The Irish on the Fragrant River

The inhabitants of Ireland were in a dire state, as the impact of the Potato Late Blight was far greater than anyone had imagined.

With the decline in potato yields, the prices of other crops skyrocketed, and families who had possessed even a small amount of savings found themselves unable to afford these expensive staples.

The grain that Franz had left with the church on the island could only alleviate their burden; it could not save everyone.

Consequently, some set their sights on the contents of the cellars, and a portion of the population claimed them as their own, truly changing their "status" and "destiny."

But the price was the sacrifice of others in the village. At this moment, the ugliness of human nature was laid bare. People fought over the contents of the cellars—village against village, neighbor against neighbor—in a bloody and cruel struggle.

The result was that all of Franz's previous arrangements were rendered void; instead of benefiting from the contents of the cellars, the people suffered even more drastic losses.

This was something Franz had never anticipated; he had thought of everything far too simply.

In reality, without any form of restraint, it is very difficult to achieve a sense of shared destiny.

Surprisingly, however, the British chose to turn a blind eye to everything happening on Ireland. Those who were living and those who were dying seemed as if they did not exist at all.

Even after some reporters published accounts of the events in Ireland in the newspapers, the attitude of the British government and the mainstream media remained that perhaps something was happening there, but no action should be taken until the situation was fully understood.

During parliamentary debates, many members claimed that market forces were sacred and inviolable! Violating them would inevitably lead