After a simple but decent dinner, the visitors from Cecil visited the camp of the Typhons, visited the barracks, towers and walls shaped by magic power, and visited the barrier "side tower" under construction. " and the large-scale mage area, and after the reception, the sunlight behind the dirty clouds gradually approached the horizon. Before night fell, Gao Wen and others were led to the "guest room" in the Rosetta Palace.
The so-called guest rooms are also built with stones shaped by magic. The dusty material is no different from other buildings in this peak base, but the owner here obviously thought of a way to improve the taste and comfort of the guest rooms with additional decorations, full of The rich Typhon-style tapestries, plush carpets and large oil paintings offset the cold texture of the "artificial stone house". In his own room, Gao Wen also saw a whole set of exquisite wooden furniture, gold-inlaid porcelain, silver Lampstands and a library sufficient to pass the time As a pinnacle base adjoining the wastes of Gondor, having such a room is considered luxurious.
After the waiter announced the time and place of dinner, Gawain closed the door and came to the bookshelf on the west side of the room, and Amber's figure appeared beside him.
At least the half-elf lady is conscientious at this moment: "No monitoring items were found, and the shadow power nearby is also very calm."
"Of course not, Rosetta? Augustus is not so reckless. It is not so easy to spy on a legend secretly," Gawain said casually, his eyes sweeping from the bookshelf, "... "Northern Continent" A Brief History of the Changes in Heraldry"... If I want to pass the boring time with this kind of thing, I'm afraid I will only be more bored."
Amber looked Gao Wen up and down, and after pondering for a long time, she couldn't help but said, "To be honest, I don't quite understand you today..."
"Which aspect can't you understand?" Gawain had expected that the half-elf would be holding back his stomach for a long time, and he also expected that the other party would never be able to hold back, so he smiled leisurely and said.
Amber opened her mouth, as if she was about to ask a question, but at the last second before she spoke, she bit her lip hard, looked around quickly, and finally puffed up: "I won't ask!"
Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, and the smile on his face suddenly became a little relieved: "Very good."
Never underestimate others, never lose vigilance in an unfamiliar environment, keep the last line of secrets no matter how many times you check, it turns out that if this half-elf is really willing to use his brain, he is absolutely not stupid.
After casually praising Amber, Gao Wen turned his attention away from the books that didn't interest him, and casually asked, "What do you think about this camp?"
He knew that Amber must have seen most of the camp, whether the Typhonians had taken the tour or not, and she must have recorded far more details than anyone else had seen. The guy's frontal combat effectiveness is not very good, but only when he is a detective, he still has a lot of merits.
After that, what he wants to say to Amber will no longer involve long-term plans or secrets, and he will not worry about being overheard.
Amber thought for a while, and said bluntly: "In my opinion, the people of Typhon are really rich, too rich, too rich!!"
"oh?"
"You should also be able to see that this camp is almost entirely shaped by magical power. I checked their camp and the mage area, and I confirmed that they gathered at least 800 low-level to middle-level people here. The task of these extraordinary people here is to 'build a house'," Amber said seriously, "Relying on these mages, the construction speed of this base should not be slower than our base, and the efficiency in all aspects should be no worse than ours. , and possibly even more efficiently.”
"Typhon began to implement the systematic and professional management of superhumans more than ten years ago, and used various supernatural powers for production and development. They also imitated the newborn screening system of the ancient Gondor empire, and actively recruited from the whole people , Cultivate superhumans from babies, which leads to the fact that their overall number of superhumans is almost twice that of Ansu, and there is an extremely advanced management system to ensure that all superhumans are registered and have their own responsibilities," Gao Wen He said unhurriedly, "Most of the mages you see here should be called 'engineering mages'. They have been trained in a targeted manner since they came into contact with magical power, and almost all the spells they master are related to construction. , and within Typhon, there are tens of thousands of similar 'professional mages'."
Amber's eyes widened, and she was speechless for a while: "..."
Gawain looked at her amusedly: "What are you thinking?"
"Do you think they will accept me if I treason now?"
"Why don't you try?"
Amber shrank her neck: "No, I'm afraid of being beaten to death."
Gawain smiled, didn't pay attention to this little joke, and commented casually: "As you can see, Typhon is indeed very strong, but on the other hand...they are not very smart."
Amber blinked, and somewhat guessed what Gao Wen meant: "You think they are a waste, don't you..."
"That's right, the huge waste of scientific research personnel was actually used by them on the construction site," Gao Wen shook his head with a look of regret, "Masters are researchers, people who invent and create, how can they waste them on the construction site?! If you ask me, they should neither be regarded as combat power on the battlefield, nor should they be regarded as labor in the production process, but should all be sent to the laboratory!
"You see 800 mages here, and their speed of building a base is no slower than our mechanization, even faster than ours, but if it is handed over to me, I will turn these 800 mages into researchers, so that They research more advanced magical machinery, more advanced alchemy materials, and develop technologies that can widely replicate their highly efficient spells. Then I can promote these technologies to 800,000 ordinary workers, so that every worker They all exert the efficiency no less than that of an 'Engineering Mage', this is the correct way to use knowledge."
Amber blinked. In Gao Wen's short outlook and description, she finally intuitively felt where the real power of "Magic Industry" was embodied.
Gao Wen exhaled, and couldn't help but shook his head after speaking sternly and said, "However, there is a problem, a very real problem that bothers us..."
"what is the problem?"
"As you said just now, Typhon is really rich, too rich... Rich, people, and resources..." Gawain sighed, "We can indeed 'arm' with the technological achievements of eight hundred mages 800,000 workers, and Typhon... I'm afraid they can really pull out 800,000 engineering mages... "
Amber: "…"
Gao Wen sighed: "This is called money ability."
Amber looked dull: "Currency ability... can you still describe it like this..."
There is no word "money" in this world. Gao Wen directly used the word "currency" and the word "skill" to create the word "money ability". Obviously, Amber understood its meaning.
Therefore, after understanding the true source of power of the Magic Industry, Amber also understood why Gawain still regards Typhon as the most powerful and terrifying enemy even if he has mastered such a sharp weapon as the Magic Industry.
She glanced at Gao Wen and vaguely realized something.
No matter what kind of business this unearthed man wants to do with Emperor Typhon, whether he wants to take the initiative to accept the dumping of Typhon's cotton, or to help the Typhon people build the railway, his only purpose next...
They are all "money ability" to deal with Typhon people.
…
Winter snow is flying, and the coldest season of the year has come to this land.
Holy Spirit Plain, in an unnamed village half a day away from Baisong Town on horseback, the snow has covered the feet, but this snowfall is just the beginning, and the snowflakes are still falling.
This pure white godsend covers everything indiscriminately, blurring the ridges and ravines, blurring roads and wasteland, and also blurring the boundary between heaven and earth. The nameless village seems to be a pile of stones in the snow, and the man-made buildings are falling snow. A little bit of it is covered with silver. In this dangerously cold day, every household closed the doors and windows tightly, and sealed every hole in the dilapidated wall to prevent the loss of precious heat. People hid in the indoors that can block the wind and snow, while conserving their physical strength and heat. Looking forward to a safe winter, while worryingly listening to every creak from the roof.
The village in the snow is silent.
Yet beneath the snow, somewhere in the cellar of a longhouse, a secret meeting was taking place.
Cheap and low-quality candles are placed on the mottled and dilapidated long table. The flickering candlelight makes the whole cellar look like a shadow. On the long table are clay pots, daggers, stone flakes, etc., and some kind of red paint depicts the Strange and gloomy magic symbols and chilling distorted images, around the long table, a dozen figures in rags are sitting solemnly in the candlelight, and a dozen pairs of eyes with implied fanaticism are watching the people beside the long table. Two figures.
The two figures were quite tall, wearing gray and black shabby blouses, and iron death amulets hanging around their necks, as if they were dressed as corpse draggers.
"Brothers and sisters, the day of escape from misery is coming..."
One of the draggers spread his hands and said as if preaching.
"Those who suffer, accept this gift!"
Another corpse dragger bent down and picked up a clay pot containing some kind of liquid from the table while praying devoutly.
People around the long table stood up one after another, with some kind of anticipation and enthusiasm, and came to the table one by one, asking the person holding the clay pot and wearing a gray-black smock to put the contents of the pot A dark red liquid was smeared on their foreheads.
"After receiving this gift... you will be able to escape from this day of suffering, not waiting for after death, not waiting for the afterlife, the kingdom of heaven on earth is just around the corner..."
"Days of woe for those who escaped..."
"The kingdom of heaven on earth..."
"Just around the corner..."
One after another, the sound of chanting and prayers echoed in this secret cellar, and above the cellar, in the long house towering in the wind and snow, several pairs of indifferent and vigilant eyes were clinging to the narrow slits of the window panels, staring at the wind. The world in the snow.
In the surrounding houses, in almost every house in the village, the same cold and watchful eyes were pasted behind every window.
…
East of the Whitsunday Plains, Solynburg.
Snowflakes are also falling in this land.
A team of knights entered the city in the afternoon. Their armor was bright and well-equipped. Even their horses were wearing the highest-quality steel wire mail armor and amulets that could calm the spirit and enhance endurance. They walked from the widest main entrance avenue Marching on horseback, everyone along the way, including the patrolling soldiers, immediately chose to retreat in awe after seeing the emblems on these knights.
Those emblems bear the image of crossed black swords, the mark of Silas Loren, Duke of the East.
The head of the team, the young Marquis Belk Lauren in full armor, controlled the speed of his beloved horse, and at the same time controlled the speed of the whole team, in case these subordinates with slightly rude habits hurt pedestrians along the street (although On this snowy day, there are hardly any pedestrians on the street), at the same time, he raised his head and looked at the majestic castle on the high ground not far away.
After spending so much time in the safety of the rear, dealing with annoying local nobles all day, or watching the Cecils blow up the White Sand Hills (now he suspects that the Cecils may even plan to blow up that place into a white sand mine), Belk felt that his patience and vigor would be worn out sooner or later, but fortunately, he finally received the order to return to Solimborg.
The young Mr. Marquis straightened his back and greeted all eyes with the most impeccable knightly posture, even if there were no crowds around him. He looked at the street in the winter, thinking about what he would have to report after seeing his father and Prince Edmund.
The situation of the White Sand Hills must be reported at any time. The Cecils want to build a new road. This matter must be known to His Royal Highness in time. In addition, the situation of the banditry in the two territories has subsided, and in addition In addition... There are also situations where the lower-level nobles do not seriously implement the "Serf Freedom Act" and "Land Replacement Act".