Chapter 374 New Village Movement
Time passes, Constantinople ushers in the lazy and comfortable early July. The busiest harvest season is about to end. The winter wheat sown last fall and winter has matured, and a large amount of agricultural products have poured into the market.
Eastern Roman Empire, Central Province, Thracian Region.
The wide road is well connected. On a gravel road leading to the southwest, several carriages slowly moved forward, and the RCMP in charge of the Thrace region was responsible for guarding.
The largest carriage was loaded with some lower-level civil servants, while the rest were filled with various supplies.
In the passenger carriage, Hris looked at the scenery outside the window in silence, which was very close to the destination. He was a little nervous and excited.
Hris is 19 years old and a mixed-race Roman of Greek and Coissian. He once followed Academician Victor of the Olympus Observatory as an apprentice, but he soon discovered that he was more willing to deal with people than Xingxing.
So, at the suggestion of a friend, he took the first civil servant exam in 1472. Although his overall score was not ideal and only Greek passed the exam, he was at the time of the expansion of the administrative agency and was short of people everywhere. Hris was successfully hired by the administration and served as a scribe in the Adrian Municipal Government.
For Hris, the job of a scribe was certainly boring and boring, but the title of a lower-level civil servant also brought him many conveniences, and the library in Adrianburg was completely open to him.
In the past four years, Hris still went against his "original aspiration" and had almost no decent interpersonal relationships. He only had some letters with his teacher, Academician Venetto.
At the suggestion of his old teacher, Hris soaked himself in the library and took this opportunity to read a large number of books, from professional works to popular novels, almost everything he could read. He finished reading "Geography" by the ancient Roman geographer Strabo, "History of the Peloponnese War" by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, "Travels of Marco Polo" and "Travels of Ibn Baitutai", and also chewed down the "Meditations" by Emperor Marco Aurelius.
Of course, four years of copying work also made him feel the great changes in the imperial government. There were more and more middle and lower-level civil servants who passed the exam and embarked on the official career, and their quality was getting higher and higher. Most of them were young and energetic, and they were often full of energy, injecting a lot of fresh blood into various government departments.
The improvement of administrative efficiency has enabled the imperial government to carry out more difficult tasks, such as population surveys and household registration.
It's okay to say that the former is too complicated, and Hris remembers that at this time last year, he copied the citizen information for a whole month.
Four years have passed, and although his position has not been improved, his knowledge level and understanding ability have made great progress, and his annual assessment results have become higher and higher.
After the Iberian War, the Eastern Roman Empire ushered in peace. The emperor returned to the court and launched in-depth reforms to the Eastern Roman Empire. An ideal opportunity was finally placed before him.
"Hris, your mother is from Coisan. Have you ever been to New Thrace?"
A voice interrupted Hris's thoughts and he looked at the person who came, Evgeny, a Rothian, third-year student in the Department of Architecture at the University of Constantinople.
"It is said that the floors in Johannesburg are all paved with gold and are directly illuminated with fluorite. Is that true?"
"I was born in New Thrace as a child, but I came to the Eastern Empire very early and basically don't remember anything about it."
Hris said lightly.
"As for Johannesburg, this is a mining city that has only recently emerged, and I am even more unlikely to know."
"Also, fluorite does not usually shine, but His Majesty gave it such a name."
Under the guidance of the imperial government, the identity of Eastern Roman citizens mainly depends on culture and belief, rather than bloodline and appearance. In recent years, more and more mixed races have run from colonies back to the empire. Everyone has become accustomed to their existence, and Hris has rarely been discriminated against because of his unique appearance.
Of course, they still have stereotypes about Herris's "hometown". Herris always takes the same rhetoric. After asking once, everyone loses interest.
Sure enough, Yevgeny nodded with regret.
"Then what did you do before you became a scribe?"
"Olympus Observatory, apprentice."
Hris still answers in a template form.
"The observatory's mentor is Academician Veneto Vittorio."
"So it's him? He is also a visiting professor in our engineering department."
Yevgeny's eyes lit up.
"Since the creation of the telescope, Professor Venetto seems to have no interest in engineering. Has he been watching the stars in the mountains?"
"It's almost the same, there have been some results."
Hris didn't mind saying these academic achievements that had been published in the newspaper as a way for future colleagues to explain them again.
"At the advice of His Majesty, Academician Veneto mapped the movement trajectories of several planets, believing that the planets rotate around the sun, and the trajectory is not a standard circle, but an elliptical."
"Academician Veneto is continuing to study on planetary trajectories. It seems that the calculations will be involved next. Of course I don't understand this."
Hris said.
"Where are you? You are obviously a college student, why don't you stay in Constantinople and have to come to the small countryside?"
"It's not for future development. I want to join the engineering department. I must take this opportunity to leave some better resumes."
Yevgeny said.
"Your Majesty is probably here this time, this is a good opportunity."
Hris nodded, which was roughly the same as his main purpose.
The carriage continued to move forward, the two of them stopped talking, and a medium-sized countryside soon appeared in front of them.
"Malkara Village, we're here."
Yevgeny whistled happily and jumped out of the carriage, and Hris followed closely.
Marcala Village is located in the southwest of Constantinople, a two-day drive from the nearest city of Tekilda. It has a good natural qualification. It is a medium-sized village and town mainly based on agriculture and animal husbandry, with a population of more than 200.
The church outside the entrance to the village of Markara seems to be very lively. It is the slack season, and the villagers gather together to listen to the priests explaining the latest issue of "Daily News".
"The Thracian Region's "Daily News" issue 132, the Thracian government issued an announcement that as Thracian farmland ushered in a bumper harvest, in order to avoid the low grain prices causing farmers to lose money, the government will open three new flat granaries to purchase grain from Thracian farmers at standard prices to crack down on price suppression..."
The long words of the priests spread among the crowd, and the farmers immediately started chattering and there were a lot of applause.
"This is great. We clearly provide so much food for the "gentlemen" in big cities. They rely on us to support them. Why are living conditions so much better than us?"
"Yes, they are all imperial citizens. Why are Constantinople superior to others?"
"Don't talk about this, the food capitalists in Constantinople also joined forces to deliberately lower the food prices, really don't care about the life and death of the farmers..."
"Quiet!"
The priest frowned and pressed his hands.
"After the farm acres are liquidated, there are no farmers in this village without land or with little land. Your farmland is almost comparable to the small landlords in the past. Why are you not satisfied?"
"Satisfied and happy, willing to be poor, is a virtue that a good Christian should possess. God will look at everything, Amen."
Seeing that no one said anything, the priest drew a cross on his chest and continued to recite the saying.
"To promote agricultural production, the Thracian government reached an agreement with the Lishemer Fertilizer Plant and the Constantinople Livestock Breeding Guild. The bone meal fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer and Adrian liquid of the Lishemer Fertilizer Plant will soon be reduced, and oxen and horses used for farming will also be cheaper!"
"There is also a third article. The Thracian government encourages farmers to hire foreign tenant farmers, encourages farmers to teach foreign tenant farmers and Sarasen serfs to learn Greek, and encourages intermarriage among different ethnic groups!"
The turmoil caused by this information is not that big. The plains in Thrace are widely distributed, the land qualifications are good, the enrichment of farming livestock has made the land that individual farmers can cultivate more and more, and the promotion of Adrian liquid and wormwood pesticides has liberated the labor force used to remove insects.
Furthermore, the rapidly developing road system and the innovative distribution model have gradually moved the Thrace region toward commercial agriculture. During the harvest season, the government or chamber of commerce will purchase rural grain uniformly, and farmers have withdrawn from the sales process and only use production.
Therefore, unlike North Africa and Anatolia, there are not many tenant farmers and serfs here. They basically use homework, and use family and family as basic units to cultivate their own private fields.
Of course, some big landowners own too much land, and they are not willing to go to the land to cultivate, and there is still a labor shortage. They often hire migrant workers or farmers who have finished their own fields.
However, their relationship has quietly changed over decades of changes. Landlords have become "agricultural capitalists" and tenants have become "agricultural workers". The two are more equal in terms of employment rather than dependence.
"That's about what's related to us. There are some international events later. Do you want to hear it?"
The priest looked at everyone.
"Listen, why don't you listen? Anyway, after harvesting wheat, there is nothing to do."
The farmers nodded in agreement.
The priest lowered his head and looked at the last few messages.
"On June 20, 1476, at the strong request of veteran cities such as Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg, the emergency meeting of the Hanseatic League came to the final result, and will accept the city of A Coruna, Gibraltar and Belisariopolis as new members of the alliance. The three cities will have Hanseatic trading stations, allowing free trade, and pay equal attention to Lübeckfa on the basis of the original law. The King of Portugal and the Emperor of Eastern Roman will not impose heavy taxes on the trading cities."
"On June 21, Portugal representative Gomez and Eastern Rome representative Fuger attended an internal dinner of the Hanseatic League in Lübeck, indicating that several Hanseatic cities in the Kingdom of Portugal and the Eastern Roman Empire will form a joint caravan to participate in the North Atlantic trade."
"On June 22, Eastern Rome representative Fuger held talks with the military departments of the Hanseatic League, saying that the Eastern Roman Empire was willing to provide loans to the Hanseatic League to upgrade ships and purchase weapons and equipment."
"On June 25, after visiting the drawings brought by Lord Fuger, the Hanseatic League decided to lend a loan from the Eastern Roman Empire to purchase a new Garen-type sailboat and two improved Clark sailboats retired from the Eastern Roman Navy."
"The order for this new Galen sailing ship will be taken over by the Carthage Naval Shipyard and is expected to be delivered in half a year. It will be named "Heinrich" to commemorate the Duke of Saxony who made great contributions to the Hanseatic League, "The Lion" Heinrich..."
"After the opening of the Atlantic Trade, the high-quality wood of the Hanseatic League can be transported to the Mediterranean by sea. Both the Imperial Navy and the Hanseatic Navy will usher in an update and iteration. The shipbuilding industry has broad prospects. The emperor encourages citizens to join the shipbuilding industry and jointly build marine hegemony..."
"The Grand Duchy of Moscow completely destroyed the Novgorod Republic and signed more trade cooperation agreements with the Eastern Roman Empire. The loans they owed will be repaid by Novgorod's prisoners of war and serfs to fill the empire's population and open up Anatolia..."
The farmers listened with relish and expressed their views on these things, even though they were mostly aware of these countries and figures.
"Okay, that's all. May the omnipotent Lord bless Rome and my emperor."
The priest put away the Daily News and kissed the cross on his chest.
"Next, if you have any ideas or opinions, you can ask me. I will streamline and summarize them and submit them to the superior priests and local councillors."
Farmers began to talk enthusiastically again, it was nothing more than the price of grain purchases, the price of tool livestock was too high, the gap between urban and rural areas was too obvious, and citizens looked down on farmers and other things.
"Father, can you also say opinions that are not in line with the mainstream policies of the Empire?"
The owner of the village asked a question. He was from a wealthy family and had been to many places and had seen many things.
"Of course, this is a country with free speech."
The priest nodded.
"If you have been to Constantinople, you can be surprised to find that citizens complaining about the government and the emperor are everywhere, although many citizens have already lived better than the largest landlords in our village."
Hearing this, Hris, who was standing in the distance, nodded with deep emotion.
Four years ago, when he first went to Constantinople to take the exam, he was also shocked by this phenomenon for a long time. The citizens of Constantinople complained in the tavern that the emperor was so good about foreigners, complained that the emperor granted too much power to capitalists, complained that the prices in Constantinople were too high, and joked that Emperor Isak was the emperor of the Ross and Turks, and said that Justinian was the Khan of the Cossacks and Cherks.
Of course, Hris later gradually realized that in fact, the Constantinople had the strongest national consciousness, and they were the most loyal to this country and the emperor who brought prosperity to this country. They complained no matter how much they complained, they were never ambiguity in terms of major issues.
If a foreigner rashly enters the Old Constantinople's tavern and complains with them about the incompetence of the government and the emperor's dereliction of duty, the Constantinople will directly calm down and indifferently invite him out. If it is too much, it may also cause a bloodshed.
Our country, our emperor, we can say that it is because the emperor doesn’t care at all, but if you don’t, if you dare to scold the emperor, we dare to kill you.
This is what the Constantinople think.
"Tell me, my dear child." The priest's gentle voice pulled Hris back to reality.
"Father, I just returned from Qutashia, Anatolia and sent my son to work as a local clerk."
The tavern owner said.
"The situation over there is so bad. The plateau is full of chaos, Turks, slave hunting groups, mercenaries, gunmen, riders, outlaws, eastern cowboys..."
"Greek immigrants established large ranches and farms there, hired private armed forces, and worked together to capture slave groups to turn the place into a chaotic country, with no control or order at all."
"In my opinion, this is the consequence of slavery. In areas dominated by the Turks, if they were all demoted to slaves, it would lead to violent resistance. The hatred deepened year by year. The ranchers, farmers and outlaws might be able to make a lot of money, but ordinary people have become victims of chaos, whether they are Romans or Turks."
"Besides, too many foreign slaves will cause turmoil and uneasiness, destroying the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere in the countryside. There have been many vicious incidents in which slaves fled and gathered together. Although they are not opponents of the Royal Mounted Police, and although they cannot threaten the gentlemen living in the city, they still brought life and property threats to the local farmers before being wiped out."
"Even if they converted to Orthodox Church and learned Greek, they are still not the same as us. Many of them will become thieves and robbers."
The owner of the tavern bowed.
"I hope this country will not become a hunting ground for big landlords, big farmers, big ranchers and big capitalists. Thrace is not Afilica, nor Anatolia, and there is no need for slavery!"
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Several large landlords with slaves in the village frowned, while the rest of the farmers were talking. Some said that the Sarasen people were also human, and some said that they all deserved to die.
"Well, you have a good idea, and I will report to the church and the members of the parliament truthfully."
The priest nodded to the tavern owner in admiration.
"In fact, slavery is certainly a great sin. The legal basis for the empire to implement Sarasen slavery was that they had to atone for the debts they owed to the empire for the past few hundred years."
"As for the things you mentioned, I have heard of them. I won't mention them within the plateau of Anatolia for the time being. The imperial government's rule base there is still very weak, and the glory of God has not yet been fully spread on that land that once belonged to Christians."
The priest said.
"As for the escape of slaves in Bulgaria, the imperial government has already found an investigation result. The cause of the incident was that some slave traders who were greedy for quick money violated the imperial laws and violated the industry rules of slave trade unions, and directly sold those untrained and educated Turkic Muslims from Anatolia to Bulgaria. Many of them were excellent soldiers, which led to them killing their masters whenever they had the opportunity and becoming bandits."
The priest told these things expressionlessly.
"Although I don't like slavery, I have to say that the slave trade between the Aphilica and the Cyrenega provinces is very standardized, and it runs very well, training, raising, loyal indoctrination... It is orderly."
"Over more than thirty years have passed, and incidents like Bulgaria have rarely happened. Slavery there has stabilized the empire's rule, made full use of the Sarathen labor force, wiped out a large number of instability factors, and made it a place dominated by Greek and Orthodox people in just thirty years, giving us a bridgehead for communication between the Atlantic Ocean."
"In the future, if we can recover Egypt and the Levant, there will definitely be slavery there, because the Saracens there are already keen on this."
"As for the vast colonies, it's not to mention that the slave plantation economy will be the main body."
The priest sighed.
"In the last Senate's third-level parliament, some members proposed that the imperial provinces could be divided into slavery provinces and abolition provinces. Each province passed a parliamentary vote to decide whether to retain slavery, how much, and how to retain it."
"As the city capitalists adopted Sarasen slaves as free labor, Billingi's MP blamed the Bulgarian escaped slave incident on the irregularities of some slave traders, excluding slavery itself, and the bill has not been passed for the time being."
The priest told in detail that in addition to solving the doubts for the villagers, of course they still had some personal emotions.
"The emperor has returned to Constantinople, and the era of the young master's reign is about to end, and he will definitely solve this problem."
Hris lacks interest in these things. He is a government official and naturally will not participate in such activities that oppose government policies.
Seeing that the priests and peasants stopped talking, Hris and Yevgeny walked forward.
"Dear priests, we are subordinate clerks from the Thracian government, who come here to promote the emperor's policies."
Hris said to the priest, handing him a document.
"This is our identity document."
After a simple handover with the priest, Hris stood beside him and faced with a group of farmers with doubts.
Since the expansion of government departments, the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire has begun to penetrate into the countryside. Officials from the administrative center will regularly come to the countryside, and will conduct statistics on population, output and land acres, check taxes, read out policies, and promote new crops, new fertilizers and new agricultural models.
Of course, it is no better than those Eastern Roman tax officials who were famous for sucking bones and marrow hundreds of years ago. Today, Eastern Roman officials do not have that much power. The vast rural areas basically adopt the "governance by doing nothing". Under normal circumstances, officials are only responsible for guiding and have no power to force enforcement.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, tobacco...Bol goats, Flanders Malaysia, Danish white pig... Low-priced bone meal fertilizer, high-quality phosphate fertilizer, wormwood pesticides, Adrian liquid... These things have been vigorously promoted by the agricultural department, but whether to adopt the advice of officials depends on the farmers themselves.
If officials do not farm, even the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture cannot conduct a meticulous investigation of every village. Flanders Malaysia, which is highly used in Bulgaria, may not be adapted to the Morian Peninsula, and the phosphorus and fertilizers that are not expensive in Thrace are not affordable. The compulsory means often bring a series of problems. The farmers living on them know the most.
After all, probably not many people will dislike their output too much. Living a rich and comfortable life is the wish of most farmers. If it is indeed beneficial, they will probably still adopt it.
If officials force farmers to plant new crops, raise new livestock, and use new fertilizers for political achievements, farmers have the right to object to priests and local councillors, and local officials will be held accountable and punished.
Therefore, the farmers were no longer afraid of the officials of the Eastern Roman government, they were just ordinary people.
Herris, who was on stage for the first time, licked his lips nervously and unfolded a document.
"Blessed by the Lord, emperors of the Romans and Romans, monarchs of the Balkans, Anatolia, Levant, Egypt and the Maghreb..."
Hris finished a series of titles and titles seriously, and the farmers also became quiet.
"Emperor Isaac believes that since the liberal reform, the empire economy has been developing continuously, industry and commerce have continued to prosper, and the urbanization process has intensified. Citizens in big cities can enjoy most of the development achievements, while the vast rural areas are still relatively backward and have relatively low quality..."
"Agriculture is the foundation of a country, the countryside is the skeleton of the city, and farmers are also members of citizens. The imperial government has the responsibility to allow farmers to enjoy the great achievements of economic development and technological progress, and has decided to change the rural landscape..."
"At the same time, the emperor also believed that excessively low literacy rates had seriously hindered the continued progress of the imperial economy and some changes must be made."
"On June 10, the emperor signed two bills in Carthage, and will initially allocate 40,000 Solidus, and implement both plans at the same time, and will be carried out only in the densely populated and wealthy Thracian region."
"The first is the Literacy Movement Act, where the imperial government will send low-level officials to temporarily leave their jobs, act as teachers, cooperate with local priests, and carry out the literacy movement at the same time in rural and urban areas."
Hris showed the farmers the royal seal on the documents.
"The imperial government divided the city into five levels, the countryside and township into three levels. The first-level cities are only Constantinople and Carthage, and the second-level cities include Thessalonians and Billingi..."
"The purpose of the literacy campaign is to increase the literacy rate of citizens as soon as possible. It is expected to take ten years to gradually increase the literacy rate of first-level cities to 60%, the literacy rate of second-level cities to 50%, and the literacy rate of third-level cities to 40%... The lowest-level rural areas are 10%. "
"In order to increase the enthusiasm of citizens, the emperor is ready to adopt a reward system to use money and materials to inspire learning. For you, as long as you can learn the most basic Greek words and read simple documents, after passing the exam, each person can get a total value of two Solidus, including food, clothing, tools and livestock, and you have the right to choose!"
Speaking of this, Hris glanced at the peasant sternly.
"Now, whether to read or not is an important information for every citizen. If someone finds that he receives a bounty through deception after he has read it, it will be regarded as blackmail, all property is confiscated, and the whole family will be exiled to New Thrace."
"What should I do if a citizen who is already literate?"
asked a neatly dressed villager.
"You can sign up to be night school teachers, and you can get a salary!"
Hris replied.
The farmers were digesting the information they had just obtained, whispering to each other, some people disdained, and some people were blinded.
Solidus is the highest-level currency in the Eastern Roman Empire, with a value of the former Venetian Ducate. Its purchasing power in different parts of the empire. If it is placed in a wealthy area like Thrace, you can probably buy basic food for families of three to eat for half a year.
The two Solidus are not much or too much. The wealthy people naturally look down on this little money, but they themselves attach more importance to studying and studying. Poor families were not prepared to read and recognize words, but they might join the literacy class because of these rewards, which is equivalent to setting a threshold.
"The second plan is the New Village Movement."
Hris continued to recite.
"In order to improve the rural landscape, the emperor decided to launch a new village movement, which is mainly divided into three parts, namely roads, housing and sanitation. It will provide free cement, sand and gravel for rural areas in Thrace, and send students from the Department of Architecture to help rural areas renovate housing, renovate livestock sheds, dig sewage ditches, build residents' squares and simple toilets, and improve inter-village roads."
"Every village will establish a new village sports committee, and every villager should join spontaneously, improve his life and beautify his home with the convenient conditions provided by the emperor. At the same time, strengthen personal ethics in the process, promote neighborhood cooperation, and develop rural culture."
The document ends with the deep purpose of the literacy movement and the new village movement, which is to provide a large number of high-quality and high-ethical talents for the capitalization process of big cities, ease urban-rural conflicts, narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, and promote a healthy economic take-off.
Hris felt that the farmers probably wouldn't like to listen, so he omitted this passage.
"I am Hris from Adrianburg City Government, and the next one is Yevgeny, a top student in the Department of Architecture at the University of Constantinople. We will work with the priests of our village to carry out these two sports together. We hope that everyone can take responsibility independently and create a better home together."
Hris bowed slightly and pointed to the cavalry convoy in the distance.
"This is the first batch of materials shipped, all of which are cement and other building materials. They are produced by large cement factories and have guaranteed quality."
"These materials can only be used in the village. If they are sold privately, they will still be the same, and the whole family will be exiled to New Thrace."
The villagers have not yet realized the benefits of these two sports, they do not know much, and are not willing to participate automatically, but when they hear that they are going to give things, they are still very happy and applaud them, and many people even announced their participation in the committee on the spot.
Hris and Yevgeny looked at each other, breathing a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on the corner of their mouths.
In any case, the first step finally came through.
"Mr. Hris, although the Thrace Plain is not large, it has a large population. With so many free supplies, will the government increase taxes?"
The priest from the village asked in a low voice with some concern.
"No, this expense cannot be borne by the public, and the emperor pays it out of his own pocket."
Hris smiled.
"Don't worry, although the literacy rate is required to increase so much on paper, it is impossible to implement it. After all, the few who can get the reward."
"As for cement, the greater the demand, the higher the output, the cheaper it will be. Do you believe it?"
"It is precisely because Thrace has a large population and dense villages that these two sports can continue to be carried out. If it is placed in several major regions in northern Bulgaria, there are extensive farms and ranches everywhere, and everyone does not live together normally, then this plan will not be implemented at all."
Hris looked at the joyful villagers.
"Besides, the emperor is very rich, really."
...
In the summer of 1476, the disputes in the Western Mediterranean ended, and the Latin pirates gradually declined due to the shift of the strategic focus of the Kingdom of France, and wealth from overseas poured into the pockets of the Eastern Roman Empire.
In recent years, the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire on the Mexican Plateau has gradually stabilized, and a large number of open-pit gold and silver mines have entered the sight of the colonial government. Due to the retaining of many indigenous people and the lack of labor shortage, the amount of precious metal mining on the Mexican Plateau has been rising steadily. Those indigenous people who were unwilling to convert and survived became slave miners, mined their own wealth with their own blood and flesh, and supported the rapid prosperity of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Against this background, the Eastern Roman Emperor Isaac decided to carry out a literacy campaign and a new village campaign, bringing the fruits of development from cities to rural areas, using precious metals from the Mexican plateau to purchase various domestic supplies, stimulate market production, and provide these supplies to Thracian farmers for free, improve their living standards, and improve their fertility desire and newborn survival rate.
Of course, the difference between industry and agriculture cannot be cut on one's own people's heads. The tears of the times, the necessary sacrifices, and the cost of development cannot be borne by one's own people.
For a moment, the vast rural areas of the Thrace Plain became construction sites, and every night, the sound of books would be heard from the brightly lit church.
(This chapter ends)