Sword of Dawn

Page 134

"It's okay, Hammer came here once to hand over the steel production increase plan, and I put it on the desk for you," Amber said while looking at Gao Wen's expression curiously, "By the way, you seem to be in a good mood. What happened?"

Gao Wen touched his face strangely: "Is it obvious?"

Amber folded her arms and said calmly, "Anyway, I can see that when the left corner of your mouth is higher than the right corner, you are usually in a good mood, and most likely you have succeeded in calculating others..."

"...you can't pay attention to something useful when you're idle." Gao Wen gave this guy a blank look, then nodded and admitted, "I'm really in a good mood."

The half-elf lady suddenly showed a very interested look: "Why why? Did you realize something in your dream again?"

Gao Wen didn't answer this guy directly, but suddenly raised a seemingly irrelevant question: "Tell me, how can I hide in a huge organization with an intricate internal structure and never be screened by this organization?" The mechanism was discovered?"

Amber was stunned for a moment, not understanding how this question came about, but she still tried to answer: "Changing disguises? Constant transfer? Prepare multiple false identities?"

Gao Wen shook his head with a smile, but he didn't answer the other party, because he still didn't plan to let people know the fact that he sneaked into the spiritual network of the eternal sleeper.

Actually the answer to the question is very simple:

There is always the possibility of disguising disguises, and vigilant monitors will discover the constant transfer. No matter how many fake identities are, they are still fake identities. There is actually only one best way...that is to become the maker of the screening mechanism.

Gao Wen was extremely happy, and the corners of his mouth rose wildly: as long as he becomes the person in charge of verifying identities, then all false identities will be real.

And when Daniel completes those tasks, Gao Wen can even use the real-name authentication and address binding functions to kill those cultists along the WiFi...

Seeing the change in Gao Wen's expression, Amber suddenly couldn't help rubbing the goosebumps on her arms: "...I don't know why, old Zongzi, you lost control of your brain again."

For the first time, Gao Wen didn't pay attention to Amber's broken mouth, but smiled and waved his hands: "Okay, I will explain to you in the future, you first..."

Before he finished speaking, the voice of the little maid Betty suddenly came from outside the door: "Master! Mr. Soldering is back!"

Gao Wen was taken aback, and quickly responded: "Let him in quickly!"

After a while, Gao Wen saw the travel-worn, even rather embarrassing Mr. High-ranking Ranger.

He looked at this powerful friend in astonishment, and immediately noticed the blood on the other's chest: "What did you do?!"

Soldering twitched the corners of his mouth in embarrassment: "He was hacked by the cultists..."

Chapter 0322 Information

Hearing Soldering's words, Gawain's first reaction was to be taken aback: "Have you been hacked by the cultists? You crossed the Typhon border once, and you were not discovered by the Typhon defenders, but were hacked by the cultists instead?"

"A lot of things have happened..." Soldering sighed slightly, "After traveling on the mainland for 700 years, unexpected things still happen..."

"Sit down first, drink some water and rest," Gawain asked Solderin to sit down and rest quickly, while frowning at the dark red bloodstains on his clothes that had dried up—Mr. He got a black cloak and a dark brown coat that wandering adventurers often wear. There are no signs of damage on these two pieces of clothing, but there are traces of blood oozing and drying, which shows that the other party's wounds may be very long. Didn't heal for a while, "Amber, go get Pittman - put him on the poison ointment. Don't go through the window..."

After the half-elf lady opened the window and went straight to the southwest in a dark light, Gawain looked away from the window and stared at Soldering's eyes: "With your strength, how could you be hurt to such a degree? You met What kind of cultist is it?"

"All things will perish," Soldering smiled wryly, and said a name that was familiar to Gawain but had a headache, "I was calculated... When I went to the monitoring station of the Great Wall, I encountered There is a silver elf druid who claims to be Berna, she is a cultist in disguise..."

The high-level ranger told Gao Wen how he was attacked by the cultists in a few minutes, and after he finished speaking, he couldn't help frowning and added: "To be honest, I'm a little uneasy. Although the Rui organization has always been very active, their main destruction and activities have been limited to the human kingdom and some mountain kingdoms in the west of the continent. They have never reached out to the head of the silver elf... The believers of the death of all things at the peak level have sneaked into the monitoring station of the elves, and I am worried that they are planning something that is not good for the Silver Empire or even the Great Wall..."

Gao Wen said while thinking, "Have you reported the situation to your home country?"

"Of course," Soldering nodded, "After forcing the other party back, I went back to the monitoring station and reported the situation. The Elven King's Court has already known about it and said that it will investigate immediately, but you also know that in the future The cunning of those cultists... Their real purpose is often hidden in the actions that disturb the sight layer by layer. I am afraid that we will have to wait until they cause damage before we can figure out what those crazy guys want to do... Originally, I was I was going to rest at the monitoring station, but I was worried that those cultists would take follow-up actions against Ansu, so I rushed back first to let you know about the situation."

Speaking of this, a hesitation suddenly appeared on Soldering's face, and Gawain noticed it immediately: "What else do you find?"

"I don't know if it's an illusion," Solderin shook his head, "When I was fighting that cultist, I always had a feeling of being targeted. She seemed to understand my fighting style and habits... If it wasn't for me I brought some equipment beyond her expectations, I'm afraid I may not be able to come back in such a complete way."

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows immediately: "Could it be your acquaintance?"

"I'm not sure," Solderin shook his head. "The other party used another body and face at the time, which should be a fallen magic like flesh and blood fusion or devouring. This made it impossible for me to sense her true breath, and many Fallen druids are keen to use flesh and blood spells to reshape their own bodies, even if it is really an 'acquaintance' standing in front of me, I will definitely not recognize it..."

At this time, there was a knock on the door, and after the door of the study was opened, Gao Wen saw that besides Amber and Pittman, Hetty and Rebecca were also outside.

"We met on the road!" Rebecca was the first to yell, "I heard that Mr. Ranger is back, so let's take a look!"

This girl's curiosity is always strong, Gao Wen was not surprised by this, he just glanced at Hetty with a little curiosity: "It's rare that you will come to join in the fun with Rebecca."

Hetty didn't answer, but just smiled gently, and calmly shook the staff with the blood groove and eight horns in his hand, Gawain immediately understood: this eldest granddaughter is Rui Becca's limiter...

"Let me take a look at your situation first," Pittman immediately entered the working state after entering the house, and walked towards Soldering while talking - although he usually wandered around in the territory all day, fooling people, telling fortunes and selling fakes medicine, but at this time it is still very easy to distinguish the priorities - the main reason is that if you can't distinguish, you will be easily slapped on the wall by Gawain, "Speaking of which, are you allergic to the ointment made by the blood vine?"

Solderin shook his head while unbuttoning the clothes near the wound, "I was allergic 300 years ago, but now it's gone."

Withered blood vine is a potion material commonly used by human druids. It is very effective for neutralizing toxins in the blood and removing flesh and blood infected by toxins, but half of the silver elves are allergic to this medicinal material, so Pittman I asked specifically to prevent the side effects of the ointment I brought.

"Some allergies can be 'cured' through exposure to allergens to form adaptations, but if it is not necessary, it is better to be cautious." Like a conscientious professional physician, Pittman began to explain this matter Examine Solderin's wound.

Under the cover of Solderin's clothes, there is a wound that has been infected by toxins for many days and has not yet healed. The flesh and blood there is abnormally dark purple, and there are signs of dehydration like scorched black carbonization on the edge , but the blood oozing from the wound was bright red.

This weird "infection" is obviously affected by magical powers.

After checking for a while, Pittman looked up at Soldering: "You are quite good."

"The strength has almost died under the toxin," Soldering smiled, explaining to Pittman on the one hand, and explaining to Gawain on the other hand, "The fallen druids of the Doom Society are indeed very powerful. Powerful, I originally wanted to exchange injuries to keep my opponent, but I didn't expect it to be worthless... After going through the test of the wasteland of Gondor, most of the survivors have a high resistance to toxins. But it made me paralyzed."

"Many of their poisonous spells have curse and elemental corrosion at the same time, pure poison resistance is not very effective," Pittman shook his head, "Fortunately, you are a high-level ranger, and your body has a strong self-healing ability. , you have already neutralized more than half of the toxin by yourself, so I should deal with it for you and it should be fine."

Soldering silently watched Pittman take out magical dust, leaves, ointment and other objects from the wooden suitcase he carried, and set up a small druid purification altar on the spot, and then began to use spells to disperse The curse remaining in his body was extremely poisonous, and he felt that the corrosive substances in his body that had tortured him for many days were fading at an extremely fast speed, so he couldn't help but say: "Your ritual spells are very powerful."

"I'm better at ceremonial druid spells," Pittman said casually as he sprinkled the last handful of magic dust on the magic circle on the floor that was painted with ointment and was igniting itself under the influence of magic power. This method of casting spells has a stronger effect, but it also consumes more spell materials, so don’t forget to give me the material money later.”

"Don't worry, I still have money for these materials," Soldering said dumbfoundedly, "but then again, the term 'ritual ritual spell' is really old, and only a few drews of the classical school Is the Islamic sect still using this term? The contemporary druids have already combined ritual spells and sacrifice spells into 'ceremonial spells'..."

"I'm from the Ancestral Reincarnation Sect," Pittman said proudly, the wrinkles on his face were squeezed out, "so the spells and ointments here are absolutely authentic, you can't buy them anywhere else... ..."

Before he finished speaking, Rebecca next to him interrupted: "Hey, weren't you still the heart of the forest last time?"

"He still has the spirit of nature," Amber waved her hand, "Don't believe him, this old guy has read all the books of the druid faction in order to cheat money, and when the time comes, he will choose whichever the client believes... "

Solderling wasn't quite used to these weird rhythms beside Gawain, so he seemed a little embarrassed immediately, but luckily Gawain took the initiative to continue the topic: "Apart from encountering a cultist, is there anything else to report?"

"I was about to say," Solderin nodded immediately. He looked around the room and confirmed that all the leaders of Cecil's departments were here. Winter Wolf Castle on the border of Feng has also been attacked by mutants."

"Winter Wolf Castle?" Gawain frowned, "If I remember correctly, it is the fortress where the Wendell family is stationed... Now the one who controls Winter Wolf Castle should be Andersa Wendell, the young General Wolf."

"Yes, I served in her army before," Soldering nodded, "The time difference between the attack on Winter Wolf Castle and the attack on Cecil Territory should be only a few days. The distance and the movement speed of the deformed body, I suspect that the same group of monsters is divided into two branches in the dark mountains..."

Gao Wen looked at Amber, who took the initiative to say without waiting for him to open his mouth: "At present, the Military Intelligence Bureau has not reported-our intelligence network has just barely spread to all parts of the southern border, and there is no room for infiltration to the eastern border and further Typhon. .”

Gao Wen nodded. He also understood that the construction of the intelligence network did not happen overnight. Even with the assistance of commercial networks and the unfavorable alchemy business, it would not be so easy to set up the military intelligence bureau.

"I'm afraid this news has already been sent to the desks of Francis II and the Emperor Typhon." Hetty is also a quick-thinking person, and unlike Rebecca, she is also very knowledgeable in dealing with various noble forces all the year round. Regarding the sensitivity of the situation, "Ancestor, the situation in the two countries may change."

"New news will come before the end of the recovery month at the latest," Gao Wen nodded, and turned to Amber, "step up the training and dispatch of new operators, and pay attention to collecting news from the direction of the Holy Spirit Plain. If I guess correctly, before resuming diplomatic activities, Francis II will first make some domestic moves."

Chapter 0323 Our Way

The news from Solderling was crucial.

Those with a little brain can realize how this will affect the current tense Typhon-Anzu situation.

For Gao Wen, this is bad news, but also good news - needless to say, the bad news, he was worried when he crawled out of the coffin and saw a large aberration outside (I typed it for nothing in the last version) This matter, worrying that the magnificent wall is declining day by day, and worrying that more and more aberrants will escape from that wasteland and come to attack the human world, the attack on the border of Typhon means that the last attack by aberrants is far worse than It was even more serious to imagine that the thousands of monsters that Cecil faced were just a part of the aberrations that broke through the magnificent wall, but on the other hand, the appearance of aberrations, the great enemy of civilization, might also delay the war...

Postpone the war between Anzu and Typhon.

Rebecca, who is very slow in this regard, realized the significance of this matter only after being reminded by Hetty. She blinked and looked at Gawain curiously: "Master Ancestor, if the king and Typhon's side If the emperor is aware of the threat of mutants, won't he be able to fight?"

But Gao Wen could only break the girl's thinking: "Ansu and Typhon must have a battle, sooner or later."

This is the conclusion Gao Wen came to after analyzing the current situation in all human countries.

Rebecca apparently couldn't figure out how this conclusion came about, even Amber, who had the most ghostly ideas, had a cute face, only Hetty frowned slightly and showed a thoughtful look, and Gawain didn't mind seeing this. To be a joke, I simply took this opportunity to teach the people at the scene a lesson:

"Tifeng has developed rapidly and is now very strong, but in fact it has developed to a critical turning point, which is also a bottleneck period. This is the most dangerous moment for it. Through many successful domestic reforms, the promotion Feng's current population, economy, and military have achieved tremendous development. However, the rapid development has also planted hidden dangers. On the one hand, the increase in productivity means the increase in resource consumption efficiency. This giant beast needs to devour a lot of resources to achieve The final transformation of society. On the other hand, Typhon's population is growing too fast, but its officials and domestic nobles lack effective new management methods. The huge population is gradually turning into a heavy pressure on the empire.

"Whether it is to absorb 'nutrition' or to release pressure, Typhon must find an external means of catharsis.

"And there is a more important point: the reform of Emperor Rosetta Augustus has reached the point of touching the interests of the nobility. The sensitive nerves of those traditional aristocrats—even though Emperor Rosetta used his strong wrist and personal ability to suppress the rebound and let the reforms be implemented in place, this part of the pressure was not released.

"The development of the domestic economy has indeed brought a lot of benefits to Typhon's land nobles. However, these benefits have obviously not fed those greedy guys who lost many privileges during the reform. Emperor Rosetta still needs to find more Bonuses, more bonuses that can prove the correctness of his talents, to feed those still disaffected vassals - or use the process of seeking dividends to 'naturally and reasonably eliminate those who cannot keep up with the times'.

"A foreign war is the best choice - it can solve almost all the problems facing Typhon after the reform.

"Typhon has ruled all the land in the eastern part of the mainland. Its current expansion can only go in two directions. The south is the Gaoling Kingdom. It is obviously not suitable for attacking. The Gaoling Kingdom has the closest relationship with the Silver Empire, and the Silver Elves The Temple of the Stars is suspended over the southern strait, monitoring the large ancestral woodland on the border of the Gaoling Kingdom—do you think that once Typhon invades other countries through the ancestral forest, the silver elves will watch?

"So there is actually only one choice for Typhon, and that is to go north and treat Ansu as a victim—among the four human kingdoms, only Ansu has experienced the terrible civil strife, and the decline in national power is the most serious. How could the Typhon people bear it?" live."

Rebecca listened to Gao Wen's analysis of these things in a daze, and the cute circle in her eyes almost never stopped, but at least her mind was not slow (probably), although she couldn't think of these things, she could understand them at least. The girl frowned on the spot: "In other words... Even if the two countries stop fighting this time, in a few years, as long as those monsters don't make any more noise, Ansu and Typhon will still fight? !"

"It's inevitable," Gawain nodded, "and even if the mutants come out a few more times, as long as the Great Wall itself doesn't collapse, the two countries will still go to war regardless of the cost—Typhon can't wait too long , Rosetta Augustus has passed middle age, and he doesn't seem to have any strong heirs, so as long as he can't solve the hidden dangers in the reform in his lifetime, or even in his prime, then Typhon's Rosetta herself knew that the prosperity would turn into a disaster with the aging of the emperor, and our king can also see it."

"...Is there such a complicated reason behind this war..." Rebecca said in a daze, "Master Ancestor, how do you understand this? You have just been resurrected not long ago, but you can't see things clearly. Seems to understand better than all of us..."

If you have seen a lot, you will naturally have experience. As long as you see a few signs of many things, you can make up for all the causes and effects. This is the power of the satellite spirit...

Gao Wen shook his head: "There is nothing new under the sun, this world has not changed for thousands of years."

No one can understand the satellite essence directly, but this way... Although no one can understand it, it is obviously much more compelling.

"Old friend, if I didn't know your experience, I would be curious how you thought of so much," Soldering shook his head with a strange expression, "Back then, you didn't bother to think about these things. Just cut it off."

Gao Wen sighed: "That's because at that time, everyone was poor and poor, and there were only barbarians around except monsters, so diplomacy was useless, and it was fine to just go over when encountering a problem—now that everyone is a civilized person, who doesn't want to use their brains more? "

"Civilized man..." Solderling couldn't help showing a trace of emotion when he heard the word Gawain said, and then all the emotion turned into a long sigh.

Just when Gao Wen was curious to ask why the other party sighed, the elf ranger first asked a question: "Old friend, what do you think we led those tens of millions of refugees across the wasteland in the first place? How about establishing a kingdom in this barren land?"

This question came so suddenly, Gawain was slightly taken aback, while Hetty, Rebecca, Amber and even Pittman who were standing beside him all showed slightly curious expressions at the same time, as if they were looking forward to Gawain's answer.

After two seconds of silence, Gao Wen smiled calmly: "The great thing is to lead the people out of the predicament, to protect and continue our civilization; the ordinary thing is to just want to live—to let everyone live. .”

"Yeah, even the most mundane idea is to keep everyone alive," Soldering smiled wryly, and the cold night when he crossed the Eastern Realm recurred in his mind, "But you know what? In this piece of land that we fought together back then, many people can no longer survive.

"Have you ever heard of a thing called the Tenant Amnesty Act?

"That's in the southern border, the territory of the Earl of Berry..."

The elf ranger couldn't hold back the urge to confide, and told what he saw and heard that night—in his 700-year traveling career, it's not that he hasn't seen the dark side of society, and it's not that he hasn't seen the dark side of society. People and things that are even more tragic and unfortunate, but as a high-level transcendent, he has always looked at all of this from the perspective of a high-ranking bystander. Only on that night in the eastern border, he witnessed it with his own eyes Hearing those dark details that he had never noticed before, Ansu's current sinking shocked him, and he couldn't help but tell them all.

Some people in the room fell silent, some fell into deep thought, but there were also people who were more surprised than silent thinking.

Rebecca couldn't believe what she heard: "How could they do this? The Earl of Beric, and the rent-collecting knights...how could they rob farmers' land like this?!"

"There are many such things, my eldest lady," said Pittman, who hadn't spoken for a long time, "Why do you think so many land nobles have more and more land? Why do you think the kingdom is being reclaimed every year?" New land, but the number of peasants who lost their land is increasing year by year, and the number of serfs is also increasing year by year? Even if you can’t see the outside situation, it’s good to look at this territory—the vast majority of land in this land How did part of the population come about? Serfs, slaves, and homeless refugees who lost their land, should these people be born with nothing?"

Rebecca's eyes widened, her knuckles turned white from clenching her fists hard: "But... the nobles should protect their own people... My father and aunt taught me this way since I was a child. The instruction is also..."

"If the ancestral teachings were effective, there wouldn't be that illegitimate child war 100 years ago." Amber rolled her eyes at Rebecca, "Do you think that every nobleman is just as obsessed as you are so foolish?"

According to Rebecca's usual habits, hearing Amber's teasing like this would definitely sweep the army away with a wave of her staff, but this time, she was immersed in entanglement, and she felt very puzzled: "But... …Don’t those farmers realize that this is a trap?”

Gao Wen lightly stroked Rebecca's hair: "Rebecca, you forgot one thing, most common people don't know how much one-third or two-thirds of a taka is, and They don't know how much twice one-third of Taka is, and they don't know how much rent they will have to pay in five years. In fact, they don't even understand any of the "Tenant Rent Amnesty Act" promulgated by the lord. Words—the people who read the lord's order are noble soldiers, and the noble soldiers will never explain anything, so the actual situation is: the lord issued a decree, but the vast majority of civilians knew nothing about the content of the decree, they only knew When the lord declares that he is collecting rent according to the law, he must not be able to resist, and as for whether the lord is really in accordance with the law... the lord says yes, that is."

"But there will always be a few people who will understand..."

"Of course, there will be a few people who understand. Some people can even memorize the decree after listening to the soldiers read it out and memorize it in their hearts. What's the use of that?" Hetty, who was standing behind Rebecca, shook her head. The lady had deep sorrow and sympathy on her face, "Are they capable of confronting the lord? Are they capable of finding loopholes in these laws? Are they capable of making other civilians aware of the loopholes in these laws? If all No, then all they can do is memorize these things, and then tell a stranger about these things after losing their land."

Rebecca looked at Gao Wen: "Could it be...is there no way to change this situation?"

"Of course." Gawain couldn't help laughing at this stupid roe deer who was foolishly adhering to the "noble self-discipline code" but now fell into confusion. "We are walking on this road."

Although... now is only the first step.

Chapter 0324 Gawain's Vision

Gao Wen had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but it was difficult for him to let the people around him understand all of his thoughts.

He wants to change this world and build a new order—although at first he just wanted to survive in this world, but this idea has gradually changed as he survived in this world longer—but changing the world is easier said than done?

Even if he only looks at a small Ansu, he can see the powerful inertia accumulated in this kingdom for 700 years - the inertia of the land aristocracy, the inertia of the people at the bottom, and the inertia of the social system. Everything in this country is built on the old Above some order, if this order does not change, then nothing will change.

He has indeed established his own world, the Cecil Territory and a brand new social order on the land of the extreme south, but in fact he knows that all this is just the beginning - he can formulate a new social order. They can use magic technology to boost productivity, form more advanced government affairs teams, and implement more scientific and reasonable territorial management, but all of this is just "surface" work.

Whether it is the people who manage the territory or the people who accept the management, they were all members of the traditional Ansu system just a year ago. They were small businessmen, down-and-out scholars, ordinary civilians, and even serfs and slaves under the rule of the traditional land aristocracy. , They have indeed been able to obey Gao Wen's orders and do what Gao Wen asked them to do, but they have not changed in their bones. It's just a rule, they know what to do, but many people don't really know why they do it.

As long as people's thinking has not changed, then all changes can only be temporary, and the dividends produced by industrialization will be greatly wasted due to the restrictions of "people". Gao Wen knows this very well, so he wants to force Promote education, especially compulsory education for minors - he not only ordered the opening of reading and literacy courses in schools, but also opened courses on the structure of the kingdom, the history of nobles and commoners, the law and rationality of social resource distribution, etc. All these are his efforts in ideological indoctrination.

It is easy to update a batch of new machines on the territory, but it is difficult to enlighten the people of this era. Those serfs and slaves who have nothing and are oppressed sometimes even resist this. They have already agreed and adapted to it. Your own destiny, and even agree with the rules of the entire Ansu system, if you tell them that nobles and slaves shed the same blood, they will even think you are deviant and unreasonable, but this is not because of their ignorance, but because of this The times have twisted them into such a shape.

Gao Wen sometimes wondered whether the new order, new laws, and new ideas he promoted in a hurry were too radical, but he was very clear about one thing—the magic wave waited for no one, and the relationship between Typhon and Ansu The war will not wait for him. The more he understands the current situation in the world, the more he feels that time is not enough, so he has to try to push everything to the fastest speed—if it is not for the magic tide and war. With two sharp swords hanging above his head, why should he be so urgent?

Gawain fell into a trance and thought for a while, until Rebecca's voice woke him up: "My lord ancestor, what are you thinking about?"

Gawain came to his senses, looked at the curious Rebecca, Hetty who was behind Rebecca with a thoughtful expression, and several trustworthy faces around him, he smiled slightly: "Rebecca , do you still remember a sentence I once told you? The reason why the nobles have been depraved and corrupted in the past 700 years is not because of problems with the inheritance of the nobles themselves, but because they have nothing to fear."

Rebecca thought for a while, then nodded: "You told me so..."

"Protecting the people, defending the land, and safeguarding the glory, these aristocratic norms are not wrong in themselves, but if you only rely on the self-consciousness of the nobles and want them to abide by these norms, it is tantamount to whimsical." Gao Wen shook his head, "Many nobles advocate bloodlines. Noble, advocating innate justice, and even let scholars use various theories to prove that the blood of nobles is born with elements of morality and justice, so nobles can strictly abide by the rules without additional moral monitoring, but in fact It's all bullshit."

As soon as this sentence came out, almost everyone's eyes widened. Rebecca and Hetty stared at their ancestors dumbfounded, as if they couldn't believe that such an outrageous sentence came from the first generation of great nobles who founded the country from Ansu. Soldering, who was sitting on the chair next to him, couldn't help pinching his chin, and looked at his old friend with a smile.