Chapter 2276 Poseidon’s Winter Banquet (18)

Mechelen originated from the wetlands. The palace of Margaret of Austria is not far from the Dale River, and the processing workshops related to the railway are located outside the city, close to the edge of the Seine River. According to Mr. Martin, the place's

The conditions are still relatively bad, with construction sites and mud everywhere.

Almost all the members of the inspection team went there without even entering the city. In the future, a large warehouse will be built there. Currently, building materials and coal are stored there, and a bread factory is also to be built. This is also one of Bonaparte's experiments.

A large bread factory replaces a bakery. It does not need to be located in the city center and can use trucks to transport the prepared bread to various places in the city.

In addition, they need to build a veterinary hospital. Many of the inferior horses they bought from Hungary died of illness on the way.

Georgiana glanced at Richard's muddy boots. Although he had washed them with water before entering the door, they still looked dirty.

The shipping yard does not have to be located in a large consumption area, it can be built in a suburb that is conducive to production and has lower transportation costs. Belgium has a characteristic that the difference between cities and villages is not big, unlike France, "except for Paris, everything is in the countryside."

.

This is due to the history of Belgium. It is not just a central city. Although the city wall of Mechelen was demolished, a ring was left, just like the three ring walls of Paris.

Circles are often regarded as standard distances. French post roads are divided according to the number of days it takes to get there from Paris. One day is a circle, two days is a circle, and three days is a circle. The situation in Belgium

Differently, the time from Mechelen to Brussels and Antwerp is the same. Antwerp and Brussels are both big cities, which leads to an even distribution of villages and populations along the route, and the difference between cities and rural areas is not big.

Decentralization does not mean that there is no center, but that each node is free to choose the center. In other words, centralization is the center that determines the nodes. The nodes must rely on the center. The nodes cannot survive without the center. Mechelen has lost most of its functions as a capital and it still remains the same.

It is an important transportation hub. Any city can become a center, and no center is permanent. Brussels' administrative agencies may be moved to Mechelen at any time, or Mechelen may assume the role of a new capital, such as France's

The third capital.

This is nothing new in history, Lyon has the potential to become the second capital because it is closer to the South Alpine Republic than Paris.

Moving the capital is a big deal, and some people have other worries, so the Parisians are not very friendly to the Lyonnais, especially when the Ulm Canal, which is related to the safety of Paris's drinking water, is controlled by Lyon businessmen. Originally, this river

The wine tax can be used to return it to the state, and now Parisian businessmen want to buy the operating rights of the Ourcq Canal.

This is the magic of France's railways. One company builds a section of railway, but it is "reasonable" because there are currently no joint-stock companies in France.

The Charon Company in Mechelen's industrial area also wanted to get involved. This can be regarded as a "French characteristic". Both civil and military officials like to support local factions according to their own preferences. The army can levy and increase taxes at will, while civilian officials install themselves in the political power.

Reliable people, when the founding ceremony of the Shannan Republic was held in Lyon, the representatives were complaining about the intolerable situation in the country. These people were all selected under the supervision of Mullah.

Fortunately, Mr. Martin stopped the topic before it became unappetizing. Today's dinner was cooked by his chef. The appetizer looked like a plate of pearls in a shell. One of the pearls was particularly large, but it

It's not really pearls, but French foie gras wrapped in a layer of milky cheese.

The other pearls are not real pearls, but silver candies. This dish is very reminiscent of Cleopatra's bet with Antony that she could spend 10 million sesterces in one meal.

It was a very unlucky dish, but Georgiana ate it anyway, and then Edgeworth mentioned Chiara.

Before going to Antwerp, she had been working at the Louvre. It was time for the newly opened museum to hire people, and she began to make prints and reproductions of all the collections in the museum to share them with the public who could not see the treasures in person. She knew a lot about French culture

Celebrities had close contacts with consuls and high-ranking officials. Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fish, saw her paintings in Lyon and became acquainted with her.

Napoleon rarely went to the Louvre. Now that something like this happened, should she continue to work at the Louvre?

So after dinner, Georgiana went for a walk in the garden. She changed her ancient Greek dress into men's clothes. Then she mentioned that she wanted to promote her new pet, Rambouillet's Merino sheep, in Belgium.

thing.

There is a ready-made wool textile industry here, and merino wool produces high-grade wool. Mr. Martin thinks that he can discuss it with the mayor.

They went back around 8 o'clock, and then Georgiana called Shabi and Figel, and they rode together to the construction site on the edge of the Seine River.

She saw the brightly lit area from a long distance away. There were no houses there, all were tents, and the "roads" were all mud.

The wind blew the songs from the construction site over. She couldn't understand what they were singing, but she remembered another poem:

"Go forward, raise your black flag, dip every quill in ink, we have universal suffrage here, it is a precious right, they have nothing but corruption and stench."

Seeing a black flag on the high seas is definitely unlucky. In fact, the earliest island flags did not have a skull pattern. Later, the pirates added a skull and two crossed bones on it, and called him "Happy Roger"

(joli ronge)”.

Why are pirates associated with universal suffrage?

It sounded like it was written by a drunkard. In fact, there were bursts of laughter at the construction site. When she walked in, she realized that no one was working, but there was a beer festival.

She searched for him among the many tents. The situation at the construction site was worse than she thought. Maybe even the pig dens were cleaner than this one.

She is very worried that the disease will spread here. It seems that not only the veterinary hospital will be opened, but also a hospital to treat people will be opened.

Later, Figel met a man from the guard, and under his leadership, Georgiana found Bonaparte. He did not live in the tent area, but parked the carriage by the river, looking a little lonely.

After she dismounted, she opened the car door without saying hello.

"Close the door!" he roared, sounding terrifying.

Georgiana ignored him. She looked into the carriage and found that there was indeed no one hiding inside before speaking to him.

"This camp must be planned to be careful of the plague."

He was stunned for a moment and turned to look at her.

"How did you come?"

"Make sure there's no girl getting into your car while I'm away." She stepped onto his carriage and pretended to check. After walking around, she found that no one was there, so she faced him, "You have a bad record."

He laughed. "You sound like a police officer."

She wanted to say it was the military police, but she still didn't say anything.

He waited calmly.

"Do you know why Mechelen has a furniture industry?" she asked.

"I don't know, can you tell me?" he said pretentiously.

"Because it was burned and looted by the Spanish during the Eighty Years' War, and during the rebuilding process, the furniture industry was started. Do you remember the town of San Nicolas? I don't want the people in that town to suffer the same fate. Don't let the railroad go from

They were there."

"But then nothing will change in their town."

She didn't know what to say.

He asked her to stand up, and he stood up with him, and then they got out of the carriage and walked along the Seine.

Although it is the same river, the scenery here is completely different from that of Paris, because it is located in the wilderness with no street lights, the surroundings are dark, and there is also mist.

She suddenly remembered the Louvre, that June night with the full moon, the Tuileries Palace that had disappeared, and the military camp on the other side of the river shrouded in fog.

For a moment, she couldn't tell which world was the dream world. Maybe she was drunk too.

She was swaying as she walked on the stones of the canal that day...

He held her hand like a brother. It would be great if he could stay like that.
Chapter completed!