Iron Powder and Spellcaster

How does it feel to have a different sun in the sky?

The answer is simple: if it is the same as the previous sun, then there is no feeling.

Such is the case with the citizens of Gevaudin.

Everyone watched in confusion as some people left the city and some entered the city.

According to the most widely circulated and most logical statement on the streets, what happened is this:

The garrison officer went out to the city to suppress bandits and died;

Bandits entered the city and looted everything, causing chaos;

The new captain drove away the bandits and became the new garrison officer, that's all.

The "new garrison" deliberately did not correct this perception, but instead strengthened it.

Because Winters' strategy for dealing with Gévaudin is to "stay still".

He had only four regular officers at his disposal—Moritz and Juan were not under his command.

There are no more than two dozen people under him who can read and write.

Winters knew very well that he did not have the ability to take over Gevaudan, nor did he have the desire, nor the need.

All he wants is stability and no chaos.

The disadvantage of the strategy of "staying as is" is that it "has no feeling".

The citizens of Gévaudan have no feeling, and naturally they will not have any recognition of the new regime.

Bread must still be eaten, work must still be done, and shops must still be open.

What it was like before is what it is like now. Everyone is living in peace and contentment and continuing to live their lives.

Not only the citizens of Gevaudan didn't feel it, but the sixteen towns in Tiefeng County didn't feel it either.

The farmers and townspeople in the southern towns still knew some news, and the northern towns didn't even realize that Gévaudan had a new owner.

But after discussing it in the six-person group, Winters decided to inform everyone.

…

Tiefeng County, Qingfeng Town, Shibi Village.

Three cavalrymen rushed into the center of the village at lightning speed. The leading cavalryman held a green flag high, which meant that he had brought an important message.

Following a familiar process, the three cavalrymen first found the village chief, rang the bell, and gathered the villagers.

Many villagers saw the cavalry breaking into the village and had already hid in the forest surrounding the village.

It will take a lot of energy to get them all back.

The leading cavalry did not waste this time. Seeing dozens of people coming to the village square, he found a carriage, got on it, and read the notice to the villagers of Shibi Village.

After reading it, he posted the notice on the notice board in the village square, then got on his horse and left, heading to the next village.

After the cavalry left, the farmers who ran into the forest returned to the village one after another.

They gathered in the village square and looked at the notice on the sign.

The newly posted notice is extremely large, with a piece of paper taking up half of the notice board.

Each letter written on it is also very large, as if for fear that readers will read it wrongly.

There is also a huge paint seal in the lower right corner of the notice. Even the most stupid villagers understand the meaning of this paint seal: whoever dares to tear it up will be killed.

The few people in the village who could read crowded in front of the notice and read to the others with squinted eyes.

…

Winters originally did not plan to write the notice because he felt that it would be useless if farmers could not read it.

"You are wrong." Bud explained with a smile: "Most farmers can't read, but there are always people in the village who can read, and they can read to others. The small leaflet with the teachings printed on it was from Calais back then. One of Wenzong's important means of attracting believers. Don't worry, they will know what is written on the notice."

So Winters drafted a notice himself.

After seeing it, Bud smiled even more happily: "You can't use this kind of grammar. There are literate people in the village, but they can only understand it roughly."

"I've tried to use simple grammar as much as possible."

"Writing notices is not an easy task. It must be written according to a standard that an eight-year-old child can understand." Bud smiled more and more: "It must be concise and the key points must be grasped. Otherwise, the previous words will not be heard until the end. The content has been completely forgotten. It would be better if it still rhymes and is as catchy as a children's song."

Andre on the side said, "I thought of a good sentence."

"What?"

Andre cleared his throat: "Eat his mother! Wear his mother's clothes! The blood wolf will not pay for its food!"

"If you don't pay for the food!" Winters grabbed the toilet paper into a ball and threw it at Andre: "If you don't pay for the food, what will you eat!"

"Aren't political promises meant to be broken?" Andre said nonchalantly: "If we can really capture Maplestone City, will anyone dare to ask us why we need to pay for food?"

"Okay, don't irritate him." Bard knew that the problem actually lay with the "Blood Wolf".

Winters felt aggrieved, really aggrieved.

He has never called himself "Blood Man" or "Blood Wolf", and he is not the kind of soldier who is proud of scary nicknames.

But for some reason, each of his nicknames became worse than the last, and they became more widespread and more evil.

Captain Speyer once taught him, "If you don't want to have an unpleasant nickname for the rest of your life, stop doing such stupid things."

He didn't take this sentence seriously at the time, but he regrets it now.

On the third day after he entered the city, all the guilds of Gévaudan suddenly collectively donated a large sum of money.

Winters was very happy at first, leaving behind the troubles outside the city, and went into the city to thank the presidents of each guild in person.

Until one of them spilled the beans and said that these were all money "given to Lord Blood Wolf".

Upon hearing this, Winters' expression suddenly changed.

The person who spoke was so timid that he was so frightened that he became incontinent on the spot.

In the end, it was Bard who cleaned up the mess for "Lord Blood Wolf", and afterwards gave Winters a good lecture.

All in all, the last thing Winters wanted to hear was the word "blood wolf."

"But this slogan is quite good." Bud smiled and took the pen and paper: "Let's change it to [eat his mother, wear his mother, and no food this fall]."

…

Yegeni "Big Eye", who lives in the west end of Shibi Village, carefully stayed in the forest for a while.

He only walked out of the woods after confirming that the cavalry holding the green flag had not returned, so it was relatively late to return to the village.

When he walked to the village square, he found that the villagers were gathered in the square, chatting in small groups.

The notice has been read, and has been read several times.

"What's going on? What did you say?" Big-eyed Yogenni hurriedly found his neighbor, the fisherman and farmer [Ilya]

"I don't quite understand it either." Fisherman Ilya scratched the back of his head and said, "It seems that the garrison in the city has a new boss."

"Has the village chief changed?"

"No."

"Has the mayor changed?"

"nor."

"Hey, the birds are chirping and the master wants to be promoted. What does it have to do with us peasants?" Yogenni spat.

The farmers who remain in Shibi Village are all homesteaders. They own land and houses and cannot escape like long-term workers and tenant farmers.

In times of peace, the life of homesteaders was much better than that of the landless peasants, the real bottom class of rural society.

They could raise pigs, cattle, sheep, and even horses. They had meat to eat from time to time, and some surplus grain to make private wine.

Now, they are just struggling to survive.

But that doesn't mean they're willing to endure exploitation, they just can't escape it.

"The new master is very good. He won't pay the grain tax this autumn." Ilya muttered: "Eat his mother, wear his mother, and I won't pay the grain this autumn."

"Go to hell!" Yegeni's big eyes widened even more: "It's almost time to sow winter wheat! It's still autumn! Besides, a while ago, the city sent a grain collection team down to harvest us. wheat?"

Another farmer [Pushian] interjected: "The new master also said that he would suppress bandits."

"Which master didn't say that he wanted to suppress the bandits? But which one really took care of it? Didn't the bandits still bully us?" Yegeni became more and more angry as he spoke. He stamped his feet fiercely: "Damn it! What kind of bullshit new master is still the same as his mother?" A pair of pants, but the crotch is open to the back! Damn it!"

Although Yegeni's words were dirty, he touched on the sadness of several farmers around him.

Bandits, taxes, and military disasters, farmers work hard to live on the land, but they are oppressed all year round.

In Shibi Village alone, several households of farmers have been forced to flee their homes. I don’t know if he became a soldier, surrendered to the bandits, or died.

The farmers around him were silent.

"That's right. The new master said that from now on, there will be no more [millstone tax]!" Ilya happily told his neighbor: "Grind whatever you want, grind whatever you want, whoever wants to make it can be made!"

Yenigan was stunned because he really had a hand grinder at home.

"real?"

"Really! It says it on the sign!"

After standing still for a long time, Yenigan said: "The new guy is a good old man."

…

Winters’ strategy is not only to “move away” from Gevaudan, but also from the countryside.

"There was too much chaos in the past." Winters explained his thoughts to others: "Everyone misses the old life and longs for a sense of security. So we first stabilize Tiefeng County, and we won't move if we can.

If the carriage is not broken, don't knock it. Tiefeng County can still function, so don’t touch it. How do we have experience in managing a county? Besides, do farmers still need our teaching in farming? "

But Winters soon discovered that he was talking to a bull.

There are now six people who can participate in the decision-making meeting, Winters himself, Bud, Andre, Mason, Moritz and Juan.

Senior Juan and Andre didn't care about this at all. They were sleepy-eyed and yawning as soon as the meeting began;

Lieutenant Colonel Moritz never yawned because he took a nap openly, and he had the highest military rank among the people present, so no one could control him;

Senior Mason, on the other hand, was focused on his [horse pulling cannon].

During the previous siege of Hammer Castle, the [horse-drawn wooden cannon] was a great success, so now the senior's mind is full of "Where can I get two real cannons?"

There must be no cannons in Tiefeng County, and they can't be purchased outside. Either go out and grab it, or make it.

Mason is already considering whether to test cast two small cannons for fun first.

Not to mention that Lieutenant Colonel Moritz and Don Juan had other agendas.

…

"Do you know what other tasks I have besides collecting your body?" Moritz asked Winters.

"I don't know." Winters replied, "But I guess it has something to do with your choice of battle plan B."

Moritz pointed to Andre and Bud and asked, "Then do you know why they didn't return to Veneta?"

Winters had some guesses, but he didn't want to say them out loud.

"It is Veneta who wants them to stay here." Moritz sighed: "Not only does your home country not want to take you back, it also wants you to stay in Plato. When you return to the country, Venetta will only have a few more lieutenants. . If you stay in Plato, Venetta will have many valuable hands and eyes."

"Is that so?" Winters asked Andre.

Andre nodded, his eyes were complicated.

"They're all the same, I'm not surprised." Winters was already numb: "The Platoans don't treat us as human beings, and the same goes for Veneta."

"You are quite mature." Moritz smiled.

Winters asked: "So? You and Senior Juan think that my small business is a good investment opportunity. If it can grow as soon as possible, it can contain the new reclamation army and even the Red Rose of the Kings' Castle? So you Did you decide to adopt a backup plan? For Venetta?"

"No, I helped you because I was happy." Moritz replied sincerely: "I just prefer Plan B. Since I can annihilate Ronald's department in one go, there is no need to cause more damage. If you can kill people with one knife, Why still torture him?”

"Me neither, I'm just here to take you back." Don Juan interrupted: "I help you fight because I am idle. Besides, didn't you beg me?"

…

In the end, Winters sadly discovered that in the small conference room, the only two people who really cared about the farmers were Bud and him.

The six-person meeting turned into a complete formality, and in the end only Bud and Winters discussed it.

"That's right." Bard agreed: "If the carriage is not broken, don't knock it. With our current ability, we are simply not enough to control the entire Tiefeng County. So it is best to keep things as usual."

Therefore, the rural areas of Tiefeng County are also temporarily "immobile".

The disadvantage of not moving is that there is no feeling.

The advantage of not moving is that there is no feeling.

No one felt anything, and life went on as usual, which was exactly what Winters wanted.

Just because the citizens don't feel it and the farmers don't feel it doesn't mean that other people don't feel it.

The refugees and disaster victims gathered around Gevaudan, plus the prisoners held by Winters, were roughly estimated to total more than 20,000 men, women, old and children.

They feel it because they have lost everything and are now hungry.

Their lives have been turned upside down, leaving them deeply frightened, anxious and angry.

The riot on the day of the fall of Gevaudan was just a small release of pressure.

The refugee camp outside the city has turned into a giant powder keg. Just a small spark will cause the earth to shake and the earth to collapse.

Winters must stabilize Tiefeng County no matter what. For this reason, he will not move either the city or the countryside, as long as it is stable.

Because he also wants to "register households and bring order to the people."

[Winters comes to town - a lot of threads]

[The previous chapter plus this chapter also has 6,000 words, and I have exceeded the task today. Yesterday and today, there were more updates because of the Chinese New Year holiday + detailed outline, not the author’s true level. The author is at the level of 3,000 daily updates, so if it drops back to 3,000 daily updates in the future, everyone will know that it is the author who has "revealed his true colors", thank you all]

[Thanks to book friends for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation votes, monthly votes, rewards and comments, thank you all]