As the son of a farmer, the young Carmen Gable was a paragon of personal struggle.

The peasants in the south were much poorer than those in the north, because they were burdened with heavier taxes. In fact, there are many people and little land, which is a major shortcoming of the peasants in the south. In the eyes of northerners, the south has a warm climate and abundant products, so it is even more important to pay more taxes.

From the perspective of Europa's history, the great unification regime has always laid the foundation in the north, and then the south bowed down and then sent its own tax book. They rarely even resisted, and then it became part of the tradition, as if it was a strange thing for southerners to pay less taxes.

As a peasant, after paying the land tax, military service tax, poll tax and their surcharges every year, as well as monetized road donations, the most industrious peasant family has nothing left, in case of natural and man-made disasters, it is doom, and they can only borrow from the church or the rich, and hope that they will be able to pay it back in the coming year.

Therefore, if the son of a farmer wants to read and write, it is simply a luxury. Some far-sighted peasants want to do this, but the burden is even heavier, and it often leads to the ridicule of their neighbors, who ridicule him for not knowing the height of the sky.

From the age of six, Carmen worked as an attendant to the son of a wealthy man to support the family. The rich man hired a governess to teach his son, and Carmen was able to sit in and show far more intelligence than anyone else.

The venerable governess was moved to find Carmen's parents and asked them to sponsor Carmen's education.

But the good times did not last long, and within a few years, the governess died of illness, and the funding was interrupted. At this time, Carmen's uncle, LeBron Gable, whom Shaws knew, stepped forward and worked hard to earn money to support his nephew, so that Carmen could continue his studies.

When he grew up, Carmen found himself a job as a copyist, because his handwriting was neat and fast, so he had many customers, and by the way he had to write letters for people, and he could get a few copper plates at a time. Sometimes I have to take on more than a dozen of these jobs a day.

The only regret is that he put on his glasses very early.

This life has always accompanied him when he was admitted to the University of Poitou, at this time, not only did he not need his uncle's financial support, but he also performed better and better, and he could support himself completely.

As the rewards of his part-time job outside the home grew, Carmen became more and more particular about dressing and grooming, learning to smoke, learn to dance in the suet, and study many brands of wine.

Although the life of the idle class was enviable, Carmen only saw these as a stepping stone to high society.

It is precisely this background that gives Carmen a first-hand understanding of the so-called classes in the world.

As the Estates-General delegates were formed, there were three circles of the high-ranking people, the clergy, the nobility, and the wealthy. There are different small circles in each circle, for example, among the rich, there are big bankers and big businessmen, big landlords, factory owners and small workshop owners, and small and medium-sized landlords in the countryside.

As for himself, Carmen asked himself if he was in any circle.

Perhaps a priest who had been accused of ** asked him to write a psalm in praise of God's apostles, perhaps a morally corrupt nobleman would ask him in the tone of charity that he would like to be a personal tutor to the children of his family, or perhaps a rich man would simply throw him a bag of gold coins and ask him to write an essay against his opponent and not be seized by his opponent.

Carmen referred to these people collectively as the idle class, because only in this way could they be addressed with a high degree of uniformity. Carmen even thinks he's coined a new vocabulary full of deep meaning, well, which falls under the realm of sociology as much as economics and political science, separating a small group of people from the majority.

Early in the morning, after staying up late at the desk and writing his graduation thesis all night, Carmen ate a few bites in the cafeteria and hurried out of the school gate.

He was going to the office of the newspaper Le Genoese, where he was now an assistant editor, because of his solid writing skills and spicy and sophisticated writing, as well as his unique insights, several articles were published by the newspaper and caused great repercussions, and he was discovered and hired by the newspaper, although he had not yet graduated.

This new newspaper is eager to find talents, especially when there are dozens of newspapers at once.

For Carmen, the job was not only decent, but also well-paid, especially with the pen he liked.

This job is simply tailor-made for him, and Carmen works hard.

Although he was in a hurry to go out, Carmen also paid more attention to his appearance, and this outfit cost him most of the manuscript fee for a collection of poems, and when he made this decision, it was very painful.

The atmosphere in the newspaper office today is a strange one, and the members, whether proofreaders or reporters, are all buried in their work, but it is much quieter than usual.

Opposite the long row of desks are a few sofas, usually where the guests from outside are staying when they come to the newspaper office. There are a few grim-looking guys sitting in this position today, and they are sitting there swallowing clouds.

A few colleagues who were more familiar with Carmen winked at him, and nodded vaguely in the direction of the editor-in-chief's office.

Carmen took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" replied Mr. Dewar, the newspaper's president and editor-in-chief.

"Good morning, Mr. Dewar!" Carmen said respectfully and politely.

There was another person sitting in the room, and although he was extremely shocked, Carmen still pretended not to know him, because it was Thomas Daly, the chief of the secret police.

Mr. Daley has recently become a public enemy of the newspaper industry, as he has forced more than two dozen newspapers to close their doors.

"Carmen, this is Director Daley, he has some questions for you. Mr. Dewar slipped away and left his office to the two men in the room.

Carmen secretly scolded Mr. Dewar, and said stiffly:

"Good morning, Mr. Director!"

"Good morning, are you Mr. Gable?" Director Daley walked over to Mr. Dewar's place, and Shi Shiran sat down.

"Yes, my name is Carmen Gable and I'm the assistant editor of this newspaper. Carmen said.

"Sit down and talk, don't be nervous. Daley smiled and motioned for the other party to sit down, "I'll call you Carmen, let's talk like friends, don't worry, it's not a big deal." ”

Carmen wouldn't believe that. Seeing that Daley was about to pull out his cigarette case, Carmen quickly offered his own cigarette.

Lighting a cigarette, Dali Meimei took a puff and laughed at herself:

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a big smoker. You know, doing what we do, like you literati, is the most brain-wrenching. Because I often need to find even the slightest useful clue in a mess, it takes me a hundred times more time and effort, and my boss always thinks that my work is not commensurate with the salary he pays. In the same way, my subordinates blame me like this, haha!"

"Mr. Director, I can fully understand this, the more you stay up late, the more you smoke, even though we all know that smoking is bad for your health. "I don't think Mr. Director himself came here to discuss the dangers of cigarettes with me, but I'm in favor of a luxury tax on tobacco, the higher the better, because then I might quit because I was too shy to do so." ”

Although Carmen is young, he has seen a lot of the world, and he has not experienced a single case in the news industry in the past two years, and he is very good at this kind of lawsuit. If he wants, he can talk to people all day, and the topic is never the same.

Daley tilted his head to look at him, then took a few newspapers from the newsrack next to him and spread them out on the table:

"Okay, let's get down to business. ”

"Please advise!" Carmen was full of fighting spirit at this time, and even a little eager to try.

"On the fifteenth of February, this news roundup, 'On the Great Role of the Council of the Nobles,' was written by Mr. Gable?" asked Daley.

"It's really clumsy. "In black and white, Carmen certainly can't deny it.

"The Council of Nobles should be renamed the Council of Nobles, for its members are all great nobles, and all nobles personally chosen by His Majesty. But a study of the bills passed by the Council of the Nobles over the past thirty years shows that this body serves only as a façade, and can neither solve the problems that the empire desperately needs to solve, nor propose proposals to solve them, and its only function is a nursing home, because the average age of its members is fifty-eight, which is really a leisure class, and can have a lot of time to take turns speaking there. Mathematically speaking, it is entirely the result of a small number of young people who are averaged......"

Daley read a long paragraph, then forced his eyes to look at Carmen, "Mr. Gable, are you loyal to the Emperor?"

"Of course!" replied Carmen solemnly.

"What is the reason for you to write such a passage?" asked Daley, "and I read from it your displeasure with Your Majesty." ”

"No, Mr. Director, I am immensely loyal to Your Majesty, and the more loyal I are, the more I am prompted to make a kind criticism. It's like a friend, I'm sorry, I have transgressed the humble me, but the truth of good medicine and bad words, Mr. Director should understand. As for my readers, the letter commented that the text is precisely described, mind you, and that it is precise and not just accurate, because it involves mathematics. "If anyone can prove that I am poor in math, I would like to apologize to everyone and ask them to forgive me for my ignorance." Because as a student in the Faculty of Letters, it is understandable to make calculation errors. ”

Daley glared at the other party, the other party's words were really sharp, and he turned out another newspaper:

"Well, the newspaper of February 18, it seems that Mr. Dewar thinks so highly of you that he even asked you to write an editorial. ”

"Just one of the contributors. Carmen corrected.

"Well, let me read what is written?" Daly pouted, "all members of the state should have an equal need for the protection afforded by the monarch, and therefore they are all equally obliged to contribute to the needs of the state. Attempts to evade taxes or claim immunity can break the link between the state and its citizens. We must correct the old notions and oppose the ...... privileges"

Reading this, Daley asked, "Are you a sympathizer of the True God Party?"

"No, Mr. Director, the True God Party doesn't want you to pay taxes, they are against all taxes, and of course they are against privileges. It's fundamentally different. "I can't think that you're trying to fuse fire and water?" ”

"I've heard that there are some people at the University of Poitu who are not very comfortable, and you are the most active among them. Young man, your words may seem tempting, but dangerous. Anything that involves opposing privileges is forbidden. Daley said.

"Mr. Director, I must say that you have completely misread what I meant. ”

"I want to hear about it!"

"Our principal says ......"

"Wait, what does this have to do with Viscount Connery?

Carmen realized that he was a little careless, and hurriedly said: "The headmaster, that is, Viscount Connelly, once said that in the past, the king should live on his own estate, and taxes would only be levied when the country had special needs, such as war. Mr. Director, is that right?"

"Yes!" Daley admitted.

"Taxation is not an easy task when this perception is common among all, because almost all people who pay for it believe that taxation is temporary and not a legitimate institutional act. Since it is temporary, it can be canceled. The Viscount believed that the state provided public goods for every people......"

"Public goods, what do you mean?"

"Your Excellency's duty, for example, is a public good, to fight crime and keep people safe from mobs," Carmen said. Allow me to pay tribute to you and your colleagues. In the same way, maintaining the army and defending the country, building roads to facilitate communication between different places, providing relief to victims in the event of a natural disaster, and establishing welfare homes to adopt abandoned babies are all products provided by the state and the government to the people. ”

"It seems like that's the case. Daley felt that the state at this time was the opposite of what he had intended.

"Since the state has provided the people with the product, the people should pay the price, right?" asked Carmen.

"Yes!"

"Well, where this public good comes from, it's taxes. So I was inspired by the principal's talk and thought that it should be impossible to break down the stereotypes and advocate that everyone is equal before paying taxes, and that the rich pay more taxes and the poor pay less taxes or even pay nothing?"

Daley stared at the other party for a long time and said, "Viscount Connelly often talks to you about this?"

"No, only this once. May I think that the words of the headmaster have violated the law?Mr. Chief, you seem to have forgotten that our headmaster is a nobleman, and he is against himself? This is entirely a matter of impartiality from the standpoint of the state and the Emperor!" Carmen asked bluntly, "or does Mr. Chief, think I have violated the law?"

"No, since it was the Viscount, there must be some truth in it. Daley was a little annoyed, and he stood up, "Mr. Gable, I still have official business, and I take my leave!"

"Mr. Director, welcome to come back next time!" Carmen quickly stood up and sent Director Daley out of the newspaper office.

Looking at Daly's departing back, Carmen thought for a moment, though his shirt was already soaked.

The Viscount Headmaster seemed to be willing to reach out to the students, but Carmen really hadn't been alone.

Sure enough, there is an idle class, the same remarks, he said it, I can't say it?