There is a river flowing along the border on the land of Schwarz County. Many villages in the territory are as close as possible to the river, so that the water in the river can be used to irrigate the farmland. However, these farmlands are not all personal to the villagers. The best farmland is public farmland, which is cultivated collectively by the villagers. Most of the grains planted must be given to the lord, and the rest is collectively owned, and the barren land is the villagers' personal.

"Hu." A middle-aged farmer straightened his body. He put down the sieve made of hardwood in his hand, picked up the wooden barrel placed by the edge of the field and walked to the stream.

The gurgling stream flowed slowly. The farmer threw the barrel in the middle of the stream and tied a thick linen rope to the barrel. The barrel fell into the stream and was shaking. The farmer pulled the linen rope back on the shore, and the barrel would hold the stream.

"Well, what is that?" The farmer suddenly saw something appearing from the upstream, which looked like a wooden stake, but when he looked closely, it turned out to be a wooden statue.

"It should be very valuable, right?" The farmer was shocked. He quickly poured out the water from the wooden barrel. If he could catch valuable things from the river, it would be much better than planting crops for a year.

"Gudong." The farmer threw the empty wooden barrel next to the wooden sculpture. He was very accurate. He was once the top three in the village to throw stones. The wooden barrel put the wooden carving inside and was soon dragged to the shore by the farmer. Fortunately, the wooden carving was not particularly large, about the length of one of the arms of someone.

People in the middle of the village surrounded this wood sculpture. They had seen such a statue of Our Lady, but it was in the church in Schwarzburg. Who would throw a statue of Our Lady in the water?

"The elder is here, look at the statue of the Virgin Mary fished out of the river." At this time, someone brought the elder in the village. As the oldest person in the village, it was the first time he heard that the Virgin Mary drifted in the river like this.

"Is this really a statue of the Virgin?" The elder looked at the statue of the Virgin in front of him, and he couldn't help but draw a cross. In the past years, when heavy rainstorms in summer were caused, some drowned animals or corpses were indeed drifting, but churches were usually built on high places and could not be flooded by rivers.

"The elder should be very valuable!" The farmer who caught the statue of the Virgin Mary asked happily.

"Do you want to sell it to a travel merchant? It should be worth some money!" The elder said naturally. Travel merchants usually carry a wooden stick, carry their own bags, and carry leather bags decorated with many bags on them. While traveling, they purchase various things from the villages along the way. Although the villagers in the villages are self-sufficient, they sometimes need to change some household items.

"But the travel merchant doesn't know when it will be back. Is it safe to put it in the village?" The farmer hesitated a little. If someone knew about it, it would be stolen or stolen.

"Or what, let's take the statue to the farm market outside the castle and sell it!" a village woman holding a child said to the others.

"When is the farm market outside the castle?" the farmer asked quickly.

"It is today that the Regent in the castle issued a market order, which was shortened from once every half month to once every seven days." The elder replied immediately. In order to activate the economy, Rudolf changed the farm market once every fifteen days to once every seven days. This kind of market is a spontaneous activity of farmers.

"Then I'll take it to the market and sell it!" The farmer thought for a while and said, and the safest way to deal with the statue of the Virgin in his hand as soon as possible.

Outside the castle, farmers coming to the market from various villages, were bustling with people. Most of them drove their own sheep or pigs, and some carried crops such as flax. This kind of farmer gathering did not have a shelter to shelter from the wind and rain, but the relatively free trade exchange made it not inferior to the market in the town at all.

"Regent, if we collect taxes, we should be able to make a lot of money." Rudolph stood on the wall and looked at the market outside his castle. Taylor beside him kindly suggested to him.

"Taxation, why?" Rudolph smiled slightly. He held the cold walls with both hands and watched people gather under his castle to do business. The originally deserted castle seemed very lively.

"Regent, of course they have to pay taxes for trade under your castle. Isn't this natural?" Taylor said dismissively. In order to accumulate money, the nobles formulated taxes for all passes through their own land and bridges through bridges in their own territory. Even the fallen leaves and dead branches in the forests in their own land are not allowed to be picked up by civilians. Therefore, in Taylor's view, those who came to Rudolph Castle for trade are simply fat sheep delivered to their door.

"If taxes are imposed, then they will definitely not trade here." Rudolph shook his head. He came from the commercial culture atmosphere of later generations and knew very well that if taxes are imposed, it would be like killing a chicken to get eggs and getting them out of the way.

"But they are protected by you here, isn't it natural for them to pay some taxes? Of course, your kindness will be praised by everyone, but you need these taxes to strengthen your strength." Taylor looked at Rudolph without understanding, collecting crops from farmers and collecting coins from merchants to enrich the castle warehouse. All the nobles did this, but Rudolph easily gave up this part of the rights he deserved. In Taylor's opinion, Rudolph was indeed too naive and innocent, and gave up the actual benefits in order to obtain the virtue of kindness.

"Do you know why His Majesty the King insisted on conquering Italy?" Did Rudolf straighten his body, and his thumb stuck on the leather belt around his waist. He stood on the castle wall and looked into the distance. His territory was beautiful, but this was a kind of beauty of poverty that had not been developed.

"Because this is his right, His Majesty the King has the right to inherit the legal principles of Italy." Taylor replied naturally, and everyone knew that Frederick claimed to have the legal principles of Italy, and was the natural Roman king and the king of Naples.

"This is just an excuse. Isn't His Majesty the King's clearance of the Italians' purse?" Rudolph smiled, reached out and patted Taylor on the shoulder and said to him.

"This~~~." Taylor suddenly fell into deep thought. Every conquest of Italy was accompanied by massacre and looting. Even the nobles in the Holy Roman Empire were a little surprised. However, it was precisely because of the looting of Italy that the royal family had accumulated a large amount of wealth, which allowed Frederick to maintain a powerful army.

"What's wrong there?" Rudolph suddenly saw a commotion in the market, as if many people were attracted to it, so he hurriedly looked over.

"What's going on? Is anyone selling something?" Taylor also looked over, and he was surprised to find a farmer selling a wooden carving.

:.:
Chapter completed!