125 The Sluggard

Two days later.

"Are you tired?"

"Not at all!"

"You should take a break and let my son take the plow."

"No, no! I can keep going for a while longer!"

"You've been at it for a long time already!"

"Let's push a little harder. Once we finish early, we can all go tend to our own allotments!"

Between the "trees" and the "water," Wu Qingchen—known as Luosi—and his old neighbors wore joyful smiles, their conversation filled with cheerful topics.

Everyone knew that without Wu Qingchen’s help, the three quasi-masters of Eclis Village—Espier, Thor, and O'Connor—along with the local craftsmen, would never have given them special consideration. Without Wu Qingchen’s involvement, the four families could never have achieved such high efficiency.

With this understanding, and the experience of working together for the past few dozen days, the four families were determined to maintain this easy workflow, avoiding laziness or conflict.

As the main person in charge of the village cattle herd, Wu Qingchen spent an hour or two ensuring the four families had settled into a smooth rhythm. Afterward, accompanied by his two older brothers and a cowherd’s assistant, he began managing the herd and patrolling the fields.

Over the past two days, Wu Qingchen had noted, quite unsurprisingly, that while many villagers were tempted by the prospect of collective labor and division of labor, very few were actually capable of pulling it off.

A million years of evolution had endowed humans with a precious ability essential for self-preservation and the continuation of the species: selfishness.

In the context of a medieval village, this "selfishness" meant that any self-organized cooperative group among the villagers would easily collapse due to unequal distribution of labor, disparities in individual capability, or petty verbal disputes—the foundations were simply too fragile.

Even for the likes of Richard and the others, it had required Wu Qingchen to secure the easiest communal lands from the clerk, obtain several sturdy oxen through his position with the cowherd, gain the explicit and implicit support of the craftsmen of their social class, and rely on the foundation of many previous successful collaborations. Only through this massive advantage in productivity were they able to preemptively extinguish the friction that might have otherwise arisen between the four families.

It was only the sum of these prerequisites that created the harmonious scene of labor before them.

For most other villagers, lacking such partners—unless they were extremely lucky to find fools who didn't care about gains or losses, or were close brothers—the only options were to look on with envy, jealousy, and hatred as the work on the cooperative plots was completed rapidly, while secretly resenting their neighbors for not being "brainless" enough to let their own families take advantage of them.

They would then silently complain to the Almighty: It's so unfair! Why didn't I have a Luosi in my family? Why isn't my neighbor Luosi? Why isn't my father on better terms with Luosi's father?

Indeed, whether it was the chief of the village guards, the clerk, the farm overseer, or the villagers of Eclis, most attributed the increased efficiency to the special treatment brought by "Luosi’s influence," and partly to the harmony fostered by "Luosi’s kindness."

As for the significance of the division of labor itself?

Please, without the "influence" and "kindness" mentioned earlier, it wouldn't even be possible to implement. Was there any point in obsessing over such trivial details as "division of labor"?

In the current Eclis Village, such a line of thought was, in fact, not entirely wrong.

However, once the Hive Operation was fully rolled out, a massive labor shortage would soon strike. If they waited for the villagers to slowly notice, explore, summarize, and implement these methods, they would certainly fall behind the pace of the Mill Strategy.

To make these people truly realize the immense significance of large-scale division of labor, one had to strip away the "halo" of special treatment that came with "Wu Qingchen/Luosi" to truly shock their hearts.

Thinking of the situation analyzed by the staff team, Wu Qingchen cast his gaze toward a group other than the free citizens of Eclis Village.

It was a group that neither the clerk, the overseer, nor the craftsmen would ever provide care for—a group currently immune to the "Wu Qingchen/Luosi" halo.

"Luosi, you're here!"

By the side of a public field several times larger than the area managed by his four old neighbors, Andre was walking back and forth under the shade of a tree, holding a stick, accompanied by a village guard.

Seeing Wu Qingchen from afar, Andre stood on tiptoe and waved vigorously.

"Good day, Andre."

Wu Qingchen walked over with a smile. "How is the work going today?"

"Ugh! Same as always!"

At the mention of this, Andre looked miserable. "These damned lazybones start slacking the moment you blink. How could it be going well? Sigh, it's much slower than everywhere else!"

This was the public field under Andre's responsibility.

"Responsibility" meant that in order to help Andre cultivate the skills a member of the ruling class should possess, starting from the previous year, every time the summer labor service took place in Eclis Village, Pastor Playa would specifically instruct the clerk to set aside a plot of public land and dump a dozen or two dozen "lazybones" there, allowing Andre to practice field management and supervise them.

"I see..."

Walking up to Andre, Wu Qingchen raised a hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sun, looking out at the vast, fertile public field and the figures busily working within it.

Before Wu Qingchen, more than twenty mud-covered "lazybones" were struggling through the muddy fields, pushing seven or eight wooden plows.

Likely to avoid damaging their only remaining clothing, most of these sweat-drenched, panting laborers were completely naked. Their ribs were jagged, their abdomens sunken, leaving even their private parts exposed. Naturally, they had no shoes; as they struggled to pull their feet from the mud, one could clearly see layers upon layers of scars and callouses, just like the marks on their bodies.

Several village guards followed behind these laborers. Whenever a laborer coughed violently, stumbled, fell into the mud, or attempted any other trick to slack off, two guards would swing their sticks, striking them hard, using the "benevolent pain" to help drive away their ingrained habits of laziness.

Having been in this medieval world for dozens of days, Wu Qingchen had seen such scenes many times. Yet every time he witnessed this, he could only endure it for a few seconds before he couldn't help but turn his gaze elsewhere.

But where else was there to look?

Everything he saw was land belonging to the masters.

No matter how he turned his head, he only saw increasingly efficient ways of "curing" laziness:

If one laborer fell, the whole family of laborers was beaten.

If one laborer collapsed, the whole group was beaten.

Falling down three times in a row meant being dragged to the roadside for a group beating.

Hanging one up served as a warning to the other scum.

And these were the very reasons Andre stood here; these were the important things he needed to practice and learn.

It was now February 28, 0001.

Three days had passed since the first hive was moved.

There was still time before the effects of the hive would appear.

Wu Qingchen tilted his head slightly, silently calculating the time.

By his estimation, this was likely the exact moment the staff team had anticipated.

Wu Qingchen made his decision.

"Andre, this won't do." Taking a deep breath, Wu Qingchen turned to face Andre again.

"I know," Andre agreed. "These lazybones have had their bones beaten so hard that the sticks aren't working as well anymore."

"Then," Wu Qingchen asked, "have you thought about trying other methods?"

"What kind of methods?" Andre asked back.

"Well... for example, like Richard and Freeman and the others?"

"Like Richard and them?" Andre quickly shook his head. "No, that won't work."

"Why not?" Wu Qingchen asked, feigning curiosity.

"Well... I don't know how to use them," Andre said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

The public land assigned to Wu Qingchen's old neighbors by the clerk was located between the church and the area Andre managed. Andre passed by twice every morning and evening, naturally seeing that Richard and the others were working much faster than the other villagers through their division of labor.

Andre had immediately reported this novelty to Pastor Playa and intended to learn the method. The Pastor had only briefly asked about the land, oxen, and farm tools used by Wu Qingchen's neighbors, and immediately pointed out that the "influence" and "kindness" of Wu Qingchen/Luosi were the key factors.

Understanding this, Andre naturally realized that if even free citizens couldn't achieve such concerted cooperation, it would be even more impossible for starving serfs.

The analysis team's prediction was quite accurate; this guy had indeed already asked the Pastor.

"Serfs are impossible, then..."

After listening to Andre, Wu Qingchen shook his head gently while mentally re-evaluating the staff team's plan for this moment. "Not necessarily."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Andre was curious.

The critical moment had arrived.

According to the positioning designed by the staff team, Wu Qingchen paced slowly, drawing Andre’s gaze toward the direction of the direct sunlight.

Soon, Andre involuntarily squinted and raised his hand to shield his eyes. Taking advantage of the target’s distraction and lowered ability to discern, Wu Qingchen immediately wore a smile he had specifically practiced, while simultaneously using a practiced suggestive tone: "Do you want to know?"

"I do." Andre nodded obediently, falling into Wu Qingchen’s rhythm.

"But if I just talk about it, it won't be clear," Wu Qingchen spread his hands, his expression full of helpless sincerity, his tone full of consideration for the other person.

"Huh? Then what should we do?" Andre’s reaction was exactly as it had been in the simulations.

"It's okay, I'll show you." If "eagerness for public welfare" could be quantified, Wu Qingchen’s value would surely have been at its maximum as he said this.

"Okay, thank you, Luosi."

"No problem, let's get started."

Wu Qingchen stepped to the side and pointed to the public land. "Which side do you choose?"

"Huh?" Andre opened his eyes in confusion.

"The public land here, the public land there," Wu Qingchen gestured to both sides. "Which side do you choose?"

"You mean..." Andre seemed to understand. "We divide it in half, and you'll teach me that way?"

"Exactly." Wu Qingchen nodded as if it were a matter of course.

"But..." Andre scratched his head. "If I mess it up, the teacher will scold me. It’s already very slow here..."

"Exactly!" Wu Qingchen said with a smile. "It's already very slow, so what are you afraid of?"

"That seems right..." Although he said that, Andre still felt something was off.

"Don't worry!"

Since merely executing Plan A of the staff team was already effective, Wu Qingchen decided to release the supplies originally intended for the next step, creating a critical strike: "If you mess it up, I'll compensate you with honey!"

"Deal!"

The stimulating effect of honey was obvious; Andre’s voice grew louder when he agreed.

"Then choose."

Wu Qingchen gestured with his hand.

"What's there to choose?" Andre raised his right hand casually. "I choose this side."

"What about the people? Which ones do you choose?" Wu Qingchen pointed to the mud-covered figures in the field.

"Are these lazybones also half and half?" Andre asked.

"Of course." Wu Qingchen’s arm, pointing at the field, moved slowly. "The land, the workers, the plows—everything is half and half. Oh, and the guards too."

"Okay." Andre nodded. Just as he was about to reach out, he hesitated. "Wait, wait... if you're teaching me, you should choose first."

"Fine, I'll choose first."

Without giving any reason, Wu Qingchen—who had mostly deferred to Andre in the past to continue accumulating goodwill—agreed without hesitation this time.

The next moment, Wu Qingchen tilted his head slightly and looked toward the public land.

He prepared to make his choice.