Negotiation

At this critical juncture, a dispute arose among the "respectable people" over what to do.

As the one who instigated this incident, Mr. Raine was naturally furious. As a member of the House of Commons, he slammed his fist on the table House of Commons the meeting, spitting as he berated the rioters and denounced the incompetence of the London Metropolitan Police. Pointing his finger at Sir Hugh, he questioned where all those annual grants had gone, and why he could neither suppress those rioters with ill intentions nor protect those who had truly contributed to the country.

Sir Hugh had seen this kind of accusation many times before. He first shifted the blame to his predecessor, saying that he had only been in charge of the London Metropolitan Police for three years and many problems left by his predecessor had not yet been resolved. But this was not because he was incompetent, but because there was simply too much of a mess left behind.

"These are all sorts of messy problems that have accumulated over many, many years, some even dating back to the time of the Great Fire of London. They've piled up like cow dung in the barn at Augeas. And I can't solve them using Heracles methods—which you certainly wouldn't tolerate. So how can you blame me for these problems?"

The MPs, of course, couldn't tolerate Chief Hugh's attempt to shirk responsibility, while Chief Hugh stated that Parliament had approved too little funding for the police department, leaving London's police force insufficient to maintain the city's safety. In short, to solve the problem, fine, give them the money; otherwise, what are you even talking about?

When faced with demands for more money, lawmakers' first reaction is to quickly and tightly clutch their own wallets. Increased funding means higher taxes, which in turn reduces lawmakers' income. Therefore, the parliament's long-standing principle has been to get the government to do as much as possible with the least amount of money.

Therefore, the proposal to increase the funding for the London Metropolitan Police naturally came to nothing. Of course, Parliament also reached a consensus that no police action should be based on weakening security in "critical areas." This, of course, meant that the London Metropolitan Police's mobile force was suddenly greatly reduced.

Parliament then began discussing how to deal with the strike.

The London Textile Workers' Union, which organized the strike, has put forward demands for negotiations. They are asking for reduced workloads and increased wages.

The lawmakers first questioned Director Hugh about whether he could swiftly suppress these outrageous individuals while ensuring the safety of "critical areas."

Chief Hugh naturally replied that he simply couldn't do that, and even if he could, it would require additional funding. Moreover, even with extra funding, sufficient time would be needed to strengthen the police force. In short, it was impossible to resolve the issue through police means before the trade fair.

"Of course, if we use the army, suppressing these guys before the trade fair wouldn't be a problem. But as you all know, using the army... well..."

While deploying the military might suppress those rebellious elements before the trade fair, the collateral damage would be enormous. Using the military would make resuming production before the fair unthinkable. Moreover, it wouldn't just be the textile industry that would be affected; other industries would be dragged down as well.

So as soon as these words were uttered, almost all the members of parliament immediately expressed their opposition. Then, the members of parliament quickly made a decision:

No major unrest should occur before the Pakistan Trade Fair. As for the current problems, they can only be resolved by the textile industry owners themselves.

So the textile factory owners gathered together, discussed the matter for a while, and finally decided to talk to those arrogant people first to see if they could fool them. In short, they had to resume production at the lowest cost and in the shortest time so as to make more money at the trade fair.

So several factory owners, in the name of the textile industry guild, extended an invitation to the workers' representatives to negotiate. However, initially, they wanted to use a trick of having workers sign up so they could select representatives from among them. It was unclear whose interests these representatives would represent. Moreover, they adopted an attitude of "we've already made such big concessions, what more do you want?"

But the London Textile Workers' Union wasn't stupid; they wouldn't accept such a ridiculous condition. So, the request was naturally rejected.

Given the urgency of the situation and the fact that the gentlemen had no time to waste, they had no choice but to agree to negotiate with the representatives elected by the London Textile Workers' Union.

As a representative of the London Textile Workers' Union, Fagin, using the Nield, also participated in the negotiations.

Fagin was a criminal, and a wanted one at that. But photography didn't exist in this era, so as for portraits, well, that was a joke. In fact, portraits existed more to make extra money for the police than to catch suspects. Moreover, very few of the things Fagin did actually left eyewitnesses, and of those few eyewitnesses, not a single one had seen his face—so Fagin wasn't worried about being recognized.

But it is still very dangerous for Fagin to be out in the public eye like this. This is not because of his previous status, but because of his current status. In fact, some people believe that the crimes committed by worker representatives are far more dangerous than crimes such as theft, robbery, and kidnapping.

"Everyone who goes as a representative to negotiate with those venomous snakes and beasts must be prepared to die. Don't be fooled by their current inaction; they will surely retaliate in the future. You may all die or disappear without a trace. If you are afraid, it's not too late to back out now," Fagin told the other representatives before they set off.

"Nield, you underestimate us. Do you think we're the kind of people who are afraid of death?" one of the representatives laughed.

"Nield, don't you know who we are? Enough talk, it's time for us to get going."

The negotiation location was not far from Westminster Abbey. The workers' representatives were all penniless and could not afford a carriage, not even a public one, so they had to walk there. When they set off, it was still dark. A few of them carried lanterns, came out of the house, and went out into the street.

Unlike the wealthy neighborhoods with their gas streetlights, the streets of the poor neighborhoods were completely pitch black at night. In this thick, iron-like darkness, the dim yellow light of the kerosene lamp didn't actually go very far, at most illuminating only a small area in front of Fagin's feet.

The light shone on Fagin's two feet as he walked, one in front of the other. The road was quiet; even Tom and Bruto, who were out for a night stroll, were nowhere to be seen. This was the poor area, teeming with hungry, terrifying upright apes, making it extremely dangerous for other animals—even rats.

But Fagin didn't care. He had been walking in the dark for countless years, and he walked forward resolutely. The road became clearer and clearer, and the sky grew brighter and brighter.

Around eight o'clock in the morning, the workers' representatives arrived at the meeting place, but the other side of the negotiations—those gentlemen—did not show up on time.

Having studied in Toulon, Fagin knew this was a tactic these guys were deliberately using to put pressure on their negotiating opponents. He had anticipated this situation before coming to the negotiations and had discussed it with everyone. At the time, some people suggested that we also arrive late to put some pressure on them in return.

However, this suggestion was rejected by Fagin.

"Time is on our side; we don't need to resort to such tricks. In fact, the more tricks we play, the more impatient we appear. If they really do play these tricks, then our long journey here is actually a good opportunity for us to rest a bit more."

So since the gentlemen hadn't arrived yet, the delegates simply took out the bread and water they had prepared, took a sip of water, ate a bite of bread, and rested while eating.

It was quite a while later, around ten o'clock, when the gentlemen finally arrived at the venue.

Overall, the officials were fairly amiable, which was their usual behavior. Even Mr. Raine, who had explicitly given orders for the factory security team to open fire and bribed the police to assassinate the workers' representatives, always greeted the workers with a smile and appeared exceptionally kind. Those who didn't know him might actually believe that Mr. Raine was a kind-hearted person. It was just that those managers and others who abused their power were truly wicked; they were the ones who misled the officials, making everyone's lives so difficult.

The saying "It's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings" is actually similar to this. It's easier to see the King of Hell because he doesn't have to do anything himself and can naturally put on a kind facade; while the underlings are difficult to deal with precisely because they are carrying out the King of Hell's orders. Therefore, the persona of big capitalists is usually that of a great philanthropist.

Now that this group of philanthropists have come in, they're all alluring to the workers, then they start chuckling and spouting off-the-cuff platitudes about making progress together and pursuing dreams. But when it comes to the crucial contract issues, they always remain silent.

"Don't waste time," Fagin said. "I know time is very important to you. The opening of the Pakistan Trade Fair is fast approaching. If you still want to waste time, we're willing to play along—it's only a few days left, we can hold out until the fair starts."

"Can you hold out until then? By then, you'll all be starving to death," an old man couldn't help but say sarcastically.

"We don't care. Anyway, workers like us will all die if we can't save up enough for a ticket to North America within five years. Dying a few years earlier means suffering less. But you gentlemen, dragging this out, buying materials and taking out loans to make a quick buck at the trade fair... Ha! You're not afraid of death, so why should we be?" Fagin immediately retorted.

"Oh, Brother Nield, don't be angry. We're negotiating to achieve a satisfactory result for everyone, not to hold a grudge. Well, it's getting late. Why don't you tell us your demands, and we'll study them first and then discuss them together? What do you think?" Raine said with a kind smile.