Gawain's sudden question made Norris a little stunned for a moment. He was ready to be reprimanded, but he didn't expect that he would face such a question—should he answer yes or no at this time? Which one is against the law
After thinking for a long time, the old farmer decided to admit it honestly, because more than one person knew that he could read and write. Once the lord went to other people to ask the truth, then he would really break the law.
"Yes .
Gao Wen raised his eyebrows, thinking that his judgment was indeed correct.
Although Norris didn't write a word just now, he was just sketching, but only from the posture of the other party when he picked up the pen holder, many problems can be judged: people who can read and write feel completely different when holding the pen, In this almost universally illiterate world, he had already seen how those illiterate people grasped the pen holder and how to draw lines on the paper in a clumsy way, but the farmer in front of him obviously held a pen in a standard posture.
Even Hetty looked at Norris in surprise, it seemed that she had just discovered this fact.
"Don't worry, knowing how to write is not against the law, and teaching others to read and write is not against the law," Gao Wen realized that his sudden question might have frightened the honest farmer, so he calmed down, "Who taught you how to read and write?" ?”
Norris felt a little relieved when he got the lord's promise. He rubbed his hands together and showed a slightly embarrassed smile: "Master lord, I'm not afraid of your jokes... I almost entered the church back then and became a servant. The priest of the Harvest Goddess, the ability to read and write is learned from a teacher at that time... "
The son of a farmer almost joined the church and became a priest
Such a wonderful experience aroused Gawain's interest immediately, so under his questioning, the story of Farmer Norris was finally known.
The other party was indeed born in a peasant family, a free citizen who lived in Cecil Territory for generations. Although the family had a few acres of Susukida, just like most commoners in this era, they lived on the line of food and clothing. Originally, his life would be like most civilians, tied to the land for life, busy between seedlings and ditches, and the only way for him to deal with those high priests and churches was to go to the church in the town every once in a while A prayer, or a mission when the priests came to the fields in the country—but at the age of eight, an opportunity came to Norris and his parents.
A priest of the Harvest Goddess from the Plain of the Holy Spirit who traveled and preached came to Cecil Territory and temporarily stayed in the village where Norris lived. For farmers, it is very rare and lucky for the priests of the three gods of abundance to pass by. So everyone in the village immediately pooled money, and according to the rules of the three gods of abundance, the elders of the village took a few children to "present" to the priest, so that the priest could bless the farmland of the village.
Then the priest looked at Norris, who was eight years old, and said, "Blessed is the boy with the land, and he is blessed by the Harvest Goddess."
Because of this sentence, after the priest left, Norris' parents almost sold all the valuables in the family, and the old people in the village also managed to get some money together. After obtaining a pass, Norris was finally sent to the Mother Earth Church in Tanzania, making him a "slave apprentice"-although the three gods of abundance are three sects with independent inheritance, but at the same time they have a very close relationship. As the main god of the three fertility gods, the Mother Earth Goddess usually also enshrines the Goddess of Harvest and the Goddess of Spring at the same time in her temple, and the candidates for the priests of the three goddesses generally receive the same education before receiving formal blessings , After completing education, they choose which god to convert to according to their respective "spiritual talents". Therefore, when the Church of the Goddess of Harvest cannot be found around, sending Norris to the Temple of the Mother Earth was the only thing his parents did at the time. choose.
Norris studied in the temple for five years, and then got the results from the upper church:
"The apprentice does not have the spiritual talent of the Abundant God Department."
To this day, Norris still remembers how happy everyone in the village was at the beginning after the letter with this sentence was delivered to the village—because they couldn’t read at all, and the messenger who delivered the letter was so drunk that he didn’t know what to say. The villagers and Norris' parents were not told what the letter contained.
It wasn't until Norris returned to the village with his own bedding and luggage that everyone knew that the letter was not good news from the church.
Norris told his story quietly. There was no sadness or joy on his wrinkled face, and there was only peace in his sunken eye sockets, as if those things had indeed gone away. As if it didn't matter: "The next few years, life was very difficult, our debts have not been repaid, and the house has long been empty - my father didn't survive the winter that year, but he still survived and owed everyone The money must also be paid back.
"So my mother took me and my younger siblings to the castle of the Viscount. Oh, at that time, the Viscount Cecil was Miss Rebecca's father. We went to kowtow to the Viscount, saying that life is really hard, the Viscount. With kindness, we exempted us from the land tax we had to pay, and lent us seeds and half a bag of grain. With those seeds and grain, plus wild vegetables that grew exceptionally well that year, we survived.
"After that, I will farm the land in a down-to-earth manner and help others with chores. I do the work of two or three people by myself, and I can read and write. When there are merchants in the village, I will help everyone calculate the catty. Change some bread. In a few years, we will pay off the debt we owed, and we will also pay the viscount's grain and food... "
Norris raised his head slowly, with pride on his face: "The year my mother died, our whole family ate a meal of meat."
The story of Farmer Norris is over, Gawain just frowned, but Hetty couldn't help pressing his chest: "I... I never knew that such a thing happened in the territory... We have been doing our best to give alms..."
"Alms can't save anyone, because it can't solve the root cause, and this kind of thing happens every day, it's just invisible in the castle." Gawain shook his head, and then looked at Norris curiously, "I noticed your gesture just now... Do you still believe in the Harvest Goddess?"
"Believe it, why don't you believe it?" The wrinkles on Norris's face piled up. "The goddess of harvest protects all the fields in the world. Whether the harvest is good or not is the life and death of the family. Who doesn't believe in the goddess of harvest?"
Gao Wen looked at each other quietly: "Even because of this belief, you have suffered so much?"
Norris was silent for a moment, then lowered his head: "My lord, it's my bad luck. How can I blame the gods? And compared to others, I have at least learned something, and I can recognize characters—although I know characters It's useless to us people."
"Knowledge is not useless." Gawain looked at the farmer seriously, "Norris, you must be good at farming, right?"
Speaking of this, Norris suddenly became more proud: "Sir, I dare not say anything else, but when it comes to farming, I am very skilled - otherwise how could I survive such difficult days?"
Gao Wen asked again: "You can read and write, and you have been educated by the church, so I asked Hetty to read to you the new rules, as well as the form I designed to record the workload, you should be able to easily Do you understand? If you are asked to fill in forms and calculate land and production, can you do it?"
This time, Norris nodded first, and then asked hesitantly, "Sir, do you want me to be... an overseer?"
During this period of time, due to Gao Wen's implementation of the labor system that requires counting and evaluation, the usual overseer who can only wield a whip but can't read a single word is no longer useful. The overseers on the territory are all selected family warriors Hetty even acted personally (some of the family warriors belonged to knight servants, at least they knew a few numbers and could write some simple words), so when Norris heard Gawain's question, he couldn't help but think of it. this aspect.
"No, it's not just the supervisor. In fact, if you can do it, I plan to let you manage the entire land reclamation and even the later stage of grain production," Gao Wen said. Here you are, and I can't let you do it at will, I will let Heidi 'assess' you, and I will tell you what you should do at any time."
The expression on Norris's face suddenly changed: "Master... Master! I don't quite understand... Are you asking me to be your housekeeper? But housekeepers don't just care about food..."
"It's a job, but it's not a housekeeper," Gao Wen laughed. "If you have to say it, call...the agricultural supervisor first. And let me tell you first, this job is different from any previous job in aristocratic territories." Not the same, you can't pass it down as a title unless your child has enough talent - and it's not lifelong if you don't do it well, or you take advantage of your position to offend Cecil Law, then you will be removed, punished and punished. From now on, it will be the same for many positions I set up in this land—do you understand?"
If Gawain hadn't warned so many restrictions, perhaps Norris would not dare to accept this "good luck from heaven" in fear—because this good luck from heaven is very similar to the priest who arrived when he was eight years old. When the village said that he could "receive the grace of God", but with Gao Wen's warning, he thought about it seriously and thought it should be true.
A common pauper wouldn't think like him, but Norris would, because he had been educated, and even if it nearly killed him, he had learned "logic" from it.
So after thinking for a while, the old farmer nodded vigorously: "Sir, if you trust me... Norris will take good care of every field you entrust to me, and every grain that grows on the land food!"
(I’m going out today, and I’m afraid I won’t have a chance to touch the computer all day until night. I can only code out a chapter and set up automatic updates. Today there is only one chapter.)