"The human heart." Arthur muttered in a low voice, "When the Western Empire bombed Sasili, you told me that the human heart is a very complicated thing. ”

"You've been in the land of goblins for three years, you've learned a lot, whether it's magic or swordsmanship, you've been greatly improved.

However, the life you encounter is either an elf or a dwarf.

There may be some treacherous and cunning people among them, but in terms of the complexity of their hearts, they are actually not as complex as human beings. ”

Char closed the book in his hand, placed it on the desk, and continued.

"In the next period of time, you can go to the world more often, to see the people there, to see their joys and sorrows, sorrows and joys.

You can go to the front and help those who are suffering from the war, but you need to use your forces carefully and preferably not in sight. ”

Arthur nodded.

"I just had some time." Char said, "Today, I'll take you to a place." ”

"Where to go?" Arthur asked.

"You'll know when you get there."

Char glanced back at Alicia.

"I'll take him out for a while."

Alicia bowed, "Come back early." ”

Char walked out of the library with Arthur and up the stairs along the white stone spiral staircase, opening the door to the imperial capital.

Compared with three years ago, the smell of kerosene in the imperial capital is heavier, and the sky is overcast, as if covered with a greasy curtain.

In order to cope with the war, many military factories were added to the imperial capital, and the furnaces used to calcine steel were in full swing, and the environment here will only get worse and worse in the future.

So because of this, Char and Alicia haven't been to the imperial capital for a long time.

Without stopping too much at the door, Char took Arthur to stop a carriage and headed to the east of the imperial capital.

It was a place where Arthur had never been, there were no shopping streets, it was close to factories, it was polluted, and it was crowded with scruffy and low-quality people.

In the West End, people often like to refer to it as the slum.

The streets were full of new residents of different nationalities, small in stature, miserable in appearance, or drunk, and many drunkards lay in the streets without any scruples, as if they were accustomed to it.

They passed through miles of brick walls, which were everywhere dirty, with hard-to-clean kerosene and indescribable stains.

The streets were filled with drunken men and women, shouting, quarrelling, and the gibberish of drunkards.

There are many elderly people in the market, both men and women, rummaging through the muddy garbage for rotting potatoes and vegetables.

Children surrounded the stall like flies, and when the owner of the stall had just thrown away the edible but partially rotten apples, the children picked them up and devoured them on the spot.

Arthur didn't see the rest of the carriage the whole time, and judging by the way the children ran behind and beside him, it looked like he was riding in a ghost carriage from a better world.

The streets are muddy and breathtaking.

For the first time in his life, Arthur was afraid of the crowd around him.

Everything he feared in front of him was like the sea, a wave after wave of human misery.

The stench almost swept over them like the waves of the sea, almost swallowing them up.

Arthur's eyes were filled with indescribable shock, "Teacher, they, why is this happening?" ”

"Why do you think they are like this?" Char asked quietly, "Is it because of your laziness, or because you have been infected with gambling and drugs, and you have lost your family property and body?" ”

"I don't know, though." Arthur muttered under his breath, "But I guess it's not that simple. ”

"Presumably, you should have seen that, too." Char said, "Most of the people here come from the countryside.

They can't make a living through farming, so they have to come to the big cities to work hard.

In fact, in recent years, more and more people have come here.

But sadly, there are not so many factories in the imperial capital, so there is a situation where there are more monks and less porridge.

In order to compete with others, some people can only get jobs by reducing their wages, so there are many more people who have lost their jobs because of this, and without a source of income, they naturally begin to degenerate and enter a miserable life. ”

"How can this be?" Arthur frowned.

"Who do you think is wrong about this kind of thing?" Char's eyes flickered.

"Someone who lowers wages?" Arthur said tentatively.

"Why?"

"Because it is immoral for people who have been robbed of their jobs to support themselves, their wives and children, and to take other people's jobs in this way."

"So, those who lower their wages don't have wives and children?" Char asked again.

Arthur fell silent.

"There's so little work." Char said, "There's always someone who wants to get a job and someone who wants to lose a job. The person who loses their job can't support their family, that's the reality, you can't say it's right or wrong. ”

After a pause, Char continued, "So now, who do you think, is wrong? ”

"Those factory owners." Arthur said, "They got the biggest bargain, and they made all the money." ”

"yes." Char whispered, "You know, Arthur, eighty percent of the wealth of the entire city is created by these workers.

They do the most tiring work, but they receive the thinnest wages, and they struggle on the edge of life and death every day. ”

Arthur thought for a moment, "Perhaps, the government can come up with some laws to set a minimum wage requirement, and these factory owners will punish if they violate it." ”

Char's eyelids closed, and without commenting too much, she continued, "Those who get jobs are actually not having a good time, and the salary is only enough for them to live, but they can't save much.

And if something happens, such as the addition of family members to the family, or the illness of the main labor force, then they will inevitably need to reduce their quality of life to survive.

Therefore, they also need to rent cheaper houses, which is here.

If they are lucky enough to end up without any pain, they will eventually grow old.

Aging, on the other hand, means a decrease in efficiency, and the factory owner will choose a more robust worker to take his place.

They will also end up in the slums. ”

You might say, "They have children." ”

Char pointed to the gloomy sky, "You've been in the land of goblins, what does the air look like compared to the air here?" ”

Arthur seemed to have thought of something, and whispered, "The air here is terrible, and it makes people feel breathless. ”

"In the future, the environment here will only get worse and worse, and the air will contain solid sediments from the factories and all kinds of toxic substances from coal ash and tar.

There is also dust from steel, stone, clay, fluff and fibers.

The damage to the health of the body is huge.

The workers who work here continue to breathe in various chemicals every day when they breathe, and it is almost inevitable that they will get sick.

The children who grew up here will be inadequate and energetic, with fragile knees, small chests, and listlessness, and they will have to compete with the huge population that invades the countryside. ”

After a pause, he continued.

"There is a more critical issue, you should know that the environment in which a child grows is crucial.

Growing up in a place full of foul language, quarrels, fights, prostitutes, drunkards, any child would be equally depraved. ”

Arthur looked at all this distractedly, "This country, why has it become like this?" ”

"This is going back to the roots." Char continued, "Why, these people would abandon their fields and come to their imperial capital in search of work. ”

"Because of the factory?" Arthur said.

"Almost." Char said, "The products produced by the pure handicraft workshop are naturally not as good as the low-cost, high-quality, high-quality and low-cost industrial products.

Of course, the most crucial problem is that the vast majority of the country's land is in the hands of those nobles.

If the peasants wanted to grow more crops, they had to lease the fields from these nobles and pay them a percentage of the rent, which was so high that they could barely make ends meet.

However, farming is a fragile way of life and is affected by various effects of natural disasters and wars.

It is good that the peasants did not encounter this kind of thing, but when they do, it is difficult to survive, and the rest of the handicrafts that can give them income are affected by the impact of industry.

Some peasants who already had farmland may choose to sell their farmland to the nobles in order to survive.

This creates a vicious circle, with the aristocracy having more and more farmland and the peasants having less and less farmland. ”

Char looked at Arthur, "Arthur, did you know that one-third of Britannia is in the hands of five hundred nobles.

In addition to them, the officials and servants under the emperor's command in the past, and all the other lavish rulers squandered money every year, equivalent to 32 percent of the amount earned by the hard labor of the country.

What a staggering number.

The rulers lived in aristocratic quarters with relatively clean air and a comfortable environment.

They can enjoy the wealth created for them by the workers at the bottom without paying anything, and suck their blood.

They drank fine wine and stood on a high platform, overlooking those who lived in the slums, laughing at their depravity.

Occasionally, in order to satisfy their hypocrisy, they would give them a little of the wealth they had created, and they would have to be grateful to Dade. ”

Arthur's face was a little pale, and a bloody world unfolded before his eyes as Char spoke

(End of chapter)