Chapter 2373 true believers (Part 1)

In the reforms of Joseph II, in addition to closing down "useless" monasteries that did not operate schools or hospitals, they also forced large and small societies to merge into a single "charity and mutual aid society".

The castle called Hof van Busleiden was built during the Renaissance in the 16th century and is one of the most beautiful buildings in Mechelen.

It has always been used as a heritage warehouse in a sense, involving all donations from the Duchy of Burgundy to the Austrian Netherlands, including a craft called the "Enclosed Garden".

It looks a bit like a large cabinet. When you open the cabinet door, you will see a very complicated miniature scene. Inside, there are peacocks made of gems and figures made of gold. This is taken from the "Song of Solomon" in the Old Testament. This poem tells

It is about a couple confessing their love during the season of birds and flowers. It is said to have been written by Solomon himself in Jerusalem. The male protagonist is a grape farmer, and the heroine is the rose of Sharon, blooming like a lily in the Valley of Thorns, and the "enclosed garden"

It tells the story of the heroine in the valley.

Except for the lack of freedom, everything in the garden is like paradise, and there is no male protagonist in the scene. Therefore, this "closed garden" was later used as a symbol of chastity, and was very popular in the Middle Ages when Margaret of Austria lived.

, the nun of Bianju and the female governor herself all have such an "enclosed garden".

It is used to commend "real" women with pure and noble moral concepts. The cost of making it is not low, and the nuns cannot afford it. Most of them are made for them by donations from believers.

Morally speaking, chastity is people's yearning for love. However, there are constant wars, natural disasters, and plagues, and there are also situations like Andromark's who want to be widowed but cannot help themselves. There are very few people who are truly widowed.

All in all, the new Mechelen Art Museum is located in that castle. The charity organization had to bear the cost of maintaining it. After breakfast, they went there to visit. It really looked like a warehouse, filled with all kinds of things.

It is such a beautiful but dusty treasure, and there are many murals on the walls. It is said that Erasmus once came to this castle to chat with the owner. The murals record the scene at that time.

These murals have faded over the years. When they were originally painted, vegetable dyes were used. One of the biggest advantages of mineral colors is that they are not easy to discolor, but they are expensive. Quincy immediately said that he could repair these murals.

When they lived in the forest, they used to paint with plant colors. The desolate floodplain in the eyes of ordinary people was an inexhaustible palette for him and Emily.

Unless they are recognized during their lifetime like Leonardo da Vinci and Rubens, most artists remain unknown while they are alive. Johannes Vermeer, the author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring," had to wait until two days after his death.

It was only discovered by the French a hundred years ago that he painted genre paintings.

Genre paintings are based on daily life and do not have fixed buyers like portrait paintings. Even if the painter himself is talented, he will inevitably die in depression like Van Gogh. The paintings will not be sold at high prices until after their death.

Maybe Emily is not as beautiful as "Girl with a Pearl Earring", a bit like Rembrandt's wife, and is not recognized as a beauty, but Georgiana still bought a portrait painted by Quincy.

The 2,000 francs used to buy the painting plus Quincy's income from work should be enough to start a family. Originally, Emily would also spin yarn and sell it on market days in exchange for some necessary daily necessities. Emily's

The painting was still much worse than Quincy's. Maybe that's why she thought Quincy was so talented, just like a girl who was infatuated with the lead singer of a band and ran away from home without her parents' consent.

The situation is different for the rest of the people in the "village" (as they call it). Most people live their own lives behind closed doors without disturbing each other. There is no church there, and people don't gather together for mass on Sundays.

At the same time, there was no movement on weekdays. Joseph II concentrated all the market days in the Austrian Netherlands on one day. This practice produced a kind of merchants driving carriages. They would sell goods on the market day when people did not have time to buy

Goods are purchased for sale. It is a rare day when crowds of people gather in the village.

The French were initially welcomed as liberators, just as they had been in 1635, when they had drawn swords against the Protestant Dutch in the name of protecting the nuns. Later they split and began sacking the city, evading them.

Farmers fled into the Soignes forest with their families and livestock.

Compared to that place, the forest northwest of Mechelen is much peaceful. In order to hide as much as possible and not be noticed, they even cook at night so that the smoke from the cooking pots will not be noticed by the people around them.

Sometimes people would leave, and new people would move in soon after they left. Emily and Quincy didn't know what the new family was like. They thought they were peddlers who wanted to settle down and were planning to open a new family.

Grocery stores and the like. No one here will take the initiative to talk about their past, and you don't even know if they use their real names.

That was all the information the young couple could provide. They lived in their own two-person world.

For a person who is used to poverty or a simple life, the people around him are similar. If you tell him to change his destiny at this time, it will scare him, because he is satisfied with his current situation.

They rarely get "bored".

People who are still ignorant suffer more from their bodies. They don’t have enough food to eat, and they don’t have enough clothes to keep them warm. American slaves live much better than European “free laborers”. Indeed, in terms of material conditions of life, food, clothing, shelter and

In terms of working hours, the slaves in the south are much better than other workers on the earth. They even have meat to eat. Although they usually eat bread made of cornmeal, they can also eat white bread during holidays, and they can also eat fruits when the fruits are ripe. These

All pro-slavery factions guide public opinion, emphasizing that slavery is a "beneficial act" and is not inconsistent with freedom.

Slave owners will use such small favors to cultivate the loyalty of slaves. Large slave owners may have compassion and care for the "house slaves" who serve their masters in the family. Their loyalty to their masters will also be rewarded with favors and care from their masters.

The children of slaves will also become playmates of "little masters", but these are a very small number of people. "Farm slaves" hate "house slaves", and they will be punished if they are passive and slow in work.

In a factory, if a factory owner whips a worker, he will face charges and fines. After beating the slaves, he tells them that as long as they abide by discipline, they can live a much more comfortable life than free labor. Not only do slaves have

There is food in the house and $5 pocket money during the New Year and holidays. Slaves exchange freedom for the security of life. Why should they pursue the unbridled freedom instinct of primitive people?

If a disgraceful thing becomes a habit, no one will interfere.

The South Carolina planters claimed that the state known as the state of nature had not actually existed since the creation of Adam and Eve, and that human beings were connected by ties that bound them together.

Man is born subject to others, and not only in his infancy is he dependent and controlled by others; in all ages the strong and wise control the weak and ignorant.

In other words, in order to maintain the legality and morality of slavery, the pro-slavery faction has denied the natural rights of the Declaration of Independence and said that people are born free. There is nothing more unrealistic than this.

During the American Revolution, since it chose to hold high the banner of human freedom to defend its own interests, it theoretically denied the morality of slavery. There was a time when Washington planned to use slave soldiers due to issues with the supply of soldiers, which meant liberating them.

However, the southern states were mainly responsible for the debts incurred by the war. Therefore, slavery became a "necessary evil" and became the keynote of the slave owners' justification during that period.

Jefferson also opposed slavery, but the key vote in 1801 was in the southern states. His approach was to abolish primogeniture, a remnant of the feudal system. All children could inherit their father's inheritance, and at the same time promoted small farmers, which made

Building plantations has become a kind of crazy speculation. Loose bank credit and fertile land in the west have stimulated eastern farmers to immigrate to the southwest. Most of the planters who moved away have the desire to expand their family businesses. Not every one of them may

Individuals could take slaves away, depending on how the property was divided.

But now they have to face a problem: how to repay the later debt if the previous debt has not been repaid?

The British Bank has not yet formed the kind of credit investment that the Dutch Bank did. In the past, it may have lent it to the North American colonies and was required to repay it in the form of a peace treaty. However, the Americans did not repay it. They only repaid Spain, France, and the Netherlands.

The public debt needs to be borne by the people. In order to increase fiscal revenue, Hamilton increased the whiskey tax, which resulted in riots. Washington pardoned the rioters after negotiations, but the collection of the alcohol tax also did not go smoothly. Jefferson canceled the consumption tax after taking office.

They need to expand, and expansion can lend money, attract capital inflows, and improve financial problems. Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations that the cost of colonial defense has always fallen on the mother country. The civil ceremonies in the colonies are very simple, never extravagant and wasteful, and missionaries are also very

Frugality. But Jefferson did not plan to build a navy, and believed that paying pirates regular deposits was contrary to Adams' belief that spending money to build a navy was the opposite.

Continuing to fight for expansion will make the financial problem worse. This country is full of trees, half of it is uninhabited, and half of it has not been cultivated. What else is valuable besides food.

In ancient Roman times, provinces such as Egypt and Syria used grain to deduct taxes. Low-priced foreign grains benefited Roman citizens. Judging from the excavations of Pompeii ruins, even ordinary people had good food, but it left farmers

After going bankrupt, farmers were the main source of soldiers for the Roman Republic. They either became slaves or sold their land to the nobility.

After the reform of the military system, by the Antonine period, soldiers had become a profession with a fixed salary. This was precisely because soldiers had become a profession.

In ancient Rome, from the monarchy to the republic, command power was granted by the Senate and returned to the Senate after the war. By the time of Caesar, soldiers had given their honor and lives to the commander of the legion.

The British military system is to recruit soldiers from the nationals, and Parliament must protect their interests. William Pitt Jr. tried to "purchase" Prussian soldiers, which the German princes had done, but the result was the establishment of the Armed Neutrality League.

Scotland and Ireland are also undergoing land enclosure movements. Many New World immigrants are from these areas, but they have not yet reached the point where they fled to the United States en masse due to the Great Famine in Ireland.

The yield of potatoes in Ireland is about the same as that of rice, but its value is not as good as wheat. The wheat was used to rent land to British landlords. Many Irish people starved to death as a result. Until potatoes solved the problem of food and clothing, it was only a problem of food and clothing. They had nothing but food and clothing.

Even the place where they lived was a mud house where the Celts lived.

That kind of house looks very much like the "Magical World" from the outside. Who would live in that kind of house if it were really magical?

But it is undeniable that the enclosure movement led to the rapid development of British agriculture. When Georgiana promoted draft horse farming, she really wanted to imitate the mechanized farm production like the United States and be able to feed so many people with a small agricultural population. Arthur of the Enclosure Committee

Yang had the same idea, but he was almost hanged by French farmers when he went to the countryside to see it.

Brennus, the leader of the Gauls who once attacked Rome, said that the law of Gaul was based on the tip of the sword. Therefore, although the Gauls were tall and had good endurance, they were difficult to tame.

Elizabeth I also implemented the Poor Law while promoting the enclosure movement. At that time, the number of robbers, gangsters, and beggars increased in England. This was done to solve social unrest.

But she also built the British navy, attacked Hanseatic League merchants, and safeguarded the interests of domestic merchants. The purpose of Georgiana's establishment of agricultural loans was to reduce conflicts and replace usurious loans with relatively low-interest loans, so that Alsace would not be so chaotic, but

She may also have backfired, making enclosure possible in France.

The last time she swam at the lake, Georgiana met a man named Rutger. He was from the Dutch Land Commission and also knew the director of the National Gallery in Amsterdam. He promised to donate several paintings to the mayor of Mechelen.

Paint for this new museum.

If the Louvre uses "fake" items to fill the price, it would be better not to give them away.

Apart from the factor of Bonaparte, Chiara is very suitable for Georgiana's taste. She is an excellent painter. Although her original paintings lack style, it can be seen that she has solid basic skills. She should have copied many paintings.

She just hoped that Chiara wouldn't make the same stupid decision as herself. She liked that "enclosed garden" very much, although she had nothing to do with chastity and nobility in her life. Even if she couldn't have it, it wouldn't stop her from appreciating it.

Through these things, she understood that she was not suitable to be a career woman and her family was gone.

As long as the cabinet door is closed, no one will know about this secret garden, just like she didn't open the door of the Hogwarts office that night, or open the cabinet in the Louvre.

"lady."

Georgiana looked back and found the rich widow Borsky.

"Do you mind if I enjoy it with you?"

"of course not."

Borsky walked next to her and took a deep breath. It looked like... she seemed to have something to say.

Georgiana used Legilimency on her.

Borsky is sorting out his words, and she has something to ask of her...

Georgiana finally knew why Borsky invested in the Industrial Promotion Bank.

"I……"

"There is no magic potion like you mentioned." Georgiana interrupted the old widow. "Aging is irreversible."

She looked at Georgiana in shock.

"Are you surprised? Didn't you approach me because I am a witch?"

European version of chastity arch
Chapter completed!