You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 194 Celebration and Exhaustion

Roman's arrangements for the celebration were somewhat inadequate.

With so many people eating, the preparations for the celebration will have to be multiplied several times over.

But because of the war, he was busy preparing for the battle and when he returned, he had to organize people to harvest wheat. He had no time to prepare for the celebration.

Should we postpone the event until after the spring wheat harvest?
The summer harvest of spring wheat is also a harvest. If you include the vegetable fields that are growing well, it's basically a harvest every day.

But Roman immediately dismissed the idea.

Now, his territory needs a grand celebration.

To maintain social stability.

To reassure people.

Healing trauma.

After all, the ten thousand or so people in Sige Town have only arrived in this unfamiliar land this year.

Making them feel a sense of belonging is not easy.

A celebration is the best choice.

Although we were not well prepared.

But Roman took the opportunity to have them cook for them on the spot, treating it as a continuous feast or buffet.

……

Prepare an iron pot, firewood, ingredients, scallions, ginger, garlic, salt, and maltose, etc.

All the cooks who could cook pitched in, and a thousand assistant cooks were also given to help with chopping vegetables and meat.

For breakfast, we started with a meat pie with plenty of filling and a bowl of sweet wheat porridge.

In the morning, the cook prepared honey-glazed roasted chicken, garlic-stewed pork ribs, and dried pork intestines with scallions, ginger, and garlic. After stewing, the meat was tender and delicious, with a fragrant yet pungent aroma.

In the afternoon, there are pig's head feast and sheep's head feast. The bones are stewed and then crushed with an iron hammer on a special cutting board, allowing people to suck out the rich marrow.

Dinner consisted of cakes and pancakes made with flour and milk, a fatty roasted leg of lamb, and plenty of beer.

Of course, these meals are intended for the original 10,000 residents, not for the newly added population.

The diet of the newly added population is lighter and contains less oil.

The main dishes are sliced braised meat, bacon, boiled chicken breast, meat jelly and fish jelly, vegetable salad with vinaigrette, and some delicious milky white fish soup.

Everyone waited eagerly in front of the stove, hoping the cooks' dishes would be ready.

The advantage of doing this is that it allows for better control over the amount of food each person eats.

They line up to get their meals, with a fixed amount for each person, so they don't overeat.

The downside is that they digest very quickly, so you have to wait anxiously, holding your bowl, in front of the stove.

A pot of meat soup was just cooked, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone, completely devoured.

Roman made the celebration last for three days.

Stop most of the work and make sure to impress them enough, like a carrot dangling over a donkey's head.

On the first day of the banquet, Roman only appeared for a few minutes to announce the commencement of the ceremony before hastily riding away.

……

The celebratory atmosphere at the threshing ground was extremely lively.

But the manor's main hall was filled with silence.

"Linda, this is very unfortunate. Your husband, Dren, has passed away. He died a heroic death in battle. I am very sorry."

"You're right, sir."

The woman's face showed neither sadness nor pain; it was completely calm.

"Then what are your plans?"

“Will you marry me off to another soldier?” Linda asked.

“No! This is an insult to you. I witnessed your wedding and will uphold that sacred vow—that you are equals, faithful to each other, protect each other, and never harm one another—I cannot break it.”

Roman said to her.

“I forced you once, I can’t force you a second time. You can remarry or not, that’s your freedom.”

"Does it make any difference?"

“If you don’t remarry, you will receive two silver coins every year until the end of twenty years. This is Dren’s pension. But in return, you must remain faithful and not have any extramarital affairs during this period, or you will be punished by me.”

Roman continued, “You know that Dren was once a slave. I trained him into a soldier and married you to him. You are bound by fate, and his pension can only be inherited by you—but if you remarry, you will not receive any further money.”

Silence fell again.

Roman looked at Linda, a peasant girl with a cleft lip, flat nose, and slightly dark skin, who had been helping to grow pasture grass.

Roman asked, "Did you do it?"

“I did it…” Linda said, her head bowed.

The events of that day flashed through her mind.

She didn't love him, and he didn't love her either; neither of them had any real feelings for the other.

Despite their promises to each other, it couldn't change the fact that they spent less than ten days together.

However, until that night, they seemed to have a kind of ethereal yet real feeling.

He left to fight, but returned only as a corpse, cold and silent.

The man who once shared joy with her is now rotting in the soil.

How is she supposed to face that relationship that was nipped in the bud?

"That's good. I reiterate, I always give you the right to choose. You can take Dren's pension until it ends, or until you remarry—but I will not allow you to desecrate this sacred marriage with despicable behavior, especially the marriage I witnessed! I will always be watching over you! Do you understand?"

“Thank you for your kindness, sir.” Linda bowed to Roman.

Roman waved goodbye to Linda.

Soon, another new widow entered the house; all of them were women who had lost their husbands just four months after getting married.

Some are pregnant, some are not.

The pregnant woman must give birth, and Roman will raise her.

Those who aren't pregnant, just let it be.

It's impossible to make them all remain widows.

Roman hoped they would remarry, taking advantage of their youth and prime to form new families and add vitality to society.

On the other hand, he didn't want it to actually be like that, so he was conflicted and struggling internally.

This work left Roman feeling exhausted.

It doesn't come from the body, but from the mind.

That war drained him of a great deal of energy.

Before the war, he was worried about the war; after the war, he was dealing with the aftermath.

Roman did not meet with all the widows.

He only met with a few people and formulated policies and standards.

Such things will become more and more common in the future, because the more wars are fought, the more widows there will be, and it's normal for thousands or even tens of thousands of widows to exist.

After the matter was over, Roman looked at the list of casualties again.

The casualty rate is nearly half.

Some wounded soldiers were able to return to the army after recovering, but some never returned.

Dick had calculated that the original army of two thousand men had now dwindled to just over thirteen hundred.

Roman wanted to expand the army.

But it can't be done now; we have to wait until the registered residents are settled in their households.

As the business grew larger and more numerous, Roman found himself struggling to keep up.

……

At that moment, his brow twitched suddenly, and he became alert, trying to dodge by tilting his head, but it was too late.

A clump of grass hit him squarely on the forehead.

He looked in that direction.

Two furtive figures flashed past the doorway.