The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

His Majesty asked Grace to figure out who called the shots in those meetings, and he had figured it out.

The Earl of Arundel called Alan Ston a "radical young man," and Grace called some people "radicals" in her mind.Among the Radicals, the leader was a general of aristocratic origin, impatient and arrogant, who often interrupted others' speeches.But he could listen to Alan Stone's words.

Through her own observations, Grace believed that this was because the admiral's mind was actually a little confused, while Alan Stone had a bright mind and a particularly organized speech.

William is on the other side.In Grace's mind, "conservative" had become a bad word, so he called William Stone's faction "moderate."This faction is nominally led by General Verrick, but General Verrick has been stationed on the border all year round, so William is the one who really has the final say in the moderate faction.

Then there were those in the middle, whom Grace called "centrists."These people seem to listen to the Marquis of Nakron, but Grace knows how much his "father" is.Of the useful words that can come out of the Marquis, at least nine out of ten must be taught by the Earl of Arundel.

Grace admitted more and more that the earl was a brilliant man.

He even borrowed money for His Majesty, £5000, from English bankers.The interest rate is slightly higher, but the country needs this money for emergency.

There are too many places to spend money. It needs money to promote vaccinia across the country, money is needed to restructure the army, and money is needed to fight wars; and riots broke out in the southern province, so suppressing civil strife also needs money.

This is not the first time such an organized riot has occurred in Southern Province. Judging from the opponent's weapons and organizational efficiency, it is obviously not an ordinary peasant starvation incident.

There must be sponsorship from the enemy country.On this point, the two factions are not divided.

William advocated stabilizing the Southern Province first, "Because good people will be incited by the mob, if the Southern Province is not stabilized in time, the number of people participating in the riots will increase."

But Allen believes that this only solves the superficial problem, "We all know who is behind the riots last year and the current riots. Even if this time is quelled, as long as the enemy's conspiracy is still there, there will still be money and weapons." The continuous smuggling into the Southern Province will create new mobs. We should directly cut off the hands behind."

"But we are not ready to go to war with an enemy country immediately."

"The other side is also unprepared! It depends on who is faster and more unexpected! Maybe we can postpone the promotion of vaccinia in the countryside, so that we can have money—"

"No! This matter must be ranked before war and rebellion. Smallpox spreads too fast, and people's lives are the most important thing!"

What they said was very reasonable, and the centrists also hesitated, unable to decide which side to support for a while.

"Miss Nakoren, what do you think?" Earl Arundel suddenly called Grace's name.

Grace looked at William subconsciously, but he immediately felt that this was inappropriate, so he lowered his gaze.

He was very nervous.What these people said every day were new things that he had never heard of, and it was already very difficult for him to just listen and remember.He wasn't ready to have an opinion.

But at the same time, he was very clear that he must not appear stupid and ignorant at this time.

"The following are just some of my own thoughts, and do not represent His Majesty." After calming down for a few seconds, Grace raised her head and said.

"I just mentioned the promotion of vaccinia in rural areas. I just have some suggestions for this matter. I think we have overlooked one thing before, that is, the promotion of vaccinia in rural areas will be very different from the promotion of vaccinia in cities that has already started. .”

"A farmer who goes to church every Sunday is much more devout than a worker or woman worker who goes to a factory on Sunday. In other words, a farmer is much more superstitious."

"Farmers will be more afraid of cowpox than people in cities, and they will trust priests more, so the previous proposal: to use monasteries in various places as vaccination sites, I don't think it is feasible. We need to send doctors ourselves to vaccinate people from door to door; Rather than relying on the clergy, it is more convenient to call the peasants into the monastery or church, but the peasants see the cross and the crucifix, which only makes them more afraid of the so-called "punishment after death" and dare not use it. Defile your own body with the abscesses of the cow'. And none of us know how those priests frighten the poor people."

"Then don't vaccinate in the countryside. Anyway, the houses in the countryside are sparse, and smallpox spreads slowly." Alan Stone said.

"It's not slow, Captain Ston," Grace looked at Alan Ston and said, "Please don't forget to worship every Sunday. Many diseases are spread in the church."

Alan Stone also looked at him with a serious expression.He moved his lips, as if swallowing a questioning word, and then made a "please" gesture to Grace.

"Dr. Herman is an expert in the study of smallpox. He has made statistics. If it is not controlled, half of the people in the city will die of smallpox, and one third in the countryside will die-this is not a small number, especially the death rate. Most of those who lost were children and teenagers, and those who survived by chance will also be severely disabled and unable to participate in labor.”

"It's June now, and the busy farming season is coming soon. If smallpox spreads in the countryside at this time, the crops will be left unattended, and the country's tax revenue for this year will be wasted."

The Marquis of Nacolon raised his finger at this moment, "There can be no delay in vaccinating the countryside." Several centrists followed suit and raised their fingers.

Grace glanced at Earl Arundel quickly, and continued: "But we underestimated this part of the cost before. As I said just now, we can't rely on the church. We have to send doctors ourselves, and we have to build temporary houses to accommodate those who have already suffered from smallpox. On the other hand, farmers are more resistant to cowpox, and although farmers are often hungry, they can always find something to eat in the country, and a loaf of bread may not be able to dispel their fear of cowpox."

"What do you mean? Do you want everyone to give two loaves of bread? What greedy and foolish people!" Admiral Cromwell, the radical, said angrily.He got angry at Grace again: "Miss Nakoren, can you be responsible for what you said? You are only a woman, how could you know this? I suspect that you deliberately made this part of the cost so high to make it seem uncomfortable to start the war." possible."

"Admiral, Miss Nakoren is a friend of Dr. Herman, and she is also responsible for the three sheds we built in Crown Plaza." Alan Stone actually spoke for Grace, "and her servants are farmers. , Miss Nakoren is easy-going, and the servants are willing to talk to her, she must know more about the countryside than us."

After hearing this, the general managed to hold back his anger, and Grace was able to continue: "It's not about two long loaves. As I said just now, white bread is not so tempting to farmers, especially before the autumn harvest. My suggestion is, Better to give them good seeds."

"The best part of the grain harvested every year is paid out as tax, and farmers can only choose the next year's seeds from the not-so-good grains. But for the lord, both good and bad grains will become The same bread, but the good seeds turn into more crops in the hands of the farmer."

"We don't need to spend the money of two loaves, we only need to make a promise: the vaccinated family can reserve good seeds for themselves after the autumn harvest, and pay the rest as tax."

"But that would require the consent of the lord first, and it would also cost money," said Earl Arundel, "and it is neither easy to estimate the cost nor determine how many lords are willing to cooperate. After all, not all nobles are on our side. On the other side, the local minor nobles are especially difficult to control."

This stopped Grace from asking.

"My suggestion is to adopt Admiral Cromwell's proposal: two loaves of bread. What do you think?" The Earl of Arundel looked around.

William and those around him raised their hands.After a while, Alan Stone also raised his finger, but his face looked very unhappy, and he looked at Grace gloomily.The people around him gradually raised their hands when they saw him raise their hands.

"Smart daughter, what else do you know about the two loaves?" the Marquis of Nakoren asked with a smile.

Grace nervously pulled the hair next to her ear, and his palms were sweaty, "A standard-sized long loaf is worth 9 shillings, and two pairs are 18 shillings. Mr. Darney told me that there are 1720 million people in rural areas, but This is the statistics of five years ago; not counting last year and this year, the climate in the previous few years was good, the harvest was good, and there was no nationwide plague, the population must have increased. According to the estimation of Minister Darnay, the population growth rate in rural areas At least 1%, so this year there are about—”

"Just a moment, Miss Nakollen," interrupted the Earl of Arundel so suddenly that he thought he had said something wrong.

But the Earl of Arundel just asked the attendant outside the door for paper and pen, and the others, including William, also asked for a piece of paper and a pen for themselves to write down the words Grace just said. number.

Alan Stone didn't want it.He put his hands on the table, everyone else was holding a pen, and there was a piece of paper in front of him, only his hands were empty, and the table in front of him was also empty. It seemed that he was competing with Grace, and the two were competing for memory and skill. Mental arithmetic ability.

Grace glanced at him lightly, unconsciously drawing numbers on the table with her fingers, and gave the final budget: 1620 million pounds.This is more than the cost plus the previously calculated cost of promoting vaccinia in the city, and it is obviously impossible to start a war.

Alan Stone stood up after he finished speaking the number, and was the first to leave the conference room.Grace immediately chased him out.