Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2411 "Game Room" (below)

   "I want prisoners," Bowens said over a beer. "I can't use orphans as weavers."

   Bonaparte watched carefully the position of the table ball and ignored him.

   Brussels MP Henri Joseph Langhenhofen looked at Georgiana as if to observe her reaction.

   In addition to his status as a member of parliament, lawyer and chemist, this gentleman is also a member of the Freemasonry "No. 9" in Brussels. During the most prosperous period of Freemasonry development, there were 15 "clubs" in Brussels, including the French Minister in Brussels, which were members of Freemasonry.

The biggest problem with this organization is not some of the pagan worship activities they are engaged in, the "apprentices" have to obey the orders of the "master", sometimes this "obedience" goes against the regime, but most of the time it becomes an inside message Net, the Freemasonry in Brussels has spread to almost the entire elite, and it is not possible to ban their activities by banning them.

   In fact, the Danes were not very willing to go to the West Indies for trade because the silver coins were held hostage by the British. The King of Denmark borrowed 4 million guilders from William IX of Saxony using the national credit as a guarantee. At this time, Saxony was accepting the textile machine technology provided by the United Kingdom, at least not openly lending money to the King of Denmark, so William IX and the chief financial officer found a court Jew and lent the money by private lending. go out. This court Jew was Mayer Rothschild, who was connected with William IX's great butler, and presented a set of cherished ancient silver coins as a gift.

  Meyer's main business is still in Frankfurt, which is another natural place for currency exchange transactions besides Antwerp, where several major German trade routes converge.

   On the surface, Hope Bank is providing loans for the Louisiana acquisition. In fact, the money is not owned by Hope Bank itself. Hope House really only earns commissions.

When the British government tried to recruit soldiers from textile factories, it found that only 16% of the people were "healthy and qualified", and they didn't even meet the "strong" standard. It was precisely because of the poor working conditions in the factories that the slave owners would Comparing the working conditions of slaves with those of free workers.

Considering this situation, it is not surprising that farmers and craftsmen are reluctant to become factory workers. It is difficult to recruit workers, so they use "apprentices" to replace them. Bowens can neither use slaves nor orphans. Prisoners are used as weavers.

   "What do you think?" Bonaparte asked Georgiana suddenly.

"There will be other problems," Georgiana said. "If the prison adopts this kind of profit model, then the police will arrest people for a trivial matter, and then put them in jail. It is more difficult for these people to have a criminal record. Getting a job, it's a vicious circle."

   "What good advice do you have?" Bowens asked.

   "Think about how the criminals are safe if they work with the girls?" Georgiana said.

   "I heard that the British were planning to reduce the export of cotton cloth and instead export cotton yarn," Langenhofen said. "The hydrotextile was not so popular over there."

"It's not just England, the Normandy workers don't like it," said Simonville, a member of parliament in Paris. "The least likely way to provoke resistance is to limit the use of new machinery, not the production of high-quality goods, so no matter how laborious Intensive, the fear of a popular uprising discouraged factory owners from using new machines.”

  Georgianna tilted her head.

   "What's the matter?" asked Bonaparte.

   "When I was in a meeting that day, I said to the people of Lyon, 'Everyone has experienced the great revolution', and I was misled when I said this." Georgiana said.

   "What the British did is to use the textile industry of other countries to serve them, making Germany a production hinterland and Ghent a printing and dyeing center, but we can't let them get what they want." Bowens said.

   "The rise in the price of cotton and the rise in the price of slaves had a great impact on the southern slave states." Langenhofen said, "Hamilton's tariffs were good for the North, but not good for the South."

   "But I heard that Massachusetts became independent first," said Georgiana.

   "I also heard that New York City is going to be independent from New York State." Bowens teased, putting down his beer mug and hitting the cue ball with his club.

   "If North America replaces India as the main cotton producing area in the UK, will the route between West Africa and India be affected?" Langenhofen looked at Bonaparte and said, "You know, once the Suez Canal is built..."

   Bonaparte looked at the table and said nothing.

  Georgianna suddenly realized.

If the Suez Canal is completed, the route from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa will be "diverted", so that the West and North Africa, which Britain has worked so hard to manage for many years, will be devastated. There is also North America, after all, West Africa in the triangular trade is also a supplier of slaves.

  South Africa is too far from Europe, and the Cape of Good Hope is mainly merchant ships from East India. When the American Civil War broke out, the Suez Canal had not been repaired, and trade at the Cape of Good Hope was revived.

   "India's cotton business is in the hands of Indian merchants. They don't want European merchants to push inland." Semonville looked at Bonaparte and said, "The United States is different. The most important thing is the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom."

   "What do you think?" Bonaparte asked Georgiana.

   "I heard from Miss Elizabeth Lamont that there was a women's association in London who only used fabrics made of cotton from free labor." Georgiana smiled. "Like I boycotted fabrics made with child labor."

   The men all laughed.

"Speaking of luxury goods, I heard that the Irish were worried about losing customers for their luxury goods because the rich people in Ireland went to England," Bowens said. "And because of the war, Caribbean sugar could not be sold to Europe, so they turned to And dumping in Ireland has led to the closure of the local sugar mills in Ireland.”

   "The British Parliament has removed the Irish tariff." Semonville looked at Georgiana and said, "I don't think the industry will ever recover in Ireland again."

  Georgianna did not speak.

  If Ireland could plant sugar beets when growing potatoes, it might be possible to avoid potato late blight caused by repeated cropping, but sugar beet production requires the construction of sugar mills, which is impossible under the current situation.

   "It takes less than 50,000 people to build the port of Antwerp," Langenhofen said. "In fact, Belgium cannot afford that many Irish people."

   "How much can you absorb?" asked Bonaparte.

   "5 thousand."

   "The road construction team can absorb 2,000 people." Semonville said.

   "Did Edgeworth plan to bring all the Irish to Europe?" Bowens complained.

   "Do you think it's possible for them to build the Suez Canal?" Langenhofen asked.

   "No," said Georgiana.

   "Why?" Langenhofen asked.

   "If the living environment over there is too harsh, I won't allow it." Georgiana said, "How about offering a reward for inventing a steam excavator first?"

   "If anyone knew that this excavator was used to dig the Suez Canal..."

   "What's the matter?" Bowens asked, speaking of Langenhofen, who was half silent.

   "Someone mentioned to me that a canal should be built to connect Brussels to Charleroi." Langenhofen looked at Georgiana. "If a railway is to be built, is it necessary to build a canal?"

   Bonaparte took the club, aimed at the white cue ball on the table, and dropped a red marble into the corner pocket.

"The focus now is to unify weights and measures. Without standard weights and measures, there will be hidden price differences." Georgiana raised her fist at the others, showing her arms and saying, "Ancient Egypt used elbows to make units, but people and The length of a cubit varies from person to person."

   "How did they determine the standard length?" asked Bonaparte feigningly.

   "I don't know, this length is still used in the Bible, and the length of a cubit is determined by the hand of an angel." Georgiana smiled ambiguously, "Do you believe there are angels in this world?"

   "Isn't there one before us?" said Simonville.

   "Charlemagne promoted unified weights and measures, as well as Alexander the Great, Louis XIV, Moses, in the East, there was an emperor named Qin Shi Huang, who established a unified empire."

   Bonaparte smiled now.

She still has unfinished words to say, whether Charlemagne, Alexander or Louis XIV failed to implement unified weights and measures, and even the French who proposed the metric system once hated the new way of calculating the day and did not stick to the metric system. .

  If you can’t unify the language, then unify the weights and measures first. You don’t need to know too many foreign languages ​​for the language of drawings.

Seeing that no one answered her, Georgiana took Bonaparte and asked him to teach her how to play billiards. There was someone behind her, who had to teach her how to play the game.

   (end of this chapter)