Chapter 317 The Way of Truth
The city hall stipulates that employers must not work more than eight hours a day when hiring underage workers. This is to prevent some employers from hiring child laborers out of greed. However, it cannot directly prohibit child labor - because teenagers in most areas of this alien world are already the labor force in the family, and many families even rely on their children to support part of the family expenses.
If child labor is banned across the board, it will not only make it difficult for some landless urban poor families to make a living, but also leave child laborers who take risks to find work unprotected.
The reason for this is that the wealth and materials that can flow to the lower classes in society are too scarce. Before solving the most basic problem of food and clothing for the people, the city hall does not have the conditions to talk about humanistic care and humanitarianism.
In terms of the protection of adult workers, the city hall's regulations are considered to be quite "harsh" and "inhumane" by some white left saints... The legal working hours for adult workers have been extended to ten hours.
But the reality is that the ten-hour working red line is enough to ensure a reasonable work and rest schedule for the urban population. Many people often ignore a problem when they curse oppression and exploitation. Even on Earth, even in China, there are many factories and enterprises where the daily working hours exceed eight hours, or even more than ten hours.
This culture of overtime work is supported in many factories and enterprises, and even by the workers themselves. The reason is simple: without overtime, the salary will not be enough, and they will not be able to save enough money to pursue a better life.
In this alien world, the well-off middle class are only concerned with how to imitate and learn the lifestyle of the upper class. They have neither the interest nor the leisure to gild themselves or polish their halo by "caring" or "pitying" the poor at the bottom of society. The city hall is relatively quiet; and adults, whose working hours have been shortened to ten hours, have more time to spend with their families and enjoy the quiet time in their spare time.
Kingsley squatted on the side of the road opposite the Civic Square to feel the local people's life atmosphere. His mental fatigue was relieved, and he stood up and left silently.
The City Lord's Mansion is still under construction, and Kingsley, who dislikes the noise, has been living in the operator dormitory building of the City Hall and is a neighbor of Charlie Rex.
When Kingsley returned to the room where Hal had lived, Rex was still busy in the government building and had not returned.
When Kingsley woke up, Rex had already gone out again - they had been neighbors for such a long time and had only seen each other a few times, so Kingsley was used to it.
Kingsley leisurely went downstairs to the cafeteria to have breakfast, then wandered to the government building and entered the office of the Civil Affairs Department. He occupied the seat of an operator who was always out on field work, asked the clerk to make him some tea, and leaned against the window, enjoying the morning by listening to the otherworldly music playing from the speakers in the yard.
This guy doesn't consider himself an outsider at all. The clerks who know his identity don't feel disgusted with this old man with a young appearance. They even share some snacks, fruits and other things with him...
The radio station played Ji Tang's playlist in the morning. Lowell couldn't appreciate these overly passionate and heroic songs, but Kingsley liked them very much, not to mention that he could understand some of the lyrics - after all, he was the one who taught Yang Qiu the common language, and although he didn't understand Chinese characters, he had no problem communicating in oral language.
"There has never been any savior, and we don't need to rely on gods or emperors... This is really a song that that bad boy Yang would like." Kingsley was very excited after listening to the song. He didn't care whether the clerks were busy or not, and he just stopped anyone and started talking to her.
"Not only Mr. Yang, we also like this song very much." The clerk who was called replied politely.
"It's just that the lyrics are too radical." Kingsley said with emotion, "If people outside could understand it, I don't know how much criticism it would cause."
"It's just lyrics. Who would take them seriously?" The clerk said with a smile. "Those courtship songs that are full of vows, even the people singing them don't take the vows in the songs seriously."
Kingsley couldn't help but smile.
When he first saw that most of the clerks in the city hall were young and beautiful, he thought that Charlie Rex, the illegitimate son, was so bold and lustful that he dared to do anything wrong under Yang's nose... It was not until he learned about the experiences of these young ladies that he understood.
Girls from good families living in a superior environment are certainly qualified to dream of love, but for unfortunate ladies who have once become playthings, it is unrealistic to require them to have pure hearts and believe in true and passionate love between men and women.
The clerk left in a hurry. Kingsley listened to the song from another world again, then patted his knee and said with emotion: "Others may not take it seriously... but that brat Yang is definitely serious."
At noon, Kingsley did not eat in the cafeteria of the City Hall. Instead, he got up and went to the City Lord's Mansion to have Yang's lunch.
The workers who are repairing the tower will also take a lunch break at this time in the afternoon, which is a rare quiet moment in the city lord's mansion during the day.
"I found the collapsed demon world."
At the dinner table, Kingsley threw out his trump card.
Across the table, Yang seemed calm about the long-awaited news and even calmly picked up a napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth.
But the master and apprentice have lived together for many years, and Kingsley can see that Yang is not calm... He usually doesn't wipe his mouth before finishing his food.
"This is good news." Yang Qiu nodded slightly, thinking he was calm. "After dinner, let's confirm whether the coordinates are stable."
"Okay, stop pretending in front of me." Kingsley looked at him expressionlessly, "I can give you the coordinates directly, but I have a request."
Yang paused, probably thinking about the possibility that Kingsley might ask for too much, and said cautiously: "You know me, Kingsley, I am not a person who breaks my promise. I will do what I promised you about the Mage Tower."
Kingsley shook his head and said, "You should understand better what I need more."
Yang Qiu smiled meaningfully.
Kingsley still had no expression on his face, as if he had known that Yang was waiting for him here...
They had spent so much time together that even after being separated for decades, the master and disciple still understood each other very well.
Kingsley needs more than just a wizard tower.
He was older than Yang, Brother Lowell, and the illusionist Upton who had fled to the outer continent to look for a burial place. When Yang Qiu traveled through time, Kingsley would have been a man in his seventies according to Chinese customs .
The surging mental power of a high-level spellcaster can maintain the immortality of the body and prolong the lifespan, but this extension is limited; even if he is not as brave and aggressive as the illusionist Upton when he is young, the lifespan of a normal high-level spellcaster will not exceed four hundred years.
In other words...if he fails to get promoted, Kingsley will only have less than thirty years left to live.
It's not that Kingsley couldn't face the approach of death calmly. After all, he had lived long enough to see scenery that most people would never see in their entire lives. When his disciples were causing trouble outside and causing a sensation all over the continent, he was frequently harassed and went to the outer continent to stay there for more than ten years, where he really got to know the customs and practices of the outer continent.
However, this steady as an old dog mentality was shattered after he saw his disciple Yang become a legend.
For the first time, Yang Qiu did not finish the braised pork rice (provided by the chef of the Logistics Department) on his plate before moving it away and enthusiastically invited Kingsley: "You and I are the closest people in this world, Kingsley. I will consider what you really need even if you have never mentioned it to me. Of course, your cooperation is more important than my help. If you have made up your mind, I will not hesitate to share everything I have with you."
This extremely sweet promise... did not move Kingsley, but made him nervous and more alert...
There was no way, this master and disciple were too familiar with each other - if you get something from Yang, you must give something in return!
Although this was indeed what Kingsley taught Yang, this disciple obviously performed this skill more skillfully, boldly, and without any scruples!
Before he unexpectedly met Yang Qiu, who had advanced to become a legend, in the capital of the Rhine, Kingsley always felt that the disciple he picked up was of the same type as Upton, who was famous for his bellicosity a hundred years ago. He believed that if Yang had not entered the sect too late and started too late, and had not had the opportunity to come into contact with famous figures on the continent too early, he would definitely have died earlier than Upton.
No one would have expected that this fellow, who was even more powerful than Upton after his apprenticeship, could actually step through the third door of truth.
The teacher feels very pleased when the disciple surpasses him... No way!
If he wasn't already quite old, Kingsley would have doubted his life!
Following his disciples to Innadri, he witnessed and experienced firsthand what Yang had done on this land... Kingsley was even more indignant about the reason for Yang's legendary advancement - not only was this guy as stingy as before (although he taught himself that), he was even more outrageous!
It would be fine if a group of weird and strange undead were summoned from some unknown dimension, but some cases are like black magicians bringing weird and strange creatures from the demon world to the material plane to display them as treasures.
Controlling the undead is a very normal thing for black magicians. Many black magicians have the habit of using undead servants. But Yang's undead are too different from the traditional undead, right? !
They can be used as soldiers, govern territories, serve as officials for the consuls, and even be sent out as mercenaries or exorcists. What kind of weird demon world did this undead spirit come from? !
When Kingsley tried to contact these undead, not only did they not fear and submit to his strength as a high-level black magician, but they arrogantly came up to him, touched his hair and pinched his face. Kingsley was so angry that he killed several of them on the spot before scaring away these rude guys.
What's even more annoying is that the escaped undead would stand where Kingsley could see them and openly point fingers at him and whisper to each other...
Fortunately, the "KABA" sound made by the undead is different from the Chinese language. Kingsley can't understand the players' chattering about "sickly" and "violently cute". Otherwise, he would probably hunt down this group of players and kill them all...
As communication was difficult across the "species" barrier, Kingsley gave up trying to find out the origins of these undead spirits and instead became interested in what his disciple Yang was doing.
Then... he deeply understood how many outrageous things the disciples he taught had done: attacking towns in other countries without a reason, and after the attack, they randomly picked an illegitimate son of a noble from that country to be the lord, and then drove away the local lords and openly occupied the magpie's nest.
He forced the local Fiery Sun Church to acquiesce to "peace", arrested the Fiery Sun Cult members who were hunting him and made them do hard labor in road construction, and even "incited" the leader of the Fiery Sun Cult to work for him...
He used the fact that the Tarantan Undead knew how to exorcise demons to force the Gold Coin Church to acquiesce to or even accept the existence of the Undead, and he also earned a lot of gold coins from the Gold Coin Church...
He also took advantage of the Tarantan Undead's ability to obey orders and fight, not only did he earn gold coins from the neighboring family of Odysseus, but he also brought back an inland fleet...
The local nobles in the area of Innadli were tormented by Yang. He not only seized their coal mines, but also abolished their tax-free privileges to implement tax reforms, and directly demanded serfs. Kingsley even suspected that Yang might just kill all the local nobles at once when he was in a good mood. After all, when this guy was an apprentice in his wizard tower, he had repeatedly declared that he would never reconcile with the nobles.
After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Kingsley finally spoke, saying solemnly: "Let me make it clear first. If your idea is to turn everything your undead can touch into Innadri, then I may not be able to walk with you for long."
Before Yang could open his mouth to argue, Kingsley quickly interrupted him: "Don't use the nice words like Innadri is not incapable of coexisting with the nobles, and don't use your cooperation with the daughter of Count Odysseus to perfunctorily deal with me. I know you just as you know me. If you hadn't grown up to this age and knew that this continent would not allow you to do whatever you want, you would have hung all the nobles you could see on the wall long ago, right?"
Yang Qiu showed a rare look of embarrassment...
Kingsley sighed, "I know you're not someone who can be easily convinced, but I still want to repeat it again... Disagreeing with certain people doesn't mean you have to kill them all. The Cult of the Gods and the spellcasters were not able to coexist from the beginning. Thousands of years ago, it was impossible for black magicians and priests of the Orthodox Cult to coexist in the same city."
"But you've also seen that after the War of the Gods, even though the ideologies of the priests of the Orthodox Sect and us spellcasters are still different, they can still coexist... These are all examples in front of you. Why do you insist on practicing those unrealistic ideas you had when you were young?"
Seeing Yang Qiu remained silent, Kingsley sighed again and said, "Other sects did not blindly follow the Fiery Sun Church in hunting you down. They did not unite against you and not allow a black magician like you who challenged the authority of the Orthodox God Sect to operate on this continent. You are the beneficiary of the current rule of coexistence while seeking common ground while reserving differences. I hope you can think more carefully about the path of truth you are pursuing."
"If you don't have the inclusiveness that has been proven to be feasible, your truth cannot be called the correct truth, and it cannot support your beliefs forever. One day you will face the collapse of your faith, which is a situation that neither you nor I want to see."
The fact that the spellcaster does not submit his faith to the gods does not mean that he has no faith.
Unlike priests and believers who place their faith in gods, spellcasters place their faith more on themselves, using the path they pursue as the basis of their beliefs and the foundation of their faith.
The path each spellcaster pursues is different, but they are all connected - spellcasters do not believe in the omnipotence of gods. They believe more in their own abilities and the beliefs they pursue and explore, and they firmly believe that this is the source of all their power.
In short...believers in the righteous God seek to become followers of the righteous God, while spellcasters are more ambitious, they only want to make themselves gods!
The "Gate of Truth", which is in the form of the Eye of Truth and can be summoned by the strong, is the most powerful proof of the correctness of the path chosen by the caster!
In this world, the ladder leading to the way of God is clearly laid out there, inspiring countless powerful people to follow suit!
There are thousands of great ways that can lead to enlightenment— all the gods of this world came from this.
Kingsley has witnessed Yang's rise to legendary status, but he still has reservations about the path Yang has chosen.
Kingsley is a Kenyan. Kenyans value dark hair colors such as black, blue and brown (Hal, who was once a Kenyan noble, has brown hair). With his full head of red hair, it is obvious that he is of commoner descent from the Kenyan Empire.
Being born into a commoner family, it is impossible for them to have any affection or empathy for the nobles.
Although Kingsley did not like the rural nobles who mainly engaged in agriculture, it did not mean that he could accept the radical ideas of his "brain-sick" disciple Yang. He was a Kenyan, and he was born when the Kenyan Empire's great Age of Exploration began. The first group of people who went to sea and brought back grain, cotton seeds, and various spices from the outer continent were the Kenyan nobles at that time.
The grains, cotton seeds and spices from the outer continent had a profound impact on the Napoleonic continent, and the Kenyan civilians at that time benefited greatly.
Magic technology continued to develop due to the needs of the great voyages, giving birth to new things such as magic steam trains, magic airships, magic pneumatic cars, and so on. The mechanical creations of the Kenyan Empire spread throughout Naples along with Kenyan cotton cloth, Kenyan spices, and high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes.
When Kingsley traveled around the continent, he saw with his own eyes that not only in the eastern countries such as the Kingdom of Rhine and the Principality of Shiga, but also in the Kingdom of the Death God Parish in the far west and the Kingdom , there were a large number of civilians wearing cotton clothes from the Kenyan Empire, and countless people relied on high-yield corn and potatoes for their livelihood.
The nobles were indeed greedy, but they were also an indispensable part of human society on the continent of Nabarron. Without the nobles, there would be no great voyages of discovery, no rise of magic technology and the prevalence of mechanical creations, and no popularization of high-yield crops - the inland caravans and inland sea fleets that could bring grain and cotton seeds to every corner of the continent almost all had the support of the nobles.
Kingsley recognized Yang's emphasis on common people, but if Yang's path to truth must be incompatible with that of the nobles, then Kingsley found it hard to believe that Yang's path would work.
Yang Qiu could understand the teacher's thoughts.
Kingsley is a stingy, selfish, mean, harsh, and bad-tempered person, but it is undeniable that he is not a stubborn person who cannot communicate.
Not only can Kingsley tolerate Yang Qiu who often makes "violent remarks" as soon as he becomes an apprentice, he is also very tolerant towards those who have offended him. He is not the kind of person who will take revenge just by relying on his strong strength. That kind of person with serious character flaws cannot become a strong person in this world where power is poisonous. Even if he does not become a spellcaster and follows the path of martial arts, he will definitely go crazy and degenerate long ago.
However, Yang still has full confidence in the path he has chosen.
Since Kingsley chose to tell him the truth at this moment, Yang Qiu did not perfunctorily answer him. After Kingsley expressed his thoughts, Yang Qiu smiled and said, "I have to defend myself. I am not necessarily against all nobles. In a society composed of intelligent creatures, no matter how strictly we guard against it, there will inevitably be upper-class people who monopolize a large amount of resources. This phenomenon cannot be eliminated."
Even in China, there is a top-level capital product called "Hangzhou Lakeside University" that openly challenges the people's democratic dictatorship.
"The existence of aristocrats does represent advancement at a certain stage of social development." Yang Qiu said, "Take the Rhine Kingdom as an example. Before the Age of Exploration and the rise of magic technology, there were no magic steam trains, no airships, no power plants, no telephones or telegraphs. The Rhine royal family, who lived in the capital, had to rely on local aristocrats to rule such a large country."
"These local nobles who received land from the king used the land to accumulate wealth and raise private soldiers, who were then used to protect the people in their territories, allowing them to farm and produce with peace of mind. When the country was invaded by foreign enemies, the nobles would lead their private soldiers to fight and drive away the foreign enemies... This set of national governance mechanisms is far more advanced than the closed and backward tribal era and the era of independent city-states."
Kingsley was about to nod, but then he felt something was wrong and frowned, "Don't get the logic wrong. The birth of the Age of Exploration and the rise of magic technology were both made possible by the advancement of the nobles."
Yang Qiu smiled, nodded, and then shook his head.
Kingsley actually got the logic wrong. It was not because the aristocracy promoted progress, but because the aristocracy, who had monopolized a large amount of social resources, happened to be in a position to do this.
If it is the state power that monopolizes resources, then it is not the turn of the nobles to do this.
The land feudal aristocracy, a product of the times, has gradually declined in the history of China since the Warring States Period.
The reason was that the private soldiers (buqu) of the nobles who monopolized land resources were replaced by cheaper and more affordable armed infantry owned by larger political groups - such as the Qin soldiers who swept across the six kingdoms.
The armed infantry led by the state dealt a devastating blow to the aristocratic tribes, forcing the aristocratic families to actively move closer to the state and gather around the central power in the name of the Son of Heaven and the emperor to share the profits and power.
In comparison, the feudal nobles in Europe were much luckier than those in China. The nobles' canned private soldiers, who were armed with heavy armor, were not taught a lesson by the Mongolian light cavalry until the Yuan Dynasty.
In this alien world with strange powers and supernatural beings, the feudal nobles here are undoubtedly more fortunate than their counterparts on Earth - the private soldiers that only the nobles can raise in an organized manner, and the mercenaries that only the nobles can afford to hire all have extraordinary martial arts; let alone a rebellion by the common people, even if the royal family smashed their coffins to raise enough militias, they would not be able to defeat all the nobles in their own country.
Destroying the local nobles by violence is something that even the king cannot do, but for Yang Qiu... it is not a big deal at all.
The Chinese people who were born in New China and grew up under the red flag, all of them, like the spellcaster, do not believe in heaven and earth or in gods; if you give them a chance to project their souls over, they will all become "talented people" with explosive growth.
As long as the Mage Tower is built, Yang Qiu can send troops at any time...
