As for the merchant's statement, that "the workers in the city are working harder than before, but there is bread to eat", Fagin did not think anything bad. Because Fagin is not a time-traveler, in his opinion, hard work and then barely making ends meet should be the norm of life. Even, it was originally the will of God.

"God said, 'You must labor all your life to make ends meet.'" This is our destiny. Fagin thought so, and his favorability of France increased.

In the afternoon, the mail truck rested in an unknown town. They all got off the mail train and stayed in the only inn--tavern in town.

As soon as everyone got off the car, the waiter at the hotel came up and took care of the horses. The driver of the mail truck greeted the boss and took a bottle of wine from the counter.

Fagin knew that the mail truck chose to stop for the night at an inn in such a small town, most likely because the driver and the boss had some kind of cooperation. This situation is actually very common in the UK.

The shopkeeper took the booklet to register the passengers and check their documents. This practice is also practiced in the United Kingdom, and Fagin is not surprised either. He showed the owner the identification given to him by the French Embassy in Britain and signed his name on the booklet. Then the innkeeper went in and brought them bread for dinner.

At this time, the sun was just setting in the west, and a faint layer of smoke rose from the fields in the distance. In the twilight, Fagin saw several militia-looking men walking down a path towards the outside of the town.

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

"Taiping is peaceful, but there are a lot of thieves stealing things recently." "Over there, there's a hydroelectric power plant, and we're counting on it for irrigation of the farmland around here or something." It's winter, the water level is low, and the power plant isn't working. But there are a lot of valuable things in the power plant. Especially copper, which is everywhere in power plants. Nowadays, I believe everyone knows how valuable copper is. Therefore, some bad things that always want to get something for nothing will sneak up on stealing copper at night. The land around us is counting on the irrigation of this power station, these guys do such things, you say, it's a pity that the guillotine is not in vogue now, otherwise these thieves should be arrested and clicked. ”

This made Fagin, who was the head of the thief, a little uncomfortable, so he asked, "Why do these people steal?" Is there some reason why they can't live anymore? ”

"Ah, sir, what a kind man you are." The shopkeeper said, "If it had been a few years ago, it would have been the kind of situation you said. Not to mention before the revolution, the people who farmed the land could not live at all. The little grain that was finally managed to get was taken away by the nobles and the clergy. Those who cultivate the land themselves will starve to death. At that time, there were indeed many people who took risks in order not to starve to death.

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

"Don't they give money?" Fagin asked.

"They give you a coupon. But coupons can also be counted as money? "So at that time, everyone's life became more and more difficult, and many people even wished that the nobles would come back." At that time, it was said that there were many people who went to steal in order to survive, and even rebelled with the nobles.

But that's all in the past. Since the establishment of the ruling government, since General Bonaparte had defeated the foreign kings, the army had begun to recover, and the lads had come back to farming, and had brought back a lot of money—real money. Then all kinds of taxes went down, and everyone's life gradually got better, plus with the pumping machine, as long as you work honestly, you will definitely not starve to death, even if you don't have land, you can find a living in the city - at this time, you still have to be a thief, and even steal copper from the power plant, you say, such a guy, shouldn't he be killed? ”

"It's really not good, but it's better to be edified or edified." Fagin said, "After all, bad people can also change from evil to good, and their heads are not pasture, and if they are cut, they will not rise again." ”

"Haha, what you said is also true." The owner doesn't really stick to his opinion.

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

Jager Golem gave Fagin a letter of introduction, and when he arrived in Paris, he could take it directly to the Ministry of Truth. He was received by the Ministry of Truth and sent to Toulon to learn his professional knowledge and skills.

But Fagin wasn't going to report to the Ministry of Truth right away. He didn't believe in the Ministry of Truth. Because his brother, Jager Golem, who works for the Ministry of Truth, once described the department to him in this way

"The Ministry of Truth doesn't usually lie, but you have to know that if you need to mislead people, truth is better than lies." In order to enhance his persuasiveness, Jager Gaurlen also cites the trump card of the Ministry of Truth, the various performances of Scientific Pravda in the Battle of Verdun as an example. In the end, he said, "You see, from the beginning to the end, Scientific Pravda has not said a single word of falsehood. But the British, the Prussians, and the royal elements of the nobility were deceived by it. Well, that's what the Ministry of Truth does best. ”

So in Fagin's impression, the "Ministry of Truth" is actually the Ministry of Liars. However, it may be necessary to add the word "truth-teller" before the word "liar".

In order to avoid being deceived by clever liars who tell the truth. Fagin has always felt that he is very vigilant, and ordinary liars can't fool him. But after listening to the example told by Jager Golem, Fagin felt that if he had been a general in England or Prussia at that time, or the leader of the royal party, 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 first, but to walk around Paris first and see Paris with his own eyes. lest you be deceived by the people of the Ministry of Truth.

So Fagin first found a hotel in the Saint-Antoine district, the largest slum in Paris. 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 had no criminal record, he was not a wanted criminal, he was an officially recognized person with full legal status. So Fagin calmly showed his ID and signed his name in the notebook.

The next day, before dawn, Fagin was awakened by a commotion outside.

"It's almost time to get to work?" Fei Jin, who lives in the workers' quarters himself, doesn't have to open his eyes to know what the noise is all about. This is the factory workers going to work.

Fagin got up, got dressed, and walked out.

It was not yet dawn outside, but the Saint-Antoine district was already bustling with activity. During Robespierre's time, the French set up several nitrate refineries here. Later, after Napoleon's great victory, the French no longer needed to obtain nitrate by such inefficient and expensive means as refining nitrate, because the import channel had been opened. These nitrate refineries have closed their doors.

These factories were bought at a low price by the military-industrial complex and combined to become the largest military factory in France. Later, when peace was achieved, these factories began to turn to the production of other things, such as various agricultural tools and other household items. Thanks to the relatively cheap iron and steel produced by Lorraine Steel, these factories are still doing well.

Fagin noticed that the workers who were preparing to go to work looked significantly worse than the peasants he had seen in the countryside. But compared to the British workers, these people look much better. In addition, he found that even in the Saint-Antoine district, you can still see the police on the streets.

There was still a while before the factory opened, so everyone took the opportunity to hurry up and eat. Fagin leaned in, and he noticed that the workers were still eating the same kind of black bread, and it seemed to be mixed with a lot of other things. However, the portions were much larger than those of the British workers, and there were hardly any children among the workers.

This discovery made Fagin's evaluation of France a little higher.

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

"An Englishman, living here?" The policeman immediately noticed the records about Feijin. So he called the innkeeper again, asked him carefully, and then told the boss not to show anything unusual.

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

"I don't know, maybe it is, maybe not. Anyway, stare at the point. But...... If he really is...... directly registered his nationality, and he couldn't even disguise himself with a fake document. Most of them are stupid thieves too. The policeman laughed.

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

"Well, where is that Englishman?"

"He just went out, but his things are still here, and he should be back." The shopkeeper replied.

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