I was a lord farming, how did I become an emperor?

Chapter 48 This is what makes a man
Rhodes stared intently at Simon and said, "I won't kill you because you didn't hurt Katie, but she was going to come here anyway, and I won't pay for her."

"Yes, yes, you are right."

Simon breathed a sigh of relief, having survived, and wiped the sweat from his brow.

“I can continue to work with you, but you must bring Katie an ornament as an apology when you come again next time.”

Rod could tell that Simon was just a money-loving businessman, so he waved the money bag in front of him.
"As for this bag of money, we'll leave it as a deposit and return it to you next time you come."

"Good good!"

Simon had thought he would only lose money to avoid trouble, but he was overjoyed to hear that he could get his money back.

What he didn't know was that Frostleaf Town needed to develop trade, and since Doron didn't pursue the matter, Rhodes decided to let him go.

Otherwise, given Rod's nature, he would at least have Doron give him a few lashes as a lesson.

"Alright, let's leave it at that."

Rod waved for Simon to leave, then turned to look at Dorron and Katie.

"Let Lawrence arrange a room, and you two should get some rest."

Doron was overjoyed upon hearing this, and pulled Katie down to kneel before Rod.
"Thank you for your kindness and generosity, thank you for saving Kitty from slavery. We will always be your subjects, forever loyal to you!"

Gaunt looked at him with disdain. "Doron, you're a warrior. You should swear allegiance like a warrior! Didn't I teach you that?"

"Irrelevant?"

Rhodes gestured for them to rise. "From the moment you joined Frostleaf Town, I knew of your loyalty and naturally I would protect you and your families."

Then, he looked up and glanced around, his gaze sweeping over all the soldiers and townspeople present.
"Not only Doron, but all of you are my people. I will protect you all and not let anyone harm you!"

"I salute you, my lord!"

"Long live the lord!"

"Well done, my lord!"

……

The soldiers cheered, prompting the townspeople to join in loudly, and then they asked those around them what had happened.

After learning the whole story, their cheers rose instantly, and the tale of the lord protecting his people and punishing the treacherous merchant began to circulate throughout the town.

"Lord Rhodes is actually a decent nobleman,"

Watching the entire event, Lu Sen looked at the cheering crowd and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "It's a bit domineering, though."

“I think it’s just right; only in this way can we protect witches under the Church’s control.”

Linda watched Rhodes' departing figure and said, "I like this nobleman."

"Huh? Weren't you complaining this morning that he stole your jewel?" Lucien exclaimed in surprise.

"You don't understand, this is what makes a man."

Linda snorted and turned to go inside.

……

……

After everything was taken care of, Rhodes returned to the manor to check on the wyvern eggs.

According to the book, the two bipedal dragon eggs had more than twenty days to hatch.

However, Rhode had previously placed the Spirit Gem with the two dragon eggs, and he was unsure if this would cause them to hatch prematurely, so he would check on them from time to time.

Unfortunately, the two wyvern eggs have not yet hatched.

Despite his anxiety, Rod had no choice but to shift his focus to the river bend.

A week later, with everyone in the town working overtime, the river bend reservoir was finally completed.

An opening was made in the upstream river channel diversion dam, allowing the river water to flow back into the river bend and then pour down the newly repaired irrigation canal.

The diversion channel next to it has not been abandoned, and Rhodes plans to rebuild it for future flood control.

Although major floods have rarely occurred in the Northern Wastes, it's better to be prepared. The river reservoir wasn't full, and some of the river water had been diverted, causing a sharp decrease in the water level downstream.

Rod stood on the bank, watching as puddles appeared in the river.

Rod naturally wouldn't let these fishing hotspots slip by, and ordered, "Notify everyone in the town to come to the river to catch fish. Fish weighing less than half a pound will be kept as fry, and fish weighing more than half a pound will have 40% of their catch to themselves."

Both the fishponds below and the reservoirs in the river bends need to be invested in seedling cultivation, and there is still a great shortage of fish fry.

Since Rod arrived, the whole town has been busy; even the donkeys pulling the millstone have a chance to catch their breath.

Rod also felt it was time to give the townspeople some tangible benefits, let them relax, and experience the joy of life.

It is both a celebration of the completion of the first phase of the irrigation canal and a leisure activity after spring plowing.

"No problem, my lord!"

Upon hearing this, Otto excitedly responded and, with his short, stout figure, personally went to inform them.

I heard last time that the slaves had a great fishing trip in the river bend, but unfortunately, Otto was busy with spring plowing and didn't participate.

This time it was finally my turn.

"Everyone, assemble at the main gate! The lord wants us to go fishing in the river!"

As soon as Otto arrived in town, he kept shouting to spread the news.

The townspeople were also very excited upon hearing the news, and they gathered at the gate with baskets and buckets in hand.

When Otto returned from Winterfell Manor, hundreds of people had already gathered at the gate, and the fishing army marched in a mighty procession toward the river.

In fact, every year in early spring after the river ice melts, they come to the river to fish in order to supplement their lack of food and meat.

I thought there wouldn't be any fishing this year, but I was surprised to hear that fishing was allowed again.

When they saw shallow puddles all over the river, everyone got even more excited, rolled up their trousers, grabbed the logs, and jumped in.

Then they started frantically catching fish in the water, and soon everyone had at least half a bucket of fish next to them.

Even if the lord takes away most of it, it's still better than before!
You know, before, the whole family would work for half a day and could only get a bucket of fish at most, but now one person can fill a bucket in half a day.

The key point is that you don't have to worry about being attacked by wild animals that come to drink water while you're catching fish.

Because of the presence of hunting teams, the surrounding wild animals had long been cleared away!
We haven't seen any wild boars or steppe wolves for two months!
"It seems like life is getting better and better since the lord arrived!"

As she caught fish, the farmer, Thiel, sighed, "But he clearly took away a lot of our property."

"But the lord didn't let anyone starve to death."

The dung worker, Lof, said, "My biggest feeling right now is that I don't have to worry about what to eat tomorrow; the lord will take care of it."

“You just need to stir those latrines every day and you’ll get work points, you definitely don’t have to worry about anything!” Til rolled his eyes at Love.

"Aren't you the same? You earn work points by cooking every day, otherwise you widow would have starved to death long ago!"

"Pah! You'll be the one who starves to death!"

Till verbally refuted this, but inwardly he couldn't help but agree.

In the past, her father might have wanted her to get married as soon as possible, but now he's not in a hurry.

"And have you heard about what happened a few days ago, when the lord stood up for that Doron?"

Lov stood up and recalled, "Think about how arrogant those merchants were back then, always trying to cheat us out of our things. When did the mayor ever care?"
Do they still dare to do it now?
"Hmph, I heard the merchant was so scared he almost peed his pants that day!"

This time, Till nodded vigorously in agreement.

Especially after the autumn harvest, the prices of daily necessities such as salt and cloth soared, and the merchants' attitudes were extremely poor.

Unlike now, you can just exchange work points.

No more having to put up with businessmen's attitudes and suffer their wrath.

"Enough of that, let's catch more fish and exchange them for food at the lord's market. Once we've saved enough, we'll bring my wife's father and his family here."

Lov bent down again and began to struggle with the fish in the puddle.

(End of this chapter)