plumnovel #343 - Swinging Kush Knight
#343 - Swinging Kush Knight
Black Pottery Town is only about twenty miles away from Sour Gourd Town, but it is much smaller in scale, with a population of just over a thousand people.
This small town is basically an industrial town like Mayo Town, with the main source of income being the black pottery clay near Black Pottery Town.
This high-quality clay can be used to fire quite beautiful pottery and tableware, and the pottery from several large and small villages and towns in the vicinity is basically made by Black Pottery Town.
On the edge of Black Pottery Town, there is a small courtyard that has been repaired after being dilapidated.
It lies quietly on the desolate land, surrounded by a circle of high walls made of rough stones.
Moss and weeds grow in the cracks, and the hot air in the sealed courtyard seems to be boiled in a pot.
The Kush knights sat around the table, greedily drinking the cool well water drawn from the well, mixed with the beer they bought, and hiding in the shade of the trees to enjoy the coolness.
Such treatment would certainly be considered abuse for the knights, but the Kush knights were happy to endure it.
The reason is simple: happiness is relative.
While other Franconian and Leia knights have to cultivate for a whole day in the hot weather, they only need to work for half a day to return to the yard to rest.
In this hot weather, several young Kush knights were lying on the wall, braving the scorching sun to look outside.
When they saw the Franconian and Leia knights with ropes around their necks, soaked in sweat, and panting as they dug in the scorching sun, they couldn't help but laugh.
"It's so great, it's really great."
Pellini still remembers the day of the grouping; that day was deeply impressed on him, it was so pleasant.
The other knights who originally looked down on the Kush people, were constantly trying to prove that they were Kush knights, in order to avoid being dragged to a public trial at the complaint meeting.
They cried and shouted, mutually reporting that someone's bloodline was impure or that they were impersonating a Kush person.
And before, it was often the Kush people who did these things.
Many of these so-called "Franconian knights" and "Leia knights" were later Franconianized and Leia-ized Kush knights.
If you trace them back three generations, they must be purebred Kush people.
Although Pellini worriedly believed that this was alienating the knights internally, he had to admit that this trick was indeed very effective.
Under the preferential treatment and propaganda of the Salvation Army, these young Kush knights all showed a unanimous liking for the Salvation Army.
Of course, preferential treatment was only based on the premise that they were innocent.
Previously, a Kush knight with a history of crimes was still dragged to a public trial and beheaded.
However, compared to those foreign Franconian knights, the Kush nobles and local Kush civilians were closely related, with many relatives and the same culture, so the oppression was not considered cruel.
When those soldiers in black spoke in the Kush dialect, both sides felt an inexplicable sense of closeness when they connected.
Not only that, Pellini admitted from the bottom of his heart that the demon Horn was indeed a bit capable, and the Salvation Army soldiers were indeed more qualified than those in Golden River Township, not praising the Salvation Army.
Before, they asked the black-clothed jailer (黑帽军: Black Hat Army) on duty to help them buy wine, and deliberately gave them more money to prevent him from being unwilling or secretly urinating in the wine.
But unexpectedly, the Black Hat Army bought quite good wine and even found them change.
They calculated back and forth and found that there was no difference at all, and those Salvation Army soldiers really didn't embezzle a single penny.
Different from what they knew, these Salvation Army soldiers were really the kind, the kind that was rare, how should I say it?
At that time, Pellini gave a word that he hadn't said for a long time—"good person."
"Good person?" Pellini lowered his head, as if questioning and as if asking himself.
"Here they come, here they come." A young Kush knight lying on the wall jumped down and rushed to the door of the small courtyard.
Before long, the two Black Hat Army soldiers at the door opened the gate and let Enrico in.
When Enrico entered, he was still warmly inviting the Black Hat Army soldiers at the door: "Zanderos, Annon, come in and have a drink?"
The Black Hat Army soldier on guard shook his head shyly: "No, drinking on duty will be punished."
"Your officers are really strict." Tsk tsk in his mouth, Enrico walked into the small courtyard with high spirits.
Unlike these imprisoned knights, Enrico had done three months of hard labor and planted the land very well, and also helped the Salvation Army persuade others to surrender on the battlefield.
To commend his achievements, Horn unbound some of his rights and hired him as an agricultural advisor to the Holy Hoe Monastery, allowing him to move around freely to a certain extent.
Count Enrico's education is indeed much higher than that of these peasants.
He knew a lot about agronomic knowledge of manor management.
When others asked, he would proudly say: "Go to Golden River Township and ask around, which manor's fields harvest the most every year... Ouch..."
But every time he mentioned this topic, Enrico would finally cover his chest in pain, remembering his manor fields that had been divided up.
However, three months of hard labor had smoothed out his not-so-many edges and corners, and he had accepted his current fate.
Looking at his cousin, who was also from the Arco family, Pellini helplessly and sadly discovered that two of the three Counts of the Arco family had gathered in the small courtyard.
Behind Enrico, there were also several people dressed as bishops, but they were communicating with the Black Hat Army soldiers at the door, apparently asking about their recent performance.
"Your wine... your paper and pen... your ointment..." As soon as he entered the door, Enrico began to distribute various purchased supplies to these relatives and friends.
But when Pellini took the 《战争修士圣典》 (《战争修士圣典》: War Monk's Scripture) that Enrico had helped him purchase, he spotted something in Enrico's pocket with sharp eyes.
"Wait!" Pellini grabbed Enrico's wrist.
"Ah? What's wrong?"
Pellini didn't say much, but instead pulled a few pieces of paper from his pocket and asked in disbelief: "You bought Holy War Bonds?"
Enrico asked in confusion: "I don't know, they said it could make money, so I went to buy it."
Pellini was completely speechless.
You're a prisoner of war, and you went to buy bonds that bet on the enemy's victory and your own side's loss. What exactly do you want to do?
While Pellini was in a complicated mood, Enrico was surrounded by the surrounding knights.
“How much can these bonds earn in a month?”
"Currently, the highest is only 20 Denier face value bonds with a price of 10 Denier, but it has a 7% annual interest rate and can also be used to purchase auctioned assets."
"Uncle Enrico, did you buy the 《圣孙远征记》 (《圣孙远征记》: The Holy Grandson's Expedition) I asked you to buy last time?"
"If you didn't say it, I would have forgotten, here, for you."
Perhaps the scene of the previous Franconian knights vying to be Kush knights gave these young Kush people too much stimulation in their hearts.
They actually showed signs of "betrayal".
The previous Kush knights were squeezed out and made things difficult by foreign knights in every possible way. Although they were knights, they lived like large armed farmers.
These Kush knights were all young and vigorous, and they were already holding back a sense of dissatisfaction.
As a result, when they got to the Salvation Army, this dissatisfaction completely exploded.
They chat every day, often saying "Kush people don't fight Kush people," "Kush people's lives are also lives," and "Kush people must have their own Pope."
You should know that the upper echelons of the Thousand Valleys Church are all Franconians, Leians, and even Ayer and Noen people, but there are no Kush people.
Looking at the Salvation Army and the Holy Grandson Papal State, the Holy Grandson and Holy Maiden themselves are Kush people, five of the six archbishops are Kush people, and nine of the ten legion commanders are Kush people.
Even pigs know who to turn to for a better future.
But the problem is that these farmers have a inexplicable hatred for the knights and will also take away the fields that originally belonged to them, which is what the young knights are more concerned about.
"Cough cough..." When Enrico was distributing items, a priest with a determined expression grabbed Enrico's shoulders and walked to Pellini.
Enrico immediately cleared his throat: "Let me introduce you, this is the Papal State's Cardinal, the Archbishop of White Sand, the Archbishop of Truth, Madeland Wiggin."
The knights immediately stood up in unison, put down the objects in their hands, and saluted Madeland in a unified posture.
"You're welcome, you're welcome." Madeland opened his mouth and spoke in the Kush dialect that they were familiar with, which dispelled a lot of the fear on the faces of the Kush youth.
Madeland smiled and looked at Pellini.
Pellini immediately knew that the main event was coming.
Accompanied by Enrico, the two walked into a secluded hut.
"We may hate each other, but we also need each other." Madeland opened the topic, without too much nonsense, with a polite arc on the corner of his mouth, "His Majesty can tolerate your existence while holding his nose, but you also have to give up some of your interests."
"I don't understand what you mean..."
"Do you know why I came to you today?"
Pellini shook his head.
Madeland handed him a letter with the fire lacquer seal still unopened: "This is a letter sent by your Arco family's old grandmother, she did not pay to redeem you."
Impatiently cutting open the bright red fire lacquer seal with a knife, Pellini read the entire letter at a glance, his eyes widening more and more.
"For the future of the Thousand Valleys people, for the future of all Kush descendants..." Pellini subconsciously read the last line of the letter.