"This is the village of Fold." Simon looked at the dilapidated village in front of him.

"That's right, it's here." The fat man walked forward slowly on a pack horse.

The village in front of me is on the edge of the forest, close to the large grassland on the banks of the Rhine River. The land reclaimed around is obviously less than the village of Hinxer that I passed by before, and there are even a few abandoned farmland that no one has cultivated.

Several thin farmers were wearing ragged sweatshirts working weakly in the fields. Not far away, a shepherd saw Simon, who was fully armed with a tall horse, as if he had seen the devil, and panickedly drove the flock into the forest.

The villagers' houses in the village are small and broken. You can even see burnt wood in a slightly larger house. Needless to say, it is a house that was once burned. There is a wooden house on the small hill not far away. It seems that it is the hunting villa built by my father.

The villagers who walked towards him showed their faces, with indifference and numbness in their eyes.

"Where is the head of the village in Folde?" Simon stopped a middle-aged woman carrying a wooden barrel and a white turban with dense moxa spots and walking towards the village in a ripped dress.

"Master, is there anything wrong with you when you come to our village?" The woman did not directly answer Simon's question, but asked vigilantly.

"This is Sir Simon of the Dorsten family! Haven't you seen the family emblem on his chest? A few days ago, Lord Baron had already enthroned the village of Fold to Sir Simon. Don't you know?" The fat man said majestic.

Simon smiled bitterly. After the enthronement of the territory, the family would send the consignors to the fiefdom to inform the consignors. However, when Baron Dorsten saw that Simon couldn't wait to pack up his things and was about to set off for the fiefdom immediately, he simply did not send the consignors, so it was normal for the consignors to know that they were the new lords.

"It turns out to be Mr. Simon," the middle-aged woman retracted her vigilance, replaced by a constant indifference and numbness. "It's the second house on the right hand side of the village."

"You..." Seeing that the woman was rude, the fat man immediately wanted to pull out the battle axe at his waist.

"Don't be excited." Simon held down the fat man's hand that was drawing the axe and thanked the woman with a smile.

The two continued to ride to the village.

"My dear young master, you are so kind. That untouchable is clearly ignoring you and humiliating you. Why don't you teach her a lesson? If everyone in the lord here knew that you were a bully lord, those cunning guys would use various methods and excuses to evade taxes and disobey their lives!" The fat man said unjustly.

"Ignorance and humiliation are not a matter of talking about ignorance. I saw from her that I was disappointed and numb to the Dorsten family. We cannot blindly look for reasons from the leaders of the people, and the carnivore itself must learn to think from the perspective of others." Simon patted the fat man on the shoulder, and the fat man tried his best to fight for his own interests, which also touched Simon.

"In the past two years, the Vikings have suddenly robbed this village. Every time my father's army arrived, the village of Folde was already in a mess and the smoke was rolling. But my father could not maintain a standing army to guard the village, so the villagers of Folde could understand that they were disappointed with the Dorsten family." Simon took out a kettle and took a sip.

"Is there any way? This village has neither pointed wooden walls nor tall arrow towers. Even if the Baron sends instructors to train these peasants into militias, they will go to die against those fierce and barbaric northern pagans." The fat man's face was full of worry and his eyebrows were almost twisted.

"Ha! Don't worry, I have my own way." Simon smiled and got off the horse.

The two have arrived at the village chief’s house.

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong"

Simon knocked on the mottled wooden door, and after a while, the door opened with a "creak". A beautiful girl with beautiful blonde hair, blue and shiny eyes, a small nose, pink red lips, appeared in front of Simon.

"Who are you looking for?" Looking at Simon staring at her in front of her, the girl took a step back a little scaredly, and her other hand slowly reached behind the door.

"I am Sir Simon of the Dorsten family. I was granted the title of Folder Village a few days ago. I'm here to find the village chief to learn about the basic situation of the village."

"Oh, so that's how it is," the girl breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Simon with a smile. "Come with me quickly, my father is working in the house!"

The two followed the girl into the house.

Simon glanced at the door and leaned against the wall with a hatchet.

"What an alert little girl." Simon thought.

The village chief's house was also filled with the "mixed odor of multiple gases", but it was much lighter than the smell Simon smelled in Hinxor Village.

The house was darker, and the only light source was the fireplace beside the wall, which was burning with faint flames. There were no animals in the house, but instead were piled with firewood and two bags of barley and rye.

When he entered the inner room, an old man in a clean green shirt was writing at his desk. When he saw someone entering the door, he put the quill aside and raised his head.

"Hello, village chief, I am the new lord of the village of Fold." Simon entered the door and introduced himself kindly.

"No, no messenger has come to inform you recently." The village chief was very confused.

"Old guy, if you don't recognize Mr. Simon, do you recognize this?" said the fat man behind Simon, and walked forward with a quick step forward and slapped a document with the Dorsten family's seal on the table in front of the village chief.

"Is this?" The village chief picked up the document tremblingly and placed it under the candle to read it carefully.

"Oh! My dear Mr. Simon," the village chief who had finished reading the document bowed deeply to Simon, "Please forgive me for being rude just now."

"Not you're faulted. This book sealing is indeed different from usual. As soon as the book sealing ceremony ended, I came over impatiently, so my father did not send a messenger to tell you," Simon smiled, "I will bother the village chief, please call the villagers to announce the news later."

"Of course there is no problem, lord." As he said, the village chief shouted "Elsa" in his arms, and the beautiful girl who had opened the door opened and pushed the door open.

"Go to find two people to clean the hunting villa on the mountain, and I said it was my order," the village chief said to the girl, "Master, this is my daughter."

"Hello, Mr. Simon!" Elsa and Simon looked at each other and smiled, leaving the door with a slightly red face.

"It's not too late yet. Some villagers who are working outside may not have come back yet. Why don't you introduce the situation here first?" Simon looked at the sunlight that shone in outside the window.

"Okay, my master, you sit first." As he said that, the village chief moved the bench on one side. "Folde Village is in a difficult time now. The last time the damn Vikings came to plunder, killed more than a dozen villagers who fought back and snatched most of our food. In winter, eight or nine people were reduced due to hunger. There were only more than one hundred and fifty people left in the village. So now it is spring, and there is a lack of staff in all work."

"It's so difficult. Haven't you been to Dolstenburg for help yet?" Simon was puzzled.

"We tried," the village chief stared at the candlelight, "In winter, many villagers divided the grain of the day into three days to eat, and the cooked wheat paste was so light that it was full of water. Some people were so hungry that they could not hold on and ran over to me for help. I had no choice, and my food was only enough for our family. So I asked the tax collector of the Dorsten family to go to Dorstenburg to ask for help from the Baron."

"Yes, there's something going on." Simon searched for the memories in his mind. On that winter afternoon, a tax collector and two militiamen from the village of Fold came to Dorstenburg, and in the evening, he took away a full cart of supplies.

"But that morning, the tax collector and two militia returned to the village of Fold with a carriage of pitiful food, saying that the Baron was short of food, and it was the one that the Baron gathered together for us. Alas, there was no way, this little food could be dealt with in a short time, and in the end, eight or nine people had not survived the long winter," the village chief paused, and saw Simon frowning tightly, "My Lord, what's wrong with you?"

"Dolstenburg was not short of food at all in winter, and I saw the tax collector dragging a truck full of food on the road that afternoon." Simon sneered.

"What!?" The village chief stood up suddenly, shocked, "That means..."

"This tax collector has a big problem. Don't worry, I will meet this guy myself tomorrow." Simon said gritting his teeth. The fat man next to him was also furious.

"By the way, where is this tax collector now?" Simon couldn't help asking.

"He should still be drinking in the village tent. I passed by the house in the afternoon and smelled the strong smell of wine and punching sounds from inside," the village chief shook his head helplessly, and then looked out the window, "Master, it's getting late, I'll go to rattle the bell to gather the villagers."

The village chief stood up, twisted the candles with his hands, and the three of them came to the open space outside the room together.

"Ding, ding, ding"

With the short and rapid ringtones, the villagers walked to the open space in the middle of the village. At this time, it was dark and someone had already raised the bonfire in the middle of the open space. Everyone was talking in a low voice, looking at Simon and Fatty from time to time. Some well-informed villagers already knew that this was their new lord.

After a while, the village chief saw that the person had almost arrived, so he shouted loudly to let everyone quiet.

Simon looked around, but did not find the tax collector.

"Everyone, quiet! The respected lord beside me is Sir Simon of the Dorsten family, and will be our new lord in the future!" As he said that, the village chief raised the documents in his hand high.

The fat man stood next to the village chief, holding a torch so that the villagers could see the documents clearly under the dim sky.

After the village chief finished speaking, there was no applause or cheer, only a silence like death.

"I know the pain and disasters that everyone has suffered for a long time, and I feel very sad about it. However, the past has passed and our eyes must look forward. Since I have taken over this land, I swear I will protect it and manage it..." Simon walked forward and faced the villagers and said loudly.

The villagers with cold and numb eyes listened, and a hint of hope appeared in their eyes, and then turned into indifference and mockery.

"My Lord, please forgive my presumptuousness and recklessness. I have a question. All of our Folder villagers want to know where the Dorsten family army was when the Vikings came to plunder us last summer and autumn?"

Suddenly, a slightly childish voice interrupted Simon's speech.

"Bold!" The fat man shouted loudly, pulled out the armed axe from his waist, and immediately acted forward.

"Wait!" Simon stopped the fat man, took the torch from the fat man's hand, and walked forward slowly. Wherever he walked, the villagers automatically divided into two rows to give way. At the end was a low body shrouded in the darkness.

Simon approached and finally saw the true face of the "reckless man" in front of him.

This is a little boy with dirty body and rusty all over his body, looking eleven or twelve years old. However, his face had a perseverance and indifference that was obviously inconsistent with his age.

"Why is it him?? Alas." The village chief also saw the child, lowered his head and sighed.

"What's your name?" Simon asked calmly. Although he was very annoyed that his speech was interrupted, he would not have punished a child severely for this.

"My name is Klein, Master." The little boy replied coldly.

"Very good, Krein. Let's not talk about the question you just asked. Have your father never taught you that it would be a very rude thing to interrupt others? Besides, the person who is speaking is your lord!" Simon said, his voice gradually rising.

Krein, who looked very determined, seemed to have been broken through the defense line, suddenly cried, tears and snotted, and kneeled in front of Simon.

"I, my master, wuwu, I really didn't mean to offend it. I just wonder why, why, why, my father bravely stood up when the Vikings came to rob, but, but died worthlessly, without any compensation, it would be fine. The tax collector also asked me to pay a large inheritance tax. Wuwu, all the valuable things in our family were stolen by the Vikings. How can I afford the high inheritance tax? The tax collector used my house to pay taxes. Now, I have nothing, so I can only build a small tree shed on the mountain, be a damn poacher, live a life of surviving until now. Lord, Lord, please judge my sins, and end me with one sword, let me go with my father. I have nothing to live now, wuwuwu..."

The village was silent. Apart from the crackling sound of the bonfire, the sound of the leaves swaying through the trees, there was no sound.

With a "snap", Simon pulled out the sword at his waist.

Some people's hearts were in their throats and stared at Simon tightly, as if Simon would end this poor young life with a sword in the next second. Some people were gloating and longing to see the exciting scene of blood splattering in this monotonous and boring life.

Simon inserted his sword into the mud with his backhand and walked slowly to Little Klein.

"Klein, I am sorry for what happened to you. This time, I will not pursue your poaching behavior, but if I catch you next time, I will never give up. One code is one code, I think I have to apologize to your father and all the heroes who have received unfair treatment!" Simon bowed slightly after saying that.

Not only Klein, but also the villagers around were shocked and stared at Simon blankly. They had never seen even a nobleman who bowed his head to the people, let alone apologize.

The indifference in the eyes of the villagers had undergone a subtle change. Some were still mocking, while others were moved. After all, Simon had the soul of modern people. He was just a newcomer, but he didn't have much of the arrogant and rigid concepts of the aristocratic class at that time.

Even the fat man, who usually has a strong sense of aristocracy, was silent at this time.

God, this is really a mess. If one is not handled well, it may be that Simon's day of taking office will become the day of riots in the village of Fold. Even if Dorsten's army suppressed the riots, Simon would later become a complete joke in the noble circle.

"Don't be afraid, little Krein, since no one supports you, I will support you. From now on, you will be my servant. I will teach you how to strengthen your body and protect yourself with a sword. I swear with my honor that one day, you will avenge your father and become a respected man." Simon put down the torch and picked up Krein directly.

At this time, the indifference and numbness in the eyes of some villagers around them obviously faded away. Something called hope gradually sprouted in their hearts.

After being oppressed for so long, a new lord stood up to preach justice for them, whether he was pretending or from the heart, thank God, this means that the damn status quo can finally improve.

After a brief noise, many villagers quickly made a decision to stand with Simon first to overthrow the tax collector who had long squeezed them.

"My leaders, if you have any unfair treatment or any hidden secrets, I will tell you now. I swear to you with my reputation and will give you justice!" Simon said loudly, and at the same time, winked at the fat man.

The fat man immediately pulled out the armed axe from his waist, took off the round shield from behind, and asked the village chief about the location of the account room.

The village chief answered quickly, and at the same time, the village chief pulled two young men over nearby and gave some instructions. The two young men immediately took out the firewood and axe from the pile of firewood not far away, and disappeared into the night with the fat man.

"Master, please make the decision for me! Why does our family have to pay the woodcut tax, forest toll tax, house tax, and window tax, stove tax, and food tax? The tax collector also said that this is the new order of Lord Baron? Once I passed by Hinxor Village and talked to the villagers there, and learned that they had never paid such a ghost tax! Our family is so poor that we can't afford to pay the tax!" A middle-aged woman with a vicissitudes of face said in a mournful manner.

"My Lord, why do we have to pay another renovation tax for repairing a house that was destroyed by the Vikings? Why did the tax collector insist that this was renovating the house? Please be fair to me! My family can't afford the tax, and half of the house is now broken!"

"Master, Master..."

The villagers were like a pot of hot oil dripping into the water and instantly frying the pot.
Chapter completed!