Chapter 245: , The French Experience (2)

Regarding the businessman’s statement that
the workers in the city are working harder than before, but there is bread to eat
, Feijin did not think there was anything wrong with it. Because Fei Jin is not a traverser, in his opinion, working hard before making a living is supposed to be the normal state of life. Even, it was originally the will of God.
"God said: ‘You have to work all your life in order to make a living.’ This is our destiny as we should." Thinking of this, Fagin’s favor with France increased.
In the afternoon, the mail car was resting in an unknown town. Everyone got off the mail van and checked into the only small hotel and tavern in the town.
When everyone got out of the car, the hotel waiter came up and took care of the horses. The driver of the mail truck greeted the boss, and took a bottle of wine from the counter.
Fei Jin knows that if the post bus chooses to stop at an inn in such a small town for the night, most of it is some kind of cooperation between the coachman and the boss. This situation is actually very common in the UK.
The owner took the booklet to register the passengers and checked their documents. This practice also exists in the UK, and Fei Jin is also not surprised. He showed the owner of the restaurant the identity certificate issued by the French Embassy in the UK and signed the name on the booklet. Then the owner went in and brought them bread for dinner.
At this time, the sun was just westward, and a thin layer of smoke rose up in the distant fields. In the twilight, Fei Jin saw several militiamen walking along a small road outside the town.
"Why, isn't it uneventful here? Those militiamen have to go out on patrol so late?" Fei Jin asked the shopkeeper who was bringing him bread.
"Taiping is peaceful, but there are so many thieves recently." The shopkeeper said, "Go over there, and there is a hydroelectric power plant. I count on it for irrigation of farmland near us. It's winter now. , The water level is also low, and the power plant does not work well. But there are a lot of valuable things in the power plant. Especially copper, there is copper everywhere in the power plant. I believe everyone knows how valuable copper is now. So I always want to If you get something for nothing, you will sneak away at night to steal copper. The land around us all counts on the irrigation of this power station. These guys do this kind of thing, you say, it's a pity that the guillotine is out of fashion now, or else the gang The little thief should grab it and click it off."
These words made Feijin a bit uncomfortable as a thief, so he asked, "Why do these people steal? Are they unable to live for any reason?"
"Ah, sir, you are really a kind person." The shop owner said, "If it was a few years ago, it was really the kind of situation you said. I won't talk about it before the revolution. No way to live. The little grain that was finally produced was taken away by the nobles and priests. The farmers themselves were going to starve to death. At that time, there were indeed many people who took risks in order not to starve to death.
After the revolution, the situation was even worse for a while. In order to deal with those foreign kings and their armies, a large number of young people were called into the army to fight, and large areas of land were abandoned because there was no one to cultivate, and naturally there was less food. In order to feed so many troops, the government has expropriated a large amount of grain..."
"Aren't they paying?" Fagin asked.
"They gave coupons. But can coupons count as money?" The owner said, "So at that time, everyone's life became more and more difficult, and many people even wished that the nobles would come back again. At that time, they said they would go for their lives. There were many stealers, even those who rebelled with the nobles.
But that is all in the past. Since the establishment of the governing government, and since General Bonaparte defeated the foreign kings, the army began to recover. The boys all came back to farm and brought back a lot of money—real money. Then all kinds of taxes are lowered, and everyone’s life is gradually getting better. With the addition of a pump, as long as you work honestly, you will definitely not starve to death. Even if you don’t have land, you can find it in the city. A thing that can make a living-at this time, you still want to be a thief, and even steal the copper from the power plant. You said, shouldn't such a guy be killed? "
"It's really bad, but it's better to be educated or to be educated," Fei Jin said. "After all, bad guys can also change evil and do good. Their heads are not pastures, so they won't grow anymore after they are cut."
"Haha, what you said also makes sense." The shop owner is actually not very insistent on his own views.
The coach ran for two more days, and finally arrived in Paris in the afternoon of the third day.
Jager Goreng gave Fegin a letter of introduction, and after he arrived in Paris, he could take it directly to the Ministry of Truth. People from the Ministry of Truth will receive him and provide him with all kinds of help, and send him to Toulon to receive professional knowledge and skills.
But Fagin did not intend to report to the Ministry of Truth immediately. He does not fully believe in the Ministry of Truth. Because his brother Jager Goreng, who works for the Ministry of Truth, once described this department to him:
"The Ministry of Truth generally does not lie, but you have to know that if you need to mislead others, truth is better than a lie." In order to enhance persuasiveness, Jager Goreng also cited the trump card of the Ministry of Truth, "Science Pravda" Take various performances in the battle of Verdun as an example. Finally, he said: "Look, the "Science Pravda" has not said even a single lie from beginning to end. However, the British, Prussians, and those noble royalists were all deceived by it. Well, the Ministry of Truth is the most That's what I'm good at."
Therefore, in Fei Jin's impression, the "Ministry of Truth" is actually the Ministry of Liars. It's just that you may need to add "truth teller" as the attributive before the word "liar".
In order to avoid being deceived by clever liars who tell the truth. Fei Jin always felt that he was very alert, and ordinary liars couldn't deceive him. But after listening to the example given by Jager Goreng, Feigin felt that if he was a general of Britain or Prussia, or the leader of the royal party, he would probably be fooled. So Fagin was a little scared of the "Ministry of Truth".
Because of this, Fagin decided not to report to the Ministry of Truth, but to take a walk in Paris and see Paris with his own eyes. Lest you be deceived by people from the Ministry of Truth.
So Fei Jin first found a hotel in Paris's largest slum area-Saint Antoine, and stayed in. As on the road, he needs to show his credentials and fill out the booklet. Feijin naturally did. If he was in the UK, he would need to be more careful. But in France, he has no criminal record and is not a wanted criminal. He is a fully legally recognized person. So Feijin calmly showed his credentials and signed his name on the notebook.
Before dawn the next day, Fagin was awakened by the noise outside.
"It should be almost time for work?" Feijin, who lives in the workers' area, knew what the noise was all about without opening his eyes. This is the factory workers are going to work.
Fagin also got up, put on his clothes and went out.
The sky outside hasn't been bright yet, but the St. Antoine district is already lively. During the time of Robespierre, the French set up several nitrate refineries here. Later, after Napoleon won a huge victory, because the import channel has been opened, the French no longer need to obtain nitrate through inefficient and costly methods such as nitrate extraction. These nitrate refineries were closed one after another.
These factories were bought at a low price by the military-industrial complex and combined to become the largest military factory in France. Later, when peace was achieved, these factories began to produce other things, such as various agricultural tools and other daily necessities. With the relatively cheap iron and steel produced by the Lorraine Steel Company, business in these factories is still good.
Fei Jin noticed that the expressions of the workers who were about to go to work were obviously not as good as those of the farmers he had seen in the countryside. But compared to those workers in the UK, these people look much better. In addition, he also found a place different from the United Kingdom, that is, even in the St. Antoine district, the police can still be seen on the street.
There was still a while before the factory opened, and everyone took advantage of this opportunity to eat quickly. Fagin leaned over, and he noticed that the workers still ate the same kind of brown bread, and it seemed that they were mixed with many other things. However, the portion is much larger than that of British workers, and there are basically no children among the workers.
This discovery made Feijin a little bit higher on France.
At this time, a policeman came to the hotel where Feijin was staying ~EbookFREE.me~ to check the hotel logbook.
"An Englishman, did you live here?" The policeman immediately noticed the record of Fagin. So he called the owner of the hotel again, asked them carefully, and then told the boss not to show anything unusual.
"Police officer, do you think this Englishman is a thief who has come to steal technology?" the boss asked. In the previous period, the police department has caught several such thieves, some from Britain, some from Austria, and some from allies Spain, North Italy, and the Rhine Alliance. Of course, the most are from other French companies. of.
"I don't know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Anyway, stare at it. But... if he really is... he will register his nationality directly, he won't even get a fake certificate to disguise himself. He is probably a stupid thief. "The policeman laughed.
But even if this "suspicious object" is mostly not a thief, at best it is a "dumb thief". But according to the regulations, he still wants to report this matter.
"Well, where did the Englishman go?"
"I just went out, but his things are still here, he should be back." The shop owner replied.