Chapter 1147 Impure straight line

On the map of North America, the national boundary between the United States and Canada is a straight line, and the state boundaries are almost always straight lines. Some state boundaries are even directly divided by longitude and latitude lines.

This is completely different from the way in Eurasia where mountains, rivers, etc. are used as national boundaries.

The Americans deal with the "problem" simply and crudely, and even the ceasefire line on the Korean peninsula is set in this way.

In the second half of the 18th century, the French were obsessed with straight lines. Officials responsible for planning took it for granted that straight lines were the shortest distances.

Britain and France have been secretly competing, whether in the New World or in Europe, to see who can grow trade faster.

Saving transportation time is undoubtedly a way to save costs and increase your competitiveness.

This beautiful idea has encountered many problems in practice. When officials draw a straight line on the map, regardless of whether it encounters ravines or private houses, as long as it hinders road construction, all will be demolished.

Of course, compensation must be paid when someone else's house is demolished, but not everyone can get it. After the revolution, the new government that took over found that many people's land compensation had not yet been paid.

Through this incident, people learned a truth: when public interests need to destroy personal interests, personal interests are insignificant.

People take this to heart and apply it to others for their own benefit.

In the past, every parish set up a charitable foundation to provide relief to residents on designated occasions according to the intention of the founder. There was such a small town in the Seine province of France described by Balzac, which had a magnificent almshouse to house the elderly and the mentally ill.

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The Saltpeter House in Paris is another name for the women's almshouse. In addition to taking in elderly women, it also takes in "mentally ill" women.

No matter how beautiful a girl is, if she has syphilis, she basically has to go to that kind of place. If syphilis invades the brain, then he or she will look like they are crazy.

The La Traviata written by Xiao Dumas suffered from tuberculosis, which was a relatively "aesthetic" way to die. This woman who had fallen into prostitution had a large number of followers and countless lovers, who were always ready to spend a lot of money on her while she was still healthy.

When she got sick, she disappeared.

But she is still much better than Fantine written by Victor Hugo. She is passionate and naive, and she truly loves a college student and commits herself to him.

It's a pity that this "scholar" was a frivolous person who took advantage of the situation. He showed false affection to her and soon left her. Finally, he was reduced to selling his hair and teeth.

A lively girl became haggard and terminally ill. The society not only showed no sympathy for her, but also suffered discrimination.

This is the case in the cold capitalist world. If the Count of Monte Cristo had not discovered the wealth, he would still have to return to human society in poverty, and he would still not be able to complete his legendary revenge.

The same money that was once used as relief funds was also misappropriated by managers. In the story of Oliver Twist, Oliver not only did not receive proper care in the relief home, but was also forced to do child labor. These children in the developmental period

The children were not clothed and had no food to eat all day long, but the stewards were all full of fat and lived like "respectable people".

They only seemed to cope when the inspection came, wiping the faces of the orphans who hadn't had a bath in a long time to make them look cleaner.

Saltpeter can be used to make ice. In the eyes of "gentlemen", spirits and ice represent "civilization".

Sometimes just chatting and drinking is boring. Inviting two or three social celebrities can not only liven up the atmosphere, but also be pleasing to the eye.

This is an era where the God of Love favors handsome and wealthy Gods. As long as you have "diamonds" you can easily win the heart of a lady, so why risk your life like a fool?

In the end, all that was left of La Traviata were countless jewels, each with the initials of a different person's name on them. Dumas was full of infinite sympathy for the girl.

But she was indeed much luckier than Fantine. She didn't even have a diamond ring to accompany the college student, and she could only pawn her hair and teeth.

Human dignity, love, and justice all become irrelevant in the face of money.

The nobles despised merchants and felt that doing business was despicable. This thought made them unwilling to engage in business. Moreover, they had so much expenses to maintain a luxurious life. Some nobles had to put down their airs and marry wealthy businessmen.

Ross and Carl in Titanic are such a combination. The British aristocrats are actually more proud than the French aristocrats. However, the British know how to "compromise" when facing some acute issues, which allows the aristocracy and the constitutional monarchy to continue, unlike France.

The whole thing was turned upside down.

In a country where there is money and power, a person's importance is somewhat related to the wealth he possesses, so people in the upper class are always on tenterhooks, worried that they will fall from the clouds if they lose their money.

The reason why the gold diggers were eager to leave Europe may be that they were fed up with the "etiquette" of touching the brim of their hat before speaking, and the privileges of the nobility.

When they arrived in the New World, they could live a "rough" life, and they could become their own masters even if they couldn't find gold.

In addition to bringing pleasure, money can also bring power. The privileges of the nobility allow them to directly participate in politics, instead of secretly controlling the political power through the operation of money like financiers and bankers.

The aristocracy on the eve of the French Revolution gave up not only this direct power to participate in politics, but also the indirect power of money.

They have the territory left by their ancestors to sell, and with the money they can talk to writers and musicians in the salon, and enjoy rich spiritual civilization and enjoyment.

French aristocrats respected writers and gave them material support. It was precisely because of this that many excellent works appeared in the French literary world during that period.

These writers used their own pens to record the customs and customs of France at that time, and used their own imagination to write intoxicating stories. They replaced the alchemists and astrologers and became the guests of the nobles.

It is difficult for the British to understand what the third estate in France is, because the third estate is mixed with declining nobles and wealthy merchants.

An aristocratic life requires financial support. If the gold diggers make a fortune, they will also need commodities such as lace, cigars, and spirits.

After the merchants have money, they will in turn ask the nobles to learn how to live like them, but the nobles' attitude towards the merchants has always been arrogant.

A gold prospector comes to the New World with nothing. He naturally needs a pickaxe and a shovel to dig for gold. Businessmen will still try their best to squeeze out 6 cents of profit from the meager income of 1 dollar.

If being vegetarian could save costs, then the pickaxe merchant would become a vegetarian.

How many gold diggers are there from Europe to the New World? Are they millions or tens of millions? If each gold digger buys a pickaxe from him, ten thousand pickaxes can earn 600, and one million pickaxes can earn 600,000.

Ten thousand.

The businessman's mind is full of calculations, and he has no idea that he has become the boss in the Christmas carol who is reluctant to add a piece of coal to the fire for his employees in his office.

His nephew invited him to a Christmas Eve party, but he thought that his nephew was trying to take advantage of him and would inherit his inheritance in the future.

The people of the parish asked him to give some Christmas dinner to the poor, but he ruthlessly refused.

A rich, ruthless and selfish miser who was unwilling to ask for anything from beggars met three Christmas elves on Christmas Eve, and they allowed him to see his past, present and future.

Although the clerk with a pitiful salary had no gifts or turkey on Christmas, the whole family had happy smiles on their faces.

The spirit of the future showed the miser how lonely he was without any relatives or friends to see him.

Even his servants stole his things and slandered him behind his back.

In the story, after the miser experienced that magical night, his inherent coldness and selfishness quickly collapsed, and he became a philanthropic person.

But will people who are selfish enough to take advantage of others’ selflessness to benefit themselves suddenly wake up?

"You want me to drink this?" Pomona looked at the dark potion in Severus' hand.

She had already seen him using the "little magic wand" to fiddle with the nest of tree monkey frog tadpoles. He also prepared some mulberries, which she thought he used to feed the tadpoles.

"This is not for drinking, put it on your head." Severus said. "It will dye your hair black."

"No!" Pomona ran behind the sofa and confronted him across the sofa, refusing fiercely, "Never!"

"Otherwise you put on a wig..."

"Why should I disguise my hair too!" Pomona interrupted him.

"Because your hair is too conspicuous." Severus gritted his teeth and said, "There are many Veela in France."

"My hair doesn't look like Fleur!"

Pomona looked at her wing-shaped hair, and Fleur's hair was like clouds, which would blow even if there was no wind.

"Your hair color is all silver-gray."

"I can wear a hat!"

"You want to walk around the Champs Elysées wearing that patched witch hat? You are determined to get yourself into trouble, right?"

Pomona looked at Severus sympathetically.

"What a terrible taste in fashion you have!" Pomona took out her witch hat and turned it into a wide-brimmed hat, the same style as the one Ross wore when he got on the ship.

"You can put on your hat after applying these potions," Severus said expressionlessly.

"I don't put tadpole corpses in my hair!" Pomona stuck out her tongue in disgust. "That's disgusting."

"Don't make me say it a third time!" He tried to go around the sofa and catch her.

"No!" Pomona immediately escaped from his capture like a rabbit.

Human potential is really endless, and she can be so flexible.

Severus looked like he was going crazy.

He pointed his wand at the sofa, causing the blanket to wrap around her arms and hands. Just as she was about to cut it open with a cutting spell, Severus caught her.

"No!" she wailed miserably.

Felix poked his head in to see what was going on inside, and retracted his head in a wise manner.

"Wizards are really scary." He shook his head and whispered, trotting away from the "battlefield".
Chapter completed!