Chapter 12: Winning Hearts and Minds!

"My Lord Gervas, it has been confirmed: the entire Storm Domain possesses one small town, three villages, and roughly three thousand mu of arable land."

"However, over the past decade, wealthy households have purchased more than two thousand mu of it, leaving only a little over one thousand mu belonging to the Storm Domain, which includes the hundred mu surrounding the castle!"

"Additionally, besides the arable land, the wealthy households just purchased several thousand meters of forest land belonging to the Storm Domain last year to plant apples! The saplings have already been planted this year."

"I heard that nobles in the past also wanted to intervene, but because they were commoners, they were protected by the law, had their own guards, and the previous nobles did not stay in the Storm Domain for very long..."

Good heavens, Gervas exclaimed good heavens.

They nearly bought out his entire Storm Domain!

If the arable land belongs to them more than to the lord, how can he even act as lord?

The previous lords obviously encountered this same problem.

However, because they were far too short-lived, they were unable to resolve it.

"Everything they ate must be vomited back up!" This territory is the very foundation of his existence.

He had already given them a chance; since they wanted money over their lives, he, Gervas, could not be blamed.

"Old John, summon the two stewards and the guard captain who led the resistance against the monster invasion just now!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Soon, Steward Little Wheat and the guard captain were brought into the castle hall.

Upon entering the castle, the two appeared somewhat terrified.

Even though the hall had merely been swept simply, with spiderwebs still in the corners, the presence of the lord my lord before them naturally increased the sense of authority.

After all, the former high-and-mighty town mayor had been killed on the spot by the other party.

Fortunately, Gervas was exceptionally gentle toward the two.

As a newcomer, he naturally needed some local hands to assist him.

Therefore, he immediately appointed the original town steward as the Storm Domain's Civil Administrator, not only managing the town's civil affairs but also including all other villages.

And the guard captain was to continue serving as captain.

"We thank the lord my lord for his trust; we will surely serve my lord with our whole hearts and strength!"

"Hmm, Captain Lauren, you may leave first. After cleaning the battlefield, gather all the guards who participated in today's battle; I will personally reward them shortly!"

"We thank the lord my lord for his benevolence!"

Lauren departed, deeply grateful, and Gervas turned his gaze to Civil Administrator Thomas!

"Thomas, are you familiar with the surrounding territories? My lord, in the past I would lead the villagers to other surrounding territories to exchange supplies, so I am quite familiar!"

"Very good. I will hand the carriage to you shortly, equip you with several hands and knight squires, and you will immediately go to the surrounding other villages to purchase chickens and ducks!"

"My lord, how many chickens and ducks do you need to purchase?" Thomas naturally raised no objections.

"All of them; purchase every single chicken and duck you see!"

Thomas was stunned, but after confirming this new lord my lord was not joking, he said, "Yes, lord my lord, I will surely handle this matter well!"

"Hmm, time is pressing; you must depart immediately. The more chickens and ducks, the better; do not fear spending money. Additionally, you must set out to return no later than nightfall, do you understand!"

"Yes, lord my lord!"

After Thomas also left, Gervas did not rest. Upon receiving Captain Lauren's report again, he took a box of copper coins and a large basket of black bread and went outside the castle.

According to Lauren's report, the original town had thirty semi-professional guards.

That is, they all participated in battle during wartime, farmed the fields when there was no fighting, and took turns on duty every week.

In common terms, this was more like the militia of his past life.

And after the morning battle, the guard team was reduced to only half; the rest were all killed in action.

Of course, in fact, many commoners also participated in the battle; Gervas simply had not summoned them.

He was now doing this to win hearts and minds; he did not have enough resources to truly reward the domain's people immediately.

"Although I only assumed office in the Storm Domain today, your bravery was witnessed by my own eyes, so I must reward you!"

Gervas waved his hand, and Old John quickly stepped forward, handing portions of copper coins and black bread to Gervas!

Gervas then personally handed these copper coins and black bread into the hands of the guards.

The reward was not large: five copper coins per person plus five loaves of black bread, enough for a family of four to eat for a week.

Yet even so, the guards were moved to tears of gratitude.

In the past, where had any noble valued them so much?

"We thank the lord my lord for his bounty!"

"We thank the lord my lord for his bounty!"

Gervas was very satisfied; this was also a technique for winning hearts and minds he had learned in his past life: bestowing grace must absolutely not be done through another's hands, otherwise the effect would be lost.

"The remaining fifteen portions are for those brave guards who fell in battle. Although not much, it is also recognition from me, your lord, to them! Lauren, you and your comrades must deliver them to them shortly!"

"You must ensure they are delivered into the hands of every guard's family!"

"Yes, lord my lord!"

"Finally, tonight at dusk, a pot of meat soup will be boiled outside the castle. Notify all the brave serfs who participated in the resistance and their families to come; they may drink the meat soup for free then!"

"And you, Laurence, will select fifteen who performed best among them to fill the vacancies in the guard team!"

"The lord my lord is benevolent!"

A series of acts of grace, though the rewards varied, left no one feeling it was unfair; everyone only felt the lord my lord was benevolent, even remembering the merits of the serfs!

"Lord Kodo, what shall we do now? That lord killed Karyll immediately upon assuming office and occupied our small courtyard; he certainly will not let us live well in the future!"

"Yes, Kodo, should we return some of the arable land?"

"Return it? Are you fools? If you show weakness before him, he will push his advantage. Have you forgotten the greed of nobles? What if he sets his sights on our remaining wealth? Should we give that to him as well?"

Kodo shouted in anger, because his arable land was the most, totaling over eight hundred mu, equal to the sum of all the others combined.

He naturally could not bear to hand it over without a fight.

"Hmph, what are you afraid of? As long as we unite, he absolutely dares not treat us as he treated Kariel. After all, Kariel was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, whereas we are ordinary commoners; he has no reason!"

"By the way, in the coming days, everyone should pay attention to gathering the guards. With our eight families combined, we can muster over fifty guards; he certainly won't dare do anything to us!"

After bestowing his favor, Gervas went to the stone house where Kariel lived, and immediately dug up a clay pot at the corner of the stone house's outer wall.

Inside the clay pot were five gold coins and more than three hundred silver coins.

"Well done, Zhuīyuè. If you discover more good things in the future, I will definitely reward you handsomely!"

With Zhuīyuè looking utterly bewildered, Gervas praised it.

Just now, it was actually Gervas who, in a thought, instructed Zhuīyuè to stay here and stomp its feet, after which Gervas proceeded to dig.

Thus, it became the situation that Zhuīyuè had discovered it.

After all, Gervas's intelligence network would surely not remain hidden from people for long; using Zhuīyuè as a cover, while it might not convince anyone one hundred percent, at least provided an explanation.