Gawain stood on the stone, looking at the numb and shrinking faces below, and took a deep breath.
People are not ignorant, but this does not mean that they are not ignorant.
Ignorance is a judgment made with prejudice and contempt, but ignorance - it is just stating the facts.
The common people and serfs in this era are ignorant. The social structure determines that they have almost no channels to acquire knowledge and gain knowledge. The heavy cost of living also leaves them with no energy to focus on anything other than survival. But if they live in this situation for a long time, they will appear not to think, and they will have the illusion of "ignorance". But in fact, they can think, but their ignorance makes it difficult for them to understand things that are too far away from life.
So you can’t talk to them about those false and empty things, you can’t talk to them about ideals, the future, the prospects of the territory and the logical relationship between the development of productivity. Once you talk about these things, they will immediately listen to them. As far as the concept of "high above" is concerned, go to the "lord's side" and draw a clear line with yourself. Therefore, the best way is to tell them something related to their lives.
“People of Cecil Territory,” Gawain said loudly, “you should all know who I am—so you should also know that I am the most powerful person in this territory now. People who have the right to speak, what I say can represent Cecil's laws. These laws will provide you with protection and are something you must obey.
"We are exploring new territory, and we need some. New rules, so I announce three things here:
"First, since the old territory has been destroyed and all past wealth has been wiped out, I declare in the name of the ancestors of the Cecil family, All debts involving the lord in the territory were canceled - no matter whether the debtors were freemen or serfs, from today on, they would no longer bear any debts to the lord.
The crowd below was slightly commotion, but. The commotion was not obvious, because although commoners and serfs in this era would owe debts to the lord to some extent, today, when the territory is being rebuilt, everyone has no ability to repay their debts. According to Lord Rebecca's previous kindness, They had already guessed that the debt would be forgiven.
Gawain continued: "Secondly, all serfs in the territory will have the opportunity to become freemen - the lord will issue a series of tasks, such as building houses. Build roads, dig mines, join the army. All these tasks will have corresponding scoring methods. As long as the corresponding work is completed strictly in accordance with the requirements, contributions can be accumulated. After reaching the standards, the serfs can become free citizens. Those who are already free citizens can receive corresponding remuneration after completing these tasks. I will announce the specific method of calculating remuneration in the near future. I can assure you that any hard-working and reliable serf can become a freeman as long as he works hard for two or three years, and a freeman can become a freeman as long as he works hard for five or six years. You can get your own house! ”
This time, the commotion below was completeIt turned into an irrepressible discussion.
Serfs became freedmen - this in itself was quite a challenge to the norm in this era. Although the laws of the Kingdom of Anzu do not strictly prohibit serfs from becoming freemen, and there are no clear provisions in this regard in the territorial laws of nobles everywhere, in fact, almost no noble will let their serfs become free at will. ——For them, serfs mean cheapness, which means that they can squeeze out the last drop of blood from them without any burden. Those nobles who only know how to continuously increase taxes and working hours to plunder wealth can never think of freeing serfs. What's the benefit.
Rebecca also caused a commotion when she proposed to let the serfs gain freedom by joining the army, but this time Gawain obviously took a big step further.
As for getting paid for working, or even getting a house...many civilians who are themselves free people hardly believe it.
You can still get money by working for the lord? Who believes it!
Gawain did not give them time to continue the discussion, but went on to say the third item:
"Third, the tents and fences to be set up today, as well as the tents and fences in the camp, The drainage ditch is the first task given to you by the lord in the new law - I have asked someone to record the scope of each of you's responsibility, and only those who complete it strictly in accordance with my requirements will complete the work. In addition, As an incentive to work hard, the first ten people who complete the work can eat meat."
After saying this, Gawain didn't care about the reaction below, and jumped off the stone and returned to Hetty and Hedi. Where Rebecca is.
After being stunned for a moment, the gathered civilians and serfs suddenly shouted and rushed towards the seemingly completed camp - they were going to re-strengthen the loose ropes and nails, and to The fence is driven deep into the ground!
For them, the calculation of contributions and scoring standards mentioned by Gawain are still too difficult, and they do not believe that the soldiers and knights responsible for overseeing the work can really do it. Help them calculate their workload carefully, but there is one sentence they can understand: there is meat to eat at night!
Only those who finish their work in advance and do it seriously can have meat to eat!
Just as Gawain thought - only when vital interests are at stake, people will be motivated to the greatest extent.
Looking at the civilians and serfs running away in a swarm, Hetty felt a little dazed. She didn’t react until Gawain stood in front of her, and asked with a little disbelief: "Ancestor...you Are all the things you just said true?"
Gao Wen looked at the other party with a half-smile: "Which one does it mean specifically?"
"...It means that serfs become free through work. "Of course, I don't object to this, because Rebecca had previously issued a decree for serfs to join the army and be promoted," Hetty said with a frown, "but you said that even building houses and building roads can be considered a contribution, And it only takes two or three years of work to becomeFreedmen...is this true? "
"Of course it's true," Gawain looked at the other person, "What do you think is wrong? "
"If it is so easy to become a free citizen, then it won't be long before all the serfs in the territory will be civilians," Hetty looked confused. "The children of civilians are also civilians. , will Cecil Commandery be a place without serfs in the future? "
Gawain continued to look at her, the smile on his face unchanged: "Is there anything wrong with not having a serf? ”
Based on her class-derived thinking habits and worldview, Hetty instinctively felt that something was wrong. However, based on her insights and thoughts that were far beyond those of the aristocrats of the same period, she felt that even if there was no There seemed to be nothing wrong with the serfs, so they were suddenly caught in a conflict.
Rebecca frowned and thought for a moment, then said: "Actually, I think... the serfdom system is no longer that important today. It's necessary, and there's nothing wrong with it really being gone. "
Gawain looked at this always stubborn descendant with a little surprise, and nodded: "Continue. ”
“Serfs are labor force, and the purpose of labor force is to provide labor. But if they can get more labor by becoming free people, then why do we still have to retain the concept of ‘serfs’? "Rebecca scratched her hair, "My father told me back then that the main reason for not allowing serfs to be free was that once they were free and no longer whipped, they would immediately become lazy and stop working. But I I feel that whips are not necessarily the best..."
Gawain looked at her approvingly. Rebecca, who was encouraged by her ancestors for the first time, suddenly became bolder and said fluently: "And I also Notice that if you ask one serf to work, they will always find a way to be lazy, but if you ask two serfs to do the same job and tell them that if they finish first, they will get an extra piece of bread, they can complete three tasks in one go. The workload of four people is worth far more than that piece of bread... So at that time I was thinking that it was not necessary to use a whip to prevent them from being lazy. It might be better to use other methods. ”
“This is already a very good enlightenment. "Gawain couldn't help laughing. This is a very simple and easy-to-understand thing, but almost no one in this era would pay attention to this aspect - in fact, the nobles would not observe how the serfs or even civilians under their rule work. There is no concept of statistical work efficiency. Beating with whips and sending soldiers to supervise are the ultimate expression of their ruling skills. Rebecca is like this...
It can only be said that this poor country lady Viscount is usually really serious.
Thanks to her leisure, she was able to think of these things.
But she could only think of these superficial things based on her own observations. Gawain is very clear that the emergence and abolition of slavery is not only a matter of "whips and bread", but the deeper reason is whether productivity is enough and whether society has really reached the point where it needs to change.
Pass. During this period of observation, he believed that at least within the scope of his sightWithin the scope, the serfdom system no longer matches the productivity of the world - a large number of people are piled up in repetitive and inefficient low-end jobs, relying on the population to produce various materials with the lowest efficiency to support the upper class, and these people There is still no way to rise. Obviously the upper class people who master magic have entered the stage of watching fireworks and listening to music in the castle, and using fluorescent lamps (magic crystals) for lighting, but the civilians below are not much better off than the primitive people, and the entire society is almost deformed.
On Earth, earth-shaking changes have already taken place. However, here, the existence of supernatural forces has prevented this process.
Because a hundred civilians holding pitchforks cannot defeat a low-level mage or knight, even if they are fearless and fearless of death and their number doubles, it is impossible.
Perhaps if the world continues to develop, this deadlock will be broken sooner or later. However, Gawain does not intend to wait any longer. He must change everything in advance and then start his own big development plan.
Because he had a feeling that the demonic tide might really be coming.
The Gondor Empire in its heyday could not withstand the demonic tide. Now that all the countries on the continent have regressed to the ignorant state of the Middle Ages, how can they resist it with their faces?
And even if you don’t consider the issue of the demonic tide, Gawain has other things that he cares about.
Those "eyes" in the sky who don't know the details.
It was difficult for a backward world in the Middle Ages to escape gravity. If it was strangled by gravity, it would not even be qualified to look up at the sky, let alone study the secrets among the stars.