Chapter 305: The Collapse of the Empire (41) The gray life of the pauper, Lul Paup

My father's name was Lul, so my name was Lul, and my brothers were all called Lul, so the neighbors around us called us the Lul family.

I was born in the slums of Borris, the capital of Bourbon, one of many paupers in Borris, and one of the things I've been trying to figure out since I grew up is when I was born.

Fortunately, my neighbours remember the date of my birth very clearly, because on the day I was born, the news of Bonn's surprise attack on Baboutis and the victory of the famous Battle of Barboutis had just reached Bourbon, and I was born at the moment when the Bourbon bell rang, so the neighbors remember my date of birth very clearly.

So relying on this relationship, it seems that I locked the birth year in 1412 of the Great Calendar.

Yes, this is the poor people, this is the poor people of Bourbon, the vast majority of the poor people don't even know their birth year, they have been like this all their lives as pigs and dogs, and then they die without mourning, but my luck, but also the misfortune of Bourbon, encountered a magnificent era, so that I, a poor man, can also have a dangerous way out.

Although we are Bourbons, most of the time we do not leave the slums, and the Bourbon government does not send bureaucrats to take care of us, let alone the sheriffs, even the tax collectors refuse to come to the slums. So instead of the Bourbons, we are run by gangs of all stripes in the slums.

Even though the Bourbon doesn't govern us, they still tax us, but the tax collectors don't go into the slums, so how can they collect taxes? Their approach is to delegate the right to collect taxes to the gangs, and the gangs will tax us and then transfer our taxes to the tax collectors, and that's how the Bourbon governs us.

For example, the management of the slums is very loose, as long as we do not break out of the slums, the bourbon basically does not come in, so the slums have become a place where all kinds of arowana are mixed.

For the many poor people who were born in the slums, joined the gangs, worked everywhere, endured the exploitation of the gangs, and the lucky few of them were able to marry a wife, then give birth to children, and continue to be exploited by the gangs, this is our life.

Boris is generally divided into five classes, the top nobles, the middle burghers and commoners, the only difference between the two being that the burghers are inside the city and have stable jobs, the commoners are mostly from outside the city (although the two are often conflated as long as they are not verbally abusive), and the poor at the bottom.

As for the fifth class, the slaves, it is difficult to say which position they are in generally, and it is necessary to analyze each slave in detail, for example, the high-ranking slaves are higher than the citizens, and even more than 500 years ago, there was a high-ranking slave-born person who actually became the consul (referring to Felison IX).

The slum class I belong to also has three levels of internal hierarchy, and the members of the gang at the top are the assembly palaces of the slums, the real rulers of the slums, and many of them are actually richer than the commoners.

However, the gangs in the slums are not the most superior, the largest gangs in a main city are always in the civilian area, and the nobles support a few commoners or citizens to establish a guild of villains, and they will support sub-gangs in the slums, so as to reach their tentacles into the slums.

So strictly speaking, the Bourbon will not go to the slums, the nobles will not go to the slums, but they will still control the slums by other means.

The second class of the poor is the syndicate, which is mainly accepted by the gang - although the syndicate member can also claim to be a member of the gang, but which gang means which gang his salary is to be taken from, and the gang is his patron and tax collector.

Syndicates mean work groups, poor people will form work groups, and then go to the city to do some work that the citizens are not willing to do, such as digging mountains, cleaning sewers and other high-risk jobs, these gangs are guaranteed by the gangs (safety from exploitation by other gangs, not the safety of work), and they are taxed.

At the bottom of the poor are the untouchables, who are either new untouchables born out of untouchables, or they are people who have borrowed usury and cannot afford to exchange them, and have to sell everything they have to the gang.

This group of people has to do the most heavy work, and there is no security guarantee, and the wages for their work are enough to make ends meet every day, and all other income is taken by the gang. And their personal freedom is also controlled by the gangs, unlike the syndicates, who at least have the freedom to choose when to work, as long as they can ensure that they can pay the month's taxes at the end of the month.

This is the current situation in the slums, and I was born into a family of gang members, and my father was also an important leader of the gang, and the gang was the Luhr Gang of the Poor, so our family was called Lul, and we called each other by the number of Lulls.

Because I am the top of the poor, I can also receive some enlightenment education, although the quality of education is not flattering, I may not even be able to write a piece of eloquence after a few years of study, but I am at least much better than the group of muddy untouchables, the gang education has made me understand that there is a general gang above the poor gang, and the nobles above the general gang are our real bosses.

Since I was born, the wars in Bourbon have been going on more and more frequently, so they need a large number of troops—it is impossible for Bourbon to call the poor to serve as an army, and the army is also a civilian at the very least, but it is still possible to call the poor to dig ditches and transport supplies, which are physically exhausting and very dangerous.

Moreover, so many civilians are being conscripted, and the ratio of civilians to poor is becoming unbalanced, and the General Palace is consciously consuming the number of civilians.

So, by the time my father became the head of the gang, and then by the time I became the head of the gang, we were already shocked to find that the number of poor people had fallen to the brink of danger, and if the poor continued to decrease, the gang would not be able to maintain the existence of the syndicate.

And we have a new competitor, which is our former superior, our Guild of Villains. Because of the constant tax increases of Lul VIII, a large number of civilians went bankrupt, and the guilds formed by the guilds of villains became more and more important and important, and at this time, they looked at us in every way unpleasant.

Long live Lul VIII!He solved an age-old problem in office, making the Guild of the Scoundrels and the Gangs of the Poor fight against each other - because the commoners had gradually slipped into the paupers due to a large number of bankruptcies, then the difference between the Guilds of the Scoundrels and the Gangs of the Poor was not so obvious, so a new problem arose.

Why doesn't the guild of scoundrels kick us out of the way and take control of the poor themselves?

In the past, the difference between the common people and the poor was that the poor were either members of the gang or controlled by the gang, while the majority of the common people were free commoners, who were engaged in various jobs and joined various guilds, such as the high chef's guild, the junior chef's guild, the gardener's guild, etc.

But as the situation in the Bourbon worsens, some of the smaller guilds begin to collapse - such as the Shoe Shiners' Guild and the Sprinkler Guild - which have no backstage, the number of free civilians plummets, and the Villains Guild begins to control more resources, so they have their eyes on us.

If the gang was merged, maybe the minions would continue to be minions, but the fate of us leaders was hard to say, so my father chose to rebel against the merger of the villain's guild.

For the next four months, a conflict broke out between our Luhr Gang and the Superior Villain's Guild - in fact, it was not only our family that refused to be annexed, but many other poor gangs refused to be annexed, and then we began to fight each other on all fronts, and we fought back and forth for four months, and then we were defeated.

In the last gang brawl, we lost, my father was killed on the spot, and the rest of the minions either surrendered or broke up on the spot.

So the guild of villains stormed my family's house in the slums, insulted the women, beat the men, and threw my newborn son into the sky like a spinning windmill and let him fall into meat sauce.

At that time, I was seriously injured, and I had three broken ribs, so I had to run into the sewer with the advantage of the familiar position, and finally borrowed the sewer to escape from Boris, and rushed into the old river to drift with the waves, and I was lucky not to die, which is also a real fate.

Once ashore, I staggered for a moment with my badly wounded body, and at last found a deserted village, which under the tyranny of Lul VIII abounded, with men drained and young and old fleeing to avoid taxes.

Gasping for breath in the room and resting, a few blind operations on the broken ribs, during which he passed out once because of the severe pain, woke up and continued to do it, feeling that it was almost later, and dragged the seriously injured body out to find food, which was considered to be relieved.

Half a month has passed, and the injury is actually stable, but there are a few hideous scars on my back - blessed by the sea god, I can actually come back to life with that kind of treatment, which can only be said to be by the grace of God.

Another day, I went out to look for food, and I was looking for a low tree with berries, and when I picked it up and stuffed it into my mouth, I ran into the ranger.

As soon as he saw me, he screamed loudly, and then blew a magic whistle, and the whole forest erupted with a shrill sound, and his roar: "There are Diao people who refuse to starve to death to steal the berries of the master!"

It's the domain of the nobility! That was the first thought in my mind, and then the second thought was, I should run away at once.

But how could I, who had just healed, outrun the thugs of the nobles? After a while, the thugs of the nobles caught me, and then I couldn't help but say that it was a fat beating, and my ribs were not broken in the middle, so I could only say that the sea god blessed me.

While I was lying on the ground and dying, the nobleman heard the news and stopped the servants from beating me. For he heard that of the three serfs who had fled for military service, two were caught, but one of them was beaten to death on the way.

"It's over, half of the staff is already very reluctant, and now there is one less, I can't imagine that white-faced bastard looking at my expression, no matter how much bribes I pay, I can't pay the difference, the lack of staff is too outrageous......"

Speaking of which, the nobles set their eyes on me.

I came from a slum gang, and my muscles were quite developed compared to those yellow-skinned paupers, so it only took a second for the nobles to decide to take me to the top.

So, after pardoning my capital crimes, the nobles treated me briefly, mixed me into his serfs for military service, and sent me to the front.

By the way, the name that the noble butler made up for me was also called Lull, and it seems that this name is really popular.