Chapter 316 Economic Principles of Heads

In the dark primeval forest, two Tertun people fled together.

They dare not light a fire or rest. The canopy of trees that blocked the sky and the sun made it impossible for them to identify the direction - the direction was actually not important anymore, only the way to survive was important.

However, they were overtaken, hounds followed the scent, and a dozen farmers surrounded them.

At dusk, the farmers returned to the village, carrying the two heads and other things ripped off from the barbarians on tree branches.

Instead of going straight home, they went to the village hall first.

Firewood crackled in the hearth. It was a freezing winter outside the wall, but it was warm inside the village hall.

A middle-aged man who was obviously not a farmer inspected the two heads, frowned, and asked, "Is there no helmet, armor, or anything else?"

The leader of the farmer, whose cheeks were red and bloodshot from the cold, replied awkwardly: "No, would a hat do it? And earrings?"

The middle-aged man smacked his lips, turned around and continued to warm himself by the fire. He only gave the farmers a side look: "That's not possible. There is no evidence. Who knows whether this is the barbarian's head or whether you stole it from somewhere?"

Another tall farmer suddenly became furious: "What are you talking about? How could this be harvested by us secretly? How can any of our people look like this!"

The middle-aged man sneered and didn't say anything, or even look at the other person seriously.

The two armed men sitting in the corner of the room stood up, their hands already on the hilts of their swords.

The tall farmer fell silent.

The leader of the farmer was silent for a long time, then said with difficulty: "Then what do you think we should do?"

"This kind of head that doesn't know whether it's true or false..." The middle-aged man paused for a moment and spit out a number.

"How much?" The tall farmer suddenly became anxious: "A barbarian head is worth a large piece of land! How much do you give me?"

"You heard me clearly, you don't need me to repeat myself." The middle-aged man spread his hands with a clear attitude - whether he likes to sell or not.

The farmers were so angry that they didn't want to agree and couldn't leave.

Until a sturdy farmer who usually spoke few words suddenly said: "That's it, my family is still waiting for me to bring back the flour."

The sturdy farmer asked calmly: "What else can we ask for?"

The deal was made and the payment was made in flour.

After all, the middle-aged man couldn't suppress his inner pride. Looking at the farmer taking the flour, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Hey, don't think that [head] is [ground], who knows the rebels can still be in Tiefeng?" How long will the county stand? If the rebels collapse tomorrow, wouldn't your heads be smashed into your hands? Are you right?"

This seems to be a relief, but in fact it is a way of showing off by rubbing salt into the wound.

The farmers quietly took the flour and left the town hall without saying a word.

They divided the flour with the barbarians' clothes and boots outside the door. The clothes were given to the farmer whose family was still living, and the farmer with the hunting dog got an extra share.

"Mesa has lost the prize." The sturdy farmer whispered: "Give him an extra share as well."

No one had any objection to this, and the tall farmer asked: "What do you want, Dad?"

The sturdy farmer took half a bag of flour and a machete.

[Note: Dad here is a term of endearment for older men]

So everyone went home - and all of this happened to be witnessed by several passing riders.

After opening the door, a smile appeared on the sturdy farmer's face.

He rubbed the thin hair of his son and daughter, handed the flour to his wife, then found a whetstone and sharpened the knife in the backyard.

"No matter what you want to do." A young man stood outside the courtyard: "Please don't go."

The sturdy farmer was startled at first, then calmly held the machete and asked, "How do you know what I am going to do?"

The young man did not answer directly, but patiently explained: "Those two are both good players, and you alone can't do it...and just relying on weapons can't do it."

"Who are you?"

This time it was the young man's turn to fall silent.

The daughter ran out of the house and threw herself into the arms of the sturdy farmer. The sturdy farmer hugged his daughter, and when he was distracted for a moment, the young man had disappeared.

"What's the matter?" the sturdy farmer asked his daughter.

"Mom said someone left two bags outside the door." The girl replied in a milky voice: "Mom asked me to find dad to have a look."

…

The middle-aged man answered all questions with a respectful attitude, and Winters didn't even need to reveal his identity.

The thing is very simple. The middle-aged man comes from Gevaudan and comes here to acquire the head.

In Tiefeng County, barbarian heads have become a tradable commodity.

The middle-aged man could not compete with his peers in the towns, so he rushed to the rural areas where no one had noticed yet - obviously, he was not the only speculator who smelled the smell of gold coins.

Small players buy heads from militiamen and farmers, but instead of keeping them to wait for cash, they resell them to big players.

The big players are betting heavily on the Montagne tribune not breaking his promise and on the future fate of Tiefeng County.

Winters and his party were passing by the small village of Shima and unexpectedly encountered such a scene.

Charles was so angry that he gritted his teeth: "The war hasn't ended yet! Why are there such people! In the end, they actually got an advantage?"

Several other people accompanying him were equally indignant, but Winters was the only one who was thoughtful and silent.

Seeing that Winters didn't speak, Ciel thought it was because his brother was inconvenient to speak. He took off his saber and said bitterly: "I'm going to teach that guy a lesson!"

"Teach them a lesson - for what reason?" Winters stopped Charles: "The county government has not stipulated that trading of heads is not allowed."

Charles was startled and replied loudly: "I can't see it!"

Winters slowly gathered his thoughts: "Killing all the speculators will stop the starving people from starving anymore? No, I'm afraid it will cut off their last way of survival. The sale of heads will allow some people to steal their hidden treasures." All the food was taken out, so that more food could flow into the market."

Charles and the others seemed to understand.

Later, Winters and his party camped outside the village.

Charles retraced his steps with Winters' secret message and rushed back to Shenk Town overnight.

…

…

Anna found that the town of Shengke had completely changed its appearance.

When I passed through Shengke Town a few times before, it was just an ordinary rural town: two streets, a few rows of houses, and some homes, quiet and ordinary.

Today, the town of Shengke is completely a military camp: the land has become muddy and dirty, and there are tired men carrying weapons everywhere, and obscene words are intertwined with the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs.

Through the car window, Anna saw someone urinating in the alley on the street, and several men wearing white armbands rushed into the alley to chase and beat the urinator.

Anna also saw someone whistling at her and looking obscenely into the car. If she hadn't been frightened by the accompanying guards, they might have taken further actions.

She quickly closed the car window.

The fat Mr. Leo who was riding in the car smiled and commented sharply: "The war is over, but many people have not been able to recover. It is not easy to return to normal life."

Another passenger nodded and comforted Anna: "Ms. Navarre, don't be afraid, they actually don't mean any harm."

"Thank you." Anna expressed her gratitude politely: "Colonel Kino."

Knowing that Anna insisted on coming to see Winters, Mr. Leo asked to accompany him.

The fat partner kept silent about the purpose of his trip, and treated Anna as if nothing had happened. He only said that he wanted to meet Mr. Winters Montagne.

Anna also felt guilty and did not take the initiative to ask her mother's attitude.

In contrast, another Veneta man who was traveling with him - [Colonel Buca Chino] treated Anna more kindly.

As a colonel of the Veneta Army, Chino undoubtedly came to Tiefeng County on behalf of [Antonio Serbetti].

In other words, Colonel Chino was half of Winters' family. Thinking of this, Anna's cheeks felt a little hot.

After all, Anna's false identity as "Mrs. Montagne" can be deceived by others, but it cannot deceive the guests of Hailan. Elopement without even getting engaged is not something a lady should do anyway.

The lockdown in Tiefeng County has been temporarily lifted, not only internally but also externally.

I have to mention [Good Luck Gold] here. The old pirate has actually returned from Hailan a long time ago.

It was just an unlucky time to come back, just after the joint encirclement and suppression campaign by Baishan County and Warnie County failed. Therefore, as soon as the old pirate entered Baishan County, he was immediately arrested and imprisoned by Colonel Gesa.

Ever since, Gold had been staring at the gallows in the prison yard every day, eating hard and black bread with his fingers for more than a month, and was suddenly taken out of the cell.

The old pirate thought his luck had finally run out, but what happened next was extremely dramatic.

He was brought to a big bald man, who asked him to bring a letter to Winters and then told him to get lost.

The old pirate found himself not only getting back his confiscated horses and baggage, but also several more escorts. Although he couldn't figure out what happened, since the favor of Lady Luck had not disappeared, Good Luck Gold had nothing to fear.

There is no need to repeat what happened next. The story returns to Anna.

After Anna came to Shenk Town, she first went to see Father Carman.

Father Kaman's medical clinic is located next to the church and is a temporary shack that occupies a large open space.

"Believers all feel that even if they die, they must die in the church. At least they will be closer to heaven. So the medical clinic is located here." Father Carman explained to Anna expressionlessly: "It is convenient, the body can be directly It is better to be buried in a churchyard than to be buried in the wilderness."

Anna felt that Priest Carman's mental state was not very good either. She thought about what Mr. Leo had said, and felt sad.

"Winters? Oh, by the way, are you here to find Winters?" Father Carman sighed: "It will be a little dangerous to go any further. Just wait for him in Shenk Town. There are people in the town. There are a few very devout believers. The conditions are not very good, but they are very safe and you can stay here temporarily.”

"Father." Colonel Kino asked politely, "Where did Winters go?"

Hearing the speaker's accent, Carman's eyebrows slightly raised: "Are you a Veneta person? A sea blue person?"

"Yes." Colonel Kino admitted generously.

"Winters went to Lower Tiefeng County." Kaman said frankly: "Even if you are a soldier, I do not recommend that you go with him. Lower Tiefeng County is very dangerous, and at least a whole team of people is required to escort him to ensure safety."

Colonel Kino smiled and nodded one after another.

Seeing the other party's disapproving attitude, Kaman also became a little cold. He simply explained: "There are still Hurds in Lower Tiefeng County - groups of Hurd cavalry that have not been defeated. Winters Montagne So when we go to Lower Tiefeng County, we are going to deal with the Hurds. Winters can go without an escort, but you don’t have the ability, that’s it.”

Colonel Kino was not angry, but laughed: "It's still comfortable to talk to the Platoans, and it's refreshing to be direct. Then let's stay here for the time being and wait for Winters to come back."

"I'm not from Plato." Kaman obviously had no interest in making polite remarks and went directly to the topic: "I will find you a place to live first, and when Lieutenant Bader comes back, he will tell you the details. He knows more about the inside story than I do. .”

Colonel Chino thanked him politely. He waved his hand, and the accompanying Veneta cavalry dismounted one after another: "Please arrange a place for Miss Navarre to stay. As for us... just designate an open space for us, and we will camp on our own."

Kaman summoned a caregiver, gave a few instructions, and the caregiver left quickly.

Mr. Leo was more curious about another thing than where Winters Montagne was.

"Father." Mr. Leo's fat face was full of smiles. He rubbed his hands: "I saw something [bill] and [head] posted on the notice board on the roadside. What's going on? ?”

Kaman glanced at the fat and kind man and asked coldly: "What? Does it have anything to do with you?"

"No, no." Mr. Leo waved his hand quickly and said with a smile: "Curious, I am just very curious."

Kaman led a group of people into the church to rest for a while, and by the way, he talked about Tiefeng County's first-level gong.

"Winters Montagne has made a new move. He wants to first exchange his head for a registered instrument, and then exchange it for land in the future..."

Kaman was not very interested in this and spoke very briefly. Mr. Leo, on the other hand, was in high spirits and kept complimenting the priest to say more.

In short, the new government once again issued an announcement, reiterating the validity of the first-level meritorious deeds, and once again ensuring that rewards will be given based on merits in accordance with the "Head-cutting Order".

However, because the distribution of land requires measurement and liquidation, it is difficult to realize it for a while. Therefore, all heads must first be identified, registered and exchanged for registered notes by designated official staff, and then the land can be awarded based on the ticket in the future.

As the location of the camp, Shengke Town almost became agitated all of a sudden, and every militiaman who had made gains wanted to exchange their heads for "land grant certificates" as soon as possible.

Because of the official reassurance, the price of the head is skyrocketing, and the price of the [land grant certificate] is also skyrocketing - although it is registered, it does not say that transactions are not allowed.

As he was talking, several hussars sang military songs happily and rode past the church. The head in the saddle bag was dripping with blood.

As a "guest army", the Hussars were happy to see the price of their heads increase. After all, no matter how rich the head merit is, it has nothing to do with outsiders like them.

The hussars directly exchanged their heads for money, so the higher the price, the better.

Colonel Chino also became interested and asked some technical questions such as "How do two people get credit for taking one head?"

"I don't know." Father Kaman stretched out his hand and made a salute: "Ask Lieutenant Bader. He should be able to explain it to you carefully. After all, it is all stipulated by him."

Mr. Leo's brows furrowed more and more as he listened. He twirled his fingers and thought for a long time. He looked at Anna, then at Colonel Kino, and suddenly said:

"The dilemma faced by Mr. Montagne is ultimately about insufficient food, and means such as coupons are only superficial. How is Mr. Montagne going to solve the food problem?"

"Who knows?" Kaman sighed rarely, and his tone became gentler: "He just issued an order to use military rations to provide relief to the refugees."

Mr. Leo became more and more fascinated as he listened. He smacked his lips vigorously and sighed: "It's too dangerous, too dangerous! This is playing with fire... The courage is amazing... Is it intentional? Or unintentional..."

Anna was a little confused, Father Carman and Colonel Kino looked at each other.

Mr. Leo suddenly stopped, looked at Anna, and said with a smile: "Miss, we really need to see Mr. Montagne as soon as possible... No, actually he needs to see me as soon as possible."

[Thanks to book friend [Red Panda Masato] for being the second leader, thank you very much]

[I have stuck to the two-character naming method for a whole volume, and now I can finally let myself go]

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