Chapter 1147 Impurity Straight Line

On the map of North America, the national border between the United States and Canada is a straight line, and the state boundaries are almost always straight lines. Some state boundaries are even directly divided by latitude and longitude lines.

This is completely different from the way in which mountains, rivers, etc. are used as national boundaries in Eurasia.

The Americans deal with the "problem" in such a simple and rude way, and even the ceasefire line on the Korean peninsula is stipulated in this way.

In the second half of the 18th century, the French were very obsessed with straight lines, and those officials in charge of planning took it for granted that the road distance in a straight line was the shortest.

Britain and France have been competing secretly, whether in the New World or in Europe, they are all competing to see who can grow faster in trade.

And saving transportation time is undoubtedly a way to save costs and increase their competitiveness.

This beautiful idea has encountered many problems in the process of practice. Officials draw a straight line on the map, regardless of whether there will be ravines or private houses. Anyway, as long as they hinder road construction, all will be demolished.

Of course, compensation is required for demolition of other people's houses, but not everyone can get it. After the Revolution, the new government that took over found that there were many people whose land compensation had not been paid.

Through this incident, people have learned a truth: when the public interest needs to destroy the private interest, the private interest is of little importance.

People take this to heart and apply it to others for their own benefit.

In the past, every parish set up a charitable foundation, according to the intention of the founder, to relieve the residents on designated occasions. There is such a small town in the French Seine province described by Balzac, which has a magnificent asylum for the elderly and the mentally ill. .

The Saltpeter Bank in Paris is another name for the Women's Asylum. In addition to housing elderly women, it also houses "mentally ill" women.

No matter how beautiful the girl is, if she has syphilis, she can only go to that kind of place. If syphilis has invaded the brain, he or she may also look crazy.

The La Traviata described by Alexandre Dumas suffers from tuberculosis, which is a more "beautiful" way to die. This depraved woman has a large number of followers and countless lovers, who are ready to spend a lot of money on her when she is still healthy, and when she is sick, they all run away and disappear.

But she is still much better than Fantine described by Victor Hugo. She is affectionate and naive. She really loves a college student and promises her with her body.

It's a pity that this "scholar" is a frivolous person who plays on the occasion, pretends to be false to her, and soon leaves her, and finally falls to the point where he wants to sell his hair and teeth.

A lively girl became haggard and terminally ill. Not only did the society not sympathize with her, but she was also discriminated against.

This is the case in the ruthless capitalist world. If the Count of Monte Cristo hadn't discovered that wealth, he would still have to return to human society in poverty, and he would still not be able to complete his legendary revenge.

The same money that was once used as a relief fund was also embezzled by the administrator. In the story of Orphan in the Twist, Oliver was not only not properly cared for in the workhouse, but was also coerced into child labor. These children in the developing period are poorly clothed and hungry all day long, but the stewards are full of fat and live like "decent people".

They only deal with it when the inspection comes, and wipe the faces of the orphans who haven't bathed for a long time to make them look cleaner.

Saltpeter can be used to make ice. In the eyes of "gentlemen", spirits and ice cubes represent "civilization".

Sometimes just chatting and drinking is very boring. Inviting two or three social stars can not only enliven the atmosphere, but also be pleasing to the eye.

This is an era where the god of love favors handsome and rich gods. As long as you have "diamonds", you can easily win the hearts of ladies. Why die like a fool?

In the end, La Traviata left only countless jewels, each of which has the initials of a different person's name. Dumas fils was full of infinite sympathy for the girl.

But she is indeed much luckier than Fantine. She doesn't even have a diamond ring to accompany that college student, so she can only pawn her own hair and teeth.

Human dignity, love, and justice all become irrelevant in front of money.

Aristocrats despise businessmen and feel that business is lowly. This kind of thinking makes them unwilling to engage in business, and they have such a large expenditure to maintain a luxurious life. Some nobles have to let go of their airs and marry rich merchants.

Rose and Carl on the Titanic are such a combination. The British nobility are actually more proud than the French nobility, but the British know how to "compromise" when faced with some acute issues, which allows the nobility and constitutional monarchy to continue, unlike France The whole thing is turned upside down.

In a country with money and power, the importance of a person is somewhat related to the wealth he owns, so people in the upper class are worried all day long, worrying that if they lose their money, they will fall from the clouds.

Perhaps the reason why the gold diggers couldn't wait to leave Europe was that they were tired of touching the brim of their hats before speaking, and the privilege of the nobles.

When they arrived in the New World, they could live a "rough" life, and they could become their own masters even if they couldn't find gold.

In addition to bringing pleasure, money can also bring power. The privileges of the aristocrats allow them to directly participate in politics, instead of secretly controlling the regime through the operation of money like financiers and bankers.

The nobles on the eve of the French Revolution gave up both the direct power to participate in politics and the indirect power of money.

They have the territory left by their ancestors to sell, and with the money they can talk with writers and musicians in the salon, enjoying rich spiritual civilization and pleasure.

The French nobles respected writers and gave them material support. It was precisely because of this that many excellent works appeared in the French literary world during that time.

These writers recorded the customs of France at that time with their own pens, and wrote intoxicating stories one after another with their own imagination. They replaced alchemists and astrologers and became guests of the nobles.

It is difficult for an Englishman to understand what the French third estate is, for it is a mixture of fallen nobles and wealthy merchants.

The aristocratic life needs money support, and if the gold diggers make a fortune, they also need goods such as lace, cigars, and spirits.

After the merchants have money, they will ask the nobles to learn from them to live like them, but the attitude of the nobles towards the merchants has always been arrogant.

A gold prospector came to the New World empty-handed. Naturally, he needs a pickaxe and a shovel to pan for gold. The businessman will still try his best to squeeze out 6 cents of profit from the meager income of 1 dollar.

If being vegetarian saves money, then the merchant selling pickaxes would be a vegetarian.

How many gold diggers came from Europe to the New World? Is it millions or tens of millions? If every gold digger buys a pickaxe from him, 10,000 picks can earn 6 million, and 1 million picks can earn 60,000.

The businessman is full of calculations, unaware that he has become the boss in the Christmas carol who is reluctant to add a piece of coal to his staff's fire in his office.

His nephew invited him to the Christmas Eve party, but he thought he was trying to take advantage of him and inherit his inheritance in the future.

People in the parish asked him to give a little Christmas dinner to the poor, but he also ruthlessly refused.

Rich and ruthless, a selfish miser who wouldn't even beg a beggar meets three Christmas elves on Christmas Eve, who let him see his past, present and future.

The staff with a pitiful salary, although there is no gift or turkey at Christmas, but the faces of their family are full of happy and happy smiles.

And the spirit of the future showed the miser a lonely scene without relatives and friends to visit him.

Even his own servants stole his things and still slandered him behind his back.

In the story, after the miser experienced that wonderful night, his inherent coldness and selfishness quickly collapsed, and he became a benevolent person from then on.

But will people who are selfish enough to take advantage of others' selflessness to benefit themselves suddenly wake up?

"You want me to drink this?" Pomona looked at the dark potion in Severus' hand.

She had seen him messing with the nest of tree monkey frog tadpoles with the "little magic wand" a long time ago, and he had prepared some mulberries, which she thought he used to feed the tadpoles.

"It's not for drinking, put it on your head," Severus said. "It will dye your hair black."

"No!" Pomona ran behind the sofa and confronted him across the sofa, vehemently refusing, "Never!"

"Otherwise you wear a wig..."

"Why should I disguise my hair!" Pomona interrupted him.

"Because your hair is too conspicuous." Severus gritted his teeth and said, "There are quite a few veela in France."

"My hair doesn't look like hibiscus!"

Pomona looked at her winged hair, and Fleur's hair was like a cloud that would blow without wind.

"Your hair is silver-gray."

"I can wear a hat!"

"You want to walk down the Champs Elysees in that patched witch's hat? You're determined to get yourself in trouble, aren't you?"

Pomona looked at Severus sympathetically.

"What bad taste you have in fashion!" Pomona took out her witch's hat and transformed it into a wide-brimmed hat, the same style as the hat Ross wore when she boarded the boat.

"You can wear the hat after these potions," Severus said deadpan.

"I don't paint dead tadpoles on my hair!" Pomona stuck out her tongue in disgust. "It's disgusting."

"Don't make me say it a third time!" He tried to go around the couch and catch her.

"No!" Pomona immediately escaped his capture like a rabbit.

People's potential is really infinite, and she can be so flexible.

Severus looked like he was going insane.

He pointed his wand at the sofa so that the blankets wrapped around her arms and hands, and just as she was about to slice it open with a Severing Charm, Severus caught her.

"No!" she wailed miserably.

Felix probed to see what was going on inside, then retracted his head tactfully.

"The wizard is really scary." He shook his head and whispered, and trotted away from this "battlefield".