My advisors thought I was overkilling the situation, but I explained it was like a weapon. You don't need it often, but when you need it, you need it right now. I loved knowing all these wise sayings from the future. It made me look so smart.
I couldn't wait to say, "Try? There is no try."
Immigrants kept coming from the north at an increased pace. We had received ten thousand people so far, and they kept coming. They had a new urgency about them. King Ine was now conscripting men for his army.
Baron Edmund's people had been talking us up to the northern population. The people he sent out were related to those in the area they went to. We sounded like a fantasy land of milk and honey.
No hunger, free education for all, and low death rates of children. These all seemed impossible, but the emissaries swore it was true.
It was common for Edmund's people to bring a local leader back from their trips to prove what they said was true.
Once the leader saw what we had accomplished, they returned to their area to bring their people in. We also made certain the leaders saw our rifles and new cannons in action. It made their decision easy.
It looked like King Ine would be heading our way soon. He couldn't stop the Jutes. His northern border was being raided by the Scots, and the Vikings were harrying his coasts.
A meeting with my advisors brought up the possibility of him becoming part of us. He would have to swear to me. Within itself, this was upside down, but it was the only thing we would accept. If he wouldn’t do that, then we would defend our borders.
Baron Edmund, who knew King Ine well, told us it would never happen. Ine was too proud a man to step down. And Edmund had people in Worcester close to the Keep there. They reported King Ine thought he could defeat us.
He knew of our rifles and was confident he could overwhelm us with manpower. It didn't matter to him how many people he lost, as long as he won.
He was in for a rude awakening when our cannons roared.
Thankfully, our field artillery was finally available for general use. There had been a problem with designing a wheeled frame that would stand up to the cannon's recoil.
When the gun recoiled, it was braked by a hydraulic cylinder while simultaneously compressed a spring. As recoil stopped, the spring reasserted itself, and the gun was propelled back into battery.
This development and the use of oversized wheels solved the recoil problem.
The cannon barrels were wrought iron rifled tubes wrapped in steel wire. This gave us accuracy from rifling, and the steel wire added enough strength we never had a barrel burst.
We set up four gun batteries with eight-man crews. The cannon was attached to a cassion, which carried the shot, power, and other supplies. The two horses were left attached to the cassion while firing, allowing maneuverability on the battlefield.
I couldn't resist introducing the “US Field Artillery March.” The theme song of the US Artillery battalions, which starts, "Over hill, over dale."
I had been telling people I controlled Southern England, which comprised of Kent, Sussex, and Wessex. While I was the nearest major power to Kent and Sussex, I hadn't extended into them. The first step was to start a road from London to Dover.
Next would be to establish a Keep to control the harbor. After that, I would backfill to the small ports along the coast. Lastly, build a road system linking all villages.
In the meantime, with a military escort, Lady Agnes's people were moving from village to village, providing health care. Her nurses reported little to no resistance from the local population.
Word had spread of how better our lifestyle was compared with anywhere else. It helped they weren't fully functioning villages and farm communities, as the plague had virtually destroyed them. None of the local Nobles had survived the plague. I'm unsure why that was, but it made things easier for us.
Along with health care providers, our census takers were there in force. Several second sons of my Barons were in need of positions. They had been trained to take over if their elder brother didn't survive.
I wish I had thought of it, but it was a Baron from one of my smaller Keeps who asked if there was a position for his son. I leaped on the idea and made the son a Baron in Kent. I interviewed him, and he was level-headed and mature. So I made him Baron Dover.
Four other sons were able to take over Keeps in Kent and Sussex.
The son from one of the Keeps in Cornwall I had inherited after defeating King Geriant almost didn't live through his interview with me. He was the most arrogant, snobbish, useless fop I had met. And those were the kind words.
I met with his father separately and asked him if he knew how his son acted. I wanted to see how the father took all this. If the Baron was like his son, I had a problem that the headsman would have to fix.
Fortunately, the father wasn't his son, and the son came from a second marriage. Thankfully, the older boy who would inherit took after his father. I asked the father why he had sent the boy to me.
"I need to get him out of my Barony. His mother has made such a mess of him I'm afraid he will try to kill my oldest boy and become Baron. I think his mother is encouraging his thinking.”
“I'm glad I don't have your problem. Why did you marry the woman, if I may ask?"
He blushed and mumbled. “the sex was good.”
"I recommend we have him go to the army in Armorica. He will either shape up, get himself killed, or run."
"At this point, I don't care which. If he is gone, I can send his mother to a convent. She is sheer poison in my life. What feelings I had for her are long gone."
"You won't be able to remarry."
"I learned that lesson. You don't have to marry them to enjoy them."
We wrapped up our meeting with an agreement that the younger son would be delivered to Saltash, inducted into the army, and sent to Arette.
I think he wanted him delivered in chains.
After he left, I told Thad to make a note that the Baron was to be watched. I didn't have any faith in his judgment.
Another Baron from one of the Baronies controlled by the late King Geriant needed attention urgently. Reports came in that his taxmen were collecting above and beyond what I had set the tax rates at. He was using force on those who resisted paying. He had even burned one poor farmer out of his house and home.
I asked one of the London policemen to covertly investigate the situation. Just because his malfeasance had been reported didn’t make it so. It didn't take long for the report and written statements to be handed to me.
Guilty on all charges.
Not only did he have his own taxes on top of mine. He was taking liberties with the young ladies of the Barony. I sent the officer back with a squad of soldiers to arrest Baron Fradden.
After a contentious trial, I found him guilty. The trail was published in the newspaper along with artists' sketches.
This was the first time in living memory a Nobleman was being held accountable for his actions.
Not all my Barons were in favor of this. Not that they didn't think he was guilty, but they thought it should have been handled the old-fashioned way. A knife in the back or a private beheading. They didn’t want the people to get the idea Nobles weren't above the law.
I told them the feedback we had been getting from the general population was in favor of the public trial. It demonstrated the rule of law applied to everyone.
I did yield to tradition at the end of the trial. He was found guilty of breaking his Oath to his Leige, me. And committing bodily harm to the people he was supposed to be helping and caring for. I was surprised the bawdy open culture of Cornwall didn’t like the word "rape."
His sentence was death, and I had him beheaded privately. I didn’t want executions to become entertainment.
We sent to Gaul for a headsman. There are tricks to every trade, even chopping someone's head off.
And I wanted it to go smoothly, with no botched three swings to remove a head.
After our imported headsman saw our territory, he asked if he could move his family to Cornwall. I didn't see a need for a headsman on the permanent payroll. He informed me his first job was as a butcher by trade.
I hoped we didn’t need him for his second job. But having a headsman on tap would be handy, so I allowed him and his family to join our community.
He and his family moved into the village, and he got a job with a local butcher shop. He became a local celebrity, never having to buy a drink in the tavern as he related tales of heads he removed.
Our newspaper even interviewed him and printed a story titled "Heads I have known." The scandal sheets of my time would have been envious.
Life had settled for a while after that, and there were pleasant duties to attend to. Eleanor and I agreed we had to do something about Lady Agnes. Something good.
Lady Agnes is a stern-looking lady in her fifties until she smiles and her face lights up. Then, you could see traces of a much younger, handsome woman. Her dark brown hair was just showing streaks of gray. It wasn't the ugly iron gray some unfortunate women have, but a nice silver.
Tall for a woman, she held her body ramrod straight, giving an appearance of authority. If anyone doubted her, they lost their doubts when she voiced a command. I knew drill instructors who would love to have her voice. She seldom had to raise it. Her natural-speaking voice carried the expectation that she would be obeyed.
Widowed, she had one grown married daughter who had several children of her own. Lady Agnes had dedicated her life to being a midwife after losing her husband.
My appearance on the scene with modern healthcare ideas allowed her to bloom. She was known as Lady Agnes out of respect even though she had never been awarded a title.
Eleanor and I decided the time had come to make her a Baroness. She would be awarded a Barony in the lands taken from King Geriant. Most of his Barons had died with him. I had the Baronies in care until I could appoint someone.
One such Barony, Hartland, had a small Keep being taken care of by a retired Sergeant. He had no family, so there was no incentive for him to try to take the Barony for his own.
The Barony was farm-based and would provide Lady Agnes with a good income for the rest of her life. It would also be a place she could retire to, though I couldn't picture her ever retiring.
I called on him on one of my trips to Dereham. I explained we would award the Barony to Lady Agnes as a reward for her hard work. He was to stay in his position as her Steward at a nice pay increase.
He had no objections, realizing he was only a caretaker until permanent arrangements were made. He had been concerned about being turned out of what was a nice job for him. He happily agreed to the terms.
Our dear friend Tom, the village blacksmith or budding Andrew Carnegie, also needed a gift. His hard work was the backbone of our progress. I liked the British idea of awarding titles to those who performed over and above in their field of endeavor.
Tom had earned the title of Baron ten times over, And I wanted to make him the Baron of Camel Ford because I thought it sounded silly. Eleanor convinced me to depart tradition and name him Baron Steel.
I lost the battle later that night in a tickle fight. Baron Steel, it is.
His actual land would be the former Barony of Launceston. It had coal and iron mines, which was poetic. The Keep was a tumbled-down mess. He could pay for rebuilding it. That's what friends are for! He could certainly afford it. He was always trying to get into my pockets. Now I could get into his.