Chapter 30 What the people want

They put on a brand new bandage for Matthew and gave him a shot of morphine, and assigned a nurse to be on call.

In exchange, the Hebrew doctor gave Charles a long list of supplies and manpower needed by the field hospital:

Supplies include tents, beds, quilts, bandages, medical cotton, tourniquets, hemostatic powder, morphine, etc.

In addition to doctors and nurses, there are cleaners, life care, cooks, helpers...

Looking at these lists, Charles understood why the field hospital collapsed. They were almost working with a hair hanging a hundred pounds of stone.

Charles assigned Joseph to Paris to purchase supplies, and Deyoka volunteered to organize the staff.

Although Joseph was reluctant to leave Matthew, he agreed without hesitation when he thought that these supplies were also urgently needed by Matthew.

"Don't worry, Master Charles!" Joseph said, "I will definitely bring all these supplies back, nothing is missing!"

Deyoka wrote Joseph a check for 100,000 francs and said, "You can drive my car there, and if the money is not enough, ask me again!"

"Thank you, Mr. Deyoka, thank you very much!" Joseph took the check with both hands, his eyes full of gratitude. He gently took off his hat to greet Deyoka and Charles, and gently patted Matthew's pale hand on the bed.

"Don't worry, father!" Matthew comforted, "I will be fine, Charles is with me!"

Joseph nodded, and then took the two people to the Ford car.

"Wait!" Deyoka chased from behind: "Take me to the town first, I will go there to find a group of people!"

When Matthew and Charles were the only ones left in the tent, Matthew sighed, and his smile disappeared instantly, replaced by paleness and powerlessness: "I know they amputated my legs, Charles!"

Only in front of Charles would Matthew completely put down his disguise.

Charles was a little surprised. Joseph had been hiding this from Matthew. He was worried that Matthew could not accept this reality.

Matthew smiled lightly: "Of course I know, Charles, that's my leg, I can't feel it anymore!"

"So, you are pretending?" Charles asked: "To reassure your father?"

Matthew did not answer, his eyes were empty and a little sad: "Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if I died on the battlefield..."

"Do you think so?" Charles looked at Matthew angrily: "You were defeated so easily?"

Matthew smiled bitterly, looking at Charles with contempt:

"You capitalists will not understand us poor people!"

"Do you know what they used to exchange my leg? 130 francs, Charles, 130 francs to buy my leg!"

Matthew was talking about the pension. France gave 260 francs of pension to the fallen soldiers, and half of it to the disabled.

"What can 130 francs do?" Matthew continued, "If you live frugally, it may be enough for two years, but what about the future?"

Charles then realized that Matthew was calculating the economic account. He was considering the lives of his father and his family. From this perspective, death is indeed better than disability. Death can get more money and there are no "sequelae", while disability not only makes less money, but also has many troubles in the future.

"Matthew..."

"No!" Matthew stopped Charles with an angry look: "I don't need it, Charles!"

He seemed to be able to guess what Charles was going to say: "Come on, Matthew, come to my factory, I will give you a job!"

He doesn't need the sympathy of others, even if that person is Charles.

Charles didn't say that.

He moved a stool and sat at the head of Matthew's bed, saying expressionlessly: "I won't pity you, Matthew! I look down on you!"

"What?" Matthew couldn't believe what he heard.

Charles told Matthew the truth: "I asked the Hebrew doctor, your leg didn't need to be amputated, but because of the shortage of manpower, they had to do this to have time to save other people..."

"What?" Matthew looked at Charles in disbelief: "They amputated... amputated my leg just because of this?"

This saves a little time for the doctor, but it is a lifetime for Matthew.

Charles ignored Matthew's expression and continued:

"Do you know who made you like this?"

"It was the capitalists who were reluctant to spend money on the field hospital. If there were more doctors, more medicine or more manpower, your leg might not be like this!"

Charles emphasized:

"They ruined your life, and you only thought about how to live on 130 francs in the future!"

"You want me to pity you and sympathize with you?"

"No, Matthew! I look down on you!"

"They defeated you easily, and thoroughly!"

Matthew gritted his teeth, cold sweat on his forehead: "But what can I do..."

"Stand up!" Charles interrupted Matthew's words, his tone firm: "Fight them, settle accounts with them, and make them pay the price!"

Matthew gasped for breath, the quilt on his chest rose and fell because of his rapid breathing, and beads of sweat flowed down his pale face.

He looked very uncomfortable, but his originally dead eyes gradually flickered with light, at first just a few sparks, and soon became brighter and brighter.

Feeling the movement behind him, Charles turned his head in confusion and found that many nurses and wounded people had gathered outside the tent, including the Hebrew doctor.

The tent had no soundproofing effect, so Ciel's words had spread to the surroundings and spread by word of mouth among the wounded. They stood up one by one and gathered around Ciel regardless of their pain:

"Master Charles is right! They can't do this to us. They let us fight on the battlefield, but they are unwilling to give us the most basic medical care!"

"They are still enjoying life! They use the money they earned from exploiting us to enjoy themselves under our protection!"

"We've had enough! Master Charles, please lead us to settle accounts with those capitalists!"

"Yes, you are a conscientious capitalist, and we are willing to follow you!"

…

Charles was startled by them. What he said just now was more to arouse Matthew's fighting spirit. Unexpectedly, the wounded were so excited that they were about to organize to resist the capitalists.

This is a riot, and the capitalists will immediately mobilize troops to suppress it. Such things often happen during this period!

With their strength, doing so would be almost suicide.

Charles waved quickly and said:

"Listen, gentlemen!"

"The top priority now is to recover from our injuries. Only when we are strong can we continue to fight against the enemy!"

"We can't rush, otherwise we will only be hurt!"

…

The wounded were silent, knowing that Ciel was right.

However, these people will soon be living on the streets or even starving to death due to poverty, so what kind of struggle can they have?

Ciel seemed to see through their thoughts, and then added:

"I happened to buy a motorcycle factory, and the workers are almost gone. If you are willing, you can work in my factory in the future!"

The wounded soldiers were surprised and happy, but also a little worried:

"However, many of us are short of hands and feet..."

"Don't worry!" Charles said, "I will find a suitable position for you. Believe me, you are heroes of France and you should not be treated like this!"

The wounded were jubilant. They endured the pain with tears in their eyes and paid tribute to Charles. In their eyes, Master Charles was simply a savior, including Matthew. The doctors and nurses were also moved to the point where their eyes were red.

Only Charles knew that he was doing this not only for Matthew, but also for the wounded.

No one knows the importance of human hearts better than Charles, which is the key to fighting the capitalists!

The cheapest and most effective way to win people's hearts is to "provide help in times of need" rather than "icing on the cake"!