“My fellow countrymen who have suffered so much, those greedy nobles and wealthy businessmen, in order to satisfy their own selfish desires, used shameful means to snatch our only food rations, allowing famine and plague to spread wantonly in the kingdom, and letting our children die in hunger and pain!
And those culprits are staying comfortably in the manor, in front of the warm fireplace, served by servants, enjoying fine wine and delicious food, and laughing at our difficult situation in the most vicious tone! "
"For hundreds of years, those nobles have been high above us, stepping on our heads and trampling on our dignity like cattle and horses. Fellow countrymen, the Kingdom of Hadrata should not be like this... Now it's time to take back what's ours!"
[Hadrata] In the northern border of the kingdom, on a three-meter-high boulder, Redel was giving an impassioned pre-war speech.
Below was a sea of ragged poor people. As Redel continued to talk, anger gradually appeared on everyone's face.
Just as Redel said, the wheat they grew with great effort was forcibly taken away by the nobles at extremely low prices, and then sold at hundreds or thousands of times the price. Even if they spent all their wealth, they could not afford a few pieces of black bread, and could only rely on eating grass roots and tree bark to survive.
The person who caused all this made a fortune and lived in peace and happiness in his manor.
Seeing the anger gradually burning in people's eyes, Redel continued his efforts and widely publicized their successful experience in resisting the tyranny of the aristocracy in other places.
For example, the miners in the southern territory, under the oppression of the nobles, had to stay in dark mines all day long, endure beatings and exploitation from supervisors, and even faced the risk of mine collapse at any time.
But with the help of the wizards, they bravely stood up, killed the mine supervisor, defended their rights with blood, and then arrested the local baron and tried him in public! "Good!" "That's how it should be, let those despicable nobles get the retribution they deserve!" "They should be thrown into hell!"
Listening to Redel's vivid narration of the nobles' fear before being hanged and executed, the poor people present all let out a sigh of relief and cursed loudly, but many of them looked hesitant and could not help but ask.
"Lord Redel, I heard that wizards have built many workshops in the capital. Not only are they paid several silver coins every month, but they also provide three meals a day. Is this true?"
"Of course it's true. I promise you that as long as everyone works hard, no one will go hungry anymore!" Redel said with certainty, and then explained to everyone the various welfare policies formulated by the parliament.
To the poor people, this beauty sounded like a paradise in their dreams, which was too unreal.
Fortunately, due to the smooth flow of trade, many people have heard cargo merchants bragging about the splendor of the royal capital in taverns, and they have come forward to confirm that Redel's words were not fabricated out of thin air.
One step back leads to hell, one step forward leads to heaven. Seeing that the time was ripe, Raeder immediately ordered his men to send out hundreds of flintlock rifles, and then shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Now, everyone, pick up your weapons and take back what belongs to us!"
"Make those bastards pay!" "Send them to hell!"
Thousands of people shouted slogans and marched towards the Marquisate closest to them.
And this scene was repeated in almost every territory in the northwest of the kingdom!
Raeder broke up 10,000 elite musketeers into hundreds of teams and spent a month encouraging the local people who had suffered so much to revolt, just to launch an uprising today! Although the weapons in the hands of the poor were only obsolete flintlock rifles, and the average training time per person was only about a week, they were in large numbers, and with the blessing of hatred and anger, they were unstoppable, and even instigated some of the nobles' regular troops to rebel...
"Mobs, damn mobs!"
In the city of Helder in the north of the kingdom, Grand Duke Gard hid in a sturdy fortress, looking out the window at the poor people who were clamoring to hang him, his face full of fear and anger.
He managed to evade capture by those wizards with the help of a sacred artifact passed down from his family, and fled hastily back to his own territory. However, before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, he ran head-on into this damn mob and was blocked inside the fortress.
Fortunately, the mobs lacked powerful enough siege weapons, which gave them a chance to breathe.
"Send out the letter for help immediately. I'm going to skin these damn mobs alive one by one!" Grand Duke Gade ordered with gritted teeth.
There are several gray crows kept in the castle for communication, which are the only living creatures that can fly out of the fortress. The holy weapon in his hand has been used once before and is not suitable for fighting against groups of enemies. The only thing he can do now is to hope that the small nobles under his command can lead their troops to rescue him.
However, this only hope was shattered by a sudden sound in the fortress.
"No need. The entire northern border of the kingdom has probably already fallen. The lords of various places are already busy with their own affairs. No one will come to save you."
Gad turned his head suddenly and looked over. A familiar figure slowly emerged in the darkness.
"Gustav?!" Gad immediately recognized the man, and a hint of joy first appeared on his face, then turned into a deep anger. "Is this the foolproof thing you told me about?"
"The wizards have endless food. They can even use magic to make bread. The wheat we have is worthless now. It's over now. Everything is over!"
Gad's ferocious face was full of resentment. If the other party had not instigated him to start this food war, they would not have ended up like this.
"Do you think those wizards would have let you go if this hadn't happened?" Gustav sneered. "Look at those rioting people outside your castle. The wizards have been secretly planning to seize your territory! I'm just giving you a chance to take back your power!"
Gad stared at Gustav with a gloomy face. Although he was angry in his heart, he also knew that the commander of the God's Punishment Army in front of him was not someone he could contend with. He could only suppress his anger and inquire about the other party's purpose.
"Of course I came here to save you!" Gustav said slowly. "Your current strength may not be enough to fight against those mobs."
There was not a trace of joy on Gad's face. With the power of the commander of God's Punishment Army, it would be easy to deal with a group of mobs, but the other party chose to sneak into the fortress to meet with him. The meaning was very clear.
"Tell me your conditions!" Gad said solemnly.
"This time there are no conditions, only gifts." Gustav took out a strange-looking statue from his arms. "It will give you new power, enough for you to take back your territory."
"Statue of the evil god?!" Gad couldn't help but take a step back, a chill running down his back. Of course he recognized what this thing was.
I now understand how terrifying this thing is...
Gad immediately took out the ancestral holy weapon, and a strong divine light immediately appeared in the fortress. However, contrary to his expectations, the holy weapon did not attack the enemy in front of it at all.
Gustav looked at Gad with a mocking expression. This holy artifact was originally given by the church a hundred years ago, but the other party tried to use the power of this holy artifact to fight against him. It was simply nonsense! "Use your last value!" Gustav stepped forward, and his right hand holding the evil god statue went straight through the chest of Duke Gad.
No blood flowed out, and Gustav's hand seemed to penetrate a layer of illusory barrier and placed the statue in the other person's heart.
The next moment, a large number of voices penetrated into Gad's mind.
"Praise, Lord of Famine and Plague!" "You bring disaster to the world, punish all those who disrespect God, and drag the mortal world into hell..." "Lord, punish your enemies with plague..."
The loud, continuous prayers and the horrible and evil memories continued to attack Gad's will. His face became distorted, his body was shaking constantly, and he fell limply to the ground, suffering from severe pain both mentally and physically.
If he wasn't a bloodline knight, he would have completely collapsed in the first round of consciousness shock!
This is exactly the reason why Gustav made a special visit. The flesh of ordinary people is not capable of bearing the power of the evil god - even if it is only a statue that carries part of the evil power.
The servants in the room knelt on the ground and trembled, not even daring to look up.
Gustav listened to the other party's wailing with a grim expression, not moved at all. Since those wizards had already made a plan and instigated a rebellion of the mob, these nobles had lost the value of continuing to exist.
…
The news of the victories of the subjects who had revolted against the tyranny of the nobles in the northern border of the kingdom was soon transmitted back to the City of Fire Oil through various channels.
"Very good, very good. Now the entire kingdom is under the rule of the parliament, without any exceptions!" Harov said happily.
This was the second year since they set foot in the wizarding land, and the results they had achieved were clearly far beyond their prior expectations. Not only had they successfully established a foothold on this continent, they had also directly entered the territory of the empire!
"This is certainly an honor worth celebrating, but now is not the time to relax!" Vittorio reminded.
Although they eliminated the biggest source of instability within the kingdom in one fell swoop, the arrest and detention of so many powerful people at one time and the confiscation of their property, even with sufficient reasons, caused considerable panic.
Coupled with the lack of management personnel, the entire kingdom will inevitably face a period of management chaos.
"Master Lin En, I heard that you are considering a new method of selecting a large number of grassroots managers to manage the entire kingdom. Do you have any idea?" Aurora asked curiously.
Ever since the parliament ruled the kingdom, they have been thinking about how to rule such a vast territory.
There are currently two mainstream voices in parliament.
One is to cooperate with the nobles and implement management through feudal means as in the past. The nobles are responsible for managing worldly affairs, and wizards are responsible for managing the mysterious and supernatural.
This path was obviously not feasible because they were taking the pauper route, thereby undermining the church's faith, which was in serious conflict with the interests of the nobles.
The second is complete governance by wizards, such as what they do in the wizard land.
But in Lin En's opinion, this is an alternative system of wizard enfeoffment...
Its main purpose is for a school led by a great wizard to directly manage a city! This is slightly better than the hereditary inheritance of the empire's nobles. After all, being promoted to this level itself means being good enough, but there are also many disadvantages. After all, being strong and having a good brain does not necessarily mean being good at management.
In fact, many great wizards don't put much thought into managing their territories, and leave it to the wizards of the schools below to manage, and the level of management can only be described as uneven.
Not to mention that there are so many cities within the kingdom, and even more if the empire is included, it is impossible for wizards alone to manage them all.
Lin En had no intention of hiding anything and quickly told everyone about the examination and selection system he was planning to implement.
The Speakers were naturally familiar with examination selection. For example, in the Land of Wizards, the promotion of formal wizards was evaluated through tests. Lin En optimized this system again when he was in Yieta Harbor, so they had some understanding of it.
"Are we going to rely on grades to select the best candidates? Then what specific subjects should be tested?" Vittorio asked thoughtfully.
"The first is literature. If a manager doesn't even have basic literacy, how can he understand the orders we issue?" Lin En explained one by one.
"Then there's Mathematical Olympiad. Calculation skills have a wide range of applications and are also necessary!" "Finally, there are some exams related to professions. For example, agricultural managers must understand climate, farming, and how to operate various alchemical instruments."
In this way, managers who pass the exam only need to adapt to the work a little before they can get started.
However, senior managers should mainly be wizards. After all, a civilian simply cannot manage wizards with powerful powers. Lin En is very clear about this, so he can only select wizards who are good at management to take the position.
As for those wizards who are extremely powerful but not good at management, they will be brought into the parliament and given identities and status that match their abilities, so that they will not cause dissatisfaction.
In addition, all managers only have administrative power. For example, the local city lord is not qualified to form and command the army, and replacements are appointed by the parliament, completely abolishing the hereditary system.
Lin En described his ideas as concisely as possible and also included the corresponding prosecution and reporting systems. He was just short of taking out a code of law.
(End of this chapter)