Sword of Dawn

Page 201

Jibri was still a little nervous, but she had calmed down a little. She nodded: "Yes, that was my previous experience."

"Amber once recommended you specifically. She said that you have great talent," Gao Wen said. "It is said that you are eloquent, very good at deception, and have the ability to adapt to the wind..."

The expression on Jibri's face suddenly became weird and awkward, and she never thought about what good words her former boss—and of course the current boss—would use to recommend herself, after all, that boss didn't have any A few good words have always been a mouthful of gods and ghosts. For many years, they have relied on excellent escape skills to avoid being beaten to death by their enemies. Saying it out of your mouth...that would be a bit exciting.

Fortunately, Gao Wen quickly relieved the "witch" lady: "Don't be nervous, I know Amber's word habits, and I can filter it myself to know what you are really good at. You are a talent in speech skills, and You should know how to arouse people's resonance and recognition in words, right?"

Jibri was a little embarrassed: "It's just some... unremarkable things."

"It's a talent that comes in handy, and I happen to have a mission for you that requires your talent. Mind you, this mission will have a very profound impact on your career as an MIB operator, but it It's really important," Gao Wen said while taking a stack of papers from the side, "You have to take a look at these things."

Jibri curiously took the papers, and was surprised to see that there were vivid pictures on them—she thought of oil paintings at first, but soon she found that the completely realistic black-and-white pictures were very different from the painter's works. The same, and the contents of those pictures are not full of artistic scenery and portraits, on the contrary, they are almost not artistic at all, and they are not pleasant.

She saw grim-faced priests and discipline monks beating the people, saw people dressed as soldiers dragging residents from civilian houses to the street, saw people in priest robes directing soldiers to set fire to houses, and saw knights of the Holy See taking property from The civilians took it away, and the blood-stained people fell to the ground and begged...

Many pictures are not very clear, and the angles are not suitable. It feels as if they were secretly recorded by the side, and this kind of angle just gives people who look at these pictures a strong sense of substitution, as if All of this is happening right in front of your eyes, at this very moment...

And more importantly: even in the least clear picture, the hideous expressions of those priests, priests, and Holy See knights are the clearest and most complete.

A strong disgust and resistance rose in Jibri's heart—because she had seen the above scene in reality, and even experienced it before.

It is normal for a witch who fled from another place and is not a real transcendent, but has one or two hands of magic skills and uses "witchcraft" such as divination to "confuse the people" to be rejected by the local church Once encountering a crime related to extraordinary power, he is the first to be suspected. It is commonplace to be expelled and beaten at every turn. Even if nothing happens on weekdays, he will be blackmailed by the church or the lord. ...

There are many people who believe in the Holy Light, but in this world full of religions, there are also many people who reject the Holy Light, and among those who live at the bottom of society, there are even people who have no faith everywhere, and they are more or less "Mage Apprentices" The Jibri is even more so.

Gawain watched Jibril's expression change, and calmly took a magic device from the side - the structure of the magic device was like a simplified magic net communicator, and the number of magic lines on the triangular base was very large. Less, but its top is inlaid with a high-quality projection crystal.

Gawain put the device on the table and activated it under Jibri's curious gaze: "Look at these pictures again."

The magic device was activated, and the picture stored in the crystal was projected immediately—this time, Jibri saw the dynamic scene directly, and saw the scene of church members beating civilians in the street.

The picture is short and shakes violently, obviously it was recorded under panic and covert circumstances.

As an apprentice sorcerer, Jibri is not surprised by the magic device that can project images, she is just curious about the content of the screen: "My lord, these are..."

"What has happened and is happening in Luan City," Gao Wen said seriously, looking into Jibril's eyes, "I ask you, after seeing these portraits and images, if you tell me what you see and think What would you say if you told more people and made those people realize the dark side of the Church of the Holy Light?"

Jibri seems to know what her mission is, she said while thinking: "Too direct criticism and cursing may be very effective for those who are against the Church of the Holy Light, but it is not good for neutral people and the Holy Light." It may be counter-productive for the church's advocates. State the facts in the most neutral way possible, and say 'the church has always been so dark' as plainly stated as the truth, will get the most resonance. Also Associating the victims in these images with those who received the propaganda makes people who hear about these things realize that they themselves are the people who can be beaten, looted, and burned at any time. If you don't mind making up some extra information, I can also make up a series of backgrounds outside of these pictures..."

"We don't need to make up anything, we just state the facts," Gao Wen said lightly, "We only need to state the facts, and that's enough."

"Just stating the facts is enough to achieve the effect you want," Jibri said immediately, but then frowned, "It's just that there are too many people in the southern border, those who believe in the Holy Light, those who believe in alien gods, those who have no faith... That's a huge number..."

As a smart person, Jibri has fully guessed the Lord's intentions, and as a person who does not believe in the Holy Light, she has no resistance to this matter. The only thing she is curious about now is that her card can only be used normally. To convince the mouths of three or two people, how to do what the lord asked——

The lord specially summoned herself, and collected the information in front of her (although she didn't know how to collect it, because she hadn't had time to see the printing factory and magic network communication equipment on the territory), the picture must be in the whole Attacking the Church of the Holy Light within the southern border, this kind of thing cannot be done by just one or two eloquent people.

Gawain looked at Jibri's face and smiled slowly: "What if your voice can be heard by people in the entire southern border?"

Jibri raised her head in surprise, looked into Gao Wen's eyes, and then she thought of the incredible things that had happened in this incredible land, and all the surprise in her heart turned into "The old ancestor's coquettish operation will definitely be successful, so don't ask "Just do it" mentality: "...If this kind of thing can really be done...then I have to prepare well."

"Then get ready, Miss Jibril." Gawain stood up and said each word with a pause. "A new war has already begun."

Chapter 0481 Widespread

A new war has begun.

If it was the self who had little knowledge and could only be cheated and abducted in the adventurer's bar in the countryside, I am afraid that she would not understand the deep meaning behind this sentence at all, but for Jibri at this moment, she realized in an instant that she wanted to What an amazing feat to do.

If her voice can really spread throughout the southern border.

If the information in front of us can really be sent to everyone's eyes and ears.

Then...the bad days for the Holy Light Church are coming.

The extreme actions of the Church of the Holy Light did not take place in a day or two. Their behavior of attacking heresy and oppressing civilians has not only existed for a long time, but has also intensified in recent years. However, countless ordinary people still silently tolerate all this, and some even take it for granted It means that it makes people feel as if ordinary people really don't realize the pain and don't know how to resist - but Jibri, who was once a member of ordinary people, knows that this is not the case at all.

The people are numb, but not without any thoughts. They are used to submissiveness, but that doesn't mean they like it.

They are submissive, but the status quo of information occlusion and lack of knowledge prevents them from seeing the dark truth of the church clearly, nor can they imagine that there are other ways of life in the world, and more importantly, there has never been a The voice is made from the perspective of ordinary people.

But after the initial excitement calmed down a bit, Jibri quickly thought of a question: "My lord, these things may really deal a big blow to the Church of the Holy Light, but the God of Holy Light has a lot of believers in the southern border. Many civilians truly believe in the Holy Light, in this respect..."

"That's right, so what I want to do is not to eradicate the Holy Light, but to eradicate the Church of the Holy Light." Gawain nodded, "For those who are devoutly pursuing the Holy Light, I will naturally give them the Holy Light—after that I will Arrange for you to meet with Wright, the Patriarch of the Protestant Church of the Holy Light, so that you can have a good understanding of what the Cecilians' own belief in the Holy Light should look like."

"The patriarch... Wright?" Jibri blinked in astonishment, "That pastor?"

"It's him, but he's not a priest anymore," Gawain laughed, looking forward to what Jibril's expression would be after seeing the white knights who were training in the field, "Miss Jibril, you It’s been too long since you’ve been away, and the changes here are beyond your imagination—experience it with your own eyes.”

The witch Jibri left, and for a while only Gawain and Betty, who was holding a big teapot and wandering in the sky, were left in the reception room. After thinking silently for a while, Gawain looked at the little maid who was in a daze: "Go and call Rebecca!" Come."

The little maid Ji Ling woke up suddenly: "Hey! Good!"

Not long after Betty left, the door of the room opened, and Gawain heard an energetic voice coming from the door: "Ancestor~~ You are looking for me?!"

"Yes, let me ask..." Gao Wen turned his head to the door while responding, but the moment he saw Rebecca, his original words turned into an exclamation, "You finally set the house on fire?!"

He stared dumbfounded at the little granddaughter in front of him—half of the roe deer's face was smudged black, and even the clothes and hands on the upper body were covered with black ash. It looks like she just blew up the magic technology research institute Everyone believes it.

Gao Wen still remembered that the last time Rebecca appeared in front of him, he almost blew up the laboratory - this silly roe deer with clever ideas tried to use a big fireball to rub a 1:1 statue of the ancestors, but it ended up pinching The fireball exploded when the left leg was touched... Gao Wen still doesn't know whether to be surprised by the girl's thinking circuit, or whether she should be surprised that she can persist until three-quarters of the pinch is squeezed out...

Did this girl play with big fireballs as plasticine since she was a child?

When Rebecca heard the old ancestor's words, she stuck out her tongue in embarrassment: "That... I was in the kitchen just now..."

"What are you doing in the kitchen?" Gawain was stunned for a moment, "Steal something and accidentally dropped it on the stove?"

Rebecca put her hands on her hips, confidently said, "I'll make bone soup for you!"

Gao Wen was even more confused: "What are you doing with stewed bone soup?"

"Aunt Hetty said that you are old and your bones are not good." Rebecca sold her aunt without thinking about it, and realized belatedly after the sale, "Oh, yes, Auntie won't let me go with you. You say. But I think you'd be delighted if I cooked for you myself!"

Gao Wen: "??"

What a mess!

Even if he combined the knowledge of the traveler and the experience of the satellite elite, Gawain couldn't figure out what was going on in the heads of the two great-great-great-great-granddaughters, and Rebecca's head was caught by the city gate, that's all. Heidi actually followed suit...

He finally vaguely figured out whose idea it was to drink bone soup every night these days.

Surprised is surprised, puzzled is puzzled, at least Gao Wen knew that the brat in front of him was trying to show himself—although he messed up everything due to his usual clumsiness, but this kind of intention is worth encouraging, so he had to put a The unrequited love on the face turned back into the stomach, trying to calmly say: "Okay, I know what you mean, but don't be so fussy next time. Where's the soup you stewed?"

"It's too fragrant to hold back."

Gao Wen: "..."

This seems to have nothing to do with the mind...

After holding back his heart for a long time, at least he maintained the majestic expression on his face, Gao Wen almost abruptly dragged the topic to the direction he wanted to say at the beginning: "Let's not talk about this - I came to you to confirm with you The implementation of the magic network broadcasting system, where can we cover the magic network signal now?"

When Rebecca heard that it was serious business, she quickly wiped her face and reported seriously: "On the cross axis centered on Kantland, we have built a backbone network with magic energy relay towers, and now the four newly-built cities The magic network has been connected with the backbone network, and the coverage has been basically achieved. In addition, in some satellite towns that the cross axis passes through, we have also ensured that each town has at least one magic network broadcast terminal, which has passed the trial run gone."

After a short pause, she showed a bit of embarrassment and continued: "The area outside the cross axis has not been covered yet. On the one hand, the construction team cannot keep up. After all, manpower and material resources are limited. On the other hand, the population in those remote areas is scattered. The villages have not yet been merged, and the cost of laying the magic net and setting up broadcasting facilities is not worth it. Moreover, there is also a problem with the production capacity of the magic net terminal, and only half of the production lines of the newly built magic net terminal manufacturing plant have completed acceptance..."

The problems caused by the over-expansion of the territory have existed since the beginning, and they are still fermenting today. The limited manpower, material resources and factory production capacity of the Cecil Industrial Zone limit the promotion of new technologies in the southern border, and also limit the construction of infrastructure.

Fortunately, the merger of villages and towns and population migration that Gao Wen vigorously promoted from the very beginning has been proceeding smoothly. After the population is concentrated in developed areas, the shortcomings in construction capacity and production capacity can be alleviated to a certain extent. Regarding Rebecca’s report In fact, Gao Wen was quite satisfied with the situation.

"Another warm-up and test of the broadcasting system will be arranged in three days - it is almost time to officially come in handy."

The magic network broadcasting system has always been one of the projects that Gao Wen attaches great importance to, but the complexity of this system and the high requirements for infrastructure have also led to it having a longer test cycle and improvement cycle than other magic industry products. Ever since the Battle of Huoyue Rock Fortress ended, and Gao Wen used this system to conduct the first "trial broadcast", the entire magic net broadcasting system has been undergoing long and difficult adjustments and tests—the magic net communication developed in parallel with the broadcasting system It is also perfected step by step in this process.

Today, this system is finally about to come in handy.

Gao Wen thought carefully about what should be the first program to be broadcast after the magic web broadcasting was put into practical use, and bombarding the remnants of the Holy Light Church in the southern border was the best way he could think of, but he didn't think about it at first. Find someone from the Military Intelligence Bureau to do this, but want Wright, a professional missionary, to play in person—when the people's faith is in crisis, and the corrupt church is going astray, in order to save the declining Faith of the Holy Light, The first white knight in human history stood up and became an idol. He found this script exciting even thinking about it.

But later, Amber recommended a more suitable talent to him, that is Jibri, who is eloquent and good at dealing with anyone.

He still remembered that Amber said a very reasonable sentence at that time:

"If you want to use your words against your opponent, it's more effective to be glib than honest."

In short, people who are shameless about splashing dirty water can't do it.

Gao Wen deeply believed that—although what the Church of the Holy Light did was very dirty, even if you don't need to splash it, Jibri is still more suitable to be a professional "news anchor" than Wright.

Of course, according to Gao Wen's standards, Jibril does not fully meet his requirements. What he wants to create is a "media", a platform that disseminates information to the public efficiently and on a large scale. His talent is not just the so-called "eloquence", but there is no way, there is no radio and television school in this world...True professionals can only be cultivated by themselves.

Rebecca, who got the new task, left happily.

It can be expected that the truly practical magic network broadcasting system will show its unparalleled power soon after this.

But the magic web broadcast is still an imperfect thing. Its limited coverage area at the current stage and the limited boot time each day limit its effect. Still a few things from Gawain's original plan:

Newspapers, leaflets, brochures, and preachers in remote areas.

He glanced at the "photographs" on the table from the city of Luan, and then ordered someone to send them to Godwin Orlando.

Soon, the information and images from the city of Luan will be turned into tens of thousands of newspapers and brochures, and they will be accompanied by explanatory texts that resonate with the public and allow people to see the truth clearly. With the help of the magic net file transmission system, They will be printed simultaneously in the printing factories in the main city of Cecil and the four new industrial cities. With the postmen traveling to and from various parts of the southern border, those materials that are enough to shake the Church of Holy Light will be quickly distributed throughout the Principality of Cecil.

Before the priests of Luan City jumped over the wall in a hurry, Gawain would not use a single soldier to attack that city, and even the nearest military blockade had to be maintained five miles away from the city wall.

He will not attack there, because he knows very well that those priests are waiting for his attack - every sound of his magic cannon will add a new batch of martyred saints to the Holy Light Church.

Those priests will not get this kind of opportunity, they will face another level of "offensive", in the face of this "offensive", they will be doomed to miss the "noble".

In the end, they won't be driven out by the guns of the Cecilians, they will be driven out by a raging people.

On that day, the influence of the Church of the Holy Light in the southern border will be completely eliminated.

Chapter 0482

The priests of Luan City didn't know what was happening outside the blocked city walls. In fact, even if there was no blockade, they would not have noticed the infiltration and destruction from the bottom of the people—since the publicity on the square that day After the burning, the city of Luan temporarily calmed down. The priests of the cathedral thought that burning the propaganda materials would solve the problem, at least preventing the further destruction of the Cecils in time. However, in fact, the more turbulent forces were calming Brewing under the false pretense of the world - brewing in every corner of the sealed off city.

Some unexplained gossip began to spread in the city. After dark, people secretly gathered in the house to discuss the dwindling ration supply and the locked gate of the church district. Some people said that they saw cartloads of grain being transported to the church In the district, some people said that the underground of the Luan Cathedral contained enough food to feed the entire city for a year, and some more disturbing news pointed out that the priests in the city were already preparing to flee— Rumors of all kinds bloomed everywhere as if they emerged overnight, and then spread rapidly throughout the outer city.

And more leaflets and brochures entered the city through secret channels in this dark tide.

The burning and burning at the square did have a strong intimidating effect, and a large number of civilians were shocked. Immediately after the new leaflets appeared, many people chose to hand them in, but some people chose to leave those things secretly. Next—On the second batch of leaflets, there are not only the exposure of the Church of the Holy Light, but also a description of another beautiful life: a more enlightened faith, a richer life, and the Holy Light that belongs to everyone, These things are indescribably attractive to the people of Luan who have endured a long-term high-pressure blockade life.

Therefore, while a large number of leaflets were actively handed in, another part of the leaflets was transferred to more secret channels of distribution. They were spread in the back alleys where no one paid attention, in the dark night, and among the hungry and frightened people. , They may be more difficult to spread, but they have left a deeper impression on people's hearts, and in the process, Lu'an City is gradually splitting in an imperceptible way.

The priests in the cathedral will probably never understand why those leaflets are so attractive to civilians, but the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau who are carrying out sabotage operations in the city can deeply understand all this: Before the rise of Cecil, There has never been a group of extraordinary people or aristocrats in this world who would talk to the people with a "human" attitude, even if the conversation is just a few words printed on paper, just a few greetings, a few words of encouragement, and a few words of promise , the temperature they carry is also very precious in this cold age.

The civilians in Luan City are regarded as the upper class among the common people. They are richer, more decent, and have a higher literacy rate than ordinary commoners, but they are only commoners after all. The people in Ancheng are still the bottom group. In the days of peace and prosperity, they may be able to live better than people in other places, but after the situation is difficult, their living conditions will take a sharp turn for the worse. The gap exacerbated the dissatisfaction in their hearts, and created a deeper gap between them and the priests in the city.

Of course, the cathedral is not always unaware of all this—the edge of the church area and the outer city are inextricably linked. As new leaflets were discovered and turned in, the high-ranking priests finally became vigilant. The number and speed of replenishment were astonished, and then searches and interrogations began in various areas. During this process, Bishop François Bereng of Luan specially summoned the entire city residents and gave a sermon on the square , He told everyone that the current difficult situation in Luan City was caused by the blockade of the Cecils, and the Cecils were the chief culprits of the difficulties. Be loyal and face the difficult situation of the present with the utmost tenacity.

This was a successful sermon. Fran Bereng slightly restored the confidence of some civilians. However, after the sermon ended, dozens of civilians who were suspected of discussing the church and leaflets in private were publicly whipped. The whip fell, but more people only accumulated resistance and resentment towards the Luan Cathedral.

It may be the Cecils who blocked the city, but it was the monks who wielded whips and plundered rations. For most ordinary people, they didn't care about the details of this confrontation at all, they only cared about their own lives.

More video materials were immediately transmitted outside Luan City, to the mainland of Cecil, and to the printing factories of the four new industrial cities in the south, where they were turned into tens of thousands of newspapers and sent to The entire southern border.

With the application of industrial printing presses, the circulation and frequency of the Cecil Weekly have greatly increased. Now it can not only be published throughout the country, but also changed from once a week to twice a week, and occasionally an additional one is added. special issue.

The increasingly popular Cecil Weekly now has more and more readers. Businessmen use it to sniff out business opportunities, scholars use it to accumulate knowledge, and literate civilians also rely on it to understand changes in food prices and government orders. Literate people will also gather around literate people and listen to others reading newspapers to understand the changes in this land, because this information is closely related to their basic necessities of life.

Benny, who lives in Carroll City, is a person who has a close relationship with newspapers. He will come to the place where newspapers are sold early on the first and sixth days of every week to get the latest issue before everyone else. The Cecil Weekly, and many, many copies at a time.

Because he is a newspaper boy.

This is a new "occupation", not even considered a profession - in order to make the newspapers go out as soon as possible and reduce the pressure on the newspaper bureau, the officials of the government affairs department recruited a group of them from the newly established general education school Children, the recruitment criteria are that the families are poor and have good grades. These children go out to work on Monday and Saturday mornings when there is no class. Although the half-day income is not much, it is still a valuable job for them and the families behind them. and Benny got the valuable job because he had learned some spelling skills from his own father and did well in school.

In the early morning, when the first ray of sunlight was still hesitating on the horizon, and the newly-established magic spar street lamps on the city streets hadn't been extinguished, Benny had already arrived at the gate of the newspaper bureau. There were more than a dozen people lined up behind him, half of them were A half-old child like myself.

Saying hello to friends, talking about new things in the city or talking about the teachers in the liberal arts school, the time passed unconsciously, and Benny enjoyed this relaxed and comfortable feeling—although he couldn’t put it into words, But he knew that the arrival of the Cecils had changed everything in this city. Many adults were worried about the changes in the city, but Benny felt that life was pretty good now.

Shortly after the first ray of sunlight rose above the horizon, the newly built mechanical clock rang two streets away, and with the first chime of the day, the magic spar lamps on both sides of the road went out one by one , The door of the newspaper bureau then opened.

It didn't take long for Benny to get the newspapers to be delivered and sold today - he prepared two large satchels, one containing the newspapers ordered by others, and the other containing the newspapers to be retailed.

Rich people—such as businessmen and scholars—hope to see the latest newspapers as soon as possible. They usually spend a few extra copper coins for a month's "newspaper delivery service", and a special person will deliver the newspapers directly to their homes.It is said that in the big cities in the south, such work is done by professional postmen, but there are not enough postmen in Carroll, so the work of delivering newspapers is also handed over to newsboys.

Carrying a heavy satchel, Benny walked quickly towards the street. He first quickly completed the task of the block where he was going to deliver the newspaper, and then found a clean place, took out a newspaper and wrote it seriously. look.

It was lazy, but no one would bother him about it on an unnoticed street corner.

Benny wasn't worried that he wouldn't be able to finish his sales for the day because of reading the newspaper—because more and more people were reading newspapers, and demand for this stuff was always in short supply.

At least for now.

Benny watched intently, finishing the first edition of news and current affairs, and then started looking at a new section that had recently caught his attention.

The name of this section is "Faith and the Church"

This is a new section, first appearing on Cecil Weekly in a special issue three issues ago.

In the first two or three issues of the newspaper, the content of this section was not uncommon, mainly classic religious allusions and easy-to-understand fables, and also some common-sense content about religious rituals and knowledge of gods. Whatever it was, it was interesting to Benny - he was reading it as an interesting story.

But this time the above content seems a bit unusual. Benny didn't see those small stories and fables, but saw a whole page of the article, as well as the eye-catching headline on the article:

How the Church of the Holy Light in the North Works—Where the Priests Get Their Wealth Comes From