Lord of Industrialization

The sun sets earlier in the valley than in the plains. The smoke rises from the cooking pots. The village has darkened. The snow on the top of the mountain in the distance is the same color as the sunset.

The shepherd took the time to refill the water tank in the sheepfold, put new rock salt blocks on the wall when they were gone, and finally closed the heavy wooden door tightly.

Dinner in the house was ready. In the steaming pot, there were cooked Elizabethan potatoes cut into pieces, a handful of peas, some pieces of mountain wild fruits, and a small cup of rock salt dissolved in it to let the sediment settle. Filter the brine at the bottom.

Next to the stove is the dining table - a large tree trunk cut in half, fixed with stones at the bottom, and the chairs beside it are just tree stumps.

There was a candlestick-shaped magic lamp placed on the dining table, and the light was very soft. The little boy of this family angrily told the guests staying overnight that the neighbor who went to work in Wesson used this lamp and five pieces of cloth to kill his sister. Bought.

The shepherd slapped his son and said sternly: "What are you talking about? Do you remember what you have to do before eating?

The little boy immediately sat up straight and recited loudly: "You must wear a safety helmet and all protective equipment. Safety comes first in the construction area..."

The two guests at the table had question marks on their heads.

It was okay at first, but then the little boy memorized it again: "Working against the rules is suicide, commanding against the rules is murder, not pointing out the violations is ignoring death, and doing nothing against the rules is a suicide attempt..."

"You must pay attention to safety when working outside. If something happens, someone will sleep with your wife or beat your children..."

Frederick frowned, suspecting that he was shouting slogans at the morning shift meeting at the construction site.

Having said that, is it really okay to let children carry these?

The shepherd waited for his son to finish carrying, then gave him another slap on the back of the head, and said: "Your brother-in-law took Sister Wen to enjoy the blessings of Boss Wesson. How many women in the surrounding mountains wanted to marry him, if he hadn't been captured by the master's horse that year. When he broke his leg, it was your sister who brought him food, so it’s your sister’s turn to do such a good thing?"

"Do you think your brother-in-law is an ordinary person? He can tie 60 steel bars in one minute and won first place in the competition. Boss Wesson personally gave him a thermos cup."

"That thermos cup is so expensive. On a snowy day, I poured hot water into it in the morning and it was still warm in the evening. I had a hard time getting one. Your brother-in-law's one has an inscription from Boss Wesson on it."

"Is this lamp for us? Isn't it for you to study? Have you finished memorizing the ten words today? If you go to Boss Wesson's and you don't know what to say, they have work and can eat every day. Fried chicken nuggets, no one even wants you to peel Elizabeth potatoes at Shantang.”

"I'll keep those cloths for you, and I'll make you new clothes when you go to Boss Wesson's place."

"'One Hand' is back today. I'll take you to his place after dinner. If you don't finish memorizing the words, watch how I whip you."

While the shepherd was training his son, his mother-in-law prepared dinner. Each person only had a bowl of stew in the pot, and the little boy and the two guests had some extra cheese made from goat's milk.

Frederick said to the shepherd: "The child is still young, so there is no need to be so strict."

The shepherd shook his head and said: "Not too young. He will be ten years old when the flowers bloom on the grass next spring. Boss Wesson will be able to lead the army in war when he is ten years old. I am going to go to Boss Wesson's place when his hair grows. Work, but he can’t even tie the steel bars well.”

Boss Wesson himself blinked, good guy, he has become "someone else's child."

Sanna held back her laughter and lowered her head to eat her dinner.

Frederick asked the shepherd: "Who is that 'one-hand' you just mentioned?"

There was a middle-aged man in the same motorcade who had lost his right hand and kept a straight face. He thought he looked familiar but couldn't remember.

Shepherd replied: "I heard that he is in charge of the construction site of the Great Library."

Frederick thought about it and found out that he had indeed heard that there was a safety officer at the Edelweiss Library construction site who had lost his left hand. He was a very strict guy.

He said: "The children are still young, and there are no jobs for eleven or twelve-year-olds in Wisconsin."

"You can ask Dushou and your son-in-law. You can let him study in a literacy class first, and then go to a technical school for a few years. When he is fourteen or fifteen years old, he will be able to find a job easily."

The shepherd shook his head and sighed, said nothing more, and ate his dinner slowly.

Frederick understood, there was no money.

The children of the poor have already headed their own families, and children as young as seven or eight have already begun to do some farm work within their ability. Such families cannot support a student who is out of work.

He asked the shepherd: "Then you can also go out to work."

The shepherd shook his head and said, "I am the youngest in our family and cannot leave."

"It's not like farming. I can go to the city in winter and the sheep will die."

After some questioning, Frederick learned about their tradition. When the family could no longer survive, the older children went out to make a living, leaving the youngest at home.

Population is an important resource, but overpopulation will cause instability, so the lords here have come up with ways to organize the excess population to be consumed as mercenaries and make some money, and on the other hand to ensure that people do not It will all be gone.

Frederick stopped mentioning this and asked what specialties there were in the mountains.

"There's nothing in the mountains." The shepherd shook his head, "There are everything here and elsewhere."

He had never traveled far in his life. He just felt that the things he saw in the past were common everywhere, and coupled with the way businessmen used to lower prices, he didn't think there was anything that could be called a specialty.

The little food in the bowl was eaten very quickly. After finishing the meal, the shepherd clasped his hands and closed his eyes, looking up and said piously: "Thank the God of Light for guiding Mrs. Wesson to let Boss Wesson find Elizabeth potatoes so that we can have full stomachs." , devout believers, please bless Boss Wesson."

After praying, the shepherd said to Frederick: "We started planting Elizabeth potatoes here a few years ago. Since then, not so many people have died of hunger. Women can eat more milk and their children can survive, so my family is preparing to regenerate." one."

"By the way, I heard from the priest that they are planning to canonize Mrs. Wesson."

Boss Wesson blinked, and it took him a while to realize that the "Mrs. Wesson" he was talking about was his grandmother.

When Mrs. Elisabeth von Wesson died, she left a box of gems to Frederick. Frederick used this to trick Mrs. Sophie into running east, but unexpectedly brought back potatoes. Frederick named the potatoes " Elizabeth potato”.

This story spread with the promotion of potatoes. It seems that the Light Church also realized the importance of potatoes and included this matter in the church's propaganda.

Frederick figured it out. He could not escape the title of saint due to his widespread printing of the Holy Scriptures and the construction of the Germain Cathedral. The key was whether he could be canonized alive. If grandma was also canonized for this, then Wesson The family is the "four generations and three saints" of three generations, which has never happened since the establishment of the Church of Light.

Frederick no longer thought about it. The Cyclops incident he had caused last year was not over yet. There was an undercurrent in the church, and there would be no good fruits to be gained if he was involved.

After dinner, Frederick and Sanna went to the shepherd's son-in-law's house next door to rest.

Frederick remembered this man. He won the first place in the steel work group in the construction skills competition the year before last. His legs were a bit inconvenient. He wore shoes with one side high and one side low to balance his walking.

He was an orphan, and when he was not at home, his father-in-law and mother-in-law rented the house to businessmen who came and went to subsidize the family.

What Frederick didn't expect was that the bed in this family was a box bed. This kind of bed was surrounded by thick wooden boards that could be removed in the summer and turned into a large box after the wooden boards were installed in the winter.

The origin of box beds cannot be verified. They are very popular in the Helvetic Federation and northern rural areas. People with affluent incomes have them in their homes. In addition to keeping warm and windproof, they can also protect against attacks by wild animals such as wolves and bears. Prisoners of war took them Brought to Wesson.

For a carpenter, a simple box bed only requires nailing a few wooden boards and making vents, and the surrounding area can also be used to make cabinets to store valuables such as clothes. With this layer of cabinet insulation, it can be used in the cold without a stove. maintain adequate temperatures in winter.

At that time, Frederick also promoted the hot kang, but after carpenters learned to make box beds, thanks to cheap wooden boards and iron nails, it spread rapidly, and the hot kang that had to be learned from scratch disappeared from the market.

Nowadays, many people in cities and rural areas of Wessen have box beds in their homes, and in some places there are even "capsule hotels" derived from them.

This box bed is big enough to sleep two people, with a partition in the middle that can sleep another child, hooks to hang a baby's cradle, and even a small magic lamp.

Frederick estimated that all the prize money the man won in the competition was used to build this set of luxurious furniture.

Sanna rarely spoke after entering the village. She was standing in the room at a loss, with her head lowered and her face as red as a ripe apple.

Frederick heard movement in the distance and said, "I'm going to go outside for a walk."

After he finished speaking, he ran away, leaving the girl to calm down and collect herself.