Fox of France

While Grandet was talking with Watt about the sale of steam engines by the warm fireplace, in Petticoat Lane, little Oliver was following Fagin to bring warmth to some residents of Petticoat Lane.

This sending warmth is real sending warmth. After the cold snap of a week ago, a relentless, invisible intruder whom the doctors called Pneumonia crept about in Petticoat Lane, touching here and there with his icy fingers. This bad guy walked around blatantly, and every time he broke into a yard, there would always be a dozen or even dozens of unlucky ones who would become his victims.

For the poor people in Petticoat Lane, getting sick at this time is almost like stepping into the gate of hell with one foot. Since three days ago, every morning, frozen corpses would be dragged out of the dark huts on both sides of Petticoat Lane and thrown on a hard flat carriage, one, two... until The carriages were packed to the brim. Then the shivering coachman shook his whip, and white mist spewed from the nostrils of the horse in the carriage, and the hoofs with hooves struck hard on the frozen ground, like pig iron. Then, the carriage moved slowly, and the lack of lubrication axles made a low and intermittent friction sound, like a worker's wife who wakes up from the cold in the middle of the night, remembering that she will not know what she will have to stuff her husband tomorrow. And the child's belly, then issued a moan.

This situation made Boss Fei Jin very worried. He didn't have much to do about pneumonia, which was indeed far beyond his ability. Now he can only rely on pure natural methods to let everyone rely on One's own resistance and God's blessing survived this catastrophe, and then formed resistance, and then, after the old people and children basically died, probably...herd immunity could be formed.

This also shows that Fagin's boss has outstanding talent and insight, enough to serve as the prime minister of a corrupt country a few centuries later. It is a bit inferior to be a gang leader in a small gang.

However, Boss Fagin still has to work hard to help the neighbors solve some problems. He felt that the main problem with the severity of the pneumonia was that it was too cold in Petticoat Lane.

There are thick walls, double-glazed windows, and fireplaces that stay on twenty-four hours a day. On the beds of rich people, there are several layers of thick mattresses and quilts, so thick that if you put a pea under the mattress, it will definitely feel bad except for some people who are really princesses. from. Not to mention that there are silk fabrics on top of these mattresses, which are stuffed with light and soft duck down quilts.

That way, unless it's too cold outside for CO2 snow like in Frostpunk, they'll always be warm at home like it's spring.

And in Petticoat Lane, the walls of the houses there are generally just a piece of wood, and there is no glass on the windows, so they have to be blocked with broken wood or something, and the door is so big that a fist can be squeezed in. . Such a house that is ventilated on all sides naturally has nothing to do with heat preservation. Compared with the outside of the house, there is almost no difference in temperature except that the wind is slightly weaker.

And the people who live here naturally don't have any thick mattresses or quilts. Their mattresses are waste newspapers, rags, all kinds of hay, even dried leaves and sawdust they picked up from outside. As for the quilt, it was just a thick piece of cloth full of holes, stuffed with something like a mattress.

Boss Fagin felt that the pneumonia in Petticoat Lane was so severe largely because it was too cold here. So he had to find a way to increase the temperature here at night.

The economic situation has improved recently, and this is reflected in the income of Fagin's men. The number of pickpockets did not increase, but the amount of money collected per successful donation from a gentleman increased significantly.

And not too long ago he had successfully teamed up with a kid who wanted to get more money from his cheapskate dad to go to bars and find girls and carry out a kidnapping. With the whole-hearted cooperation and assistance of the "victim", they managed to obtain the full three thousand pounds from an old gentleman. (Another £3,000 was taken by the "victim") In addition, his well-developed friend, who is now French, kindly contributed another thousand francs. This year, Fagin's pockets bulged like never before.

This made Fagin even more generous when sending warmth this year. In the past, he could only provide each family in Petticoat Lane with a small piece of cloth, but this year, he has been able to give each family here a real blanket.

These blankets were second-hand, scavenged by Fagin's friends from various flea markets. These are more cost-effective than buying a brand new blanket. If Joseph was present, he would probably suggest that they boil these second-hand blankets vigorously in a large pot.

However, in this era, although bacteria have been discovered, the relationship between bacteria and diseases has not been proven. People don’t know that certain bacteria can cause diseases, and they don’t know how to eliminate bacteria, so , of course no one cares about this matter.

Oliver followed Fagin and delivered blankets to them one by one. Every family is grateful to the righteous boss Fagin, and even Oliver feels honored. But Boss Fagin didn't have much smile on his face. In other words, he still smiled when facing the residents of Petticoat Lane, but as soon as he walked out of their houses, the smile on Fagin's face was immediately blown away by the cold wind outside.

That night, Boss Fagin recruited the most important members of the gang together. Then told them something that surprised them all.

"Iron Fang, Butcher, and Cuckoo, you all sit down with me. I have called you this time because I have something to tell you. You know, Jacques Gauling is back, and he is the French The second secretary at the embassy. He came to see me several times and donated some money to us."

"I know. When we were children, we all heard you tell the story of 'Ghosts Seeing Sorrow'. He is really a hero of loyalty. Now that we are prosperous, we have not forgotten us."

"Barker, Jager Gauleng came back and talked to me several times. He felt that what we did was wrong." Fagin said.

"What we're doing is wrong?" Tie Ya froze for a moment, "Could it be that he is now well-developed, and his butt is also sitting there?"

Fagin shook his head and said, "That's not true. Jager Gauleng has always been our brother. It's just that he has been in France for so many years, and he has seen things different from us, and his mind has changed. He feels like We can't solve any problems by making small fights like this."

"Then what does he want? Does he still want to be Fagin?"

"If he wants to be Fagin, I really feel relieved to give him this position. If he hadn't had to flee to France because of that incident, this position would have been his. But I just said, Ya Brother Greg Gorlen's vision has grown a lot. Do you know that he participated in the French Revolution, and when Louis XVI was pushed to the guillotine, he cheered by the side."

"My God! He actually saw the head of a king fall to the ground!"

"And he was involved in it. He took part in the uprising against the Bastille, he followed Saint-Just, the Archangel of the Revolution, as the French say, who condemned the king, and he acted as Saint-Just on the battlefield. Sturt's messenger, inquired about Jacobin in Paris. He personally sent many aristocratic gentlemen to the guillotine—now you know what I mean when I say he has a big heart."

"God, he doesn't want to get such a guy on our side," Buck said.

"He wants us to unite the poor across the ghetto for more rights - not just to strike for higher wages, but to unite and fight for political rights, to have us, to give this The country, the world sets new rules."

Having said that, Fei Jin paused for a while, and then said: "You know, this is a matter of losing your head."

"Which one of us hasn't done a head thing?" said Buck.

"It's different." Fagin shook his head, "I've thought about it for a long time, and I think that although I can trust Jacques Gauleng, and although I think what he said is very reasonable, I must go to France by myself. See for yourself the place after the revolution. Then come back and discuss with you before making a decision."

"Boss, are you going to leave for a while? Then who will take care of us?" Tie Ya said hastily.

"Jacques Gauleng also agreed with me to go to France to see and walk around. He also suggested that I go to the Toulon training camp in France to study-well, it is said that Russell from Ireland also studied there. Great job. Maybe I'll see Paris first, then Toulon, then...maybe Ireland and then come back."

"How long are you going to leave, Boss Fagin?" Buck asked hurriedly.

"At least half a year, maybe longer, but it won't exceed a year at most," Fei Jin said.

Then he looked at everyone again, and said: "After I leave, the butcher will temporarily take my place. Butcher, you can discuss something with Tie Ya. In addition, if you really have something embarrassing, you can also go to Jacob Gao Leng, you can trust him completely, he is still our brother. I will not leave until next month, during this time, you should take care of the gang affairs first, and I can take this opportunity to give you some advice."