Sword of Dawn

Page 148

He tossed and tossed for a long time, until he was about to spit it out.

Gao Wen supported the table and sat back on his chair, thinking that he couldn't continue playing - he really should vomit after playing for a while... If Amber came back just in time, he would lose face completely.

Not long after he sat down like this, there was a sound of footsteps outside the study door.

Gao Wen knew that this was definitely not Amber - after all, Amber seldom came in through the door, let alone the sound of footsteps.

Hearing the heavy and powerful steps outside the door, he suspected that it was Byron in full armor or some burly guard who came to report the matter.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door, and he responded, and the door of the study opened. Reverend Wright stood in the doorway, eye to eye with him.

Gao Wen: "..."

No wonder the pace is heavy and powerful!

Chapter 0355 New Sanctuary

Seeing Pastor Wright standing at the door, Gawain's first reaction was a little surprised - this pastor rarely came to see him.

Gao Wen usually pays a little attention to Wright's activities. After all, this is the only missionary in the territory, which can be regarded as an extension of the Church of the Holy Light in Cecil Territory. His connection with the Church of the Holy Light is worthy of Gawain's attention, but after a period of observation, he found that this Mr. Wright is really a person who abides by the precepts of classical priests—almost all of his daily The activities revolve around the church, praying in the morning, blessing the holy water, entertaining the believers who go to the church to pray, distributing cookies (although it seems that they are rarely sent out), and going to the city to preach in the afternoon. The basic way of preaching is to help Every household is working, and while working, they are preaching the benefits of being close to the Holy Light, such as no sore waist and no pain in the legs... In the past few months, he has developed a group of believers...

Other than that, this pastor has no extra activities at all. One of the few times he went out of the city was when he heard that someone was injured on the construction site, so he ran to help, and the other few times he heard that the workers The cafeteria wanted to improve the food for everyone, so they went to the forest to the west and hunted down a dozen bears. In those few days, there was a wild legend in the town of the lumber mill, saying that there were giants in the forest, and they chased bears all over the mountains and plains all day long. run……

Recalling the pastor's deeds, Gao Wen's mouth couldn't help trembling, but because he just played satellite VR so much and now he is still in a state of wanting to vomit at any time, his expression soon became extraordinarily tense Seriously (mainly because he vomited without straining), looked at Wright and asked lightly: "Mr. Wright, do you need me?"

Wright didn't know why Gawain's expression was so serious. He just immediately thought of the refugees who had been taken in not long ago, and the news that the Church of the Holy Light was crowding out believers of other gods in the central region, which should have been heard by the lord. , So he associated these two things with his own identity, and said proactively: "My lord, I am not here to ask you to expel those innocent people."

Gao Wen didn't know where this sentence came from: "Huh?"

Wright looked serious: "Your expression is so serious, aren't you thinking about the persecution of those believers of alien gods?"

Gao Wenxin said that his serious face was because he felt sick after playing too much VR, and it had nothing to do with the persecution of the Ability God believers—but then he reacted, and forced a smile with the corners of his mouth, and was quite curious. Looking at Wright: "You mean those blood gods and shadow believers who fled here from the Plain of the Holy Spirit... You mentioned 'persecution' just now. It seems that you don't agree with the actions of your fellow church members in the Plain of the Holy Spirit?"

"I... still can't believe that they have become so paranoid," Wright showed a sad expression on his face, and slowly clenched his casserole-sized fists, "I have listened to the experiences described by those exiles. My gut tells me those guys are honest, but... I'm still skeptical."

"I have heard that the improvement of divine arts has made it easier for the new generation of priests to grasp the power of the Holy Light, so the old method of rigidly adhering to classical virtues in exchange for the affinity of the Holy Light has gradually become obsolete. A belief has become a craft—so I am not at all surprised at the speed of the decline of the clergy in the most prosperous and most prone to corruption in the central region," Gawain leaned back on the back of the chair, his eyes Looking deeply at Wright, "Of course, I also understand your wavering and doubts. After all, you accept the same Holy Light teachings as them, but you are completely different from them."

Wright seemed to hesitate for a moment, but under Gawain's gaze, he still stated his purpose: "My lord, I hope to go back and see for myself."

"I guessed it," Gao Wen said lightly, "then who is going to take care of your church?"

"I'm here to tell you about this," Wright nodded, "I promised those exiles that they can go to the church for help at any time, but now I can't help but want to go back to the Plain of the Holy Spirit, so I I hope you can send someone to take care of the church temporarily - there is no need to hold any services, just keep the church open and someone to clean it, so that the believers have a place to go when they want to pray. And I have left enough amulets in the church and holy water, I'll be back before those things run out."

Then, the pastor saluted Gao Wen solemnly: "I hope you can agree to my presumptuous request."

Looking at Wright with a serious face, Gawain couldn't help but nodded with a slight smile: "The operation of the church is also a part of the territory's affairs, and your willingness to hand over the church to the management of the government affairs hall is also a manifestation of your adaptability to Cecil's law. I agree, you can leave at ease."

Wright bowed his head deeply: "Thank you for your understanding."

Looking at the only priest in the city, who also had a painting style quite to his liking, Gawain couldn't help asking: "When are you going to leave? Do you need an escort or any other help?"

"Thank you for your generosity. I set off in the last two days, but I don't need help," Wright shook his head, "How did I get here, and how can I go back, and the congregation helped me raise the travel expenses, so I can still take a caravan car go."

Gao Wen casually took out a blank document from the stack of papers at hand, wrote something on it, and then said while printing Duke Cecil's seal: "Go to the business district to find the clerk there, The day after tomorrow, a caravan will leave for the Holy Spirit Plain, and they can take you along. This is your official document."

After receiving the documents, Wright saluted again to express his thanks, and was about to leave, but before he left, Gao Wen suddenly stopped him again.

"General Cecil accepts believers from various sects who have been persecuted and can be proven innocent," Gao Wen looked into Wright's eyes, "as long as they are willing to abide by the rules of Cecil's beliefs and obey the rules of this land , people who have been exiled can also find asylum here. Can you accept this?"

Wright hardly hesitated: "It should be so—protecting the innocent is also one of the teachings of the Holy Light."

But then the pastor showed a worried look: "But my lord... you must know that once you accept those exiles openly and on a large scale, it will greatly stimulate the Church of the Holy Light. Although you are now A small group of exiles has been accepted, but after all, it can still be covered up in the term of exiles, and the concept of accepting exiles on a large scale is a completely different concept."

"Of course I know," Gao Wen said with a normal face (the aftereffects of VR gradually improved), "but I don't think that Cecil needs other people's permission to accept the refugees. And I don't believe that the priests who expelled the refugees would do anything for this matter." The Holy Spirit Plain is chasing here, unless those refugees are really the so-called "evil god's favored"——For what reason those refugees were exiled, I think those priests who collect the ransom money know it well."

"Since you have plans, I won't say more." Wright looked at Gawain's face and swallowed all the words of dissuasion. He gave a deep salute in the form of a believer of the Holy Light, turned and left the study.

After Wright left, Amber's figure gradually emerged from the window, and the half-elf lady said with a raised tone, "Although she is a believer in the Holy Light...but this Wright is quite interesting."

Gawain sensed Amber coming in just now, so he wasn't surprised at all. He just turned his head and glanced at the half-elf: "The things are put away?"

"It's been put away, and the door to the treasure house has been sealed according to the containment rules," Amber waved her hands. "Speaking of which, what do you think of the recent changes in the Church of the Holy Light?"

"On the surface, it seems that he was stimulated by the activities of the cultists, so he took a drastic 'purification' action, but in fact, I think this is just a well-founded and premeditated expansion and embezzlement," said Gao Wen He snorted softly, "Since the establishment of the holy covenant, various sects have maintained peace for 700 years, but not everyone wants to keep it so peaceful—and for sects composed of mortals, eternal peace itself Unlikely. Each church wants to develop, expand its influence, and earn glory for its own gods, but there are only so many potential believers and land available for missionary work, and conflicts are inevitable. I believe that each sect is privately They all have a heart to become the only one in the world, but the sacred covenant is always pressing on their heads so that they can't move, but if there is a chance—”

"So the Holy Light Sect can't help it, right?" Amber curled her lips, "It's really a simple and easy-to-understand process. But to be honest, are you really not afraid of provoking those priests with brain problems? They are super difficult to deal with Yes!"

Gao Wen smiled slightly, stood up from behind the desk, and walked slowly to the map of the southern border hanging on the wall of the study.

"Let's be exciting, this is the southern border - the Cecil family has fallen, but they have been operating on this land for 600 years before they fell. The command I left back then, the church cannot surpass the kingship, although the descendants are not up to date The family was ruined, but at least they did a good job in implementing this order, this southern region is not the world of their Church of the Holy Light—nor is it the world of any church!"

Amber blinked, stared blankly at Gao Wen for a few seconds before muttering: "It turns out that besides the nonsense you talked about after drinking with the king, you also left a reliable ancestral teaching... But how did you back then? Thinking of leaving such an order? At that time, you thought that the church would develop and threaten the local government?"

"I... I wasn't so prophetic back then," Gawain smiled lightly, but he couldn't help but think of what he saw in the dream with the lantern, the leaders of several major sects wearing spacesuits and setting off to find the Kingdom of God. The scene, and after that, the Druids of the Holy Spirit School, the Church of Dreams, and the Church of Storms degenerated into the three major dark sects. In the end, Selina Geerfen, who had become the leader of the cult, emerged in his mind. He sighed softly Tone, "If you have seen the three dark sects 700 years ago caused too much turmoil after their sudden fall, you will understand why the kings and lords of our generation are so wary of uncontrolled church arms... ...Unfortunately, today, 700 years later, the royal power has not improved, and the power of various sects is getting stronger day by day—even cults are getting stronger day by day."

Amber stood beside Gao Wen silently for a while, and then sighed: "Hey..."

"Why do you sigh?"

"I don't know - I see you sigh and sigh along with it."

"..."

Not long after that, as the merchants of the Cecil Chamber of Commerce walked around and the secret activities of the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau, a new news spread quietly.

It spread first in the South and then all the way north, word of mouth among those displaced by ransom payments, heresy trials, and conversions:

Cecil Territory is the "new sanctuary"...

Chapter 0356

For Gao Wen, whether to accept those who were exiled by the Church of the Holy Light is actually a question that does not need to be considered at all-for the Cecil Territory, which is undergoing rapid development and is full of new orders from beginning to end, the people of this era Any group of people must be polished into qualified parts of this industrial machine in the shortest possible time after being thrown into it. No matter whether you were a believer, a nobleman, a businessman, or a slave, the first thing you do after entering Cecil is to face To the buffer camp, and then undergo a long period of indoctrination and transformation, work in factories, attend classes in barracks, and grow into a glorious and qualified Cecil citizen on the territory...

This is an era when all kinds of publicity and education methods are slow and backward. The impact of Cecil's industrial system and education system on the aborigines of this era is extremely powerful, and the identities of these aborigines before entering the territory... For this In terms of land, it doesn't really matter.

Or in other words, any aborigines in this era are actually unqualified for the magic industrial society-since everyone needs to transform their education before they can be useful, the difference between everyone is only limited to the speed of transformation Difficult question.

Of course, admitting those exiled pagan believers might indeed bring some additional troubles, which Gawain had also thought about.

The Church of the Holy Light may make moves, and may spread some rumors in areas where they have a strong influence, but no matter what, these troubles are within the scope of Gawain's acceptance.The southern region is not dominated by the Church of the Holy Light, so the church's slander and restrictions are at most turbulent in the Holy Spirit Plain, and in the face of Gawain Cecil's natural prestige, the church's slander and rumors dare not be too public.Let's take a step back—even if those fanatical believers of the Holy Light really resist the Cecil Territory, so what?

Gao Wen's future plans were destined to conflict with the stubborn forces in the Holy Spirit Plain...

Pastor Wright left, and left with the caravan on the territory. This pastor will return to the place where he started his mission—or the place where he was originally exiled, to witness with his own eyes what the priests of the Holy Light want to do.

And more people are pouring into this brand new land of Cecil Territory.

As the weather continues to get warmer, the water level of the Baishui River rises with the injection of snowmelt from the snowy mountains. More and more large merchant ships appear on the river. At the same time, land transportation is gradually reactivated. The north-south road (connecting the main city of Cecil and Kant area) and the east-west road (built along the Baishui River, connecting the main city of Cecil and Tanzania) are in constant communication. They transport a steady stream of raw materials into this place and at the same time There is also a steady stream of people.

Through overt or covert methods, Cecilland has earned a huge amount of wealth from alchemy potions, mining equipment, and magic net technology, and these wealth are consumed at an alarming rate and transformed into production materials and industrial population. the land.At the beginning, the gold coins received by the territory every day would make Heidi, who is the "big steward", tremble, and then seeing the gold coins spent by the territory every day, her heart trembled even more—but after such a long period of time, After tempering, she was finally able to face these numbers calmly, and recognized what Gao Wen said:

Growth is change, moving money is real wealth, and gold coins piled up in castles are nothing but shiny piles of metal.

Traditional nobles are used to accumulating wealth. They use various means to plunder gold and silver and always accumulate them in the castle, or replace them with more expensive things and accumulate them in the treasury. Hetty once believed that this is the right way for the family to accumulate wealth. means, but now she finally understands that spending gold coins is sometimes the way to grow wealth faster...

On the dock square, on the high port watchtower, Gao Wen, who came to inspect, was looking down at a group of ragged people moving slowly on the west side of the square. Syl soldiers controlled order from the sidelines.

An hour ago, an exceptionally huge wooden boat docked, and hundreds of people came out of the cabin. According to intelligence, these people were exiles from the western region. After the equipment was sold to those aristocratic territories with mines in the west, a large number of mine laborers and slave laborers lost their homes. Advanced mining equipment can replace hundreds of thousands of manual laborers, and the common people of this era are almost There is no such thing as "deposit", so wherever the mining equipment is sold, the miners there will collectively go bankrupt in large numbers, and the lords and nobles of this era will not support excess population: in terms of their productivity, every A person who does not work is a mouth for nothing. In the absence of a sound industrial system in their own territory, they have no way to convert these surplus population into productivity, so the only option is to expel the extra people. .

These people are the "raw material" for the further expansion of Cecil's magic industry, but before that, Gawain must remind the people around him.

He tilted his head slightly, and told Hetty who was standing beside him: "In the near future, the security of the buffer camp will be increased, and all the new immigrants will be scattered and placed in different camps. In addition, arrange a group of people who have already worked in the factory for a while." The old immigrants from time to time went to the camps as "life mentors" and told the new immigrants the benefits of working in factories and living in the territory. Finally, the territory must be prepared and the work, residence, and education of each immigrant should be arranged in advance."

"Yes," Hetty nodded in response, but then asked, "Are you worried that so many people will cause trouble?"

"The large number of people is not the main reason, the important reason is that they just lost their jobs," Gao Wen said with a serious expression, "Unlike the refugees we accepted in the past, most of the people who came to the territory recently lost their jobs because of 'machines' .”

"...They came here with hatred?" Hetty was very smart and quickly realized, "Will they hate Cecil?"

"No, according to the knowledge and courage of most common people in this era, they will never, and dare not, hate the lord and the land of the lord, but they will hate the machines that cause them to lose their jobs. This kind of hatred is blind, but it is The only outlet they can think of,” Gao Wen explained, “These people don’t understand Cecilland. They came to this land to find a way out, but they certainly never thought that they were going to deal with machines. We must You have to do the guidance well in advance.”

"Yes, I understand," Hetty lowered her head slightly, "but is this kind of guidance enough?"

"Enough. These people are not mobs. They came to this land only to survive. As long as survival is guaranteed, then the hatred for machines will easily disappear," Gao Wen said lightly, "But in other places The situation is different for those places that only know about the introduction of mining equipment but have not thought about the follow-up issues."

Hetty fell into deep thought immediately because of Gawain's words, while Gawain raised his head and looked towards the window of the observation deck.

A figure emerged from the air and turned into a petite girl——Amber jumped over the window sill like a dexterous swallow, landed lightly in front of Gao Wen, raised her hand and handed over a small scroll: "Information!"

Gawain took the things Amber handed over and looked at the window sill behind him, but finally he didn't hold back: "You have turned over the windows of the watchtower! You don't think it's hard to climb up such a high wall?!"

Amber was not ashamed but proud: "For a shadow master like me, if there is a shadow in the cracks in the bricks outside your tower, I can climb up along the cracks~~"

Gao Wen didn't pay attention to this guy anymore, he just opened the scroll casually, and the content on it came into his sight:

The Duke of Loren in the East has recalled more than half of the high-ranking knights in the territory... A messenger from the direction of Winter Wolf Castle has entered the territory of Ansu...

This is a piece of information from the Eastern Territory. It is the latest news that the military intelligence bureau spies who entered the Eastern Territory along with the merchant group after Cecil's alchemy and pharmacy merchant group finally extended their channels into the Eastern Territory.

Gao Wen rubbed his hands, and the note was turned into ashes in his hands, blowing away with the wind.

"It seems that the kings and emperors on both sides have already dealt with their domestic stalls..."

Hetty also saw the contents of the note just now, and couldn't help asking: "The negotiation is finally about to start?"

"That's right, but it won't affect the Cecil Territory," Gawain nodded, and then said with a faint smile, "Neither our king nor Typhon's emperor should wish to have any conflicts in such a negotiation." An old ancestor is guiding by the side—it’s not that I have no right to speak on the issues of these two countries, but that my right to speak is too great, so much that they are more qualified to speak. So let them make a fuss on their own, Let’s develop ours.”

Ansu East Territory, the land guarded by the Luolun family, Changfeng Fortress.

Silas Roren, Duke of the East, stood on the high city wall, overlooking the vast plain east of the city wall.

The snow has melted for more than ten days, and there are still dots of white dotted on the Great Plains, and some new greenery is another embellishment besides white, the white snow that is about to melt and the green grass that is blooming Appearing together on this yellow-brown land, it seems like the handover of cold winter and warm spring.

This made Duke Silas Loren couldn't help but think of what was about to happen on this plain—in a sense, the two countries ended the century-long tense confrontation and re-signed a peace agreement. Let's change from winter to spring.

With such thoughts in mind, Duke Laurent turned his gaze to the distance, and in that far away place, he could vaguely see a city that was being built.

That is a place prepared for negotiations—located in the buffer area of ​​the border, the "balance point" where the border fortresses of the two countries can directly take care of, attack, and protect directly. Within the month, regardless of the cost, a "Contract Fort" will be built there to serve as a negotiating venue for the leaders of the two countries, and it will remain as a symbol of peace between the two countries for a long time.

Apparently, the two countries building a new castle together, rather than negotiating in any of the fortresses they already have, is an ostensible symbol of peace, but a lack of trust.

But it doesn't matter, the negotiation is a foregone conclusion.

Chapter 0357 Public Security Issues

During the third week of Recovery Moon, Cecil ushered in a light rain.

Norris, the director of agriculture, stood in front of the farmland that had just been leveled, watching the farmers busy in the field—they were carrying metal boxes that were similar in shape to the combat backpacks of those combat soldiers. The rods are connected, and as the user presses those pressure rods, the nozzle at the front end of the iron pipe can spray a large amount of liquid evenly.

That is the "sprinkler" newly manufactured by the third workshop of the Machinery Manufacturing Institute this spring. It is said that it is a new thing invented by Ms. Rebecca. It does not use the slightest magic device inside. Can learn to use.Using this sprinkler, a farmer can complete the workload of several people in one day, and its function is very simple, that is, to quickly and efficiently sprinkle the alchemy potion on the farmland.

The mist sprayed from the sprinkler has a slight blue-green glow in the sun. These magical mist will work quickly after touching the land, soaking the soil and decomposing the plant debris in the soil, and at the same time Harmful mana accumulated in the soil is released—plants will continue to accumulate specific types of mana or elements in their root systems during the growth process, and this enrichment of mana or elements will cause the yield of various crops to decline year by year and quickly become wild This is the common sense that all farmers have, and there are usually only two ways to deal with it, either fallow and rotation, using two or three years of fallow in exchange for rebalancing the land's magic power and fertility, or using druids Potions or fertility spells to adjust the land.

The former is a waste of time and land, while the latter is expensive and hard to come by.

But in Cecil Territory, everything is not a problem.

The operation of the alchemy factory has brought an incredible supply of alchemy potions to this land. Under normal circumstances, agricultural growth promoters and earth rejuvenation potions, which are always in short supply, are directly distributed to every farmer by the government affairs department here. It is also for this reason that spring farmers can use frighteningly efficient devices like "sprinklers" to spray precious alchemy potions, so that every inch of land can be fully maintained.

Seeing the medicine mist infiltrate the land little by little, causing the whole farmland to glow with a faint magical radiance, Norris himself even felt a feeling of finally tasting the rain after a long thirst. He knew that after the land was adequately maintained, How much food can be grown, and this food is the lifeblood of people - all this should be thanks to the efforts of the lord and the smart people in various research institutes on the territory.

So what unexpected things will those smart people come up with that can change the entire territory in the future?

In the government affairs hall located in the central area of ​​the territory, Gao Wen met Hetty who had just completed the latest census.

"We have welcomed the [-]th settler in the territory," the beautiful lady reported the good news excitedly upon seeing Gao Wen, "On the cargo ship that arrived at the Whitewater River wharf this morning, there was a A batch of farmers from the western region have completed their registration, and they have already reported to the buffer camp."

When he was in the government affairs hall, Hetty would usually wear a plain black dress and put her hair up high. Looking at her like this, the words "professional elite" couldn't help popping up in Gawain's mind. Hearing the other party's report, he couldn't help showing a smile: "It seems that the Xicheng District, which has just completed expansion in winter, will soon become lively."

"Yes, it's all thanks to the news we actively disseminated to the outside world last year, as well as the results of the caravan activities," Hetty said happily, but then she frowned slightly, "But recently There are some problems... As the population of the main urban area increases, especially the crowds from various regions, fights and fights occur from time to time. Although the newly established security team is actively dealing with it, the order has not been affected, but It's a bad trend..."

When the territory was first established, the law and order in the camp was maintained by soldiers. However, after the initial development of the territory and the original camps became urban settlements, Gao Wen set up a "security team" separate from the army. Specially responsible for maintaining order in the territory and dealing with security issues within the territory, the knight apprentice named "Krim" accepted by Byron was the first sheriff of the security team.

So far, this security team, which is independent of the military system and directly responsible to the government affairs department, has done pretty well, but it is clear that the root cause of the recent problems in the territory is not as simple as "there are too many people, so there are fights".

Hearing what Hetty reported, Gao Wen didn't show any surprise on his face. In fact, he had heard about the recent increase in fighting incidents in the territory - the reporter was Amber.

"I know about this situation," he nodded to Hetty, "Amber mentioned it to me three days ago."

"Amber..." Hetty looked surprised, "Is she still doing business?"

"... Occasionally, I do something serious." Gawain's mouth twitched, and he smiled helplessly in his heart: that half-elf wandered around the territory whenever he had free time every day, going to various departments to eat or running into the streets and alleys. Playing tricks on passers-by, Gawain said her behavior was fishing (this kind of statement once aroused Tyre's dissatisfaction), but in fact, the half-elf lady really can do some serious things-she will put all her possessions on the territory She reported what she saw and heard to Gao Wen. Although in most cases, she just thought it would be interesting to come back to BB after running wild outside like this, but Gao Wen did learn about many changes in the city in the process.

Hearing her ancestor's explanation, Hetty also smiled helplessly: "That guy... well, it is still useful. But ancestor, the issue of law and order still needs to be dealt with. Although fighting is a trivial matter, this trend It’s very problematic to continue to develop.”

Gao Wen had thought about this matter a few days ago, and now he heard that he asked Heidi a question: "Have you ever thought about how the leaders spend their free time every day?"

"Killing... free time?" Hetty was stunned for a moment, obviously she hadn't thought about this question, and after thinking about her situation carefully, she answered uncertainly, "I don't know how they do it , I can only say that I usually read magic books or study astrology in my spare time..."

"Ordinary people don't have this condition," Gao Wen shook his head with a smile, and then looked at the clock hanging on the wall (due to the existence of mechanism engineers and mechanism technology, mechanical clocks have long existed in this world), "like this Well, it's time to rest, you come home with me, and I'll show you something."

Hetty didn't know why, but she obediently followed Gawain back home, and what Gawain showed her made her even more confused.