"Master Chen."
"You don't have to call me Sir, just call me Mayor."
"Mayor. I want Doris to go out. There are some things I don't want her to hear." Tuqin requested.
"Of course." Chen Hansheng said.
"No, Dad. I want to listen. I know all these things are related to my sister. But you didn't even tell me how she died. I want to listen. I want to know what happened." Doris said.
"Dad, tell Doris, so that she can be more careful in the future, at least she won't be like Irene..." Sova said.
"But..." Tuqin hesitated for a long time, and finally nodded, "Okay."
Tuchin and his children sat on the edge of the bed and began to tell their own stories. "Mayor, I am a small merchant selling straw fabrics. My family is a freeman. Before Count Carlos sold the land to Baron O'Farrell, Alano Town belonged to the Count. Although life is very tight, there is no big problem.
But everything changed after the Earl sold the land to the Baron. The Baron sent someone to tell us all that we had to pay all the taxes we had paid to the Earl. Not only taxes, but also labor service. Moreover, he added several new taxes. Our business was not good last year, so we couldn't survive. "
Chen Hansheng asked: "But nominally this town still belongs to the Earl. The Baron only owns the land here. What right does he have to collect taxes from you freemen?"
"Well, there will always be a master who wants to collect taxes. If there is no earl, there will be a baron."
Sova said, "It's not that no one has asked this question before. A fur trader once asked this question, but the baron later found a pretext that he was trading with horse thieves and hanged him."
"My lord, no one here can stand up to Baron O'Farrell. Later, my family couldn't pay the taxes and was about to sell our house, but the baron's tax collector said that my eldest daughter Irene could go to the baron's house to work to offset the taxes. Irene is a child who misses home very much. She..." Tuqin said here, his face full of tears and snot, "I really shouldn't have let her go."
Tuchin sobbed and said, "She was fine for the first few days she was gone. But a week later, when she came home, she told me that Master Ackley, who had returned from the army, seemed to look at her in a strange way. I asked her to come back, but she didn't want to. She said she would only be paid once she had worked for a full month, and she would be careful not to cause trouble."
"That was the last time I saw her. About three or four days later, the Baron's guards notified us to pick someone up. They said that Irene had stolen something in the Baron's mansion and was beaten to death by the guards." Tuqin burst into tears when he said this.
Sova wiped his tears and said hatefully, "That day, I went there with my father. Irene was wrapped in a rag and thrown on the roadside behind the Baron's Mansion. When we passed by, two wild dogs were circling around her, biting her hands and feet. But the guards didn't care. Instead, they smiled at her. I even heard one of them betting with another, saying which foot would be eaten first."
"Oh, God of Nature. How could this happen?" Doris covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
However, Chen Hansheng found that her hands were clenched tightly, and there was more hatred than fear in her eyes.
Sova was startled by his sister's crying and covered his mouth, "Doris, I shouldn't say this."
"No, tell me, I want to know what happened to my sister. I, I didn't see anything that day, I just saw you bury her." Doris grabbed Sova's sleeve, "Please."
Sova held his sister's hand and nodded. "My father and I drove away the wild dogs and lifted her up. Her whole body was stiff, her eyes were half open, and her expression was scary. It was like she saw something terrible when she died. Then I saw that her neck was black and purple, and it was broken. At this time, the captain of the guard came over and said: She went to steal the Baroness's jewelry, and was discovered by the guards and broke her neck, so she was thrown out to feed the dogs. She deserved it. He also said that we must send Doris to the Baron's Mansion immediately to replace Irene, otherwise we will be finished."
"My sister would never steal any jewelry. She's a good person, she wouldn't!" said Doris.
"We all know that's an excuse. After moving your sister back, mom washed her and found out that someone had occupied her body before she died." Sova was much more direct than his father and told him everything he knew.
"Sister..." Doris wiped her tears and said, "No wonder mom cried so much that she fell ill."
"So, we can't send you there again. Dad asked you and mom to leave first, but as soon as you left, the Baron's Mansion came to arrest you."
"I have made a mistake once and I can't make it a second time. I think the worst that can happen is that you give me some money or beat me up, but I can't hand you over again." Tuqin said at this time.
"They don't want to beat you up. They want to beat you to death and then kidnap your daughter," said Kalanda.
"I know, I know. If it weren't for you adults, Sova and I would have died. I will definitely repay you adults."
Chen Hansheng was the most upset among the people around him. He had only seen such situations in books. When he heard the people crying in person, the pain could penetrate his heart. Although he had been to the battlefield and faced death, it was a real battle, which was completely different from the feeling of nobles oppressing and abusing civilians. On the contrary, those mercenaries and people who were born as slaves were accustomed to such situations. Although they felt a little sad, they were not very touched.
"So what are you going to do?" Chen Hansheng asked.
"Let's go. Let's leave here. We can't stay in this town anymore," said Tuqin.
"But can we really leave? We can't even get past the guards at the gate, right?" His son Sova said, "Maybe the mayor has some way to teach us."
Chen Hansheng secretly praised the young man for being clever. He said, "Is it really that easy for you to escape to another lord's place? Your house and land are all here. If you move somewhere else, you will have to start all over again. Besides, won't other lords bully outsiders like you?"
Sova lowered his head. He was a small businessman, not completely ignorant. He knew that what Chen Hansheng said was true.
"Stay here for now. I will naturally help you fend off the Baron's men. We still have a lot to discuss about this town. I believe you can help me."