Chapter 2351

"Auntie, other things don't have much to do with us. The most important thing is that if you have banknotes at home, you have to go to the bank within a month to replace them with new ones, otherwise the old ones will be invalidated. "

As one of the few literate people in Rothschild Village on the outskirts of the imperial capital, Joel is explaining to the neighbor aunt the decree just issued by the royal family here. Of course, although what was written in the official document was Linton's meaning, it was also polished. I guess the aunt would not understand it just by reading it. Joel just simply explained it to the neighbor aunt.

The first and second articles in the official document have little to do with them, but the third article has a great influence on them. Because it is so convenient to use, everyone will change some banknotes now. Of course, some metal currency is also saved. Now that the empire is rich, ordinary farmers like them have saved more money.

"The old banknotes can't be used anymore? Why?" The aunt here panicked when she heard this.

"It's not that it can't be used, but it needs to be replaced with a new one." Joel here has read the book. To be honest, he can probably see that there is something wrong with this policy. It should also be a policy against the rebels in the north. But the specific role and effect, his vision is not so far away.

Yes, after all paper money is still a novelty, and most people think it is just a little more convenient money. Now most people on the mainland have no concept related to financial warfare. To be honest, they can still understand the general meaning of the first two policies, which are obviously alienation, but they really don't understand what effect the third policy can have.

If Linton confiscated all the money, they would still think that a war was about to happen, so they would rob a wave of people's money and use it as military expenses. But what Linton meant here was just to let them exchange the old money for new money, and nothing was deducted. Isn't this superfluous in the eyes of many uneducated people? It's all money, why change the style?

"In short, the above said to go to the bank and exchange them for new coins." Joel here repeatedly explained that the old coins were exchanged for new coins, not confiscating their money. The aunt naturally didn't know why this was happening, but she knew it was quite troublesome.

"Understood, I understand. Anyway, when my boy comes back, let him go to the city to exchange money." The aunt here nodded and said.

Although this policy still has a little impact on ordinary people, the overall impact is not very big, after all, it is just a matter of going to the bank. But now the bank has a lot of outlets in the empire, and Linton also gave it a month, so at most it will be complained twice, which is not a big deal.

Of course, I still have to talk about it. The aunt here really complained about the trouble at the beginning, and asked them to go to the city or something, but she started talking about other topics. Why the chicken next door was calling early in the morning, waking him up, why his son hasn't found a good partner yet.

There were quite a few elders and aunts in the village who were listening with my aunt, and soon these people also chatted together. Seeing this situation, Joel originally wanted to leave to continue working, but suddenly there was a loud noise from the other side of the village.

"What's the matter? Someone seems to be arguing over there?" Of course, a group of elders and aunts heard it too. It sounded like someone was arguing, and the voice was not low.

"Go, have a look."

A group of people decided to watch the fun, but before they got halfway, the bell in the village suddenly rang. The bell usually rings only for emergencies, such as bandit invasions. This frightened a bunch of uncles and aunts. Joel, on the other hand, reacted quickly. When he saw the pitchfork placed by someone's door, he picked it up and ran towards the quarrel ahead.

When he arrived, a large group of people had already surrounded the entrance of the village. Obviously, most of the people who heard the noise rushed over, and Joel squeezed in with a pitchfork to check the situation.

A group of people were confronting each other. On one side was the village head he was familiar with and a few people from the village. On the other side was a group of people wearing leather armor or simple iron armor. The number of the other party was about ten people, which of course was much smaller than the number of people in their village, so this group of people was immediately surrounded by groups.

Regardless of their armor, Joel immediately knew that they were not imperial soldiers. Because the soldiers of the empire have been wearing uniform armor recently, and the empire has not recruited soldiers and civilians for a long time. So this group of people wearing such armor should obviously be mercenaries, bounty hunters and the like.

Joel looked at the ground at this moment, frowning slightly. At this time, there were three people lying on the ground, all tied up with ropes, and the other end of the ropes was in the hands of the leader who looked like a mercenary.

Joel knew the three people lying on the ground. After all, it was such a small village, and obviously every household knew each other.

The two women and one man belong to the Gruto family in the village. One of the two daughters is Gruto's mother, the other is Gruto's daughter-in-law, and the little boy is Gruto's son, Serar, who is 9 years old this year.

Gruto and Joel are about the same age, and they grew up playing together. Joel and their family are naturally very familiar. Seeing that the other party's family is now tied up, Joel rushed to the front with a pitchfork.

"Stop! What are you trying to do!" Joel shouted angrily.

Of course, he still didn't rush forward. After all, the opponent was a mercenary. Although the equipment was not very good, he was still much stronger than farmers like them. When Joel went up, someone from the opposite side aimed at him with a crossbow. Apparently, the elderly, weak, women and children in this village are the majority. Young and strong people like Joel are really the focus of attention in fighting.

"Let him go!" A villager shouted at the side. After all, they are in the same village, so everyone naturally takes care of each other.

"What do you want to do? To rob?" The old village head here stepped forward and asked. Although these people claim to be some kind of mercenary group, the problem is that in the eyes of the villagers, most mercenary groups are actually no different from bandits. Many mercenary groups have done what bandits do.

The mercenary union has certain restrictions, but there must be someone who can live to sue. Just some mercenary regiments have no money, burn a village and kill everyone, can the dead still go to sue?

The old village chief has lived for a long time, and such things have happened a lot. However, in recent years, such incidents have decreased a lot. The main reason is that the empire's troops are now often patrolling nearby. While encircling and suppressing bandits, of course, it also makes some mercenaries with evil intentions not dare to take action.

"Robbery? This is the village chief, right? Our McCall mercenary group is a regular mercenary group, and we never do robbery." The leader here said directly to the old village chief. Of course he is not the head of the mercenary group, but just a small captain. The McCall mercenary group is still quite a small mercenary group, and now the whole group is divided into more than a dozen teams to search for people in nearby villages, and he is just one of them.

"Then what are you doing?" Before the old village chief here could speak, Joel couldn't help but said, "Quickly let him go and get out of here."

"Hey, this little brother has a bad temper. Are you related to their family? Are you a relative?" the team leader here asked with a smile.

"So what, Gruto is my childhood friend, my brother." Joelik said.

"Uncle Joel!" Gruto's son Celar saw Joel on the ground, crying and shouting. He was really frightened. A group of people rushed into their house and tied him up. How could he not be afraid of this?

"Fa Xiao? Not a real brother?" The squad leader here frowned, "You are lucky, get out of the way."

Speaking of which, the other party directly pushed Joel. Joel was already in a hurry, but when he pushed him, he wanted to make a move. However, the old village head behind him immediately stopped him.

"Stop!" The old village chief felt a little strange. The other party didn't look like he was coming to rob, but seemed confident. He felt something was wrong, so he stopped Joel and asked directly, "Why are you arresting them?"

"Literate? Old thing." The team leader here didn't know anything about respecting the old and loving the young, so he took out a document and brought it in front of the old village chief, "Check it out, it's a document issued by the empire. The man in their family is called Gruto, right? He is now serving as a soldier in the Second Legion. See clearly, now they are a family of rebels. Their man has betrayed the country. According to the laws of the empire, rebels, barbarians Family. Her Majesty's order to arrest all the family members of the rebels, and everyone can be arrested. If you catch one, you will get 5 silver coins."

"What?" Hearing this, the people around immediately became confused. Although most people are illiterate, but what the other party said makes sense, so it should be true?

Most people in the village knew that Gruto was a soldier in the Second Army. But the rebellion of the Second Legion, to be honest, although the empire did not hide the news, no one cared about it.

At this time, Joel was also stunned. Yes, the official document that the other party brought out was the one he read to the aunt before. It was exactly the same. It was not a fake, but an official document. But Joel didn't pay attention to the first item before. He thought that the third item would have the greatest impact on them, but now he remembered that Gruto was indeed a soldier in the Second Legion.

"Did you see it? Did you see it clearly?" The team leader here looked at the old village head and Joel, who realized the seriousness of the problem, and continued, "Gruto is a traitor. What's wrong with your village? Are you trying to protect the family members of these rebels? If you dare to try, come on!"

Everyone took a step back, who dares to do that. If you help the rebels, aren’t you rebelling? What kind of crime is rebellion, I said it clearly before, the Yi tribe, how dare they do this.