(This chapter is a tribute to the 19th-century German literary work The Bloody Judgment)

At this time, such a song can be heard everywhere in Silesia:

Bloody Referee

This bloody referee is going on,

Terror has outstripped lynching,

The final verdict has not yet begun,

The lives of these poor people are coming to an end.

People are slowly tormented here,

This is a torture chamber for torture.

A deep sigh filled the room,

That is the final testimony to tragedy.

In the only tavern in Katowice, an old weaver sighed subconsciously after listening to the lyrics, and suddenly realized that he was the one who lived in the torture house.

No one knows who made this song, but it can make every weaver feel the same way, because no one cares about them, and the suffering is nowhere to be vented, and it can only be translated into a sigh.

Some people are teary-eyed, some people clench their fists, some people are ready to eat melons and watch the play, and some even mock "lazy!" Sigh and let us hear! ”。

A few "gentlemen" of status (in fact, the local nobles, who would not have had to go to the tavern to drink) were completely disdainful of listening to the conversations of these vulgar people, drinking wine and enjoying tender steaks with knives and forks.

They are executioners,

Their subordinates are all lackeys,

Exploit us together,

There is not a single conscience.

You're all devils,

You're all vampire reincarnates.

The demon who crawled from the bottom of hell,

You have robbed the poor of their houses,

It will be destroyed by heaven and earth!

"Heaven and earth will be destroyed!?" The people in the tavern let out different exclamations, some ecstatic, some frightened, some choked

At the same time, some people quietly left the tavern, and they either fled home or rushed to the police station with a premonition

It is useless to plead and pray,

Complaining is just empty talk.

"If you don't want to do it, leave people, starve to death and no one will ask on the street!"

The weavers sang naturally, and the gentlemen could no longer sit still, so they put on their top hats, loosened their collars, which felt a little tight, and arranged for the wine money, and hurried away.

(Actually, these squires didn't pay the bill for their drinks, they would ask the tavern owner to pick it up at his own house, or have the butler deliver it, so I won't repeat it here, after all, I will often write about it later.) ）

Think of those who are poor,

Suffering and grief are indescribable,

The family is deprived of food and money,

Don't they deserve to be given alms?

Compassion! The noble qualities of man,

How would those demons know?

Their goal is already clear,

It is to drive out all of us poor people!

"Kill them all!?"

"That's right! They're just going to kill us! How else would this be done to us? I work eighteen hours a day and see what I get! Skinny bones, and rotten sores on this body! ”

A weaver took off his coat, revealing his bony body, and the rotten pieces of skin on it, where he looked like a young man of twenty years, clearly a leper who had been bedridden for many years.

But that wasn't shocking enough, for there was a lady whose waist could only be raised to a maximum of ninety degrees, and the one-eyed fourteen-year-old boy (mentioned earlier) whose legs were strangely twisted, like a circus clown.

"What are we going to do?" Someone sobbed.

"Cry what cry! What's the use of crying! The one-eyed boy angrily scolded the weavers beside him.

At this time, a woman thought.

"That's right! It's useless to cry to the devil! We want to protest! ”

At this time, the little girl beside the young man let out a disdainful snort, and before anyone else could speak, she said to herself.

"Protest and then be beaten up like Mr. Moval of Peterswaldau and put in jail?"

The cold reality of the girl's words did not match her appearance at all, and the weavers sitting in the tavern hesitated, they also wanted to march and protest like the people outside, but they were afraid of reprisals.

Just as everyone hesitated, the girl untied the large burden she was carrying and threw it on the ground, from which a large pile of sturdy sticks rolled out.

Everyone looked at each other and wondered, these pieces of wood were all good firewood.

"Take them, you'll be bolder."

At this time, the one-eyed boy pulled the girl, he didn't want his sister to be involved.

"Don't make trouble, come home with me." Ace whispered.

Ruibi shook off the young man's hand and said with a smile.

"Brother, you know what? Those mysterious meats are not appreciated by any noble lord. Those dog meat of the forester's old man's house, I will kill them all if they bully you!

Now that old man Philpt is bullying you, I want him to pay the price! ”

"Come home with me, let's get out of here. Do you know who the forester Wilgang is? If he knows about this, he will have to skin you! ”

"I'm going to let him know!"

The boy's eyes widened, and he only now understood why his sister had come to the tavern.

At this time, the procession passed by again, and the angry weavers all picked up their sticks on the ground and rushed out.

At first, the crowd was a little scared, but when they saw that it was the same weaver brothers, they were reassured.

So a crowd rushed to the big white house of Old Man Philput's house.

The girl also took the opportunity to join in, and the boy with bad legs and feet could only sit on the ground and watch his sister leave.

The tavern owner on the side cleaned up the scattered empty wine glasses and muttered, "Crazy! It's all crazy! ”

In fact, the tavern owner should be glad that the Germans did not have the habit of smashing glasses, otherwise his losses would have been even greater.

At this time, Lord Philpt was complaining to his official friends.

"It's all those damn journalists! They just like to chase after the wind! Spread rumors all day long! Especially those Austrians and Catholic lackeys will talk all day long about how difficult the weaver's job is!

They are all blind and don't know how hard it is for us factory owners! How hard! We are so busy with our work that we can't eat well or sleep well, who will take care of us?

When the factory owner is often at home with those account books and repeatedly checked, otherwise someone will take advantage of the loophole!

You have to think about all kinds of things every day, and you have to be prepared to deal with business competition, market changes, and some unexpected situations.

In other words, the owner of the factory alone shoulders the fate of the entire factory, and all the workers survive by sucking his blood. If it weren't for us, all those slackers would have to drink the northwest wind! ”

At this time, Forest Officer Will Gang said with a smile.

"Dear Mr. Filput, why do you have to be like those slackers? The wise work hard, and the fool work. Who should blame them for their own stupidity?"

Master Philpt took over again.

"I'm angry that they are not only ungrateful, but they actually come to spread rumors about me. As you know, I am a devout Protestant, and thrift, kindness, justice, and honesty are my virtues.

And I'm a good Prussian citizen, and I pay more taxes a year than they would in a lifetime! ”

Both the forester and the gendarmerie captain understood what Philput meant.

"I understand what you mean, rest assured that our Prussian government will protect law-abiding citizens and will never allow those slackers to act recklessly."

(End of chapter)