Law of the Devil

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Chapter Thirteen [Spiritual events in the ancestral home of the Luo Lin family! 】

(long chapter)

The ancestral home of the Luolin family is located in the southwest of the Luolin Plain, where a tributary of the Luolin River passes by. The land along the river is fertile, and there are several farms and towns around it. Descending this tributary leads through a scenic valley.

This is where the great Luo Lin family first originated. Hundreds of years ago, when the ancestor of the Luo Lin family was just a low-level nobleman who owned a small village, the blood of the Luo Lin family began to spread in this land.

The carriage passed through a dark forest, with lush green trees on both sides and fresh air. Following a flat path, sitting in the carriage, you can see the small valley on the left, and looking to the right, you can see a tall tower in the distance, which is the ancestral home of the Luo Lin family.

After hundreds of years of glory of the family, the small village hundreds of years ago no longer exists, and the original ancestral house has been renovated and rebuilt countless times in the hundreds of years of history, and it has already become quite large!

A wall of crimson stone surrounds a castle built of white boulders quarried from the valley beside it - it is said that there was originally a hill, but after hundreds of years of quarrying the stone, Only then did the hills become valleys.

The arrival of the eldest son of the family patriarch naturally attracted extra attention. The 300 territorial private soldiers who stayed behind in the castle put on the brightest equipment very early on, and waited in line under the red wall outside the castle. The arch-shaped gate made Du Wei, who was sitting in the carriage, very excited. It is imposing, and from his point of view, this thick stone wall can be used as a solid defensive circle if necessary!

As expected of a military family of the empire, the 300 territorial private soldiers staying in the castle are obviously well-trained. They ride upright on horseback, and they are quite skilled at controlling horses, and their equipment is not bad. It was only later that Du Wei found out that the 300 soldiers left behind in the castle of the Luolin family's ancestral home were selected from private armies throughout the Luolin Plain. local army.

The black forest outside the castle is also a natural hunting ground, and some hunting activities are held here every year, which is also a disguised form of exercise for these soldiers.

The main building of this castle has two towers, one of which is particularly tall, even a little higher than the hill in the distance. Du Wei, who had studied family history, knew that this was because the Luo Lin family had a strange head in a certain generation before. Although the head of the family was a general, he was particularly interested in astrology, and he even married a female astrologer as his wife. That tall tower was built to facilitate his wife to better observe the stars in the sky at night.

The red carpet has been laid from the gate of the castle to the place where Du Wei's carriage stopped. Just as Du Wei bent down and got out of the car, an old silver man who had been waiting for a long time came up. This old man is tall and thin, wearing a meticulous gray dress, with a rigid and serious demeanor, and a conservative and respectful demeanor is also very measured.

Just as Du Wei got out of the carriage and stepped on the ground, the old man had already bent down, saluted deeply, and then said in a low and slow voice: "Master, I am the left-behind housekeeper, Hill \u0026; #8226; Luo Lin. I have learned about your upcoming arrival three days ago. Now everyone in the castle is ready to welcome your parallax. Please come with me."

After finishing speaking, the old butler turned around and carefully led Du Wei up the steps. He has no faults in etiquette at all, his manner is respectful and courteous, humble and not obsequious, leading Du Wei onto the red carpet on the steps, while he himself walks carefully outside the carpet, letting Du Wei Wei enjoys this honor alone.

It was too late to carefully observe the interior decoration of the castle. The only thing that impressed me was that after entering the gate of the castle, there was a huge flame-like flag on the facing wall!

This flag is seven or eight meters high and six meters wide, occupying the entire facing wall! This is the family's coat of arms banner, with two crossed swords, irises wrapped around the blades, red flames burning, and a crown on it!

Walking into the hall on the first floor of the castle, there is such an imposing banner facing you, which immediately casts a solemn and solemn atmosphere on the place! .

Then all the servants in the castle stood on both sides of the hall in neat uniforms, welcoming Du Wei's arrival. Du Wei didn't have much interest in this kind of weird "inspection", he nodded casually, and then said in a low voice: "Mr. Butler, please take me to the study now... As for everyone, please separate yourself , go back to your work."

The old butler, Hill, carried out Du Wei's order meticulously, and soon Du Wei was taken to a study...

Well, if possible, Du Wei would prefer to call this place a "library"!

Because it's so big here!

In the circular room, there is also a high circular vault on the top of the head, dotted with some simple plaster patterns, and there are some plaster statues standing on both sides - many of them are some outstanding ones that emerged in the history of the family. figure.

The room is surrounded by tall bookshelves... hell! These bookshelves are two stories high! There are all kinds of densely packed books on it. Du Wei roughly calculated that there are at least tens of thousands of books hidden here! There are also many iron cabinets, which store some important things, such as family charts, or some ancient and important documents, and so on.

Of course, as a family of martial arts, even in the study, there is a trace of martial arts! On the wall directly opposite the door into the study room, hung a huge sword held in both hands, and a huge chopping axe! These two weapons hang crossed on the wall! Judging from the flickering cold light on the blades, it is obvious that servants often clean and maintain them very carefully.

On the bookshelf on the other wall, several huge cabinets were deliberately made out of vines. There are various weapons in the cabinets, but judging from the style, these are all antiques.

There are short bows made by the emperor a hundred years ago, old-fashioned knight swords, long sabers, and black ironwood bows...

Du Wei was attracted by these weapons. He could see that these antiques were also in good condition. Although they had been baptized by the years, some of them could still emit a sharp cold light!

"These are all used by the outstanding ancestors of the family." The old butler behind him, Hill, said in an unchanging voice: "These all record the glory of the great ancestors of our Luo Lin family."

Because of the shape of the room, when speaking here, the sound waves will oscillate, and there will be humming and echoing, which adds a bit of dignified feeling.

Gently caressing the old-fashioned black rosewood desk, Du Wei looked around quietly.

It can be seen that although everything here has been strictly preserved and carefully cleaned, the old traces of the years are also obvious. Many places on the bookshelf were polished smooth and shiny, as well as the huge desk under his hand, Du Wei suspected that it might be older than the old housekeeper in front of him.

"This used to be the power center of the Luo Lin family. It used to be the place where the family patriarchs thought and made various decisions. Everything here has traces of those past glory." The old housekeeper whispered: "Although, Later, the family's decision-making center moved to the imperial capital, but according to the family tradition, every patriarch who came back to the castle for parallax or a short stay was not allowed to go back to the bedroom to rest on the first night of arrival, and had to spend the night in this study. This is to encourage myself not to forget the glorious history of the family and the heavy responsibility on myself.”

After a pause, the old butler glanced at Du Wei and lowered his head: "You are the eldest son of the current patriarch, Lord Earl, and you came to inspect the castle as his representative. May I ask you tonight..."

Du Wei immediately nodded cooperatively. He smiled and said, "Tradition is tradition, and it must be followed. I am no exception. Although I am not the patriarch, I am the eldest son of my father, and I came here as his representative. I shall spend the night in the study tonight, as is tradition."

The old butler's face softened a lot, and there was a touch of warmth in his tone, and he said slowly: "Yes, I will get people ready. Also... I know that you are here to inspect the properties of the territory on behalf of the Earl. , Where will your work start? After hearing the news of your return, I have asked people to sort out the accounts and ledgers for this year's family business income and expenditure. When are you going to start looking at these things? ? Or wait..."

Du Wei interrupted him with a smile. He walked around the table naturally and calmly, and sat behind this large desk. The sand was a bit hard, but it was still very comfortable to sit on. Du Wei thought about it and smiled: "Mr. Now I feel a little hungry. Please prepare some food for me first, and then, I think I can start to look at the things you prepared.".

It seems that the work efficiency here is still good.

Soon, Du Wei enjoyed a very typical southern aristocratic afternoon tea in the study. After he ate a sweet pumpkin pie, he just wiped his mouth. The footman came into the study.

Two servants were pushing a cart loaded with a mountain of thick booklets! The sum of these books is probably half a head taller than Du Wei's!

"These are all the accounts for this year?" Du Wei frowned, and he began to wonder if the old housekeeper wanted to mess with himself.

"Master, all of these are true." Old Hill replied seriously: "The information here includes the entire southern province of Kott, the measured area of ​​land in the family's territory, the area of ​​cultivated land, and the finances of six towns. Income expenditures, the logistical supply expenditures of the family's private army scattered in the three places of the territory, military pay, supplies, and the consumption of weapons, etc., in addition to the food harvest, and the budget for some new buildings built this year. In addition I also made some budgets for next year, but I haven't finished them yet because of the rush of time, but I don't think you will leave here soon, so we still have plenty of time."

Du Wei couldn't help touching his nose, and looked at the hill-like accounts in front of him: "...are all of them here?"

"This is only part of it. As for the rest..." The old housekeeper rarely said something less serious: "The rest, I think you may need to watch it for a week."

Du Wei began to frown, and he quietly examined the butler in front of him.

The old butler didn't look like he was joking. But... he wouldn't naively think that a thirteen-year-old kid like himself could understand these accounts? Not to mention naively thinking that a thirteen-year-old child can really shoulder the burden of the entire family estate!

Then, he should know that being sent back to his hometown by the Patriarch should be a disguised match. That being the case, this guy came here with such a pile of accounts, and asked himself to check it seriously... What is his intention?

Could it be that the left-behind old butler was dissatisfied with the young master who was sent back, and worried that he would disperse the original power in his hands when he came back, so he first demonstrated to himself?

The slave bullied the master?

Or, what kind of tricks did he have in the family business, to seek personal gain from it, and now he is using himself as a child to get away with it?

Everything seems possible!

But Du Wei didn't say anything, he didn't even raise any questions, he picked up the top book, blew the dust on it, sat down calmly and opened the first page, quietly looked up.

After a while, Du Wei raised his head, and the old housekeeper was still standing aside.

"Oh, Mr. Housekeeper, is there anything else you want to tell me?" Du Wei seemed to be inadvertent, and his tone became cold: "When I read, I don't like people around me."

"Of order, master." The old butler Hill's eyes showed a gleam of surprise, and then he seemed to open his mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words, turned around and led the servants out.

After the heavy study door was closed, Du Wei gently put down the account book in his hand. He stood up, walked back and forth in this huge study room, moved his body, and then smiled and said to himself: " It seems that there is really something worth looking forward to happening."

In the following time, until night fell, the old housekeeper came to the study room twice again, once to pour tea for Du Wei, and once after the sky darkened, he personally brought someone to light candles for Du Wei.

What surprised the old butler Hill was that the young master was actually looking through those accounts!

Moreover, he is not pretending, but really reading with his heart! There were several ledgers on the desk, all of which were opened. Du Wei seemed to be arranging some figures. After the old butler brought people to light all the twenty huge candlesticks in the study, Du Wei casually I asked the old steward a few questions about the accounts.

He didn't ask random questions, every question hit the point! These are enough to prove that this young master seems to be serious! He really reads those dry accounts!

This...is this what the news said, the young master who was considered an "idiot" by the family in the imperial capital?

Although he tried his best to conceal it, Du Wei still caught the surprised expression of the old housekeeper. Du Wei still said nothing, but only waited for the old housekeeper to walk out of the room again before he slowly closed the account book in his hand that had turned to the last page. .

Actually... these accounts are really interesting!

Du Wei spent an evening, and didn't really look at those boring figures, let alone check whether the accounts were falsified. After all, I am not a genius, and it is impossible for me, who knows nothing about the industry, to see whether the accounts are true or false.

I'm afraid no one will know that Du Wei is reading in a different way that no one else can guess!

Who said that the ledger must only be used for keeping accounts?

At least, Du Wei learned a lot from these things! And these things are never recorded in those history books and family history files!

Judging from the names and contents of the various items in these accounts, Du Wei will immediately have a full understanding of the extent to which the Luo Lin family has control over the territory.

In the territory, the Luo Lin family is almost a system of its own, and even has considerable autonomy. The power of finance and taxation here belongs to the family, and even the appointment of local officials is basically decided by the family. The tax rate levied is carried out in accordance with the laws of the empire. But the family can use some special names to modify, reduce or increase.

As long as the collected taxes are submitted to the imperial central finance according to a certain percentage every year, it will be fine.

And military power. Basically, from some of the items on these accounts that are for military use. The imperial government has very few troops stationed here, and only symbolically stationed two small local second-line reserve infantry regiments on the outskirts of the territory. And it is worth noting that the supplies and supplies of these two reserve infantry regiments are provided by the Luo Lin family every year! The imperial government doesn't care!

In most parts of the territory, it is the family's private army in the territory that maintains local security and order.

Almost through these accounts, Du Wei easily grasped the current status of the entire Luo Lin family in the fields of economy, politics, and military!

Perhaps, if the old butler knew that he was actually "reading" the account book like this, he would definitely stare his eyes out!

Judging from these accounts, Du Wei has confirmed at least two points: First, in terms of the right to tax, the family can completely control this place! And in the military, even more so!

Du Wei, who came from another world, has an important common sense in the knowledge he has learned in that world: two very important points in the embodiment of a country's territorial sovereignty are: taxation! And the garrison!

And now, these two points are almost controlled by the Luo Lin family! What does this mean?

It means that the central government of the empire has almost lost its territory to the Luo Lin family: half of the territory of Kot province, here, the central government of the empire has lost its sovereign control over here! It is almost a small kingdom of its own.

Du Wei leaned on the sand and meditated. This situation made him feel a little surprised! Because when the central government of a country gradually loses its authority, then it is often a sign that the prelude to turmoil is about to be pulled.

Du Wei sat for a while, the room was very quiet, only the occasional beeping sound of sparks bursting from the candle.

At this moment, Du Wei suddenly stood up, turned around suddenly, and looked at the wall behind him!

On the wall is a huge floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, which is filled with densely packed books, which seem to be normal.

But Du Wei felt a little strange in his heart... Well, the feeling at that moment just now seems to be right!

Because the mental power is much stronger than ordinary people, Du Wei is also more sensitive to some movements around him than ordinary people. Just now, he suddenly felt that he was being spied on by someone!

As if right behind him, a gaze came from an unknown hidden corner, watching him quietly!

There was nothing abnormal on the bookshelf, so Du Wei looked up again.

Above the bookshelves and on the walls are a row of portraits.

These oil painting-style portraits are arranged in a full row, from far to recent. These are the portraits of the successive heads of the Luo Lin family!

On the first position on the left, the oldest-looking canvas with the oldest age, and the figures are inevitably somewhat distorted. On the canvas is a middle-aged man wearing the uniform of the imperial concubine. The man on the canvas is exactly the Marshal of the Empire! It is also an ancestor of the Luo Lin family who won the war and made great contributions to the empire, and at the same time won the Luo Lin Plain from the emperor! .

This man looked very energetic, with a cold and tough look in his eyes that resembled Du Wei's father, Earl Raymond! And those eyes seemed to be staring at Du Wei!

Du Wei's heart moved, he tried to step back a few steps, then took two steps left and right, while keeping his eyes on the oil painting. Then he smiled, sighed softly, and said in a low voice, "Oh, maybe I'm too sensitive...it's just an oil painting."

He turned around and picked up another account book...

Just behind him, the portrait of the Marshal on the wall, those eyes suddenly blinked!

That's right, the characters in the oil painting suddenly came alive, and his eyes, which were staring at Du Wei's back, suddenly blinked!

The eyes of the characters in the painting, which were supposed to be stiff, suddenly seemed to be filled with life! His eyes fell on Du Wei, and there seemed to be a hint of curiosity in his eyes...

And at this moment, Du Wei, who was holding the account as if he was reading, suddenly turned around without warning, staring at the oil painting on the wall!

One person, one painting, the eyes of both sides suddenly collided with each other! !

"No need to pretend. I know you're looking at me." Du Wei slowly raised his hand, holding a silver spoon in his hand, which was used when eating pumpkin pie here. The silver spoon is as bright as a mirror!

"You're looking at me, I was looking at you with this thing just now." Du Wei was smiling, and he stared at the mural on the wall: "You don't have to pretend anymore... But, don't you know that peeping at others from behind is Is it an impolite gesture?"

"..."

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