Gawain stood on the stone, looked at the numb and cowering faces below, and took a deep breath.

People are not ignorant, but that doesn't mean they're not ignorant.

Ignorance is a judgment made with prejudice and contempt, but ignorance is only a statement of facts.

The common people and serf class in this era are ignorant, the social structure determines that they have almost no access to knowledge and knowledge, and the heavy cost of living also makes them have no energy to pay attention to anything other than survival. But in reality, they think, it's just that ignorance makes it difficult for them to understand things that are too far away from life.

Therefore, they can't talk to them about those false and empty things, they can't talk to them about ideals, about the future, about the prospects of the territory and the logical relationship between the development of the productive forces, once they say this, they will immediately put these concepts that sound like "high above" to the "lord's side" and draw a clear line with themselves, so the best way is to talk to them about something related to their lives.

"People of Cecil's Domain," Gawain cried out, "you should know who I am—and therefore you should know that I am the most powerful person in the realm today, and that what I say may represent the laws of Cecil, which will protect you and that you must obey."

"We're opening up new territory, and we need some new rules, so I'm here to announce three things:

"First, since the old realm has been destroyed and all past wealth has been wiped out, I declare in the name of the ancestors of the House of Cecil that all debts to the lord in the realm will be written off, whether they are freedmen or serfs, and from this day on, they will no longer bear any debts to the lord.

There was a slight commotion in the crowd below, but the commotion was not obvious, because although the commoners and serfs of this era would be more or less in debt to the lord, in the current era of the rebuilding of the territory, everyone has lost the ability to repay the debt, and according to the previous kindness of Lord Rebecca, they have already guessed that they will be forgiven.

Gawain continued: "Second, all serfs in the realm have the opportunity to become freedmen - the lord will issue a series of tasks, such as building houses, building roads, digging mines, and joining the army. All these tasks will have a corresponding scoring method, as long as the corresponding work is completed in strict accordance with the requirements, the contribution can be accumulated, and after reaching the standard, the serf can become a free people. Those who are already freemen will be paid a corresponding remuneration after completing these works. I will announce the exact method of calculating the remuneration in the near future, and I can assure you that any industrious and reliable serf can become a freeman as long as he works hard for two or three years, and a freeman can get his own house as long as he works hard for five or six years! ”

This time, the commotion below turned into an irrepressible discussion.

Serfs became freedmen – this was in itself a rather unconventional affair in this era. Although the laws of Ansu's kingdom did not strictly prohibit serfs from becoming freemen, and there were no clear provisions in the territorial laws of the nobility everywhere, in fact, there were hardly any nobles who would let their serfs be free—for them, serfs meant cheapness, that they could squeeze the last drop of blood out of their bodies without any burden, and those nobles who only knew how to increase taxes and labor hours to loot wealth could not think of any benefit in setting serfs free.

Rebecca also caused a stir when she offered to free serfs by joining the army, but this time Gawain clearly took a big step forward.

And as for getting paid to work, or even getting a house...... Many civilians who are themselves free are almost unbelieving.

Do you still have money to work for the lord? Who believes!

Gawain didn't give them time to continue the discussion, but went on to say the third:

"Thirdly, the tents and fences to be erected today, and the drains in the camp, are the first tasks that the lord has given you in the New Law—I have had the scope of each of you to be responsible, and only those who have done it according to my requirements will be counted as having the work done. In addition, as an incentive to work hard, the first ten people who have completed their work can eat meat. ”

After saying this, Gawain didn't care about the reaction below, and jumped off the stone directly and returned to the place where Hetty and Rebecca were.

The gathered civilians and serfs were stunned for a moment, and then suddenly rushed to the camp that seemed to be finished, with a sudden cry - they were going to re-strengthen the loose ropes and nails, and drive the fence deep into the ground!

For them, the calculations and scoring standards mentioned by Gawain were still too difficult, and they didn't quite believe that the soldiers and knights in charge of the overseers would really help them calculate their workload, but there was one sentence they could understand: meat to eat at night!

Only those who finish their work in advance, and who have to finish their work seriously, will have meat to eat!

Just as Gawain thought—only when it is about vital interests, people will be stimulated to the greatest motivation.

Looking at the civilians and serfs who were running away in a swarm, Herty felt a little confused, and it wasn't until Gawain stood in front of her that she reacted, and asked with a little disbelief, "Ancestor...... What you just said is true? ”

Gao Wen looked at the other party with a smile: "Which one do you refer to?" ”

“…… It's the part of the serfs that become freemen through work," Hetty said with a frown, "Of course, I don't object to this, because Rebecca had previously issued a decree on serfs to join the army and be promoted, but you said that even things like building houses and building roads can be regarded as contributions, and it only takes two or three years to become a free man...... It's true? ”

"Of course it's true," Gawain looked at the other man, "what do you think is wrong?" ”

"If it is so easy to become a free citizen, then I am afraid that it will not be long before all the serfs in the territory will be civilians," Hetty looked confused, "The children of commoners are also commoners, is it possible that in the future, Cecil will be a place without serfs?" ”

Gawain continued to look at her, the smile on his face unchanged: "Is there anything wrong with not having serfs?" ”

Starting from her own thinking habits and worldview from class, Herty instinctively felt that something was wrong, but from her insight and thinking that far exceeded that of the nobles of her contemporaries, she felt that even without serfs, there seemed to be nothing wrong, so she suddenly fell into a contradiction.

Rebecca frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "Actually, I think ...... Serfdom is no longer so necessary today, and there is nothing wrong with it being gone. ”

Gawain looked at this descendant who had always been iron-headed with a little surprise, and nodded: "Go on." ”

"Serfs are laborers, and the purpose of laborers is to provide labor, but if they can get more labor by becoming freemen, then why do they have to keep the concept of 'serfs'?" Rebecca scratched her hair, "My father told me back then that the main reason for not letting serfs be free is that once they are free, they will immediately become lazy and stop working, but I don't think the whip is necessarily the best ......"

Gawain looked at her approvingly, and Rebecca, who had received the encouragement of her ancestors for the first time, suddenly became emboldened, and said fluently: "And I have also noticed that if one serf is allowed to work, they will always find a way to be lazy, but if two serfs are asked to do the same work, and tell them that they can get an extra piece of bread when they finish it first, they can complete the workload of three or four people at once—the value is far greater than that piece of bread...... So I was thinking that it didn't have to be a whip to keep them from being lazy, and that it might be better to use something else. ”

"It's already a good enlightenment." Gawain couldn't help but laugh, this is a fairly simple thing, but in this era, almost no one pays attention to this aspect - in fact, the nobles do not observe how the serfs and even commoners under their rule work, and there is no concept of statistical efficiency, whipping and sending soldiers to supervise are the ultimate embodiment of their ruling skills, Rebecca ......

It can only be said that this poor and sour country viscount is usually really idle.

And thanks to the idleness, she was able to think of these.

It's just that she can only think of these superficial things based on her own observations, and in fact, Gawain is very clear that the emergence and abolition of slavery is not just a matter of "whip and bread", but the deeper reason is whether the productive forces are sufficient, and whether the society has really reached the step where it needs to change.

Through this period of observation, he believes that at least as far as his line of sight, serfdom no longer matches the productivity of the world - a large number of people are piled up in repetitive and inefficient low-end work, relying on the number of people to produce various materials with the lowest efficiency to feed the upper class, and these people have never had a way to rise. Obviously, those upper class people who have mastered 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 than primitive people, and the whole society is almost deformed.

On Earth, a sea change has already taken place at this time. Here, however, the presence of supernatural forces prevents this process.

Because a hundred civilians with pitchforks can't beat a low-level mage or knight, even if they are not afraid of death and double their number.

Perhaps the world will break this deadlock sooner or later, but Gawain is not going to wait, he must change all this in advance, and then start his own big development plan.

Because he has a feeling - the magic tide, I'm afraid it's really coming.

The Gondor Empire in its heyday couldn't withstand the demon tide, and now the countries of the continent, which have regressed to the obscurity of the Middle Ages in all aspects, can they carry it with their faces?

And even if you don't consider the problem of the Demon Tide, Gawain has something else to care about.

Those "eyes" in the sky that don't know the details.

It is difficult for a backward world in the Middle Ages to break free from gravity, and if it is choked by gravity, it is not even qualified to look up at the sky, let alone study the secrets of the stars.