Sword of Dawn

Hetty just wanted to say that this is a genius design, but saw Norris next to him picked up a pen and sketched it on a blank piece of paper. The old farmer said while sketching: "Just make it It will be very affected by the river water at the Baishui River, so it cannot be used during the dry season, if another canal can be diverted beside it, during the dry season..."

Noticing the sudden silence around him, Norris reacted suddenly, then threw the pen away in panic, and backed away tremblingly: "Master, I just..."

However, what Gao Wen said was beyond his expectation: "Can you write?"

Chapter 0058 The Norris Story

Gawain's sudden question made Norris stupefied for a moment. He was ready to be reprimanded, but he didn't expect that he would face such a question—should he answer yes or no at this time?Which one is against the law?

After thinking for a long time, the old farmer decided to admit it honestly, because more than one person knew that he could read and write. Once the lord went to other people to ask the truth, then he would really break the law.

"Yes .

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows, thinking that his judgment was indeed correct.

Although Norris didn't write a word just now, he was just sketching, but only from the posture of the other party when he picked up the pen holder, many problems can be judged: people who can read and write feel completely different when holding the pen, In this almost universally illiterate world, he had already seen how those illiterate people grasped the pen holder and how to draw lines on the paper in a clumsy way, but the farmer in front of him obviously held a pen in a standard posture.

Even Hetty looked at Norris in surprise, it seemed that she had just discovered this fact.

"Don't worry, knowing how to write is not against the law, and teaching others to read and write is not against the law," Gao Wen realized that his sudden question might have frightened the honest farmer, so he calmed down, "Who taught you how to read and write?" ?”

Norris felt a little relieved when he got the lord's promise. He rubbed his hands and showed a slightly embarrassed smile: "My lord, I'm not afraid of your jokes... I almost entered the church back then and became a She is a priest who serves the Goddess of Harvest, and the ability to read and write was learned from a teacher at that time..."

The son of a farmer almost joined the church and became a priest?

Such a wonderful experience aroused Gawain's interest immediately, so under his questioning, the story of Farmer Norris was finally known.

The other party was indeed born in a peasant family, a free citizen who lived in Cecil Territory for generations. Although the family had a few acres of Susukida, just like most commoners in this era, they lived on the line of food and clothing.Originally, his life would be the same as that of most civilians, tied to the land for life, busy between seedlings and ditches, and the only way for him to deal with those high priests and churches was to go to the church in the town every once in a while A prayer, or a mission when the priests came to the country fields—but at the age of eight, an opportunity came to Norris and his parents.

A priest of the Harvest Goddess from the Plain of the Holy Spirit who traveled and preached came to Cecil Territory and temporarily stayed in the village where Norris lived. For farmers, it is very rare and lucky for the priests of the three gods of abundance to pass by. So everyone in the village immediately pooled their money, and according to the rules of the three gods of abundance, the elders of the village took a few children to "present" to the priest so that the priest could bless the farmland of the village.

Then the priest looked at Norris, who was eight years old, and said, "Blessed is the boy with the land, and he is blessed by the Harvest Goddess."

Because of this sentence, after the priest left, Norris' parents almost sold all the valuables in the family, and the old people in the village also managed to get some money together. After obtaining a pass, Norris was finally sent to the Mother Earth Church in Tanzania Town, making him a "slave apprentice"-although the three gods of abundance are three sects with independent inheritance, but at the same time they have a very close relationship. As the main god of the three fertility gods, the goddess of the earth usually enshrines the goddess of harvest and the goddess of spring at the same time in her temple, and the candidates for the priests of the three goddesses usually receive the same blessing before receiving the official blessing. Education, after completing the education, choose which god to convert to according to their respective "spiritual talents". Therefore, when the Church of the Goddess of Harvest cannot be found around, sending Norris to the Temple of the Mother Earth was the only thing his parents had at the time. s Choice.

Norris studied in the temple for five years, and then got the results from the upper church:

"The apprentice does not have the spiritual talent of the Abundant God Department."

To this day, Norris still remembers how happy everyone in the village was at first after the letter with this sentence was delivered to the village—because they couldn’t read at all, and the messenger who delivered the letter was drunk, The villagers and Norris' parents were never told what the letter contained.

It wasn't until Norris returned to the village with his own bedding and luggage that everyone knew that the letter was not good news from the church.

Norris told his story quietly. There was no sadness or joy on his wrinkled face, and there was only a calmness in his sunken eye sockets, as if those things had indeed gone away. As if it didn't matter: "The next few years, life was very difficult. Our debts have not yet been paid, and the house has long been empty-father didn't survive the winter that year, but he still got by. Everyone's money must be paid back.

"So my mother took me and my younger siblings to the castle of the Viscount. Oh, at that time, the Viscount Cecil was Miss Rebecca's father. We went to kowtow to the Viscount, saying that life is really hard, the Viscount. With kindness, we exempted us from the land tax we had to pay, and lent us seeds and half a bag of grain. With those seeds and grain, plus wild vegetables that grew exceptionally well that year, we survived.

"After that, I will farm the land in a down-to-earth manner and help others with chores. I do the work of two or three people by myself, and I can read and write. When there are merchants in the village, I will help everyone calculate the catty. Change some bread. In a few years, we will pay off the debt we owed, and we will also pay the viscount's grain seeds and food..."

Norris raised his head slowly, with pride on his face: "The year my mother died, our whole family ate a meal of meat."

The story of Farmer Norris was over, Gawain just frowned, but Hetty couldn't help pressing his chest: "I... I never knew that such a thing happened in the territory... We have been doing our best to give alms... ..."

"Alms can't save anyone, because it can't solve the root cause, and this kind of thing happens every day, it's just invisible in the castle." Gawain shook his head, and then looked at Norris curiously, "I noticed your gesture just now... …You still believe in the Goddess of Harvest?”

"Believe it, why don't you believe it?" The wrinkles on Norris's face piled up. "The goddess of harvest protects all the fields in the world. Whether the harvest is good or not is the life and death of the family. Who doesn't believe in the goddess of harvest?"

Gao Wen looked at each other quietly: "Even because of this belief, you have suffered so much?"

Norris was silent for a moment, then lowered his head: "My lord, it's my bad luck. How can I blame the gods? And compared to others, I have at least learned something, and I can recognize characters—although I know Words are useless to us people."

"Knowledge is not useless." Gawain looked at the farmer seriously, "Norris, you must be good at farming, right?"

Speaking of this, Norris suddenly became even more proud: "Sir, I dare not say anything else, but when it comes to farming, I am very skilled - otherwise how could I survive the difficult days back then? "

Gao Wen asked again: "You can read and write, and you have been educated by the church, so I asked Hetty to read to you the new rules, as well as the form I designed to record the workload, you should be able to easily Do you understand? If you are asked to fill in forms and calculate land and production, can you do it?"

This time, Norris nodded first, and then asked hesitantly, "Sir, do you want me to be... an overseer?"

During this period of time, due to Gao Wen's implementation of the labor system that requires counting and evaluation, the usual overseer who can only wield a whip but can't read a single word is no longer useful. The overseers on the territory are all selected family warriors Hetty even acted personally (some of the family warriors belonged to knight servants, at least they knew a few numbers and could write some simple words), so when Norris heard Gawain's question, he couldn't help but think of it. this aspect.

"No, it's not just the supervisor. In fact, if you can do it, I plan to let you manage the entire land reclamation and even the later stage of grain production," Gao Wen said. Here you are, and I can't let you do it at will, I will let Heidi 'assess' you, and I will tell you what you should do at any time."

The expression on Norris's face suddenly changed: "Master... Master! I don't quite understand... Are you asking me to be your housekeeper? But housekeepers don't just care about food..."

"It's a job, but it's not a housekeeper," Gao Wen laughed. "If you have to say it, call it... the agricultural supervisor. And I want to tell you first, this job is different from any previous job in aristocratic territories." It's not the same, you can't pass it down as a title unless your child has enough talent - it's not valid for life, if you don't do it well, or you do something wrong with the convenience of your position You will be removed from the law of Sear, and you will be punished. From now on, the same will be true of many positions I set up in this land—do you understand?"

If Gawain hadn't warned so many restrictions, perhaps Norris would not dare to accept this "good luck from heaven" in fear - because this good luck from heaven is very similar to the priest when he was eight years old. When he went to the village and said that he could "receive the grace of God", but with Gao Wen's warning, he thought about it seriously and thought it should be true.

A common pauper wouldn't think like him, but Norris would, because he had been educated, and even if it nearly killed him, he had learned "logic" from it.

So after thinking for a while, the old farmer nodded vigorously: "Sir, if you trust me... Norris will take good care of every field you entrusted to me, and every piece of land that grows on it." grain!"

Chapter 0059 Management Issues

Gao Wen knew very well that Norris actually didn't know what the "position" he was talking about meant, and he didn't know what the new system was going to be like in this land. He was just ignorantly immersed in In the joy of becoming a "decent person", but in fact, even those decent people living in towns usually live, this old farmer may not be able to imagine.

But it doesn't matter, because what Gawain wants to establish in this world is a kind of order and situation that has never existed before, not only Norris can't imagine, even Hetty and Rebecca can't imagine.

He knew that he had to act cautiously to keep everything going smoothly and under control, so as not to be too impatient and suffer the rebound of this era, but he had to do it—the alarm from the satellite monitoring station a few days ago was still By the ear, if the tide of evil is really unavoidable, it is better to make some efforts than to do nothing.

After Norris left, Hetty finally couldn't help expressing her doubts: "Ancestor, do you really want him to manage your field?"

Gawain knew that Heidi would have doubts, so there was no surprise on his face, he just looked at her with a smile: "Is there anything wrong?"

"Although he is literate, he..." Hetty wanted to say that he came from a poor background, but after thinking about it, he changed the phrase, "I'm afraid he is not well-informed, and he doesn't understand the rules of the upper class. Let him be your land steward. I'm worried he's going to screw things up - and get punished for nothing."

Gao Wen just looked at Heidi quietly, until the other party felt a little uncomfortable, he suddenly asked: "Where is the high society you mentioned?"

Hetty was taken aback.

Gawain smiled, raised his finger and pointed around: "Look at this land of nothing - there is no upper class here, no aristocracy or pariah rules, all those pedantic things are thrown into the old world. Go to the scorched land led by Cecil! In this land, everything will start from scratch, and all rules, laws, and norms will be brand new!"

Hetty stared blankly at the wasteland that was being reclaimed, as well as the camps in the distance that had already seen their scale. Here, she could not see towering castles, nor the dwellings of the poor. The camp strictly followed Gawain's plan. Built according to the four principles of "neatness, sanitation, efficiency, and reserved space for development", those "untouchable houses must not face the castle", "the aristocratic area must be separated from the poor area by more than one street", "serfs cannot live in the middle and inner Layers" and other rules are simply not seen here.

She vaguely understood what Gao Wen meant.

Gawain looked at Hetty. He knew that the other party did not have a deep-rooted traditional concept of aristocrats. As a down-and-out nobleman, the embarrassment in life is the best factor to motivate his thinking. The recent generations of the Cecil family have been Excluded from the core aristocratic circle, so they will become more and more "unlike aristocrats", like Hetty, she will even go to the construction site to help with work, so there is absolutely no problem with her flexibility in thinking—— The habit and social constraints brought about by the status of "nobility" are difficult to deal with, so she subconsciously believes that a farmer from a poor peasant family is not qualified to help Gao Wen manage the territory even if he can read and write. — and manage the most important food issue.

Seeing the change in this descendant's expression, Gawain knew that she already had an idea, but needed to push it again, so he continued: "As for whether a farmer from a poor background can be the manager—do you know Dong What did the ancestors of the Franklin family do?"

"The Duke of the West?" Hetty was stunned for a moment, "I remember that the history books say that Franklin's ancestor was in charge of steel and was the 'Iron General' of the expeditionary force..."

"Yes, he is a blacksmith, but he has the strength of a monster, and has enough talent and luck to grow up during the Northern Expedition." Gawain smiled, "Guess what I did back then?"

Heidi had already been shocked by the truth about the first Duke of the West, and at this moment, she dared not say it with certainty: "I remember the history books...it seems to say that you are a knight among knights, and you are the starting point of all model knights..."

"Yes, I'm an apprentice knight. I didn't know how to master my first martial art until I was 15 years old, but my mentor got drunk and fell into the river and drowned before I could write a letter of recommendation to my lord. I can't help it. I wrote a letter of recommendation and stamped it with my instructor’s stamp to find the lord, but halfway through the demon tide broke out and the lord died—then I met Charlie who led a group of people to escape, and he said that the south was in chaos It’s a pot of porridge, and going south is a dead end. I said to him: "I still have to be knighted. I have studied for several years and finally passed." As a result, Charlie told me a wise saying in front of everyone:

Gawain deliberately paused, and Hetty couldn't help asking, "What is the most famous saying?"

"Let's call ourselves knights—all the gentlemen in the South are dead anyway."

Hetty: "... so-called?! This is also okay?!"

"However, this is the truth," Gao Wen put away his smile and looked into Hetty's eyes. "A middle schooler known as the leader of the Northern Army led a group of blacksmiths, carpenters, apprentices and vagrants who claimed to be the pioneer knights. You can pass through the entire wasteland and establish a kingdom here, do you think it is because of our natural noble blood? Or are we all blessed by God?"

Hetty: "..."

"There were no nobles on the land, but those who stood up first held their property in their hands in advance, so they became nobles." Gawain pressed Heidi's shoulder (this is too old to be with Rui Becca pats his head all day long), "Aside from this difference, Ansu is just a kingdom built by a bunch of mud legs. And the land in front of us now is the beginning of Ansu's founding. situation, and I am going to implement some new rules on this land."

Hetty frowned slightly, a vague uneasiness made her hesitate, but she didn't know what was wrong: "I... I can't imagine what the future will be like if I really do this... ..."

"Yeah, it's a bit early for me to tell you this," Gao Wen slightly nodded, "but I believe you will stand by my side."

"Of course!" Hetty replied without hesitation, "You are the only pillar in this land! You are also the only pillar for me and Rebecca..."

"Then I promise you one thing - all I do is to bring prosperity and civilization to this land, as long as you follow my footsteps, both you and Rebecca will meet an unprecedentedly powerful Sisi The Er family," Gao Wen said seriously, "do you accept this promise?"

Hetty nodded vigorously.

"Then let's get back to the management issue," Gao Wen laughed, "about the plan to allow the so-called 'commoners' or even 'poor people' to participate in the management of the territory."

"Have you prepared more 'jobs'?" Hetty had already guessed what Gawain wanted to do from the previous conversation, "Although I don't think it's wrong now, is it really necessary? "

Gawain looked Heidi up and down. This beautiful and elegant lady has been overworked in the past few days, and even her face has become a lot haggard. At this time, let alone elegance, she didn't even bother to wash her face today.

Almost one person is in charge of the internal affairs of the entire camp. At this time, she still has a fairy face on her face. She has not realized the lack of a management team...

"Do you think you can manage all the internal affairs by yourself?" Gao Wen said slowly.

"It's indeed a bit tiring now, but it's the initial period after all, and when the territory is on the right track..."

"You can't manage to get on the right track, because you have never had 'management' before," Gao Wen squinted at each other, "Have you done demographic statistics? Have you done production statistics? Have you done economic statistics? Purchases and sales in previous years Have you ever done a development plan for Cunhe in the coming year? Not to mention these things—have you ever mastered how many gold coins flowed in and how many gold coins flowed out of the entire territory in a year?"

Hetty looked at the mosquito coil: "...Huh?"

"At the end of each year, send people to the granary to see how much grain is left, and count how many people still owe rent when collecting grain. This is not considered internal affairs management," Gao Wen chuckled, "I let the You and Rebecca counted the names, ages, occupations, and family conditions of those 800 people, and to be honest, what do you think of those forms?"

Hetty was convinced: "It's really convenient to use - it's the first time I know that I can use such a simple method to find out how many people from all walks of life are in the territory, and when arranging production, I can also directly use the records on the form to , instead of sending people to find out where the various craftsmen are..."

"One day the territory will have a population of 8, or even [-]. Do you and Rebecca plan to go and count it yourself? One day the territory will expand to the south of the Dark Mountains. Are you still going to knock on doors one by one to ask about the family situation? ?”

Hetty: "..."

"If you want to continue to be so convenient, you must have a 'management team'," Gao Wen spread his hands, "and to establish such an organization, we must involve the citizens."

Hetty thought for a while, then frowned again: "But most people in the territory can't even write their own names, so what..."

"So that's my next plan," Gao Wen said with a smile, "let them learn to read."

Hetty: "..."

The number of times she lost her speech due to shock today is probably more than in the previous half of her life.

Gawain gave Hetty some time to think and react, while he himself looked at the leaders not far away who were reporting the work progress to the supervisor.

Things don't happen overnight.

It takes time to establish a system, and it is more difficult to establish a society based on this system, and to establish a kingdom on the basis of the latter... I am afraid that it will be many years later.

The current population of the territory is only 800 people, and it is true that Hetty can manage it with the efforts of one person. At most, Rebecca, who has half a bottle of vinegar, can put a big fireball to add to the fun... Burning wasteland or something, but if you want to live in the long run Development, some foundations will be established step by step from now on.

Chapter 0060 Rebecca's Great Project

Hetty didn't know what her ancestor from 700 years ago was thinking at this time, and she was destined to be unable to understand those plans that were too far away and grand for her now, but following Gawain's line of sight, she looked into the distance She also seemed to be infected by the camp full of vigor and vitality, and became excited.

A land from scratch, a brand new order, a promised bright future——Hetty thought that she had already passed her girlhood when she was easily touched by external objects, but at this moment, she still couldn't help but look forward to it, Expect some better changes in the land.

This is the biggest difference between her and those traditional nobles - traditional nobles don't expect changes.

"What I told you today, you just keep it in your mind for the time being." Gao Wen suddenly turned his head and reminded Hetty, "These things are too advanced. If you tell them to the people, they won't understand, but if you tell them to Nobles... If they don't understand, then they will regard you as a lunatic, if they understand, then they will treat you as a sworn enemy."

Hetty was slightly taken aback, but with her intelligence, she quickly understood what Gawain meant.

Those brand-new orders—although only a little clue can be seen now, it is enough to touch the sensitive nerves of the nobles. It may really bring prosperity to this land, but that kind of prosperity is not necessarily traditional The aristocracy loved it.

After all, they are different from the Cecil family, and their current life is extremely nourishing.

"I understand, but can I talk to Rebecca?" Hetty nodded, but just after finishing speaking, she pursed her lips and shook her head slightly, "I'm afraid that child can't understand these complicated things..."

"No, you underestimated her," Gawain laughed. "Actually, Rebecca is probably smarter than you imagined, but her intelligence has never found a suitable stage. I think she has recently..."

Before Gao Wen finished speaking, a small figure suddenly appeared in his line of sight: Betty ran quickly along the field ridge.The little maid with some cute freckles came to him, took a few breaths, and then bowed clumsily: "Master! Miss Rebecca is looking for you!"

"What did she want from me..." Gao Wen stopped in the middle of speaking, "Oh, you must have forgotten."

"I didn't forget this time!" Betty straightened up and said crisply, "She said she was about to start work, and asked you to go and see her results!"

Hetty came up from behind: "What started?"

Betty thought for a while, then shook her head: "Forget it!"

Gawain & Hetty: "..."

"Yes, I know what it is." Gao Wen rubbed the head of the little girl in front of him dumbfounded, "It seems that she has studied the magic circle for several days and finally got the 'magic net', but I thought She's going to be tossing around for a longer time—how about it, Hetty, are you going to take a look? Anyway, there's nothing important here for the time being, why don't you go and see Rebecca's first 'engineering project' How did it go?"

"To be honest, I'm really worried about what she will do. After all, a poor mage who can only use fireballs wants to make such a large-scale magic circle... although they are all elementary runes," Heidi smiled. Shaking his head, he looked in the direction of the wooden shed, "Then Philip Knight, my ancestor and I went to see the situation of the blacksmith shop, and I will leave it to you first."

The young knight immediately stood up straight, and tapped his breastplate with his hand: "I will definitely fulfill my mission!"

A small supervision of land reclamation made him feel epic in a single slogan...Gao Wen couldn't help feeling, how could there be such an old-fashioned and old-fashioned character among the young knights, who even strictly abided by the rules and regulations like the classical knights... Could it be? Is this really the power of faith?

Gawain and Hetty left, and Betty wandered into the wooden shed after looking left and right to see if she had nothing to do with her.At this time, it was still early for cooking time, and the work of washing clothes had been completed. The little maid who had nothing to do for the time being became interested in the paper with many words and pictures left on the wooden table.

Seeing the little girl's actions, Knight Philip stared at her carefully, in case the stupid little girl messed up those important things - he was ready to stop at any time.

And Betty looked at the blueprint with the waterwheel curiously, but soon her interest shifted to the entry form with numbers and names written on it, she approached the table, pointed to the pen and paper: "Can I write? "

Knight Philip put away the pen and paper and looked at the little girl seriously: "Can you write?"

"Can't write," Betty shook her head, and then added, "I can't read either!"