I keep hearing excuses like “but your highness the entire crop was destroyed and we’re starving” or “but my lord I’m dying of the plague”. Like ok? That sounds like a you problem. Someone has to do all the work around here and that someone’s not going to be me.
E’er the back aching for the lash!
Ha ha ha ha. Well, this has been a fun, fantasy diversion. Can you even imagine? People being forced to work while actively infected with a plague? Bodies piling up until conventional storage for them is overwhelmed? All the while, landowners keep shouting, “Nobody wants to work anymore!” Man, that would be bizarre and unconscionable. They’d have the king’s head on a plate, or if not, at least have him deposed. Thank goodness those dark days of ignorance and brutality are no longer.