Three Philosophical Questions for Travelers

Estelle didn't expect to go to this level, she said subconsciously: "I'm afraid I can't do it! I still want to go to the academy to learn knowledge."

The witch pressed her shoulder, and said earnestly: "This is not a conflict. In the future, you can sit in a book and study, and the task of preaching can only be left to you loyal believers. You have knowledge and virtue, maybe you Stronger than the real Earth Mother—no, it’s better to say that you may be the incarnation of the Earth Mother, you are destined to come here today—you are here to save these swamp orcs! Remember my words, Isrit , from now on, you are the mother of the earth, and the mother of the earth is Isrit!"

Am I the mother of the earth?She thought in her heart, if I meet the real Mother of the Earth in the future, how should I explain it to her?

Chapter 22: Haven's Dilemma, [-]

Chapter 22: Haven's Dilemma, [-]

Some days have passed since the Charles case, but the impact of that case has not faded.

Haiwen's tit-for-tat confrontation with the old forces in court is equivalent to sounding the drum of war for the confrontation between the old and new forces.Now he is eager to carry out reforms, but finds that his orders can hardly leave the castle.

Except for the attendants and direct cadres in the castle, few people listened to him.These people don't disobey orders openly, they just slow down their work, or make excuses for you and shirk their responsibilities.

People in the bay area generally believed that the hereditary title system was sacred and inviolable, so Haven, the guardian of Bear Mountain, seemed a bit unjustified to many people.The old aristocrats criticized him a lot, and the merchant groups headed by the two major families also united against him.

Haiwen himself was also a little timid, he felt that the title of Guardian of Bear Mountain was a bit easy, and the chair under his buttocks was very unstable.If he wants to sit firmly on this chair, he needs the support of the military, wealthy businessmen, and the old aristocrats, but now people are singing against him-recently, even Brian the bear has begun to have trouble with him.Ever since Haven copied the Baron Mustang and confiscated the properties of the Charles family, Brian has resorted to asking Haven for money.

Now that his seat is unstable, he cannot carry out major reforms. Once he carries out major reforms, it may cause a coup.Then the three forces joined forces to write a letter to Fengleibao, and it is very likely that he will lose his seat.

Most of the officials at the grassroots level in Xiongshan are corrupt. These people collude with officials and businessmen, and they have complicated nepotism with each other.Moreover, there are intricate gang forces hidden among the people, which annoys Haiwen very much.

In addition to being restricted in power, he also has a difficult problem, that is, no one is available.Civilian personnel under him are very scarce, and there are not many members left in Mustang Town.Although Master Tang De'en sent him a few capable apprentices, Hai Wen didn't dare to entrust them with important tasks in a short time.Ramon is the mayor of Mustang Town, Isrit and Gerrit have gone to the south, Dreyer has been exiled, and Laya has not returned... Now there is only Violet around Haven who can do something.Hyacinth would be more than happy to help, but she's not that material after all.

There is also a shortage of military attaches, and there has always been a shortage.Fassnut is gone, and now there is only a smiling cat by Haiwen's side.Although Master Cat is capable, his energy is limited.

He has to cultivate new talents.

This morning he recruited several of Tang De'en's apprentices and gave them a test.

The first test paper is all about basic culture, these are not important.

Hai Wen paid more attention to the last three exam questions.

The first question: why did you apply for the job?

The second way: If I give you a hundred gold coins, how will you use the money?

The third way: If you were a serf, how would you live in the future?

There is no standard answer to these three questions, as long as the answer can satisfy Haiwen.Haven wanted to see what these people could answer.There are 36 people taking the exam, and most of the answers here are very ordinary.Most of the people who answered the first answer would say: They applied for the job in order to have enough food, or in other words, for honor and money.The answer to the second question is varied, but basically they are used to do business or spend money to buy things.The last question was left empty for many people. Several people said they would work hard and live honestly, while others said they would run away.In short, few people can satisfy Haven.

Ultimately, he picked three "probably talented" guys.

The first person is Myrick, he is a bachelor with a professional background.He was the second son of a wealthy knight, and he had been a student of Master Thondeln since ten years ago.His cultural test paper is almost perfect, the best of all.And the answers he gave to the last three questions also satisfied Haiwen basically.

The three answers he gave were:

1 I came here to honor my ancestors.

2 I will return the one hundred gold coins to you, because there is no reward for no merit, and I suggest that you use the gold coins in more valuable places.

3 I will unite the serfs who are poorer than me and persuade them to strike with me, so as to negotiate terms with the farmers.When I have saved enough money, I will redeem myself and become a free man.

This person is considered a relatively traditional bachelor, his thinking is conservative but not pedantic, and he is knowledgeable, has a good mind, and has certain potential.This was the first person Hai Wen had his eye on.

The second person is called Xi Luo, this person is very interesting, he is an eunuch, but he has already passed the age of singing, he is 41 years old this year.Although he comes from a humble background, he is unwilling to be mediocre.After he quit the singing circle a few years ago, he found Master Tang Deen, and he used the money he saved as tuition to study with Tang Deen.He has poor foundation and can't read a few words, but he has worked hard and learned a lot in the past few years.

Ciro has one of the biggest advantages over Bachelor Myrick, that is, he was born at the bottom and knows how hard the life of the poor is.So he can measure the poor and think from the perspective of those people.Moreover, he has experienced the cruel baptism of society, and he is also very flexible in thought.

This can be seen from his three answers.

Haven's Dilemma, II

Haven's Dilemma, II

Ciro's three answers are as follows:

1 I came to make money and have no other ambitions.After earning enough money, I want to change houses, and I want to adopt a son.

2 I will do business with a hundred gold coins.

Water transportation in the Gulf has been impractical for the past few years, causing local prices to plummet, and goods such as salt, oil, and cotton are very cheap.I want to take advantage of this time to buy a batch of goods.Referring to the history of the Gulf, after the new Duke takes office, the civil war must first be quelled, and then the Gulf will usher in a short period of peace.I bought these things at a low price and sold them at a high price to the south after starting a business. I should be able to make a fortune.

After the opening of trade in the Gulf, farmers will also produce and open up wasteland because their lives are guaranteed.At this time, more and more farmers will switch to planting crops that can be sold for money. When more people grow, the price will come down, so I will not continue to do the previous business.

However, people need to open up wasteland and farm land, and there will be insufficient slaves in the Bay Area. I will use the money I earned before to buy southern serfs, and rent these slaves to farmers who need labor for rent.

At this time, I will return the two hundred gold coins to you, my lord, with interest, and try to continue to borrow money from you.If you're merciful enough to lend me money, I'll keep doing business with that money.

There are many businesses that can be done in the future. I can continue to rent out slaves, and I can also set up a blacksmith shop to meet future war needs.I can even buy land to grow crops and build granaries to store food—peace in the Gulf never lasts long, and when troubled times return, food will be in short supply.

But I'm not a prophet either. Only then can I know what business to do.Therefore, I will write so much.

3 If I were a serf, I would eunuch myself and become an eunuch, and then go back to this life track.I think so.

After reading the answer, Hai Wen was sure that this guy was a good businessman.He knows what is going on in this society, can see the objective laws behind all appearances, and even summed up some economic principles.

However, this talent has always been unwelcome.Because Master Tang De'en despises businessmen, and even more despises eunuchs, and so do the people, but Haiwen knows how precious this talent is.

The last qualified candidate was Darisus, a Morpheus warrior from the south.

This guy is barely literate, and he passed all the culture test papers, and the three questions were answered very explosively:

1 I applied for the job to hone my sword skills.

2 Money corrupts, and I will throw them into the river.

3 kills.

This stunned old man was found by Smiley Cat from the Ranger Guild. It is said that he is a Murphys warrior who is doing asceticism.The Murpheus are a tribe of the south, located at the junction of the baylands and the southern jungles.The Murphys are the most martial people in the world. They produce the best knives and the best warriors in the world.Adult warriors either choose to be loyal to nobles in the clan, or come out to perform asceticism. These warriors are required to travel around the four principalities, and they cannot use money to buy anything during the journey, let alone rob or steal.They rely on hunting to obtain food, in addition to "begging for blood".

To beg for blood means to become a hired killer.The employer feeds them and buys them some travel supplies, and then they kill for the employer.But this killing must be carried out in the form of a public duel, not an assassination.And killing people also needs to comply with the commandments of the samurai.

The Murphys have a saying of three kills and three no kills. The three kills mean "the first kill is unfaithful, the second kill is unrighteous, and the third kill is where my master's sword goes"; the three kills mean "don't kill children, don't Kill pregnant women, not family members (single guide Buddhists)".

If these two precepts conflict with each other, the latter is generally adopted, that is, the warrior does not kill.

But if the master of the samurai asked the samurai to forcibly kill a child, most of the samurai would choose to commit suicide.

These rules greatly reduced the success rate of samurai "begging for blood". Most begging for blood ended in failure, and many samurai even lost their lives because of this.

In short, Warrior Morpheus is a very incompetent killer, and most of the time he can't get a job.The nobles thought they were barbarians, and the commoners kept them at arm's length, so these people had a hard life.

However, Haiwen admired these warriors very much. He felt that these people had firm beliefs and were trustworthy, not to mention that the people recommended by Smiley Cat would not be inferior in skills.He really wanted to recruit a Morpheus warrior to stay under his command.

According to Smiley Cat, the new samurai is only willing to kill one person for Haiwen, and he will continue to travel after killing the person, but Haiwen doesn't want him to go.For this reason, Hai Wen thought of a way to keep him.

He treated each other with courtesy first, and arranged a banquet for the warrior to cleanse the dust.The warrior Darithus was a tall and thin man who at first glance seemed to have little strength, but he had a frightening appetite.Haiwen put out six dishes, and he ate them all in a blink of an eye.Hyacinth, who accompanied him, hurriedly asked the kitchen to continue serving dishes. No matter what, he had to feed this guy.

There was nothing to talk about during this meal, only Haiwen and Hyacinth watched the samurai eat.After the meal, Hyacinth made some statistics and said: "My lord, he ate 11 yuan of bread, seven slices of fried steak, 81 slices of bacon, one roast chicken, two bowls of yam soup, one bowl of chicken soup, two dozen honey cakes, and Four glasses of fruit wine. Consider asking him to write a suicide note, I don't think he will survive tonight."

However, the samurai is very healthy, and he is alive and kicking after eating.His meal was enough for Haiwen to last for more than a week, which made Haiwen realize that this guy is not simple.

The next morning, Haiwen found the samurai who was training in the morning, and after his morning training was over, Haiwen said to him, "Your Excellency Darisus, you said that you came here to hone your sword skills, right?"

Darius said, "Yes."

"How do you hone your sword skills?"

"I don't know," he said.

This is an honest guy, Haven thought. "In that case, how about I invite you to be a training partner?"

Hearing this, the samurai immediately put his hand on the hilt of his sword.Haiwen stared at his hands, the warrior's tiger's mouth had thick calluses, rough and strong, and the handle was wrapped with a circle of canvas, which was already worn out.

"Are you trying to test me?" the warrior asked him.

Haiwen really meant the same thing, he nodded, and said, "It's just a discussion, don't see blood." After he said that, he clapped his hands, and three people came out from behind.One is King Kong, the other is Hollanger, the leader of slave fighters, and the last one is Smiley Cat.

"Show me your ability, warrior." Hai Wen gestured, and King Kong took the lead.He bumped his fists, and a muffled growl came out of his throat.The samurai's face was calm, he picked up a branch from the ground and said:

"Then let's use this to fight."

Haven's Dilemma, III

Haven's Dilemma, III

The light of the morning sun shone on the two of them, Dariuses's face remained calm, but King Kong seemed to be irritated, and he said, "You should at least take a wooden knife, we have it here."

The samurai shook his head and said, "Just use this."

The samurai has the style of a hermit, and Haiwen is also looking forward to this duel.He wanted to see if the warrior's swordsmanship was as amazing as his appetite.

The result was obvious, no matter how much food he ate and how much strength he gained, King Kong was defeated in three rounds.

To say that King Kong is also a fierce general.At the beginning, he killed many enemies on the city wall, and he learned equestrian and spear skills from Fasnat, and now he is a powerful knight.However, one-on-one duels are not what he is good at, so he only insisted on three moves.The samurai stabbed King Kong's neck from three angles with a branch. These three strikes were an understatement, and King Kong didn't even break his skin, but after three blows, King Kong automatically surrendered.

If it was the real sword, King Kong would have died three times by now.

His self-esteem can no longer support him to continue fighting.

Hollander was next in line.

Holanger's strength has been proven in these few battles. After the baptism of bloody battles, only ten slave fighters survived in the end.Among them, Hollanger had the most kills and the least injuries, which fully proved that he was an excellent fighter.

He fought the samurai with a pair of swords, blunt and unsharp, but a mighty weapon; and Darithus still carried sticks.

Five minutes later, Hollanger was beaten by the warrior and couldn't get up.

Unlike King Kong, the slave warrior didn't have that kind of self-esteem. Although the warrior stabbed him with a tree branch, he didn't take it seriously, and continued to slash wildly with his fists.In the end Darithus got annoyed, dropped the branch, and knocked Holanger down empty-handed.This time the Morpheus warrior demonstrated superb wrestling and fighting skills.The slave soldier was knocked down by him empty-handed, and then pressed to the ground and hammered hard.

The last one is Smiley Cat.

If Master Cat is no match, then I will immediately hire a dozen Murphys and form an army to conquer the world.Haven thought very seriously.

However, the results are always unexpected.Smiley cat knocked the sword out of the samurai's hand in one encounter, and then tripped him to the ground, pointing the knife at his neck.The samurai roared unwillingly, Master Cat smiled slightly, put the knife back into its sheath, and stretched out his hand to help him up.The samurai's expression was very unwilling, but if he loses, he loses. He asked the smiling cat, "Smiling ranger, fight me again!"

The smiling cat shook his head and said, "It's time to eat, let's do it another day." Then he pulled Hai Wen away quickly.

After several people came to the place where no one was around, Hai Wen immediately asked him, "Master Cat, tell me what's going on, I don't understand."

The smiling cat said: "My lord, this Murphys is very strong. If it weren't for King Kong and Hollander to scout the way for me, I wouldn't be sure."

King Kong asked: "What do you mean by exploring the road?"

Smiley Cat said: "The Morpheus warriors have very few moves. They think that it is better to master one move than to practice ten moves. This makes their basic skills solid, but it also makes the battle very rigid. The average warrior knows three to five moves, which is very powerful." A little samurai knows seven moves, a master knows ten moves, and those who can master more than ten moves are masters."

Haven asked him, "What about Darithus?"

"He used three moves against King Kong, and then four moves against Hollander, and then it was all repeated moves. I memorized his seven moves and rehearsed how to deal with them in my heart, so I started with I came prepared. Luckily I guessed his move so I took him down. But if we fought for the first time, I might die before the seventh move, because this samurai is really good Powerful." Smiley Cat smiled, shook his head, and said, "That's why Morpheus warriors will kill people when they make moves. What they are afraid of is that their moves will be remembered and taken back for study. But Darius obviously didn't This kind of scheming, he is a young warrior, and he doesn't have much heart. My lord, this man can stay."

"I think so too, so, Lord Cat, please don't fight him yet." Hai Wen said with a smile, "I don't think he will leave easily before he defeats you, at least for a year, I am now There is a lack of people around who can fight like this.”

The smiling cat laughed and said: "No problem, the smiling ranger can do nothing else, but playing a rascal is not a problem!"

In this way, he left the Murphys warrior behind. He was free of food and lodging, and there were smiling cats who fought against him every now and then. The warrior seemed not to want to leave in a short time.

Including Darithus, Haven has recruited three new talents.Of these three people, one is in politics, one is in business, and the other is capable of fighting, which can be regarded as filling his three holes.

Now Haven could prepare to do something.Hewen is not so short of money now, Baron Mustang's gold, Charles' property, these things have enriched his coffers, giving him the confidence to do something.He first paid off part of the debt.He deliberately selected those small creditors to pay back, and there were many people who got owed, but in fact they didn't pay much.Doing so allowed him to quickly accumulate word-of-mouth among the people, and some small businessmen began to come to him to discuss matters on their own initiative.

On the other hand, he began to quickly form his own armed forces.

Little Bear Brian disappointed Haiwen very much. It was easy to talk about everything when we were in trouble together, but after Haiwen became the earl, the general seemed to be a bit self-respecting.He controls the [-] Xiongshan garrison. This guy has a lot of prestige in the army.He is the only remaining descendant of the old earl, a veteran who has made many contributions, and he is also the chief coach of the garrison, so everyone in the army trusts him.If he raises his arms and shouts, the Xiongshan garrison will immediately change the color of the flag - just like when Haiwen's people besieged Xiongshan.

So Haven couldn't count on this guy, he had to have his own strength.The Grand Duke of the Trident is still hanging on. Once the Grand Duke dies, the bloodthirsty little Trident will become the Duke of the Gulf. In a few years, there will be a fierce battle in the Gulf.Before that, Haiwen didn't want to use his bare hands, he had already suffered in Mustang Town before.

Haiwen first recruited the remaining slave fighters, and now there are only ten slave fighters left, and the rest are old and weak women and children.Haiwen found these people and said to them: "If you are willing to stay and fight for me, I will pay you as I treat ordinary soldiers. I will take care of food and housing. In addition, I will take good care of your fellow clansmen." For those old, weak, women and children, I will give them some simple jobs so that they can survive by labor. Of course, you can also choose to go home. This is what I promised you before. If you choose to go home, then Take the boat back to the south together, and the rest is up to you.”

Haven's Dilemma, IV

Haven's Dilemma, IV

The southerners gathered together to discuss for a while, old people and children, chattering all over the place, and finally Hollanger, as the representative, answered this question. "We stay," he said in broken lingua franca, and Haven knew that Hollander had been learning the language these days. "Hometown is important, but life is more important. There are too few men, and we will die if we leave."

really.Haiwen thought to himself, these ten people alone can't take care of the rest of the old, weak, sick and disabled. It's better to live here than to venture back to the jungle.

So he kept all the southerners.Maester Myrick said these people were useless, and Eunuch Ciro said it was a losing business, but Haven had his own plans.Having experienced the previous battles, he found that these slave fighters were very powerful, especially when fighting in the jungle.Once they enter the jungle battle, they will immediately turn into a group of man-eating beasts, and their fighting power will increase exponentially.This kind of ability is not available in the general army. Haiwen plans to form a slave army.

He ordered Holanger and Smiley Cat to go to the slave market to buy slaves, accompanied by Violet as an interpreter.Haven asked them to buy a hundred people back and let Hollander choose the most suitable slave fighters.After these people are bought back, Haven will ask Hollander to train them into an army dedicated to field battles. This is Haven's first plan.