Chapter 226: People are more likely to die than others
Four hundred years ago, the Kenyan Empire brought back cotton seeds from the outer continent.
The spinning machines and weaving machines that flowed to the inland countries of the Napoleonic continent along with cotton seeds also have a history of more than 300 years.
Similar to the history of Earth, the magical industrial technology of this world also started from the textile industry. The wealthy, powerful and well-managed nobles discovered a more effective wealth code than monopolizing the land. Factories radiated from north to south.
Of course... it is different from the history on Earth. Whether it is the new-style aristocrats who started out with the magic industry or the old-style aristocrats who have extended new paths to family assets, under the threat of the sword of Damocles of unscientific magic rules, it is impossible for them to play the sheep eat people drama as openly as old Europe on Earth.
Even the most powerful Kenyan Empire did not dare to use the British people as the cheapest substitutes like the British did in the past, and use the flesh and blood of the British people to accumulate original capital - if such a thing as a group of workers dying every three years happened on the territory of the Napalm continent, the entire city would be destroyed in a few cycles.
The reason is that no one can guarantee that a large number of literate civilians will never have access to occult texts... The number of occult sects and followers of evil gods in this world is not much less than that of the legitimate sects that can see the light of day.
It is quite ironic that the mysterious occultism that frequently causes large-scale disasters and leads to the death of many people is still the last red line for maintaining the most basic right to survival of the lower-class people.
In short, when the lords who rule a place hope to accumulate wealth through industrial development, they must find a suitable balance between reasonably exploiting workers and preventing workers from taking extreme measures (playing evil gods to sacrifice and die together) to fight oppression.
The most common practice is to define the scope of employment, concentrate the workers together and keep them for generations like servants (such as the North City factory area of Innadri), ensure that the working class has a living standard slightly higher than the general lower class but not detrimental to the interests of factory owners, maintain the working class's superficial sense of superiority over the general lower class (similar to the routine of capitalists on Earth to create the middle class and divide the proletariat), and then use trade unions to appease the workers' resistance.
Phoenix knew very well that if he needed to expand the scale of the factory in the territory, it would be necessary to provide the most basic educational resources to some civilians.
A commoner who could not read a single word could not ensure the normal operation of the expensive machines in the factory, just as a commoner woman who could not even count on her ten fingers could not become a qualified textile worker.
However, the provision of such educational resources is not very generous... After all, no matter which lord's territory it is, the funds that the consul can mobilize are limited, and these limited funds are often already marked for where to go - there are too many things that are more important and urgent than providing education for civilians.
Besides, which noble who has managed a territory for more than a hundred years doesn't have a mature factory area in his territory? Even if he wants to give educational resources to the common people, wouldn't it be enough to give them to the relatives and descendants of the existing workers?
The working families who had served the factory owners in the factory district for generations were as reliable as the hereditary servants that the nobles were accustomed to using - at least much more reliable than those temporarily recruited from outside.
Charles Rex actually asked his education officer to recruit all the civilians of school age to enroll. This sounded absurd to Ms. Phoenix Carmen Odis, a great noble and senior consul... Do you need so many workers just for this place called Innadeli?
It couldn't be that Charlie Rex didn't trust the generations of workers left by the Bartlet family and planned to train them all from scratch, right?
If that's the case...it's ridiculous.
This only proves that Charlie Rex has no means and cannot even subdue the trade union from the Bartles era.
However, considering that Rex has not caused any serious conflicts with the local nobles since he took over Innadri, this seems unlikely.
The Odysseus family would not deal with an incompetent lord whose territory had rebels every other day. If the local nobles formed a group to fight against Rex, Phoenix would not have come here at all.
After pondering for a while without any clue, Phoenix simply asked: "Ms. Sibel, do you think it makes sense to provide educational opportunities for all civilians?"
"Of course, distinguished guest." When talking about the field he was working in, Xibel was no longer sleepy and said with great energy, "If a little boy can recognize more than 200 characters, then he can understand newspapers, he will know how big the world is, how vast the universe is, he will understand many principles of dealing with people, and no longer think those street warriors are worthy of respect."
"If a girl can get the opportunity to learn literacy and arithmetic, then when she grows up, in addition to getting married, having children, and staying at home to do housework, she can participate in social work. She can become a qualified worker, a smart accountant, a sophisticated journalist, or a clerk in the city hall. Her life will have unlimited possibilities."
"If everyone could read, then when they get together, they can talk about which book is really interesting and worth reading, which celebrity said something amazing and wise, and which thing published in the newspaper is worth people's reflection and learning experience."
"I get so excited when I think that in ten years Innadri will become a place where everyone knows how to speak reason, observe etiquette and be polite!" Ms. Hibel said excitedly, holding her hands to her chest, happy like a little girl.
Phoenix's expression suddenly became extremely surprised and ridiculous.
If Phoenix had not known very well that the woman in front of her had been a prostitute, she would have suspected that she was a rich lady who was well protected by her family, just as naive and ignorant as her close friends who married early and became ladies.
Is the point whether those common people’s lives will be changed by literacy? Isn’t the important thing what kind of return the educational investment allocated to these common people can bring?
Ms. Sibel thought that Phoenix was upset because of her loss of composure, so she quickly sat up straight and said with an embarrassed smile, "I'm so sorry, I got a little excited. A noble lady like you may not understand that for ordinary families, sending children to school is a heavy burden. For example, in the city, the weekly tuition for the cheapest private classroom is fifty copper coins. If you want to go to a better place to study, even middle-class families can't afford it."
Phoenix nodded reluctantly.
"We don't have that many teachers, so we can only let the children receive instruction from one teacher in a larger classroom. The teaching content is not as in-depth as in a private classroom. We just teach them to recognize common words and do simple calculations as much as possible." Ms. Hibel sighed when she said this. "We all know that illiteracy means no future, but there are still many people who can't understand it. Many parents would rather let their children find odd jobs on the street or stay at home to do housework than let their children go to school."
"So...how did you solve this problem?" Phoenix spoke to the officer as politely as possible.
She had already determined that this woman might have some mental problems... but it would be nice if she could get some information about Innadri from her.
The Education Department that Ms. Sibel was in charge of was not a secret department. She herself often did some publicity work. She did not doubt the intentions of the noble Phoenix at all, and she talked endlessly about a bunch of their Education Department's achievements in encouraging students to study.
At first, Phoenix seemed to be listening to a joke, but soon, the highest governor of the Earldom of Odysseus sat up straight and became focused.
The lower classes are indeed easier to appease than the middle and upper classes. Just a little bit of insignificant benefits can make the lower classes, who have nothing to begin with, satisfied.
But...common people are also more difficult to deal with than the middle and upper classes, because the middle and upper classes have access to more social resources, they know what they need and what they don’t need, while common people do not have a clear understanding of their own needs.
This is not to say that the people in other worlds are extremely stupid, but that humans themselves are biologically diverse - even in China in the 21st century, there has never been a shortage of brain-destroying news.
The achievements of the Education Department in encouraging learning introduced by Officer Xibel are actually the essence of China's grassroots mass work experience provided by Zhao Zhenzhen, a political cadre .
Zhao Zhenzhen provided work instructions. Ms. Sibel is a practitioner. If something goes wrong in practice, even the best instructions will be distorted. The crooked-mouthed monk is definitely more cruel than the monster in the Sutra Burning Tower when it comes to destroying the true scriptures. The reform process in the history of China has demonstrated this point countless times.
However, anyone could go astray, but Ms. Sibel would never make such a mistake - she used to be a prostitute in a club, and apart from Innadri, there would be no other ruler who would give her the opportunity to do whatever she wanted.
Xibel used her life-burning enthusiasm to understand Zhao Zhenzhen's governance philosophy, and faithfully carried out Zhao Zhenzhen's work instructions with an attitude more devout than a fanatic; this fanaticism would make her look like an overly idealistic and naive fool, but there is no doubt... She is definitely the most favorite practitioner of all consuls, the best type of affairs officer.
Phoenix just listened to Sibel's introduction of her work results in the most plain and simple words, and couldn't help but compare the woman in front of him who had been a prostitute with the affairs officer under his command.
The result of the comparison is... there is no comparison.
If Ms. Sibel is the passing line for an officer, then all the officers under Phoenix have to pack up their things and go home to eat their own food.
This made Phoenix feel quite regretful... If this woman's background was better, even if she was just an ordinary decent woman, she might have tried to ask Charlie Rex for this woman.
Just as Phoenix was lamenting over Sibel's humble origins, the Lady of the Dead whom she had been waiting for finally arrived.
When Phoenix saw the true form of the legendary "Ms. Zhao", he was a little stunned.
The undead was very tall. It looked more like a man's skeleton than a woman. She was wearing loose clothes (whatever the undead wore was loose). She walked into the reception room with great strides, said "KABAKABA" twice to Ms. Sibel who was helping to entertain the guests, and extended her hand to Phoenix in a friendly manner.
Phoenix, not minding her dealings with the dead as much as her brother did, smiled and held out her gloved right hand.
"Ms. Zhao" took out a rhododendron badge and motioned for Phoenix to wear it on his chest.
As soon as Phoenix put on the badge, he heard an older female voice in his ear: "Hello, ma'am, my last name is Zhao."
Phoenix, who heard the voice of the undead for the first time, could not hide his surprise.
This voice... is very powerful, majestic and steady. You can tell at the first glance that it comes from someone who has been in a high position for many years.
But she was not like the older ladies Phoenix had met who deliberately put on an air of authority. Instead, she was very easy-going and friendly.
Zhao Zhenzhen pulled up her trouser legs and sat down in front of Phoenix, her two rows of big white teeth grinning. Although she had a skull face, she managed to make people feel the relaxation of being with the elders next door. She laughed and said, "Please sit down. Let's sit down and talk. There's nothing fun in Innadeli right now. You must be disappointed to have come from afar. Blame us for not hosting you well."
Phoenix sat down slowly, the expression on his face becoming more and more unnatural.
How to put it... This undead lady gave her a feeling that was clearly strange, yet vaguely familiar.
When she followed her father into the capital, the King who was meeting them in the flower hall vaguely overlapped with the undead lady in front of her.
But it was only a vague overlap, and there was still a big difference in essence - His Majesty the King's kindness had a deliberate flavor that even the little girl Phoenix could smell, while the kindness of the undead lady in front of her was impeccable, and there was no trace of acting.
If Zhao Zhenzhen knew that Phoenix compared her to the king, she would probably not feel any emotion at all.
A feudal landlord who ruled over 20 million people with a backward feudal feudal system and directly ruled over 3 million people at most, and whose professional ability was questionable, would be considered an insult to the mayor of a prefecture-level city if he were compared with him in China...
