Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 547: The Fall of the Outer City
Are things bad? The answer is probably worse than we think.

The empire did not collapse, but various parts of it were close to collapse.

The cessation of colonial trade caused a large number of factories to lose their source of raw materials and their markets. As a result, large-scale shutdowns and unemployment have become the mainstream in the empire today.

Other cities may be slightly better off because they are smaller, their industries are not as developed, and the impact they have suffered is not as severe.

But for Langton, even though the city itself still has a lot of demand, the shutdown and closure of a large number of factories and the unemployment of workers are the main social phenomena in Langton today.

As for the big factories? Not to mention that those important big factories were on the list of those to be relocated to the North from the beginning.

Even if they were not on the list at the beginning, after knowing the news that the end of the world was approaching, they were able to find a way to move their industries to the north to avoid a greater impact.

Most of the ones that actually went bankrupt were small and medium-sized factories that were not strong enough to resist risks. They were neither important enough to be on the government’s list, nor did they have the strength to move to the north on their own.

So when there were problems with raw materials and markets, the demise of these factories was foreseeable.

The closure of the factory is not an isolated social phenomenon. The social problems caused by the subsequent unemployment of a large number of workers are the main reasons why the entire Langton looks bleak and dilapidated, and even the entire city seems to be dying.

The reason is very simple. The main source of income for workers is their own salary, and most workers of this era are extremely poor. Their monthly salary may not be enough to support their family's food and drink. Family members need to go out to work to supplement the family income, which is barely enough for the family to live on.

One can imagine how these workers’ lives are going to be after they suddenly lost their source of income.

No matter how much the church gives or wants to help these people, their power is ultimately limited, and they can only prioritize ensuring that devout believers can survive.

At this point, even though the church knew that the workers who lost their jobs would become fertile ground for the growth of evil cults due to lack of livelihood, they could do nothing about it.

Apart from the factory left behind by the genius Northern Earl that was able to produce compressed biscuits using alchemy, which maintained the food rations of some people and solved the employment problems of a small number of people, no one else could even think of how to improve the living conditions of these unemployed workers.

It’s not that they don’t know how to do it, but that they can’t do it.

The easiest way to solve the problem of unemployment among workers is to give them jobs, but the problem is that there are not so many jobs available in the Empire and Langton now.
Even if each person only needs one ration per day to feed themselves and their family, even compressed biscuits that require almost no raw materials cannot meet everyone's needs.

Not to mention that there simply isn’t that much work to be done right now.

The church does plan to build new churches and shelters on a large scale, but the problem is that even if three people are hired to work in three shifts for each position, there will still be a large number of workers who cannot find jobs.

After all, only a few people can have a stable job to support their families.

This has resulted in a very bad phenomenon, that is, although the inner city is bleak and dilapidated, at least the city still maintains basic order, and some shelters that are being renovated and built can provide work and livelihoods for some people, barely maintaining their basic lives.

As for the outer city area...When Perfect was in charge of the municipal affairs of Longton, he had dispatched troops and knights to be stationed in the outer city area to maintain local order and prevent problems in the outer city area from affecting the inner city area.

But now, the defense lines of these armies and knights have shrunk. They have directly abandoned the outer city area and retreated to the inner city area to rebuild a new defense line.

It's not that these people don't care about the lives of the people in the outer city area, but the outer city area has now completely fallen into the sphere of influence of the evil god sect, and even the church is unable to conquer it at this time.

At this moment, for the church, as long as these evil sects do not cause major chaos, or simply offer sacrifices to summon the evil gods to come, the church is too lazy to care.

After all, the current church is already in a state of overwhelm. They can barely take care of themselves, so how can they have the extra energy to deal with the evil cult in the outer city?
Even though Perfectoct had transferred the God-killing Armor from the North, it was used to deal with the descent of the Old Gods, not to suppress the people in the outer city.

Although those evil god sects are indeed maintaining order in the outer city area, since they are called evil god sects, one can imagine what their style is like.

They would indeed give the people enough food to survive, but the price was dedication and sacrifice in addition to belief in the old gods.

It is easy to make a donation, offering the last bit of what you have to the gods is not something that is too difficult to accept for the people in the outer city who are basically left with only their lives to rot.

Moreover, the evil cult did not want their little shabby assets, but needed them to reshape the statues of the old gods, rebuild the temples, and restore their kingdom of God and faith on earth.

From the perspective of these people, this is not unacceptable. As long as they can have something to eat and as long as they can survive, it doesn't matter who they work for.

But sacrifice is different, it requires placing offerings on the altar.

As for the sacrifice... Langton's grain production has been decreasing since three years ago. How can we expect to have extra grain to feed livestock when people are starving? It would have been eaten up long ago!
As for the practice of cannibalism, it has happened before, but it was stopped by the evil cult.

Don't get me wrong, they didn't mean well or want to save those kids.

It is because pure children are the best sacrifices to the old gods. It is a waste to let these people eat them in turn. Moreover, how many pounds of meat can a child have?

When eating, adults should be eaten first, while children are gathered together, and after special feeding and training, they become sacrifices used in various ceremonies and sacrificial occasions.

Even worse, they would use various means to induce believers to actively and voluntarily become sacrifices, dedicating their entire body, mind, flesh and soul to the old gods.

Don’t think this is outrageous. Sometimes the price of a life is very cheap, even cheaper than you can imagine.

There are many people in this world who are willing to make sacrifices or give everything they have for certain things.

(End of this chapter)