"You lazy blackbirds! The fire has been lit in the brick kiln. Sleep on the kiln and watch carefully! The warriors in the county are all waiting for bricks. If the bricks are burned out, they will pull out all your bricks.
Bird feathers, hanging naked from the tree!"
Outside Apa County, in the newly built brick kilns, charcoal-burning kilns are connected together, emitting green smoke like tombs. Dozens of tall kilns are lined up in a row, and large pieces of bricks are drying in the shade under thatched sheds.
There were piles of charcoal piled in the corner. A sturdy middle-aged leader, wearing short clothes and holding a stick, stood in the middle. In front of him were more than 400 craftsmen and apprentices who were shirtless, sweating, and busy with their heads down.
In front of the kiln, Construction Director Koscach stared with his eyes hoarse and loud. His face was sunburned as black as charcoal, and he yelled at the dark kiln workers under his command. He was like the king of crows! He was strong and held a gun in his hand.
A bronze stick, wielded with great force, like a capable warrior. When his stern gaze swept across the people present, hundreds of strong men lowered their heads, too afraid to look at each other.
Koscage took a look around and was satisfied with his power. In his opinion, the craftsmen in the factory are different from the farmers in the fields. The most important thing is to obey the rules and be obedient!
How to make bricks, how to build the kiln, how to light the fire, and how to see the smoke, all must be done according to the instructions of the old craftsmen, and no randomness is allowed. If the bricks and kiln are damaged by randomness, and the construction period is delayed, it must be done according to the laws of the kingdom, but
I really want to behead him!
Of course, after giving a big stick, you should also give some hope. Koscak took the stick, slapped his palm twice with the head of the stick, and grinned.
"The Lord God is watching us, and we should all work hard! When the bricks come out of the kiln, everyone will have a day off and be given a bag of grain! ... In the surrounding Tlaxcala villages, there are many women without husbands.
You still have a half-year-old child with you! With food, it will be easy for you to have a good day or find a companion."
"When you finish your work before the rainy season, there will be rewards in Apa City! When the time comes, you can find a wife nearby to get married, and even the children will be ready-made, and they will be able to work for the family in two years! ... There is plenty of time.
I’m looking forward to it so much, do it well for me, do you hear me?”
"Yes, boss. Work hard, I will listen to you!"
At this time, the craftsmen in the kiln all looked happy and responded loudly. A quarter of them were skilled workers. Along with the leader, they came from the Patzcuaro Lake area a few months ago to build a kiln outside the city of Apa.
The other three-quarters are apprentices, recruited from Apa County, all Prepecha people who have been obedient for many years.
In the two southern counties, 200,000 immigrants from the Eastern Expedition moved in within this year. The immigrants are being resettled and establishing villages of various sizes. The most important buildings among them are brick barns! You know, people can live in wooden houses.
, in a straw shed, or even in a hole in the ground, but not food. In the humid rainy season in the south, a brick and waterproof barn is necessary to prevent the food from getting moldy and spoiling. Secondly, there must be a brick and stone shrine for storage.
Sacred scripture tablets, and precious bronze and iron tools.
Therefore, under the order of His Highness, Koscach took a group of people south to Apa City last year and built a large brick kiln to supply building materials nearby. The charcoal field for burning charcoal and the smoking kiln were all
Day and night, like a giant beast lying on the ground, it swallows up the power to transform the Apa Plain.
With the continuous resettlement of immigrants, the scale of the kiln has also continued to expand, and more than 300 apprentices have been recruited. Most of these craftsman apprentices are single, strong men who want to start families locally and become craftsmen in the county. Now
What he lacks most is the wealth and a wife to start a family.
Apa County gave a reward, and there were many single women among the captive immigrants. Being able to work as a craftsman here was an opportunity that only came after fighting for the top. If you do well, you can become a master craftsman, which is more important than the respectable status.
The nobles with military merit are not much different.
"His Highness Shenqi values craftsmen and gives them generous remuneration! When you become a craftsman of Shenqi, your good days are really here! From now on, you don't have to worry about food and drink, and you can work in the kiln with peace of mind. You only need to endure it for more than ten years.
, you can become a skilled craftsman, and your food and clothing expenses are no worse than those of samurai! After twenty years, you can become a senior craftsman and raise seven or eight wives and children! If you can figure out new improvements,
There are also huge rewards, and you may even be like me, superior to others, and become a master craftsman or a craftsman priest!... Tsk tsk! You can leave the village and work in the factory, what a blessing from the Lord God!"
Koscach shook his head, waved his stick, and patiently gave instructions for a long time. He spoke from his own experience and spoke sincerely. The kiln workers under him also nodded in admiration, and they were full of energy to work.
The current Kingdom of the Lake has a population of more than 1.2 million. The Kingdom of the Lake is full of vigor and vitality, expanding year by year, constantly plundering small towns and wealth from the outside, and cultivating and colonizing the inside. Different from the alliance in the east, the upward
The path is very broad!
The first smooth way to rise is naturally to join the army. In the kingdom, after excluding thousands of emerging priests and nobles, the highest status remaining is the 50,000 warriors in the seven legions! The warrior masters fight foreign wars and win every year.
The plundered trophies were packed into boats and houses. They were able to confer military merits and titles, occupy one-third of the kingdom's fields, and owned more than 300,000 serfs. They were the most important pillar of the kingdom!
However, this smooth road requires hard work and skill. Generally speaking, only well-off civilian families can support the training of warriors from an early age. Or they must be hunters in the mountains who have hunting skills and can become
Archers. The kingdom has sufficient soldiers, including tribal barbarians who dare to fight tooth and nail, and soldiers with war experience. Without such a foundation, they can only become militiamen at most, and it is difficult to be selected into the legion and go to war as warriors.
"In Apa County and Zicao County, I heard that they are recruiting soldiers again to build a Long Snake Corps. Among the Tlaxcala immigrants, those tribal warriors who have fought in the war suddenly appeared. And the Tecos Flag Army
The militiamen are also clamoring to join. The magistrates of the two counties are fighting over the allocation of troops. I don't know where this regiment will be stationed in the end. It can't be half in one county, right?"
Koskaci touched his chin, looked at the busy kiln workers, and thought about the situation in the two southern counties. He intended to send his own children into the army. However, it was only seven years since he followed His Highness and became a civilian.
.The family has insufficient foundation, and the young men they have trained have average martial arts skills.
The kingdom's legion goes to war every year, fighting with every ax and spear. On the battlefield, it only depends on strength and luck, which is very fair. The army is all desperate barbarians, so it doesn't matter. With the ability of my own children, I want to be on the battlefield.
It's always a bit difficult to get ahead.
"Never mind! The kingdom has never lost a war, and thousands of warriors have died. If the family wants to establish itself, being a craftsman is always inferior. If they want to be a priest, they don't have the ability. In the end, they still have to give away
Let them join the army!... Well, spend some money and get half-length bronze armor for the little ones. As long as they don't die, they can eventually rise to the top!"
Koskaqi thought for a moment and made up his mind. The kingdom's bronze production increased rapidly, new copper mines were opened in the two counties, and the control of bronze armor was relaxed. As an old man who follows His Highness, he is also a member of the Divine Enlightenment Institute.
Director, if you want to buy some self-defense bronze armor for your clan members from the Military Industry Department, there is still a way.
In the Kingdom of the Lake, the second way to rise is to participate in the temple selection at the age of fifteen and become a priest apprentice at Shenwei University. Afterwards, they have to study at Shenwei University for several years and successfully graduate as priests of various departments in the kingdom.
.This road is also open to common people. But to be honest, most of the places are occupied by children from noble and priest families.
Not to mention anything else, just in the literacy test at the beginning of the month, the children of the noble and priest families have been educated by their elders since childhood. They have been studying for several years and are familiar with the enlightenment scriptures. However, most of the children of the common people cannot recognize a few of them.
You have to learn Chinese characters from scratch. Unless you are really talented, there is no way to compare. As for the next math test, one has been taught and the other knows nothing, let alone that.
"Hey! Priests serve the Lord God, receive divine grace, and preside over the country. Even if they cannot be preaching priests, even if they are to be craftsmen's inspired priests, they still start on the mountainside and climb up from the top of the craftsmen! This road,
But it’s a smooth road!... Well, any smart children under the age of ten in the family must be sent to the community shrine as soon as possible, given some gifts, and asked to be taught by the community priests! Without family inheritance, this is the only way to learn
Cultural approach."
Koscage grabbed the copper rod, looked at the busy kiln workers under his hands, and shook his head invisibly. For most civilians, they have no education, no knowledge of mathematics, and no knowledge of divine revelation. How can they become master craftsmen?
It is already the manifestation of the Lord God and the blessing of the ancestors. The divine priest who graduated from Shenwei University belongs directly to His Highness and can directly learn various divine revelations and even accept the teachings of His Highness!
Yes, in the Kingdom of the Lake, the third way to ascend is to become a craftsman. There are two types of this way, one is the upper difficulty level of Kingdom of God, and the other is the lower level difficulty of Abyss.
The Kingdom of God difficulty means that ordinary students graduate as young divine priests, or outstanding students graduate as first-level divine priests and join the workshops of divine enlightenment institutes in various places. They start out as leaders in charge of dozens of people, and then first-level, second-level
The levels of priests go up from level 1, level 3, and level 4. At the end, they are the senior chief priests in charge of a department and a bureau! As for people like Koscach, who followed His Highness from the early days and then took off all the way, that is a shortcut.
There won't be any more.
Another level of difficulty in the Abyss is to join various workshops or craft camps as a craftsman. After working hard for four years, if your skills and experience are sufficient and recognized by the master craftsmen, you will be regarded as a formal craftsman. In this step,
About half of the people will be eliminated. In other words, at least half of the craftsmen must be doing the most basic work, such as making bricks or burning charcoal. Of course, the apprentices who are eliminated will be able to work again every four years.
After taking the assessment once, there is always something to look forward to.
Next, the craftsmen work for another four years, and are promoted from the lower level to the upper level. After another four years, after passing the assessment, they are promoted to skilled craftsmen. This time, half of them will be eliminated. After being promoted to skilled craftsmen, there will be rewards, benefits and second-class craftsmen every year.
Compared to the top level warriors, they are not much different.
Skilled craftsmen are promoted in four years, and after eight years of assessment, they are promoted to senior craftsmen. In this step, 60 to 70% will be eliminated. Among craftsmen, the proportion of senior craftsmen usually does not exceed one-tenth. After being promoted to senior craftsmen,
They were able to lead a team of apprentices and take charge of construction projects in various places. At that time, their income, both overt and covert, was comparable to that of senior warriors. However, their social status was far behind.
There is no land that can be passed down to future generations.
Generally speaking, if everything goes well, after an apprentice has worked for twenty years, he or she will be able to choose one out of ten and become a senior craftsman. From here on up, there will be a rare master craftsman. This is not a promotion that can be achieved by accumulating qualifications.
You have to make great contributions and come up with real technological breakthroughs and improvements!
Even His Highness will see the promotion of Master Craftsman, and will often be given land. After being promoted to Master Craftsman, he will automatically become a divine priest. As a class-crossing honor, he will successfully become a member of the ruling class!
"Master craftsman! If one of the two hundred kiln workers can improve his craft independently and become a master craftsman, then as their leader, I will also have merit and be rewarded!"
Koskaci thought for a while, smiled and shook his head. A breakthrough in new technology is easy to say, but how easy is it to really achieve it?
Like the large-scale kiln that His Highness said, it is designed with ventilation and fire channels so that bricks can be produced all the time without stopping the kiln. He and his senior craftsmen have been working on it for five or six years, and they have only just begun to develop some ideas about this technology.
If it is made, at least two master craftsmen can be awarded!
"...However, there is a real opportunity now! Your Highness has told you about another divine revelation. After more than a year of research, some results have been achieved. If this technology is completed, there will definitely be a generous reward! With His Highness
The emphasis is enough to promote two or three master craftsmen! But, which two outstanding apprentices should this opportunity be given to?"
Koskaci touched his chin and was silent. After a moment, he put the bronze rod back into his waist, abandoned the kiln workers in the kiln, and strode towards the camp behind. There, a newly built wall
The white wall, in the sunlight, flashes the appearance of masonry.
This chapter has been completed!