The entire Barony of July Valley is busy. As the leader of both the military and civilian governments, Art is constantly shuttling between the army and the territory every day.

On the fourth Friday of July, Art finally had a day off. He planned to take his two deerhounds into the mountains to hunt for fun, but he got news that an old friend had come to the valley.

The visitor is none other than Art’s knightly brother—the palace guard knight David Patrick.

We haven't seen each other for more than half a year since we said goodbye in Solburg last year. The spring date at that time was postponed for several months, but when we saw each other again, Art had become a baron.

In the Lord's Hall of the Valley Wooden Castle, Art and Odo Angus, several army commanders, accompanied David and his party to hold a simple dinner.

After a few glasses of delicious beer, David began to chat with everyone, "Lord Baron, gentlemen, please forgive me for breaking the promise. From the early spring of this year to now, I have been fighting against the Swabians, and I really can't get away to see you.

"David apologized to Art as soon as they met.

Art also knew roughly what happened after David returned north from Provence. After returning from Provence, David knocked on the door of Earl Baldwin's mansion with a gift of five thousand pfennigs, recommended by Art's personal letter.

Earl Wen won a military reward for David. The palace guard knight David Patrick was granted a village on the northeastern border of the Jonne Province of Burgundy as a fief because of his outstanding military exploits in Provence...

.

"...There is no way, it is not easy to get a fief. After I was granted the title, I sent the bones of the brothers who died in the war and a piece of comfort money back to my hometown, and then took a few surviving old brothers with me

Go to the fief to take up his post."

"I expected that the fief granted by the palace would not be rich, because the wealthy fief would never be enjoyed by a meager person like me. But what surprised me was that someone introduced that the land granted to me by the palace was very large.

It was fertile and the village was very wealthy. There were more than 100 households and more than 400 people living in the territory. I was really excited for a few days at that time."

"But within two days I couldn't be happy anymore. After careful inquiry, I found out that I was already the third lord of that place in two years. Because almost every time the place just regained its vitality, the Swabians would lead their troops.

I raided and plundered. By the time I arrived at the territory, most of the people in the territory had already left, and there were only about two hundred old and weak people left in the territory."

Art listened to David's experience and took another look at the sophisticated weapons and armor on David and his entourage. He expected that this brave knight must have a wonderful story.

Art raised his hand toward David, gesturing for him to continue speaking.

David picked up the wine glass and waved it towards Art and everyone, took a sip, wiped his ugly face with his hand, and continued: "My brothers and I who followed me to the territory to take up posts all crawled out from among the dead.

, where the Swabians can be tolerated to oppress and plunder my territory. Soon, I gathered the remaining twenty or so young and strong citizens in the territory, purchased a batch of weapons and armor to equip them, and then continued to roam the territory.

train......"

"Finally, in early spring when the ice and snow had just melted, we ambushed a group of Swabians who came to plunder, killing eight people on the spot and repelling more than 30 people. That battle greatly encouraged the people in the territory, and many of them

The people who had fled returned to their hometowns one after another after hearing about our victory. Soon I had about fifty young and strong people under my command, and the monk Chaucer from my territory also joined my team to resist foreign enemies, representing God's assistance.

We fight back the enemy and defend our homeland."

As David spoke, he turned sideways and let Art glance at the thin monk sitting next to him. Art nodded and bowed slightly.

"With Brother Chaucer's advice, we not only withstood two Swabian retaliations, but also took the initiative to attack the Swabian army's outposts and several small garrison camps, killing more than thirty enemies and capturing

A lot of weapons, armor and luggage..."

David recounted some of their most intense and thrilling battles, which made all the officers at the banquet excited.

"Lord Baron, I have to thank you for your generosity. If it weren't for the 20,000 pfennigs you lent me, I wouldn't have been able to knock on Count Baldwin's mansion. Without Count Baldwin's help, my military achievements would not be possible."

If there is no one to seek justice, the acquisition of fief will be far away.”

"Thanks to your generosity, I have enough money to recruit young people to buy weapons, armor and equipment to fight against the Swabians..."

David raised the wine glass in his hand, stood up, bowed deeply to Art, and said sincerely: "Master Art, from the battlefield in Provence, you stretched out your righteous hand to rescue me from hellfire, to generously donating money to point out the way for me.

Without you, there would be no today for me and my boss. This glass of wine represents my most sincere respect for you!"

David poured the wine from the glass into his stomach in one gulp.

Art raised his glass in return and drank it in one gulp.

"This time I brought 20,000 pfennigs in money and a war horse captured from the Swabians. The money is returned to you, and the war horse is a gift for your promotion to baron." The profits of the war are huge.

, after a few battles, David's money bag became bulging, and he acted generously.

Art is really short of money now, so he is not polite to David, "Sir David, I have accepted the 20,000 pfennigs and the war horses..."

David and his party did not stay much in the Barony of the Valley, because this time he visited Count Baldwin in Besancon before going south. Baldwin secretly taught David the mission of "training soldiers in preparation for driving".

Therefore, he had to rush back to the fief to continue training soldiers and accept the call from Earl Baldwin at any time.

............

At the end of July, Ate held a meeting in the civil affairs and the army respectively. The two meetings only did one thing - to announce the military decree and the civil administration code.

Recruitment of new recruits has not yet officially started, so the current number of troops in the army is not too large. All combat team leaders and officers under Art's command have received officer training at the officer academy, so there is no need to recruit them separately. The military council meeting

, Art personally signed and read it out.

It is divided into three major parts, including 18 prohibitions, 15 military regulations, and 6 advancement and retreat.

The most important part of the military law is the eighteen prohibitions, including "five beheadings, six beatings, and seven punishments."

The "five beheadings" include disobeying military orders in war and beheading; escaping from battle in war and beheading; disrupting the morale of the army in war and beheading; fighting privately in the army and killing people in private, beheading; hiding huge amounts of war loot and beheading.

"Six Tarts" refers to the six situations in which one is punished with a military stick, namely, contradicting an officer on a daily basis, injuring someone in a private fight in the army, stealing military supplies, losing weapons during war, cheating and sneaking in training, bullying good people, and the chief officer deems it necessary to whip.

The punishment of "Six Tarts" can be upgraded by the chief officer to beheading in times of war or emergency.

The "seven punishments" generally refer to the minor punishments that require confiscation of military pay or imprisonment, such as officers who are not qualified in literacy, soldiers whose training is not up to standard, soldiers who compete for power and profit, and who make noises while marching, etc.

The Fifteen Articles of Managing the Army include matters related to daily management such as soldier training content standards, battle formation skills, soldiers' pay and treatment, weapons and armor maintenance and equipment, marching, camping, patrolling and guarding, army baggage collection and transportation, etc.

The Ten Articles of Promotion and Retirement include the calculation of military merit of soldiers and officers, the standards for issuing military rewards, the requirements for military merit for promotion, the standards for punishment for demotion, etc.

There are less than fifty articles in the whole book, and the content is simple and popular without complicated text embellishments.

Art requires all soldiers and officers above the army combat team leader to memorize the law, and the content of the law must be taught to all soldiers under his command in the future. In the future training of the new recruits, a proficiency content will also be added...

............

Relatively simple and popular and strict in rewards and punishments, the code of the civil affairs system is much more complex and cumbersome.

The laws promulgated by the Civil Affairs are named and cover many fields such as land distribution, tax collection, military service, public security and stability, workshops and commerce.

There are four core areas.

The first is land distribution, which clearly stipulates that all the two fief lands in the Barony of the Valley belong to the court frontier baron Art Wood Wells, and the freemen of the territory enjoy the "allotment" of the lifelong lease of the lord's land on the condition of fulfilling their land obligations.

"Rights" and "land rights" are based on the farming population. The amount of land each farmer can obtain depends on the number of people in the family engaged in farming. The specific allocation of land is controlled by the civil administration, but it must be based on the principle of justice.

Territors who enjoy "land rights" are a class between serfs and yeoman farmers. They have free status but do not have private land. Everyone who swears allegiance to the lord, fulfills their obligations as a territorial citizen, and has the ability to farm

Free territorial citizens can obtain a share of land from the lord, and the territory of the territory of the territory is managed and managed by themselves. If the territory of the territory loses the ability to cultivate, refuses to fulfill its land obligations, or violates the territorial code, the lord has the right to unconditionally take back the land.

In addition to the most commonly applicable "land rights", China also stipulates several special land distribution systems, namely "honorary land rights", "granted land rights" and "public land system".

"Honored land rights" are mainly aimed at military officers and soldiers and civil affairs officials. When they retire due to injury or death in battle, or receive major achievements, the lord will personally grant them to them. The honored lands are privately owned by the honorees, and the honorary land holders only need to

After paying the war tax, all other taxes will be reduced or exempted, and the honorary land can be inherited through certain procedures. Art once granted permanent land to soldiers who were killed and wounded in battle, which is the "honorable land".

"Land rights" are essentially the "land rights" of the territorial residents, but the "land rights" enjoy tax, rent, and other rights within a certain period of time. The earliest batch of territorial residents who received "five years of land ownership" enjoyed the "land rights"

”, the land they rent will enjoy land tax reductions and exemptions within ten years.

"Public land" is land directly under the jurisdiction of the civil administration. The civil administration pays to hire farmers or recruit war slaves to cultivate it. The crops harvested are completely owned by the civil administration and are allocated and used by the civil administration.

The second is tax collection. With the expansion of the territory of the Valley Baron territory, land tax will become an important part of the territory's fiscal revenue, so Art increased the share of land tax collection and divided the territory's land tax into land rent tax.

, poll tax, security tax, territory construction tax and tithe collected on behalf of the church.

The third is the issue of service. Art is determined to establish an army based on a standing army in the territory. The army under his command is mainly a professional army, supplemented by temporary conscription. Therefore, China and Israel pay a shield tax to replace the forty days of military service per year for the territory's residents.

, this tax is used to support the army. At the same time, the code also stipulates that the subjects must receive paid training according to the arrangement and respond to the call for free in emergencies. At the same time, regulations are also made on the issue of corvee for the subjects. In order to allow farmers to farm and produce full-time, Asia

The citizens are allowed to use the service tax in lieu of servitude. As long as they pay the tax, the citizens do not have to put down their farm work and be forced to work for the lord, and the service tax they pay will be used to hire laborers.

The fourth is the issue of public security. In the face of the rapid increase in the population of the territory and the increasingly serious problem of public security, the law stipulates the code of conduct that the territorial residents must abide by, the punishment measures for violating the code and laws, etc.

Matching the content of the Public Security Code, there are also the establishment of two institutions - the Sheriff and the Territorial Judge. The Sheriff is concurrently served by the commander of the Valley Guard Corps, and the standing peasant soldiers of the Guard Corps are also serving as security soldiers; the Territorial Judge is concurrently served by the Civil Affairs Officer,

Responsible for trial, conviction, sentencing and code interpretation.
Chapter completed!