Education

The return journey went far more smoothly than expected. Victor's actions had earned the herdsmen's trust, and they cooperated readily with the relocation orders. Of course, this was also related to the nature of ordinary herdsmen.

Ordinary herdsmen were all slaves of the tribal chiefs. They had no property and no freedom, and could only obtain their daily necessities by working for the chiefs. Only if a relative was chosen by the chief to become a warrior would they have a chance to rise in status and own private property.

The relatives of the Green Grass Tribe's warriors had suffered devastating losses in this upheaval. Most had their property stolen, while some had even lost their lives. The relatives of the warriors who had originally resisted Victor, as well as those of the tribal chief, had also been nearly wiped out. Those left were basically herdsmen with nothing at all. Having been conquered, they would obey so long as they were given food.

Victor looked at the scantily clad herdsmen and sighed. He had originally increased the transport capacity of James's fleet, hoping to carry more people and supplies. Now, however, he should tell his father to continue increasing shipments of food, cloth, clothing, and other daily necessities.

Some had suggested that Victor cull the elderly and children. There were not many elderly people among the captives this time—only around three hundred were over forty, and most were barely past forty. There were, however, many children, most of them war orphans. Nearly a thousand were under fourteen. Eliminating these burdens would greatly reduce the consumption of food and supplies, while the remaining eight hundred adult men and more than a thousand adult women could provide Victor with labor. But Victor rejected the proposal outright.

Victor was not a bleeding heart. He was unwilling to treat the warriors under his command as bargaining chips or numbers to be sacrificed because he spent his days with them and knew many of their names and families.

But his territory lacked neither food nor supplies for these people. Compared with the labor adults could provide, he valued the potential of young people and children more. Thinking of this, he remembered something else that was very important.

"Number 1, how is the compilation of the teaching materials I mentioned before?" Victor knew exactly what he wanted: to conquer the era, establish rule, use the functions of the Beacon Lighthouse that would gradually unlock with the arrival of the Magic Tide, transform this world, and raise the foundation and technology of the entire civilization. When the Magic Tide arrived, he would ride the tide of the times to make civilization stronger and better able to face the various crises brought about by the Magic Tide.

But considering that the Magic Tide had not yet arrived, let alone putting those functions to use, even all knowledge related to magical energy could be said to be utterly useless. Therefore, Victor wanted Number 1 to compile a set of teaching materials. It did not need to contain much knowledge, only the bare essentials: enough commonly used characters for students to learn reading and writing more efficiently, some basic natural principles and mathematics, as well as loyalty education. It would be useful no matter what work they did—a most basic curriculum for three years of study.

"Victor, version 1.0 of the basic teaching materials has been completed. Version 2.0 is currently being organized and is expected to require more than one hundred days."

"According to the previous plan, version 1.0—the materials for the three-year elementary program—will be used for around five years. Then reduce the computing resources allocated to version 2.0. It only needs to be finished within three years."

"Task confirmed, Victor."

Combining his own ideas with the assistance of the Beacon Lighthouse's Calculation Module, Victor formulated a thirty-year education plan. Each five-year period would mark a new stage. The first five years would pilot a three-year basic education program for three years—not compulsory education, with Victor selecting the range of students. During the second five years, the three-year basic education program would be implemented throughout the territories under his control, covering all children between six and fourteen as well as adults willing to study. Some would also be selected to learn the version 2.0 materials for the six-year basic education program. During the third five years, a six-year basic education program would be implemented throughout his territories. The curriculum would be expanded to cover all school-age children in the territory, while adult night schools and training classes would be established. Outstanding students would receive more advanced education and training, creating a reserve of talent for the next stage of educational work. The fourth five-year plan would begin adding advanced educational content, more specialized and complex knowledge, selecting outstanding students who had completed the six-year program for targeted training. Students trained at this stage would no longer work solely in education; they would also enter other industries and strengthen the territory's technical capabilities. The fifth and sixth five-year plans were relatively simple and could essentially be regarded as a single ten-year plan. After the six-year basic education program had been fully implemented, talent would be selected based on graduates' abilities for more specialized and targeted education. Some would become replacement teachers, while others would begin participating in the territory's various operations. By then, the territory would also develop more specialized and subdivided research institutions.

Of course, this education plan was all idealistic. Its prerequisite was that the territory continued developing rapidly, with both population and fiscal revenue continually increasing, and without encountering any major crises.

If Victor had a sufficiently fertile territory, he could rely on his Golden Finger to plan and build it in an orderly manner. After developing it for thirty years, he would certainly be able to make it flourish and become an influential great noble of the Grand Duchy of Vera.

But that was too idealistic. His current position was itself one of the future Grand Duchy of Vera's sources of war. He needed support from the Northern Frontier nobles and the duchy's interior, so he had to constantly adjust his plans, deal with all kinds of difficulties, and seize every opportunity.

Victor still made up his mind. When he sent the fleet back this time, he would write to his father and ask him to recruit twenty educated Freemen to send to Victor. Victor would personally train them as the first teachers of basic education. He would select a group of barbarian war orphans and the children of serf soldiers as the first students. These children were seeds. Some of them would become new teachers, while others could take part in other work within the territory, such as becoming his guards or low-ranking territorial clerks.

These plans had to be carried out whenever the conditions allowed. He could not slow his pace simply because of difficulties. To Victor, time was always pressing. Even though Number 1 had told him that once the Magic Tide arrived, his vast Soul Matter would allow him to become extraordinary and gain a longer lifespan, he still did not know whether he could live another fifty years. He had to possess a greater sense of urgency.

Thus, amid Victor's constant thoughts, the main force and the prisoners of war finally reached the Great Fish River after three days. All the soldiers began cheering when they saw the fleet by the riverbank, while the ragged herdsmen looked hopefully toward the land across the river. Seeing this, Victor's worries eased. At least the first stage of the expansion had passed steadily.