Gwen was quite satisfied with the development of the territory after winter.
All the construction projects were progressing smoothly, even faster than expected. The craftsmen actively used the magic net and basic runes as an auxiliary power and used them in their daily work, which directly promoted the progress of most of the construction projects in the territory. What made Gwen even more happy was the change in thinking reflected in the process: the ordinary people began to realize the impact of the new "magic facilities" on their production and life, and they would adapt according to this point. This was exactly what he wanted to see in the territory.
Of course, this type of change wasn't widespread yet. Those who were able to realize the convenience of magic and use it in their daily lives were basically all kinds of craftsmen. These craftsmen were originally part of the "wealthy class" with a relatively high status in civilian society. They were more knowledgeable and had experience dealing with nobles. Some of them could even read and count. Naturally, they were more flexible in their thinking than ordinary people. Apart from them, most of the civilians … it would take some time before they could change their thinking and integrate magic into their daily lives.
In addition to the construction work, another thing that made Gwen satisfied was the smooth start of the business.
Driven by interests, Kant Hill in the north and Leslie Hill in the northwest had completed the business connection with Cecil Hill at the fastest speed. Through the two routes of the Northern Wilderness and Whitewater River, mass-produced alchemy potions and basic mining machines were continuously sent to the customers, and they were exchanged for abundant money, as well as trade routes and information that were more precious than money.
For Amber, it seemed that money was more precious than money …
In the study of the liege's residence, Gwen helplessly turned his head to look at the half-elf lady who was sucking hard with her head in the money box. He sighed and said, "It's just the first batch of payment for the mining equipment. Do you have to be like this? Are the big boxes in the mountain treasury not enough for you to suck?"
"This is different!" Amber suddenly pulled her head out of the pile of money and looked at Gwen with her arms akimbo. "This is money! It's earned! It's earned! It's different from the kind of money that is destined to be spent! "
"I can't understand your worldview, but money is used to be spent. Only the flowing gold coins are gold coins, and the only thing in the treasury is metal." Gwen shook his head. "And to be honest, the direct trading of precious metals is really too cumbersome. When the Cecil Chamber of Commerce's influence is big enough, we still have to consider the credit currency system …"
When Hu Po heard Gawain's words, his ears immediately perked up. "You're talking about using paper as money last time? And the process of using coupons to buy things? I don't want that! "
As he spoke, the half-elf looked up at the sky with a yearning expression. "My biggest dream in this life is to lie on a pile of gold coins and sleep. If you change all of them into paper, what about my dream …"
"… It's not as simple as changing gold coins into paper. And you're a Giant Dragon. Don't you feel uncomfortable sleeping on a pile of gold coins?" Gwen rolled his eyes at the half-elf helplessly, then looked down at the report in his hand. "Hmm … That Padrick is really a talent. He has already drawn up the list of the first batch of distributors and the initial market expansion plan. And using the map I gave him as a reference, he drew a simple radiation map … Not simple, not simple."
Amber saw that Gwen did not seem to want to continue the topic of "changing gold coins into paper", so she strolled to the desk and glanced at the report in Gwen's hand. Her beautiful eyebrows slightly raised. "Don't be in a hurry to praise him. You should think about how you're going to get the manpower first. I remember you said that you want to use this business network as a framework to build a synchronous intelligence network. Padrick can solve the problem of the merchants for you, but no matter what, you have to set up a group of people who specialize in transmitting information. Are you going to spread those scribes in the territory and spread them all over the southern border to be your spies?"
As she spoke, she shook her head. "I'm telling you, if you really do that, Heti will fight it out with you. It was not easy for her to train those apprentices and gather enough assistants for herself. Now, if anyone wants to ask her for people, she'll raise her staff and give you a set of Rest of Peace's staff …"
Looking at the half-elf's confident look, Gwen was sure that she had been hit by Rest of Peace's staff two days ago.
He shook his head. "In the initial stage, this intelligence network doesn't need such high-end personnel. It's not easy to train a group of scribes who can read and write in the territory. Let alone Heti, I'm not willing to send them out."
"Ah? Then how are you going to organize the intelligence personnel? Are you going to rely on those merchants that Padrick hoodwinked? Or are you going to rely on those soldiers trained by Byron and Philip? I'm telling you, those soldiers are good at fighting, but they're not in this line of work … "
Gwen did not wait for Amber to finish. He looked up and interrupted her with a smile. "I've asked Pitman about it."
"Huh!" Amber quivered. "What did you ask that old pervert about …"
"You should know a lot of bad friends, right?" Gwen looked at Amber with a smile, then took out a piece of paper from his pocket and began to read it one by one. "The Thief Saint of the South, the Queen of the Tavern, the Ruler of the Bar and the Card Tables, the Common Leader of the Braggarts in the Fields, the Reaper of Wallets and Pockets, the Master of Copper, Silver and Gold Coins, the Chosen One of the Night, the One Who Will Not Fall After Three Barrels of Ale, Amber, in short, is the Super Powerful Amber …"
When Gwen was halfway through reading, the half-elf lady had already jumped up. The latter half of the title was completely read by the half-elf thief who was jumping up and down desperately trying to snatch it. Obviously, Amber's height of 1.6 meters was not worth mentioning in front of Gwen, who was more than two meters tall. Even if she had superb Shadow Talent and wanted to use Shadow Steps while jumping up and down, she still could not snatch the note from Pitman …
"Who gave you these titles …" After reading it, Gwen held Amber's head and looked helplessly at the half-elf's flushed face. "Bad friends? Or yourself? "
"Someone gave them to me, and I got drunk." Amber saw that she could not resist, so she could only stare fiercely at Gwen, and then turned her face away a little awkwardly. "But can you not add 'self-proclaimed' in front of the Chosen One of the Night? I'm really …"
"Okay, okay, okay. You're the Chosen One, you're the Chosen One." Gwen took his hand off Amber's head and sat back behind the desk. "Actually, I've been curious from the beginning. With your Shadow Talent, sneaking ability, and level of thievery … Although some of these skills are not very nice to hear, it's undeniable that they're the way to survive in the 'gutter'. You're so good in this aspect, how could you not know some of your friends in the shadows? Why didn't you say so at the beginning?"
"You didn't ask at the beginning." Amber pursed her lips. "And like you said, they're all bad friends. Not many of them are presentable. In the early years, when I was roaming the North and South, I still teamed up with them to stir up trouble. But later, when I settled down in the old Cecil Domain and had a more stable lifestyle, I naturally didn't have much contact with them …"
"What do you mean by a more stable lifestyle? Do you mean moving from roaming to committing crimes in a fixed location?"
"Yes, yes, yes …"
Gwen was speechless.
After a moment of awkwardness, he coughed dryly and pulled the topic back. "In short, I need you to help me gather a group of talents in this area. I don't care about their background and past. I just want them to be smart, know how to observe, and maintain the minimum loyalty and obedience as long as I give them enough money. I want you to bring these people to the domain and then train them for a short period of time."
"As long as I give them enough money …" Amber heard Gwen's words and could not help but twitch the corner of her mouth. "You're really straightforward."
"I have no choice." Gwen sighed. "It's not like you don't know the foundation of the Cecil Domain — more than 800 primitive people, nearly 10,000 refugees and slaves. This is the main structure of the domain's population. In addition, the talents we hire and extradite in various ways are simply in short supply. It's impossible for me to pull up an intelligence team from such a domain. As for the people you know, they may have questionable characters, and their pasts may not be clean, but since they can survive, it proves that they have a flexible mind and the ability to protect themselves. Moreover, they must be able to see and hear well in their respective environments. In this era, people with these abilities can't be cultivated casually. "
It was an idea that came to Gwen a long time ago to form the most primitive intelligence network from the "sewer rats" at the bottom of society. He knew that the "sewer rats" were despised by the nobles and even the citizens. But he also knew that people who could survive in that kind of social environment were born to be the best spies: they were astute yet calm, cautious yet bold, smart, observant, and had their own information channels. These information channels were even one of their ways of survival: the wandering mercenaries and adventurers would be happy to buy information from the sewer rats. As long as the money was in place, the latter was the most reliable source of information.
The two groups of people at the edge of society and the bottom of society had a natural symbiotic relationship.
Of course, the "sewer rats" also had a lot of shortcomings: they were weak, but they had almost nothing to do with kindness. They could not have any noble sentiments, and they had no concept of loyalty. They could sell information to you for money, but they could also sell your secrets to others for money. This was a group of people with almost no morality and discipline, because these two things were absolutely useless in their lives.
But Gwen did not care — or rather, compared to the value of those people, he could completely accept this flaw.
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