Chapter 49: Inescapable Death
"Doraemon" plane, a Japanese restaurant in Nerima District, Tokyo
"...To celebrate Doraemon paying off his debts and getting rid of the troubles of loan sharks! Cheers!"
Sitting around a large box covered with tatami mats, Wang Qiu, Ma Tong, Professor Guo, Marikawa Shizuka, Nan Lixiang, Hansel, Grete, Nobi Nobita, Minamoto Shizuka, Onikawa Xiaoo, Takeda Takeda , and Doraemon's sister Doraemon raised their glasses together to congratulate Doraemon.
"...Okay, okay! Cheers, everyone! Cheers! Hey, in the past few days, I finally understand how hard it feels to owe loan sharks."
Doraemon, with a red face, drank a glass of sake in one gulp, and said with emotion, "...Everyone, let your belly go and eat to your heart's content! This meal is my treat!"
After everyone clinked glasses with each other, they drank it all in one gulp, then put down their glasses and started to attack the dazzling array of Japanese food on the table - on several tables arranged in a zigzag shape, there were dishes such as raw tuna meat and Japanese dishes. There are various Japanese dishes such as fried shrimp, thick egg omelet, octopus dumplings, chawanmushi, grilled saury, tempura, fried pork cutlet, beef sukiyaki, and Doraemon's indispensable Dorayaki. Although the number of dishes was pitiful, the colors were very bright and bright. The adults drank sake and the minors drank juice and cola, and they were all enjoying themselves for a while.
"...Hey, if it weren't for the loan shark owed by Doraemon, maybe none of us would be able to gather here..."
A clear and mellow liquid once again slowly flowed from the small white porcelain bottle into the small wine cup the size of the belly of your thumb. The purple-haired and brown-skinned Nanlixiang was obviously a little drunk at this time, so she picked up the wine glass and drank it down in one gulp. then stare After drinking the empty wine cup, he muttered incoherently: "...It's really good stuff. By the way, Wang Qiujun, do you still remember when was the first time you drank alcohol in your life?"
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"...I'm sorry, I don't remember much." Wang Qiu, who was holding a wine bottle and pouring wine for her, replied from the side, "...it must have been a long time ago."
"...Really, what a pity..." Minami Rika gave herself another glass of sake and continued, "...I still remember the first time I drank before participating in the first battle, when everyone was still a police academy student. , but suddenly wanted to surround and suppress gun-wielding gangsters. Everyone felt very unsure and did not care. I wanted to discipline myself, so I collected some money and bought some wine to calm my panic. As a result, I choked and spilled half of the wine on the ground... Looking back, among the classmates who drank secretly at that time, I am probably the only one who is still alive. Being alone, life is really a helpless thing..."
Recalling the past events that happened in another world, former policewoman Nan Lixiang's eyes suddenly seemed to become a little hazy.
"... Then you are really an obedient and good boy, Sister Nan. You probably didn't drink for the first time until you reached the legal age! It's not like us curious bad boys who secretly collected money to drink in middle school... …Although it’s just some beer and sweet wine in cans…”
Wang Qiu smiled and clinked glasses with her, then tilted his neck and drank all the sake in his glass - this kind of Japanese sake is sweet and tastes like low-alcohol rice wine, but it tastes a little different. It's a little sticky and has a long lasting aftertaste... but the alcohol content is actually much higher than that of rice wine. Wang Qiu, who miscalculated on this and has an average alcohol capacity, already felt a little tipsy after drinking a few glasses of it.
"...Doraemon, first of all, congratulations on paying off your debt and getting what you wanted! Secondly, after paying off so many loan sharks with compound interest rates, do you still have money to pay for today's banquet? No. When the time comes, let the store deduct it and ask you to wash the dishes to pay the bill!”
He shouted to Doraemon through his drunkenness, "...otherwise, it's better for us to come treat us, don't hold on for the sake of face..."
"...It should be...no problem! I have paid off the loan shark I owe to the bank, as well as the money I borrowed from Kazuki Koizumi's 'organization' before, and I have also paid off the credit card for buying magical props at Mirai Department Store. In the end, there are about 20 million yen left... no matter how you calculate it, it should be enough!”
Doraemon, who had also drunk a lot of wine, said a little unclearly, "...So...just go ahead and eat and drink as much as you want!"
"...What? Just the last fraction is 20 million yuan? This income is really good!"
Hearing this figure, Mr. Onikawa, who was not very clear about the amount of Doraemon's debt, immediately held up a glass of juice and was astonished, "...You have become an angel and a hero this time, saving... Thousands of ordinary people in Li can earn so much money. It’s really a combination of fame and fortune!”
——Wang Qiu and Ma Tong exchanged glances and decided not to expose some unscrupulous and inhumane secrets, so as not to poison the hearts of children.
But Professor Guo burped and sneered, "...Save the people? Hehe, maybe! We did drag some people out of the hell of the Black Death, but who knows what's next? Is theirs another more terrifying hell? ”
——These slightly mocking words immediately aroused the unanimous dissatisfaction of Wang Qiu and others: No matter how much private goods were caught in the process of saving sentient beings, or how much money was squeezed out, at least so many lives were saved because of time travel. They survived due to their efforts, so they have always considered themselves to be merciful and meritorious... Who would have thought that Professor Guo would be so dismissive of them now? It is simply intolerable!
"...What do you mean by this? Is it wrong for us to save these medieval Europeans?" Marikawa Shizuka frowned.
"...No matter what era you are in, saving lives is absolutely correct, but it is even more difficult to do a good job in the aftermath."
Professor Guo stretched out his hand to pour himself a glass of sake and replied slowly, "...During the Black Death in Europe in 1348, relying on Doraemon's magical props, we saved Marseille and Avni. Weng, saved Rome, as well as Toulon, Nice, Florence, Pisa , Padua, Verona, Venice, Athens, Geneva, Vienna, Barcelona... and many other famous European cities have allowed millions of citizens to survive. But have you ever noticed that in these places they were saved? What common problems exist among them? ”
"...Common problem? I really can't see it." Wang Qiu rolled his eyes and thought again and again, but still couldn't figure out anything.
"...The common problem is - these are all big cities! Most of the medieval Europeans we saved were urban populations!"
Professor Guo sighed, "...but what should we do in the countryside? The agricultural population in the countryside is still dying in large numbers due to the Black Death! But there are no crops growing in the city, so there is no way to grow food! Don't forget, There were no pesticides in Europe in the Middle Ages! Chemical fertilizers and agricultural machinery made the food output per unit of land extremely low. Even one farmer might not have enough surplus products to feed an urban population that was separated from the land!
Under the ravages of the Black Death, agricultural production has collapsed, and the remaining farmers cannot even feed themselves. What should the citizens eat? ”
——In an instant, the wine glasses in everyone’s hands fell to the ground with a clatter, and their faces were even more unpredictable and shocking...
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As we all know, since population, power and wealth are concentrated in cities, all the "angel coming" and rescue operations of the time-travelers are staged in central cities. As for the medieval European countryside, which was sparsely populated and lacking in wealth, it was gorgeously ignored.
Therefore, when the epidemic in Italy's urban agglomerations was gradually brought under control and began to slowly subside, the death frenzy of the Black Death was still spreading in the remote countryside. From time to time, entire villages were wiped out. No matter day or night, there are always many people lying dead on the road. Many more people died at home, and their bodies would not be noticed by their neighbors until their bodies rotted and emitted a stench—if the neighbors had not died first.
Even in the Italian Peninsula, which had the highest level of urbanization in Europe at the time, the rural population still accounted for more than 75% of the total population. Because agriculture in medieval Europe was not developed enough, the poor farmers had no way to squeeze out too much surplus food to supply the excessive urban population after feeding themselves and their lords... In this case, the rural population because The Black Death continued to kill large numbers of people as it raged, but the urban population Thanks to the "angel's arrival", more people survived, then the agricultural production and food supply chain in this area will collapse instantly, allowing those who have just been saved by the "angel" to get rid of the plague, and secretly rejoice and rejoice. Citizens, we are about to face the nightmare of another round of total famine!
Alas, for this group of medieval European citizens who had been unlucky for eight lifetimes, this was a real "emergence from the tiger's den and into the wolf's den"!
What's even more terrible is that even those farmers who survived the ravages of the plague bacillus and survived by relying on luck and resistance may not continue to farm well in this frightening and desperate era of the Black Death - according to the time traveler With our own eyes, in this horrific During the great plague, most farmers saw the end coming, thinking that their death was coming. They no longer wanted to do farm work, and just used their last time to eat and drink, leaving the wheat and fruits to rot in the fields. , cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks fled to unknown places. Under the haze of death, rural women abandoned their chastity, and rural men forgot their morals, drank and had sex day and night...and then died suddenly in a depraved carnival!
Obviously, after the plague has passed, even if some farmers are lucky enough to survive, they may have already delayed their farming work. After eating all the things they and their neighbors can find, they can only chew bark and grass all the way to the roots. In the city, we compete with the citizens for the few remaining grain stocks, or look forward to government relief... But in this era, food production is based on an annual cycle, where can the government get so much food to provide for all the people? Eat for a year? So they can hold on until the next crop harvest? This seems like an impossible task!
——The whole of Europe is almost in the same situation. Even if you want to import food with money, you can't find a place to purchase it...
At that time, the rulers of various countries will probably regret it one after another, thinking that there are too many people who have survived the plague and need to eat!
Therefore, a considerable number of citizens who have just escaped from the clutches of the Black Death will die of famine in the near future or violence between each other before they have time to cheer and celebrate. After all, this world is material and pious. After all, faith cannot replace bread. With hunger, , more and more people are driven crazy by hunger. Before the next season's food harvest, the social order is bound to collapse again: as a city that requires the continuous input of foreign materials, once the basic logistics system and currency payment system are completed, its order will The collapse rate is much faster than that in the countryside. All kinds of robber gangs will then become rampant, vying for a piece of bread and hunting any of their kind just to maintain their own lives.
And in the countryside where there is still food production, those farmers who own land and crops will have to take up arms and kill those who want to get something for nothing, or be killed and looted by them... Just like the end of many dynasties in China where bandits were rampant , like the tragic scene of purgatory that happened.
In short, people who are lucky enough to escape the plague will take up arms for their own stomachs. No matter law, belief or morality, they can stop this cruel fight for survival - mass death will continue. Until the gap in food supply is wiped out by death.
——As Stalin famously said, death may not solve the problem, but it can at least eliminate it!
What’s even more regrettable is that even Doraemon’s magical props don’t seem to be able to solve such a big problem that affects the whole society.
In fact, they were unable to even stop the Black Death from destroying the European countryside and destroying agricultural production.
Thinking of this, except for a few elementary school students who didn't quite understand, everyone in the restaurant felt a little sad. They didn't even know whether they should hope that more people would survive the plague, or let them die according to the historical trajectory. , to avoid another disaster of famine and riots.
"... From this point of view, what we did in medieval Europe was probably just to pull them out of one hell, take a breather in the world, and then fall into the next purgatory... Those who were originally destined to Those who are going to die will probably die soon..." After a long silence, Doraemon took a sip of wine while drinking Dorayaki, and then looked pitiful. Rendi sighed and said - with the repayment of all the loan sharks, his moral integrity, which had already hit the bottom, seemed to have started to slowly rebound again, "... first, it gave a glimmer of hope to people who were already desperate, and then Pushing them into even deeper despair... Sigh, it feels like we are really guilty..."