"..." After a moment of hesitation, Artoria finally succumbed to Kayal's intimidating power.
Following the script Kayal had given her, Artoria declared loudly, "You have failed!" Kayal amplified her voice magically, making it resonate far and wide.
Many people showed looks of pain, not because of the fall of their nation, but because they remembered the relatives who had frozen to death along the way.
"And if we were to fail, my people would suffer just as you do, so I will never allow failure!" Artoria's voice made the Knights straighten their chests with pride, and the citizens of Camelot Royal City looked solemn.
"And you have failed. Your nation has fallen. No one can shelter you, no one can protect you, and you will be the property of Camelot." Artoria blushed at this Nazi-esque declaration.
It was truly blatant aggression and a demonstration of the law of the jungle, almost completely disregarding all rules with no pretense of civility. Not yet a politician, she flushed with embarrassment, still lacking the thick skin required.
"You have lost your personal freedom, your destiny, and your wealth. We could even seize your wives, children, and even your future, but we have not!" Artoria's face turned red again at this point, ashamed because the words that followed were shamelessly brazen: "We mercifully allow you to have your own families, to have your own freedom, and to have the opportunity to fight for your own commands.
You will use your own hands to create wealth and forge your own future freedom!"
Kayal watched Artoria, who was reciting like a monk, and gently shook his head. However, Kayal also felt relieved, because Artoria's progress was evident.
She was like an immature little girl, stumbling onto the grand stage of the world. Compared to her neighbors, she was undoubtedly a toddler in a boxing ring, but with his gradual admiration and the passage of time, she finally began to slowly advance towards becoming a politician, towards becoming a qualified King.
This gave Kayal a great sense of accomplishment.
The next step was, undoubtedly, reform.
Now that there were so many more slaves, the original hundred thousand or so Gaul slaves became less significant.
So Kayal changed his policy.
He first elevated the status of the Gauls.
Now, the Scottish slaves, categorized by family, were the lowest class in all of Camelot, called'slave households'. This meant that even if they had household registration, their children born in the future would not become commoners, but slaves.
There was only one way for them to change this: to contribute to Camelot. By gradually increasing their contribution points, they would be able to leave the slave household status.
A slave household consisted of two to three people. Children were not allowed to go to school, and couples could only reunite once a month, spending the rest of their time working continuously.
Slave households were the lowest class for convenient slave management, and also the easiest to extract. Through clear household registration management, even if they wanted to escape, they couldn't. Their children would start as the lowest-level laborers, doing the dirtiest, most tiring, most despised, most ridiculed work.
Everything was because they lost! Their country was destroyed! Their protective umbrella no longer existed. (In fact, if China were to fall, you would be treated the same way abroad, because no one and no power could guarantee the interests of the Chinese people.)
And there was only one way for them to change their fate: work hard!
The second group consisted of rootless people, including fifty thousand Scottish bachelors, and a hundred thousand older women and young children.
The final registration for slave households was three hundred thousand people, accounting for thirty percent of the Scottish population. Adding the Scottish bachelors, Kayal was surprised that even after he had killed so many Scottish, there were still three hundred and fifty thousand able-bodied Scottish.
As for the elderly, they had long since perished on the snowy roads under Kayal's hints and the supervision of the Knights of the Round Table.
Of the three hundred and fifty thousand able-bodied Scottish, three hundred thousand were controllable because of their families. After a moment of contemplation, Kayal directly assigned these fifty thousand Scottish to oversee the more than one hundred thousand Gauls who had been promoted to'subordinate commoners'.
This was a newly established class, created to differentiate from the older Gauls who already had a certain base of contribution points. In the future, if there were another war or if the Gauls became commoners, then these slave households would become subordinate commoners and join the Gauls.
Of course, if your contribution points aren't enough, don't even think about becoming a commoner.
Slaves only had guaranteed life and family safety; they had no property. Only after becoming commoners could they own wealth, family, freedom, legal protection, and so on.
Citizens were almost equivalent to the noble class, practically considered people above others. They didn't need to kneel before Kayal or Artoria, only perform a single-knee bow. Of course, this was also the most popular etiquette in Camelot at the moment.
Only the children of citizens were qualified to become Knight attendants and candidates, to achieve great deeds on the battlefield.
As far as could be seen, the easiest way to earn merit in all of Camelot was to be a Knight. Just like officials in later generations, the most profitable, most protected from bullying were officials, so everyone was focused on becoming civil servants. In this world, the most profitable, most honorable, most protected from bullying, most powerful, and most glorious were Knights, so naturally, everyone aspired to be a Knight.
And the reason Knights were so precious before was that there were very few of them. It should be said that very few Knights were willing to take on a Knight Marquis. Which Knight Marquis, after countless battles and with hidden ailments, would only think of passing on his skills when he was ready to retire?
And which young Knight had the time and patience to cultivate a young attendant?
So, this limited the source of Knights. The current problem was the commoners. Commoners needed a large amount of merit to be promoted to citizens, and citizens were the backbone of Camelot!
In Kayal's vision, as long as commoners had aspirations, they would never abandon Camelot. As long as citizens existed, Camelot would never fall! As long as there were Knights, Camelot would never be conquered!
As for the upper classes, he paid less attention to them. He reduced most of the power of titles, including fiefdoms, guards, household slaves, and so on. If they wanted to make money, they could only engage in commerce, because the kingdom would no longer support such a large group of nobles.
Things like dukes asking the King for money to raise armies, as in the past, were now unthinkable.
Red Leaf Ridge was a typical example for all of Camelot, relying on self-sufficiency and looking completely like a nouveau riche.
The difference between Red Leaf Ridge and Camelot Royal City was like the difference between Shanghai and Beijing: money and power!