Conquering alien worlds starts from the game

The reason why Barton can naturally say "the more people who can't live on, the more cultists" is because Barton was originally from the bottom.

He was born in a family of ordinary citizens in Inadoli. When he was a teenager, he was like a young man in a slum like John. He was with his friend Sam Hank who lived on the same street, doing odd jobs on the street to subsidize his family.

Teenagers who grew up on the streets had very cheap lives.

When rich young men of the same age as them are going to school, dating, and fighting in elegant colleges, street teenagers like Barton and Sam are carrying heavy bags and shuttling through the alleys full of sewage. I was sweating profusely helping people move, and was fighting with my peers for a "business" of a few copper coins...

People who waited for work on the side of the road fell asleep forever while waiting. People who worked together yesterday heard that they ate unclean things and died of abdominal pain in the middle of the night the next day. Or people who have known each other for several years He stole the bread and was taken away by the city police superintendent, and he was never seen again...Barton had seen many similar things in his youth.

Bread cannot be exchanged for praying, and not everyone can receive the gift of the gods. This is the reality that Barton realized deeply in his youth.

But for Ben Ham Walton... This kind of common sense that street teenagers can understand has troubled him for many years.

Walton has a middle name from the godfather. He was blessed and baptized by the Sun Priest when he was born. His family was once prominent in the Kenyan Empire.

When the Walton family was defeated due to the defeat of the territorial war, the desperate Walton had to become a night watchman, and at the cost of 20 years of youth, repaid the defeat compensation of [-] gold coins-for Walton, this was already the last Painful, worst, most unbearable memory.

But for ordinary people... Walton's experience is as magical as a legend—a total of [-] gold coins!How many people will not earn so much money in a lifetime, no, in a few more lifetimes!

Not to mention that after Walton retired, because of his outstanding performance and pious faith, he directly became a knight of the Holy See of the Church of the Sun, and obtained the title of fief, leader, and head of the order.

Any commoner of the Kenyan Empire, if he heard Walton lament his life face to face, he might laugh and shed tears of envy and hatred.

Of course, it is impossible for Walton, the head of the dignified church, to have a heart-to-heart talk with a commoner. According to his past life trajectory, he will probably never know how much survival is for ordinary commoners. difficult.

Until he was forced to live in Westham, a backward and remote border town, as a prisoner of war.

To this day, Walton still feels a little harsh when someone utters blasphemous words in front of him boldly, but he will no longer interrupt or refute. He just sits quietly and listens quietly.

Recruiting refugees is not difficult. The nobles led by Adler are eager to see how far the poor households who cannot pay taxes can go as far as they can. Maybe if Inadoli speaks here, this group of people will take the initiative to drive the refugees here.

The source of population is not the problem. What really becomes the problem is how to smoothly digest the refugees into their own free citizens—legal citizens who have the ability to create wealth and pay taxes legally.

The city hall did not allow Wagner to take office empty-handed to develop the new town, and the financial appropriation gave [-] gold coins. Of course, it was not cash—the city hall couldn’t come up with such a large amount of cash—but various materials, Aid payments, such as food, seeds, farm tools, and subsidies for the opening of stagecoach routes have to be paid out of this loan.

As soon as he took office, he would have to bear a huge debt of up to [-] gold coins. Wagner's pressure can be imagined... His face of vicissitudes and fatigue is completely from the heart.

Barton, who has done practical work, can understand the difficulties of the old boss. He first explained the situation he clarified to Wagner: "All the buildings in the valley have been rebuilt into residential houses, and the upper limit of living can be about [-] households. Some people need Sharing a room, it is not recommended to plan a one-family one-bedroom plan for the time being.”

"Based on an average of five people per household, about 3000 people can be accommodated. Let's calculate with 3000 people. Before the first crop can be harvested in autumn, the food that needs to be consumed...clothes...salt oil and coal vegetables..."

Barton picked up the pen and scribbled on the paper for a while: "——The most conservative estimate is that the consumption for people's birthdays will start at [-] gold coins, and I estimate that we may need to invest more."

Wagner took a deep breath, and the "plan deficit" of 5000 gold coins made the low-level non-commissioned officer dizzy who had been most worried about his life whether he could get the full pension.

Barton, a caring and good brother, continued to advise his old boss: "Of course, this money can also be saved a little bit, such as vegetables. A vegetable field can be opened on the west side of the town near the river. Water spinach and lettuce grow Plant a batch of vegetables with a short cycle first, and the harvest can be harvested in two to 30 days, which saves the consumption of transshipment from Inadili."

"In terms of daily fuel for residents, the trees felled during the pioneering period can last for a while; when we go to clean up the black market stronghold here, we can also ask whether there is an open-pit coal mine on this land. If so, the fuel expenditure will be considered. It was saved..."

"In terms of organizing land reclamation, there will be undead consuls who will come to assist you, right? I can also give you some of the grassroots talents unearthed during the organization of spring plowing in Yongwang Town, but these people do not have official job quotas. It’s a subsidy given to temporary workers by the Logistics Department, and you have to pay for the wages and benefits yourself.”

"No problem, the money can still be squeezed out." Wagner breathed a sigh of relief, his brother is still reliable, "I still need a group of people who know how to organize the construction of farmland water conservancy..."

"The undead engineer I brought to repair the irrigation canal borrowed it from Westham. I haven't returned it yet. Why don't I send it to you first? Remember to return it before next year, or Tuttle Joe's side It's hard to talk." Patton patted his chest generously, "What are your plans for the distribution of land?"

"Let's allocate according to the best plan of the owner farmers calculated by the city hall. The adult labor force has ten acres per person, and the minors have three acres. Anyway, it's all wasteland, and you need to reclaim it yourself. It can be implemented within three to five years."

After a pause, Wagner pressed his forehead and sighed: "The land in the south may have a land deed in the hands of an Adler nobleman. In order to prevent someone from asking for money with the land deed in the future, we will have to work hard to change the terrain in the next few years. It’s another big project to make it so those guys can’t find the land there.”

Barton nodded sympathetically... So, he is not jealous at all of this controversial site - it is best that Wagner can always be the home here smoothly, lest the city hall throw him over one day Save the field.

Next, the two of them continued writing and drawing, thinking about how to make good use of the limited manpower and material resources at hand to survive the first year in the new town...

When Barton suggested that Wagner have the cheek to intercede with Brother Rowell, ask Rowell to help speak, and let the lord Yang Song let a branch of the Undead Chamber of Commerce come to the new town, Walton, who had been listening for a long time, couldn't bear the shame Live and start pumping.

The Undead Chamber of Commerce can supply cheap salt, and there is a problem with transportation costs when returning to Inadoli from New Town to purchase salt. If the Undead Chamber of Commerce can open a branch, it will directly save the transportation cost of the New Town... This is These two are the core purpose of this idea.

Walton, who used to be the young master of a great aristocratic family, has the most delicate attitude towards this matter-Patton and Wagner Peter, these two big soldiers and low-level non-commissioned officers who came out of the local lord's army in a small border country, There is no consideration at all for passing on the transportation cost of edible salt to civilians.

This kind of thing is easy to do, just raise the price of salt.

The refugees absorbed by the new town are temporarily unable to buy high-priced salt, so they owe it first and use the land they reclaimed to pay back... In this way, Wagner-Pitt can easily get a large piece of land that belongs to him, even if one day he is not The lord of this new town is gone, and the lands still belong to him.

Many aristocrats started their businesses in this way, using the power of a sesame seed to hoard land. The more land they own, the more money and power they will naturally have.

Of course...Walton is also very clear, based on the results of his silent observation for more than half a year, if Wagner-Pitt dares to move his mind, the city hall will dare to smash him to the end, confiscate his illegal gains, and pay huge sums of money... …

Walton has never seen the level of seriousness and strictness with which the Innatrix City Hall supervises its own internal consuls and affairs officers. It is even more serious and rigorous than the church’s attitude towards the supervision of suspected cult members—they will It is presupposed that everyone will be overwhelmed by greed and reason, and will use public power to do things up and down. On this premise, a series of strict rules and regulations and regulatory procedures have been formulated to strictly guard against death.

When the consul or affairs officer completes a certain decree issued by the city hall, the city hall will also arrange batch after batch of inspectors to visit the local area and double-check it—such as the broadcasting village-to-village project implemented by the whole collar. As far as Dunton knew, the Westham Town Hall would randomly select officers to go to the countryside by bicycle to make inspections every once in a while. If the radio station in any village was not operating normally, they would find trouble with the relevant personnel.

Even during the spring plowing period, the spring plowing work in various villages in Westham has special operators watching...Which village has a lower area of ​​wheat sowing than in previous years, and how many wheat fields have been diverted to sow soybeans (due to the emergence of oil extraction workshops) , soybean prices are rising steadily), the village head will be called to the town hall to severely reprimand.

Walton once believed that Westham Town Hall (at that time he did not know that the town hall was doing the same thing) was putting the cart before the horse, and such a strict and procedural supervision system should be used to monitor more harmful to society. It is right that it is a big cult, and he has boldly complained to Brother Lowell - Brother Lowell is from the Prosperity Church, he himself is from the Church of the Sun, both belong to religious figures, and he thinks that Brother Lowell should have a relationship with him common language.

Brother Lowell's reaction at that time is still vivid in Walton's memory... The black-robed inspector smiled strangely at that time, and said to him: "Didn't you notice, Walton, the people of Westham There are even fewer prayers to Lady Gold Coins, so how could you turn to evil gods?"

What Walton felt at the time was like a thunderbolt suddenly exploded on the flat ground.

The black-robed inspector of the Prosperity Church smiled again, and said to Walton with emotion, but also with loneliness: "Maybe this is the world Yang pursues, spellcasters always put their prayers to the gods like this." Seen as weak, as undesirable."

Walton remembered that he asked the black-robed inspector at that time. He remembered that he was very angry at the time: "This is not the right thing, inspector. How can people slack off their belief in God? This is blasphemy!"

The black-robed inspector was silent for a long time before answering him like this: "I can't judge whether this matter is right or wrong, Walton, I haven't found the answer yet. If you need a clear answer, then use your own eyes to see it." Observe, and think with your heart."

Walton has been searching for answers ever since.

But now, witnessing the conversation between the two new land lords of Innadrix, Walton could feel that some of the questions in his mind had been answered.

"So, it's not that Brother Lowell doesn't have an answer... It's just that he knows that this answer is difficult to convince people, and he needs to let me find the answer myself."

Walton thought silently in his heart, and could vaguely understand Brother Lowell's mood at that time... the kind of loneliness and melancholy that could not be understood by outsiders.

It's not that people are slacking off praying to the gods for blasphemous purposes, it's just that people don't need to pray so often anymore - when people have lords and consuls who are thoughtful about their lives, their survival, people It is no longer necessary to pin all your hopes on the gift of God.

The promises and temptations of evil gods no longer have such terrible power to attract people to fall.

Walton once thought that it was the righteous god who resisted the erosion of the evil god, and that it was the righteous god who protected all living beings.

He once firmly believed in all of this, and it was this belief that supported him through the 20 years of night watchman career that faced the darkness.

In the end, Walton discovered—what he hated, what he hated, the crimes he had risked his life to eliminate, and the great and honorable existences he served, believed in, and insisted on... It's actually two sides of the same coin.

Thinking of this, Walton only felt the pain in his heart trembling, which made him have short-term breathing difficulties, and even the world in front of him gradually began to blur.

"Walton?" Barton noticed the strangeness of his new colleague and called out in surprise.

"...Nothing." Walton took a few deep breaths and forced an ugly smile, "It's just an old problem."

Barton glanced at Wagner, saw that Wagner had no special expression, so he didn't go into it, and continued to discuss with Wagner about the support and assistance that Yongwang Town could provide.

Under the grandiose banner of helping the old boss, in fact, Patton was just playing the role of "reliable old brother" conscientiously to eliminate hidden dangers for himself. Mei, a townsman in the western town of Adler, arrived in Innad in a carriage. stand.

Except for the young people who were sent in the same batch as Mei, the young people who were sent to the literacy school were the wounded patients who needed treatment, and the city hall paid great attention to them; as soon as the convoy entered the city, someone came up to pick it up, and all the wounded were removed at the city gate... …City Hall needs to isolate these patients for treatment until it is uncertain whether the illness of the injured is contagious.

A group of teenagers like Mei were taken directly to the Youth Home in Xinfeng District to settle down—the buildings in the original clubhouse area were very spacious, and it would be wasteful to use them to renovate private houses, so they were all used as public land for public welfare.

The Boys' House is two four-storey buildings with pointed peaks and white walls. The first floor is the activity center of the "socialized education" activity center of the city hall. Public bathrooms, toilets, kitchens, and canteens are all on the first floor; Large dormitories with 12 people per room and 18 people per room, separate for men and women, fully closed management.

Adler's Mandarin accent was not much different from Inadler's. Mei could understand what the staff was saying, but it was a bit difficult for her to understand what was said, and many things exceeded her common sense.

In a daze, she was dragged out of the carriage, followed in a queue to receive daily necessities, and allocated a dormitory; until she was brought to the double-height iron frame bed, someone pointed to the second-floor bed and told her that it was When it came to her future living space, Mei couldn't even react.

"...If there is something I don't understand, I will ask the head of your dormitory in the future. She is the one." The staff called a little girl who was shorter than Mei and introduced, "Her name is Jenny. You are two years younger, but you are already an old man here."

The girl named Jenny wore pigtails and a beautiful flower-shaped plastic hair ornament tied at the end of the braids. She waved cheerfully to Mei: "Good day, my name is Jenny."

"I, my name is Mei, good day." Mei was a little ashamed of this pretty little girl, and responded nonchalantly.

"I'll leave it to you, Jenny." The staff was very busy, and left after patting the little girl on the shoulder.

"Don't worry." Jenny nodded like a little adult, and enthusiastically took the small bag of daily necessities she just received from Mei, "Every person in the dormitory has a bed, and a table with a cabinet and drawers. There are ready-made ones, but the quilt and table have to be applied to the dormitory aunt, I will take you to find the dormitory aunt."

Mei was embarrassed to ask a girl younger than her to help her carry things, but she didn't have the courage to come back, worried that the other party would think she didn't win, so she nodded awkwardly.

Jenny, the 11-year-old head of the dorm, didn't care at all whether Mei couldn't let go. She generously led her downstairs to the dormitory steward to apply for a table bedding, and asked the passing boys to help carry the things upstairs.

"In the dormitory where our girls live, boys are not allowed to come in after five o'clock in the afternoon. It doesn't matter if it is before five o'clock."

"There is no class on the weekend. If you want pocket money, get up early tomorrow morning. We can go to the bar area to find some odd jobs. My suggestion is to help Mrs. Hank's deli. Mrs. Hank is very generous , will send some unsold food to the part-time workers, which can be taken back as snacks."

"The morning after tomorrow, I have to go to school. When I hear the bell ringing, I have to get up and wash up. I have to go to the cafeteria before seven o'clock, otherwise I will be robbed of all the delicious food..."

"The school is right next to it. Did you see a house with raspberries outside the wall when you came here? That's it..."

Jenny seemed to like talking a lot, and she babbled a lot to Mei. Amidst the little girl's twittering voice, Mei, who was restless, gradually calmed down, as if seeing her future life trajectory, and gradually looking forward to it in her heart.

Putting the table she received on the space between the beds, Jenny instructed Mei to put the daily necessities in the drawer under the table, and the girls in the dormitory also gathered around to help make the bed.

"Did you just shave your hair? Then you haven't used shampoo for a while, can I exchange my soap with you for shampoo?"

"Don't listen to Jenny's advice to work in a delicatessen, why don't you go with us to the garment refurbishment factory outside the city, as long as you sort out the bundled clothes and wash them, the work is very easy, similar to what you do at home , I can change into beautiful clothes with just a few days of work!"

"What's wrong with the deli, you were all very happy when I introduced you to it before!"

"You just like to eat the snacks given by Mrs. Hank, hahaha..."

The youngest girl living in this dormitory is 11-year-old Jenny, and the oldest is a 17-year-old Beastman girl. The Beastman girl patted her chest and said to Mei boldly: "It's easy to go with them." It's not good for you, why don't you go to work on the farm with us, and you can carry a bag of potatoes back after a day of work."

The girls immediately booed, "Who is going?", "Don't listen to her," and "Boys can't do it."

Mei could feel that these girls were showing kindness to accept her, but it was this kindness that made Mei panic; she was too inferior, she was not even sent here by her parents to go to school, but because After being sold by her family as an item, she came here by chance—she even feared for no reason that everyone would look down on her and reject her after knowing her origin.

What makes Mei even more embarrassed is that no matter who these girls are, they don't seem to be in the same world as her - all of them have rosy complexions, full cheeks, and neatly dressed It was clean, and there were quite a few people with beautiful hair accessories and bright and exquisite hairpins tied on their hair.

When the girls talked about the "celebrities" in the school and a cousin who was Caroline's girl, Mei felt that she was out of place with these girls... She didn't know the Caroline that everyone was longing for. who is it!

Mei, who harbored great fear in her heart, only felt that hearing the girls' laughter was a kind of torment.

After struggling until the lights were turned off, Mei climbed onto the bed and lay down on the clean sheets distributed to her by the dormitory staff. She touched the soft sheets, the soft and clean quilt, and felt the mattress under the sheets. The fear in her heart did not dissipate. , but more and more intense.

Can she really have it all?

To live in a big, nice house with nice girls, be friends with them, own the same things, go to school together, do odd jobs for pocket money—can she really have it all?

These... are not all just dreams, are they?

Could it be that when she falls asleep, someone will wake her up and tell her not to continue having sweet dreams?

Mei really couldn't believe that she would be the lucky one - in the home she grew up in, all she had was a corner with some dry straw; Sometimes she even forgets whether she has had lunch.

What she didn't get at home, can she really get it in this strange place where she has never been?

Mei trembled uncontrollably, her eyes widening in horror.

After an unknown period of time in the dark, under tremendous pressure and fear, this girl who had experienced drastic changes in her life at the age of 13 finally couldn't control her emotions and cried bitterly.

The girls in the same dormitory were alarmed. Some jumped out of bed barefoot and ran to Mei's bed, and some turned on the lights.

Under the concerned eyes of the girls, Mei seemed to be someone who had done something wrong, crying and apologizing in shame: "I'm sorry, I can't lie to you, in fact, I am...I was sold by my parents... "

She told her story intermittently. She was sold by her parents to the casino in the town for one gold coin, and then brought to a small town in the wilderness, where she was sold to a merchant from Takia for three gold coins. Team.

Hearing Mei Liansheng's apology, the girls in the same dormitory looked at each other blankly.

"This...it seems that you are the one who was sold, and you didn't sell others, so why do you have to apologize?" The orc girl scratched her scalp in puzzlement and said, "Many of my people were sold Innadri came, do we all need to apologize?"

"That's right, it's so strange." Another orc girl said confusedly, "Why are you crying? It's not your fault."

Mei, immersed in pain and unable to extricate herself, couldn't help being stunned.

A girl let out an "ah" and suddenly said: "Don't you think that you are disgraceful about being sold out, and are afraid that we will look down on you?"

Mei felt a pain in her heart and silently lowered her head.

"No way!" The girl who saw through Mei's little thoughts couldn't laugh or cry, "Didn't you hear Miss Clerk say that all the people who live here go to school for free and don't pay a cent, because if If the school charges money, our family simply can’t afford the tuition, let alone girls like us.”

The little girl Jenny understood why her new roommate was upset, she pointed to her nose and said, "I'm sure I won't look down on you, Mei, my family used to live in a slum outside the city, my family and I Neither of my elder brothers went to school, and my elder brother John was arrested and sent to fight in the war!"

Another girl said: "My father is a bad gambler. He was arrested and sent to the Tarantan Wasteland to do hard work. I heard from Miss Clerk that he would not come back in a few years. Fortunately, he was arrested, otherwise Even if it is a free school, I have no way to go to school, he will definitely force me to work to earn money for him to gamble."

Mei opened her mouth wide in shock.

The girls chattered about their backgrounds. The teenagers in the Boys' Home were all orphans without guardians, or those who had no fixed residence at home, or those whose families were far away and unable to take care of the children. No one is born in a good family - it will look like they were born in a good family, but they have a good look after eating a lot of food for several months and regular work and rest.

Jenny's elder brother John is digging river sand in the knight's collar of the orange cat boss. Her mother also has a job and is not in the city. She and her second brother Barry both live in a youth home.

Understanding the knot in the heart of the new dormmate, the little girl who was elected as the head of the dormitory despite being the youngest climbed onto Mei's bed, patted Mei on the shoulder like a little adult and said, "Don't think too much, since you are here Here, just go to school hard and strive to graduate early, so that you can start working early, earn money to support yourself, and don’t worry about being looked down upon.”

As she said that, the precocious little girl proudly patted her chest and said, "My mother used to be a washerwoman and didn't have a formal job. She attended night classes in our school for more than two months and her grades were even better than my elder brother's. Now She went to Yongwang Town to become a literacy teacher, and everyone praised her for being amazing! I want to be a teacher like my mother, so you can join me!"