Chapter 2373 true believers (Part 1)

In the reform of Joseph II, in addition to closing down the "useless" monasteries that did not operate schools or hospitals, they also forced the large and small societies to merge into a single "Charitable Mutual Aid Society". The castle called Hof van Busleden was built in the 16th century during the Renaissance and is one of the most beautiful buildings in Mechelen.

It has always been used as a sort of heritage warehouse, involving all donations from the Burgundian period to the Austrian Netherlands period, including a craft called "enclosed garden".

It looks a bit like a large cabinet. When the cabinet door is opened, there is a very complicated miniature scene. There are peacocks made of precious stones and human figures made of gold. This is taken from the "Song of Solomon" in the Old Testament. This poem tells It is said that Solomon himself wrote it in Jerusalem. The hero is a grape grower, and the heroine is Sharon’s rose, which blooms like a lily in the Valley of Stranglethorn. The "closed garden" It tells the scene of the heroine in the valley.

In addition to not being free, everything in the garden is like heaven, and there is no hero in the scene, so this "closed garden" was later used as a symbol of chastity, which was very popular in the Middle Ages when Margaret of Austria lived. At present, the nuns of Beanju and the Governor herself have such a "closed garden".

It is used to honor "true" women with pure and pure moral concepts. The cost of making it is not low, and the nuns cannot afford it. Most of them are made for them by donations from believers.

From a moral point of view, chastity is people's longing for love. However, wars, natural disasters, and plagues continue, and there are still situations like Andromark who wants to be widowed but can't help himself. There are very few real widows.

All in all, the new Mechelen Art Museum is located in that castle. Charity organizations have to bear the cost of maintaining it. After breakfast, they went there to visit. It really looks like a warehouse, filled with various It is a beautiful but dusty treasure, and there are many murals on the wall. It is said that Erasmus once came to this castle to chat with the owner. The murals record the scene at that time.

These murals have faded after many years. When they were painted, vegetable dyes were used. One of the biggest advantages of ore color is that it is not easy to change color, but it is expensive. Quincy immediately said that he can restore these murals.

They used to paint with plant colors when they lived in the forest. The desolate flood area in the eyes of ordinary people is an inexhaustible palette for him and Emily.

Unless they were recognized during their lifetime like Da Vinci and Rubens, most artists were unknown when they were alive. The author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" Johannes Vermeer had to wait two years after his death. It took a hundred years before it was excavated by the French, and what he painted were genre paintings.

Genre paintings are based on daily life, unlike portrait paintings, which have fixed buyers. Even if the painters are talented, they will inevitably end up depressed like Van Gogh, and the paintings will not be sold at high prices until after their death.

Maybe Emily is not as beautiful as "Girl with a Pearl Earring", a bit like Rembrandt's wife, not a recognized beauty, but Georgiana still bought a portrait of her drawn by Quincy.

The 2,000 francs for that painting, plus the income from Quincy's work, should be enough to start a family. Originally, Emily would also spin yarn to sell on the market day, in exchange for some necessary daily necessities. Emily's painting is still much worse than that of Quincy, which may be why she thinks Quincy is brilliant, like a girl who is obsessed with the lead singer of a band and ran away from home without her parents' consent.

Others in the "village" (as they called it) were in a different situation, most of them living their lives behind closed doors without disturbing each other. There is no church there, people don't gather for mass on Sundays, and they don't move around on weekdays. Joseph II concentrated all the market days in the Austrian Netherlands on one day. This practice produced a kind of merchants who drove horse-drawn carts. They would buy and sell the goods that people did not have time to buy on the market day. It was a day when the village rarely gathered people.

The French were welcomed at first as liberators, as they had been in 1635, when they drew their swords against the Protestant Dutch in the name of protecting the nuns. Later, they had a disagreement and began to sack the city. In order to avoid them, the farmers fled with their families and livestock into the Soignes Forest.

Compared to that side, the forest in the northwest of Mechelen is much more peaceful. In order to hide as much as possible and not be noticed, they even cook at night, so that the smoke from the cooking will not be noticed by the people around them.

Sometimes people would leave and new people would come in shortly after they left. Emily and Quincy didn't know what happened to the new house. grocery store or something. No one here volunteers to talk about their past, and you don't even know if they're using their real names.

That's about as much information as the young couple can offer, living in their own two-person world.

For a person who is used to poverty or a simple life, the place where he lives is surrounded by similar people. At this time, if you tell him to change his destiny, it will frighten him, because he is satisfied with his state. They rarely get "bored".

People who are still in ignorance suffer more from their bodies. They don’t have enough food and clothing to keep them warm. The life of American slaves is much better than that of European “free laborers”. In terms of working time, the slaves in the south are much better than other laborers on the earth. They even eat meat. Although they usually eat bread made of cornmeal, they can also eat white bread during festivals. Fruits are also eaten when the fruits are ripe. These are pro-slavery factions guiding public opinion, emphasizing that slavery is a "beneficial act" and does not contradict freedom.

Slave owners will use this kind of small favors to cultivate the loyalty of slaves. Big slave owners may have compassion and care for the "house slaves" who serve their masters in the family. Their loyalty to their masters will also be exchanged for their masters' favor and care The children of the slaves will also become the playmates of the "little masters", but this is a very small number of people. The "field slaves" hate the "house slaves", and they will be punished if they fail to work.

In a factory, if a factory owner beats a worker with a whip, he faces charges and fines. Beat the slaves and tell them that as long as they observe discipline, they can live a much more comfortable life than free laborers. Slaves not only have shelter and food, but they can also be given 5 dollars in pocket money during the New Year. Slaves exchanged freedom for life. Guarantee, why pursue the primitive man's free instinct of indulgence?

A disgraceful thing, if it becomes a habitual behavior, no one will interfere.

The South Carolina planters claimed that this state, called a state of nature, had not actually existed since the creation of Adam and Eve, and that humans were connected by a bond that bound them together.

Man is born to be governed, he is not only in infancy a dependent, he is dominated by others, and in all ages the strong and the wise dominate the weak and the ignorant.

That is to say, in order to maintain the legitimacy and morality of slavery, the pro-slavery faction has already denied the natural rights of the Declaration of Independence, saying that people are born free, and nothing is more unrealistic than this.

During the American Revolution, since they chose to hold high the banner of human freedom to defend their own interests, they also theoretically denied the morality of slavery. There was a time when Washington planned to use slave soldiers because of the problem of the source of troops, which would liberate them, but the southern states were mainly responsible for the debts arising from the war. So slavery became a "necessary evil" and became the keynote of the slave owners' justification in that period.

Jefferson also opposed slavery, but the key vote in 1801 was in the southern states. His approach was to abolish primogeniture, a remnant of the feudal system, where all children could inherit their father’s inheritance, and at the same time promote small farmers, which made The construction of plantations became a kind of crazy speculation. Easy bank credit and fertile land in the west stimulated the eastern farmers to migrate to the southwest, and most of the planters who moved away had the desire to expand their family businesses. Not everyone can take away slaves, it depends on how the family property is divided.

But now they have to face a problem, how to pay off the debt if the previous debt has not been paid off?

The Bank of England has not yet formed a credit investment like the Dutch Bank. It may have been lent to the North American colonies in the past, and was required to repay through the form of a peace treaty. However, the Americans did not repay, only Spain, France, and the Netherlands.

The public debt needs to be borne by the people. In order to increase fiscal revenue, Hamilton increased the whiskey tax, which resulted in riots. Washington pardoned the rioters after negotiations, but the collection of alcohol tax was also not smooth. Jefferson abolished the consumption tax after he took office.

They need to expand in order to borrow money, attract capital inflows, and improve financial problems. Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations that the defense of the colony has always fallen on the mother country, the civil ceremonies in the colony are very simple, never extravagant and wasteful, and the missionaries are also very frugal. But Jefferson did not intend to form a navy, and believed that regular deposits were paid to pirates, contrary to Adams' view that it was necessary to spend money to form a navy.

Continuing to fight for expansion will make the financial problem worse. This country, which is full of bushes, half uninhabited, and half uncultivated, has nothing of value except food.

In the ancient Roman era, the provinces of Egypt and Syria would use food to offset taxes. The low-priced foreign food brought benefits to Roman citizens. Judging from the excavation of the Pompeii ruins, even ordinary people can eat well, but farmers Bankruptcy, and the peasants were the main source of soldiers for the Roman Republic. They either became slaves or sold their land to nobles.

After the reform of the military system, during the Anthony period, soldiers had become a profession with a fixed salary, and it was precisely because soldiers became a profession.

In ancient Rome, from the monarchy to the republic, the command power was granted by the Senate, and returned to the Senate after the war. By the time of Caesar, soldiers had entrusted their honor and lives to the commander of the legion.

The British military system is conscription from the people, and the parliament must protect their interests. William Pitt, Jr. tried to "buy" Prussian soldiers. This was done by the German princes, but the result was the formation of the Armed Neutral League.

Scotland and Ireland are also carrying out enclosure movements. Many immigrants from the New World are from these areas, but they are not yet at the point where the Great Famine in Ireland came to the United States to flee collectively.

The yield of Irish potatoes is about the same as that of rice, and its value is not as good as that of wheat. The wheat was used to pay land rent to British landlords. Many Irish people starved to death because of this, until potatoes solved the problem of food and clothing, but it was only food and clothing. They even live in mud houses where the Celtics lived.

That kind of house looks like a "magic world" on the outside, who would still live in that kind of house if there is real magic.

But it is undeniable that the enclosure movement allowed the rapid development of British agriculture. Georgiana really wanted to imitate the mechanized production of farms like the United States in promoting draft horse farming, and could feed so many people with a small number of agricultural population. Arthur Young of the Enclosure Committee had the same idea, but was almost hanged by French farmers when he went to the country to see it.

Brennus, the leader of the Gauls who once attacked Rome, said that the laws of Gaul were established on the tip of the sword. Therefore, although the Gauls are tall and have good endurance, they are difficult to tame.

Elizabeth I promoted the Enclosure Movement while also promoting the Poor Law. At that time, the number of British robbers, hooligans, and beggars increased. This was done to solve social unrest.

But she also built the British navy, attacked the merchants of the Hanseatic League, and safeguarded the interests of merchants in the country. The purpose of Georgiana's establishment of agricultural loans is to reduce conflicts and replace usury loans with relatively low-interest loans, so that Alsace will not be so chaotic, but she may also have the opposite effect, making the land enclosure movement possible in France.

The last time I was swimming in the lake, Georgiana met a man named Rutger, who was a member of the Dutch Land Council and knew the director of the National Gallery of Art in Amsterdam. He promised to donate a few paintings to the mayor of Mechelen Draw for this new museum.

If the Louvre uses "fakes" to make up for it, it might as well not give it away.

Excluding the factor of Bonaparte, Chiara is very suitable for Georgiana's appetite. She is an excellent painter. Although the original painting does not have a style, it can be seen that she has a solid basic skill. She should have copied many paintings.

She just hoped that Chiara would not make stupid decisions like herself. She liked that "enclosed garden", although she had nothing to do with chastity and nobility in her life, even if she couldn't have it, it didn't hinder her appreciation.

Through these things, she realized that she was not suitable to be a professional woman, and her family was gone.

As long as the cabinet door is closed, no one will know about this secret garden, just like she didn't open the door of Hogwarts office that night, or the cabinet in the Louvre.

"lady."

Georgiana turned her head and found the rich widow Borski.

"Do you mind if I admire it with you?"

"of course not."

Borski walked over to her, took a deep breath, and looked... like she had something to say.

Georgiana uses Legilimency on her.

Borsky is finishing his speech, she has something to ask of her...

Georgiana finally knew why Borski had invested in the Industrial Promotion Bank.

"I……"

"There is no such potion as you said." Georgiana interrupted the old widow. "Aging is irreversible."

She looked at Georgiana in shock.

"Surprised? You didn't approach me because I was a witch?"

European version chastity archway