The reports from the two stewards did not take too much time. Once they left, Lucis could slowly finish his breakfast before presiding over the court meeting.

Seeing that there was still some time, Lucis wanted to chat with Ella about the rewards for these people.

He first said that he would promote the stewards to the deputy of the general manager.

The deputy of the general manager is one level higher than the general steward, and above that is the general manager, the deputy of the minister, and the minister. The official rank of the general manager in Sathya can only be said to be medium, but the palace chief is different. This position is similar to that of the king.The butler is responsible for helping the king manage the palace and his private property - but the private property does not include the royal part - because it is a position that only the king's confidantes can take up, so even if the grade is not too high, other ministers should be courteous when they see himThree copies, and the managers other than the palace manager don't have such a big deal.

If they knew the official position system in ancient China, then in the eyes of the ministers, the deputy to the general manager was almost a small official of the fifth or sixth rank, and it was not worthy of them, the first-rank officials, to treat them seriously.

But it’s not about promoting them right now. Lucis sent them there before to let them learn Ayla’s advanced planting techniques, and then promote them to the entire Sathya. Now these managers have only completed the most basicThe learning task, how to promote is the focus of their work in the future. The most important contribution to the ranch's output is Ella. In their current situation, Lucis will give them a promotion. After the promotion is completedDo we have to upgrade them again?

So he has decided to wait for them to complete the promotion before being promoted, but he can't say nothing now, so he will reward some property first, and then let the person who gave the reward tell them to wait for the promotion task to be completed before giving them a promotion.

As for the remaining sharecroppers and slaves, they are also important workers in charge of promotion later on, and they may even be a little more important than those stewards, because the stewards say they want to learn, but they just know when to do what.Let them do it themselves, I am afraid that none of them can plant the land well, but they are not as good as those tenant farmers and slaves who understand the things in the land.

It's just that their rewards are a little hard to decide.

If it is only to reward their current labor results, then rewarding some property or food is enough, but similarly, they are also an important part of the promotion work in the future, and let them only work as civilians or even slaves.There are quite a few people who will not buy it, but it is not suitable for those stewards to take all of them. After all, there are only a few people in charge, and there are hundreds of tenant farmers and slaves. In order to work better, they will manageThe land in the country will be very vast, and it is impossible to manage it with only a few stewards, and it is not appropriate to send another person to manage them-their identities do not have much right to speak, and with the addition of an inexperienced steward to suppress them, in the endIt is likely to make things worse instead.

But it is not appropriate to promote them to become managers, because according to the current system, to be a manager, you must be capable, but at least you must be able to read, otherwise you will not even be able to understand the orders from above.is it bad?And these guys clearly didn't meet that standard.

But it's just an ordinary reward. Compared with those in charge, it's really unfair. It's easy for people to slow down. Although they won't express such thoughts, there is a difference between actively completing excess work and passively completing the prescribed workload., Lucis certainly understood the difference.

Lucis spoke out her concerns, and Ella discovered that Lucis's consciousness of class was different from ordinary people.

It doesn't mean that he can realize that commoners and slaves are also human beings, and they can exist on an equal footing with nobles. Of course, he doesn't think so. His idea is another level of "equality".

Let's put it this way, because he is the king, so he is very fair to classify everyone except him as a lower-level existence than himself-oh, except for Ayla, of course-and in this lower level, whether it is a nobleman or a commoner or a slave, it is all the same to him.

It doesn't matter what class the people who work and serve themselves are, as long as they work hard and don't cause trouble.

This can be seen from his ability to promote General Necht from a small slave to one of the highest commanders of the army today, and it can be seen from the fact that there are many middle and low-level generals born from slaves in his royal army.

And this is probably because the current slave system is not as cruel as in the Middle Ages. Although the transition from slave to civilian is still difficult, the promotion system of the army makes this situation not rare, and slave owners have complete respect for their slaves.Control, that's why Lucis was able to promote a group of slaves to civilians so casually.

Knowing what he was thinking, Ella was hesitant to ask for time, but now it is easier to say.

She took a teapot and poured a cup of tea for Lucis. The teapot was also made of bone china made by the former pottery factory that has now been renamed the ceramics factory. A set of bone china tea sets made of the royal emblem pattern painted in goldIt is the pinnacle of the current ceramic factory's production technology. Even in Ella's eyes, it can be called an exquisite handicraft, only slightly worse than the ones she saw in the palace in the fairy tale world.

Since the appearance of the bone china plate last time, this kind of porcelain that has never been seen before has become the favorite of the nobles. Now the orders from the ceramic factory have been queued for several months.Demand exceeds supply.

Of course, their prices are also very extraordinary. Whether it is a big aristocrat or a big businessman, they may not be willing to spend money to buy a set. The real value is invaluable. However, the current production technology of ceramic factories is not stable enough, so bone chinaThe quality of the finished kilns was uneven, and the slightly inferior ones were destroyed by Ayla's request, and the batches sold to the nobles were all the best quality batches, which fully deserved the price.

She also poured herself a cup of tea and said, "Since it is not appropriate to be promoted to a manager, how about changing the household registration of those slaves and liberating them from slaves to ordinary civilians?"

For slaves, there is nothing more important than freedom.

The sharecropper side is even simpler.

Ella suggested: "How about giving some land to those tenant farmers? Farmers care most about the land. As long as you give those hard-working tenant farmers a piece of land, I think they will be happy to work hard for this reward."

On the surface, the land in Sathya cannot be bought and sold-that is the privilege of the nobles. Of course, wealthy businessmen can also buy the land, but at least on the surface, these lands still belong to the king and the nobles-the tenant farmersTherefore, they are tenant farmers, because they can only rent land and do not have their own land. If Lucis is willing to reward them with a piece of land, even if it is only one-tenth of Schat's land, it will be enough to make them happy, because that isAs long as His Majesty does not speak, the land will always belong to them, and other nobles and businessmen dare not even use any reason to take it away.

Moreover, the land that belongs to them is different from renting it. Although they also have to pay taxes, the tax and grain are at least 20% less than when renting.Beans, let them feed an extra child or two.

Therefore, being able to have a piece of land of their own will definitely make these tenant farmers happier than being a steward. After all, it is impossible for ordinary stewards to own their own land.

After listening to Ella's proposal, Lucis felt that it was really good. All the land in Sathya belonged to him. Even if he gave each of these tenant farmers a piece of land, he would not be able to share much, but it would make them appreciate Dade's work for him.This is much better than giving the land to the gods in the name of offering sacrifices and praying for blessings, but actually giving it to the temple.

After talking a little too much, Ella was a little thirsty, lowered her head and took a sip, and continued: "And not all civilians and slaves are illiterate, right? If conditions are right and they perform well in the promotion work,Wouldn't it be good to give them a position in charge?"

"Besides, illiteracy is not something that can't be changed. It's not that they are required to write poetry in the future. It's just ordinary people who can read and write. You have to give them a chance so that they know that hard work will pay off.Come on, you don’t need to tell them, they will work hard to learn by themselves.”

The lifespan of Sathya civilians is very short, usually in their thirties, and those who can be called strong laborers are basically young people around ten years old. These people's learning ability is not bad at all, but no oneJust give them a chance.

"In fact, as long as the ability is there, how can these rules and regulations be bound?"

"Of course, if you still don't think it's suitable, after the promotion work is done, these people will be given to me? Just in time, my plantation has already been built, and I can still pick up a group of experienced hands who can work for nothing..”

Ella now has three plantations under her name, one of which is the land she bought in Tanis and is preparing to build, and the remaining two are the royal plantations given to her by Lucis, although theseThe manpower of the place has already been fixed, but she doesn't dislike it if there are more, she can definitely buy more places to house these people.

But Lucis knew that she was just joking. Compared with slaves, Ira prefers to hire civilians. He is clear, although this habit sometimes makes people feel a little strange. After all, in the perception of slave owners, slaves areIt is easier to use than ordinary people, and it is also cheaper. Except for a little food, they don't need to pay them anything.

But looking at the meals that Ella ordered for the slaves, it can be seen that she completely disagrees with the ideas of other slave owners on this point.

So Lucis also smiled and said: "That's not okay, I still want to make good use of these people."

As Ella said, literacy can indeed be achieved with hard work, and it is indeed not a wise choice to lose a group of usable people for such a trivial matter.

One of the reasons he understood from Ella is that farming is not a simple craft, it needs someone to study and implement it, and now among this group of people, maybe there are talents who can go on this roadWoolen cloth?

Hearing what he said, Ella knew that he had agreed to her proposal, and after thinking about it, she said, "It just so happens that the two stewards haven't left for too long, why don't you send an envoy to follow them to the ranch to announce the good news?"News, let everyone be happy."

Now that there is already a happy event of a bumper wheat harvest today, it would be better to have another double happiness.

Lucis nodded and agreed, but because they still need to discuss the appropriate land area for the reward, and the envoys need to go to the royal private treasury to get the rewards for the stewards, so there is a lot of delay in this time, When they set off as a whole team, the two stewards had already left the palace some distance away.

While the people below were busy with these things, Lucis also exchanged a farewell kiss with Ella after breakfast, and went to preside over the court meeting.

Now that he has decided to publicize this matter, of course he will mention it at the court meeting, so that the ministers will know the good news as soon as possible, and then wait for the wheat to be delivered, so that it can be seen by more people, even heI also have to think about how much he should give if someone wants to ask for these wheat to go back to make grain seeds.

After all, the royal land area is so large, and his needs are even greater, and it is not appropriate to give too much.

·····

On the other side, the two stewards were sent out again by Tetis.

On the way, they realized that they forgot to ask Her Royal Highness for a pass to leave the city.

But they didn't dare to go back and disturb the king and princess for such a trivial matter, so they tried to ask Tetis for help.

This is just a trivial matter. In fact, with His Majesty's order just now, no one would dare to make things difficult for them if they go directly to issue a pass. It's just that the two stewards are probably used to being made things difficult before, and they can't adapt now.

Tetis thought that Her Highness the Princess would not leave His Majesty for a while, and there was nothing she needed to go back to deal with right away, so she nodded and agreed to go with them to the clerk.

Now Ella's personal maids are well known in the palace, and when Tetis came forward, the two stewards didn't even need to wait, and they got two freshly baked passes.

After taking the pass, the two stewards went to get their donkeys back, and rode them out of the palace.

The two stewards came to the city early in the morning, because it was too early, they didn't wait for the breakfast prepared by the peasant woman in the pasture for the stewards, they just took a piece of bread at random and ate it on the way, thinking that they would wait until they saw Her Royal HighnessCome out and have a good meal.So as not to make Her Royal Highness unhappy because the food on her body smells too strong.

Just a piece of bread can't satisfy much hunger, and they also met His Majesty having breakfast, and the smell of the food made them even hungrier now.

So as soon as they left the gate of the palace, they couldn't wait to find a place to eat.

However, at this point in time, there is not much time before the start of the court meeting, so there are not many people on the wide stone road outside the gate of the palace, and even the hawkers who sold breakfast on the street in the morning disappeared, and went to other more lively places.Don't mention those restaurants, they generally don't open on this street, and some of them don't open until near noon.

The two stewards were not particularly wealthy. They usually ate the food sold by street vendors and rarely had spare money to go to restaurants. Today, they wanted to reward themselves with a good meal because they were happy, and came out to see the Lian family.There are no restaurants here, so I was a little disappointed.

The tall steward said, "Let's go to the city gate. It's hard to find an open restaurant at this time, but there are many breakfast shops near the city gate. It's the same if we go there to eat."

The other short steward was the one who reported in front of Lucis that he was going to make the scene of delivering wheat bigger. At this time, he was proud that His Majesty agreed to his proposal, and curled his lips when he heard this: "The city gateMost of the restaurants on the side serve ordinary civilians, what delicious food can there be? Why don't we go to the market? The market in this area is often visited by the servants of the noble lord's house, and there are many big shops thereI will also entertain noble gentlemen, you see, I even have the money ready, why don't I just go to those shops?"

As he spoke, he touched the money bag in his arms, making a sound of coins colliding.

The tall steward frowned: "But the big restaurants on the other side of the market also don't do morning business, and most of the other breakfast shops are small stalls and shops. The taste may not be better than the ones at the city gate, and the price is even lower.It’s more expensive, and I don’t want to waste my money.”

Thinking about it, it is impossible for the aristocratic lords to go to the market in the early morning-they seldom go there, and they go more often to the prostitutes on the other street, and that place is open in broad daylight.Not open for business.

So they want to have a good meal now, but the possibility is really not high.

The tall steward said again: "Or do you want to wait until the restaurant opens at noon? This would be a waste of time. If the people from the palace go back earlier than us, we may be considered not serious about our work."

That's why they went back to the capital with great difficulty but didn't go home to have a look. They couldn't go back too late, and let the people sent by His Majesty arrive earlier than them.

Hearing this, the short steward had no choice but to give up this idea: "Then let's go to the city gate and have a look. Anyway, there are a lot of people queuing up there, so it doesn't matter if we delay for a while."

And if they wanted to, they could jump in line and leave the city directly with the pass issued by the palace clerk. After all, it was written clearly in the pass that they were working for His Majesty.

The two rode donkeys rattling towards the city gate, but on the way they saw a tavern with its door open, and a waiter at the gate greeted the guests.

They know this tavern. After all, they have to go here from the palace to the gate of the city. They, who often go back and forth between the city and outside the city, will occasionally visit this tavern. They know that this tavern not only sells wine, but also sells food.The taste is still very good, and it is very famous in the neighborhood.

It's just that the tavern usually only opens in the evening, but didn't expect it to open early in the morning today.

As soon as the guy saw the two of them looking over, he immediately greeted them with a warm smile and said, "Why are you two so early today? Do you want to come in and have a drink?"

They can be regarded as regular customers of this tavern, and it's okay for the guy to know them. Although the other party looks a bit unfamiliar, there are several guys in the store, they don't pay much attention to them, and it's normal if they don't recognize them.

The stewards stopped the donkey, sat on the donkey and watched him, curiously asked: "Why is the tavern open so early today? Is there still people coming to drink in the early morning?"

The waiter said: "That's not true, it's just that recently the customers in the store always say that they want to eat new dishes, so the boss asked the chef to study more. No, the chef is busy researching new dishes in the kitchen now.The food should not be wasted, so we should simply open the door and sell the prepared dishes cheaply to customers.”

It sounds like you are researching new dishes?On the contrary, the two of them were reluctant to go in. Who knows if this new dish is good or not.

Seeing their hesitation, the man immediately said: "That's a recipe that our boss bought from someone at a high price. I heard that it was passed down from the kitchen of the palace. It is the new dish brought by Her Royal Highness. NowIt's popular among the aristocracy."

The two stewards were already aroused by His Majesty's breakfast, but when they heard him say that it was a new dish brought by Her Majesty the Princess from a foreign country, they immediately climbed off the donkey and headed for the tavern without hesitation.

He walked in and asked, "Is it really going to be sold cheaply? What if it doesn't taste good?"

The man came forward to help them tie the donkey to the wooden stake at the door, and while tying it, he replied: "If it's not delicious, of course you can't take money from the guests. Don't worry, gentlemen!"

"That's what you said. If it doesn't taste good, we'll only look for you."

"Of course." After tying up the donkey, the man quickly walked in to show them the way, and asked them to go to the first floor: "The hall has not been cleaned up since it closed last night, how about the two of you sitting in the upstairs room?"

The two stewards glanced at the lobby of the tavern, and they nodded in agreement, seeing that it was indeed a bit messy.

The waiter led them to sit in the private room upstairs, and explained: "These new dishes have not had time to write the menu, and the types of ingredients prepared are not so complete, so during the day we are chefs and serve them to the guests.What, rest assured, the two masters, the chef has been practicing for several days, and the dishes are getting better every day, and I promise not to let you down."

The manager knew beforehand that this was a new dish that was tried, and he would give customers a discount, so he had no objection: "As long as it tastes good, you can talk about anything, but don't make those expensive dishes to trick us, thenEven if it’s brought up, we won’t recognize it.”

"Don't worry, gentlemen, I will guarantee the price for you when the food is served, and I guarantee that you will not put it on the table if you are not satisfied." The waiter smiled and promised: "Then I will talk to the kitchen first, and then I will serve you a cup of tea.Now it is also a popular drink among noblemen, having a drink in the morning is the most refreshing, of course, this first drink is for the boss to treat you, and you will have to pay for it if you want to drink it later.”

Although the stewards are all working outside the city recently, they also know that tea is a popular drink in Wang recently. Unfortunately, they haven't tried it yet. Hearing that there is free tea to drink, they urged him to go quickly.

Not long after the tavern clerk left, he came up with two cups of tea. The teacups were small cups made of pottery, with two or three pieces of tea floating in them. It looked very stingy, but tea is not easy to buy now, and the price is also high., the boss can buy such a cup is already very good.

The two stewards each brought a cup of hot tea, blew on it a few times and eagerly took a sip, but the bitterness and weird taste made them frown.

Although heard that this tea will be a bit bitter when it is just in the mouth, but did you say that it has a strange taste?

They frowned and looked at each other, and they both saw suspicion in each other's eyes, would anyone really like to drink this?

"This smell..."

The clerk smiled and persuaded: "Master, are you not used to it? The taste of tea is like this. After drinking a few more sips and getting used to it, you will know their benefits. Otherwise, why would the nobles like it?"

As soon as they heard that the nobles liked it, the stewards immediately lost their previous thoughts, and continued to drink with their heads lowered. It is probably the same as what the tavern workers said. After they drank a few more sips, the taste would not be so strange.Saying that like it, can't say it, after all, Sathya people like sweet food the most.

And don't know if it's an illusion, but after drinking this tea, don't feel refreshed, on the contrary, the more drink it, the heavier head becomes, and feel dizzy when look at people and things.

This feeling came suddenly, and when they realized that something was wrong, the eyes of the two of them went dark one after another, and they fell on the table, the cup in their hands fell to the ground and broke into several pieces, and the remaining half cup of tea spilled all over the floor.

But the smile on the face of the buddy who had been watching them was a little more real, and he sighed: "It can be regarded as dizzy."