Eagle Byzantium

As a result, when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Cabeamiya, who was riding at the front, was surprised to see that in front of the tree-lined village where the immigration group was located, many farmers held farm tools and surrounded the big tree where the widow originally rested. There was a lot of talk, and there was constant quarrels in German and Greek.

The frightened Cabeamiya hurriedly sent out more than a dozen believers in front of her horse who were carrying quivers and were responsible for guarding. They quickly stepped forward, filled their bows, and loudly drove away this group of lawless farmers. Leave.

When several peasants saw the Paulists hurriedly arriving in black robes, they were so stupid that they thought they were the widow's companions, nobles, looking for bad luck. There was just a leather bag wrapped around the crotch, which was bulging exaggeratedly. He was holding various farm tools and shouting insults at Cabea Amiya on the horse.

"Fire the arrow!" The female consul holding the reins said unceremoniously.

A few arrows immediately passed over the farmers' heads or shoulders, whizzed past, and penetrated into the tree trunk behind them. Only then did the village gangsters realize that the bows and arrows in the hands of these guys in black robes were real ones. , shouted a few words in German, shook his buttocks of various colors, turned around and ran away.

When Gawain arrived in a hurry, beside the widow, the servants and maids holding umbrellas crookedly were still hiding in the tree behind. Mrs. Qise and several guards were also nervously holding daggers and daggers, surrounding her. On the four sides of Jianyu, it seems that just now She was really frightened by this group of aggressive German peasants, but the widow stood proudly on the seat of the carriage with her bulging belly. She actually held a naked child in her hand and was moving around with her hands and feet. , wailing and crying!

"My golden-haired heroine!" Gawain cried bitterly in his heart, and he jumped off the horse nervously, walked quickly to the widow's side, and stretched out his hand, "What are you doing in the land of Varyag with your sister and father?" This business is enough. There is no need to steal farmers’ children and sell them during the break, right? Go back, Inglina.”

"I'm not stealing a child to sell. Besides, my father used to carry slaves on ships and sell them, so he wouldn't sell such a small child." The widow angrily held the child in her arms, and then kept raising her lips and shushing her, soothing her. Holding this child.

"I understand, you just want to hug this baby because it's so cute, so you can give it back after the exercise. You are pregnant, so you can't overwork yourself."

Unexpectedly, the widow's temper was even worse. Even Gawain didn't see her being so angry. She even used dirty words. In short, she was unwilling to give the child back.

Just when Gawain had no clue and the widow couldn't explain for a while, Qise stepped forward to salute the grand duke and said clearly, "Inglina will not put it back because she was in the forest just now." While he was resting by the stream, he saw a group of peasants who, after a brief prayer and confession to the Lord and Saint Nicholas, were about to drown the child."

"What?" Gawain was stunned immediately.

"They want to drown the child just because she is a girl." Qise repeated, "Inglina snatched the child away and annoyed the villagers, which led to the situation just now."

At this time, Anna, who had just arrived on the carriage, heard Mrs. Qise's words and raised her hand to block Little Sunfish's request for instructions, "Send my guards over to prevent the villagers from hurting others."

So it turned out that Gawain came back to his senses. He had spent most of his time here in Asia Minor. For the Byzantine Empire, the plateau was only filled with endless wars and disasters - the rebellion of the nobles, the looting and massacre of the Turks. They all lack population, so drowning of female infants is relatively rare. But the Germans who migrated from there were different. Many of them were tortured by the "curse ghost" and could not support themselves and their families before they set off to the distant east. For this group of farmers, The daughter had no choice but to plow the fields and work for the noble lord, so she could only do some work such as picking wheat ears, making bark shoes, and spinning. Men have to do odd jobs such as weaving, open their mouths to eat, pay dowries to support them when they grow up, and give birth to more and more babies, which leads to more and more mouths to eat. Soon there will not be enough food. Men It is no longer possible to feed women and children. Once some natural disaster strikes, everyone will be destroyed and die in large numbers.

Therefore, they drown most of the female babies born. This has nothing to do with cruelty or morality. This is just a pitiful way for helpless and ignorant farmers to control their population and feed themselves.

Gawain was also very embarrassed when he learned the truth. The widow no longer paid attention to him. When she heard the baby girl crying hungry, she turned around, untied the burqa, and wrapped the child. Then, the shrewd child discovered that although the widow's breasts were extremely full, there was no milk. He couldn't help but struggle all over and cried even more miserably.

"What's the use of feeding like that? A stupid woman is a stupid woman, her brain has grown to her chest." Anna sarcastically said loudly, then she turned her head and whispered to Hertomia, "Go to Seleucia City to find someone Come, the nursing woman, and gather all the villagers, I have a decree to declare.”

The ten guard warriors brought by Anna were all wearing body-length armor, carrying embroidered quivers, and wearing sharp single-edged sabers; several of Gawain's guard warriors were dressed in bearded pirate costumes. Carrying a long ax and carrying a round shield - this group of people surrounded the entire village and announced their identities as the Grand Duke and the Princess in Purple Clothes. The peasants were devastated and all walked out. About dozens of people, old and young, men and women, knelt down and worshiped. In front of Jianyu.

"My new decree, first of all, I would like to say to your village that your old habit of drowning baby girls in your hometown will never be allowed to appear again in Seleucia. Any baby, whether a boy or a girl, is the most precious thing given to the world by the Virgin Mary. A wonderful gift," Anna said loudly, sitting behind the curtain of the carriage. "Then the Grand Duke The Grand Council will allow members of the Jinshu Brotherhood and the Renewal Society to form a circuit court to patrol every town and village at regular intervals, as long as they find you drowning babies from any mouth, or from the canals or ponds of any village. The whole village must pay a fine of ten gold coins for the baby's body, and the punishment will be severe."

Gawain stood beside Anna with a solemn expression. He let the little girl speak without interrupting him, but in his heart he understood as well as the Archon: Even if this was the case, it would be difficult to eradicate the phenomenon of drowning baby girls. , at worst, they would use more terrifying and simple methods to dispose of the baby's body, such as throwing it into a stove and incineration, or burying it deep in the woods. That's why the female consul kept mumbling to herself, "Babies are devils."

"This is also our sin. If everyone in the Seleucia Territory was very wealthy and happy, how could there be the horrific scene seen today?" After the new decree was read out, Anna said to Gawain calmly. (To be continued ~^~)