Chapter 321 Laws of Border Town

Early in the morning, Roland woke up from the cold. He crawled out of the cold blanket, put on a woolen coat, and dipped his feet into the warm water bucket.

This is a corrupt privilege that he can only enjoy as His Royal Highness—every morning, the maid will put hot water beside his bed, besides, there will be a clean towel and hot milk, so that His body instantly returned to warmth.

Of course, compared to the common practice of big nobles to warm people's beds, he felt that he was restrained enough. Originally, the fourth prince brought the chief maid Tire here just to make this idea, but unfortunately he died without enjoying it. Roland didn't like this approach, so he gave the vacant position to an older and experienced old maid. In fact, this choice was very correct. There are many witches in the castle, but she still keeps the inside and outside of the castle open. Well organized.

The flames in the fireplace had long been extinguished, leaving only white fly ash. There are gusts of cold wind blowing through the window cracks behind, and the chill is biting. It is hard to believe that it is still mid-autumn. Roland dried his feet, washed with another basin of hot water, and walked to the window to close the window that had been open overnight.

Although open fires were commonplace in this day and age, he still worried about carbon monoxide poisoning and slept with a crack open every night. In the first half of the night, the indoor temperature can still be kept warm. As the firewood burns out, it is no different from the outdoors in the early morning.

I have to find a way to solve this problem, Roland thought, otherwise I won't be able to sleep in if I want to sleep in later.

After breakfast, he took Nightingale, the chief knight and a group of personal guards to the city wall area for a routine inspection.

There is a large piece of grass between the new city wall and the old city wall, which is now a vast expanse of whiteness. Walking on the thick snow, the soles of your shoes will make a creaking sound.

Looking up, the sky was light gray, and occasionally a cloud of snowflakes would float into his neck, bringing a bit of coldness. He knew that the weather was likely to last until next spring...or beyond.

"How's the line of defense?"

"It's much better than last time," Carter Lannis looked relaxed. "Most of the soldiers of the First Army have been on the battlefield and have revolver rifles. A section of the city wall of about 100 meters only needs ten guards. It can suppress the evil beasts living below. Moreover, the new city wall is half a meter higher than the previous stone wall, and it is difficult for the wolf species to jump directly to the top of the city. This group of monsters don't even think about crossing the line of defense."

"That's fine."

Roland boarded the city wall, and the soldiers saluted him with their heads held high. Judging from this spirit alone, he is no different from the original militia fighters. At that time, although everyone stood on the top of the wall and stabbed the wooden spears in a seemingly uniform manner, it was just a conditioned reflex formed by repeated training of an action. Their eyes are full of numbness, their movements are stiff, and if you look closely, you can find that most of their legs are shaking slightly.

But now the soldiers' eyes showed confidence. After saluting, they turned their eyes to the front again and continued to monitor the battlefield.

Walking along the city wall to the side of the Misty Forest, it looks much more lively here.

The temporary residences built for serfs and refugees were arranged in this area. Looking down from the top of the wall, one can see long strips of earth slopes arranged in parallel one after another, like undulating wavy lines. There are more than a dozen houses inside each raised slope, the structure of which is exactly the same as that of cave dwellings. The thick earth wall can keep the indoor temperature, and with the fire kang, which is an artifact of heating, it can keep away from the cold by covering it with sackcloth.

The entire residential area is divided into two parts, the one near the city wall is called the west area, which is used to resettle fugitives; the east area away from the city wall is divided into serfs.

Every day the city hall will send people here to distribute food and charcoal, and the refugees also need to provide logistics for the first army guarding the city wall; as for the serfs, most of them have already stored enough wheat for themselves, except for some quick Except for those who go out to find odd jobs to earn extra money for themselves, others rarely leave their warm houses.

At this moment, a fierce dispute suddenly came from the junction of the east and west districts. Roland followed the reputation and saw a group of people gathered around the avenue in the middle of the residential area, arguing loudly. One of them was wearing a blue and white uniform and appeared to be a City Hall clerk. Soon the quarrel escalated into a brawl, the two groups got into a ball, and the scene was chaotic.

"Your Highness?" Carter asked.

"Let's go and have a look," Roland nodded.

When a group of people came to the scene of the disturbance, the chief knight took the lead and rushed straight into the fighting crowd, knocking down the most noisy people to the ground in two or three blows. Roland's personal guards also pulled out their long swords one after another, shouting at everyone to stop, and the scene was quickly brought under control.

After discovering that the person who came was actually the lord, the two waves of people knelt down on the ground together.

"What's your name?" Roland looked at the clerk who had received two punches in the face, and frowned, "What happened here, who attacked you first?"

"Your Highness, I'm Keya Harveys," he yelled while covering his face, "it was the damn fugitive who made the first move, the guy in brown linen! I'm still distributing food, he's like a vicious dog Jumped up."

The fugitive who was pointed by Keya raised his head and said, "Your Highness, things are not as he said. These people and serfs conspired to blackmail us, and they charged us for every porridge. You clearly said this when you took us in. It's all free!"

Roland was a little surprised. The city hall had sorted out the refugees from the east. All craftsmen, people with special skills or who could read and write had all moved to the first ring road. It stands to reason that the rest were ordinary civilians. However, judging from the tone and words he spoke, it was unlikely that a commoner could tell.

In contrast, the member of the city hall who was full of insulting words such as damn and vicious dog was really disappointing. Since he has a name and a surname... There is a high probability that he is a knight who surrendered under the Duke of Lane.

"I did say this—before you were formally included in Border Town, the porridge and accommodation would be free," Roland repeated in front of all the fugitives, "now, these words are still valid !"

"Your Highness is merciful!"

"Long live the lord!"

"Thank you Your Highness!"

The fugitive kowtowed and shouted.

And Keya Hawes's complexion suddenly turned livid.

"However, fighting and wounding people in the territory also violates the law, especially attacking a member of the city hall," Roland gestured to the guards, "arrest all the fugitives and serfs who beat people and take them to the castle. I will personally judge the brawl."

He paused, then looked at Keya with great interest, "I also really want to ask you, what is the matter with the charged oatmeal."

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