Sword of Dawn

Don't talk about slicing, at least you have to drill your eyes to see what's inside...

Gao Wen now has some understanding of Heidi, and he can tell what the eldest granddaughter is thinking by looking at her expression, but he didn't say anything, just shook his head: "It's not a girl who just stays in place. It is a stone, it can move and think, and it seems to have good athletic performance, and it also has the talent to manipulate metal and magic power. Forcibly controlling it is not beneficial, not to mention that it may not be able to control it, so it is better to let it actively cooperate."

As he spoke, he glanced at the soldiers standing guard not far away.

These soldiers are still guarding the cordon ten meters away from the tent according to the previous instructions-although it is not certain whether this distance is beyond the metal control ability of the Nicholas egg, this can somewhat reassure the soldiers.

"Of course, we still need to strengthen our vigilance," Gao Wen said, "replace the militiamen with family warriors, but monitor them from a distance. Tell the soldiers in advance that the sphere in the tent is a magical device that stores ancient souls. They should not have too much contact and communication with the sphere. If the ball is really running around, let them report to the top immediately, so as not to cause conflicts-although the ball is cowardly, when it jumps up and hits people, it is even a deformed body. One, ordinary soldiers can't stop it at all."

"What do you think that ball is?" Hetty asked, frowning, "Is it... Could it really be a magical creation of the ancient Gondor Empire?"

After the "Dragon Egg Hypothesis" was ruled out, Hetty couldn't help thinking of this direction—in this world, the Gondor heritage and the legend of the dragon have many similarities, for example, they are both suitable for explaining those explanations Unclear things function like metaphysics on Earth...

"The Gondor Empire is not omnipotent," Gawain shook his head. "Even the Arcanists and Puppeteers in the Starfire Era couldn't create magical creatures with this level of intelligence."

But he didn't say the other half of the sentence: let alone the magic artificial intelligence expert of the Gondor Empire, even every kingdom, every generation of civilization, and every kingdom that was active on this continent before the Gondor Empire There has never been an intelligent creation of this level in any race.

Gawain still doesn't dare to completely rule out the possibility that the ball is an "artificial object", but at least he can be sure that the ball is not the creation of any race on this continent.

In fact, he was more inclined to think that the ball really came from some kind of strange, intelligent race beyond human cognition.

I just don't know how it came to this continent...

Hearing Gawain's answer, Hetty lowered his head slightly and fell into deep thought, while the druid Pittman next to him remained silent. In fact, he had stopped talking suddenly since he was in the tent just now, until now. Now his face is full of entanglement and frustration, which made Gao Wen couldn't help but look at him twice: "You also have questions?"

"Why is that egg still an egg when it hatches..." The old druid's eyebrows were almost tangled together, "Why isn't it a dragon's egg?"

Even Hu Po couldn't stand it anymore: "Why are you so obsessed with dragon eggs!"

The little old man grabbed his beard: "Dragon egg! It is a dragon when it is hatched! Do you know how much you can exchange for a scale or a little blood? Even if I can't exchange money, I will directly carry a young dragon to the holy place. Long Duchy, at least come back with a real earl!"

"Based on your thinking, throwing it to the Holy Dragon Principality would require at least 40 hangings." Gawain glared at the little old man, "If you have time to think about it, tell me how the wounded are doing."

The little old man twirled his beard vigorously, and let go of the subject with a sigh: "Oh... well, it's either a dragon egg or a dragon egg. Don't worry too much about the wounded, I've prepared the best that I can. All the potions have been sent over, and those with more serious injuries have been treated with magic to ensure that there will be no more serious injuries and deaths. To be honest, this is a miracle. I thought that even if your bold plans worked, The guards in the camp also had to die, but I didn’t expect that they were basically wounded, and none of them died.”

"You underestimated the standard equipment of the ancient Gondor Empire," Gawain shook his head. "The soldiers of that era were very difficult to die."

The little old man glanced at Gao Wen, and said indifferently: "Then you better have a sense of crisis, I heard the two knights in your family chatting, most of the armor and battle crystals on the soldiers are already in battle Damaged, and those things don’t seem to be able to be repaired and recharged. Although you saved your life, you can’t save the equipment itself. At this consumption rate, you will have to sit and eat in a short time.”

"Don't worry, we already have better weapons," Gao Wen smiled and looked towards the camp, "What's more important is that we have better ideas."

This time it was Amber who spoke: "You mean those explosive crystals you used to blow up cliffs and make traps?"

Gawain nodded slightly.

"Well, those crystals are really powerful, but it's not realistic to solve all problems with them alone," Amber shook her head, "They are too restrictive to use, and they lack a safe way to detonate. You said, when Hetty detonated it, I was almost scared to death. I got into the shadow world, and I was blown by the shock wave several times—I have to sue you, you big-chested and brainless big The granddaughter actually only supported herself with a shield..."

Heti, who was walking behind Gawain, immediately glared at Amber.

Gawain didn't notice the little spark between the half-elf and the great-great...great-granddaughter, he just smiled and looked into the distance, on the horizon, the huge sun was slowly sinking, the clouds in the sky and the The light diffused around the sun disc complements each other and is extremely brilliant.

Everything is flawed when it first appears.

Now that the aberrant crisis has subsided for the time being, it's time to focus on addressing these flaws.

Chapter 0093 After Victory

One crisis has passed, but more work has just begun.

The injured need to recuperate, someone needs to deal with the aftermath, the frightened citizens need to be comforted, and the production work in the camp needs to get back on track.

The first thing Gao Wen did was to collect the blood-red bones that were piled up outside the camp, scattered on the mountain pass, and piled up on the mountain road. It was transported back to the camp before it was completely broken down by the forces of order, and then they were piled up on the south bank of the Whitewater River, forming a daunting mountain of bones near the sawmill next to the camp.

The size of those monsters is so huge and ferocious, even after death, the bones "disintegrate" for a day and a night, these remaining parts still have a terrifying size and appearance, they are piled up in a disorderly manner, and black and red mixed smoke and dust continuously rise And mist, it's like an invisible flame is burning, and among all the bones, less than [-]% of the skeletons are relatively complete.

Most of the complete skeletons were left behind in battles with the guards, and those monsters buried by rock walls or killed by "landmines" hardly had complete corpses.

Gao Wen picked out the relatively complete skeletons from the pile of bones, supported them with wooden frames, and arranged them neatly on the south bank of the Baishui River. Looking from a distance, it seemed that a terrifying new line had been added to the north of the camp. The wall was ordinary, and in front of the bone pile in the middle of the wall, Gao Wen set up a tall wooden platform.

Everyone in the camp could see the process of building the pile of bones and the wooden platforms. Most of the civilians and serfs were startled when they saw the horrifying blood-red corpses, and the fear of the destruction of their former homes arose spontaneously. , but the defensive battle carried out amidst the thunder explosion the day before somewhat offset the fear in their hearts. Even the illiterate serfs could understand one thing—since they themselves were still standing here alive, and the monster Being piled up on the river bank is enough to show that the lord's army has won a big victory, so the monster is not so scary.

The soldiers were running around the camp, reading the lord's summoning order aloud: Duke Gawain Cecil summoned all the people in this land, and went to the high platform on the river bank to listen to the new order.

The camp with less than a thousand people was easy to mobilize, and soon the square next to the sawmill gathered the population of all the people in the territory. Gao Wen stood on the temporary wooden platform, in front of him were the gathered people, and behind him It is a blood-red bone pile that is constantly decomposing and rising into a mist of elemental dust.

Hetty released the magic of loudspeaker, and the voice on the high platform resounded throughout the square——

"Cecil's citizens, today, I want to announce three things," Gawain put the pioneer sword on the ground, glanced at the people below, and then suddenly raised the sword, pointing at those who lined up along the river bank. Kai's skeleton, "First, I want to announce the celebration, to celebrate these monsters who once destroyed Cecil Territory, these monsters who once slaughtered your brothers, sisters, relatives and friends, these monsters who threatened the lives of all of you and me again not long ago, We were defeated! We were beaten head-on, defeated like a crush! Nearly a thousand monsters, almost ten times the number of camp guards, but none of them could step into our camp in the end—you should know how powerful these monsters are and scary, but by now you should also know that these freaks are not invincible!"

These words caused a little commotion in the crowd below, and made them feel stunned. These words couldn't be more simple and unpretentious. The people in the camp were already guessing when the lord would announce the celebration. It was an incredible victory. At this time, Gao Wen's words were just a solid hammer for everything, so an atmosphere of excitement and excitement was brewing in the crowd.

What turned this atmosphere into cheers was Gao Wen's next words: "To celebrate, after work is over this afternoon, everyone in the camp can eat broth and white bread! There is also ale shipped from Tanzania Town !"

Soon, there were several cheers distributed in the crowd-these cheers became the introduction, and finally everyone cheered.

Gawain waved his hand, and the crowd gradually quieted down, and then Gawain continued: "The second thing, I want to thank everyone who made contributions in guarding the camp - including my soldiers, also Including you."

Gao Wen stopped on purpose, and the crowd below really started commotion.

Because this is the first time they have heard such an outlandish statement.

The aristocrats are expressing their gratitude to the common people, even to the untouchables and serfs - and in such a formal and serious occasion, this is definitely not a joke!

Some people looked at each other in blank dismay because they were confused, while some serfs standing on the edge of the crowd simply looked around because they didn't feel that this matter had anything to do with them.

But they saw a few people come out under the "escort" of the soldiers, walked up to the stage and stood behind Gao Wen.

"This land is not only my territory, but also your home. It is not only the lord and the lord's army that guard this land, but also your contribution," Gawain said seriously, saying that in this era, he is absolutely deviant. , Bizarre words, "Every one of you has worked hard for the previous defensive battle-the 'slag' you burned, the crystals you washed out, the wooden boxes you made, the runes you carved, you The herbs you picked, the clothes you starched for the soldiers, the holes you dug in the rock walls of the Dark Mountains, the traps you dug on the mountain passes, all these things have protected your own homes and your own lives!"

There was a bigger commotion in the crowd, at least half of them didn't understand the logic and meaning of Gao Wen's words for a while, while the other half couldn't believe what they heard, and Amber, who was in charge of calling 666 among the crowd, Sometimes he also forgot what he was supposed to do, but stared at Gao Wen and muttered, "Is this guy out of his mind... Isn't this acknowledging that commoners and nobles have the same value and function..."

After Gao Wen finished speaking, he didn't care about the reaction below, but turned sideways to signal the people behind him to come forward.

Except one of them is a soldier in the territory, the others are civilian coolies in coarse cloth and rags, with thick hands and feet. These people walked to the stage nervously, looking at a loss: they already knew in advance what the lord was going to do , but he didn't know how to react at all, he could only move his limbs stiffly like a rusted puppet, for fear of missing an instruction.

Stonemason Gordon accidentally took half a step longer than the others, and suddenly came to a position almost level with Gawain. He didn't notice this at first, and only saw the dense crowd below.It was the first time he stood in front of so many people, and he was still standing on the platform. This made the muscular old craftsman tremble all of a sudden. Then he realized that his position had been "overstepped", and his expression was even more serious. big change.

But Gao Wen just smiled, and whispered to the others: "Stand on the line of the stonemason, this line is for you."

At this time, the people in the audience have already recognized who the people standing on it are - the camp has only 800 people, and they are all survivors from the Cecil disaster, and they are very familiar with each other. Even the names of serfs can be called by everyone.

"That's Mr. Gordon the stonemason!" "That's Hunter next to him? The one hunting?" "Who's that thin and small one?" "It seems to be a serf on the territory, called Home, at the kiln." Burning 'slag'..." "I know that soldier, his name is Kerim, I heard that he killed two monsters by himself yesterday - all his brothers and sisters have not been able to escape from the territory before... ..."

At this moment, Gao Wen's voice sounded, interrupting the following low-pitched discussion:

"These people have made great contributions to guarding the camp. They are the best in their work. They are the hardest craftsmen and the bravest citizens. To them, I want to fulfill my promise in advance .

"Holm, Terry, Wacker, you were serfs and slave laborers, and now you are free people - you can own your own property in the future, and you can use your own hands to earn your own land and houses, But remember, the freedom of work and life is also the freedom of starvation and corruption. Your future life is in your own hands, so don’t let this freedom down.

"Gordon the stonemason, Hunt the hunter, Kerim the soldier, you are already free citizens, so you will get a piece of newly reclaimed land in advance, and you will be the first to get your own residence after the house is built. In addition, Kerim , Because of your extraordinarily bravery, Knight Byron intends to guide you, if you agree, you can start as a knight retinue first."

The people whose names were read straightened their chests one by one, while Gawain took a few copper badges that had been prepared from Hetty's hand next to him, and pinned them on the clothes of several people.

This badge is really crude. In fact, it is just a smashed copper cake with the emblem of the Cecil collar engraved on it, and the words "Commemoration of the First Battle of New Cecil" written on the back. It was made overnight. , everyone including Hetty and Rebecca didn't understand the point of making these things - because these "copper cakes" are not currency, and Gawain also clearly stated that they cannot be used for transactions, in other words, these They are worthless unless they are melted down and sold as copper.

But Gao Wen just had to do these things.

He pinned these things on the clothes of several people and whispered to them: "This is a symbol of honor."

This symbol is indeed a bit rudimentary, and he didn't have time to come up with various expressions such as "Brave Combat Award", "Production Promotion Award", and "Outstanding Contribution Award" in a hurry (not to mention that people in the territory may not be able to understand it. ), but in any case, such an honor system must be established.

This is not only an encouragement to the person concerned, but also a symbolic effect to others.

Although the people standing under the stands couldn't see what the medal looked like, they could clearly feel that they had a sense of yearning and envy for the honor of standing on the stage.

Then Gao Wen announced the third thing: "The third thing is about the army on the territory."

Chapter 0094 About the Army

Regarding the "armies" that have been seen in this world so far, Gao Wen only has two words for his evaluation: wonderful.

At least in Ansu territory.

The severe decline in civilization, low productivity, the division of nobles, and the absolute dominance of high-end military professions have led to the deformity of the Ansu Kingdom's military system. This country is a unified whole in name, but in fact Each enfeoffed noble is equivalent to occupying an independent kingdom, and the so-called king is just the most glamorous (and not necessarily the most authoritative) of all the lords.There are no unified professional soldiers in this kingdom, only the leaders of various nobles and the knights directly under the royal family in the city of Saint-Sunil, and the nobles at all levels do not have top-down ruling authority, similar to the classical European "on earth" The situation of my vassal's vassal is not my vassal" is particularly serious here. Even many families in the south who claim to be directly subordinate to the king are just attached to the royal family in the form of a covenant. They only have the responsibility to the king to monitor the southern border, The few duties of providing intelligence and sending troops in wartime will not obey the king's other dispatches.

The soldiers under their hands are naturally only their own.

Even a few soldiers under a viscount belonged to the viscount himself.

So if a great noble needs to wage a war, how does he raise a large army?

Simple, if his prestige is enough, and he finds a good reason for the war, and promises enough benefits for the post-war division, then the big and small lords under his name are obliged to bring their own private soldiers. To aid in the battle, these private soldiers form their own teams, led by their lords or powerful military professionals sent by the lords (usually the latter, many Anzu nobles in this era have degenerated to the point that they cannot ride horses to fight, and can only use money to fight. The level of hiring strong people to sit in the family), when fighting, these "mixed armies" with all kinds of banners, designations, and tactics all swarmed up, depending on the strength of the enemy and their own interests, they chose to work without exerting effort or lying on the ground The posture of pretending to be dead, after the fight is over, the team leader will go to the big lord or the king to calculate the benefits of dividing up.

The result of this is obvious: the entire kingdom does not have a professional army, nor does it have a unified command system and soldier training rules. The nobles use various methods to piece together their own private soldiers. The weapons are not unified, and the military system is not unified. , the logistics are not unified, and even the army trained by the noble father and the noble son may not be unified-if the relationship between the two is not so good.

In addition to the variety of soldiers, this chaotic military system has also led to a series of other serious consequences: the formation of the army's combat effectiveness is extremely slow, the training efficiency is low, the selection of soldiers is chaotic, and the desertion rate is frighteningly high. If only one strong man is killed in battle, the entire army of soldiers is tantamount to ruin—because they have neither discipline nor knowledge, and all they have learned is to charge with the knights who lead them.

The Cecil family is slightly stronger than other nobles in this regard. As the "Guardian Family of the Southern Border" that defended against monsters in the frontier, even if the Cecil family fell, they still retained the habits passed down from generation to generation: more scientific militia system.

In addition to formal soldiers (that is, family fighters), another source of Cecil's soldiers is the trained militia. Family knights train these people recruited from free people according to standards lower than formal soldiers. Train soldiers in leisure time and farm in busy time to make up for the lack of regular soldiers. At the same time, this method is also used to reserve a large number of reserve soldiers for the territory, because there are many people who have received basic combat training. In case of emergency, they need to be replenished Formal soldiers will be much easier than other nobles.

And Rebecca's expansion of the scope of enlisting militias and converting militias from freedmen to serfs is the result of further development of this system.

But Gawain decided to take it all a step further.

Considering his future plans, he needed a professional, professional army with a stable source of troops, so he simply abolished the system of separating the militia and family soldiers, and instead organized all soldiers into a "combat corps". He demanded that all soldiers must undergo systematic training in a new, uniform way, and announced that they would be paid uniformly.

Previously, the private soldiers of the nobles had no salary. Usually, the private soldiers of the nobles had to prepare their own weapons or buy weapons from the lord at their own expense. They even had to prepare their own food when they went out. In this case, The reason why soldiers are still willing to fight for the nobles is because of the existence of "private plunder": soldiers can plunder on the battlefield and after breaking through the enemy's city, and keep half of the property for their own use. Soldiers' pay.

The situation in the Cecil Territory is different from other places. The Cecil Lords of all dynasties will provide soldiers with weapons and equipment on lease, and distribute food as subsidies for training and delaying farm work during service. Those who do not pay any salary, the food is only enough to make ends meet.

As a matter of course, Gao Wen decided to pay salaries to professional soldiers, and at the same time announced that Cecil's soldiers would permanently prohibit any private plundering.

And if the soldiers want to get promotion or extra rewards, it's very simple: Gawain also promised to formulate detailed references for promotion based on military exploits and various contributions. Behavior, the wealth that can be obtained by fighting the enemy bravely or earnestly executing orders will be more in the future.

This is not a problem, because the Cecil family has always fought against monsters, at most they fought against foreign barbarians in the early years, and their soldiers did not have any private plundering habits at all, and they have always maintained their loyalty to the Cecil family. , Those food subsidies, and various benevolent policies for families who join the army.At this time, Gao Wen just made the "prohibition of private plundering" into a clear law. Everyone didn't feel it, and even welcomed it: After all, Gao Wen promised that even if serfs joined the army, they could rely on their military exploits to be promoted. Privileges only for family warriors.

But the next thing made them feel a little bit: As a reservation and extension of the original militia system, Gao Wen stipulated that all adult men in the territory are obliged to receive basic military training during the slack season. It has become universal and compulsory.

This does not mean that everyone has to go to the battlefield to fight, but to ensure that the citizens have basic military literacy and can be easily transformed into professional soldiers.

If this point was brought up at another time, it would probably cause some dissatisfaction, but at this moment, less than a day has passed since the monster attack, and Gawain Cecil's prestige is unprecedentedly high. Inspired by the facts caused by the camp, this system was announced.

And everyone also thinks very openly: anyway, serving the lord's labor is also contributing, and participating in training at this time is also contributing. If you think about it this way, there is actually no change, as long as you can eat enough.

Besides, if there is a chance to be selected as an official soldier, putting on armor and holding a sword is equivalent to becoming a "half decent person". This is a rare opportunity for most poor people who live in poverty The way out, in front of this way out, it is completely worthwhile to just take out the slack time for training.

The change in the military system cannot be completed in one day, and the details involved are far from being explained in a few words. Considering the audience's acceptance and the complexity of various detailed rules, Gao Wen did not put all his ideas on stage. It was stated in the paper that he only briefly talked about the integration and formation of all soldiers into "combat corps" and basic military training before leaving the high platform. As for the real details... then he will discuss it with the two knights and Hetty.

Moreover, what he announced today was just laying the groundwork. To put it bluntly, considering the current status of the territory, what he said was even a bit too advanced—there were only more than 800 people in the pioneering land, and they were drawn out for training. There are only a hundred soldiers, and these 100 people are actually the entire "army" of Cecil's army. Its scale is completely different from the future that Gao Wen envisioned.

And don't look at only one hundred, the military-to-civilian ratio has actually reached the point of insanity - one-eighth of the population has been transformed into professional soldiers, just looking at the ratio is almost the word "militarism" written on the face, high In Wen's impression, the military-civilian ratio of a kingdom in a state of world peace is usually between [-]:[-] and [-]:[-], or even lower, and even in times of war, this ratio will not exceed one-tenth—— Unless there was a life-and-death battle or a nomad who was all soldiers like the northern barbarians back then.

And on his territory, one-eighth of the people are soldiers!

If these are full-time soldiers, it means that almost all the property output of the camp will be used to support this one-eighth full-time combat population, and all development will stagnate as a result, and social stability will also decline accordingly. Therefore, all the soldiers in the territory are not full-time now. They usually train and guard, and they have to participate in the construction of the camp and land reclamation work when they have time to ensure sufficient labor force.

This made them similar to the Construction Corps, and fortunately for Gao Wen, the soldiers had no complaints about this.

Part of the reason for this is that more than half of the soldiers are militiamen, which themselves belong to the category of not being out of production. The best fighters will not become old-fashioned soldiers who eat too much and are lazy, which is why this situation is now.

Even so, this one-eighth soldier ratio is not a long-term solution. Gao Wen's next plan is to find a way to introduce more people to make up for the biggest shortcoming of the camp.

If you don’t make up the population, saying anything is just fantasy. Facing the camp with only 800 people and the army of 100 soldiers, to plan a professional and professional modern army. Even if he was hit on the head by the coffin lid without holding him steady, he wouldn't have such a dream.

It's just that he has to set these frameworks in advance, even if it can only be a framework now - because once the influx of foreign population, it will be too late to do a lot of things, if there is no mature and stable framework to support , all the efforts he made here will be diluted by the mixed new population.

After the assembly was dispersed, Gawain immediately summoned the camp managers including the two knights, and this time he also called on Norris, the farmer who had been adapting to the position of "Agricultural Supervisor" for more than ten days, and Hammer, the blacksmith who has taken charge of the steelworks.

Chapter 0095 Veronica

The management personnel of the camp were summoned to discuss the future path in Gao Wen's tent.

Amber sat on the seat next to Rebecca in a dishonest manner, twisting and looking around from time to time, as if looking for an opportunity to sneak out at any time, after noticing that Gawain had no intention of letting her go, she endured He couldn't help muttering: "It's said that if you want to have a meeting, you can have a meeting, why do you have to call me here - I don't understand what you said."

"The main reason for putting you in sight is to prevent you from going out to harm others," Gao Wen said casually, then ignored Amber's grinning expression for a moment, and went directly to the topic, "I called everyone here because I wanted to start To illustrate one thing - the crisis is not over yet."

Rebecca immediately opened her eyes wide, and looked at Gao Wen blankly: "Ah? Haven't we already repelled those monsters?"

"That's the key," Gawain shook his head, "We just repelled them once, but won't they come again?"

Everyone at the scene looked at each other in blank dismay, and Farmer Norris, who was called to such an occasion for the first time, shrank his neck subconsciously: he was not frightened by Gawain's words, in fact he didn't notice what Gawain said just now What, this simple old farmer just feels awkward staying here as his own identity. Everyone around him was something he had to look up to in the past, but now they all sit with him, which makes him extremely nervous .

Hammer, who was sitting next to him, performed well: Although the blacksmith was also a commoner, but because he was in charge of smelting steel for the lord all the year round, he had a lot of experience in contacting the nobles, and he seemed very calm at this time.

Hetty noticed Norris' nervousness, but she didn't say anything, but continued with Gawain's topic: "Ancestor, haven't you confirmed the integrity of the Great Wall? Its self-healing ability..."

"It's fixed itself, but I'm not sure it's going to break," Gawain said. "Let's be clear, folks—we've just solved a crisis, but it's not a complete, A victory that can make people feel at ease. The magnificent wall is not a creation of gods. Even if it is a miracle, it is already a miracle 700 years ago. This time, the monsters wandering from the wasteland of Gondor are enough to show that this wall is not omnipotent Yes, the wall is aging now, so we have to prepare for the possibility of it failing again."

Amber pinched her chin and muttered, "Then why not run away..."

"Where are you going?" Gawain glanced at the half-elf, "Once the majestic wall collapses, the pollution will spread to the entire continent, and besides, you think that everyone is like you, and hundreds of people can scatter out at the slightest sign of trouble." Kilometers, and you can survive in any corner, right?"