Chapter 119 The Real France (4000 words long chapter)

"Your Highness, are you saying that blood is used to transport nutrients and oxygen?" Perna's big green eyes flashed, and her pretty face was full of seriousness. "So, if you bleed patients, it should make them more... weak?"

Joseph clapped softly: "Indeed, you discovered the truth.

"Then why are we doing bloodletting?"

"That was a mistake."

"No wonder you haven't accepted bloodletting treatment. Are all doctors wrong?" Perna nodded thoughtfully. As she spoke, she suddenly looked at Joseph and said with some hesitation, "Your Highness, if... your conclusion Isn’t it correct?”

"Studying science means being skeptical and not blindly following any authority." Joseph nodded in approval of the female doctor, and then said, "Actually, if you want to know what is right and what is wrong, it is very simple, just do a double-blind experiment."

"Double-blind experiment? What is that?"

Joseph said: “To put it simply, we find some patients with the same disease and similar physical fitness, divide them into two groups, and cannot see each other.

"Then one group of patients will be treated with bloodletting, and the other group will not be treated with bloodletting. Which group of patients recovers first will tell whether bloodletting is effective."

Perna copied these contents into her notebook and nodded in surprise: "This is indeed a very feasible test method. Holy Virgin Mary, no one thought of doing this in the past hundreds of years! In case of bloodletting Therapy really only has side effects..."

Her eyes immediately lit up: "Your Highness, maybe we can also use this... oh, double-blind experiment to test whether a certain drug is effective, or whether certain factors will affect the condition."

Joseph looked approvingly at her analogy: "You are right, these can indeed be verified with double-blind experiments."

Perna was so excited that her hand holding the pen was trembling, and her eyes were full of light as she stared at Joseph: "You, you are so amazing! How did you come up with this?"

She looked at the notes again: "Your Highness, can I tell my father about this method?"

"sure."

While the two were talking, there was a "crackling" sound from the top of the carriage. It was obviously raining heavily outside.

Not long after, the car slowly stopped. Guard Captain Kesode shouted out of the car window: "Your Highness, the road ahead is soaked by the rain. I'm afraid it's not advisable to continue moving forward."

Joseph was helpless and had no choice but to find a place nearby to take shelter from the rain.

This is the first time he has left Paris. He thought that even if other places were worse than Paris, they would not be too far behind. However, he did not expect that within a hundred miles of the Paris region, everything looked like a remote place. Looks like it.

For example, the section of road we are walking on now obviously had corners cut during construction. The road surface was loose and loose, and the slightly lower areas immediately became difficult to walk when soaked by rainwater.

Especially for carriages, if they are forced to pass through, they will most likely get stuck in the mud and be unable to move.

In order to speed up his journey this time, he specially asked not to let officials along the way greet him, but he was unexpectedly blocked here by heavy rain.

After a while, the cavalry who went out to inquire reported back that there was a small village to the east. Kesode hurriedly turned the convoy and rushed to take shelter from the rain.

After Joseph's carriage got stuck in the mud five or six times, it finally came to a dozen dilapidated farmhouses with thatched roofs.

Xod chose the largest farmhouse, knocked on the door, and gave the owner 8 livres. The latter was immediately surprised and thanked him profusely.

When Joseph entered the house, he was greeted by a musty smell. The room was not spacious, with newspapers taped on the walls, and the only furniture was a wooden cabinet and a crooked wooden table. Fortunately, it was able to provide shelter from the wind and rain.

Because the accommodation fee given by Kesode was too much, the peasant woman felt that she must entertain the distinguished guests well, so she took out the best food at home, and asked her children to borrow a lot of things from the neighbors, and finally made a "summer" meal. The food was carefully brought out from the inner room.

"Oh, no, we brought food..."

Kesode stepped forward to stop the peasant woman, and Joseph saw the nervous and disappointed expression on her face. Not wanting to offend her kindness, he ordered the captain of the guard to let her bring the food.

Emang dutifully tasted the white bread, bacon, roast chicken and vegetable soup on the table, and then nodded to the crown prince to indicate that he could eat it.

Joseph took a few bites. The taste was very bland, but it was not difficult to swallow.

Quesold and Emang also ate some, but Perna was the least picky about food and almost ate all her portion. She also went to the back room to praise the hostess's cooking skills.

Sitting there was quite boring, so Joseph started chatting with the man of the house: "Do you know that the government allows potatoes to be grown?"

The farmer bowed and nodded very restrainedly: "I know, sir. Father Marmant told me about it and said it was a gift from the Lord."

“So are you going to plant some?”

The farmer shook his head.

"Why not plant it? You only need to repay two-thirds after harvesting. It's very cost-effective."

The farmer held it in for about ten seconds before whispering: "Viscount Colbert said, it's best not to plant that thing..."

Kesode hurriedly leaned into Joseph's ear and said: "Your Highness, I just inquired that Colbert is the landowner here. Everyone around here is his tenant farmer."

Joseph nodded and asked the farmer: "But isn't it up to the farmer to decide what to plant?"

The farmer said dullly: "But Viscount Colbert wouldn't let me."

Joseph sighed. In recent years, tribute farmers - the largest category of tenant farmers - said they could farm the land freely and only needed to pay rent, but in fact they still had great influence on the feudal owners who owned the land. Attachment.

For example, they could not stay away from their land at will, and had to bear a lot of labor from the feudal lord. Even disputes could be adjudicated by the feudal lord - if the feudal lord lived nearby.

Therefore, these tenant farmers are usually less likely to go against the wishes of the big landowners. The old nobles' boycott of potatoes also resulted in a large number of farmers being unable to grow potatoes.

Joseph chatted with the farmer for a while and got a general understanding of the family's living conditions.

The farmer's name is Gaizka. He farms 27 acres of Viscount Colbert's land, and his annual grain income is around 200 livres.

However, after paying Colbert's land rent, the family also had to pay a long list of taxes such as poll tax, military service tax, tithe tax, twenty-one tax, road labor tax, etc.

Later in life, you have to pay mill tax, mill tax, salt tax, commodity tax, toll tax, etc.

The rest is basically enough for the family to eat black bread every day.

As for the balance, Gaizka said that droughts have occurred frequently in the past few years, resulting in poor harvests. The family has no balance for a long time, and now it owes nearly 50 livres to others.

Because Gaizka is relatively strong, his family is relatively well-off in this village. According to him, one-fifth of the people in the village cannot afford to eat every meal.

Joseph lamented in his heart that there are more than 20 million sharecroppers like Gaizka in France. Once they encounter a serious natural disaster, they have almost no ability to withstand. At that time, in order to prevent themselves and their families from starving to death, they will definitely join the riots without hesitation.

He heaved a sigh of relief. Whether it was France's huge debt or the livelihood of the bottom farmers, in order to solve these problems, many difficult changes must be made, such as promoting industrial development, adjusting land distribution, and weakening the influence of the great nobility and the church. Feudal privileges...

He was thinking in his mind and walked to the window. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Mrs. Gazka inside carefully putting away the leftover food that he and others had just eaten. She poured the remaining half bowl of vegetable soup that Eman had eaten into the pot, then added water and a few vegetable leaves, turning it into a large pot of soup. Another piece of bacon the size of a walnut was carefully cut into almost transparent slices and sandwiched between brown bread.

Two eight or nine-year-old children watched eagerly as their mother was busy, wiping the corners of their mouths from time to time, as if they were seeing the most delicious delicacies in the world.

Joseph was a little sad. In Paris, he saw all the powerful people fighting for power, the noble ladies' extravagance, and the nobles' dances and salons day and night. But today at Gaizka's house, we saw what France really looks like.

Poverty, dilapidation, old-fashioned, crumbling...

At this moment, there was a knock on the door behind him.

Gazka hurriedly opened the door and let a small man in a long gray coat into the room. He said respectfully: "Mr. Barbo, why are you here?"

The man named Babo nodded and dealt with him, then went straight to Emang and bowed humbly: "Sir, I am the consul here, you can just call me Babo. I don't know if you are trying to hit me. Where did it come from?"

The name Archon sounds fancy, but he is actually the official responsible for managing the lower-level parishes - that is, villages. Equivalent to the village chief.

As Babo was talking, the parish priest also heard that a big shot came to the village with many attendants, and he rushed to Gaizka's house.

"Master, is there anything I can do for you?" Barbo regarded Emang as the core of these people and asked with a smile on his face.

Emman saw from the door opened behind the priest that the rain outside had stopped, and pointed in the direction of the previously damaged road: "Mr. Barbo, the road outside the village has been damaged by the rain. Could you please let me go?" Will people be able to repair it there?"

"Oh, sure, of course."

Barbo nodded repeatedly, then turned to the priest and said: "Father Marmant, please entertain the distinguished guests, and I will lead people to repair the road."

He took two steps and then turned back to gesture to Gaizka: "Did you hear that? The road is going to be built, so come with us."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Barber."

Gazka responded and went to get the coat hanging on the wall.

Joseph asked casually: "Mr. Gaizka, how much salary can you get for road construction work like this?"

"Wage?" Babo immediately replied enthusiastically, "This gentleman just built a road and didn't get much wages."

"Oh?" Joseph frowned slightly, "The road outside the village also belongs to Viscount Colbert?"

Barbo shook his head: "That's not true."

"So did Mr. Gaizka pay the road labor tax?"

Babo was startled, nodded and said: "Hand it over, hand it over."

"Since you paid the road labor tax and it is not the lord's labor, why not pay him the labor for building the road?"

"this……"

Joseph looked at him with a smile and said, "Isn't Mr. Barber not familiar with the laws and regulations?"

Barbo was shocked. As a French official, you can be incompetent, but you must not be unfamiliar with laws, rules, etc., otherwise you will lose your job!

He shook his head hastily: "No, no, you are right, wages should indeed be paid. Ah, do you think 2 sous per person is okay?"

"You just follow the rules."

"Oh, yes, yes. Follow the rules."

Gaizka bowed gratefully to Joseph and followed the consul out in a hurry.

Three hours later, Joseph's convoy drove back toward Bordeaux along the road paved with branches and gravel.

Gaizka and his wife watched on the roadside as the escorting cavalry disappeared, and then they returned home.

Mrs. Gazka was about to cut some black bread to satisfy her husband's hunger after he had been busy for a long time, but suddenly she found a small cloth bag on the stove.

She hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to carefully open the cloth bag, and immediately exclaimed: "God! Adam! Come and see!"

Gazka ran into the inner room and saw his wife holding a cloth bag and a handful of silver coins.

He took the bag and found a note inside, and he quickly opened it and read it: Mr. Gaizka, thank you for telling me another side of France. Please don’t refuse these thoughts.

He looked in the direction Joseph was leaving, crossed himself on his chest, and murmured: "May God bless you, kind-hearted young master."

Madame Gazka quietly counted the silver coins and found a total of 50 livres. She excitedly pulled her husband and jumped up and down, with tears in her eyes: "Adam, we can repay our debt!"

You know, they borrowed a debt with an interest rate as high as 15%. If they can't pay it back quickly, given their family's situation, they may never be able to pay it off in the future...

Eight days later.

On the avenue north of the Bordeaux Exchange Palace, a large number of people gathered on both sides of the road, eagerly waiting for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to drive by.

Soon, several carriages with elegant shapes and luxurious workmanship came from a distance, and people immediately burst into shouts and waved their arms vigorously.

In a car in the middle, the Governor of Bordeaux, Count Moncelot, said respectfully to Joseph: "Your Highness, most of them arrived last night. If you really need it, you can indeed hold a meeting at any time. However, the banquet is already prepared. Or you can first..."

Joseph smiled and nodded: "Thank you for your hard work, Count Monslow."

He looked at his pocket watch and saw that it was now half past one in the afternoon, so he said, "Then let's start at three o'clock."

"As you wish, Your Highness."

The carriage drove through the crowd, and Joseph waved to the citizens who welcomed him from time to time. The person arranged by Eman was on a carriage at the back, throwing change, candies, etc. into the crowd as usual.

The heart of Bordeaux, the Place de la Bourse, has been taken over by the guards led by Quesaud. Joseph did not even go to the villa prepared for him by Monslow to rest. Instead, he went straight to the Exchange Palace to prepare for the three o'clock meeting.

The potatoes would be arriving soon, and he didn't want to delay for a minute.

Thanks to: Tianwu and the Arbitration Agency for their generous rewards for this book! The young author is grateful! mwah!