Sword of Dawn

Hetty looked at Gawain with worried eyes: "Ancestor, you don't have to comfort yourself like this..."

Gao Wen: "...Why do you have a tendency to be Rebecca?"

"what?"

"I'm talking about the top... You don't understand after all," Gawain waved his hand and turned to look at Jenny, "Let the past pass, Miss Jenny Perot, you have arrived at your new home, Put aside all your fears and worries, you can continue your own research, openly, and do whatever you want, I not only allow, but I will support you, every month from now on you can Go to Hetty to get the materials for rune research, I only have one request—"

Jenny never expected that Gao Wen would declare his support for her so frankly and even enthusiastically. She was still immersed in great shock, and at this moment she just asked subconsciously: "What request?"

"Sort out, summarize, and summarize your research into formulas and theorems that are as simple and understandable as possible," Gao Wen said while looking at the notebook on the table, "I can tell from your notes that you are a practical You are a good researcher, you are good at using experience to pile up these calculations, and there happens to be a person in my territory who can complement you—my descendant Rebecca Cecil, she is extremely flexible and very Girl who is good at mathematics, I will let the two of you study these things together. I hope that what you finally come up with can be a book..."

Gawain stopped suddenly when he said this, as if he was carefully considering the vocabulary. It was not until a few seconds later, under the curious eyes of Hetty and Jenny, that he found the most suitable vocabulary: "Textbook, I hope you can put this Everything is organized into a textbook that can be understood by as many people as possible. Of course, this is just the final result, a wish of mine. It will be difficult to realize it. You can take your time, and you can lack anything Tell me."

"Are these...really so important?" Jenny finally realized that Gao Wen was not lying to herself, but she was only puzzled and incredulous after the huge surprise, "Do you want to train a large number of rune masters like me?" ?”

Gao Wen smiled slightly: "Cultivate rune masters? No, I plan to make the contents of this notebook the common sense of every spellcaster in the territory from now on, even everyone's common sense."

After finishing speaking, he stood up, and solemnly pushed the big book back to Jenny: "Keep it away, protect it, and if there is time and opportunity in the future, it is best to make a copy, knowledge is better than books More precious in itself, the writing on its first parts is beginning to fade."

Jenny nodded in a panic: "Yes... yes, I will definitely remember your order."

"Then I'll go first, you have a good rest, and I'll introduce Rebecca to you later."

Gawain and Hetty left the cabin, leaving Jenny staring blankly at the heavy book in her hand.

The burn scar on the left cheek seemed to be starting to ache. This was the first time she walked into the mentor's laboratory and stood on the magic circle as an experimental material. The scar had been with her for five full years. The pain stopped, but for some reason, it started to hurt again.

Then she finally understood that those injuries were actually hurting all the time, but it became a habit to hurt and hurt, so much so that she took them for granted.

To this day, in front of an ancient hero resurrected from 700 years ago, she seems to have lost control, pouring out many things that have been suppressed in her heart for many years, and leaving behind all the numbness and disguise used to relieve pain. It was only then that I gradually felt that I had regained a little... the consciousness of a living person.

It turns out that living people will suffer.

Holding the notebook that carried the behest of three generations of masters and her painstaking efforts for several years, she suddenly burst into tears.

After leaving Jenny's cabin, Gawain's face became gloomy again, and Hetty once again had the illusion that her magic power was going to be frozen. She carefully looked at the face of her ancestor: "You... very angry?"

Gao Wen couldn't help yelling: "It's stupid! Ignorant! Stupid! Ten percent mentally handicapped!"

"You mean... Jenny's mentor?"

"That guy has the nerve to say he's Jenny's 'mentor'?" Gawain snorted disdainfully, "I'm ashamed to be of the same race as him."

"I also think... that mage named William Birkenstock is really stupid," Hetty also shook his head, "I know that traditional mages are very stubborn, but I never thought that there would be someone so stubborn and blind, Jenny We have achieved a lot with Ravencrest, but that William Birkenstock was able to turn a blind eye, and he didn’t take a look at the notebook from the beginning to the end—is he blind?”

Gawain snorted, "Blind? Of course he's not blind, he just perfectly conforms to the code of conduct of his class - why do you think that William Birkenstock ignored Jenny and Ravencrest Results, ignoring the fact that those formulas exist?"

Hetty speculated: "Because Jenny and Ravencrest are weak? So their research is not credible?"

"This is only a secondary reason. The real reason is that Jenny and Ravencrest are slave apprentices and slaves," Gawain had already seen through all of this, "this is enough for the magician to regard them as two people." For 'another species' different from himself, did he 'deliberately' ignore Jenny's achievements? No, not at all, he didn't even notice Jenny's achievements from the beginning, he didn't look at them at all , didn't even think about it. All he noticed was that his slave didn't obey orders."

Hetty: "..."

After a while, she asked: "We can send a letter of protest to the king. With your duke title, it is impossible for the king not to react. That great magician is more or less..."

"No, I don't like protesting, because it's useless." Gawain waved his hand vigorously, "Since this patchwork of 100 people has already arrived in the territory, do you think the king will be afraid of my protest? It is indeed the capital of the king. The powerful nobles in the city joined the team, but since the team can start, it means that Francis II at least acquiesced to this matter, so why did he acquiesce?"

Hetty quickly realized: "Because he has fulfilled the 'proprieties' and 'rules', as a king, he has no other faults."

"That's right, everyone in this era only recognizes the etiquette and rules of nobles."

"Then this matter..."

"Don't worry, Hetty, don't worry," Gao Wen let out a long breath, and laughed slowly, "Etiquette and rules won't protect them forever."

Chapter 0111 One Small Step

If he hadn't personally experienced and seen it with his own eyes, even with the memory of Gawain Cecil, Gawain would probably have a hard time understanding why this world is mired in the mire of civilization retrogression, why after so many years, civilization has not Without the slightest recovery, it showed signs of ossification and retreat.

A research manuscript, with four previous masters, decades of accumulation, study, and summary, produced results that could shake up the world structure, but it was almost destroyed in the hands of the ancient powerhouses of this era. Jenny and her predecessors Perhaps they are rare talents, but their encounters are not uncommon in this world.

Here is a typical example: on the land of a nobleman, a serf suddenly thought of a good way to manage the land, or discovered a problem with the tax collector. He decided to tell his lord what he found, and the result would be what is it

Many people would think that the serf would be punished for touching the lord's property, or slandering the tax collector, but this is often not the case-because they never get in front of the lord, and never have the time to speak their minds.

The punishment they face is often something else - how dare you tread on a nobleman's courtyard with your bare horse-dung feet!

What if he was wearing shoes?

Then they will also be dragged away by the guards-you have shoes? !What a steal!

Obviously, no one cared what the serf discovered from the beginning to the end, and no one knew what he really wanted to say. As a serf, he was not convicted for his words, but for his breath.

Serfs were not yet qualified to be convicted of crimes for speaking.

This is a social ecology that is difficult for people from modern civilized society to understand. It is absurd, stupid, weird, sad - but true.

Did Jenny and Ravencrest's research work?Of course, although those rough and primitive theories have not been sorted out, there will still be situations where they cannot explain real phenomena, and even cause major practical errors, but at least most of the time, those formulas are effective, otherwise Jenny would not Possibly becoming a fourth-level runemaster: As a runemaster with only apprentice-level spellcasting ability, all she can rely on is the formulas and logic summed up by three generations of predecessors.

Is Jenny's mentor really stupid?Of course not, at least in terms of intelligence, it is impossible for a great magician to be stupid. A stupid person cannot master complex spell models and rune calculations, so that great magician must be a person with high intelligence.

What led to the final tragedy was neither that there was something wrong with the notebook, nor that Jenny's "mentor" was so stupid that he couldn't see the value of the notebook, but that the latter didn't pay attention to the notebook at all, and he didn't even pay attention to it. But Jenny, all he cares about is that his slaves are transgressing the rules, just like the nobleman in the story who whipped his serfs for stepping barefoot into the courtyard.

Walking on the road, Gao Wen kept thinking in his mind. He found that the situation was indeed as he expected: the world has reached the time for change, and both technological and ideological breakthroughs have accumulated a lot. In a small number of low-class groups, this kind of change is happening, and even has already happened-they came into being silently and ended silently. The inability of the changing group makes it impossible for those things that should be epoch-making to spread upwards. The so-called change of the times is out of the question, and this is the crux of the world.

But the situation did not make him happy as he expected.

God knows how many other geniuses like Jenny are being crushed in that stale quagmire, buried, wasted, and sacrificed, just like Ravencrest!

And before his plan comes true and completely changes the status quo, how many people will not wait for the day when they see the dawn?

He returned to his tent with a slightly heavy heart. As soon as he entered, he saw the little maid Betty squatting next to his desk: the little girl should have just finished cleaning here, and her clothes looked dusty, but But she didn't notice it, she just squatted quietly on the ground, using the twig to draw on the ground and practice writing.

It wasn't until Gao Wen approached that Betty woke up. She looked up and hurriedly got up: "Master!"

Looking at this innocent little girl, Gawain inexplicably felt that his depressed mood slowly eased. He gently stroked Betty's hair: "Didn't I give you a set of stationery? Why are you still using branches here?" writing?"

Betty blinked her eyes, as if a little shy: "I... can't write well, always make mistakes, and worry about wasting ink and paper. I want to practice on the ground first, and then use ink to write the letters correctly. Washi..."

Gao Wen opened his mouth a little unexpectedly. He wanted to tell the other party that although the territory cannot produce paper and ink yet, it is actually not short of money at all. After the completion of the wharf along the Baishui River, it is much more convenient to purchase things from Tanzania Town than before. But after thinking about it, he just smiled and shook his head, and found a small wooden stick from the side, squatting down beside Betty.

"You're not holding your pen right—although writing with a stick on the ground is not the same as writing with a pen on paper, you still have to practice holding a pen if you want to write well."

While talking, he held Betty's hand, guiding the little girl to hold the "pen" in her hand in the correct way, and write letters one by one on the ground.

"Don't use too much force. Writing is different from working. You can't write well with great strength. Too much strength will make you tremble."

"It doesn't matter if you write slowly, you are just learning, take your time."

Betty was engrossed in studying, her eyes were shining brightly, this little maid who was always known as a clumsy and reckless image seemed to be a different person seriously at this moment, she was so devoted that even the tip of her nose leaked tiny The sweat beads didn't bother to wipe.

Gawain let go of his hand, watching the little girl slowly complete the letters, and wrote a few crooked words on the ground: "Betty... likes... here."

After finally writing a complete sentence, the little girl looked very happy. She raised her head and looked at Gao Wen with sparkling eyes: "It's finished."

Gawain looked at the little girl's bright eyes: "Do you like this place very much?"

"Well," Betty nodded vigorously, then thought for a while, and nodded vigorously, "I like it."

"why?"

"Because everyone is a good person, Miss Rebecca is, Mrs. Hetty is too, and you, my lord, and Miss Amber, and Knight Philip and Byron, and everyone who works outside, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Hammer, Norris..." Betty said as she wrung her fingers, as if she wanted to mention everyone whose name she could remember, and finally she couldn't count, so she stopped, "Everyone It’s all good, and everyone loves the place.”

"Does everyone like it too?"

"Well! Everyone said it when they finished their work and chatted. They said that the master is... how should I put it, a powerful and upright noble master. As long as the promises made are fulfilled, he can go to the battlefield to protect everyone. , and the most important thing is to feed everyone.”

Gao Wen didn't take up the fight.

The food in the territory is not self-sufficient. Nowadays, whether it is food, meat or other non-staple food, it actually comes from the purchase of Tanzan Town. In other words, they don't see any difference in it.

According to Norris, as long as they wait until the Frost Moon, the first batch of fast-growing crops can be harvested quickly under the ripening of druid spells, and then the food in the territory will not be a problem.

Letting everyone have enough to eat is enough to gain loyalty in this era.

Betty didn't hear Gawain's reply, but she didn't care, because she had already lowered her head and started to practice writing. Looking at the little girl with a devoted face, Gawain suddenly asked seriously: "Betty, do you want to write?" Do you go to school?"

The little maid didn't realize it all at once: "Go to school? What do you study?"

"Reading and writing, calculation, history, maybe even... runes and magic circles," Gao Wen said slowly, "there are runes and magics that ordinary people can learn, believe me, there will be."

Betty thought about it carefully, then lowered her head: "I can't learn, they say I'm stupid."

"Then do you want to learn?"

"...Yes, but who will cook?"

"You can study when you are free, such as two hours before going to bed at night," Gao Wen laughed. "As long as you want to study, there will always be time."

This time, Betty could only nod.

However, the two did not continue on this topic, because soon it was time to prepare dinner. As the cook, Betty heard the sound of a brass bell ringing outside, so she quickly got up and put away her twigs, and followed Gao Wen bowed and ran out quickly.

It wasn't until Betty's figure disappeared outside the curtain of the tent that Gawain turned his head slightly and said to the seemingly empty tent pillars, "Come out, how long do you plan to stay there?"

The air there twisted slightly, and Amber's figure emerged out of thin air. She leaned on the pillars of the tent, her face full of surprise: "How did you find me? How long have you found me?"

"I've seen it since you leaned on the pillar and secretly made faces at me," Gawain gave the half-elf an annoyed look, "I know you are confident in your stealth skills, but you don't open them in broad daylight." It's a bit insulting to my IQ to just stand in a place less than three meters away from me in the shadow cover, okay? Do you think the knight's perception ability is poor?"

"Tch, I thought you were totally concentrating on teaching that little girl to write just now, and you wouldn't even notice this." Amber curled her lips and muttered, and then sat down on the desk next to Gao Wen with a flick of her figure, and continued He just sat there without saying a word, but stared straight at Gao Wen, and after a while, he looked at the latter with a hairy look.

"What are you looking at?" Gawain couldn't help asking, "Is there something on my face?"

"You are such a strange... nobleman." Amber said out of nowhere.

"what?"

"It's nothing," the half-elf lady waved her hand, "I'm just curious, you said before that you want everyone to be able to read and write... so you were not joking?"

"Why are you joking?" Gawain laughed. "Not only is it not joking, but I want you to call Heidi and Rebecca right now, and I want to talk to them about this matter."

Chapter 0112 Talent and Population

Hetty and Rebecca were called to Gawain's camp, and after hearing Gawain's thoughts, the two were startled as expected.

"Education? Teach every commoner and even serf?" Heti's eyes widened, and he almost lost his demeanor completely, "And it must be listed as the law of the territory, and everyone must receive education like paying taxes? !"

"That's right, reading and writing from now on will not only be a right, but also an obligation," Gawain smiled, seeing Hetty, who had always been mature and stable, startled by him. Quite a pleasing thing, "Everyone in the territory now must be able to read and write, and the people who come to this land in the future must also be able to do this, otherwise they will not be able to survive in the new order I am promoting. "

Hetty showed a thoughtful expression: "The new order..."

Rebecca next to her was more practical, and she immediately thought of how difficult it was: "Master Zu, it is not so easy to teach an illiterate commoner to be a learned and reasonable person. It requires a literature teacher. Mathematics teachers, history and geography teachers, teachers who teach swordsmanship and riding skills, and one or two naturalist instructors. Even if these relatively basic courses are completed, there are also super-difficult and super-difficult subjects such as art, etiquette, and heraldry. It’s not enough to take these courses for more than ten years!”

Gao Wen was dumbfounded when he heard this, and just as he was about to explain, Hetty in front of him covered his forehead and said, "Rebecca... not everyone has to study etiquette and heraldry for more than ten years, and in fact you I haven't learned them yet..."

Rebecca was stunned for a while: "Eh? Is that so? Why do I remember that my etiquette teacher said that I have already graduated..."

Hetty had a look of resentment: "Because he really can't beat you!"

Rebecca: "..."

Amber, who was standing behind Gawain, laughed suddenly, and the whole tent was filled with joyful air.

And Gao Wen had to quickly interrupt the topic of the two eldest granddaughters who had become more and more biased: "Stop, stop, talk more and more, I think you have misunderstood what I mean-what I said is education and education. The kind of education you know about cultivating heirs is completely different, I don’t want to cultivate a nobleman or a trainee priest, but to cultivate talents with reading, writing and mathematical logic, and remember, it is a large number of cultivation.”

As he spoke, he shook his head: "The method of finding a large number of famous tutors, studying from early to the end every day, and educating several young masters and ladies in more than ten years will not work here. The education I want is very simple: For working adults, two hours of basic general education after work every day, literacy and numeracy are enough; for children who are not yet able to take on work, half a day of education is given, and the other half day is reserved for them to help their parents with work at home .”

This kind of "superficial" and "cheap" education method is really unheard of, and Hetty couldn't help but frowned: "In other words, their minimum standard only needs to be able to read and write, and teachers only need this level... What is the use of such a basic education?"

In fact, she still didn't say half a sentence: Why do commoners and serfs need the ability to read and write?

If it was her before, she would probably just blurt it out, but now she is not so sure, because she has actually seen the other side of commoners and serfs, and Gao Wen mentioned once before that everyone in the territory should be literate. The plan is equivalent to giving her a vaccination—it's just that she didn't expect her old ancestor to play the real thing, and he would play the real thing so soon.

"If you can read and write, you can understand the truth, take on more complicated tasks, understand the thoughts we convey to them, live more clearly, and become more useful talents," Gao Wen smiled, looking at Hetty, "maybe Some people are indeed destined not to become magicians and knights, priests, or awaken extraordinary talents from birth, but the vast majority of people are born with acquired knowledge, at least in this respect, fate is relatively fair."

Hetty didn't realize what Gawain was referring to at first, but she quickly thought of a person—a silver-haired girl from the capital who had just met today.

She finally showed a horrified expression: "Ancestor, don't you plan to... add rune theory to those general education courses?"

"That's an intermediate and advanced course, but why not?" Gawain smiled, feeling unprecedentedly excited and happy, "Recall carefully, Hetty, the formulas and theorems recorded in that notebook... which one is Is it related to magic talent?"

Hetty opened her mouth, and finally made a sound after a while: "No, no, those... are all pure calculations!"

"That's right, that notebook confirmed an idea I had before, that is, the gap between extraordinary power and ordinary people is not as big as imagined, and perhaps this kind of power does favor those with special talents, but since It is a natural phenomenon, so it doesn't make sense that more than [-]% of the ordinary people in this world are isolated from it just because of a mere talent problem," Gao Wen said, with a sigh in his tone, "Runes and magic have their own meanings. Regularity, and summing up the law... requires wisdom, not strength."

Yes, mortals can also touch the superhuman realm, even if they can never cast a spell themselves, they can also use the "leverage" of mathematics and logic to establish indirect contact with supernatural power, and as long as they have contact, then The frighteningly large "number of mortals" can almost destroy the old order - Gawain is convinced of this.

Hetty pondered in astonishment, and finally asked a question hesitantly: "Do most people... really have this kind of wisdom?"

"Your tone is hesitant, which means you have the answer," Gawain looked at Heidi with a half-smile, "Are you still not sure that they are all the same people as you and me? "

"I understand." Hetty took a deep breath, "I will make preparations. First, select people who can read and write from the 100 people from the capital to serve as the most basic teachers. Everyone's labor and study time."

"Remember, the most basic reading and writing skills," Gao Wen nodded with satisfaction, and emphasized, "and we can't delay the construction of the territory. Neither teachers nor students can be full-time at this stage——teachers who teach reading and writing are leaving get out of class After that, you have to participate in labor.”