Unknown Knight

This scene of scrambling for attachment was something Aix had not expected. He could never have imagined that the influence of the Supreme God Church had spread so widely that he didn't know how to deal with it. He had to call all the high-ranking officials of the territory to a meeting to discuss how to deal with it.

In response to this situation, the leaders of the territory had different opinions. Some welcomed it, while others rejected it. They could not reach a conclusion for a while. In the end, it was the high priest Velen, who had rich religious experience, who gave the decisive opinion.

According to him, he welcomes it with open arms, and the reason is very clear:

Now Aix is ​​in urgent need of expanding its influence. Although the area nearby is vast and sparsely populated, with less than one person per square kilometer on average, there are probably nearly 10,000 residents scattered around. If all of these people convert to the Church of the Supreme God, they will also be a considerable force that can quickly crush the hostile forces in the city of Zion in terms of strength.

Although the territory cannot effectively control these people like it does the subjects, it still has certain constraints. For example, it can require them not to trade with the city of Zion, recruit them in the name of the religion when necessary, give priority to purchasing unique materials under their control, use them as an extension of the territory's power, expand the territory's security buffer, etc.

Among them, there was a reason that Aix could not refuse as soon as he heard it. Through his recent understanding, Velen knew that due to frequent conflicts among nearby residents, the gender ratio of the population was seriously unbalanced, reaching an exaggerated level of 1:1.5 males to females, so that many people could marry several wives.

On the other hand, the situation in the territory is even more exaggerated. Including the women rescued from Tianshuijing Town last time, there are less than three hundred women in the territory. The male-to-female ratio has reached 7:1, which is unprecedented. If this continues, it will be a complete disaster for the vast majority of male citizens.

Aix had encountered this situation before. It was okay in the short term, but it would definitely cause trouble over time, and it would also dampen everyone's enthusiasm for work. Just imagine, what's the point of a man working if he doesn't even have offspring? So it's best to solve this problem as soon as possible. Delaying it will be harmful and will lead to changes.

As a result, the territory quickly decided to relax the restrictions on the entry of the Supreme God Church to nearby residents. However, there must be a prerequisite for joining. The Supreme God believes that kinship is supreme. In order to join the Supreme God Church, one must establish a blood relationship with existing believers.

This condition discouraged most of the residents who wanted to join. After all, there was no gender equality at that time. Women played more of a role as subsidiary property in social life. Even if men had many women, they were unwilling to give them away.

But it doesn't matter. Aix immediately announced the treatment for joining the Supreme God Church and becoming a believer. Anyone who becomes a believer of the church will not only find a spiritual home and get some false promises such as entering heaven after death and being blessed while alive, but also have more practical benefits.

The Church of the Supreme God announced that all believers who joined the Church of the Supreme God would be exempt from commissions on transactions in the city, could enjoy free clean water provided by the city, could receive medical treatment when they were sick, could obtain justice according to the doctrine when they had conflicts with others, and could get the most basic food rations from the church during famine.

The most attractive one is the last one - you can seek the protection of the religion when you are harmed. The religion stipulates that the army of the religion has the right and obligation to protect believers when they are illegally harmed.

Once these benefits of joining the cult were posted in the market in the form of notices, and preachers arranged by the cult explained them nearby, the existing subjects immediately became popular, especially bachelors.

And that’s not all. The territory also has a special reward fund, which stipulates that anyone who marries a woman to the territory will receive a betrothal gift that is nearly 1.5 times higher than the local rate. When the surrounding residents get the news, they can’t wait to give their unmarried daughters or concubines they can’t afford to support to the bachelors in the territory.

Within half a month, most of the bachelors in the territory got married, and the population of the territory increased to 3,500, basically achieving a balance between men and women.

But do you think that's the end? No, you're wrong. The real climax is when the crops on the first 500 acres of land reclaimed in the territory mature and a bumper harvest is achieved.

Nearby residents who came to trade found that after the harvest, the territory was able to be self-sufficient in food, and it was irrigated land that could provide a harvest regardless of drought or flood. Those nearby residents who were still on the sidelines wanted to marry their daughters to the territory, especially the poor residents who could not get enough food. Being able to fill their stomachs with food was their lifelong pursuit, and now they could achieve that by marrying their daughters. If you don't hurry, you'll miss out.

Not to mention that it's too late to catch up. Now even those rulers who have contracted sexually transmitted diseases and have shrunk to a tiny size, almost eunuchs, each have a wife.

Those who have already married are still asked to send a concubine. Didn’t the announcement say that as long as there is a blood relationship, it’s fine. There is no difference between the first wife and the concubine.

No matter how old some families' daughters were, they didn't care and would make their daughters the territory's people even if they lied about their age. By the time Aix received the news, more than 30 little girls aged 11 or 12 had already married into the family.

He had to ask Velen to send people with the prophet guards to "recruit wives" in the name of the church. These lolis would be raised in the church choir, and when they were old enough, they would go to live with their current husbands. From then on, the territory also established a decree prohibiting marriage to girls under the age of fifteen, otherwise the person would be punished by God and suffer promiscuity. This stopped the spread of this evil trend.

Eventually, the population of the territory reached more than 4,000 people. These newcomers included those who were capable enough to marry two wives, those who met the requirements and were approved for naturalization by the evaluation team of the church led by High Priest Velen, and those who had made great contributions and were allowed to move in directly as a whole tribe (the entire tribe of Chief Magid).

For this reason, the territory had to expand the Standing Castle. Now the entire side of the cliff facing the sea has been planned out and divided into caves for families. The caves that were originally used as dormitories are almost no longer inhabited.

Aix built five more immigration bunkers nearby, and even the bunker at the sweet water well was replanned and converted into a dual-use military and civilian bunker that could accommodate more than one hundred people. Now there are eleven bunkers in the territory, and more than 1,300 people have immigrated there.

Aix plans to reclaim nearly 2,000 acres of land near these forts. Together with the approximately 1,000 acres of land that has been reclaimed previously, the territory now has nearly 3,000 acres of irrigated land. These lands can produce two to three crops a year, which can fully meet the food needs of the people.