Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 372 The Dawn of Two Teeth: Sparks of Hope in the Village (Evening)

The morning mist, like a layer of grayish-white gauze, was soft and damp, slowly rolling along the withered grass on the plain.

Li Datou tightened the bag on his shoulder; the leather straps dug deeply into the thick cotton wadding of his military overcoat, making him a little uncomfortable.

He squinted and looked ahead. In the distance, through the mist, he could vaguely make out the outlines of several low houses, motionless, like dying animals crouching on the plains.

"Captain Li, look, that's Shuangya Village!"

The guide, who was walking at the front of the group, turned around and instinctively tried to bend down. It was an instinctive reaction he had developed over a long period of time when facing "people of status." However, he straightened up reflexively when Li Datou frowned slightly. His gaze involuntarily fell on the bright red torch seal on the captain's chest.

His eyes were full of envy.

Li Datou was born a slave and was almost forty years old. On the White Deer Plain, this was considered an age to die. It was even more dangerous than a midlife crisis on Earth.

However, Li Datou was lucky; he pulled through.

Once you go to the Vast Ocean Territory, you won't die. Li Datou is infinitely loyal to the lord who gave him a second life.

When the lord said he needed village cadres, he was the first to sign up, even giving up his stable civil servant job in the Vast Ocean Territory.

After a short week of training, with his relentless drive and profound understanding of his background, the elderly man successfully outperformed the younger generation and became one of the first village-based cadres.

And so, Big Head, with his assigned squad, embarked on a journey to transform the plains.

Before setting off, Li Datou was "ready to be the vanguard." When the bright red seal was pinned to his chest, he felt as if his bones had become several ounces lighter, making everyone extremely envious!

Before entering the village, the team took one last break, tidying their clothes, replenishing their supplies, and checking their weapons...

"How many people are left in the village?"

The guide paused for a moment, then answered hesitantly, "Before we left last time, there were more than 800 people in the village. Now... it's hard to say now."

“Slaves die very quickly! Especially in winter, dozens die at a time…”

"Frozen to death?"

"Some froze to death, some starved to death, and some died in fights."

The guide's voice was low: "The village is divided into two factions, as you know, under the jurisdiction of those two orc lords. The east side of the village is ruled by the 'Black Fang' people, and the west side by the 'Grey Fang' people. The two lords are mortal enemies, and their slaves have become mortal enemies as well, fighting over land, water, food, everything!"

"There are no more orc lords, watch your address!"

Li Datou criticized the guide, then turned to his team members and raised his voice: "During the training course for village cadres, the instructor specifically mentioned this situation. Reactionary slave owners are most adept at using this method to incite conflict and hatred among slaves, thereby diverting attention and obscuring the main contradiction of their exploitation of the slaves."

“These long-standing feuds, created by the slave-owning reactionaries, are a big problem. We need to handle them carefully!”

"What's the trouble? Just make sure the disobedient ones do their magic."

The man asking the question was named Shi Hu. This man in his thirties had nothing on his left sleeve and was leaning on a well-worn wooden cane in his right hand.

He was a retired soldier from the 3rd Brigade of the National Defense Army. He lost his entire left arm and was also somewhat disabled in a blocking battle. However, he was experienced in combat and studied with the territory's militia training brigade for a period of time before being assigned to serve as the militia captain.

"Nonsense!"

"They all use the heads of their enemies as a mirror, how can they use their own people as a mirror!"

Shi Hu shrugged and remained silent. He was a veteran and a professional. Even crippled, he could easily defeat the old man in front of him. However, the other party was the team leader, and due to the rank difference, he could only follow his orders.

After a brief rest, the team continued their journey. Besides Li Datou, the village head and group leader, and Shi Hu, the militia captain, the team included a seemingly mild-mannered teacher, a barefoot doctor carrying a medicine box, an agricultural technician responsible for production guidance, and a three-person escort team: a human, a centaur, and an orc.

Oh, and this bowing and scraping, shifty-eyed guy was originally a lackey of the slave owner, the guide who used to swagger around in Double Tooth Village.

The fog seemed to dissipate somewhat, making the village's outline clearer, and the air of decay became more pronounced. The warriors leading the way raised a red flag, escorted the guide into the village, and made some arrangements. By the time Li Datou entered the village, the small, uneven square at the village entrance, piled with rubble and garbage, was already densely packed with kneeling slaves.

There was one pile on the left, one pile on the right, and the space between them was wide enough to fit an old ox; they were clearly separated.

The slaves were mostly human, with a small number of orcs and dwarves mixed in, and some mixed-race individuals whose specific ethnicity was not clearly discernible.

Most of them were emaciated and pale, their clothes barely covering their bodies, mostly tattered hemp and cotton, haphazardly tied to their bodies with straw ropes, and their feet wrapped in messy, blackened straw.

Perhaps because of the temperature, they huddled together tightly, as if trying to squeeze out some warmth.

Their eyes were lowered, staring at the dirty ground in front of them. Only a very few dared to secretly lift their eyelids and quickly glance at the group of uninvited guests from outside.

Li Datou took a deep breath of the crisp, cold air, straightened up, and faced the wooden pole in the middle of the square, on which hung a slightly faded red flag, a marker left by the National Defense Army when they cleared out the village.

The team leader gave a proper salute, then turned around and looked around the room.

He saw an all-too-familiar look in his eyes—warning, suspicious, numb, dim…

Without saying a word, Li Datou unloaded the large package from his back, opened it, and solemnly took out two items from it.

The slaves erupted in a chaotic chorus of screams, shrinking back like a frightened herd of beasts, pushing and shoving each other into a chaotic mass.

Those were two orc heads, specially treated so that their features were clearly discernible, with ferocious fangs, coarse hair, and wide-open, empty eyes.

These two, one named "Black Fang" and the other "Gray Fang," were the two orc "lords" who once ruled this village.

"Stand up! Listen carefully!"

Li Datou held a head in each hand, his voice booming, "Look closely! This is your former master! If you don't believe me, come up and take a closer look, touch him!"

"The era of orc rule here is over! From this day forward, Twinfang Village belongs to the Vast Ocean Territory and the Summer Moon Alliance!"

The first "gift" was very effective. Through this simple, brutal, yet highly impactful method, the slaves in the village quickly came to terms with reality—at least in terms of force.

But the work of the special team stationed in the village has only just begun.

Because of the long distance, it was impossible to bring the orc slave owners over for a public trial and a mass grievance meeting. So, the only way to complete the initial work was to display their heads and conduct a "cloud trial."

Lord Chen Mo freed up a lot of transportation capacity and equipped each village-based special operations team with a set of equipment, such as a portable projector.

That evening, several hundred people stood in a dark mass on the threshing ground, divided into two groups according to old custom—the east side belonged to the former "Black Teeth," and the west side to the former "Grey Teeth." The invisible line continued to separate them, and no one dared to cross it.

Li Datou used a white bed sheet produced by Hanhai as a screen, adjusted the projector a few times, and projected a clear image onto the white screen.

That was the scene of the public trial in front of the Liao Pass at Black Mane Ridge.

This video footage was filmed on-site, sent to Earth, professionally edited, and then transmitted back to the vast ocean. In terms of cost, it is probably the most expensive video footage ever produced.

The film begins with an overhead shot from above, depicting a gray valley, collapsed walls, a dense crowd of people, and red flags waving everywhere.

As the camera gradually zoomed in, it focused on the orc warlord who was bound hand and foot on the high platform.

A steady, powerful, and clearly articulated male voice began to introduce the man's identity—Grum the Skullbreaker, leader of the Orcish Southern Expedition, chief general of the Bear Clan, soon to become a war lord, and even a potential successor to the Orcish chieftainship.

Since he's already dead, let's exaggerate as much as possible; Groom won't blush.

Then, on the screen, a thin, frail-looking human kicked Groom in the back of the knee, sending the tall orc crashing to his knees. The dull thud echoed through the projector's built-in speakers, sending a shiver down the spines of everyone in the threshing ground.

Next, we see close-up shots of several stages of the prosecution.

The Eastern Xia side hired professional voice actors who used a variety of languages, including many regional dialects, to dub the version. This version sounds particularly emotional, even more heart-wrenching and tear-jerking than the original version's on-site accusations.

The orc veteran pointed at the sedan chair made of bones, weeping bitterly; the old laborer trembled as he identified the remains of his loved ones; the young slave clutched the skull of his unborn child, letting out a heart-wrenching wail…

There were also the trials of slave owners of all ranks, with every shot close to their faces—the orc generals' faces were ferocious and fearful, the figures of the lowest slaves were thin and humble, and the warriors of the vast sea stood tall like spears, with red flags fluttering behind them.

Cinematic language is a magical thing. The change of shot size, the enhancement of music, and the rhythm of editing can convey a strong signal without you even realizing it!

Who is the enemy, and who is the savior?
What is old and doomed to perish, and what is new and full of power? Shoulders began to shrug and tears began to flow in the crowd. Starting with women and children, weeping slowly grew louder and louder until it echoed throughout the entire threshing ground.

At the end of the video, the gleaming blade traced a blinding arc in the sunlight before falling! Blood spurted out, leaving a large splatter on the screen, casting a crimson hue over the entire image.

The cheers emanating from the loudspeakers swept in like a tsunami, deafening and earth-shattering.

Riding on this wave of heightened emotional resonance, the working group announced a series of HanHai guidelines.

First, there's the issue of how to deal with everyone's status as slaves.

Ironically, previous empirical evidence has repeatedly shown that slavery cannot be abolished all at once; the prerequisite for its abolition is that slaves possess some basic property sufficient to protect themselves.

In the Starry Continent, slaves are the private property of their masters. In theory, in order to maintain the value of their property, masters would provide slaves with basic accommodation and food.

Because slaves do not have private property, once a slave owner abandons a slave, the slave will immediately face the tragic fate of his entire family going hungry and cold to death.

Not to mention that without protection, there were ruthless gangs, defeated soldiers, and wild beasts outside.

Therefore, once they are freed from slavery, the vast majority of them will immediately fall into a state of mental and physical collapse.

They lost their shackles, but they also lost their means of survival.

Therefore, Lord Chen Mo adopted a step-by-step approach.

The first step was called the state ownership of slaves.

The starting point of communalization was the communalization of slavery, which is quite a dark joke.

Li Datou raised the megaphone and issued this... bizarre decree!

"Our great nation is called the Summer Moon Alliance!"

"From this day forward, your status is that of slaves belonging to the Summer Moon Alliance. You will no longer belong to any private slave owners. Unless the Alliance issues an order, no one has the right to dispose of your lives or property!"

"As part of the alliance, you must strictly obey the alliance's orders, abide by the law, and work diligently. Of course, as long as you complete the basic tasks assigned to you by the alliance, you will receive basic food, clothing, housing, and medical care provided by the state!"

"Work hard, and you can survive, and even live a more respectable life than before!"

"Do you understand everything?"

"understood!"

Although the voices were somewhat scattered, Li Datou quickly responded: "Very good, then today, everyone present who obeyed the order will receive a food supply."

"Get in line!"

While queuing, the staff guided the slaves who were originally standing on the east and west sides to take turns stepping forward, inadvertently erasing the original separation line.

Several large pots of steaming porridge, with salt and oil added, and a small amount of minced meat mixed in, were an unparalleled delicacy for these slaves who usually subsisted on wild vegetables, bran, and a small amount of moldy grains.

Each slave who finishes eating can take a small bag of grain back with them if they can learn and repeat a few basic laws of the Alliance from the teacher.

From that moment on, many slave families had their first precious, truly private property—a bag of grain that they could hide away and decide when to take it out to eat.

At present, these new territories on the Bailu Plain are still using the agricultural commune model that has been running successfully in the Han Hai Territory. This model involves collective labor to earn work points, centralized supply of living materials, and after providing basic living security, the majority of the output is handed over to the government, with a small surplus distributed among different groups.

In the future, once the slaves have enough resources to protect themselves, they will gradually become free citizens and be freed from their personal dependence.

With a video serving as spiritual nourishment and a bowl of hot porridge as physical sustenance, the slaves' emotions quickly stabilized, and their eyes regained a semblance of human vitality.

However, the work of the village-based work team has only just begun.

At the village work team's routine meeting that evening, after the video camera was set up, the doctor was the first to raise the difficulty: "There's not enough time. We only saw a portion of them today, about thirty people, and almost all of them had injuries or illnesses."

"The main problems are long-term malnutrition, some people suffer from edema and weakness, parasitic infections are common, and many people have old injuries..."

"The most troublesome one is a pregnant woman who looks like she's going to give birth in the next few days, but she's so thin that she's just skin and bones, so she's likely to have a difficult delivery."

"I need some medication, and it would be best if a doctor with delivery experience could help me!"

Li Datou glanced at the list handed to him, his brows furrowing: "You want to provide support before it even starts? Can't you deliver a baby?"

"I graduated from a crash course in a field hospital! I learned hemostasis, suturing, and removing arrowheads, but I didn't learn this! Are there any people in your unit who give birth on the battlefield?"

"..."

Li Datou choked for a moment, and a few suppressed laughs echoed in the room.

"Alright, I got it. I'll apply when I get back. As for the pregnant woman... try to keep an eye on her and give her some nutritional supplements, from our own quota."

"What's the situation on the teacher's side?"

“I’ve done the count. There are about two hundred school-age children and teenagers in the whole village. Of them, only two can recognize their own names. One is a former bookkeeper for the orcs, and the other is a child of a slave owner who was enslaved because his father made a mistake.”

"The illiteracy rate among adults... is close to 100%."

“We have to start with literacy education. I have textbooks and videos readily available here, but after trying it out, their enthusiasm for learning is very low. They all feel that recognizing characters is useless.”

"I'm afraid we'll still have to use the most basic method: linking the supply of basic food rations to the progress of literacy education!"

Li Datou clicked his tongue and turned to look at Shi Hu: "Where's the captain over here?"

"I selected six young men who looked fairly clever and physically fit enough to lead the way and teach them the most basic drills and discipline."

He waved his empty left sleeve. "However, it will probably take at least half a year to raise these guys to some strength and train them to look like militiamen. You have enough food supplies here!"

"If your stomach is empty, you can't train for anything."

"Ahem," the agricultural technician coughed twice and cut in.

"Just let things go smoothly from now on. Spring planting is just around the corner. Where will you find the time to train?"

He took a handful of crushed soil from the bag and sprinkled it evenly in front of everyone: "The soil here is good, but it's too fertile. We need to pile up a lot of fertilizer. The seeds aren't very good either; the yield is low and they're not disease-resistant. I've submitted a report to the agricultural research station to apply for some seed support."

"The farm tools are also in poor condition, so there's nothing we can do about it. The county government certainly can't afford to take care of that right now. Let's try to figure out a way ourselves, repair and patch them up, and the supplies should be available in a few months!"

Interrupted like this, Shi Hu didn't get angry, but silently rubbed the torch badge on his chest.

I'll take the lead and not stoop to his level.

After they finished speaking, the militia captain made a final addition.

"There are also some security issues. At least three groups of people have been loitering around our temporary food and supplies warehouse today. I guess they are spies or lackeys planted by the former slave owners among the slaves, or they are just bold and cunning troublemakers."

"I've set up sandbags and machine guns in the warehouse. I'll be sleeping there for the next few days. I want to see just how capable these guys are."

"By the way, the broadcasting station is all set up for you. When can it start broadcasting? Play some military songs, my little soldiers are dying to hear them. They can't go to the front lines, but they can at least listen to some music!"

Li Datou nodded and scribbled on the notebook with his pen.

The night outside the window was as still as water. The patrolling soldiers, carrying semi-automatic rifles made by Hanhai and long knives on their backs, could be heard clearly as their boots stomped on the stone slabs.

The sky was dotted with stars, reflecting on this vast and boundless plain.

The light shining through the mud-brick house, filtered through the rough window paper, was like a tiny spark on an endless plain. Though faint, it was nonetheless a beacon of light.

Perhaps it won't be long before it ignites the surrounding fields and eventually spreads like wildfire.

(End of this chapter)