Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2247 Fiery frenzy (seven)

Adam Smith wrote in "On the Repression of Agriculture in the Old Condition of Europe After the Fall of the Roman Empire": Since the Germanic and Scythian peoples disturbed the western part of the Roman Empire, great changes have taken place in Europe, and the barbarian peoples have The plundering of the inhabitants forced the interruption of trade between town and country, the cities were deserted, the countryside uncultivated, and Europe, which was once extremely rich under the Western Roman Empire, became poor and barbaric.

  In ancient Rome, land was only used as a means of subsistence and enjoyment, such as planting wheat and grapes to make bread or wine. The Romans did not distinguish between men and women, and their children would be allocated a piece of land. At that time, "wealth" refers to slaves, gold and silver, livestock, and the magnificent Rome was built by slaves.

   Rome is a farming people, herding is a nomadic people. Because there were no horses, the Roman cavalry did not have as many infantry soldiers, and the infantrymen were mainly peasants. They went out to fight with their commanders. Like the heroes who attacked Troy, they plundered the citizens of the defeated country and turned them into slaves. In addition, they also searched local artworks. Go, decorate their mansions and courtyards, a lot of art in ancient Rome was in Greek style, and even Roman mythology just changed the names of the Greek gods.

   But when land was no longer a means of subsistence or a means of power, it seemed more appropriate to pass it on to a person in its entirety, and the law of firstborn succession came into being.

This is not a sudden, but a rather slow process. In the turbulent Middle Ages, the energies of the big landowners were spent on defending or expanding their territories, while the cultivation and improvement of the land were neglected. When it comes to peaceful years, when they have the time and energy to cultivate and improve the land, they have no mind. If he is a smart and good businessman, he will use his annual savings to buy new properties instead of To improve the original land, after all, there was still a lot of uncultivated land at that time, so most of the big landlords were not big reformers.

  The Netherlands has low-lying terrain and many swamps, but as long as the water is pumped away, it can be turned into farmland, which is also a way to improve the land. Compared with landlords, farmers are much slower to improve their land, because for farmers, most of the land harvest is used to pay rent. Through the enclosure movement in the United Kingdom, the practice of rotating farming was based on the fact that the income of raising sheep was higher than that of planting. land, inadvertently improving the land.

  The earliest grains were forbidden to be exported unless they were licensed, and the policies of ancient Europe towards landowners and farmers were unfavorable to the cultivation and improvement of the land.

  Adam Smith mentioned incentives in "The Wealth of Nations", and encouraging grain exports is also to avoid domestic grain surpluses and cause grain prices to fall. Georgiana is worried about the 1.2 billion "Changping Position". Only when it reaches this level, when there is another famine in France, can the Changping position play a role in regulating prices and avoid the soaring food prices during the French Revolution. This is also Napoleon-style "every Frenchman has a chicken in his pot", but only after farmers' income increases will they have the money to improve the land, or buy land again. The soldiers of the French Republic are actually similar to the soldiers of the Roman Republic. Most of them are farmers, and most of them have their own land.

   However, the soldiers of the late 18th century were different from those of the ancient Roman era. As Adam Smith said, the key to determining victory or defeat was not so much the proficiency and skill of using weapons, but rather the discipline, order and obedience to orders. She didn’t know how long it would take to train a soldier in ancient warfare. Anyway, the French recruits went to the front line in three days. I heard that the scholars and college students who accompanied the army in Cairo completed their training in only 3 minutes, and then went to the roof to meet the veterans. They fought side by side.

  The emotion that arises in our hearts when disaster is approaching is called "fear", and most people feel that they can overcome this perception with reason.

   The more rational we are, the more powerful we can perceive the danger. The nature of the beast is to avoid danger, rather than take the initiative to fight it. So conquering fear requires a passion, which can be ignited by the sound of horns and drums of war, making people fearless and unafraid of death, and weakening the perception of danger and pain.

  Georgianna didn't understand what allowed the French to cross the Alps in starvation. Later, Lyon told her that it was the sound of war drums. They played war drums every time they encountered a place that was difficult to cross, and they were not afraid of avalanches.

  Her new clothes are white, as white as snow, and as crystal clear as snow. If you look closely at the snow, you can see that they will sparkle in the sun, just like the stars in the night sky.

In the Iliad, Helen is still weaving when Paris is about to go out, and the fabric is not worn for herself, but as a sacrifice to the goddess Athena, as Hector's mother There were also twelve calves made in the temple of Athena. Maybe all the noble women went, but Helen did not go, because she was the main culprit for the war.

  Athena was the protector of Troy, the poem says she had beautiful hair, and the women of Troy gave her a colorful Phoenician dress that Paris brought home.

  Helen expected that the goddess would not like it, so she instructed the slave girls to weave new skirts and prayed for Paris and Troy. The new dress was embroidered with flowers and shone like a star.

Many skirts in ancient Greece had to be dragged on the floor. Georgiana was afraid that she would mix herself when dancing. This skirt did not drag very long. As for the pieces like stars, they were taken from diamonds. There are many diamond processing workshops in Belgium, cutting gemstones. There was a lot of debris left, which Bertin collected and sprinkled on the merino wool cloth.

  Wool is just like that, it gets crumbs and dirt easily, and Pomona used to be dirty all the time. Now these gem shards are sprinkled on the wool, and the light reflects the starlight effect. It is covered with a transparent tulle with flowers embroidered on it. Bertin also said to add a layer of feathers, but Georgiana refused. .

There are still some things that need to be adjusted in this newly made dress. In fact, Athena did not want this dress. If she received a gift from Troy, how could she help the Greeks to come up with a Trojan horse plan, and also turn the rattan into a snake. Laocoon, who came to warn Troy dead.

   The most important thing is that Paris did not give the golden apple to Athena. Since she is not the most beautiful goddess, what is the use of wearing a beautiful dress?

  The skirt that the goddess doesn't want Georgiana "wastes", like those diamond chips, the chips are not diamonds, they are useless. This one just looks luxurious, and the crumbs aren't sticking together, and there will be some diamond shards scattered along the way.

  Beauty is like a kind of magic, what you want is easy to get, and it is hard for women to resist not using it.

In fact, it doesn't matter if she wears jeans and a T-shirt. It's rare that she wants to be "perfect" once, but the "people who cause trouble" come. It is the one who thinks that "the court is the manufacture of evil, the source of corruption, and the lair of tyrants." of Father Gregoire.

   He rushed into Georgiana's suite with an angry look on his face. Anyway, her door was not closed, but what if he came in while she was changing clothes?

   He was stunned when he saw Georgiana, and she was annoyed by his recklessness and wanted to curse.

   "You're so rude," she accuses. "Shouldn't you knock on the door when you enter the lady's room?"

  Gregoire came to his senses quickly, but he seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say, and stood there dumbfounded.

   Bertin and her seamstresses laughed, and now Gregoire should have come back to his senses, it seemed he was trying to figure out how to "educate" her.

"Have you seen The Fable of the Bee?" asked Georgiana, before he came up with the punchline to bombard her, "it was written by a Dutchman, and it was because of him that Adam Smith became liberal. economics."

   "So you also want 'freedom'?" Gregova said sullenly.

   "You priests like to think, perhaps because you are too obsessed with this way to forget one thing."

   "What's the matter?" Gregoire asked after waiting for a while, not seeing Georgiana continue.

   "You live in this world, and do you have the duty of a citizen?" Georgiana replied, "If you don't pull out a penny, you will be called stingy. Think of Charlotte, the Venetian merchant."

  Gregoire was not in a hurry to say that she was a sophistry, which made it impossible for her to continue the eloquent and eloquent rhetoric she had prepared to drown him.

   This made her even more angry.

   "We didn't spend much money, you see." Bertin smeared a little diamond powder from his dress on his fingers. "Just some scraps that no one wants."

  Gregoire looked surprised.

"Jealousy is the most unpredictable and most troublesome. It is a combination of love, hope and many emotions. Even goddesses are not immune, let alone women?" Georgiana said helplessly, "Thank you for your reminder, Father, but I need a skirt as my 'battle'."

   "What?" Gregova frowned.

   So Georgiana had to tell him the story of the women of Troy and Helen offering beautiful dresses to Athena as sacrifices.

   "This is the skirt I plan to press the bottom of the box. Are you guys so stingy?"

  Gregoire held back for a long time without saying a word, and finally found an excuse to "flee".

  Beltin laughed so hard that the seamstresses couldn't stop laughing, and when they had enough, Georgiana asked them to help her change the dress to a simpler one.

   After all, there is a class in the afternoon, so it’s not good to offend the “teacher” too much.

   (end of this chapter)