Chapter 270

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Muse ran his finger over the rough elementary school exercise book, feeling uncertain in his heart.

These sheets were produced by the first paper-making machine delivered, deliberately made extremely poor quality, after all paper on the West Continent was expensive and of poor quality—of course, just Yu Weichao and the others, even if they wanted to make it exquisite, had no way, as the local area lacked almost all chemical raw materials, and materials transported from Earth for paper production were also costly; the paper they managed to make was only enough to supply the Water Fortress for its own use.

But in Muse's eyes, using rough paper for daily registration was a very luxurious thing. After all, the Nobles used mud cloth as paper.

Muse put aside his contempt for the dirty Commoners and involuntarily asked: "Does everyone entering and leaving have to register?"

"Not needed the second time."

Looking at the number of people entering and leaving the West River Water Fortress every day, Muse calculated a rough figure, then frightened himself. He casually handed several copper coins to the Spearman Native and smiled: "When did you start using this kind of paper?"

"Two or three months, maybe." The Spearman Soldier looked at the bright yellow copper coins in Muse's hand, struggled in his heart for half a day, then pushed his hand away and smiled awkwardly: "Cannot take."

One copper coin could be exchanged for more than ten iron coins, or over a hundred Thin Coins, enough for a family of five to live half a month, or to feed ten slaves for a month—a not small income. Even given the wealth of Jiangning People, the monthly wages given to soldiers were less than five copper coins, ten times that of Ma La soldiers, equivalent to the income of Heavy Infantry.

Heavy Infantry were the backbone of war, and all had Body Technique Level 5 or above, completely different from these Native Soldiers who were villagers not long ago.

But the city gate soldiers still reluctantly refused.

Muse looked at the soldier strangely, then took out a string of ten copper coins from his bosom and handed them over, saying: "It's nothing, a reward for you."

A Noble's reward money had nothing to do with bribery. But the Spearman Native looked behind him and still dared not take it.

Seeing this, Muse no longer insisted, cursed in his heart "ignorant and timid poor ghost," indifferently wrote his name on the exercise book, then reached back to take several Thin Coins, threw them into the Donation Box, and smiled: "Is this okay?"

"Yes." The Spearman Native released his position, gestured for the Ma La Envoys to enter, then went to inspect the next person. Although the level of detail was slightly inferior, given the traffic at the city gate and the development level of Ma La, it was already commendable.

All city gate soldiers in the West River Water Fortress hierarchy must be Level 2 or above soldiers; they passed the simplest political review, qualification review, and technical review—although it sounded like many types, due to Yu Weichao and others being busy and limited in business ability, such reviews were merely formalities. However, even formalities were necessary, helping the Water Fortress upper class exclude the most obviously unqualified; as far as the current situation went, Ma La probably would not have carefully prepared senior spies coming to the Water Fortress to "tour."

Precisely because they had undergone political review and received simple training, the Spearman Soldiers knew the seriousness of bribery and the severity of punishment—given the historical problem of city entry fees in China, not only did the Native Squad Leader bear the responsibility of managing soldiers and refusing bribes, but on the wooden Blockhouse behind the city gate, someone always observed the situation inside and outside the gate and wrote reports. At the same time, there were secret Party Members within the soldiers, responsible for reporting to their superiors what they and their squad saw and heard daily, and their ideological state.

Especially the secret Party Member system was Yu Weichao's recreation and attempt based on articles and records from many years ago in China for the West Continent, except the Party's name had not been decided, the Party's platform did not exist—actually there was only the secret Party Member system and secret reporting system—and it had to wait for Chen Yi's agreement; apart from that, the system of Party Members monitoring other soldiers had already been carried out.

City gate soldiers and Blockhouse soldiers belonged to the first sequence among Native Soldiers and were the first to develop the first batch of ten secret Party Members.

The soldiers were still somewhat fearful of this, after all the punishment was severe, and the treatment of "Jiangning People" was very good; plus those who made mistakes had to be sentenced in front of everyone and have their "illegal" gains confiscated, so no one dared to intentionally cause trouble.

Muse walked proudly into the West River Water Fortress, looking at the gray yet hard floor while searching for the Water Fortress Master to welcome him.

Of course no one would come to welcome him!

This attitude made Muse, who claimed to be a Noble, both surprised and annoyed; he mounted his horse and said: "Everyone, stay alert, listen to my orders at any time."

Just as he finished speaking, a humble old man walked over and smiled: "Sirs, do you have Good Citizen Certificates?"

"What thing?"

"Good Citizen Certificate, proving you are good citizens; if you don't have one, you cannot ride horses inside the Water Fortress."

"Cannot ride horses?" Muse's beady eyes glared, still somewhat terrifying; the old man stepped back two paces, suddenly pointed to the Heavy Machine Gun above the city wall and said: "See that divine object? Ma La's soldiers died on it."

Muse's heart stirred. Before coming to the Water Fortress, through spies here he had received news of the annihilation of the entire Third Heavy Infantry Battalion, but whether it was true, he personally did not quite believe.

However, the words of an ordinary Water Fortress resident made him start to let his imagination run wild.

"There are few people now; you can all go to Beijing. Later, when there are more people, everyone must have a Good Citizen Certificate." The old man seemed to be smiling in a persuading manner: "Sir Knights, please dismount."

After speaking, he stepped back several paces, making room for the Heavy Machine Gun.

The Heavy Machine Gunner sitting behind the armor shield handsomely placed both hands on the grip, leaning his upper body forward, but did not open the gun mechanism.

"All dismount." Muse was not really a Noble; the Knights behind him were not Nobles either; the so-called sense of shame was only effective in front of dirty Commoners, and was absolutely fragile before force.

Pretending to be approachable, Muse waved his red mud-cloth cape, with a polite and reserved Noble-like smile on his lips: "If we have Good Citizen Certificates, do we not need to pay money?"

"Pay ten times, and you can receive one Thin Coin at the central Guangchang; also, entering and leaving the city repeatedly every day only requires paying once. In addition, some places inside the Water Fortress can only be entered by Good Citizens."

Muse looked around and saw that among those entering the city at this moment, quite a few held Good Citizen Certificates. Just a thin piece of paper, he did not know how "Good Citizen" was determined.

Muse took out several iron coins, handed them to the old man, and smiled: "Can I see your Good Citizen Certificate?"

The old man took it without any misgivings; he was a low-ranking clerk, belonging to the type waiting in line for training and education, not even knowing what corruption was. And in Yu Weichao's planned blueprint, low-ranking clerks were Temporary Workers like city management; where was there time for proper training?

Muse breathed a sigh of relief; if the Water Fortress people did not take money, it would really be hard to handle.

The Good Citizen Certificate was light and fluttering, a card the size of a palm, with beautiful green patterns on it, shining brilliantly in the sunlight.

"This is the back; that is called a Holographic Image, the one beside it is called a watermark; it is said to be very powerful."

Holographic Images and watermarks were ordinary items like park tickets; a machine weighing a few hundred kilograms could produce them.

Muse could not see anything suspicious; he only thought the flashing light was beautiful. Hearing the old man's words, he turned it over.

Muse's rat-like face was always full of smiles, but now it was all shock.

There were actually such lifelike pictures!

"Who drew it?"

"Photographed."

Asked again how it was photographed, the old man said he did not know clearly.

Muse then grabbed several passing residents nearby and forced them to bring out their Good Citizen Certificates to look at.

Good Citizens were mostly timid people; seeing Muse's tall horses behind him, they dared not make a sound and handed over their "Good Citizen Certificates."

All were ordinary exquisite 1-inch bareheaded photos with ears; no problem using them as passports.

"How photographed?" Muse asked them one by one.

The Good Citizens hesitated and only had some image-based but strange descriptions, such as a black box, colored oil, completely clueless.

Some timid ones could not even speak.

A squad of Native Inspection Team Members, led by Song Zhuang, hurried over and ordered Muse and his Cavalry to dismount and stand aside.

Muse stopped the Knights' scolding, reluctantly returned the Good Citizen Certificates to the Good Citizens, thinking: just that the picture was a bit small; otherwise in Ma La, it would be worth at least several thousand copper coins.

Copper coins were far more valuable than iron coins; ordinary commoners had no chance to use them.

"Secretly buy up a batch of Good Citizen Certificates, then sell them in Ma La for a hundredfold profit at once. And it's quick money." Muse's head was full of how to make a big score, nearly forgetting the real business, until Song Zhuang asked twice, then he laughed heartily and said: "I want to see your Village Master."

"The Hall Master is inside." Song Zhuang glanced at them and led the way.

Even a dirty commoner from 21st-century Earth was still qualified to look down on these natives; arrogance came naturally.

This aura left Muse at a loss, and by the time Chen Yi appeared, he still hadn't recovered.

Student Chen sat on the Grand Master Chair, looking Muse and his knights up and down.

Chairs made of fresh hardwood, given proper curvature, were actually quite comfortable, though of course not as comfortable as a sofa, but suitable for office work. If on Earth, a set of office chairs would easily cost three or five thousand yuan, and over ten thousand was nothing special; wood like this could justify any price. However, on the West Continent, such an office chair cost at most three or five copper coins. The large pieces of hardwood felled by the people of Mu Village were even sent to Ma La as firewood—despite such waste, the land was vast and sparsely populated, with abundant natural resources for their use.

Muse's eyes were fixed on the chair. It wasn't that he noticed anything special about it; he just didn't dare meet Chen Yi's gaze. A Pocket Qi Level 8 Temple Warrior was rare even within the Temple, let alone him.

"Honorable Knight Sir, I am Temple Knight Muse, representing High Priest Iyal and demanding you immediately release the captured soldiers and officers..."

"They're all dead."

"Ah?"

"Want the corpses?" Chen Yi's expression was calm, and he had no intention of discussing anything with the rat-faced man before him.

Muse's big eyes blinked for half a day, then said: "Yes."

"One conch shell per soldier, ten per officer."

Muse's heart trembled; he was certain the other spoke the truth—the Third Heavy Infantry Battalion had been wiped out. Judging by the situation, even if anyone was alive, they could only die.

... (Unfinished, if you want to know what happens next, please log in to www. qidian. com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)