Herty's worries are not problematic in the context of this era, because in the three views of the vast majority of people, and even in the facts of this era, the cold winter means only one thing: everything withers, life is decreasing, all work is stopped, and before this time human beings will stock up enough food and fuel, and then stop working, return home, and turn into a state of pure consumption.

Just like the animals that store food in the hollow of the tree in advance and spend the winter in the burrow.

This way of life is determined by reality - although there are all kinds of "magic" that manifests itself like black technology, but it only belongs to a very small number of upper elites, the whole world is still firmly bound to the land, farmers are the most basic producers of almost all social wealth, agriculture and various production activities based on agriculture are the most important production activities of this society, once winter comes, farming stops, then eighty percent of the people will be idle, The backward aristocratic order forbade these people to freely engage in business or engage in any "side business that did not suit their status", and without the permission of the nobles, the commoners were severely punished even for fishing in the rivers and hunting in the mountains to cut wood.

Coupled with the fact that the vast majority of civilians have limited food to store in winter, and even they can only maintain a half-full state throughout the winter, they do not dare to waste their physical strength to do anything "excessive" - every breath of heat they exhale in winter is consuming their already small physical reserves, and may cause them to freeze and starve to death before spring.

In Cecil, however, the situation is completely different.

The Cecil family currently does not have any extravagant expenditures of any kind, which is a huge cost savings, and the new production model ensures that enough supplies can be stocked up before winter, and Pitman and his trained potion apprentices do their best to ensure that the territory has enough food - combined with the food purchased from Tanzania and the supplies supported by the king, the people of Cecil's territory do not have to think about consumption in winter.

Here I have to focus on the supplies that the king supported - Gawain admitted that he had pitted Francis II a little bit in this regard, because the agreement he signed with the king was for the royal family to provide Cecil with the consumption of the entire territory in the early stage of development, and he did not say how many people his territory would have, and how much population would increase in a short period of time, so he had already asked for additional supplies from the royal family several times in a bright way......

Having secured a food supply, Gawain has a job to work in.

Nothing to do after winter? It's another territory, and there's so much more to do on Cecil's side. The steel mill is expanding, two large factories have been added next to the machine shop to house new production lines, and the kiln area where Rebecca crystals are fired has been converted into a full-fledged factory, called the "Magic Crystal Smelter", which is not only used to fire Rebecca crystals, but also has a laboratory to test what new substances can be synthesized from various minerals dug up from the dark mountains, and the silly roe deer has to throw more than 200 fireballs at the crucibles and small furnaces in the laboratory every day to be happy......

In addition, there are iron mines in the east and countless construction sites in the territory that also need manpower.

After winter, the land becomes hard, the water is easy to freeze, and all kinds of construction-related work will become slow, but this does not mean that the construction work will stop, although the output of Rebecca's "otherworldly version of the cement prototype" is low, but the performance at low temperatures is very good, plus there are no too large buildings on the territory now, so the construction of various construction sites will not stop, and there is a big project about to start -

As the river enters a dry season and water levels drop, Gawain plans to build a truly sturdy, long-term bridge over the river to replace the current temporary bridge, so that development of the north bank of the river can begin smoothly after the beginning of spring.

He even feared that even with the refugees in the wilderness, the territory would still not have enough people - after all, those people needed training, and they couldn't get used to the endless magic engine that was spinning around when they were working......

After Gawain presented these plans and the accompanying plans one by one to Hetty, the latter fell into a long period of consternation.

"Well, don't worry about the refugees having nothing to do now, right?" Gawain smiled, "We have plenty of jobs to keep them busy all winter, and in the process, everyone will get used to the new laws of Cecil's collar, which are not complicated, so what are you worried about?" ”

Hetty silently glanced at the plan on the table and took a deep breath: "I'm worried about exhaustion......"

Gawain: "...... Ahem......"

Thinking about the pressure that this eldest granddaughter has to bear is indeed not small, Gawain can only comfort the other party: "Don't worry, Viscount Andrew has found a way to find a group of down-and-out knights and bankrupt merchants and scholars in his own territory, and use money to motivate them to come to Cecil to do things, I plan to arrange half of them to teach in night schools, and the other half will be your deputy, so that you can put up the shelves of the Ministry of the Interior in winter." ”

Hearing this, Hetty finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you, Ancestor......"

"How does this sound so similar to what the barbarians used to say back then," Gawain said with a strange look in his eyes, "They used to praise the spirit of the ancestors first no matter what they did......

Hetty thought for a moment: "I'm different from them, my ancestors can indeed hear me thanking him......"

"Then your ancestor will reduce the workload for you, right," Gao Wen glanced at this eldest granddaughter who rarely made a joke with a smile, "Okay, okay, let's go and get busy with you first, and when the next batch of human resources in Tanzanian Town is delivered, I will give you priority to pick a group of assistants, okay?" It's just that you don't say 'thank you to the ancestors' in front of me with that kind of pious face...... My dealings with barbarians back then have fallen into a psychological shadow, and as soon as you mention thanking the ancestors, I feel like I am going to become a spirit in the sky again......"

Hetty: "......"

Not long after Hetty left, Amber's figure emerged from the nearby air.

Gawain easily pulled all the valuable things on the table in front of him, and then raised his eyelids to look at the half-elf thief: "How is it, are the two mercenaries who have been captured cooperated?" ”

"You haven't cooperated yet, after all, you don't let the prisoners be abused, so those two are still spending time with the soldiers," Amber staggered to Gawain's desk, pouting when she found that she couldn't do it, "I said you really don't think about tying those two mercenaries who don't speak to the pillar and whipping a few whips?" This kind of mercenaries are actually very easy to deal with, don't look at them in front of the refugees, but as long as you are tough, they will immediately sell their employers obediently, and now they don't open their mouths, simply because you don't have to whip them, and you don't pay them off......"

"You're talking about stealing chickens and dogs for a few silver coins, and the members are basically armed militia-level mercenaries," Gawain glanced at the half-elf, "but the two we caught...... Didn't you notice? A knight who has reached the third level, a second-level arcane mage, and the low-level knight and mage who were killed by random shooting before, although these people are all low-level professionals, in the south, any gangster can be an army commander or occult advisor for a certain lord, if you go to the east to rub a battle exploit and then stammered with Silas Loren's family, you can even become a baron or viscount among the noble class, but they are willing to be mercenaries in such a poor and remote place, why do you think it is? ”

Amber thought for a moment, "Is it for the ideal?" You see, I'm such a Shadow Master, and I'm digging graves......"

Gawain didn't expect this shame of all things to have any serious answers, and after listening to Amber's words, he continued to himself: "There are indeed powerful professionals among the mercenaries, but this kind of mercenary group usually operates in places near the Holy Dragon Principality in the north or near the Typhon Empire in the east, because these places have dangers and opportunities, and the wealth that can be harvested in the process of taking risks or completing commissions is enough for professionals to choose this not very decent path, but the south has been peaceful for a long time, Mercenary groups operating in this area are usually not very powerful and financially strong, and those who have several professions in charge and can wear extraordinary weapons usually have only one explanation - they are a 'black hand team' dedicated to serving a certain number of nobles. ”

Speaking of this, Gawain smiled: "This kind of mercenary has a strong psychological quality, and most of them have any handles or hostages in the hands of nobles, so they are not afraid of torture, ordinary whipping is useless." ”

Amber looked at Gawain curiously, "Then how do you pry their mouths open?" ”

"Pitman said he has a solution, but he needs to prepare some special ointments and rituals, so I'm not in a hurry," Gawain glanced at Amber with a smile, "And I don't believe you didn't scavenge something from those two mercenaries, I know your character, usually you can drink half a bottle of ink on the way if you ask you to help you go to the storehouse to get an ink......"

Amber blushed suddenly: "When did I drink ink!" ”

"I'm just figurative, do you understand?"

"Hey," Amber squeezed some air out of her teeth to express her displeasure, and then began to touch her body with a tangled expression, "I'll tell you, this is my trophy, and you're going to give it back to me after you see it......"

"What else, the rules I just formulated prohibit plundering on the battlefield, and the spoils of war are handed over to the public and credited, have you forgotten?" Gawain said as he took out the various bits and pieces of amber in front of him, "Don't pout, you're my personal bodyguard, and you want to take the lead in breaking the rules?" And it's not that I don't compensate you, there is still a reward for meritorious service...... Heh, there's a lot of stuff, huh? No wonder the soldiers came to report that no valuables had been found on the two captives...... You got it all? ”

The corners of Amber's eyes twitched, as if she was dripping blood, and she felt a little better after hearing Gawain's promise to make amends.

Gawain's gaze was suddenly drawn to a dagger in one of those trivial items.

On the handle of the dagger, there was a mark that looked like the coat of arms of some noble family.