rather tricky explanation, saying that burying a person after death would cause the body to rot, which was equivalent to a sacrilegious ritual. Only after being purified by flames can one rest in peace.

But how can his one or two words compare to the church's brainwashing of them for thousands of years? People are always greedy. After gaining stability, they want more, not to mention that this life is so miserable that they must long for death. The world after.

It’s just that Lance doesn’t care. There are refugees everywhere. The empire lacks everything but people. If you don’t do it, there will be people who can do it.

Before that, they must be taught a lesson

"Sam!" Lance suddenly shouted, focusing on the inconspicuous middle-aged man in the crowd, and asked, "Why are you obstructing the construction? Do you want to restore the church?"

"I..." Sam didn't expect that the lord would suddenly mention him, and the subsequent questions made him even more at a loss.

He is a devout believer, and his family has been there for generations.

When the bandits arrived, their family was lucky enough not to be drafted into the militia. Later, they managed to escape because they worked in the fields. Even their house was not affected by the gunfire. The only loss was the two chickens they raised.

Later, he waited in confusion until the arrival of the new lord. He attributed everything he had to the shining of the Holy Light, and thus escaped all dangers. Even if he was about to starve to death, someone would put food in his mouth.

At first, he was so hungry that he felt faint, and he was also afraid of the authority of the lord. Now seeing the church being rebuilt, it was more serious than touching his father's grave!

So they blocked the construction and even instigated those former believers to join in the work.

If the steward named Barton just left honestly in front of him and successfully protected the church, then the Holy Light would definitely give him something better.

"Because of disrupting construction, insulting, threatening and beating construction workers, and endangering the peace of Hamlet, I now declare that your family's rights as free citizens will be revoked and banished to the wilderness."

Now that the labor force is abundant, he no longer cares about one or two people. Rather than leaving behind and reforming, it is better to use it to scare the monkeys.

He needs to give these unruly people a little shock~

"Oh~ My Holy Light... no..." Sam couldn't believe it. Shouldn't he be invited up to commend him? Why is this so? Isn't being exiled to the wilderness the same as dying?

"Take it!" Lance waved his hand with a sinister expression.

You'd better pray that the Light actually works.

Someone came immediately and took away Sam, who was crying in disbelief.

As a crusader, Leonard didn't feel much about this scene. He had believed in the Holy Light for so many years and had been unlucky for so many years. He had not believed in it for only a month, and he had found his wife and children and received a promotion and salary increase.

As the lord said, some of them are based on material foundations.

Lance glanced at a few of them. He knew that there were still a few accomplices at the beginning, but those people were of use to him, so he did not continue.

But the trial has just begun.

"Webb! Why do you want to embezzle territorial assets?"

"Paul! Why are you withholding wages from workers without reason?"

"..."

Those who were shouted at by him were either dead or injured, and all kinds of problems, big and small, were cleared up by him in front of everyone.

When this grassroots team was set up, Lance expected that many people would take advantage of the imperfect system and take advantage of it.

But I didn't expect there to be so many. You know, he had only been gone for a month, and someone actually made up the data to take advantage of the difference. They ransacked the house and found that there were already more than ten gold coins.

It doesn't seem like much, but if you convert it into a salary of three copper coins per day, an ordinary person would not have ten gold coins for a fucking year.

No wonder those regimes in ancient and modern times, no matter how powerful they were at the beginning, were soon dragged down by moths.

But Lance doesn't care, he will take action.

It depends on whether your neck is tougher or the knife in his hand is tougher, you will have to spit it out as much as you eat.

"The family members have all had their benefits cancelled, and have been put into farm renovation. Their children are not allowed to go to school or be officially employed."

No matter how good the policy was just now, the deterrence will be strong now.

Now Hamlet is all public property. Once he doesn't want you, you won't even have the right to drink water, let alone eating.

The majesty was reinforced and reminded these guys.

Who is Hamlet's master.

…………

"I have been to Totnes, and I have to say that there is a deep degree of urbanization and a strong business atmosphere. There are some things worth learning from, but the first thing that is clear is that we do not have that kind of business conditions, and agriculture is our foundation. .

Therefore, the town's first priority now is to cultivate enough fields. Only more land can accommodate more people. Even if it is simple, these people must have a place to live as soon as possible and let them have jobs.

At the same time, we must also prepare for urban reconstruction. I plan to first build the main commercial street of pier-square-town gate..."

In front of Lance is a schematic diagram of Hamlet and its surroundings, and around him are several people in charge of the town.

It's not Disma and the others, but someone who has been relatively successful in presiding over the work during this period. Although his previous bold and eclectic appointments were a helpless move, he was still able to discover some administrative talents.

Several of them were locals who knew the area around Hamlet, and they needed help in determining the location of the collective farm.

Now three farms have been planned. Due to the uncertainty in the north, it is not easy for people to get close to Reims, so they have been chosen in three directions: south, southwest and west of Hamlet.

These farms planned for 1,000 people, plus the land around Hamlet, are enough to accommodate 5,000 people and create a large granary at the same time.

Hamlet itself gathers craftsmen, craftsmen, and technical talents to build workshops and is responsible for the fine processing of the resources produced by the farm, such as salt making, weaving and clothing making, and blacksmithing.

Work-for-relief further promotes the urban renewal plan, consuming the resources produced, as well as human resources, so that people have work to do.

At the same time, develop the entertainment industry to recover part of the money from workers, regulate old casinos, brothels and taverns, and develop new entertainment methods, such as theaters, libraries, bathhouses...

When the time comes, we can use this as a foundation to reach the ancestors by going north, entering the sea by going east, and regaining territory by expanding outward.

Isn’t it wonderful!

One thing was listed and then assigned to different people to take responsibility for. At the same time, Lance streamlined the originally chaotic personnel system and let talented people go up.

For example, Susan, who was originally responsible for accounting, directly transferred the relevant work to Tiffany, and she will be responsible for sorting out expenses and income in the future.

At the same time, a man who had performed well during his time at the Totnes camp was asked to take over Watt's farm management position.

Free Barton from the construction task and hand it over to an excellent construction craftsman who emerged from the project...

He rearranged positions and arranged everything with just one word, but the treatment of those people had unprecedented changes.

"That's all I've said. What do you think?"