France: A Record of Observations (2)

Fagin didn't find anything wrong with the merchant's statement that "the workers in the city are working harder than before, but at least they have bread to eat." Because Fagin wasn't a time traveler, he believed that hard work just to barely make ends meet was the norm, even the will of God.

"God said, 'You will toil all your life to earn your living.' This is our destiny." With this thought, Fagin's fondness for France actually increased.

That afternoon, the mail truck stopped for a rest in an unnamed small town. Everyone got off the truck and checked into the town's only small hotel and tavern.

As soon as everyone got off the vehicle, the hotel staff came to tend to the horses. The mail truck driver greeted the owner and casually took a bottle of wine from the counter.

Fagin knew that the mail truck's decision to stop at an inn in such a small town for the night was most likely due to some kind of cooperation between the driver and the innkeeper. This was actually quite common in Britain.

The shopkeeper then brought out a register to register the travelers and check their documents. This practice was also common in Britain, and Fagin was not surprised. He showed the shopkeeper the identity document issued to him by the France Embassy in Britain and signed his name in the register. Then the shopkeeper went inside to get them their dinner bread.

The sun was just beginning to set, and a thin layer of mist rose from the distant fields. In the twilight, Fagin saw several militiamen walking along a path towards the edge of town.

"What's wrong? Is it not safe here? Are those militiamen still out patrolling so late?" Fagin asked the shopkeeper who was bringing him bread.

"It's peaceful, but lately there have been a lot of petty thieves," the shopkeeper said. "There's a hydroelectric power plant over there. Our local farmland relies on it for irrigation. It's winter now, the water level is low, and the plant isn't operating much. But there's a lot of valuable stuff inside, especially copper. Everyone knows how valuable copper is these days. So some unscrupulous people, always looking for something for nothing, sneak off at night to steal copper. Our land depends on this power station for irrigation. These guys doing this... it's a shame the guillotine isn't used anymore, otherwise these petty thieves would all be caught and executed."

These words made Fagin, the leader of the thieves, somewhat uncomfortable, so he asked, "Why do these people steal? Is there some reason why they can't make a living?"

"Ah, sir, you are such a kind man," the shopkeeper said. "In earlier years, the situation you described was indeed true. Before the revolution, let alone, farmers simply couldn't make a living. The little grain they managed to produce was all taken by nobles and priests. The farmers themselves were starving to death. Back then, there were indeed many people who took risks to avoid starvation."

After the revolution, for a time, the situation was even worse. To fight against those foreign kings and their armies, large numbers of young people were conscripted into the army, leaving vast tracts of land uncultivated and resulting in food shortages. To feed such a large army, the government requisitioned large quantities of grain..."

"Aren't they going to pay?" Fagin asked.

"They gave out Assignat. But Assignat could be exchanged for money?" the shopkeeper said. "So at that time, everyone's life became increasingly difficult, and many people even wished that the nobles would come back. Back then, some people stole to survive, and quite a few even joined the nobles in rebellion."

But that's all in the past. Since the Consulate was established, and since General Bonaparte defeated those foreign kings, the army began to recover, and the young men returned to farming, bringing back quite a bit of money—real money. Then all kinds of taxes were reduced, and everyone's lives gradually improved. Plus, with the water pumps, as long as you worked honestly, you certainly wouldn't starve. Even if you didn't have land, you could find a job in the city to make a living. So, to become a thief at this time, even stealing copper from the power plant—tell me, shouldn't such a guy be killed?

"That's certainly not good, but it's better to educate them if possible," Fagin said. "After all, bad people can change their ways; a head isn't like hay that won't grow back once it's cut off."

"Haha, what you say makes sense." The shop owner wasn't actually that insistent on his point of view.

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

Jacques Gollen gave Fagin a letter of introduction, which he could take directly to the Ministry of Truth upon arriving in Paris. The people at the Ministry of Truth would receive him and provide him with various forms of assistance, including sending him to Toulon to receive professional knowledge and skills training.

However, Fagin did not intend to report to the Ministry of Truth immediately. He did not entirely trust the Ministry of Truth, because his brother, Jacques Gollen, who worked Ministry of Truth, had described the ministry to him in this way:

"The Ministry of Truth generally doesn't lie, but you should know that if you need to mislead someone, the truth is more effective than a lie." To strengthen his argument, Jacques Gollen cited the Ministry of Truth's trump card, the various actions of the * Science Truth Daily * newspaper during the Battle of Verdun, as an example. He concluded, "You see, from beginning to end, * Science Truth Daily * didn't utter a single lie. But the Britain, the Prussia, and those noble Royalist Party were all fooled by it. Yes, that's the kind of trick the Ministry of Truth excels at."

Therefore, in Fagin's mind, the "Ministry of Truth" was actually a ministry of liars. It's just that perhaps the adjective "tells the truth" should be added before the word "liars."

To avoid being fooled by clever liars who told the truth, Fagin always considered himself very vigilant and believed that ordinary liars couldn't deceive him. However, after hearing the example told by Jacques Gollen, Fagin felt that if he had been Britain or Prussia general, or a Royalist Party leader, he would most likely have been fooled as well. Therefore, Fagin was quite afraid of the Ministry of Truth.

For this reason, Fagin decided not to report to the Ministry of Truth immediately, but instead to travel around Paris and see the Paris for himself, so as not to be deceived by the people at the Ministry of Truth.

So Fagin first found a hotel in Saint-Antoine District, the largest slum in Paris, and checked in. Just like on the road, he needed to show his identification and fill out a form. Fagin naturally complied. In Britain, he would have needed to be extra careful, but in France, he had no criminal record, was not a wanted criminal, and was a person with a completely legal, officially recognized identity. So Fagin readily showed his identification and signed his name in the form.

Before dawn the next day, Fagin was awakened by the noise outside.

"It must be almost time for work?" Fagin, who lived in the workers' quarters, knew what the commotion was all about without even opening his eyes. The factory workers were getting ready to go to work.

Fagin then got up, dressed, and went out.

It wasn't fully light outside, but the Saint-Antoine District was already bustling with activity. During Robespierre's time, the France had established several nitrate refineries here. Later, after Napoleon's great victories, with import routes opened, the France no longer needed to obtain nitrate through such inefficient and costly methods as refining it. These nitrate refineries all closed down.

These factories were then bought at low prices by the military-industrial complex and combined to become France's largest military factories. Later, after peace was achieved, these factories began to shift to producing other things, such as various agricultural tools and other daily necessities. Thanks to the relatively cheap iron and steel produced by Lorraine Steel Company, these factories continued to do good business.

Fagin noticed that the workers preparing to start work looked noticeably less healthy than the farmers he had seen in the countryside. However, compared to the workers in Britain, they looked much better. He also discovered another difference from Britain: even in the Saint-Antoine District, police could still be seen on the streets.

The factory hadn't opened for a while yet, so everyone took the opportunity to eat. Fagin went over and noticed that the workers were still eating that kind of black bread, and it seemed to have a lot of other things mixed in. However, the portions were much larger than what the Britain workers ate, and there were hardly any children among the workers.

This discovery led Fagin to slightly raise his opinion of France.

At that moment, a policeman arrived at the hotel where Fagin was staying and began checking the hotel's logbook.

"A Britain has checked in here?" The policeman immediately noticed the record about Fagin. So he called the hotel owner over, questioned him carefully, and then told the owner not to show anything unusual.

"Officer, do you think this Britain might be a thief trying to steal technology?" the boss asked. The police had already apprehended several such thieves recently—some from Britain, some from Austria, and others from allies like Spain, Northern Italy, and the Confederation of the Rhine. Of course, most of them came from other France companies.

"I don't know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Anyway, keep an eye on him. But... if he really is... he just registered his nationality directly, without even bothering to get a fake document to disguise himself. He's probably just a clumsy thief," the policeman chuckled.

However, even if this "suspicious individual" is most likely not a thief, but at most a "clumsy thief," he still has to report the matter according to regulations.

"Hmm, where did that Britain go?"

"He just went out, but his things are still here, he should be back soon," the shop owner replied.