boom!
Wu Ming seemed to be taking a leisurely walk, wandering among the crowd, waving the scabbard at random, every time a farmer fell down and couldn't get up for a long time.
"A real knight!"
When Mrs. Amelia saw this scene, she leaned softly on the door, completely desperate.
She originally thought that Wu Ming was just the second son of a nobleman, who was lucky enough to use this opportunity to plan for her husband's territory, but she never imagined that such a young nobleman was already a real knight!
In fact, even for a real knight, it would be quite strenuous to deal with the siege of dozens of people in one go.
But the difference between a farmer and a trained warrior is too big, plus they are completely restrained and dare not fight back, so even if any knight comes, they can easily suppress them, just like what Wu Ming is doing now.
call out!
Wu Ming finally drew his long sword out of its sheath, looking at the remaining farmers, his eyes shone brightly.
"What gave you the guts to attack me! A noble lord, who fought against the wildlings, the champion of the Spring Tournament, and the man who defeated the glorious knights of the church—William Wallace?"
Of course, due to the inconvenience of transportation, the results of the Spring Tournament have not been reported here. Otherwise, Wu Ming reckoned that his succession would be much smoother, but shouting out by himself felt a little deterrent.
"Now, punish yourself severely with your disrespectful hands to the lord, and kneel down and kiss the ground under my feet, and I will forgive your previous infidelity, otherwise your soul can only go to hell and cry!"
The long sword flickered, showing that what he said was absolutely true.
"You are a true knight! The people need your protection!"
Something that made Amelia even more desperate happened.
The first one to succumb was actually that old soldier, Qiao Fu.
He knelt down on both knees, kissed the ground under Wu Ming's feet, and said in a pious tone.
As one of the few people with wide-sightedness in the territory, he already knew that his wife's scheme had completely failed, and... this is a dark and dangerous world, and there must be a strong lord to protect the people! Women can't do it after all!
This is helpless, but it is also a reality!
"Very good! As punishment, you only need to take ten lashes, and I forgive you for your previous sins!"
Wu Ming looked to the side: "Who is willing to execute?"
"My lord, I am willing to offer my loyalty to you and become your humble servant!"
Many tenant farmers immediately rebelled, knelt down and kissed the land under Wu Ming's feet.
Amelia's whole body softened, and she deeply felt the betrayal. That kind of female sorrow deeply enveloped her, and even made her eyes spin.
The two daughters exclaimed in her ears, and immediately her eyes went dark, and she passed out completely.
…
"Mother!"
"Mother!"
After an unknown amount of time, she opened her eyes and saw the furnishings of her bedroom and the anxious faces of her two daughters.
"Gods... I seem to have had a terrible nightmare!"
Lady Amelia murmured, "I dreamed that a young devil came to take everything from me..."
"I'm so sorry... ma'am!"
The old butler with a broken nose stood aside, his face was wrapped in gauze, and he reminded in a voice with a different pitch: "I'm afraid it's not a nightmare!"
Amelia sighed, sat up halfway, and saw Wu Ming.
"When you were fainting, it was... the lord who saved you!" the butler continued.
"alright, you win!"
Amelia said helplessly: "I will take my two daughters and leave!"
"Ma'am, I think you have misunderstood me!"
Wu Ming said with a smile.
"Are you willing to marry my daughter, or..."
Amelia blushed: "Are you insisting on your previous request?"
"I do need you... as my butler!"
After teasing this beauty enough, Wu Ming finally said.
"housekeeper?!"
Mrs. Amelia blinked her eyes, looking a little cute.
"That's right... I need someone who is familiar with the territory and has prestige to assist me in managing the territory. As my steward, I will pay you, and you and your daughter can continue to live here... Of course, if you want If so, I am willing to adopt them as adopted daughters, and when they grow up, I will prepare a generous dowry for each of them, how about it?"
Treating the widow of the former lord well is also an unspoken rule in the circle of nobles.
Wu Ming didn't want his reputation for being mean or cruel to spread in the circle. In comparison, a possible bit of sexual gossip was nothing at all, which was very important.
"I promise!"
Almost without thinking, Mrs. Amelia agreed.
After all, she is just the daughter of a commoner, and she has no family to rely on. Apart from the territory, she really has no other place to go.
"Celis, Cecil, come, meet your godfather!"
She regained her spirit immediately and asked her two daughters to salute Wu Ming.
Although he knew that by doing so, Wu Ming would have the custody of the two daughters and could exercise all powers before they were underage, but there was nothing he could do.
"godfather!"
The two lolis yelled sweetly, which made Beatrice next to her snort even more dissatisfied.
"As for you..."
Wu Ming looked at the poor old butler, and made a random decision to knock him down one level: "Just be the butler's deputy!"
…
The people of Carross Territory soon learned the shocking news that they had a new lord.
That lord was extremely powerful, he was a real knight, and he had once defeated the combination of the church's Honor Knight and a whole mercenary regiment—the rumors were always getting more and more exaggerated.
With the protection of this powerful knight, he should not be harassed by those damn bandits and savages, right
After being led by the deputy steward and Qiao Fu to swear allegiance to the new lord in batches, the hearts of all the people settled down.
The subjects offer their loyalty and taxes to the lord, and the lord is responsible for protecting the subjects under his rule. This is also a kind of mutual power and obligation.
In the dark age, even if a powerful lord is brutal, as long as he has power, there will still be an endless stream of people to join him, just for a little safety!
The scourge of a lord is so insignificant compared to the whole wildling group, as well as the ferocious beasts and the dangerous environment.
"This is my Carlos collar!"
Wu Ming rode a steed and began to inspect his territory, while the butler's assistant kept explaining to him.
After a lap, he had some intuitive understanding of his territory.
The area of the entire Lokas Territory is nearly 1,000 acres, which is much larger than the fiefdoms of ordinary knights in the previous life. In conversion, it is nearly 4 million square meters, 6,000 acres of land.
Of course, most of these are mountains and hills, and the reclaimed cultivated land is only about 2,000 mu.
In the entire territory, there are ninety tenant farmers, and two freemen, one is proficient in blacksmithing skills, and the other has a scholar.
In addition to these, there are also water mills, cattle stables, warehouses, and manor courts on the territory. These are all public buildings and belong to him, the lord, in name.
But the most important thing is that as a lord, besides owning all the mountains, rivers, and pastures, Wu Ming also owns one thousand acres of the two thousand acres of cultivated land as his private land.
Those leaders under his command, or serfs, must first cultivate his land before going to work in their barren land.
Even those lands were not owned by the serfs, but because they paid taxes, the lords could not deprive them at will.
"Computing this, it is even more ruthless than the exploitation of the big landlords in ancient times!"
Wu Ming sighed in his heart.
It can be said that on top of the lord's fief, except for a few freemen who own certain private properties, everything else belongs to the lord.
"The efficiency of this exploitation is too low-level..."
As an experienced traveler who has been influenced by previous lives, Wu Ming is naturally very dissatisfied with this efficiency: "I can't wait to tie all the serfs to the land and turn all the citizens into slaves. Why don't we just use slavery? Forget it? What a step backwards in history.”
He has many golden ideas that can make money, but all of them need people! Need artisans, guys with skills to work for him!
"Now... I already have a knighthood, and I have entered the threshold of the aristocratic circle. Some previous plans can start..."
Anyway, it's not just farming, but also the development of handicraft products, glass, refined salt, improved wrought iron, etc. Wu Ming is not only familiar with it by heart, but also has a 70% to 80% certainty.
"Of course... First of all, we must first promote our own authority!"
What can make people feel authoritative is naturally iron and blood!
If you implement this method internally, you can only get fear and resentment, but if you talk to the outside world, you can get cheers and wealth.
"Jeff!"
Wu Ming said to the old soldier: "Call all the good guys in the territory!"
In the territorial court, Wu Ming was like a judge, looking at the curious, awe-inspiring, and restless young faces below, he suddenly smiled: "From today onwards, after your daily farm work, you can choose to go to Qiao Fu to receive warrior training. Those who do will get a loaf of oatmeal bread as a reward after the training!"
"And after the spring plowing is over, I will lead you to hunt down the bandits and savages around you!"
His words stirred up thousands of waves, but he raised his hands and suppressed his voice: "As a lord, I promise you that those who perform outstandingly in future battles will become free citizens and have their own treasures. Land of Opportunities!"
Half a step ahead of the times is a genius, one step is a lunatic!
Although Wu Ming wished to directly liberate all the people in the territory as free citizens, he also knew that this was impossible, so he had to do it slowly.
In the future, refinement and division of labor will be the general direction, and all of these require a free population!