Succubus' Manor

Chi Yan bought a house on the edge of the holy city. The house is very broken, but it is very big, but no matter how broken it is, it can still accommodate people. The roof is still strong, so it won't be easily crushed by the snow .

This house is for Wright.

Wright quietly ran to his hotel late at night, and now Wright has gathered more than 1000 people.

These more than 1000 people are all poor people, and they were able to be gathered by Wright because under the current situation, Wright can provide them with a relatively stable life.

Of course, Chi Yan didn't want all Wright's previous work to be in vain.

He didn't just send Juster alone, besides Juster, there were other talents cultivated by the butler.

I don't know if it's because butlers always cultivate talents in one direction. Wright and Just are similar in some respects, both have a strong sense of professionalism and ambition, and they never hide this in front of Chi Yan. Perhaps the butler is actually this kind of person in his bones?If the old butler was dozens of years younger, he might be more powerful than Wright and Juster.

It's a pity to think about it this way, maybe the old butler himself thought so too.

When he was in his prime and full of fighting spirit, he didn't have such a big stage. No matter how powerful he was, he could only stay in one house, control the servants, and take care of the master's property and communication.

When he was old and Chi Yan came and he could do more things, he was old and could only train young people.

Probably because of this, Chi Yan is always more patient with Wright and Juster. After all, in a sense, they are also an extension of the old butler, a reflection of the old butler's ambition.

"Just give me a little more time." Wright stood under Chi Yan, lowered his head, and said respectfully and faithfully, "I can gather at least 3000 people, or even more."

A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "More and more civilians are falling into the streets, and they are all weapons that adults can use."

Wright suggested: "It's best to be your property."

Chi Yan nodded: "I will arrange it, so don't be too impatient."

Wright: "Remember your lord's orders."

After Wright left, Chi Yan said to Kleist: "A person with such a character is not bad, and has a firm goal."

Kleist was looking at the notes made by Chi Yan: "As long as it's easy to use."

Chi Yan smiled: "Don't say it so cold-blooded, it's still mine anyway."

Kleist was noncommittal: "In the future, there will be more people around you who want you to use him."

Chi Yan walked behind Kleist and hugged Kleist's shoulders: "It would be great if I could do that. In fact, I don't have much confidence in my heart. To be honest, I think I'm becoming more and more cold-blooded."

Kleist put down Chi Yan's record booklet: "This is a good thing. Standing in your current position, if you keep being influenced by your emotions, it will only make things worse."

Chi Yan reached out and pulled Kleist's cheek: "I hope things will develop as I think."

This winter is his best chance. Whether the seeds planted during Prayer Day can be harvested depends on the snow.

Suddenly the poor people of the holy city began to spread word of mouth about a place.

"There is a big house on the edge of the city!"

"The poor can go in, the merchants will make us work, and we can get food."

"It was bought by the lord of Stettin! It is also a merchant from Stettin! I heard that women and children can get clothes!"

"Every day, people go up the mountain to cut firewood, and they can sleep next to the fire at night, which is very warm!"

The poor people didn't believe it, but the poor people who believed it started looking for houses on the edge of the city after hearing the rumor.

The Ziors family was looking for it, and the rumors were very vague, saying that there was such a house, but did not say where it was.

The Ziols family was originally servants, and they were not married. It was just a love affair between a man and a woman. He was placed in a dilapidated wooden house, and he had to pay the rent every month. After the child was born, his wife was weak, and the owner of Ziols also drove him out because he had no money.

It was already winter at that time, and at first Ziols could still find some work, such as moving goods for merchants, or going to the mountains to cut firewood and sell it.

But as the weather gets colder and the price of food gets higher and higher, the businesses of the merchants get worse and the mountain gets colder. Maybe the next time he goes up the mountain, he will die on the mountain, so their family has had no income for nearly 20 days. .

Ziols was starved to the point of skin and bones—the food at home was tight to his wife, and if the wife didn’t have enough to eat, there would be no milk, and without milk, the child would not be able to survive.

But in the past few days, my wife has almost run out of milk, the last food in the family has been eaten up, and the child is screaming with hunger every day.

Ziols thought that his family was about to die silently in this wooden house that could neither block the wind nor the rain, when he suddenly heard the neighbor's conversation.

I know that there is such a house on the edge of the city.

He kept it from his wife and went out to look for it early in the morning. He didn't want her to worry about him. If he died of freezing and starving to death outside while searching, it would be less of a burden for his wife and children.

Bracing against the bitter cold wind and the oncoming heavy snow, Siols hunched his shoulders, lowered his head, and walked with difficulty on the street. He didn't know where his destination was, but just kept walking.

He felt that he had walked so long for a lifetime, his legs and feet were numb, his nose turned from red to blue, and when it was about to turn black, he fell down.

Ziols fell down on the snow. He wanted to get up, but he struggled to reach out, but failed to stand up.

Anyway... there is one less mouth to eat at home.

That's fine, isn't it?

He closed his eyes.

Ziols thought he was dead, probably only when he was dead could he feel such warmth, as if there was a stove by his side, and he could stand by the fireplace of the host’s house during work breaks as in previous years, when his wife Not yet pregnant, they will stand by the fireplace and make eye contact. Although the master is not very generous, he will not abuse them.

It was a very happy day.

Ziols moved his fingers comfortably.

A child's voice rang in my ear: "Mom! He moved!"

he is not dead?Ziols opened his eyes, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a group of women sitting around him, some of them with children.

They are thin, but very energetic.

A woman with a red mole on her cheek said: "You fell across the street and almost died!"

The women said in a hurry: "Your feet are almost lost. Wright said that if it is later, your feet will have to be cut off."

"I almost got frostbite, and so did my nose. If it gets black, I have to cut it off."

"What a pity you don't have a nose."

Ziols hadn't recovered yet, he looked at them in confusion: "Where is this..."

The woman with the red mole coughed and said proudly, "In the house that the lord bought us!"

Women obviously rarely have the opportunity to show off to outsiders. Since they saved this person, he is theirs. They said excitedly: "My lord bought a house for us, and let the businessman find us to work!"

"My husband is now carrying goods at the merchant's place every day, grinding soybean powder and powdered sugar, and sometimes he can bring some sugar back!"

"Although we often eat bean mush, we can eat black bread every few days."

"The lord will also ask his servants to bring us pudding and sugar."

"Hey, only women and children can eat it, men can't share it."

"I save a little for my husband sometimes."

Ziols asked in confusion, "What sir? Is it a nobleman?"

The women laughed and said, "That's not true. The noble lord doesn't care about our life or death. Our lord is the lord of Stettin. This is the house he bought for us."

"Such a nice house! It can be repaired with wooden boards, and the roof is very strong! There is also a fireplace."

Ziols's sanity slowly came back, he wanted to sit up, but found that his hands and feet were completely incapable, and he spoke very hard: "I am looking for, as they said, a place that will take in the poor. His wife and children are still at home..."

The women looked at each other: "Then come, the house is not full anyway, it's so big!"

"When you are ready, you can grind flour, move goods, or chop firewood. How old is your child? If it is too young, your wife can't go out to work. If the child does not need mother to watch all the time, then You can give it to Wanola, and your wife can cut the cloth with us."

As if grasping at straws, Ziols said excitedly: "My child is only a month old, and I can do a lot of work!"

Women: "You almost got frostbite, where is your home? Let's go get your wife and kids."

The woman with the red mole said: "But you have to remember that everything here belongs to the lord. You can't do bad things, otherwise you will be driven back. You must be obedient. Those who are disobedient will have no food."

"Being obedient means doing the work assigned to you."

"If you don't work, others will support you for nothing. That's not okay."

Ziols' eyes were red with excitement, he choked up and blew a snot bubble: "I work, I must work hard."

The women let him continue to lie down, and the energetic children wiped Ziols' limbs with warm wet linen.

They now have more than a dozen men going up the mountain to cut firewood every day. The firewood is enough, so they can use hot water.

This is something that didn't happen when life was good in previous years-at that time, how could poor families have the energy to chop firewood every day?What if there is an accident on the mountain when no one is with you?If you are bitten by a poisonous snake awakened from hibernation, you don’t know where you died, so go out and buy it?Firewood in winter is not cheap.

Firewood needs firewood, and water needs firewood. Although ordinary people don't have the habit of taking a bath, they must have hot soup in winter, right?

The fire can't be made every day, but this year's tough days, since they came here, they have hot water and a stove. Not only can they sleep next to the stove every night, but they can also drink hot water to warm their bodies.

After all, I didn't have warm clothes, and I drank cold water into my stomach, and my whole body was icy cold.

Ziols was taken care of by the children in such a daze, and before nightfall, his wife was picked up with the child in his arms.

The women were very careful. They also took a few pieces of broken leather and wrapped the child tightly. When the house was opened, the leather was warm inside, and the child's face flushed from sleeping inside.

In this way, Ziols and his wife settled down here, and they were allocated beds not far from the fireplace, which was a preferential treatment given because they had a baby.

After raising it for less than five days, Ziols started working.

It only took a few days for the family to get used to the life here. Every morning, they got up early, and their wife tied the baby on their backs with tattered cloth strips. The wife can join other women in boiling water, arranging firewood, and cooking.

When it is almost noon, they can get a thick bean paste with a lot of beans and sometimes a little wheat in it. If they earn more, they can put a little salt in it.

Ziols's wife had milk again after eating a few full meals. When there was no milk, there was a woman who had milk in the house to help.

After the wife has milk, the child's health gradually improves. After all, the milk of the biological mother is better for the child than other people's milk.

"Ziors!" The men held stone axes, "Let's go!"

Ziols kissed his child, then his wife: "I'm going out!"

His wife smiled at him: "Go."

Today Ziols and his companions went up the mountain to cut firewood. They had no iron tools and could only use stone axes. The trunks of dead trees were usually broken off. If they didn’t want to go deep into the mountains, they could only cut down the trunks of dead trees.

After going out, they stopped talking, and once the cold wind poured into their mouths, they didn't want to mention the taste.

When they returned to the house with the firewood on their backs, they quickly took off their coats and sat by the fire. At this time, the children climbed on the adults' laps and listened to what they said about the outside world.

Obviously chopping firewood is hard work, but probably because of the children, the hard work seems not so hard.

"There are snakes on the mountain." A man proudly said, "I dug them out of the hole!"

The children were very surprised: "Is there any snake meat to eat tonight?!"

Man: "Of course there is, but everyone can only get a little bit."

A little bit is also good, the children cheered: "There is meat to eat!"

Ziols suddenly said: "Tomorrow we go up the mountain, we can pay more attention to the snake cave, maybe we can find other hibernating ones..."

Others quickly said, "That's not okay, otherwise, when spring comes, there will be no snakes and frogs to eat pests, and there will be mice. The surrounding land will not have a good harvest, and the price of food next winter will be so high that we can't afford it."

Ziols, who was a servant before and never knew about it, did not expect to be so particular about it.

Ziols also found that the people here believed in the man named Wright. He heard that he was the one who had been taking in the poor. It was he who went to the lord of Stettin, and the lord was willing to help them. The woman of Wright, That widow is also very attractive among women now, and Wright never bullies anyone, even if it is the worst villain, he will only drive them out and not allow them to come back.

Wright would arrange work for them, eat with them, and sometimes Wright would tell them about Stettin and the lord of Stettin.

Wright's women will also tell the women what they have heard from Wright.

Slowly, Ziols also fantasized in his heart, it would be great if the owner of the holy city was the lord of Stettin?Can they be like the Stettin people, even if they are poor, they can find a job, have their own house, and even send their children to study?If his children can read and write, they will definitely find a very good job in the future!If you marry a good woman, you will be happier than him.

Once this idea arises, it can no longer be contained.

Ziols would say to the friends he met after coming here: "It would be great if the lord is willing to take care of us."

Friends said: "No, with the royal family and the Holy Court here, the lord can only help us find a job, but it's already very good now, but I don't know if we can live here after the winter is over."

"Sure!" another friend said. "The lord is so kind, he will definitely not drive us out."

They even dream of finding regular jobs after the beginning of spring. So many people live together, and everyone does whatever work together. Life is better than imagined.

Although there are inconveniences, these inconveniences are not important at all.

There are more and more poor people. After spending all their savings to buy food, ordinary people can't find a job, so they can only sell their property, but there are few people who can pay the starting price. Even if they have expensive carpets at home, they can't sell them. .

Many slaves in the Holy City were also driven out by their masters—if they died in their master’s house, and the master asked someone to find a place to bury their bodies, it would be better to drive them out while they could still walk, so that they themselves Can go somewhere else to die.

There are more and more homeless people on the streets, and the competition for resources has become more bloody.

Even if it was a piece of bone whose meat had been peeled off, a bunch of homeless men would grab it and beat them badly.

If any big family throws some wheat bran out, they will jump on it without losing their lives.

Some people eat snow to satisfy their hunger, or tear bark and dig tree roots on the mountain. Not all bark and roots are edible, but they can't pull them out after eating them. If you can't pull it out, you will die.

The corpses are sometimes picked up by wild animals, but more often they are eaten secretly by others.

People slowly turned into beasts.

The royal family and the Holy Court couldn't sit still anymore, and the Holy Court moved first. They boiled the shriveled beans and wheat bran into a thinner paste, and then distributed them at the entrance of the Holy Court.

However, most of the people who came were the saints who were strong and had permanent property, and there was no distinction between the real poor and the vagabonds.

After the royal family saw the actions of the Holy Court, they also began to distribute food, but the royal family was not as good as the Holy Court. At least a lot of the food distributed by the Holy Court went into the stomachs of the common people, although these civilians need to say otherwise.

But most of the food handed down by the royal family is withheld by officials at various levels. Higher-ranking officials get more, and junior officials get less. After all, officials also have wives, children, and a lot of relatives, right?You can't just take a few days, you have to take two months, right?Just in case, it's not too much to take more, right?

The food that was finally distributed to the common people was either wheat bran or stones.

Even if the wheat bran is edible, you have to pick out the stones. If there are some with bad eyesight, don't chew them, just swallow them in your mouth, the consequences can be imagined.

Chi Yan also started distributing food. What he distributed was katuo biscuits, which can be stored for a long time after drying. These katuo biscuits are made of katuo powder shipped from Stettin, and they feel very full. He Ask Wright to assign some middle-aged men to distribute the katuo biscuits. Each person can only take one. He has a good memory and can write down the characteristics of the tramp. After the other party has received it twice, he will not distribute it again.

But there are also homeless people who stalk and stalk, at this time, they can only drive them away violently.

If the other party comes back the next day, they will not refuse to give. As long as they follow the rules, they will always stutter. The homeless will gradually get used to it and stop trying to fight.

Chi Yan doesn't think it's hateful to wait in line for several times - if it were him, he would hope to stock up a little more when he didn't know how long the other party's kindness would last, so that when the other party stopped donating, he would It can also last for a while.

Push oneself and others, are poor people.

People who have suffered and been hungry will have the habit of hoarding.

Chi Yan remembered that when he was a child, his grandparents would hoard salt and rice at home when they heard rumors.

Most of the young people have never been hungry or experienced natural disasters, so naturally they don’t have a strong sense of crisis, and they may even laugh at the elderly at home, buying so many things that they can’t finish eating.

"My lord, we don't have much pancakes..." the servant whispered.

Chi Yan pursed his lips: "Make the bean dregs that were placed before into bean dregs cakes, and top them up before the next batch of katuo powder arrives."

Servant: "... There are more and more homeless people, my lord, you can't help them."

Chi Yan's expression was a little serious: "It's not a matter of helping or not, so go."

He can't win the saints and nobles, he can only win the poor people. This is not only to help people, but also to buy people's hearts. When people believe that they will have food to follow him, and believe that he will benefit the poor, then he will rise up and shout, A larger number of poor people can overthrow the rule of the Holy Court and the royal family in an instant.

After all, the aristocrats and the middle class are a minority.

Of the more than 40 people in the Holy City, one-third are slaves, one-third are poor, and the remaining one-third are nobles and middle-class people. This third will be divided among the Holy Court and the royal family.

Chi Yan wanted to fight for the majority.

"I'm going to see the queen." Sitting on a chair, Chi Yan said to Kleist, "I want her to assign the slums to me."

Kleist: "She'll agree."

The current queen must be in a state of distress, the nobles can't help her, and the food she sent was swallowed up by the officials, and she can't even dismiss the officials - after all, it is a hereditary system, and she can't find a replacement after the dismissal people.

It's just a slum, she can't manage it anyway, and there are so many people, neither she nor the Holy Court is willing to manage it, this is a hot potato.

Chi Yan said seriously: "Let me try it."

If he can't even save a slum, then don't try to get involved in kingship and theocracy.