Chapter 78:

The new house was well-built, and the furniture, bedding, etc. were properly prepared. Since they came here, they simply stayed for two days and regarded it as a rest.

Anyway, it's very far from the castle, and all the ingredients you need can be delivered from the castle. Wei Wei is in the mood to cook by herself. Naturally, there is no reason for other people to be shameful, not to mention the Felix brothers and sisters, even one The servants and coachmen who got up were fortunate enough to taste her full-level chef craftsmanship.

Of course, although it is said to be a rest, in fact, apart from the different places to live, many things should be busy, and there is no time to relax.

And because the masters came here, the people in the castle had to run away from each other to report on official business, which was inconvenient, so they had to go back after only two days.

After returning, Felix began to organize people to go hunting in the woods.

Every spring is the season for wild beasts to breed, but the food in the forest is not as abundant as in summer and autumn. Animals such as wild boars will leave the forest to forage for food in human settlements. They will not only waste the fields and even hurt people, but The lord must expel the beasts for his territory, so it is very necessary to hunt regularly.

This was the first time he organized a hunt this year, and it was around this time last year that he found Wei Wei in the forest.

"I don't know if I will find the treasure again this time." Before leaving, Felix joked with Wei Wei: "I'm looking forward to this harvest more and more."

Wei Wei, who helped him put on the armour, sank: "Don't you want to bring someone back?"

Felix hurriedly swore: "Of course not, I have you enough, don't be angry."

He knew very well that his wife was very conservative in this kind of thing, No joke at all.

Seeing his anxious face, Wei Wei suddenly burst into laughter: "I'm joking with you, but as you said, if you dare to bring back someone who shouldn't be brought back, you'll sleep next door by yourself.

" Felix of the bed hastily promised not to.

The Count, who was strict with his wife, left the room where only the husband and wife were alone, regained his majesty, and took the team to the woods majestically.

After sending off the hunting team, Wei Wei turned around and went back to the castle to deal with the matter.

She called Qin, who was not in class, and asked, "How are the children learning recently?"

"It can be seen that some children are indeed less talented in learning, but everyone is working hard."

Not everyone is suitable. Although more than 200 children receive education at the same time, their learning progress is different.

It has been more than three months since these children were bought. Except for a delay in the middle of the journey, they have been studying every day for the other two months. The most talented ones have even mastered most of the common words and can read by themselves. Writing, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are also good at learning, but the talent is poor, and the writing is good, rote memorization will always remember, but there is no way to do arithmetic, addition and subtraction can barely pass, but multiplication and division problems are good The error rate is higher.

It's not that they are too clumsy, and don't look at the simple content of the professor, but for a first-time learning child, it is not difficult to master these in such a short period, so Qin feels that even a slow student, It's pretty good too.

She asked herself if she might not be able to have this speed.

Wei Wei walked to the window, opened the curtains and looked down. From here, you could see a group of children busy in the open space below.

Compared with the first time they saw them, these children now seem more in line with their age, cheerful and lively, but still sensible, and work very hard.

If it is an older child, his temperament has already been set, and it is hard to say that if so many people get together, it is very likely to cause trouble, but the oldest children are only twelve or thirteen years old, and the youngest is only seven or eight years old. is different.

Although some of the children I bought had some minor problems, they didn't have any major bad habits, and under the guidance of Father Matthew and Qin, those minor problems were eliminated and corrected. Qualitative, it is much easier to correct than adults.

Of course, Wei Wei thinks they are easy to teach, mainly because most of them are girls. Compared with boys, girls are more mature. They know very well that if they are not bought by the earl, what awaits them is the fate of becoming prostitutes. So they are very sensible and more obedient to discipline.

As for the remaining boys, a large part of them is orphans. It is these orphans who have the most minor problems, but their knowledge of current affairs is also the reason why they can live until now. Compared with children with parents, they know how to Only by doing can they live a better life, so they are even more active on weekdays, trying to please adults. Wei Wei hid behind the curtains and looked at it for a while. The children in the backyard were left unattended, and it was indeed a bit noisy. Even across several floors, they could hear their laughter, but after all, there was no child without a child. doing things. She thought about the children's work. The beets she bought in the capital were almost finished. Without the beets, the work of these children was naturally completed, and she had to arrange new jobs for them. Standing behind her, Jean suddenly heard her ask: "Didn't Felix send soldiers to teach them to train before, and how did they perform?" The maid quickly replied: "The boys are very active, the girls are very active. The reaction is average, but there are a few girls who are not inferior to those boys." Qin knew that Lord Earl planned to train some female swordsmen among these children to protect Wei Wei, so she was also very concerned about this aspect. Wei Wei nodded: "You should let the soldiers you teach observe more. If you are talented, you can concentrate on them to increase the amount of training and develop in this direction in the future." Wei Wei did not keep these children raised and studied. The plan is that with the popularity of knowledge at this time, it is enough to be able to read and write, and then a simple calculation or something is enough. She buys people back for what she will use, and it is impossible to keep it like a charity. Wei Wei walked back to the desk. This was arranged by Felix. It was next to his desk. The two could handle official business together and communicate easily.

She took out a piece of paper from the drawer and handed it to Qin: "Do you think they can fill out this form based on their learning progress?"

Qin looked at it, and it was a printed form with the words "Population "Registration Form", there are more than a dozen items to be filled in, such as name, age, address, date of birth, marital status, family status, education level, and even specialities.

If it weren't for this form being a filled-in template, Qin wouldn't be able to understand it for a while.

Qin: "Madam, this is it?"

"Isn't it written on it, population registration?" Wei Wei raised her chin: "Isn't this going to make candy? I thought it might be better to take the opportunity to register the population of Sardinson County."

The population of Sardinson County is naturally registered, but there is also a lot of water in it because one more person registered means an extra tax, especially the per-person poll tax, even if it is a newborn child. It is necessary to pay, but the mortality rate of children in this period is extremely high, and many children do not live to adulthood, so many people are reluctant to pay taxes to their children, try their best to conceal their existence, and wait until a certain age before registering.

This kind of thing happens all over the place, especially among the freedmen, and the nobles are not easy to search. for Although the found person can be fined or even turned into a serf, it will make other freemen Citizens move out of their territory, as long as some far-sighted nobles will not do so, most of them choose to turn a blind eye, as long as the subjects pay the arrears of poll tax when they go to register . Originally, Wei Wei and Felix were not clear about this, but this time Fort Sardinson recruited freedmen, and those freedmen had to be registered, and the number of families would affect the size of the homestead they obtained, which was originally hidden. The children who did not report were brought over to be registered. When the manager confirmed the identity of the freedmen after the incident, he checked the original information and naturally found the problem of the increase in the number of people, and he was not responsible for the original population registration. So the steward came to ask Felix what to do if they wanted to make up the poll tax they owed.

Felix didn't collect those poll taxes, but he couldn't have known that many people in the territory were unregistered and left it alone.

So Wei Wei referred to the population registration form of later generations and made this form after removing part of the content, in preparation for a census.

She asked again: "How is it, can those children fill it out?"

Qin went through the contents of the form carefully and nodded: "It should be no problem, they have already learned almost the common words and can do the job."

Wei Weishu Tone was worried that if it didn't work, she would not know where to find so many literate people for a while.

"Then you take this form back, teach them well, and let them prepare. I will send an announcement here to notify people, and then they will go to more places and register them."

This is also convenient for collecting people, after all, Many people live far away from the castle, and it is very inconvenient to go back and forth.

So they still arrange their carriages and horses and let the children bring some people to each village to find the village chief to arrange registration.

In the end, she warned again: "There are only dozens of large and small villages and towns in Sardinson County. You divide the children into teams, the older ones and the younger ones, the good ones and the poor ones, and let them go together. It's better to have someone to take care of you when you go."

Although it was said that guards would be arranged to follow, most of the children who are not familiar with the place are girls, so they can feel more at ease if they have company.

"Okay." Qin nodded, and then hesitantly said, "Madam, are these registration papers enough? The children's handwriting skills are still a bit poor. I'm worried that they will damage the form when they register.

" Enough." Wei Wei nodded: "It's okay if it's broken, there are many forms."

Paper is made by paper mills. Oh, this paper mill didn't exist at first. After she let Penny and the gardener's children make paper, Penny didn't continue. The two children were making paper. At first, it was only for Wei Wei. Later, Felix saw that paper was better than parchment, so he tidied up another place and built a paper mill. The two oldest children of the gardener worked in it. , In addition, a lot of workers were recruited to make paper, and the technology was improved in the middle. Now all the paper used in the castle is paper, and it has been a long time since I bought parchment.

After ensuring internal demand, the next step for the paper mill is to expand its scale and sell the paper to the outside world.

So there are as many forms as you want. Anyway, the form templates are still there, and you need to print a batch directly.

Qin: "Can I go back to some? I want to practice for them."

Wei Wei was already prepared, but she took out a stack of forms from the drawer: "You let them fill in their information. "

Since it is a census, the serfs are naturally included in the registration scope.

The announcement that she is also ready, just waiting to post it.

So the next day, there was a new announcement in Dingle Town.

Announcements from the lords are naturally the most concern the lords. In the past, they were afraid of seeing the announcements and worried that there would be an order to increase taxes and labour, but now everyone is very much looking forward to the announcement from the castle.

So as soon as the soldier posted the announcement, the townspeople gathered around him, pulled him and asked, "Is this an announcement of job recruitment?" "Where are

you recruiting people?"

After the Count took office, what they saw the most was various announcements about recruiting workers.

The soldiers who were sent were original to help explain the announcement, and when asked, they replied: "It's not recruiting, this time the earl will send someone to rank the population of Sardinson County, and every household must be registered. If there is concealment, if you do not register this time, you will be punished if you go to register later."

As soon as I heard that the population was going to be registered, everyone's expressions of joy and expectation disappeared, and they suddenly became quiet.

Even in Dingle, which is the closest to the castle, there are hidden populations.

After a while, someone asked the soldier, "Why do you want to register all of a sudden? Is it going to increase the poll tax?"

Tax increase? isn't it? As soon as this guess came out, the atmosphere became even more depressing.

The soldier said: "No, it was the city lord's wife who said that she had received everyone's wedding gifts before. She was very moved, so she prepared a gift for everyone, everyone has it, and the number of free people recruited recently did not match the previous records. So when the Count decides to give gifts, he will register the population by the way."

Is it because they sent a wedding gift? The faces of the townspeople suddenly turned bad, doesn't this mean that all the disasters were caused by them? Others knew that they were not afraid to hate them.

No one wondered what the soldier said about the gift.

The soldier didn't know the specifics here, he just continued to say more important things: "Don't frown, the Count said that if the registered person has unpaid poll tax before, they don't need to pay it, and they will pay it on time in the future. Well, in addition, the amount of poll tax collected in the future has also been adjusted, children under the age of seven do not have to pay, those under the age of 15 will pay half of the previous amount, and those over the age of 15 will remain unchanged.

", everyone was in an uproar.

Those who were impatient immediately asked loudly: "Is it unnecessary to pay taxes?!" The

soldier repeated loudly: "Those under the age of seven do not need to pay taxes, those under the age of fifteen pay half of it, and the rest remain the same!

" Is there such a good thing?

But the people who heard it still didn't believe it: "You didn't lie to us, did you? How could the Count not collect the poll tax? How much will he lose?" The

soldier snorted: "Does the Count lack that much money?"

There are a lot of things to make money in Sardinson County now, just a little head tax, and the soldiers think that the Earl must not be uncommon.

He completely forgot that when he heard this order, he was as disbelieving as everyone else, and he had to accept this shocking fact after reading the announcement several times.

He pointed to a line on the announcement and said, "Look here, this line is about the order to readjust the poll tax. If you have anyone who can read, you can see if what I said is true or not."

Immediately The people standing outside raised their hands and squeezed in: "I know the characters, let me go in and see!" When the

others heard it, they gave way to him one after another.

The man did not look like a Sardinson, he was dressed like a foreign businessman. After he came in, he stared at the announcement and read it carefully, then widened his eyes and swallowed saliva to read the words on it.

When the people around heard it, it was the same as what the soldiers said.

"God, the head tax is going to be reduced!"

What kind of lord they encountered, after so many years, everyone has only heard that the lord will increase the tax, and they have never encountered a voluntary reduction. Lord of taxes, that's still the poll tax!

I can't believe it anymore, the facts are in front of me. After being stunned for a while, the surrounding townspeople finally came to their senses. Some people ran to the house immediately, shouting as they ran, "The Count is going to cut taxes, Count The adults are going to cut taxes," which attracted people on the road to look at him curiously, and then more people rushed towards the bulletin board.

Those who didn't leave couldn't be quiet either. They surrounded the soldier and asked him when he could register, as if eager to register immediately.

"Don't worry, don't worry, the earl will send someone to register in the next few days, don't worry, oh, don't squeeze me, get out of the way, I have to go to other places to post the announcement!" The

bulletin board was surrounded by water. Everyone was excited about this good news, and it was impossible to make way for him. In the end, the mayor who heard the news saved the poor soldier.

Population registration used to be the most feared thing for everyone, which means that if it is found that there are unregistered children in the family, it is likely to be fined, but now it is different, younger children can reduce taxes or even pay taxes, then they will still be fined. worry about what?

Many people even look at children under fifteen in the family, hoping that the registration will come sooner so that they can save a lot of head tax.

On the other hand, Felix, who had been out hunting for two days, came back with a large string of prey.

Spring is not a suitable season for hunting. The prey in this period has just passed the hard winter, and they are often very thin and their fur is not good. Felix is mainly to expel those beasts that are harmful to the territory, such as wild boars. And those more harmless animals basically won't fight when they see it, keep them to breed, and go hunting in autumn not only to get more meat but also to get good fur.

So this time Felix brought back only a few wild boars and a litter of rabbits. Most of

the wild boars died, and only one female wild boar with a big belly survived and was brought back in a bundle.

This reminded Wei Wei of those wild boars that Felix brought back last year. The big ones were all killed, and the small ones were raised. I don't know if they are still there.

She asked casually.

"The female wild boars are all there, and they are raised with other domestic pigs. They are almost ready to give birth. The male wild boars have such a bad temper when they grow up, so they just killed them all."

Wei Wei thought about it as if they were After eating a lot of wild boar, Wei Wei thought it was all from Felix hunting.

"Why don't you castrate them? After the pigs are castrated, their temper will not be so bad, and the castration tastes good, and it is easy to gain weight."

What she said was nothing, but the men who returned from hunting all felt the following. It was cold as if a knife was stuck there, trying to figure out how to cut a knife.

Even Felix thinks that his wife sometimes talks scary, too scary.

Wei Wei was looking down at the rabbit that was tied up and put in the bag. It was a litter of European hares. It was the largest among rabbits, with greyish-yellow fur. It didn't look very cute. Looking at it, it should be the mother rabbit with a group of bunnies, and looking at the size of the bunnies, they should be born soon, and I don't know if they are weaned.

Seeing the rabbit, the first sentence that popped into Wei Wei's mind was "How can you eat a rabbit so cute!"

However, cute rabbits are meant to be eaten! And the rabbit meat is delicious.

A bunch of rabbit meat flashed in her mind, and she just wanted to tell Felix that these rabbits could try artificial breeding so that there will be a lot of rabbit meat to eat in the future. When she looked up, she found that everyone was using a kind of indescribable look at her.

Wei Wei looked innocent: "What's the matter?"

Felix was silent for a while, and then said, "Do you want to raise this wild boar?"

"Of course. You see that its belly is so big, it must be able to give birth to a lot of piglets, you bring it back Isn't it just for raising?"

No, they brought it back to eat roast suckling pig for a while. Felix secretly said, but he didn't say it.

"...So the boar that was born will be castrated?" He felt pain when he said this word.

Wei Wei nodded: "Yeah, isn't the wild boar very aggressive, it's better to castrate the long meat, by the way, are there other boar piglets in the pigpen? There is no fishy smell, and the taste is very good."

Pork in this period is not in the recipes of nobles, just because the smell is too strong, pork is the longest meat eaten by ordinary civilians, and it is also for this reason. And at this time, European domestic pigs were not quite the same as later generations of domestic pigs. They were small in size. Although their tusks and canine teeth had begun to degenerate, some of them remained. There were occasional incidents of boars hurting people during estrus. Happened, castration is not so much trouble.

However, how to operate Wei Wei is going to go back and flip through the book, and then find someone good at knives to try it. I don't know if the servant in the kitchen can do it.

Hearing what she meant, it seemed that all the boars were castrated, and the expressions of the surrounding knights became even more complicated.

The countess is cruel, and she gave such a cruel order in an understatement.

The Count is really powerful. If such a ruthless lady dares to marry, is he not afraid that one day he will anger the lady and be cut across the board?

Felix, who was worried and sympathized with his subordinates: ... It seems that what Madam threatened him before was probably true.