"Quick, move quickly, they're distributing land in the city."
"Brother, are they really distributing it?"
"Yes, they are." A farr in short clothing bead joyously, shaking the land deed in his hand to his friend, "Not only do they distribute it, but any floating people and public register farrs can also be upgraded to ard farrs."
"I'll go right away!"
"Don't rush, first let's go find the wandering priest and gather those on the household register and those entitled to land."
Initially, other nearby farrs, having heard about the Blue Blood incident and the beheading of the Duke, were too scared to go forward. Especially those villagers who returned after fleeing, saying Joan of Arc Castle was a bloodbath, made others even more afraid to go.
But upon hearing that they could actually get land, it was a different story.
On the roadside outside Joan of Arc Castle, a long convoy in waves carried the first group of people, totaling five thousand, heading towards the direction of the Wild Spider Forest.
By the roadside, bodies like those of Zandebeck, Dane, and Buerwelf were hung in a row, allowing passing vagrants and citizens to stab them, with labels like devil, monster, and demon hung on them.
In parallel with the convoy was a long line of vagrants from nearby villages, moving in the opposite direction to the gallows outside the city.
The overcast daylight slanted over the heads of monks by the diterranean, reflecting a matte sheen.
Nearly a hundred monks, accountants, and notaries were sweating as they quickly copied and transcribed new land deeds, while about a dozen holy gunn stood nacingly behind them.
These land deeds were engraved and printed overnight. After the printing industry oligarch was taken to the West Ice Cellar to gnaw on turnips by the Cheka, the printers beca more agreeable.
The printers engraved standard land deed molds overnight, or more accurately, revised the original standard land deeds, and printed a large quantity overnight.
Now the task of these monks and accountants was to confirm the identity and share of those receiving the land according to the household register and tax records, then sign and stamp fingerprints.
This was the order given by Horn yesterday, figuring that with two days' ti, apart from buying supplies they'd be idle anyway, so they might as well distribute the land.
Horn wasn't indiscriminate in distributing the land; otherwise, if non-productive people fraudulently claid land and beca middlen or squeezed other farrs, it wouldn't be good.
He implented the policy of land to the tiller, which was achievable thanks to the Church.
Even though the vagrants weren't from Joan of Arc Castle, the Church treated everyone equally. As long as you fard, regardless of being human or dog, you had to pay taxes.
The Duke's properties outside the city mostly existed in the form of estates, where hired inco was mainly in currency, supplented with grain.
Since currency taxes were easier to count, who fard which field and how much tax needed to be paid were clearly recorded in the household register.
Horn didn't give them more land; instead, he transferred the land ownership to the actual cultivators, turning hired farrs into actual landowners.
It was a transition from working for the lord to working for oneself.
In the Church and Duke's properties, land was divided into private fields and public fields.
Private fields were those the Duke leased to farrs, taxing them in currency or produce based on the cultivated area, and after tax, the remaining yield was theirs.
Public fields required farrs to perform labor, with all output belonging to the lord, akin to a labor rent.
Horn only distributed private fields, while public fields, comprising over a third of the land, still hadn't been distributed.
The first batch to receive private fields were Salvation Army mbers; even if you arrived first, Salvation Army mbers had to go first before it was anyone else's turn.
Salvation Army families had priority not only in land distribution, but also the families of those killed would receive an additional twenty acres of public fields and 5 gold pounds.
All land proclaid to be remotely controlled before, by those killed in battle in the old base, was properly distributed, recorded in the household register and land deeds not as ard farrs or public register farrs, but as priests.
Understand that priests had partial tax exemption privileges, equating to a priest of equal status, exempting land tax below forty acres.
"If only I had braved it last night and gone." A farr lanted to his companion, "If I could beco like a priest, I can't even imagine how great life would be."
"Aren't you afraid of the decrees coming to kill us?"
"What's there to be afraid of? Didn't you hear Bishop Richelieu say? Duchess Hemashi wrote a letter to protect us; as long as the Salvation Army leaves, they won't do anything to us."
"So are you going to leave with the Salvation Army?"
"Tsk, do you know how much a Salvation Army soldier earns?"
"I don't know, a weekly salary of 2 Dinars?"
"2 Dinars weekly? It's 4 Dinars daily! The Salvation Army's official decree company pays a monthly salary of 1 gold pound, more than what artisans earn. Can you earn a gold pound from farming for a year?"
"Really?" An eavesdropping ard farr who was squatting stood up completely.
Keep in mind, on the Empire's rcenary market, the average infantry daily wage ranged from half a Dinar to two Dinars.
Horn paid the Salvation Army's official decree company salaries two to four tis the normal rcenary rate!
After killing the Duke and defeating the Church, due to blocked routes, the taxes of the Duke and Church couldn't be transported, leaving Horn with nearly 50,000 gold pounds.
And this cos even after spending a considerable sum on purchasing various supplies.
Considering his future new legion of 6,000 people, at three months' ti that's 18,000 gold pounds, which Horn could afford.
"Can I go?" The ard farr anxiously asked.
The farr regretfully said, "Only the Salvation Army can go. After killing the Duke the night before last, they spent an entire day registering mbers, so if you're not on the list, there's no chance now."
"If only I had known, I would've gone to kill the Duke too."
"Do you have the guts?"
"Why not?" The farr gritted his teeth looking at the hanging Duke, "What wrong have we ever done to be treated like this?"
"In this world, is any noble different? The Saint's Grandson wasn't wrong when he said it - nobles really are devils."
"Say a little less."
"If I hadn't overslept last night, I would've..."
"You didn't oversleep, didn't you make an excuse to pee and run halfway?"
"As if you didn't run."
No longer bothering with the floating people's public farrs, the ard farr shouted towards Armand, who was preaching about the Saint's Grandson on the gallows, "Bishop Richelieu, how do we lease the public fields?"
Taking advantage of the power vacuum during the handover between the Salvation Army and the decree company, these ard farrs still wanted to take advantage of the Salvation Army's unfamiliarity with the situation to fish for more benefits in troubled waters.
"Public fields won't be leased in the future; we will send direct personnel to manage them, so don't try to play tricks, we'll be back soon." Armand said bluntly, ignoring the displeased looks of the ard farrs.
"Faithful citizens, you are lucky to be able to receive private fields, and once we leave tomorrow, there won't be any more distributions." Armand stood in front of the gallows, shouting hoarsely.
Soone in the crowd exclaid, "Bishop Richelieu, isn't this the Church and Duke's property? Isn't there a problem with distributing it to us?"
"Wrong! This isn't the Duke's property, the Duke was a devil, and his property was ill-gotten gains. We eradicated the devil, so all the ill-gotten gains belong to us, isn't that a normal thing?"
Armand declared righteously, "And the Church is even simpler; Buerwelf was also a devil.
Our Saint's Grandson is Miseria's son, so what's wrong with our Saint's Grandson managing the Church's property himself?
As for distributing it to you, it's just natural, as per the Holy Treasury system, everyone should have land for communal farming.
Not everything can be perfect, we can't guarantee that everyone will have land for communal farming, but I can at least promise that most of you will have a full al.
Don't you want a good lord? Well, now all land belongs to Saint Master Miseria, and your direct lord is Miseria, isn't that good?"
"Huh?" Expressions of contemplation appeared on the farrs' faces, but thinking carefully about Armand's words, it didn't seem wrong.
The Saint's Grandson made so sense, and as everyone beca Miseria's direct hired farrs, there wasn't a reason for knights to deprive them.
An imperceptible smile appeared on Armand's face, as this kind of vague acknowledgnt marked the beginning of a change in recognition unknowingly.
"The public fields will beco collective farms, managed by mbers within the Salvation Army. The inco from these public fields will be used for hospitals, schools, and almshouses.
All Salvation Army mbers can enjoy low-cost treatnt and dicine at hospitals, the family mbers of soldiers can attend schools without tuition fees, and the almshouses will be open to the elderly and orphans in need..."
Looking at the villagers' expressions, Armand continued to paint a grand vision according to Horn's instructions.
"We will abolish the distinction between ard farrs and public register farrs, abolish the ard farr's shield tax and conscription, and abolish the 'Runaway Slave Law' and 'Labor Law.' Trust us, better days are ahead!"
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