Early in the morning, Roland woke up from the cold, crawled out of the cold bed, put on a woollen coat, and dipped his feet in a bucket of warm water. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

It was a corrupt privilege that only His Royal Highness enjoyed as a prince - every morning, the maid would put boiling hot water beside his bed, along with a clean towel and hot milk, which would instantly warm his body.

Of course, compared to the common practice of the big nobles to warm people's beds, he felt that he was restrained enough. Originally, the fourth prince brought the maid chief Tyre over just to fight this idea, but unfortunately he didn't enjoy it and died. Roland didn't like this, so he gave the vacated position to an older, experienced lady-in-waiting, which was in fact the right choice, as there were many witches living in the castle at the moment, but she still kept the castle in order inside and out.

The flames in the fireplace had long since been extinguished, and only white fly ash remained. The cold wind blew through the cracks in the window behind him, and it was bitterly cool, and it was hard to believe that it was still mid-autumn. Roland dried his feet, washed himself in another basin of hot water, and went to the window and closed the window that had been open all night.

Although open-flame fireplaces were common in this era, he was still worried about carbon monoxide poisoning and had to leave a gap every night when he went to bed. The indoor temperature can be kept warm in the first half of the night, and as the firewood burns out, it is no different from outside in the early hours of the morning.

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

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

A large patch of grass separated the old and new walls is now white, and the soles of your shoes crunch when you walk on the thick snow.

Looking up, the sky was a pale gray, and occasionally a cloud of snow drifted into his neck, bringing a hint of coldness. He knew that the weather would most likely continue until next spring...... Or even longer.

"How's the defensive line going?"

"It's much better than last time," Carter Lannis' expression was relaxed, "Most of the soldiers of the First Army have been on the battlefield, and they have revolver rifles, and a section of the wall of about 100 meters can be guarded by only ten people, and they can suppress the evil beasts that live and spin underneath. 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 on the top of the city, which is completely for soldiers to practice target shooting. As long as there are no mixed beasts, these monsters don't want to cross the line of defense. ”

"That's fine. ”

Roland climbed the city wall, and along the way the soldiers saluted him with their heads held high. Judging from this spirit alone, it is already similar to the original militia soldiers. At that time, although everyone stood on the wall and seemed to stab the wooden spear in unison, it was just a conditioned reflex formed by repeated training of one movement. Their eyes were numb, their movements stiff, and if you looked closely, you could see that most of them were trembling slightly.

Now the soldiers had a confident look in their eyes, and after saluting, they turned their gaze back to the front and continued to monitor the battlefield.

Walking along the city wall to the side of the Hidden Forest, it is much more lively.

Temporary shelters for serfs and fugitives were laid out in this area, and when you look down from the wall, you can see long dirt slopes lined up one after the other, like undulating wavy lines. There are more than 10 houses inside each raised earth slope, and their structure is exactly the same as that of a cave. The thick earthen wall can maintain the indoor temperature, and with the heating artifact fire kang, the linen cloth can be kept away from the cold as soon as it is covered.

The whole residential area was divided into two large sections, the one near the city walls was called the western district, which was used to house the fugitives, and the eastern district, which was far away from the city walls, was divided into serfs.

The town hall sent men to distribute food and charcoal every day, and the fugitives also had to provide logistical transportation for the First Army guarding the walls, and as for the serfs, most of them had enough wheat for their needs, and except for some who were more energetic and went out to find odd jobs to earn extra money for themselves, the others rarely left the warm houses.

At this moment, there was a fierce dispute at the junction of the eastern and western districts, and Roland followed the prestige and saw a group of people gathered on the avenue in the middle of the residential area, arguing loudly about something. One of them, dressed in a blue-and-white uniform, appeared to be a clerk at the town hall. Soon the quarrel escalated into a brawl, and the two groups of people fought together, and the scene was chaotic.

"Your Highness?" asked Carter.

"Let's take a look," Roland nodded.

When the group arrived at the scene of the trouble, the chief knight took the lead and rushed straight into the crowd of brawlers, knocking several of the most violent people to the ground in two or three blows. Roland's guards also drew their swords one after another, shouting at everyone to stop, and the scene was quickly controlled.

After discovering that the person who had come was actually the lord, the two waves of people fell to their knees together.

"What's your name?" Roland frowned as he looked at the clerk who had been punched twice in the face, "What's going on here, who attacked you first?"

"Your Highness, I'm Koya Harvey," he cried out, covering his face, "it's that damn fugitive who did it first, the guy in the brown linen coat! ”

The fugitive who was pointed at by Koya looked up and said, "Your Highness, things are not as he said. These people colluded with the serfs to blackmail us, and they had to collect money for every piece of wheat porridge, and when you took us in, you clearly said that it was distributed for free!"

Roland was a little surprised, the fugitives from the East had been combed through the city hall, and all the craftsmen, people with special skills or literacy had moved to the first ring, and it stands to reason that the rest were ordinary civilians. However, judging from the tone and diction of his voice, it didn't seem like a civilian could speak.

In comparison, the town hall member who was full of insulting words like damn and vicious dogs was really disappointing. Since there is a name and a surname...... Nine times out of ten, he was a knight under Duke Lane.

"I did say something like this—until you were officially included in the border town, the porridge and the shelter were free," Roland repeated in front of all the fugitives, "and it is still valid now!"

"Your Highness is merciful!"

"Long live your lord!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

The fugitives kowtowed and shouted.

And Koya Harvey's face suddenly turned pale.

"However, it is also a violation of the law to fight and injure people in the territory, especially to attack a member of the town hall," Roland signaled to the guard, "and take all the fugitives and serfs who beat people and bring them to the castle, and I will judge the brawl myself." ”

He paused, then looked at Koya with interest, "I'd like to ask you what the charging porridge is all about." ”

. (To be continued.) )