Chapter 54: Escaped Refugees

Her Royal Highness Princess Seweni's private domain is located in the northeastern province of the Lampari Kingdom, which is closer to the eastern border of the kingdom, about 700 kilometers away from Bangta City.

The distance is so far, and in order to clearly show his attitude, Sevini basically doesn't care about things outside the territory, so naturally he knows nothing about what happened in Banta City.

However, on the first day of the new year in 3784 in the new calendar of the mainland, Sevini was in the same mood as the people in Bangta City, not very good.

Since about half a month ago, people who looked like refugees have poured into her private domain from the west and northwest.

At the beginning, seeing these ragged, skinny, and extremely poor refugees, Seweini immediately asked his stewards to take them in and make proper arrangements.

But as time went by, more and more refugees flooded into the territory.

Today, according to rough statistics, in the past half a month, more than two hundred people have entered the territory.

This surprised Seweney very much.

In the past few years, with the large-scale promotion of the farmland magic machinery of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom of Lampari, the grain production in all parts of the Kingdom has increased significantly. And because of the use of chemical fertilizers, the annual grain produced in the kingdom can already fully meet the needs of everyone in the kingdom, and there is even surplus grain that can be sold to neighboring countries.

Logically speaking, even if there is a natural disaster, there should be enough food in the kingdom, so that there will be no refugees.

What's more, the whole year of this year can be regarded as smooth weather in the Kingdom of Lampari, and there have been no natural disasters at all.

But the refugees in front of him were an iron-clad fact, so Seweney was very puzzled.

After worshiping the dead Lampari XIII on the first day of the new year. Seweini thought of his father's advice to him during his lifetime, so he couldn't help but personally went to the place where the refugees were housed in the territory, and found a few refugees for questioning.

After a simple inquiry, Seweini got a completely unexpected answer.

These refugees did not flee because they had no food to eat, but to avoid serving in the army.

"Serving?" Sevini frowned slightly. "In addition to compulsory military service in the Kingdom, there has never been any compulsory service. What are you running for?"

"No no no, Your Royal Highness, you have misunderstood." The answer was a middle-aged man who escaped from the Northwest Province. The service required by the lord and the city lord's mansion." Seweini was taken aback: "The service stipulated by the lord and the city lord's mansion? What did they ask you to serve?"

"Just let us work in the factory. If we don't work, we won't be given fields or food to eat." The middle-aged man sighed. "But if you want to work in a factory, you have to go at dawn every day and come back after dark. It's like this every day. I persisted in working for several months. I couldn't bear it at all."

"Yes, it's the same in our place. Sometimes we are made to work all night, and then we have to go back to work after only going back to sleep for a few hours. Two people in our village died of exhaustion last month." Next to him was a thin man with sunken eyes, who should be young by the skeleton, but who looked like a man in his 30s and 40s, agreed.

"Yes, yes, many people were exhausted to death on our side. We were afraid that we would also die from exhaustion, so we found a chance to escape." This time, it was a middle-aged woman who agreed. "Our whole family ran together this time. Otherwise, if we stay, we will definitely be arrested. If we continue to work, our whole family may be exhausted to death."

Looking around, the refugees with extremely haggard faces echoed. Seweney was greatly surprised.

"What kind of work are you arresting? Are you so tired?"

"It's just doing some work in the factory, it seems to be doing some magical machinery?"

"Yes, it's the magic machine. This damn magic machine, I dream about it every night when I have nightmares!"

"Well, what I made before seems to be called a magic hot water pot? It seems to be so. It's such a simple thing, but it's not difficult to make. But I have to work there all day, I really can't stand it."

"Oh. We are making magic air conditioners over there."

"We are making a magic stove..."

...

Listening to the discussions of the refugees, Seweini's expression was a little strange.

You heard me right. These refugees were forced to serve labor by those noble lords and the local city lord's mansion before, and they were actually asked to make magic machines in the magic machine factory?

But in Seweney's impression, shouldn't the work of the magic machinery factory be very simple, much easier than farming?

"Your Royal Highness, that's because you haven't done it before. Let me tell you, the job is simple indeed. But if you have to repeat the same action all day long, tens of thousands of times, no one can stand it." .And you can only rest for a while when you are eating, and don't stop at all other times." A refugee explained to Seweini.

Sevini asked back in amazement: "No way? Don't you only work eight hours a day? You will be paid overtime for the extra hours, right?"

"Overtime pay?" This time, the refugees were all stunned. "What is overtime pay?"

Sevini was speechless for a moment. It seemed that these refugees had no concept of overtime pay at all.

"What about the salary? You work so long every day, you should be given a lot of salary, right? Is there twenty per month... Oh no, this is unlikely. Is there ten gold coins?"

"Ten gold coins?" A group of refugees all stared at Seweini with wide eyes, as if they had heard something incredible.

Seeing their expressions, Seweini immediately understood that he had said something wrong.

Perhaps for Bangta City, the monthly salary of ten gold coins may not even meet the ordinary standard, but for other places in the Lampari Kingdom, this is already a very high salary standard.

"Your Highness, ten gold coins is definitely nothing to you, but we... have never seen so much money in our life." A refugee couldn't help but said.

"Yes. I have seen gold coins once in my life. It was the man from our village who went to work in Bangta City and showed it to me after he came back. He said that he can get thirteen gold coins a month for his work in Bangta City .”

"So tall? Then why don't you go to Bangta City too?"

"I originally planned to go, but my parents were getting old at the time, and I didn't dare to stay too far away."

"What about now? I remember you said on the road that your parents were beaten to death by the lord before. You don't have to bear the burden, do you?"

A trace of sadness passed over the face of the young man who spoke. He lowered his head slightly and sighed softly: "Now even if I want to go, I can't do it. The person in our village said that after the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce left Bangta City, Bangta City has been completely controlled by those ten chambers of commerce. It was also they who ran there. Grab it and send it back to where it came from."

Speaking of this, the young man suddenly raised his head and begged Seweini: "Your Highness, please take pity on us, don't send us back. If I go back, I will be beaten to death by the lord sooner or later!"

Sevini froze for a moment, but before answering, the other refugees seemed to have just reacted. Let's beg Seweney together.

"Your Highness, I heard that you are the most merciful. Please forgive us for the crime of escaping from the territory! We just want to live a few more days."...

"Yes, Your Royal Highness, we don't really want to escape, we just don't want to be exhausted."

"Your Highness, please forgive us..."

...

Sevini sighed softly as his eyes flicked over the longing faces around him. He stood up, told the stewards next to them to take good care of these refugees, and left the temporary refugee camp.

The refugees behind were still begging. But she could only harden her heart and ignore it.

It's not that she is unwilling to agree to the demands of these refugees, but according to the answers given by these refugees just now, they are obviously citizens of the private land of nobles in the kingdom. According to the regulations of the noble council, even if she is Her Royal Highness, she has no right to Intervene in other noble territories.

These refugees are the children of those nobles. So how to deal with it is the business of those lords.

Although she can temporarily accommodate them. But it does not have the power to dispose of them at will.

The only thing that can be done is to temporarily settle them down. And pretending not to know about this matter, it is only a period of time to be able to hide it for a period of time.

If the lords of these refugees came to them, according to the regulations of the noble council and the unwritten rules among the nobles, Seweigny would not be able to force them to stay.

Walking on a newly built road in the territory that was not particularly spacious, Seweini was filled with bitterness when he thought about the conversation he had just had with those refugees.

She thought that solving the kingdom's food problem would improve the lives of the kingdom's people by more than half.

But I didn't expect that the people of the kingdom would still suffer this kind of suffering.

Although she didn't ask clearly just now, judging from the reactions of the refugees, when they were forced to work in those magic machinery factories, let alone overtime pay, they might not even have wages.

Because they all call this service, and service is naturally voluntary work.

Thinking of this, Seweini couldn't help laughing bitterly.

When she saw Xu Yi's work standards for the workers of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce personally formulated, she expressed amazement, and felt that Xu Yi was completely superfluous.

Because she felt that since these workers were employed by the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, they should work according to the arrangement of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. There was no need to formulate so many additional rules for them to abide by, and the working hours were limited, which seemed so rigid.

At that time, Xu Yi commented on this, saying that Sevigny's idea represented the oppression of the common people by the nobles, and Sevigny was still not convinced.

Looking at it now, what Xu Yi said was actually not wrong at all.

The experience of these refugees really perfectly reflects this point.

Thinking that the jobs these refugees were engaged in were actually related to the production of magic machines, Seweney was greatly moved.

Although this also means that the magic industry has flourished in the Kingdom of Lampari, but this is probably not the kind of development that Xu Yi wants to see, right?

Thinking of this, Seweini suddenly felt resentment and strong yearning for Xu Yi.

What is this guy who cruelly abandoned the kingdom of Lampari and the city of Bangta doing on the first day of the new year? How much do you know about the current situation in the Lampari Kingdom?