Chapter 627 Warriors, Priests and Craftsmen, Climbing up From the Bottom!

"You lazy black birds! The brick kiln has been lit, sleep on it and watch carefully! The warriors in the county are waiting for bricks. If the bricks are burnt, we will pluck all your feathers and hang you naked on the tree!"

Outside Apa County, in the newly built brick kiln field, charcoal kilns are connected together, emitting green smoke like graves. Dozens of tall kilns are lined up, large pieces of bricks are drying in the shade under the straw shed, and piles of charcoal are piled in the corner. A sturdy middle-aged leader, wearing a short coat and holding a stick, stood in the middle. In front of him were more than 400 bare-chested, sweaty, busy craftsmen and apprentices.

In front of the kiln, Koskach, the director of the Construction Department, stared with his eyes, his voice hoarse and loud. His face was as black as charcoal from the sun, and he shouted at his dark kiln workers, like the king of crows! He was strong, holding a bronze stick in his hand, swinging it with great power, like a sturdy warrior. When his stern eyes swept over the people present, hundreds of strong men lowered their heads, afraid to look at each other.

Koskach looked around and was satisfied with his power. In his opinion, the craftsmen in the workshop were different from the farmers in the fields. The most important thing was to obey the rules!

How to make bricks, how to build kilns, how to start fires, how to watch smoke, all had to be done according to the instructions of the old craftsmen, and no recklessness was allowed. If you recklessly damage bricks and kilns and delay the construction period, according to the laws of the kingdom, you will really be beheaded!

Of course, after giving a big stick, you also have to give some hope. Koskach took the stick, slapped his palms twice with the stick head, and grinned.

"The Lord God is watching us, so work hard! When this kiln of bricks is ready, everyone will have a day off and a bag of food! There are many women without husbands in the surrounding Tlaxcala villages, and many of them have half-grown children! With food, it will be easy for you to go there, whether you want to have a good day or find a roommate."

"Wait until the rainy season is over, and there will be rewards in Apa City! By then, you can find a wife nearby to marry, and even the children will be ready. After raising them for two years, they can work for the family! There is hope for the future, so work hard, do you hear me!"

"Yes, boss. Work hard, I'll listen to you!"

At this moment, the craftsmen in the kiln were all happy and responded loudly. A quarter of them were skilled workers. They came from the Patzcuaro Lake area with the leader a few months ago to build a kiln outside Apa City. The other three quarters were apprentices recruited from Apa County, all of whom were Purépecha people who had been obedient for many years.

In the two southern counties, 200,000 immigrants from the Eastern Expedition moved in within this year. Immigrants are being resettled and villages of all sizes are being built. The most important building is the brick barn! You know, people can live in wooden houses, straw huts, and even caves, but not in food. In the humid rainy season in the south, brick-lined and waterproof barns are necessary to prevent food from getting moldy and spoiling. Secondly, there must be brick and stone sacrificial places to store sacred scripture plates and precious copper and iron tools.

Therefore, under the royal order of His Highness, Koskach took a group of people to the south of Apa City last year and built a large brick kiln to supply building materials nearby. The charcoal burning charcoal field and the smoking kiln are working day and night, like a giant beast lying on the ground, swallowing and spitting out the power to transform the Apa Plain.

With the continuous resettlement of immigrants, the scale of the kiln field has continued to expand, and more than 300 apprentices have been recruited. Most of these craftsmen apprentices are single strong men who want to start a family on the spot and become artisans in the county. What is most lacking now is the wealth and wives for starting a family.

Apa County has given rewards, and there are many single women among the captive immigrants. Being able to work as a craftsman here is an opportunity that can only be obtained after a lot of fighting. If you do well, you can become a master craftsman, which is not much different from the respected military nobles.

"Your Highness, the divine revelation values ​​craftsmen and pays generously! Your good days are really here when you become a craftsman of the divine revelation! From now on, you don't have to worry about food and drink, and you can work in the kiln with peace of mind. As long as you can endure for more than ten years, you can become a skilled craftsman, and your food, clothing and expenses are no worse than those of the warriors! Endure for twenty years, you can become a senior craftsman and support seven or eight wives and children! If you can figure out new improvements, there will be a big reward, and you may even be like me, superior to others, and become a master craftsman, a craftsman priest! Tsk tsk! You can leave the village and work in the workshop, which is really a blessing from the Lord God!"

Koskach shook his head, waved the big stick, and patiently instructed and educated for a long time. He spoke from his own experience and spoke sincerely. The kiln workers nodded in anticipation, and they were full of energy to work.

The current Lake Kingdom has a population of more than 1.2 million. The Lake Kingdom is full of vitality and expands year by year. It constantly plunders people and wealth from outside and reclaims and colonizes inside. Unlike the Eastern Alliance, the path to the top is very broad!

The first smooth path to the top is naturally to join the army. In the kingdom, apart from thousands of emerging priests and nobles, the highest status left is the 50,000 warriors in the seven legions! The warrior masters fought abroad, won every year, and looted the spoils of war in boats and houses. They were able to be awarded land and titles for military merits, occupied one-third of the kingdom's land, and had more than 300,000 serfs, which was the most important pillar of the kingdom!

However, this smooth road requires hard work and skill. Generally speaking, only wealthy civilian families can support warrior training from an early age. Or he must be a hunter in the mountains who has hunting skills and can become an archer. The kingdom has sufficient military resources, including tribal barbarians who dare to fight tooth and nail, and surrendered troops with war experience. If you don't have such a foundation, you can only become a militia at most, and it will be difficult to be selected into the legion and go out as a warrior.

"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 of the two counties are also clamoring to join. The county governors of the two counties are fiercely fighting over the distribution of troops. I don’t know where the army will be stationed in the end. It can’t be half in one county.”

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. It's just that he followed His Highness and made his fortune from a commoner, but it has only been seven years. The family has insufficient foundation, and the young men they have trained have average martial arts skills.

The kingdom's legions fight every year, fighting with every ax and spear, and seeing blood. On the battlefield, it only depends on strength and luck, which is very fair. The army is full of desperate barbarians, so it doesn't matter. With the ability of one's own children, it is always difficult to stand out on the battlefield.

"No matter! 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 They're going to join the army! Well, spend some money and get bronze armor for all of them.

Koskaci 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 copper armor controls were relaxed. As an old man who follows His Highness and is the director of the Shenqi Institute, he still has a way to buy some self-defense bronze armor for his clan members from the Military Industry Department.

In the Lake Kingdom, 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 will study at Shenwei University for several years and successfully graduate as priests of various departments in the kingdom. This road is also open to civilians. But to be honest, most of the places are occupied by children of noble and priest families.

Not to mention anything else, just the literacy test in the first month. The children of nobles and priests have been educated by their elders since childhood. They have been studying for several years and are familiar with enlightenment scriptures. Most of the children from ordinary families cannot recognize a few words and have to learn them from scratch. Unless you are really talented, there is no comparison. 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 in the family who are under ten years old should be sent to the community memorial hall as soon as possible, given some gifts, and asked to be taught by the community priests. This is the only way to learn culture without family inheritance! There’s a solution.”

Koscach grabbed the copper rod, looked at the busy kiln workers under him, and shook his head invisibly. For most civilians, who have no education, no knowledge of mathematics, and no knowledge of divine revelation, being able to become a master craftsman is already a manifestation of the Lord God and the blessing of the ancestors. The divine priests who graduated from Shenwei University belong directly to His Highness and can directly learn various divine revelations and even accept His Highness’s teachings!

Yes, in the Kingdom of the Lake, the third way to rise is to become a craftsman. There are two types of roads, one is the upper level difficulty of Kingdom of God, and the other is the lower level is the 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 move up through the ranks of first-, second-, third-, and fourth-level priests. At the end of the day, it is the senior chief priest who is in charge of one department and one bureau! As for the shortcut like Koscach, who followed His Highness from a young age and then took off all the way, there will no longer be a shortcut.

Another difficulty in the Abyss is to join various workshops or crafts camps as a craftsman. After four years of hard work, when the skills and experience are sufficient and recognized by the master craftsmen, the craftsman will be considered a formal craftsman. This step will probably eliminate half of the people. In other words, at least half of the craftsmen must do the most basic work, such as making bricks or burning charcoal. Of course, apprentices who are eliminated can be re-examined every four years, so there is always something to look forward to.

Next, the craftsman works for another four years, rising from the lower level to the upper level. In another four years, if you pass the assessment, you will be promoted to skilled craftsman. In this selection, half will be eliminated. After being promoted to a skilled craftsman, you will be rewarded every year, and the treatment is not much different from that of a second-level warrior.

Skilled craftsmen are promoted in four years, and after eight years of assessment, they are promoted to senior craftsmen. This step will eliminate 60% to 70%. Among craftsmen households, the proportion of senior craftsmen usually does not exceed one tenth. After being promoted to a senior craftsman, you can 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, in terms of social status, it is far behind, and there is no land that can be passed on to future generations.

Generally speaking, if everything goes well, after an apprentice works for twenty years, he or she will be able to choose one out of ten and become a senior craftsman. And from here on up, there are rare master craftsmen. This is not something you can get promoted just by accumulating qualifications. You have to make great achievements and make real technological breakthroughs and improvements!

Even His Highness will see the promotion of a master craftsman, and he will often be given land. After being promoted to Master Craftsman, you will automatically become a divine priest. As a class-crossing honor, you will be successfully promoted to a member of the ruling class!

"Master Craftsman! If only one of the two hundred kiln workers can improve his craftsmanship on his own and become a Master Craftsman, then as their leader, I will also have merit and be rewarded!"

Koskachi thought for a while, smiled and shook his head. Breakthroughs in new technologies are easy to say, but how easy is it to actually achieve them?

Like the large kiln that His Highness mentioned, 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 hard for five or six years, and they have only just gained some insights. If this technology is made, at least two master craftsmen can be named!

".However, there is a real opportunity now! His Highness has told us 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's attention, The level is enough to promote two or three master craftsmen! But, which two outstanding apprentices should I give this opportunity to?"

Koskaci touched his chin and pondered silently. After a while, he inserted the bronze rod back into his waist, abandoned the kiln workers in the kiln, and strode toward the camp behind him. There, a newly built white wall was flashing like masonry in the sunlight.