Those civilians who came to "make trouble" were taken away by the soldiers, and they would be assigned to the construction site in the west area of Beigang, where there were a lot of jobs that did not require much skill, and their identities were "because "Troubleshooters who are fined to work," and for their actions they will be sentenced to hours of labor—along with a hot meal, a hot bath, and "a paltry subsidy for hard work".
Victoria had never seen such an operation.
"Sometimes the rules are too rigid, so we need to play it on the spot, especially in a place far away from the imperial capital and with special folk customs," Byron looked at Victoria who appeared from the curved light field and looked at him with a look of astonishment. With a glance, he shrugged and said, "These civilians were 'incited' by the local nobles and manor owners, that's how it was at the beginning.
"The construction of the North Port here by the Construction Corps has obviously stimulated some people—and the influence of the Wilder family has made them afraid to show up. These people will find ways to use other methods to test our truth—they agitate or buy Some civilians who didn't know the truth, and those civilians were really angry when they first came here, but soon they found that we were more "kind and generous" than those who incited them. The Construction Corps has abundant supplies, and what the civilians want Rarely, they can do some simple work here in exchange for food that they used to enjoy on special days.
"But the hot water is what makes the bigger difference. Our collective bathhouse is the most popular place, more popular than I thought. The camp now has two waste heat recovery centers and a central heat exchange station, and Residents near this cold beach apparently don't have much access to hot baths. My military doctor thinks that bathing these outsiders can effectively prevent them from spreading diseases in the camp, and the latter have now liked the plentiful hot water supply here. …”
Victoria's expression changed more times in one day today than in the past half a month. She frowned and looked at the "Imperial General" in front of her with a strange expression: "So... these people come here often? Ask you to protest, and then To be 'caught' by your soldiers to work, to have a nice meal at the end, and a hot bath…”
"As well as a small subsidy, as you know, the imperial law stipulates that those who perform labor reform can also get a small amount of remuneration for their labor. This is to motivate their enthusiasm for working to make a living."
Having said that, Byron paused for a moment, and then continued: "At first, only men came, and they were seduced or bought. After several times of forced labor and getting paid, some of them tried to sneak food I took it back to my family, I found out, but I didn’t stop it, it’s nothing, but those who stood behind the scenes obviously didn’t want to see this result, they should have banned this kind of behavior, you can imagine what happened afterwards—these People started bringing women and children from their families. In fact they even planned to bring old people and young children who were too old, but that would be too dangerous for me to allow..."
Victoria listened to what Byron said in a relaxed and cheerful tone, but her expression gradually became serious. When the other party's voice fell, she breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice: "So, now these people who have been encouraged... have It's all on your side...and the people who are motivating them, don't realize the seriousness of the situation."
"Maybe they realize it, so what does it matter?" Byron said indifferently, "A trend has already formed, and to reverse this trend will have to pay a higher price than the original one, and the current situation obviously does not allow them to do so." Do—the Wilder family will not help them, the empire will not help them, no one will help them, even their actions have already stepped on the red line with one foot, and they will continue to take another step towards this line Legs? Most likely not. Of course, I personally would like them to go one step further—the beach is pretty unremarkable, and the Construction Corps flagpole needs some embellishment."
Victoria finally put away the absurd and speechless feeling in her heart before. She looked at Byron as if re-examining, and said slowly after a few seconds: "I thought I knew enough about everything on this land. But now it seems... I am not as good as you, a newcomer."
Byron glanced at the Duchess in front of him, and suddenly grinned: "Grand Consul, this is normal—you know the northern border, but I know the common people."
Seeing the nonchalant expression of this gray-haired middle-aged knight, Victoria suddenly remembered his background again, and for the first time carefully sorted out the things that had been ignored by others behind this seemingly careless imperial general—
He used to be a mercenary leader, a person who needed to deal with all kinds of people, and even had to do "business" with bandits, lords, merchants, and civilians at the same time, and it was impossible for a really careless person in this line of work survive. This man became a knight with a humble background, and quickly integrated into the new order created by Gawain Cecil. "Soldier Knight" wasn't even rumored to be feuding with anyone.
On the contrary, Byron is friends with the chief executives of every department, and has good popularity among almost all middle-level officers and lower-level soldiers, even those traditional knights who usually ridicule him for lack of "true chivalry". The officer, in fact, has a good relationship with him.
And such a person, who firmly abides by his duty as a soldier—loyal to the empire, loyal to the emperor, and will never exceed his authority, he has been stationed on this coast for a month, and his soldiers have even never Never stepped out of the camp.
"I finally fully understand why His Majesty sent you here..." Victoria took a light breath and said slowly.
"I don't think about it, I just want to build North Port as soon as possible," Byron said casually, "Typhon is already ahead of us—we have now got accurate information, and the Typhons have restarted their Mobius In Hong Kong, there are still a lot of magicians who are building new types of high-sea warships. His Majesty said that with the support of "money money ability", Typhon's manufacturing speed is not slower than us at all.
"And let Beigang take shape as soon as possible, we can also start the next step as soon as possible to turn this place into a bustling and lively port city - what a wonderful place this is, the largest ice-free port in the north, a calm and safe coastline, Shenglong The peninsula of the Principality and the islands of the Violet Kingdom help us block the wind and waves on the east and west sides, but the people here can only rely on the barren land and hunting seals to survive. They shouldn't be so poor.
"My next step is to open the bazaar and merchant passages in the southern area. At that time, I may need your influence to help—try to get more merchants to come here, which will help the city to take shape. This is what His Majesty did in the Dark Mountains.
"When the camp is fully established and Beigang's influence expands, I will use the normal method to recruit local people, and the people you saw today can come here to work in a dignified way.
"The only thing I'm worried about now is the power of the local family...not the kind of big nobles, but the kind of small nobles who will incite the common people to make trouble and directly control the scattered land around Beigang, even the 'manor owners' who don't even have the title of nobles They have shown enough caution and cunning now, and most of them have figured out the bottom line of the Construction Corps, so it is very difficult for me to really do anything to them, and it is obviously not good for you as the Grand Consul and the Guardian of the Northern Territory to suppress them directly...
"These 'head snakes' may become a long-term, hard-to-clear trouble in Beigang."
Byron babbled a lot, and after he finally finished speaking, Victoria broke the silence with a cool voice and an unhurried pace: "You don't have to worry too much. The Wilder family is here Having ruled the land for seven hundred years, he still has some experience in dealing with some 'sporadic problems'.
"And you also overestimated the troubles those local families might cause—they are indeed stubborn, but they are also very good at observing the situation. Now the old aristocratic order in the northern border has been almost disintegrated by me. Although those local families have not encountered a big liquidation , but watching the order changes in this land, their current actions seem short-sighted and blind, that is because they are only panicked but do not really understand the new rules of the game of the empire, or are using old experience to avoid 'trouble'— After they figure out the real rules of the game and find that the 'new neighbors' in Beigang are strong and cannot be driven away, they will probably become hospitable immediately."
Hearing Victoria's flat words, Byron took a deep look at the Ice Duke, and smiled happily after a while:
"If it's what you said, then I don't have to worry about it."
After the words fell, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the distant sea again.
Under the clear sky, the sea illuminated by the bright sun is gently undulating. In this position, the manic and unpredictable storms and the strange and unpredictable magic tides are still far away from the human world, but a trestle bridge has passed from the coast. Extending out, the trestle bridge fixed on the magic ice is like a spear pierced by a knight, pointing the determination and courage of human beings to the sea.
…
A bright arc hangs down from the sky, sweeping across the turbulent sea like a lick, with frightening bush-like branches at the end of the arc. In the deafening roar, the huge waves are vaporized by energy turbulence , The pungent breath permeates between the sky and the sea.
A ship whose whole body is covered with magic-guiding metal, with countless runes shining on its surface, and equipped with a large number of magical devices is moving forward in the terrifying waves. The electric arc in the sky kept attacking the seemingly crumbling ship, but it was constantly resisted and dispelled by the magic circles and layers of magic shields that emerged on the surface of the ship.
The whole ship seemed to be protected by more than ten magic walls. In that powerful energy field, the ship was still moving forward through the waves.
Typhon Empire's No. 1 Ocean Exploration Vessel—Spirit.
In this advanced ship protected by layers of magical power, the self-appointed captain, Earl Owen Dyson, stood solemnly in the command room, and the illusion maintained by the magician was clearly projecting the scene outside the ship onto this Before the earl.
"Is this the 'disordered turbulence' in the ocean..." Earl Owen Dyson said to himself, "It's really an eye-opener..."
Then he straightened his expression and looked at the control mage beside him: "How is the ship?"
The high-ranking mage in charge of monitoring the status of the whole ship was surrounded by layers of runes, floating above the magic circle in the center of the cabin, he opened his eyes, and the eyes filled with arcane brilliance were so calm that they were almost mechanical: " The first to third layers of shields were penetrated, and the shield controller temporarily lost the ability to cast spells. The augmentation circle needed at least six hours to repair, and the rest of the shields were intact; the outermost anti-magic shell was broken, and there were signs of elemental erosion in the bilge , has been repaired urgently with mithril cladding—the anti-magic shell in the inner area is still intact, and there will be no problems for the time being.
"All the sails have been retracted and the external wind is isolated. All the trial-type mana engines have been shut down—severe mechanical failure and cannot be started. Currently, the power of the ship is maintained by the second echelon of sailors."
Earl Owen Dyson frowned: "How long will it take us to get out of this storm?"
"The boundary of the unstable energy field has been sensed - it will be reached in fifteen minutes. The ship can last until then."
Earl Owen Dyson nodded, and said in a deep voice: "I hope we don't encounter 'disordered turbulence' again when we return..."
"My lord, you shouldn't have carried out this voyage yourself," the first mate standing next to Owen Dyson couldn't help whispering, "You are the ruler of Port Mobius, and even the entire ocean exploration plan." of… "
"Call me captain here—I think my navigational talents are at least worthy of this position," Owen Dyson interrupted the first mate. "We are just exploring Thassos. The nearest colony on the mainland—if I have to hide in a safe port for such a short voyage, the empire's ocean exploration plan may never be on the right track."
The Typhon nobleman with gray-blue eyes and resolute eyes spoke in a solemn tone, and then shook his head: "But we did underestimate the power of the ocean... The things recorded in ancient books seven hundred years ago have been messed up and broken. , while the more recent data are full of errors and omissions. The Dyson family should be responsible for this. Records, investment is far from enough, so that there is a lack of truly reliable information, and now we have finally tasted the bitter fruit... "
"A year ago, no one thought that Aldernan would suddenly decide to restart the Port of Mobius and the ocean exploration plan," the first officer shook his head, "It's not your fault, my lord."
Owen Dyson looked solemn: "If this ship sinks, it will be my fault."
At this moment, the mage in charge of monitoring the ocean situation suddenly yelled, interrupting the conversation between the captain and the first mate—
"The wind and waves are weakening!"
"We have entered the safe sea!"