stonecrandall Chapter 116 Balancing Public and Private Interests
Chapter 116 Balancing Public and Private Interests
Chapter 116 Balancing Public and Private Interests
The night watchman does not marry or have children.
They treat responsibility as their wife and honor as their concubine.
However, digging for treasure in rat burrows was an open violation of the rules, tacitly approved by successive commanders-in-chief.
The oath only forbids establishing a family, but does not forbid having sexual relations.
Westeros also has herbs like tansy and moon tea, which irrationally control the number of newborns.
Of course, Joffrey didn't force Renly to do anything, but this third uncle still took the initiative to persuade the various lords to surrender.
Once most people realized that the situation was hopeless, they obediently surrendered.
A few, upon hearing they were to be sent to the Great Wall, immediately changed their minds and led their men back into the forest.
However, Pexter had already fled with the Qingting Island fleet. They were completely trapped in the Racking Hall, and all that was needed was to slowly eliminate them and then use them as a negative example to deliver a strong blow.
Joffrey had planned this all along: to pack up the Reach nobles and take them to the Wall.
From an official standpoint, these people will inevitably form cliques and factions after they go there.
Bringing a dozen or so followers is considered a small number. Their families would also provide supplies to the Great Wall so that their children or fathers could have a better life.
For example, with Edmure's strong support, Blackfish became the chief ranger not long after arriving.
Moreover, Joffrey will need to support his supporters and weaken his opponents when he divides the Reach later.
For personal reasons.
Hehe, the Earl of Randyll and Samwell Tarly meeting at the Wall—just seeing this scene would make the White Walkers' attack worthwhile!
Unfortunately, Randall was a stubborn man.
"The Great Wall was a place for exiling scum and criminals; it's a tremendous disgrace."
Once those words were spoken, Joffrey didn't bother to say anything more.
He doesn't deserve to listen.
Let's wait for Ed to come and debate with him.
As for the remaining soldiers, they couldn't cause much trouble.
They were all simple, ordinary people who, one day, received a summons from their master and, dressed in tattered clothes, went to fight strangers.
Forget it, Joffrey can't keep making this up.
They are all part of the productive forces, a prize bestowed upon the victors.
Although it was said that more than 20,000 people needed to watch over more than 20,000 prisoners, once the officials above were under control, the people below were completely at a loss.
After finishing their business, everyone went back to their homes and continued farming.
If time remained the same, Joffrey would have another summer.
Then, winter will come.
Order is slowly being restored in the North River Bay area.
The fleeing farmers cautiously returned to their hometown, standing blankly in front of their empty thatched huts.
But on the land they once cultivated, new people are now sowing seeds.
-
One hunchback was found.
"See this? This is a document signed by the Little Devil. It has writing on it and is stamped with the Chancellor of the Exchequer's seal."
A man with a large mole on his neck stood on the land his ancestors had cultivated for generations, waving a piece of wood at himself.
The hunchback clenched his fists.
He grew up here and took over from his father to farm this land for the master.
Because he was so tall, he had to bend over to enter any door, so that's what the villagers called him.
"This is Mr. Graves' land, and I've been farming it for him for forty years."
"Graves?" Da Zi shoved a piece of wood in front of his eyes.
"Look closely, this is the king's land. Your master ran away, so this land belongs to the king. And now the king is making me farm it? Is there something wrong with that?"
Because of his hunchback and illiteracy, he had a natural reverence for words.
He looked at the seal again; it was round and bright red, and it certainly didn't look fake.
He opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything, and turned away.
The mole called out from behind, "Don't go!"
"The king said that if anyone returns and can prove that they once planted here, they will get half of it from him."
"I haven't worked in the fields for many years. I can't possibly plant all of this. I don't want the king to give me any more land. Let's plant together."
"I'm strong and can carry things. We'll split the workload 40/60, I'll take 40% and you take 60%."
Wei Zi was from Hejian, and his family lived near Dai Rui City. For generations, they had farmed for the master.
He could support himself when he was five or six years old, and started working in the fields on his own when he was ten.
Although it's tiring, at least I have a place to stay and bread to eat.
Then war broke out.
-
About a decade or so ago, Lord Darryl was defeated in battle and imprisoned in the castle.
Then a group of new gentlemen arrived, pointed at the land they had cultivated for generations, and said that this place was to be used to raise horses.
They were driven away, their houses were razed, and the wheat in the fields was uprooted before it was even ripe.
The family with the mole started heading south, but the parents died on the way, and the younger brother and sister were lost.
He was left alone as he walked into a huge city that made one want to kneel down.
The King's Landing.
He carried sacks, dug ditches, kept watch over the dead, and then lived in a flea-infested den, surviving on brown soup every day.
I drifted along like that for over ten years.
It will probably be like this in the future.
"Farming? What kind of farming?"
The news came from the cafeteria.
"King Joffrey has won a great victory in the south. All the lords of the Reach have fled, and the land is abandoned. We need to recruit people to cultivate it."
Some people started to scoff: "That's still farming for the master. You'll be working yourself to death. It's better to just coast along here."
Dazi stood up, walked out, and entered a square that was crowded with people.
"What's your name?" the person registering him asked.
"Rogue." His father had given him that name, but he had long forgotten it, and that's what everyone here called him.
"Do you know how to farm? What do you do now?"
Mole hesitated for a moment. What kind of decent work could there be in a flea nest?
"My father was a farmer, and I used to farm." He licked his lips.
The person registering the documents didn't ask any questions. They simply wrote a few words on a piece of wood, then picked up a stamp and firmly pressed it down.
"Go wait over there; someone will come to explain the rules this afternoon."
The mole held the piece of wood, turning it over and over to examine it.
Although I couldn't understand anything about it, I felt that there was a kind of magical power in it.
The gentleman, dressed in fine clothes, began to speak on the stage.
The land allocated to the king cannot be bought or sold; upon his death, if there are no children to inherit it, the Iron Throne will be reclaimed; the seeds and farming tools for the first year will be borrowed from the Iron Throne, and will be returned after the harvest; a forty-tenths rent must be paid, covering the church's tithes.
Good heavens, they only collected this little bit?
When planting for Mr. Dai Rui, it seems that a large portion of the cost had to be paid.
The hunchback and several returning farmers squatted at the village entrance for an entire afternoon.
He saw the men from King's Landing being led by several armored soldiers, marching in groups.
An old man held up a map, pointed to plots of land, and read out their names as he distributed them.
That's roughly how the mole was divided; it was assigned to his plot, along with a few other plots nearby.
Those people were jumping and hopping around in the field, and even lying down to smell the soil.
-
The hunchback spat.
A group of outside bandits. This land belongs to Master Graves. His great-great-grandfather's family has been farming it.
It should be the same no matter how many generations pass.
People nearby started talking.
"I heard that the rent is only 40%."
"That's an attempt to bribe us."
"But that's a full ten percent less, and the church fees are waived, so that's twenty percent—"
The hunchback couldn't listen anymore.
He stood up and dusted himself off: "Master Graves will be back."
The Graves family has lived on this land for thousands of years, much longer than the current king.
Thousands of years have passed, kings have come and gone, countless families have come and gone, and they are so far away that they may never see each other again in their entire lives.
But the master stayed there the whole time, and everyone was watching him.
The hunchback inexplicably gained a sense of confidence, and his voice became louder.
"Just wait, it won't be long before the master gets his revenge."
"Just like before, kill all of them, including Hida!"