Chapter 444 Riot·Eight
Perfect walked into the lamppost and directly used her omniscient eyes to examine the lamppost, which in her eyes had obvious characteristics of alchemical creations, her face His expression became very serious.
"Soul Gathering Lamp"
"Materials: Ordinary"
"Making Technology: Excellent"
"Effect: Gather the souls of the deceased within a radius of 500 meters and collect resentment, which can store a certain amount of souls and resentment."
"Evaluation: A rather rough alchemical creation, an ordinary apprentice can make one in a day , but this kind of thing is quantitative, not qualitative. If it is spread across a city, a large amount of souls and resentments can be collected."
Looking at the information displayed by the Omniscient Eye, Purfey looked at it. Kurt's face became more and more ugly. She really didn't expect that in the imperial capital of Langton, right under her nose, someone was actually collecting resentment and souls.
Although these two things seem to be nothing, the other does not seem to harm anyone. They just put up a few lampposts on the roadside, which is harmless to the local residents.
But collecting resentments and souls is not something a good person would do.
Who is a good person who collects grievances and souls? Do you want their family to reunite in your Ten Thousand Souls Banner?
However, considering that this might be related to certain religions, Purficott did not deal with these things immediately. Instead, he turned to look at Sabel and asked the church magistrate: "Sabel Magistrate Bell, do you know anyone who collects the souls and grievances of the dead? "
"Collecting souls and grievances? I have almost never encountered such cases, only in the church files. I have seen similar records. It is said that in an era when magic has not declined as much as it does now, there was a heretical sect that worshiped death and would drive corpses and enslave souls. However, this heretical sect was wiped out by the church about a hundred years ago. "Sabel recalled for a moment, and then dug out the information that Perfectcott wanted from the depths of her memory.
Hearing this, Purficott knew better.
Obviously, those who collect souls and resentments are definitely not good people.
However, she did not attack immediately, but said to the two people around her: "I found something, let's go back first!"
After saying that, Perfectcott looked at the street lamp again, She originally wanted to take it away as important physical evidence, but she decided not to touch it to avoid alerting the enemy.
Sabel and Samantha didn't know what Purficott had found, but they didn't ask any more questions. They just nodded and followed Purficott to leave.
Because it was an unannounced visit and this was also a slum, Purficott did not come in by car. If he wanted to leave now, he still had to go to the edge of the slum.
For Purficott, walking for a while is not a big deal, but it will help her understand the slum better.
This place is located on the outskirts of Langton. It was the main gathering place for poor people in the past. Compared with those civilians who can still find a job to support their families in Langton, most people here do not have formal jobs.
They can't even afford to rent the cheapest apartment in Longton, so they can only live in these privately built shacks outside the city, living a life struggling below the poverty line. Life.
For the vast majority of people here, their so-called home may only consist of a bed just for lying on and four walls with air leakage.
As for the others? It is a luxury for these destitute poor people.
Perficott saw with his own eyes a family that gave birth to at least four or five children, but they couldn't even get a set of clothes for each child. They could only squeeze four or five children together on the bed board. , there was only a little straw under the body, and the body was covered with a rag that couldn't be called a quilt at all.
As for adults? The adult of this family was sitting at the door of the house with a sad look on his face. It could be seen that they had not found a job for a long time, so that his whole face was drooping with hunger.
Most of the people here can only do some simple manual work and earn very meager wages, such as porters at the dock.
If there is no problem with the empire's overseas trade, then there will not be much problem with their livelihood.
But now the empire's overseas trade is basically in a state of Schrödinger's interruption. The docks don't need so many porters at all, and they are naturally unemployed.
As for Langton City? Relatively speaking, these poor people living outside the city will not be hired. After all, whether they are nobles or factories, they have more choices.
Ordinary citizens with richer work experience, better physical fitness, and relatively decent education are a better group of workers for factories and more suitable servants for nobles.
So when the end comes and everything in Langton falls into depression, these people will naturally be unable to find jobs and lose their source of livelihood.
After all, even if there are still jobs in the city, ordinary citizens who are stronger, healthier, better educated and have better personal hygiene habits can't win, so how can it be the turn of these cities? What about the poor people outside?
Disease, hunger, and cold have completely enveloped this area. If no one helps them, they will soon fall into despair and die.
And this is the main reason why Princess Anne asked for help from Perfectcourt. After all, the situation here has become extremely bad. Even if Princess Anne asks the relevant departments of the empire to help, the poor people here can be treated. The help provided is also limited.
The empire's food supply is now in an extremely tight state. Even the nobles' tables are missing many of the delicacies of the past. Instead of the luxurious enjoyment of the past, they are more about filling their stomachs.
So even in the name of the eldest princess of the empire, there is very little food that can be mobilized, and the food shipped here is basically just a drop in the bucket. It is difficult to even keep the people here from starving to death.
Although it is cruel, for the empire, the best way to deal with these people at the moment is not to deal with them. When they all starve to death or die of disease, they will no longer be a problem.
Because for the current empire, there is indeed no more energy and resources to save these people.
Even Purficott finds it a bit difficult to solve the problem here now.
The problem of food is easy to solve. Applying the compressed biscuit making technology that Perficott used in the north, it is not difficult to fill these people's stomachs and prevent them from starving to death.
But solving the problem of food and clothing is only the first step, or the least important step, in solving the problem here.
If these people cannot be given the ability to withstand the cold, then even if they are full, they will still freeze to death and die of illness. Being full will only make them suffer more when they freeze to death and die of illness. Just torture.
However, it is not an easy thing to solve for the people here to have the ability to withstand the cold.
It is feasible to build shelters for them, but Purficott does not want to simply raise them. Letting them work to support themselves is the right way. If you just raise them, it will not only breed laziness, but also give them Besides looking for trouble, Purficott didn't think there would be any other outcome.
Maybe this is cruel, but rational thinking makes Purficott not believe in the human heart. She can temporarily provide them with food, clothing, and fuel to keep out the cold, so that they can temporarily survive the difficulties, avoid starving to death, and return to a state where they can work.
But allowing these people to fend for themselves, and those who do not work not to eat, is the real way to save them, rather than pulling them out of hell and then kicking them into the mire.
However, the quality of these people is really worrying. The vast majority of them have never received education and have nothing but a handful of strength.
Thrown into a mine to work as a miner, Purficott was worried that they would collapse the mine, let alone let them work in the factory or send them to build shelters.
For Purficott, all these tasks can be done by machines, which not only saves worry but also makes it more efficient.
The reason why she still uses people to do these jobs in the North is just to allow the people in the North to have a job instead of simply being raised like pigs.
She can feed these people, but she has no reason to feed these people.
Just like some countries in the original world, they have a huge population base. Logically speaking, they should be able to fully enjoy the development advantages brought by the demographic dividend, but the low quality of the population does not allow them to Taking advantage of this advantage has made the huge population a burden to the country.
So those who don’t work must not eat. This is Purficott’s insistence, and it is also where she feels embarrassed, because she really can’t think of any place where so many inferior laborers can be accommodated.
After all, even if they are asked to build a shelter, they still need a certain level of knowledge and skills. Not everyone can do construction work.
The most basic thing is building a wall. If you can’t even build a straight wall, it’s better to give up the job.
However, the vast majority of people in the slums do not have this ability. If they had, they would have found a job that could support themselves long ago, so why would they suffer from hunger here?
The empire was not what it is now. A large number of jobs are waiting for the labor force to join. As long as you are willing to work, it is not difficult to find a job.
However, most of the people in the slums have not been able to find a decent job. They can only do piecemeal manual work without any skills at all.
So even if Purficott is willing to give these people jobs, what they can do is still very limited.
While Purficott was thinking about what these people could do, she gradually left the worst areas of the slum and came to a place where the situation was relatively better.
The streets here are relatively less narrow and cleaner, and the poor living here are in relatively better condition.
But for Purficott, whether it was here or the place he just passed by, it was just as bad.
If there is anything different, perhaps it is that someone is distributing food here, but the people here do not come to fight for it like living corpses like in the area just now, but instead line up in an orderly manner. With the team.
This is obviously not because the people here are of higher quality, or because the people distributing food bring enough food so that they don't have to fight for it.
"Interesting, is it actually exerting a mental influence on these poor people?" Purficott noticed the small means used by the other party, but did not pay attention to it.
After all, food is distributed in a place like this. If it is not controlled, it will only lead to looting, which will eventually lead to very bad consequences.
So using some small means is harmless in Purficott's opinion.
But the purpose of being able to distribute food in the slums at this time is very intriguing.
There are naturally good people who do good things, but in Purficott's view, it is more likely that they have other purposes.
She will not judge others with the greatest malice, but she will also not judge a person's behavior with pure kindness.
It is very unwise to judge whether a person is a good or bad person just because of his behavior and first impression.
Some people may seem to be doing good deeds every day by building bridges and paving roads, but secretly they may be guilty of numerous crimes including male theft and female prostitution.
Similarly, some people may do all kinds of bad things, but in essence they may be forced to live a helpless life.
Therefore, an act of distributing food in a slum will not make Purficott think that the other person is a good person, but it will also not make Purficott think that the other person is a bad person.
"Claudia, let the people from the Brotherhood investigate that person." Purficott said to the air. She did not get a response, but she knew that the female assassin beside her had listened. Got your own order.
Afterwards, Purficott stopped paying attention and turned around and left the slum.
It’s just that Purficott didn’t notice that when she left, the young man who looked like an aristocrat who was handing out food noticed the carriage she was leaving, his eyes filled with some kind of unspeakable desire. .
——————————————
"My Lord Earl, what are your plans for the slums? If manpower is needed, the church can provide help." Sitting on the carriage returning, Sabel took the initiative to speak at this time, trying to get the church involved.
Perfect just shook his head at this, and then said: "The situation in the slums is more complicated than I expected. There may be something hidden here that I don't know about, and I can't make a decision yet.
I am very happy that the church is willing to help, but now I have to investigate clearly. It is possible that what I want to do is not salvation, but purification.”
At this point, Purficott looked at it. He turned to Sabel and asked meaningfully: "If it were your church or some heretical sect, what would you do immediately when faced with the current situation in the slums?"
"Distribute food. And clothes, to win people's hearts." Sabel was not dissatisfied because Purficott put the church and the heretical sect together, but answered her question seriously.
Purficott nodded with a smile on his face: "So do you think the people distributing food in the slums at this time will be simple good people?"
"That person just now? I will let him The people from the church will investigate." Sabel took the initiative to take the job.
(End of this chapter)