Chapter 64:

The royal capital sent out robbers who especially attacked the nobles, or attacked the nobles' carriages at the edge of the palace. This incident made the king furious.

Of course, what he cares about is not the safety of other nobles. His Majesty is afraid of problems with his safety.

That's what happened on the edge of the palace. Who knows if they wanted to act against members of the royal family?

Different from the heavily guarded palaces like Huaxia Iron Barrel, the palaces of the kings in the Western continent, because of the different systems, often have assassins sneaking into the palace to assassinate the king and members of the royal family, and the success rate of such assassination methods is not low. Even in the history of the Prady Empire, one or two kings have lost their lives.

There was a suspected kidnapping incident on the edge of the palace. The king, who was cherishing his life, was naturally afraid that the madmen were targeting him and ready to attack him. The minister investigates the matter and makes sure that he gets people caught.

The king ordered a thorough investigation into the matter, and neither the minister in charge of the matter nor the sheriff and city guards who were ordered to cooperate dared to delay, and even some people from the royal guards were dispatched to join the investigation team.

Buck Green, who was the first captain of the Royal Guard to investigate the scene, was hand-picked into the investigation team. This was an opportunity to show his face in front of the king, and he naturally hoped to seize the opportunity. What made him even more fortunate was that at that time, because of Wei Wei's words, Buck Green became suspicious of the missing carriage. After sending Wei Wei away, he took someone back to the scene to check the situation and wrote down the direction the carriage was leaving. He didn't catch up directly at that time, but after receiving the order, he told the tracking results at that time, and combined with the patrolling route of the city guard, he quickly speculated on the possible escape route of these people. The central area is the residence of the nobles. There are soldier handles at the city gate connected to the upper city. Non-nobles cannot easily enter. The soldiers at the gate have some impression of the carriages passing by, especially those who do not have aristocratic family emblems. After the portraits of the suspects questioned the soldiers who guarded the gate that day, they roughly determined that the group may not have left the central area.

Buck Green, who was responsible for the investigation, exchanged glances with his colleagues, and they all knew that this was probably going to be troublesome.

The city guards were still searching around the central area, but there was no way to hide people on the road, so these people naturally had to hide in a certain noble's mansion.

Involving the nobles, this matter is difficult to investigate.

But the king gave a death order to them to find out, and the minister in charge of the investigation was not a master who was afraid of things, so the investigation team could only continue to investigate.

As a result, the entry, and exit of the central area suddenly became strict, and all vehicles entering and exiting, even noble ones, had to be opened to check, and people with similar statures would be carefully questioned. Under this kind of inspection, those people naturally couldn't escape.

Then wait until the king personally signs the search warrant and let the investigation team lead the city guards to search the houses of the nobles-it is difficult to say whether he has other thoughts in agreeing to do so - because of this, for a long time, the nobles His face was not very good-looking.

Under this kind of search without fear of offending people, one of the six people was quickly found.

And then the trial just ended because the man was already dead when he was found.

"The body was found in the river, probably because he knew that the trouble was too big to stop, so the people behind the scenes chose to kill people."

Wang Yu has a big river that runs through the entire capital. The main source of water for the residents of the city, of course, will also dump all kinds of domestic garbage into the river if they have no sense of cleanliness, and, this river has once again become a "garbage" disposal station.

The body of a wanted criminal was discovered after dawn by several women in midtown who had been up to the river early to wash their clothes. After panicking, they immediately went to the sheriff to call the police.

Then based on the portrait and the appearance of the deceased, and the identification of the driver, they determined that the man was one of six wanted criminals.

It should have been the most accurate way to let Wei Wei, who was in the portrait, identify the corpse, but both the investigation team and Felix tacitly ignored this, and no one thought it was a good idea to let a noble lady see a corpse. , what if she is frightened?

So at that time, he was responsible for driving, and the driver who saw the other side first was called to identify the person.

As a family member of the victim, Felix has also been paying attention to this matter. He also sent people to investigate in private, but the effect was far less than that of the investigation team, so he never ignored the news over there. The investigation team did not hide it from him. The details were told to him.

And Felix knew, Wei Wei naturally knew.

"Although only one body was found, it does not rule out the possibility that all six people have been killed."

Felix told Wei Wei about the investigation team's speculation. I'm afraid I won't be able to find out.

The central area has recently been under martial law, and people are patrolling day and night, so people can kill people and throw their corpses. The other party has more background than they think.

"Haven't they gone to the river to search?" Wei Wei frowned: "Although it is winter now, the danger of going down the river is relatively high, but if there are still corpses in the river if they don't salvage them, people who live on that river will live on it. Wouldn't it be time to use the polluted river water?"

As long as they think of the dead bodies in the river, would anyone dare to use the water from the river?

Felix shook his head: "It is really dangerous to go into the water in winter. Unless someone is good at winter swimming, they will not dare to go into the water at this time, but the investigation team has sent people to watch the drain. They have checked to make sure that the fence of the drain is intact. so if there are still corpses washed down, they will be found there in the end."

The drainage outlet of the river refers to the position of the section of the river where the river passes through the outermost city wall of the capital. When the city wall was repaired in the capital, to prevent enemies from coming in along the river, an iron fence is set up where the section of the river passes through the lower part of the city wall. Somewhere, then there's always going to be a current and getting caught in the fence.

Therefore, although the capital does not prohibit residents from dumping rubbish into the river, there are clear regulations on the size of the rubbish.

"In addition, they aren't concerned about this. There are wells in all the urban areas of the capital except the Xiacheng District, so the only people who can drink the water from the river are the poor in the Xiacheng District. Ordinary people with better conditions mainly drink well water. , they only use river water to wash their clothes and so on."

And no one cares if the poor in the lower city will get sick from drinking the water in question.

Felix, who had lived in the capital for a long time, knew this very well.

"Why don't we pay someone to salvage it ourselves?" Wei Wei said: "It's not a problem to wait like this, we won't stay in the capital for too long, and those people may not all die if they ever let us relax and run What should I do? If I don't find someone, I always feel uneasy."

Although I was surprised by the ruthlessness of the people behind the scenes, it also deepened Wei Wei's determination to find him/her. There is such an enemy hiding Behind the scenes, it's really disturbing.

Felix also said the same thing, it is better to solve this kind of enemy early: "I'll let someone do it."

Wei Wei told him: "It's not a problem to spend more money, and the preparation work should be sufficient, pay attention not to Let those people get frostbite."

"Well."

As long as you are willing to pay, it is very simple to find someone to go into the water. Even in such a season, many people have to go into the water and fish to support themselves to make a living. Such people are generally Living in Xiacheng District, known as a slum, Felix sent soldiers to Xiacheng District to recruit people. The price he offered was not low. Many poor people in Shanshui signed up, and finally pulled out a team of 100 people.

These people are assigned to different river sections for salvage. In addition to the wages, those entering the water should do warm-up exercises before entering the water as required, and they should not stay in the water for too long. Boiled ginger soup and thick barley porridge, the fire by the river is burning vigorously, and many warm blankets are prepared to ensure that they will not be frostbitten when they come up.

After a series of arrangements, everyone is saying that the Earl of Williams in Sardinson County is a generous and merciful aristocrat, and at this time the soldiers in charge of them will express their disapproval and say what is wrong, and then keep calm. Talking about Sardinson, tell them that even the serfs and slaves can fill their stomachs in the winter, and the hard-working freemen are also doing well, and they can even do anything in such a season. If you don't do it, you don't have to worry about starving to death, because the food at home is enough for next year's new harvest.

If someone is curious, they will say more, they will say that there are various factories (workshops) in Sardinson County, and as long as you work in them, you will get a stable salary, and even women can go to work, as long as they are willing to work, Feeding a family is not a problem at all, and he will also talk about various specialities and delicacies of Sardinson County, and the articulate soldiers can make a group of people drool while drinking barley porridge.

Later, some people couldn't help but ask whether there was a shortage of people in Sardinson County.

Following the order of the Count, the soldiers secretly trying to lure the poor in the capital to Sardinson County exchanged a vague smile, telling the questioner, of course, there is a shortage of people in Sardinson County, but they only need Diligent people are better if they have a skill.

"Although the Count is kind, he will not raise a group of lazy people in vain, so people who are not diligent can't come to our Sardinson."

It may not feel like hearing similar words once or twice, but after listening to them repeatedly, Then the effect of brainwashing is different. Especially the people who listen to it are the poor in the lower city. These people don't even talk about winter, and even in other better seasons, they can't get enough to eat and wear. Otherwise, he wouldn't choose to go down to the icy-biting river to retrieve the corpse at the risk of an accident for the sake of wages.

Of course, at this time they made money and had the confidence to continue living. Most people would not act even if they were excited, but some of them had the idea of making a living in Sardinson as these people spread the news about Sardinson County, the poor in the lower town knew that there was a place where as long as they were willing to work, they would not starve to death and would be well fed and clothed, although it sounds very It's like a lie, but people who are about to starve to death don't have as many concerns.

Don't look at the free folks, it sounds good, but in fact, many times their life is not as good as that of serfs. At such a time when they may starve to death at any time, as long as there is a chance to survive, let alone take risks, let them sell their bodies It's okay to be a slave, from a freedman to a serf of a nobleman.

But in the capital, it is not easy to become a serf. The land around the capital belongs to the king and his direct vassals. There are already enough serfs on those lands. Even if the poor want to become kings Neither with noble serfs unless they want to be the lowest slaves.

If anyone wants to say that being free people, they can go anywhere else to make a living, that's just talking.

Leaving the land that belongs to you, the freedmen are just an empty title, and the outside world is not safe. Some robbers may appear on the road at any time. These robbers not only rob money but also people, and the freedmen who are caught Almost without exception, all become slaves, and even if they can escape the dangers on the road and reach a wealthy city or aristocratic territory, the possibility that they are willing to accept these outsiders is very low, after all, no one has a difficult winter. , while xenophobia is common in most places.

Therefore, free people who choose to leave their hometown to survive may not only find no chance to make a living but also starve to death and freeze to death on the road.

Therefore, there are very few free people who choose to leave the land where they live for a long time every year. When they couldn't make it in the past, their final choice was almost always to send their family members or even themselves to the slave market.

If you are lucky, you can sell yourself to a decent master (the other party may not even be a noble) to become a serf or servant. If you are unlucky, you can only be a slave.

The poor living in the Xiacheng District is free people who have no land of their own and cannot rent it, and can only work odd jobs to make ends meet. They or their ancestors are likely to be those who have heard of the prosperity of the capital. It was rumoured, but in the end, they found that life here is not much better than in their hometown, and even more difficult, and they were unable to leave because the land at home was sold long ago when they left.

Therefore, the poor in the lower city has no choice but to sell themselves.

And when Felix recruited people to retrieve the bodies in the lower city, there were already many poor people in the lower city who planned or even did so.

At this time, when I heard that there was a place willing to accept them, the source of the news was the generous earl. The credibility sounded very high, and naturally many people were excited.

It took a group of runners three days to finally find the second corpse in the river, and after the finder was rewarded with a gold coin, the envy of the others also ignited more motivation, screaming and jumping. Entering the river, I hope that the next lucky person is myself.

The body was quickly taken away by the investigation team, but the soldier went to the driver to confirm that the body was indeed one of the people on the wanted list.

"The second corpse was placed in a sack, and a lot of stones were placed in the sack to ensure that it would not float up, and not far from the corpse, a sack was also found with a lot of stones in it. , the pockets of the sack were loosened, and the body that floated to Midtown

was probably brought out by the river water."

"Which section of the river was the second body found? Are there any other discoveries?"

"In the river in the upper city, the location is still far from the central area. At present, we are continuing to search the nearby river, but no discoveries have been made. Felix thought for

a while, and said to his knight: "Go check to see which boats have entered and exited the river from the carriage incident to the time when the body was found, especially at night." Those boats that appeared."

The river in the capital is not too wide, and big boats can't walk, but there are still small boats, some fishing boats and small cargo boats will travel on the river, and some small boats will provide ride services. Both men and women like to date on the river and enjoy the scenery on both, this kind of leisure and fun does not appear in winter, because the river water in this river is unpleasant and fast. After winter, there will often be ice in a certain section of the river, and there is a lot of floating ice in the water. In addition, in winter The temperature on the river is too low, so there will be a large number of boats in the river at this time, and it is relatively easy to check.

"But the investigation team should also think of this. If they intervene, you can directly inquire about the situation."

With no one behind the scenes, Felix hopes to make the matter as big as possible to ensure that the other party I don't dare to shoot again.

In this way, it doesn't matter if no one is found, for the time being, he just wants to ensure that the people of the Earl's family will not have any accidents in the capital so that they can return to Sardinson County safely.

This is not to indulge the enemy. Sooner or later, he will find out that the mouse is in the dark.

The knight did not leave immediately after receiving the order, and he had another matter to report.

"According to your instructions, the soldiers took the news about the need for workers in Sardinson County to the lower city. It seems that many people are already tempted. In the past two days, many people have asked the soldiers about Sardinson, and even Someone said that they want to be your serf."

Becoming a serf is a good choice for free people who can't survive. People who have this idea have their small abacus. Their idea is that since there is a shortage of people in Sardinson, Then if they become serfs of Earl Williams, and under the condition of making sure to bring people back, Lord Earl will not watch them starve to death, right?

Moreover, as long as the freedmen did not commit a crime or were arrested, this kind of initiative to become serfs could bring them some life-saving food. As long as they had this food, they would have the opportunity to continue to live.

Kingsley Hall, the current owner of the knight family who has served the Williams family since his grandfather, was awarded the old earl in five years to take over his father's knighthood and became the exclusive knight of Sardinson County. , so his loyalty to Sardinson County is beyond doubt, and this loyalty has continued from the old earl to Felix.

In Europe, knights are famous for their absolute allegiance. They are even willing to give up their lives for their masters. Therefore, in terms of the trust, Felix, who was once a knight, must be the most trusted subordinate to him. loyal knight.

Kingsley, like the other knights, watched the development of Sardinson, and even he was one of the witnesses when Felix met Wei Wei, and these people knew very well that the prosperity of Sardinson was the belt of this exotic maiden. Here, while Sardinson County has benefited, their vassals, the Count, have also benefited a lot. The specific performance is that the various rewards given to them by the Count have increased significantly.

Therefore, the anger of the knights is not lower than that of Felix about the attack on the future hostess, so everyone is gearing up to find the murderer at the moment, and is unwilling to let go of any clues.

At the same time, they also meticulously implemented the order that the Count asked them to recruit free people as much as possible, but not to disturb others.

These knights and soldiers who followed Felix to the capital from Sardinson are very aware that Sardinson is short of people right now, and replenishing the population is even related to their interests, so they are kidnapping people, oh No, he was in favour of recruiting freedmen.

Even, if the Count agrees, he will select some of those who are willing to become serfs to become one of his fiefs, because the reward given by the Count is enough for them to buy some additional land, even if those are just wasteland, As long as you cultivate well, you can get a lot of harvests.

No one wants to own more and more land. Even if the newly cultivated land cannot be counted in the fiefs, and they need to pay the land tax by themselves, it will not stop them from wanting more land.

Quite a few knights think like this, so everyone is waiting to see what Felix does.

If the Count agrees to recruit freemen and serfs, then these people must go back to Sardinson with them, so it is perfectly okay for them to bring their chosen people with them, right?

Felix does not reject the recruitment of some serfs, and even this number may be relatively large.

Compared with the free people, he also believed in serfs more, because, to the nobles, there was not much difference between serfs and slaves. The serfs who were bound to the land were not allowed to leave the master's territory, and they could do anything by the lord. , so they are naturally easier to use than free people with freedom of movement.

"I need the consent of the king for this matter. You first ask someone to register who is willing to become a serf. If they are willing, after they sign the agreement, we will pay according to the market price."

Although he said that he wanted to ask the king, Felix didn't think the king would disagree, because, to the king, these poor people in the lower city were a bunch of worms. When he was a royal knight, he heard the king complain about their existence more than once.

So Felix was sure that as long as he was willing to give the king some compensation, the king would be very happy for him to take people away.

Even judging from his tax, he might not need compensation.

So Felix said that he wanted to ask the king's wishes, but at the same time told Kingsley to act directly, because the two did not conflict.