Our Family Has Fallen-Chapter 37: New Policy_1

The scene was quickly brought under control. Looking around, the entire square was filled with people lying on the ground, dense as weeds.

"Good, good, good," Lance nodded slowly, watching this unfold as he took steps toward those people. At that very moment, the tone of his voice suddenly escalated, and he shouted out in almost a roar.

"I sensed your hardships and released grain for three days, and this is how you repay me?"

"Am I too kind to you? Do you think I, the Lord, am easy to bully? Must I take a whip to you before you’ll listen?"

"Hah! Tell me!"

"Is it?"

Not a single person dared to respond to these rhetorical questions; the only voice echoing across the square was Lance’s.

That roar, filled with endless rage, plunged those lying on the ground into a fear of domination.

"Whoever threw the first punch, stand up now."

Lance’s hawk-like gaze swept over the people. Those feeling guilty began to subconsciously dodge his gaze and shrink back, clearly afraid to stand up. They were convinced that in such a crowd, Lance would have a hard time finding them.

But Lance seemed to know exactly who the troublemakers were, and he managed to pick them all out.

Soon, over thirty of those who had instigated trouble were pulled out, tied up, and lined up kneeling beneath the statue in the middle of the square.

At this moment, they looked at the rotting and shriveled head of the mayor hanging from the statue. Their hearts filled with fear, and they began to cry and beg for mercy, wails rising and falling around them.

But isn’t it a bit too late to feel fear now?

"These people’s rights as freemen will be revoked; they will be demoted to Serfs and sent to the farms for labor reform and atonement," Lance declared.

These troublemakers actually let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

In truth, they were very aware that at any other time, such behavior would have led to their execution, so being turned into Serfs was already a favorable outcome.

To be honest, this punishment seemed more like a reward in the townspeople’s eyes, since it was a guaranteed job. Even though it paid no money, at least they didn’t have to worry about starving to death.

After all, some among them had even tried to sell themselves into serfdom before but found no buyers.

If only they had known, they should have...

But Lance’s next speech quickly dispelled such thoughts.

"The bandits disrupted everyone’s otherwise peaceful lives. As your Lord, it’s my responsibility to lead us all in the rejuvenation of Hamlet. Therefore, I’m going to introduce several policies to help everyone get through these tough times—there will be bread, and there will be milk."

With his subsequent lengthy address, Lance’s long-prepared plan was laid out.

First and foremost was bringing down the grain prices. As he controlled most of the town’s grain, Lance could ignore all obstacles. With a single command, he restored prices to their pre-bandit levels: one copper coin for a pound of rye bread. However, the era when such a price truly meant affordability was gone, never to return. Regrettably, the public’s reaction to this wasn’t strong, as they couldn’t afford it no matter the price—they had no money at all.

Then Lance announced the second policy: the first phase of town construction projects.

This initiative created a plethora of jobs. Besides some highly skilled positions, it also recruited a large number of laborers who only needed to exert physical effort. They were offered a meal in the morning and daily wage settlements.

This finally filled the townspeople with the hope of survival. As long as they worked, they could live. It was their most basic hope, yet one that had been very difficult to achieve before.

Lance did not stop there but continued to take advantage of the townspeople’s enthusiasm to issue new decrees.

For crimes such as theft, fighting, and murder, once discovered, they would be dealt with heavy-handedly.

Another step was to regulate their daily conduct, such as prohibiting the indiscriminate disposal of excrement, which had to be uniformly managed and composted.

If anyone violated this, they would be severely punished: fined if necessary, and if unrepentant after repeated instruction, sent directly to the farms for reformation through labor.

In summary, there were three things.

First, stabilize grain prices to make them affordable.

Second, create a vast number of jobs to give people a means to earn money and something to do; just by working, they could survive.

Third, clamp down on crime and regulate the system.

Behind these seemingly simple remarks lay Lance’s control over Hamlet’s food supply and his strong financial backing. Without these, all his words would have been empty talk.

With these measures in place, the townspeople were no longer lethargic. Truth be told, no one wished to live such a life. They had been helpless, unable to even ensure their own survival, and talking of anything else was merely hypocritical.

But now, My Lord had given them hope to live on, so they were no longer troublemakers but loyal subjects of the Lord.

Lance was very pleased with their reaction. He had no experience in governing others, so this was a vastly demanding social experiment. Whether he would become a wise Lord or a useless Heir hinged on this.

But the situation was not over yet. Lance then announced another major piece of news.

「Military conscription!」

"To protect Hamlet, I will form a new army. Just by enlisting, you can eat three meals a day, including bread, meat, and milk. If you successfully complete training, each soldier will be paid, your family will receive tax benefits, and any jobs offered by the Lord will be given to them preferentially. If a soldier dies, the Lord will issue a generous pension, and their children will be raised under the Lord’s care until adulthood..."

Lance’s proposed benefits successfully attracted everyone’s attention; these were policies they had never heard of before.

In the past, when Lords conscripted, they required the men to bring their own equipment and provisions, let alone receive payment.

Moreover, these terms offered such benefits to the family, and astonishingly, there was even compensation in case of death.

It was like when the bandits had invaded and forcibly conscripted the militia: minimal training before going to battle, and if you died, that was it; no one cared.

But now, this Lord was offering such generous policies. Everyone showed an eager response, all wanting to know more.

However, accompanying the benefits were stringent requirements.

Firstly, candidates had to be between fourteen and twenty-five years old and physically sound. Those who met these criteria still had to undergo a selection assessment to gain initial entry.

And that was not all; or rather, it was just the beginning. Following the initial selection, an elimination system was in place. Recruits had to undergo rigorous training, and poor performance meant disqualification.

Lance called Dismas and Balistan to make the selections. Dismas was to identify the street urchins hidden among them, while Balistan, with his military background, would know who was better suited for the army.

Out of over eight hundred people, fifty were to be selected, equivalent to choosing one out of every sixteen. The difficulty wasn’t very high, but prioritizing quality made it somewhat challenging.

Most of the men had died at the hands of the bandits. Those remaining were mostly the old, the young, and women. Consequently, the fifty selected were almost all around fifteen or sixteen years old, with none over twenty.

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