Fox of France

Fagin did not think anything wrong with the merchant's statement that "the workers in the city are working harder than before, but they have bread to eat." Because Fei Jin is not a time traveler, in his opinion, working hard to make ends meet should be the normal state of life. Even, it was God's will.

"God said: 'You must work hard all your life to make a living.' This is our natural destiny." Fagin thought this way, and his favor for France increased.

That afternoon, the mail car rested in an unknown town. They all disembarked from the mail van, and settled into the only small hotel and tavern in the town.

When everyone got out of the car, the hotel waiter came up to take care of the horses. The driver of the mail car greeted the boss and took a bottle of wine from the counter.

Fagin knew that when the postal coach chose to stop for the night at an inn in such a small town, it was probably due to some kind of cooperation between the driver and the owner. This is actually very common in the UK.

The shop owner took the booklet again to register the passengers and check their papers. This practice was also practiced in England, and Fagin was not surprised either. He showed the shopkeeper the identification issued to him by the French embassy in England, and signed his name on the booklet. Then the innkeeper went in to get them bread for supper.

At this time, the sun was just westward, and a faint layer of smoke rose from the distant fields. In the twilight, Fagin saw several people who looked like militiamen walking towards the outside of the town along a small road.

"Why, isn't it peaceful here? Those militiamen are going out to patrol so late?" Fagin asked the shopkeeper who was bringing him bread.

"Taiping is peaceful, but there have been a lot of thieves stealing things recently." The shopkeeper said, "Go over there, there is a hydroelectric power plant, we rely on it for the irrigation of the farmland near us. It is winter now , the water level is also low, and the power plant is not operating very well. But there are many valuable things in the power plant. Especially copper, copper is everywhere in the power plant. I believe everyone knows how valuable copper is now. So some people always want to The bad things that want to get something for nothing will sneak away to steal copper at night. The land around us all depends on the irrigation of this power station. These guys do such things, you say, it’s a pity that the guillotine is out of fashion now, otherwise this gang All thieves should be caught and smashed."

These words made Fagin, who is a thief leader, a little uncomfortable, so he asked, "Why do these people steal? Is there some reason why they can't live anymore?"

"Ah, sir, you are really a kind person." The shop owner said, "If it was in the early years, it would have been the situation you said. I will not talk about it before the revolution. The people who cultivated the land were not No way to live. Nobles and priests took away the little food that was finally produced. Those who cultivated the land would starve to death. At that time, there were indeed many people who took risks in order not to be starved to death.

After the revolution, for a while, the situation was even worse. In order to deal with those foreign kings and their armies, a large number of young people were conscripted into the army to fight, and large tracts of land were abandoned because no one cultivated them, and there was naturally less food. In order to feed so many troops, the government expropriated a large amount of food..."

"Don't they pay?" asked Fagin.

"They give coupons. But coupons can also be counted as money?" the owner said, "so at that time, everyone's life became more and more difficult. Many people even wished that the nobles would come back. There were many who stole, and even followed the nobles to rebel.

But that's all in the past. Since the Consulate was established, and since General Bonaparte had defeated the foreign kings, the army had begun to recover, and the boys had come back to farm again, and brought back a good deal of money—real money. Then all kinds of taxes were lowered, and everyone's life gradually became better. With the water 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 when you go to the city. A thing that can make a living - at this time, he is still a thief, and even steals copper from the power plant. You said, shouldn't such a guy be killed? "

"It's really not good, but it's better to be able to educate." Fei Jin said, "After all, bad people can also change from evil to good. The head is not pasture. If you cut it, it won't grow again."

"Haha, what you said is also reasonable." The owner of the shop is actually not very persistent in his point of view.

The stagecoach ran for another two days, and finally arrived in Paris on the afternoon of the third day.

Jacques Gauleng gave Fagin a letter of introduction, which he could take directly to the Ministry of Truth when he arrived in Paris. People from the Ministry of Truth will receive him, provide him with various kinds of help, and send him to Toulon to learn professional knowledge and skills.

But Fagin did not intend to report to the Ministry of Truth immediately. He doesn't fully trust the Ministry of Truth. Because his brother Jacques Gauling, who worked for the Ministry of Truth, once described the department to him in this way:

"The Ministry of Truth generally does not lie, but you have to know that if you need to mislead others, the truth is better than lies." In order to enhance persuasiveness, Jacques Gauleng also cited the trump card of the Ministry of Truth, "Science Pravda" Examples of various performances at the Battle of Verdun. At last he said: "You see, from the beginning to the end, "Scientific Pravda" has not uttered a single false statement. But the English, the Prussians, and the noble royalists have all been deceived by it. Well, the Ministry of Truth is the last That’s the kind of tricks he’s good at.”

Therefore, in Fagin's impression, the "Ministry of Truth" is actually the Ministry of Liars. It's just that maybe the word "liar" needs to be preceded by "truth-telling" as an attributive.

To avoid being duped by those brilliant liars who tell the truth. Fagin always felt that he was very vigilant, and that ordinary liars would not be able to fool him. But after listening to the example given by Jacob Goulen, Fagin felt that if he had been a British or Prussian general, or a leader of the Royalist Party at that time, he would probably have been fooled. So Fagin was a little afraid 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. So as not to be deceived by the people of the Ministry of Truth.

So Fagin first found a hotel in the largest slum area in Paris - the St. Antoine district and stayed there. As on the road, he needs to show his ID and fill out a booklet. Fagin naturally complied. If he was in England, he would need to be more careful. But in France, he has no criminal record and is not a wanted criminal. He is a person with a fully legal status recognized by the government. So Fei Jin showed his certificate calmly and signed his name on the notebook.

Before daybreak the next day, Fagin was awakened by noises outside.

"It's almost time to go to work?" Fei Jin, who lived in the workers' area, knew what the commotion was about without opening his eyes. This is the factory workers going to work.

Fagin also got up, put on his clothes and went out.

It was not yet full light outside, but the Saint-Antoine district was already buzzing. During Robespierre's time, the French set up several nitrate refineries here. Later, after Napoleon won a huge victory, because the import channel had been opened, the French no longer needed to obtain nitrate through inefficient and costly methods such as refining nitrate. These nitrate refineries have all closed their doors.

These factories were bought by the military-industrial complex at a low price 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. The factories continued to do well, relying on the relatively cheap iron and steel produced by the Lorraine Iron and Steel Company.

Fagin noticed that the faces 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 looked much better. In addition, he also discovered a place that is different from the UK, that is, even in the St. Antoine district, the police can still be seen on the street.

There was still some time before the factory opened, so everyone took advantage of this opportunity to eat quickly. Fagin leaned over and noticed that the workers still ate the same kind of black bread, which seemed to be mixed with a lot of other things. However, the portions are much larger than those eaten by British workers, and there are basically no children among the workers.

This discovery made Fagin's evaluation of France slightly higher.

At this time, a policeman came to the hotel where Fagin was staying and checked the hotel's record book.

"An Englishman, living here?" The policeman noticed the record about Fagin at once. So he found the hotel owner again, asked the hotel owner carefully, and then told the owner not to show any strangeness.

"Officer, do you think this British man is a thief who came to steal technology?" the boss asked. Some time ago, the police department has caught several such thieves, some from the UK, some from Austria, and some from allies Spain, Northern Italy, and the Rhine Union. Of course, the most are from other French companies of.

"I don't know, maybe it is, maybe it's not. In short, keep an eye on it. But...if he is really...he just registered his nationality directly, and he doesn't even use a fake document to disguise it. Most likely he is also a stupid thief .” The policeman laughed.

But even if this "suspicious object" is probably not a thief, at most it is a "stupid thief". But according to the regulations, he still had to report the matter.

"Well, where did the Englishman go?"

"Just went out, but his things are still here, he should come back again." The shop owner replied.