Chapter 34: Territory Inspection

As a new lord, Christian has never been to the villages of Baron Stewart's Barony, except for when he received the allegiance of the villages of Baron Lorient's Barony. Therefore, it is necessary to inspect his territory after the harvest.

In addition to the necessary maid and cook, the inspection will be accompanied by his uncle, Knight Liam Stewart, with a guard of 30 cavalry, as well as the agricultural officer Dimitri and the tax officer Holka, who are familiar with the villages.

Let's not forget Dragonclaw Town. It was originally built with a very good plan, with stone pavements and a sewer system. The landscaping was also very well done. After Christine became Baron, she appointed special officials in charge of landscaping and cleaning. Each household has to pay a cleaning f*e of one silver coin per year, so the town is very clean and tidy.

The newly expanded forge now has more than 20 craftsmen and nearly 100 apprentices. It can produce five sets of standard Kingdom soldier equipment every day, including long swords, iron helmets, half-bodies, and armor. If it makes only long swords, it can produce 50 of them, and if it makes spearheads, it can produce even more.

At the moment, half of the craftsmen are making soldiers' equipment after the Baron ordered them to improve the military equipment of the territory, while the other half are making various iron farm tools and implements, which are then sold by the Tulip Guild to all parts of Brittany.

Next to the forge are the barracks of Longclaw Town, where a squadron of 50 soldiers is stationed.

The Blacksmith's Workshop is located in the town because it covers a relatively large area. Others, such as the archery workshop, which can produce one compound bow and one hundred standard three-pronged heavy arrows per week; the leather workshop, which can produce five sets of standard noble soldier protective gear, including leather armor, thick leather gloves, and leather boots per day; and the shield workshop, which can produce five small round shields or one tower shield per day, are all built in the castle. Finally, Stewart Castle is very large.

The roads between the villages and towns have been repaired and made much more passable, saving the inspection teams a lot of time. Occasionally, groups of villagers or merchant caravans could be seen on their way to Dragon's Claw City to buy goods, showing the prosperity of the area.

The most significant change in the village was the construction of a stone wall four meters high and two meters thick, as well as a wooden watchtower. The roads were also repaired and made into stone slab roads. The village chief and the priest generally reported that after the walls were built, the village became much safer and there were almost no incidents of wild animals sneaking in at night.

In fact, four meters was only the minimum requirement. Many villages would build the walls higher in places where wild animals had previously been able to sneak in, based on experience. In addition, the walls of Longzhao Town were built five meters high, according to the convention that the town is higher than the village.

A village has just over 200 households and 1,000 people, so it is easy to see how the villagers are doing. Most of the villagers are rosy-cheeked and neatly dressed, showing that the new policies of the past year have been effective. This makes Christine very happy.

In fact, the reason why the area does not have any major problems even if the lord spends his days in debauchery is because although the various orders of the lord are carried out by the village head, the militia captain, the tax collector, and so on, the village is overseen by the priest.

If the village chief and others distort the lord's orders, or if they are involved in some secret dealings, and the priest finds out about it, he will report it to the higher priest in the city, and then the lord will know about it. After all, the subjects are the lambs of God, and the lord is a nobleman who can oppress the subjects. How dare you, a village chief, do such a thing? In general, the noble's method of dealing with them is also very simple: a light punishment is flogging and removal from office, and a heavy punishment is death.

As for the priest and the village chief working together, that's just not possible. This is a world with a true God, and priests who do things that go against the teachings of the Church will have their promotions affected. If it's serious, it's considered minor blasphemy, and they're usually burned. Besides, because of the tithe, one-tenth of the entire village's income goes to the church, and the priests live very well. How much can a village chief like you find to make the true priest of God risk his life with you?

After inspecting the area, Christine realized that she was indeed that rich.

In addition to the 5,000 gold coins that the tea from Longzhao Town brings in every year, and the 2,000 gold coins in taxes from the port of Salzau, the village of Vane and the newly acquired village of Longjidi from the Baron of Lorient both produce high-quality wine. Although the quality is not as good as that of the continent's famous Bordeaux and Burgundy wine regions, it is still suitable for use at noble banquets and can bring in 2,000 gold coins each year.

The ancestors of the Stewart family discovered that the village of Loc-Amandon was suitable for growing olives, so they planted a large area and built an oil mill. Olive oil, a must on the table of the nobility, can bring in an annual income of 4,000 gold coins, in addition to being used for personal consumption.

Sugar can be made from sugar beets grown in the village of Plouay, which was given to the village by the Baron de Lyon. Beet sugar can bring in an annual income of 2,000 gold coins, and it now belongs to Christine as well.

All of this adds up to a net income of 16,000 coins per year, which is why Christine is still building the Mage Tower, even though she knows she is tens of thousands of coins short. This is also why she can afford to keep so many soldiers.

The iron mine in Baron Stewart's territory is located near the village of Serang, which was actually built for mining purposes. Most of the young and middle-aged people in the village are miners. This iron mine is a rich mine, with the highest output among all the mines in Brittany, and it is also one of the best in the entire Kingdom of France.

In this situation, the arable land in the village of Serrant is relatively poor, and the usual farming is done by women and the elderly, so the grain yield is not high. However, because the wages for working in the mine are not low, the standard of living is actually second in the area after the port village of Sarzeau.

After visiting all the villages and mines in the territory, Christine finally arrived at the castle of the Baron of Lorient, which of course could no longer be called that and had been renamed Château de Labia. Fifty soldiers were stationed here, and except for daily drills, they had nothing better to do than maintain and repair the castle.

Below the castle was the town of Lorient, which belonged to the Baron of Lorient, Olika.

Yes, Olika, the second son of the former Baron of Lorient, also succeeded in inheriting the title and became the new Baron of Lorient. However, since the family's wealth had been used mainly to pay reparations and there was only one town left, the inheritance ceremony was rather shabby.

Although invitations were sent to the nobles of Brittany, most of them did not come in person because of other commitments, but sent their vassals, knights and squires as representatives. This was not because the nobles did not respect Baron Olika Lorient, but rather because they tried to spare his feelings.

As mentioned earlier, different standards of hospitality were accorded to nobles of different ranks. If the local nobles, such as the Count of Rennes and the Viscount of Bréhec, had come to Olika in person, it would have cost a lot just for the hospitality, which would have been an additional burden on the already impoverished Olika.

They were all nobles of the same county and there were some things they had to take care of.