The exchange with Pitman did not achieve Gwen's initial goal, but it was an unexpected gain.
He did not learn anything about the nature of magic from Druil's ritual spells. He thought that with his imagination as a transmigrator and Gwen Cecil's knowledge, he would have an epiphany after witnessing the "magical oddity" of Druil's spells. But it turned out that he was overthinking. But on the other hand, he heard from Pitman that he had a "little insight" about the divine arts and magic.
It was not that humans had stolen the authority of the gods, but that the gods had cut off the power that originally belonged to humans.
To be honest, although Gwen Cecil was known as half a polymath, it was also a bluff. He did know a lot of things, but it was only because he had seen a lot of things and made a lot of friends during his pioneering journey. A lot of knowledge in his memory was in the category of being broad but not proficient. Take the history of Druil for example. Gwen knew from his memory that Druil was a complete and unified religion three thousand years ago. Because of the "Fall of the White Star" three thousand years ago, the religious organization disintegrated and transformed into several academic factions. At the same time, the divine arts of nature also transformed into the current Druil magic. But in terms of the details of this history, the memory he inherited was obviously not as good as Pitman's, who had received the orthodox heritage of Druil (although it always looked very unorthodox).
Because each Druil faction attached great importance to the inheritance of knowledge, the "history of the faction" became a basic lesson that the Druil had to master. In addition, the inheritance of the Druil relied heavily on the elves. Their inheritance was not affected by the Great Demon Tide seven hundred years ago, and the time difference of three thousand years made Gwen, an "ancient", have no special advantage over Pitman on historical issues. So, what Pitman knew, Gwen did not necessarily know.
It was precisely because he clearly knew how Priest Druil used magic three thousand years ago, and also knew the process of the evolution of magic from magic that Pitman could come to such a shocking conclusion that it was not humans who stole the power of God, but God who cut off the power that originally belonged to humans.
Of course, Gwen knew that this conclusion was only Pitman's one-sided statement. Naturally, he couldn't take it seriously, but as a test of the gods' train of thought … it didn't seem impossible.
…
After sending out Byron and Knight for a few days, the plan to increase the territory's population finally began to take shape.
Just as Gwen had expected, compared to recruiting refugees, craftsmen, and immigrants, the only reliable and stable way to increase the population was to buy serfs and slave workers.
No one was stupid. Who would come to the foot of the Gloom Mountains for farming if they had a chance to survive?
Far from the border of civilization and close to the Gondor wasteland, the entire new Cecil territory was built at the gate of hell. The century-long decline in the Southern Region and the constant circulation of dark stories among the people had dyed the land with a thick color of horror. Everyone believed that this place was a wasteland. The reason why the old ancestor of Cecil led people here to reclaim the wasteland was most likely because he had been lying in the coffin for too long, and something had changed in his brain. Would a person with a normal brain come here?
Oh, someone come and put up two notices and a propagandist shouting a few words, announcing that this place was safe and livable, and that food, accommodation, and distribution were all provided. Who were you kidding?
In this era, the numbness of the people was beyond imagination, and their tolerance for poverty was also beyond imagination. They would rather stay at home, where they could barely afford food and clothing, than go to a legendary dangerous place to make a living. This was because they could neither see nor imagine what life would be like in a faraway place. For most people, the cost of leaving home for an adventure was already too high for them to bear. Once they made the wrong choice, they would be doomed eternally.
So the first batch of slaves that came to the territory were the slaves that Byron and Knight had bought from the nearby territories. There were serfs, slave workers, indentured slaves, and all kinds of slaves. Thanks to the abundant funds, the first batch of slaves that came to the territory numbered more than three hundred.
And more slaves were still on the way, or still in the slave traders' cages.
Of course, Gwen did not directly let these slaves into the camp and mingle with the people. He had ordered people in advance to level out a large area near the forest on the west side of the territory and build a large number of tents and simple fences. The slaves that were transported from the port first had to go through a basic identity registration and physical examination at a temporary quarantine camp by the river bank. After recording their names and confirming their general health, they were then brought to the new camp by the soldiers.
And after that, these new people would stay in the independent camp for at least two months. During the day, they would be led by supervisors to various workplaces and work with the people in the territory. In the process, they would use their own experience to learn the basic order and laws of the land. At night, they would be sent back to their independent camp. Before sleeping, they had to listen to the soldiers read to them "Cecil's Basic Law" and "Labor System General Chapter" to understand the new personnel management system in the land, and most importantly —
The way to freedom.
Gwen called this process "buffer".
After two months of adaptation and learning, the slaves would undergo a simple inspection. In fact, it was to repeat what they were taught on a daily basis. In addition, they would learn about their work and adaptation from the mouth of the people who worked with them on a daily basis. If these two aspects were up to standard, a foreign slave would be officially accepted into the territory of Cecil. And if one of these aspects was not up to standard … they would have to return to the "buffer camp" and continue to receive education.
The buffer system that Gwen came up with was just a prototype. It was used to prevent a large number of foreigners from rashly entering the territory and destroying the order he had painstakingly established. Still, he knew that the system had many imperfections. Whether it was the buffer time, the content of the education and training, or the standards and accuracy of the follow-up assessment, all of these needed to be slowly adjusted and perfected. But as long as the buffer system was in place, at least the risk of the situation spiraling out of control could be avoided.
The wharf by the Baishui River was busier than any other day. The freighters hired from Tanzania Town were unloading a new batch of serfs and mine slave workers. Cecil's combat troops, fully equipped with Extraordinary equipment, were watching the scene attentively to maintain order. Although it lacked a little "humanitarianism", the truth was that only when the soldiers unsheathed their swords would the noisy serfs and slave workers know to line up and obediently pass through the gap in the wharf's fence.
Heti was leading a group of literate people from the hundred-strong reinforcement team to register the basic information of the slaves. When another slave left in front of her, she could not help but rub her forehead.
That was the third "Sam" she had seen today.
Few slaves would have decent names, and no one would seriously give them a name (including their parents). Usually, when they found a buyer, the slave trader would just casually give them a name. What good name could those slave traders, who also didn't have much knowledge, think of?
The better ones would give them "Sam" or "Holme", and the worse ones would directly call them "Fool" or "Big Guy".
Moreover, the slaves could not tell their own age and place of origin. When they were asked what they were good at, they could not think of any skills, but a variety of answers such as "great strength," "endurance," "fast eating," and so on.
But she still had to continue the registration work, because it was better to register than not to register.
Fortunately, the ancestor had the foresight to think of numbering these people. Even if their names were very varied and the repetition rate was very high, numbering them with numbers would not cause them to be repeated. Moreover, they only needed to remember their own numbers. They would not forget it, right?
Heti lowered her head and sorted out the few forms that she had just filled. At this time, an exceptionally tall figure blocked the sunlight in front of her.
She looked up and saw Gwen's face.
She hurriedly wanted to stand up. "Ancestor, you are here!"
"You sit down." Gwen waved his hand and looked back at the dock. He found that the people gathered there were much less. It seemed that the registration work for today was coming to an end. "How do you feel?"
"To be honest, I feel more and more that the 'organizational management' that you told me before is really necessary." Heti was almost crying. "I never thought that writing a few forms could be so tiring. How good would it be if this kind of thing could be handed over to someone else?"
"General education and night school have been launched. There will be more and more people in the territory who can read and count. I have sent a letter to Byron and Knight to look for clerks and teachers. Even if the salary is high, they will be hired. The situation will improve."
"I hope so." Heti patted her waist. "You have planned a large management structure for me, but seventy to eighty percent of the positions are empty. God knows how long it will take to fill all the positions."
Gwen smiled and changed the topic. "Are there only serfs and slave workers today?"
"Yes, there are only serfs and slave workers." Heti glanced at the form in her hand. "Ah, no, there are also refugees. It's a family of three. Probably because there is no way to survive, they thought that there is no difference between dying in the Gloom Mountain Range and starving to death outside the town. They boarded the ship arranged by Byron and Knight. I have arranged accommodation for them according to the standards of the free people."
Gawain frowned. "There are only three of them …"
"It can't be helped." Heti sighed softly. "Few refugees are willing to come to the Gloom Mountain Range. They don't know the real situation here and dare not come."
"I have asked Byron and Knight to spread the news through their 'channels.'" Gwen's brows quickly smoothed out. "For many people at the bottom of the society, the news in the taverns and the homeless is always more reliable than the news posted on the bulletin board by the nobles. I believe that after those rumors spread, there will be refugees who are willing to come here to try their luck."
Heti blinked. Her face suddenly became strange. "Is it the way you sent people to spread the rumors when you went to the Captical?"
She actually wanted to say 'trick', but considering that she was already an adult, it would be embarrassing to be chased by the ancestor. So, she used a neutral term.
"Please call this influencing public opinion," Gawain reminded him solemnly.
At this moment, a lazy voice suddenly floated over from the side. "You really can come up with these weird words ~ ~"
Gwen did not need to turn around to know who was talking. "Amber, can you use a more normal way to travel? Do you have to use Shadowstep to run around? "
As his voice trailed off, Amber gradually appeared in the air. The half-elf jumped out of the shadow state and did not take Gwen's scolding to heart. "Let me tell you, the camp is about to have dinner. I'm here to invite you to have dinner."
She really only appears at dinner time.
Gwen looked at Amber, dumbfounded. He was about to say something, but at this moment, a noise suddenly came from not far away.
Gwen followed the sound and saw that the last slave was standing in front of another registration gate not far away. The noise came from the registrar in charge of registration. The registrar's voice was very loud. "Name, I'm asking for your name. Don't just shake around!"
However, the slave standing in front of the registrar just stood there blankly, as if he was sick and could not maintain his balance. He kept shaking his body slightly and turned a deaf ear to the noise.
The registrar's voice became louder. "Hey, is there something wrong with your ears?! I'm asking for your name! Or do you not understand the common language?! "
The slave seemed to have a little reaction, but he just looked at the registrar with his turbid eyes. His body shook more violently and even began to tremble.
The registrar was stared at by the muddy, lifeless eyes of the slave and could not help but feel a little scared. "You … What do you mean?! Soldier, soldier! "
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