First Step Plan

Gawain couldn't explain his plans or his foresight to others. Even to Rebecca and Heti, his most trusted confidantes, he couldn't fully articulate his thoughts. So, all he could do was break down his grand plans into stages and details, and then slowly build them up.

What he did today was perhaps the most basic part of it all, even just the foundation for the territory's development.

For Rebecca and Heti, Gawain showed them an incredible side of the commoners and serfs.

They had never seen commoners and serfs work with such high spirits, nor had they seen them complete tasks they were usually terrible at so quickly and well.

They believed Gawain's promise of "meat for dinner" was motivating these people, and that was indeed the case.

It was still too early to foster a popular movement of self-confidence and pride in labor. Using a meat meal to boost the workforce's enthusiasm was the simplest and most effective method.

Returning to the tent in the center of the camp, Gawain found paper and a pen and began to record some things. At the same time, he instructed Knight Byron, who had followed him in, "Send two people to get the meat and cook it. Prepare enough for ten people. Also, everyone who participates in the labor will get all the soup and black bread they can eat. We have plenty of food, and in the early stages of territory development, no one should fall ill from hunger or cold."

"Are you really preparing ten servings of meat?" Byron asked, slightly surprised.

Gawain replied as if it were obvious, "Of course, I must keep my promises. Are there any problems?"

"I thought you were just going to stew a pot of meat soup," Byron explained. "Just a few pieces of meat the size of walnuts, plus vegetables, stewed in a large pot. Those people would be eternally grateful."

"Do as I say," Gawain waved his hand. "My promises allow for no discounts. Oh, and have the cook set up a large pot in the most visible spot in the camp. I want everyone to see the scene of the stewing meat, and have soldiers maintain order nearby, preventing any scrambling."

Knight Byron bowed with a slightly strange expression and left to carry out the orders.

Gawain then noticed a gaze coming from nearby. He turned his head and saw Amber staring at him intently.

"What are you looking at?" he shifted his neck uncomfortably. "Is there something on my face?"

"I'm wondering if something that affected your mind attached itself to you when you were in the treasury, but you don't seem like it," Amber said seriously. "I've never heard of a noble voluntarily reducing their own wealth..."

Gawain found it a bit amusing. "You think my actions are reducing my own wealth?"

"What else?" Amber spread her hands. "Turning serfs into free citizens means they only need to give you a portion of the grain they grow. You also have to pay wages to the free citizens, which is taking money out of your own pocket... Can a noble do that?"

"If I asked you to help me paint the walls, without paying you and just giving orders, how much could you do in a day?"

Amber thought for a moment. "I'd steal a few coins from your pocket, hire a kid from the servants' quarters to do it for me, and use the rest of the money to buy wine!"

Gawain: "...I'm so bored I'm trying to reason with the disgrace of all things!"

Amber: "How am I the disgrace of all things!"

At that moment, Heti entered the tent, interrupting Amber's outburst. The lady still had an expression of disbelief on her face. "Ancestor, it's simply incredible. They've never worked so hard—especially the serfs. They even finished their tasks without supervisors..."

"Because they were working for the lord before, and now their work is directly tied to their meals," Gawain said, unsurprised. "This is just the first step. As you can see, what we gain is far more than the extra food and wages we're paying."

"I've also thought about motivating them to work, just not to this extent," Heti shook her head. "I can't even imagine what the future of the territory will be like if these systems are truly continued."

Gawain smiled. "It will definitely develop in a good direction. Just trust me. And what I did today is just the first step. Come and look at these..."

He had been writing and drawing on several pieces of paper since earlier. Amber had glanced at them briefly and then lost interest, finding it boring. Now, Heti, upon Gawain's instruction, obediently walked over. "What is this?"

The papers were filled with sentences she couldn't understand, looking more like a jumble of strange terms: work groups, competition and contracting, assessment methods and efficiency statistics. Other papers had "Mid-term Plan" written on them, listing things like general education, magic talent surveys, and talent acquisition, which looked even more perplexing.

"These are things I've thought of over time, but the time to implement them hasn't come until now. Since the territory's development has begun, some matters should be put on the agenda," Gawain pointed to the top paper. "These things might be difficult for many commoners and serfs to understand, so I want to explain them to you first. Then you can explain them to Knight Byron and the supervisors, and then repeatedly explain them to everyone. By the way, where is Rebecca?"

"She's... helping to burn the weeds and shrubs on the south side of the riverbank," Heti said. "It's also one of her ways of practicing magic."

Gawain's mouth twitched. "Have her come over too. Practicing a fireball can be done anytime."

Soon, Rebecca was called in. The viscountess's face was covered in soot, and she smelled of smoke. Rather than practicing magic, she looked more like she had just crawled out of the kitchen—no wonder she only knew one spell, the fireball.

"I'm going to explain the upcoming work shifts in the camp to you," Gawain spread out his plan and explained in detail. "First, work groups—I require all laborers to be divided into groups of five to ten people. Work content and rest shifts will be assigned to each group...

"All groups must report to the supervisor before starting work and report again after finishing. The supervisor is responsible for tracking the work progress of each group. Additionally, each group will have a leader, who is responsible for assigning tasks within the group...

"Let the groups choose their own leaders, and tell them that the leader position is not fixed. If a leader affects work efficiency, or deceives the supervisor or lord, they will be replaced immediately.

"Work performance will be assessed by group. The entire group will be rewarded or punished. I'll discuss the reward and punishment system and competition mechanisms later...

"Regarding the scoring system I mentioned earlier, considering most people are illiterate and innumerate, Heti, you will record the completion status of each group for now. We can discuss specific contribution counts later...

"Also, we need to discuss the recording method for each group receiving and returning tools."

Gawain rattled off a lot of information. Not only Rebecca but even Heti looked dazed. Heti stared blankly at Gawain as he continued to write and draw on the paper. The previously noun-only entries were quickly filled with some scribbled shorthand. She couldn't help but feel confused. "Ancestor, isn't making simple work so complicated going to reduce... efficiency?"

"These systems only appear complicated, but at the end of the system, for the commoners and serfs, they only need to work quickly and well to get benefits. Once they taste the sweetness, they will naturally comply earnestly, and when they start to comply, you will see even more astonishing efficiency than the tent construction today. Of course, it might be difficult to implement at first, which is why you need to continuously promote and explain them. Furthermore, mandatory enforcement and promotion are necessary, no questions asked—just tell them that these are the new laws of Cecil Territory."

At this point, Gawain couldn't help but feel a bit grateful for this backward era. With unawakened minds, both free citizens and slaves took obeying orders as a matter of course. The lord's word was absolute, and the so-called "lowly people" had no room for resistance. In such circumstances, many of his ideas could be implemented without much explanation...

However, this was not the situation Gawain desired. His goal was to break this environment and make every "lowly person" in Cecil Territory no longer lowly, but a living human being.

He needed people, lots of people.

Because the things he needed to do could not be accomplished by his own strength alone.

That's why he had Heti not only forcibly promote these systems but also constantly explain them to the populace. It didn't matter if the commoners didn't understand now; they would eventually understand.

Heti was not stupid. She had enough wisdom, and her insights were already far ahead of the contemporary noble class. After Gawain's explanation and her own contemplation, she had vaguely grasped the meaning behind his actions and nodded in agreement.

"Then what about me?" Rebecca, seeing that Aunt Heti already had a task, couldn't help but eagerly step forward. "What do I do?"

The viscountess, who had been the lord of Cecil Territory not long ago, now completely placed herself in the position of Gawain's assistant.

"Tomorrow, you'll take some people to survey the soil quality and determine the difficulty of land reclamation and the initial area that can be reclaimed. Don't go too far."

As Gawain spoke, he quickly sketched a rough map on a nearby blank piece of paper. It was a large area centered around the riverbank, and he had casually marked the distances to various places. Although it was not even a sketch, it was merely outline lines, but it made Rebecca stare blankly.

"Just go within this range—don't worry about anything outside the area for now."

Rebecca, looking dazed, took the "map." "Oh... oh..."

Amber, standing nearby, looked at Gawain as if he were a monster. "You... were all the people who undertook the Second Expansion back then monsters?"

Gawain thought for a moment, believing that the old guys from seven hundred years ago wouldn't crawl out of their graves to hit him, so he casually lied, "Yeah, drawing a map of half the kingdom with our eyes closed was standard for our generation."

Amber: "..."