Suleiman lay awake all night on the lord's bed in the New Castle. He couldn't sleep.
In the evening, the two confused and embarrassed faces of Lushen and Roslyn appeared repeatedly in front of my eyes. Of course, they are loyal and honest people.
But I once thought that I only needed loyalty, not ability. Looking at it now, I may have been wrong.
He won the war and took back the land with swords and spears, but the land was still in chaos. He still didn't know the population, resources, and water flow geography of his land.
How does a team that can't even count their fifties, sixties, and seventies measure, register, and manage their own land and people? The subcontracting system of Westeros has its deep roots in this land.
He wants to proclaim new decrees and decrees, who will record and teach them; he wants to establish fair laws, who will copy and interpret them.
Without precise figures, without grassroots bureaucracy, taxation is just a confused account, and government decrees cannot go out of the castle gate. Suleiman sat up from the bed. He remembered the stories he had brought with him in his memory, about buying horse bones for a thousand gold, and roosters and dogs robbers.
The next morning, it was just dawn.
Lushen and Roslyn were called to the hall of the castle. They stayed up all night, thinking that Mr. Suleiman would be held accountable for yesterday's statistics. Their expressions were full of determination.
Suleiman was sitting in the main seat, with a calm expression on his face, showing no emotion or anger.
The two people below stood cautiously.
Suleiman looked at the reserved two people and smiled, "You go in my territory, in all our villages,
Announce something."
"Lord Suleiman needs talents."
Then Suleiman paused and spoke slowly, "If you want to buy the fastest, tallest and most handsome horse in the world, but no one is willing to sell it to you, what will you do?"
Lushen and Roslyn look at each other, but they can't keep up with Suleiman's brain circuit. What is the relationship between horses and talents?
Lushen thought for a long time and replied angrily, "Master Suleiman, especially... then give me more money?"
Suleiman asked, "What if no matter how much money you give, others won't know that you really want to buy it, or they won't believe that you have that much money?"
Roslyn scratched his head and carefully guessed. "Then...:... grab it?"
Suleiman almost laughed out loud, he waved his hand. "No, there is a smarter way."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice was low, and he said with a strange allure, "Go and get one of my thinnest war horses, let a soldier pretend to be a horse seller, and then, in front of everyone, you buy the horse for several times the price of the horse."
Lushen and Roslyn's eyes widened even more, and they were at a loss.
Roslyn stammered, "Master Suleiman...:::. Why do you want to buy a horse at a high price in front of everyone?"
Suleiman shook his head, "What would people think if they saw that I was willing to pay several times the price for a skinny war horse?"
Lushen frowned and thought along this line of thought, "They...:::::. They will think that Mr. Suleiman is like someone who has been taken advantage of?"
Suleiman:"
"No!" Suleiman shook his head and said word by word, "They will think that a person who is willing to spend so much money to buy even a thin war horse, if he meets the fastest, tallest and most handsome horse in life, how much will he pay?"
"I understand!" Lushen slapped his thigh suddenly. "In this way, those who hide good horses will come to you to sell them!"
Suleiman There are two considerations: one is talent, and on the other hand, as long as the news gets out, someone might come to sell horses.
"As for talents." Suleiman tapped his fingers on the table, "Anyone who has the ability! Who can read! Who can count! Even if they only know simple words! Can add and subtract! Everything!"
"Also, those who know a little bit about herbal medicine, those who can see doctors, those who can forge iron, those who can make sharper plowshares, those who can bake bricks,
Anyone who can build a sturdier house... as long as he has a skill, even if he can learn how to bark like a chicken or a dog, he can bring it back to me."
Suleiman stood up and walked to the two of them:
"Go and ask twenty riders to come over immediately. I will dictate the order and ask them to memorize it. Then, in pairs, we will go to all the villages and shout it over and over again."
"Remember! It's not about posting notices! It's about shouting! I want every deaf person to hear! Every blind person knows!"
"What are you shouting?" Lushen asked.
Suleiman took a deep breath and issued the order in the simplest and most straightforward words:
"Just shout! Suleiman Master has an order! Anyone who can read will be rewarded with a bag of Silver Stag! Grant land! Anyone who can count will be rewarded with a bag of Silver Stag! Grant land! Anyone with special skills will be rewarded!"
"Just shout like this! Shout over and over again!"
"Once someone comes forward, verify it immediately. As long as he really knows a few words or can calculate numbers on the spot, no matter who he is, whether he is Beggar or a kid, immediately give the reward to his family in front of everyone, and then take him back to the castle!"
Suleiman's order was quickly executed by Lushen and Roslyn, and twenty riders quickly got into position. They gathered around Suleiman, like students, reciting those simple but direct words over and over again.
Then, they were sent out, their horse hooves trampling through the dust, bringing the will of Suleiman to every village where the smoke rises.
On River-Side Village, on a dusty dirt road, a man in shabby clothes was huddled in the corner, avoiding the midday sun.
His name is Bana. He used to be a small businessman. The failure of his business caused him to lose everything. His wife ran away and he no longer had the ambition to start from scratch. Now he can only make a living by wandering and begging.
The arrival of the two horsemen soldiers made the whole village tense, and people gathered to wait for the decree.
The leading soldier reined in his horse, cleared his throat, and shouted with all his strength:
"Suleiman Master has an order! Anyone who can read will be rewarded with a bag of Silver Stag! Granted land!"
"Anyone who can count will be rewarded with a bag of Silver Stag! Granted land!"
The crowd of villagers gathered looked at the two riders with awe and curiosity, whispering to each other.
"Really or not? If you can count, you can give money and land?"
"It's a lie. How can such a good thing happen?"
The soldiers ignored these comments and just mechanically repeated the orders loudly, without changing a single word.
Hiding in the shadows, Bana's heart was beating wildly. He knew how to count, which was the skill on which his livelihood depended.
Will there really be money? Why should we give money? Hunger and hope overwhelmed fear. He stood up from the corner on his knees and shouted at the soldiers, "I... I can count!"
All eyes were focused on him. The leading soldier dismounted and walked up to him, his eyes suspicious. "What did you say?"
"I... I can count." Bana's voice was trembling because of nervousness. Is it really Silver Stag, but he still mustered up the courage. "Sir, you... you can test me."
Next to the rider, the rider on the other side dismounted and looked up and down at the skinny Beggar.
"Do the math." He pointed to a group of chickens on the roadside. "Now go and count the number of chickens in the village. If each chicken eats two handfuls of grain a day, how many handfuls will it eat in ten days?"
The rider on the other side looked at the soldier who asked the question in shock. Is there anything wrong? Why did you ask such a difficult question?
But for Bana, this was almost instinctive. He quickly counted the number of chickens in the village and blurted out. "Six hundred and forty."
The rider who didn't ask the question was stunned. He didn't know if the answer was correct, but he was shocked by the speed. He turned to look at the rider beside him who asked the question, "Is this the answer?"
The rider who asked the question, "Yes! That's the number!"
The rider who didn't ask the question opened his eyes wide, "You can also count?!!!"
The rider who asked the question turned to look at him, "He answered so surely and so quickly. He can't even do math. In this case, here is a difficult question. If he can answer it, it must be true!"
The rider who didn't ask the question, "Huh?
Without any further hesitation, the two riders immediately stepped forward, one holding Bana on the other and pulling him onto the horse.
Bana was so scared that he lost his mind. "My lord! My lord! I...
Did I make a mistake?"
"That's right! It's you!!" There was a hint of excitement in the rider's voice. " Master Suleiman wants to see you! What's your name? Is there anyone else at home?"
"I... my name is Bana. I have no family anymore...:" Bana resisted and struggled desperately.
"Okay! From today on, you are Master Suleiman's!"
The same scene was played out in another village. A gray-haired old man was drawing hastily on the ground with a branch, teaching his grandson how to read.
"Child, look, this is "water"... This is "mountain"
2
?
Two riders happened to pass by and heard the old man's voice.
The two riders stopped quickly and walked up to the old man, "Were you writing just now!!!!"
The whole family of the old man was frightened, thinking that the old man had said something he shouldn't have said or done something he shouldn't have done. They fell to their knees one after another, trembling and trembling.
The rider stepped forward and pointed to a word that the old man had drawn. "This! Read it again!"
The old man fell to his knees tremblingly, trembling constantly, and did not dare to answer questions. He had learned some words from Barefoot Monk, who was staying overnight.
The other rider frowned, stepped forward and half drew his sword. "Hurry up!!!!"
The old man cried in fear, "Yes... it's the word "mountain", sir."
The rider points to another.
"Yes... it's the word "water"."
"This money belongs to you!!! Your father!! It belongs to Master Suleiman!!!!" The two riders laughed, and it was such a good thing to complete the task when they went out! One rider took out a heavy bag of Silver Stag from the money bag at his waist and threw it in front of the old man's son.
"Sir! No!" the old man's son cried, but quickly picked up the money bag. "Sir! No!"
"Sir! No!" The old man's son held the money bag, feeling the heavy weight inside, his face rosy with joy, which made his cry for mercy unreal. "My father is old!! He can't do anything!!"
The two soldiers stopped talking to each other, picked up the old man who was crying in fear, turned him over and put him on his horse, and galloped away.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the tears of the old man's family members disappear in an instant, and they happily gathered around to look at the opened Silver Stag bag.
The news was like the wind. More than a dozen people were taken away by Master Suleiman's riders. One Beggar was taken away on the spot by Master Suleiman's people because he could count. An old man who was about to die was immediately rewarded with a bag of Silver Stag because he knew a few words.
The citizens were talking a lot, speculating that this young lord had some special hobbies.
But when Bana, the old man named Herman, and nine other people were cleaned, put on decent linen clothes, and appeared in the hall of the castle hall, everyone was shocked.
Suleiman was sitting at the main seat in the hall, with two rows of soldiers holding weapons standing below him, as well as representatives of more than fifty villagers who were allowed to come in to watch.
"Today, I appoint eleven of them!" Suleiman's voice echoed in the hall.
He pointed to Bana who was thin but became more energetic after changing his clothes. "This is Bana! He is proficient in arithmetic! Starting from today!"
He will serve as the fiscal officer of my territory! Responsible for calculating the taxes of all villages!"
Suleiman pointed to the old man again. "This old man is Herman! He is proficient in writing! From today on! He will serve as the village official of a village! Responsible for registering the population, land and deeds in the territory! And reading out my decree!!"
All the villagers were shocked, including the eleven people standing in the center. They had never been watched by so many people before, and they were not informed beforehand. They didn't know what happened. At this moment, in front of everyone, they were successively named by Lord Suleiman as the lord's affairs officer. Everyone stood up straight.
Suleiman paused and glanced at the invited villagers. "They will receive accommodation provided in the castle outside the inner castle, as well as a fixed monthly food ration, and receive their salary from me."
"From this moment on!! Their status!! Equivalent to my officers!!"
"Disobey them!! You disobey me!!!"
The whole hall was in shock and uproar. A Beggar and a waning old man, and a dozen ordinary people who were not nobles or even had no noble blood, rose to the top and became the lord's affairs officer?
Suleiman knows why they are shocked. Logically speaking, it should be filled by Second Sons, a noble who has no inheritance rights, or an illegitimate son with blood, or a wandering, broken knight with no territory. Ordinary people have never had such rights.
Bana, Herman and the other nine people were so excited that they were shaking all over. They fell to their knees with tears streaming down their faces, kissing the cold ground over and over again, thanking Suleiman for his grace.
The effect of this "thousands of gold to buy horse bones" drama was immediate, and the news spread throughout the territory.
"Master Suleiman really gives money and land! As long as you can read, it counts!"
"I heard that Beggar can now eat meat every meal!"
"You don't know! That Beggar has been assigned a pony since he became a clerk! Now he looks at people with squinting eyes! He doesn't pay attention to anyone when he speaks!!!!"
The news continued to ferment within the territory, and even quickly spread outside the territory. A few days later, the first batch of real applicants from outside the territory began to appear sporadically at the gate of the castle.
These people were of mixed composition, including several impoverished young men who only knew a dozen or so words and came here with the mentality of just making a living. There was a lame and bankrupt small businessman who said he knew how to settle accounts and had recorded misdeeds for his small shop in the past.
There was also a middle-aged man with an arrogant expression, who claimed to have served a minor nobleman as a housekeeper, and was separated from his master during the war.
Suleiman welcomed everyone who came. He set up a simple examination room in the Lord's Hall, with a few tables and a few pieces of parchment.
He said to the middle-aged man who claimed to have worked as a housekeeper, "Write a paragraph and introduce yourself."
The man picked up the pen and wrote a neatly written text. The words were exaggerated and the handwriting was beautiful, far exceeding Old Nicken.
Suleiman suspects that his identity is not what he said. People with this level should only be those who serve the great nobles.
He then said to the lame bankrupt small businessman, "I sold you three sheep, each worth eighteen Silver Stag, and I bought five axes from you, each with seven Silver Stag. In the end, who should pay whom, and how much?"
The lame bankrupt businessman scratched on the table for a long time, and finally raised his head. "Master Suleiman! I should give you nineteen Silver Stag!"
Suleiman nodded.
He asked Lushen and Roslyn to register all these people, arrange accommodation and food first, conduct preliminary screening and placement, and give a sum of money and gifts to those who came to eat.
Suleiman is a little troubled. The real thousand-mile horse has not appeared, and there are not even a few decent "horses".
Late at night, Suleiman was sitting alone in the room again. There was a list on the table, which was just submitted by the middle-aged man who had served as the housekeeper. He was appointed as the clerk.
In the past few days, a total of seventeen people have come to apply. After a preliminary test, the only one who can write a complete sentence is the former noble clerk.
The only ones who can correctly calculate two-digit multiplication and division are Bana Beggar and the bankrupt businessman.
Most of the rest are "semi-literate" who can only write their names and a few words, or can only do simple addition and subtraction.
Westeros The lack of talents and the level of illiteracy were like a basin of ice water, extinguishing the fire in his heart.
Suleiman's face twitches, he has created demand, but Westeros has no supply at all here.