Three Philosophical Questions for Travelers

Serfs responsible for basic food production.

These "three levels" form a chain of contempt among the serfs from top to bottom, and are hostile to each other. Because of this, it is even more difficult for the serf class to unite and resist the slave owners.

The current serf system has greatly restricted the development of productive forces and exploited the proletariat.It is a stumbling block to the progress of society, a shackle for the people, and a system that must be smashed in the future.

This article "Inquiry into Serfs in Central, Northern, Eastern, and Western Countries" ends here, and the next extra article will talk about the "free slave" system.

Reference materials: ancient Roman serfdom; old Tibetan serfdom; Indian caste system

Author's message:

ps: It will be recommended soon. I am sorting out the manuscript and outline and polishing the previous article, so I will stop updating it for a day tomorrow morning. I hereby inform you.

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ps2: Keep updating!The update at [-]:[-] is as usual.

Chapter No.16: You dominate their fate

Chapter No.16: You dominate their fate

It was already dark when the carriage reached the gate of the house.

"Be careful where you step." Dreyer opened the curtain of the carriage.Haiwen got out of the carriage first, and Estherite had a special status, so she had to wait until the carriage entered the yard before getting down.

At this time, he heard a crisp voice in the yard: "Master Haiwen, you are back!" Then he heard hurried footsteps, and then saw a little girl with bronze skin running towards him.Behind her was another young girl with wheat-colored skin.

It's hyacinths and violets.Hyacinth ran to Haiwen excitedly, threw herself into his arms and acted like a baby.Haiwen could feel the youthful vitality in her body, her curly hair scratched Haiwen's skin, as cute as a furry animal, so Haiwen stroked her hair like a cat.

On the other side, Dreyer began to direct the servants to unload the luggage.At this time, Violet came over to salute Haiwen, and Hyacinth also saluted with her.Hai Wen nodded, and was about to speak, when suddenly he felt a chill behind his back.

His fiancée was watching him from behind the curtain of the carriage.

He suddenly realized that he should distance himself from other women.He ordered the servants to pull the carriage into the yard, and let Isrit get off the carriage. After that, he took the three girls to the room on the second floor.

After he came in, he said, "Let me introduce you to each other." He pulled Isrit to him, "Isrit, this is Hyacinth, this is Violet, they will work in the house later, I plan to let them take care of our daily life." Isrit looked at him blankly, as if waiting for him to explain further, but Haven continued to talk to the two maids: "Hyacinth, Violet, this is Islet, is my fiancée."

Hearing this, the expressions of the two girls did not change much.They just glanced at each other as usual, and then saluted Isrit: "Mrs. Ambleside, I greet you."

Mrs Ambleside.Esriette obviously couldn't accept such a title, she lowered her head and whispered, "Thank you."

Ah, very good.There are some things that should be decided this morning, otherwise a lot of troubles will come if it drags on.Then Haiwen asked about the living conditions of Hyacinth and Violet in the past two days.Violet told him that she was trying to learn the work in the house, such as cleaning the room, doing laundry, and helping the kitchen; while Hyacinth broke three tile bowls and a ceramic plate during this time, and fell into the flower bed Twice, tore the sleeves of his own clothes and was scratched by cats three times.She showed Haiwen the three scratches on her arm, with an aggrieved face, "I just want to pinch its meat pad." She whispered, "I feed it leftovers, but it won't even let me touch it." one time."

Haiwen held her arm and observed the wound carefully. After seeing that the surface had scabbed, he said: "In the future, after being injured, you must treat the wound immediately, disinfect and bandage it, and pay attention to even the smallest wound. And try to stay away from wild cats and dogs. These things might make you sick after biting you."

Hyacinth was stunned when he heard that, "What do you mean?"

"It's complicated to explain, and I'll tell you when I have class tomorrow morning. Now you just need to remember to keep the wound dry after you get hurt, and come to me immediately if you get hurt by something dirty. I I don't want to see you die from an infection from a small injury." I have to make some distilled alcohol quickly, Haven thought.Write a letter to Gellette in a while, asking her to quickly find the alchemist.

"Understood." Hyacinth nodded half-understood, and then asked Haiwen, "Did you just say class?"

"Yes, there will be class at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. You two, Islet, the housekeeper, and another person you don't know. This is a must, and then other people in the house volunteer to participate. I will invite those who are willing to come Give them supper."

The two girls looked at each other and said together: "Yes, my lord."

"Let's go to dinner now, let's..." At this moment, Hewen felt Yisriette tugged his sleeve, so he said to the two girls: "Isriette and I still have some things to do, you guys Let's go first."

"Yes, my lord." The two girls bowed and left.

Afterwards, Haven asked Isrit, "Is there anything wrong?"

Estelle nodded to him and said, "It's about those two girls—are you going to keep them with you all the time?"

Hearing this, Haiwen couldn't help but look serious, "They are also a pair of poor girls. I can't bear to sell them to others, so I stay here to do some chores. Maybe life is harder, but it's better than continuing to work. slave."

"I don't mean that, my lord, but what do you think of them?"

Hai Wen said: "Ordinary friends, work partners."

"Is that all?" Isrit's tone was serious, and there was no sourness of jealousy in her words, which surprised Haiwen.He couldn't figure out why Estherite asked him this question.He thought for a while, and then said: "I never intended to possess many women like the old nobleman, Islet, I came from a monogamous world in my previous life. In my opinion, love is one-to-one, and it should be Be loyal to each other."

"My lord, you misunderstood." Isrit smiled, "I'm not asking this because I'm jealous, I'm asking this because of Hyacinth and Violet. Teacher Gerrit always taught me , to take a long-term view. So I was thinking, they can't be a female worker by our side for the rest of their lives, right?"

"When I meet the right opportunity, I will let them get married in a good manner, find a good family, and live a happy life."

"My lord, that's impossible." She pointed to her face, "You forgot this."

"what?"

"The marks on their faces." Yisrit said, "Marrying someone else? Anyone with a certain status will never want bed slaves as wives; poor people will never marry such women, because they are commodities, and they are too Beautiful, hiding such treasures in poor people's homes will only cause disaster. Since the rich and the poor don't want them, they can only continue to be slaves."

Haven never thought about this, he always forgets the rules of this world. "I will not make them slaves, I will hire them, pay them, and treat them with courtesy."

"Unless you can get rid of the marks on their faces, slaves will always be slaves. And if you stay with you..." Isrit sighed, "There is an old woman living at the end of the street in Mustang Town. It is said that she When she was young and ignorant, she slept with a passing tourist, lost her virginity, and was unable to marry in her life. Now she can only earn some money by being a female celebrity, but she is old and her hands are shaking and her eyes are blurred , it takes 10 minutes to put a needle through. She has no family, is alone, and may die one day without anyone knowing... You must know what I want to say, my lord."

"I'll let them..." Cold sweat dripped down Haiwen's face, he really didn't think about it so much.He thought that by giving the two girls a job, he would save them from a miserable fate.

"You can take one or both of them into your family, and let her have children for you, and the family will grow, which is a good thing for everyone; you can also marry them to other reliable men, but The premise is that someone will really want a bed slave as a wife - the choice is yours, but in any case, you are in charge of their fate, sir, please think twice." After saying this, Estherite walked towards him I bowed my body.

You rule their fate, next

You rule their fate, next

Hai Wen pondered for a while, and said, "You're right, but I can't let you be wronged just to save them; and love doesn't happen overnight." He stroked his fiancée's immature face.

"I don't care, men are like this, even your younger brother has two wives." She looked at Haiwen and said, "It's better to say that the rules of this world are like this-the fewer women you marry, the more children you have. The less we have, the fewer children we have, the weaker the family will be. If the family is weak, our children will be bullied by others, and we will not be able to hold our heads up in front of others."

Haiwen was a little surprised, and he asked, "Then... can you accept it emotionally?"

"Well...if they are all gentle and virtuous, then I can treat you as sisters and serve you together; if their moral character is bad..." Isrit bit her lip, "Then I will teach them to be human." She said solemnly .

He didn't expect Estherite to say that, but after thinking about it, Estherite's thoughts are taken for granted in this environment, and can be said to be morally noble-this society does not have so many public resources, people The relationship with people is not as harmonious as in my previous life. If a family wants to survive, it must be strong itself-and there are many people to be strong.Because of this, the society has formed the rule of "polygamy", and is proud of having more children.

At this time, Yisruite said: "My lord, the duty of a wife is to bear children for you. But my body is not suitable for childbearing, and I may not even be able to survive the first childbirth. So I want to... for your future life consider."

Haiwen immediately said: "I won't let you die in childbirth. If the child needs to take the mother's life to be born, then I would rather not."

His words frightened Isrit's face, "No, my lord, you must not think like this!" She said loudly in a pleading tone, "You need someone to inherit the blood of the family, children are far more important than mothers here."

In Haiwen's impression, the medical care in this area is very backward. Basically, if there is a dystocia, the mother will die, and the mortality rate is frighteningly high.From time to time, you can hear rumors of pregnant women dying of dystocia, and doctors are almost helpless about it.He remembered that dystocia mainly depends on the physical condition of the pregnant woman, mainly the size of the pelvis.In this way, Estherite really doesn't look like that kind of "fertile" woman.She was too thin, and the long hours of malnutrition and hard work had almost hollowed out her body.In this era, medical treatment is backward, there is no caesarean section, and ectopic pregnancy and fetal malformation cannot be detected in advance, and vaginal tearing and hemorrhage after childbirth cannot be treated. In addition, infection is also a fatal factor... In short, there are too many ways Threat to mother and child.

At this time, he would hate himself for knowing too little.He doesn't know anything about having a baby, it's beyond his knowledge.

"We could go and adopt a child," he said to Isrit, "I don't want you to take any chances."

Isrit nodded with a gloomy expression, "I am not qualified to marry you, at least not qualified to be a legal wife - you should find a woman who can be a mother to marry." She said.

Her words really hurt Haven, and he couldn't help but reflect on his own thoughts—the thoughts of this era have been deeply ingrained in Islet's mind, as if I, as a modern person, cannot accept polygamy.We all have to try to change ourselves, and I can just "correct" Isrit's thinking until she thinks like me.But the ideology and morality of each big environment are different. Is it really good for her to give her the thoughts of modern society in this era?Assuming I stick to my idea of ​​marriage, what will people outside say?How would Estelle see herself?

In Judge Haven's memory bank, it was written stroke by stroke: It is a man's mission to make a family prosperous.Presumably others thought the same way.In this era, people's lifespan is too short, and there are too many accidental deaths, so a child who inherits the blood of the family is particularly important; More, the greater the productivity, and the same is true for the relative right to speak.The word family is paramount.

This matter is more serious than I expected, Haven thought.

"I need some time to think about this question, Isrit." Haven said to her, "We used to live in different environments, and our thoughts are also different. Things that are used to this world are difficult in my opinion. Accepting, it can even be said to be a crime, so..."

"Maybe we all need to think about it and find a compromise." Isrit has always been considerate, "As you said, some of your ideas are incomprehensible to me, even... ..." She paused, probably thinking about her words, "It even goes against common sense."

Haven nodded and said, "You're right."

At this time the servant informed him that supper was ready, so the conversation ended and the two went to dinner.

Tired of traveling.After dinner, he went to bed early to rest.Estelle was obviously tired too, but she still kept her spirits up and asked Haven if he wanted to do something before going to bed.After receiving Hai Wen's refusal, she quickly fell asleep and her breathing became more relaxed.

Looking at her sleeping face, Haiwen couldn't help but think of what she said before: "You are in charge of their fate, my lord, please think twice."

My stubbornness will kill them.Haven thought to himself, I can't be like the Madonna of modern society, hurting others with stupid good deeds.I insisted on the "justice" in my mind, but in the end it was the hyacinths and violets that got hurt—the flowers that bloom earlier will not be more colorful, but will just freeze to death in the cold wind. What I do must be in line with the current environment OK.

Thinking of this, he closed his eyes.

Chapter No.17: The First Class

Chapter No.17: The First Class

After getting up in the morning, he routinely goes to wash up and do morning exercises.Isrit is a light sleeper, and she will wake up when Haven gets out of bed.Fortunately, she didn't have the habit of staying in bed, so the two went to fetch water to wash up together.While brushing his teeth, he said to Isrit: "I've made up my mind about Hyacinth and Violet. Don't force anyone to do this; I will keep them by my side in the next few years. If they can If I find a suitable sweetheart during this time, I'd be happy to take them out like a daughter; but if they'd rather be with me, then I'd also be willing to give them a home—but whatever the choice, I'll take you First things first, Isrit. Do you think this is okay?"

Isrit spit out the mouthwash into the sink, then wiped away the water stains around her mouth, "Yes, my lord, I'm glad you think so. It's good for us."

"Besides, you also mentioned the matter of having a child." When he said this, Isrit blushed unavoidably, "I think it's too early to have a child these few years. In our era, women at least You have to be 20 years old to conceive. Many women in this world have dystocia because of early marriage and early childbirth, so we have to wait a few more years. In the days to come, I will help you take care of your body. After a few years, you will be healthy The risk of birth will be much smaller.”

"Everything is up to your arrangement." She took the mouthwash cup from Haiwen's hand, and washed her own in the water together.

After finishing the family affairs, Hai Wen went to do morning exercises.My body still seems to be the same, and I can't breathe after running a few laps.After the morning exercise, he went to work as usual and tried two cases, both of which were civil disputes.One was due to non-repayment of debts, and the other was a fight caused by a neighbor's quarrel; he heard the testimony of the two parties, saw the evidence, asked some questions, and tried it fairly according to the law."I didn't realize you remembered how to go to trial," he told Haven after DeLaier sat in on the courtroom.

"It's all about justice," he said.

"It's not easy," Delair said.

"It's not difficult to act with conscience."

In the afternoon, he attended class on time. This was the first time he publicly imparted knowledge to people in this world.He hoped to use this opportunity to develop his cronies and give them knowledge at the same time.Those who attended the first day of class were his wife, Violet, Hyacinth, his butler, and the fat jailer before him: Vandery Garcia.This person is honest and literate, and he is one of the few available people under Hai Wen's staff.

He set up the classroom in the reception room of the mansion.There he hung a white-painted board and prepared a charcoal pencil.

The first class is Chinese, and both Delaire and Van Derry can use pens, so they don't need to take this class.This lesson was prepared by him for three girls. In this world, women are reproductive tools, and few of them can read.The first class lasted an hour. Islet was not completely illiterate, and the witch gave her some simple words and sentences; Violet was also an educated slave, and knew some basic words; only Hyacinth knew nothing, And he still sleeps in class - he won't stop learning or practicing, but he is a hero among the scumbags.

I also blame my class for being too boring.After class, Hai Wen thought to himself, there should be some texts and poems in the Chinese class, and memorizing words by force must be boring.When I come back, I will write down some of the high school texts in my previous life, and translate them into the words of this world to teach them.

The second class is the hygiene class, which is the most important.No one was absent from this class. Not only that, Haiwen also called the chef at home temporarily. The first thing he did was to teach people that they must drink boiled water.

"There are bacteria that can cause people to get sick in unclean water." He tried to explain in a way that people can understand, "The so-called bacteria are small insects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. They are only one percent of the size of ants. , will appear in water, raw meat... only high temperature can kill them. So I ask you to boil the water before drinking, and the meat must be cooked. A child next door died of dysentery two days ago, I'm afraid it's because of drinking unclean water. If I see someone drinking raw water in the house, I will punish him."

Afterwards, he began to give various examples of the horrors of drinking unboiled water, and made up a story to make everyone believe it.He said that he had seen this kind of small bug called "bacteria" in a scholar's home, and said that the scholar's home had a high-magnification magnifying glass that allowed him to see these things.It is also said that there is a king in the distance who died because of drinking unboiled water. No matter whether they are high-ranking officials or poor people, bacteria treat them equally.

In the first half of the class, he taught people about drinking boiled water, and the second half of the class was about personal hygiene. "I ask the servants in the house to keep their personal tidiness. You should take a bath with hot water at least once a week, preferably once every three days, or even more often. In the future, I will recruit a group of people to heat the hot water and build a special building called Boiler room, hot water is free for me. In short, you have to take a bath frequently, which not only keeps you away from diseases, but also means civilization and politeness. Only clean people will reuse him and take him to see guests .”

The third class was supposed to be ideological education, but after he flipped through the thinking last night, it might be too early to gradually realize the ideological class of dogmatic paintings.So he changed the third class to free study.He may tell some historical stories, or talk about local customs, or introduce business politics or astronomy and geography... In short, it is all very fragmented knowledge.He tried his best to choose interesting words to increase students' learning interest and enthusiasm.He used half of the class to talk about the field environment around Yema Town and spent the map, and in the second half of the class he told the story of his previous life: Dayu's water control.He wanted to use this subtle way to let people know the truth that "man will conquer nature". He felt that floods are also caused, one is "Noah's Ark" and the other is "Dayu's flood control". Westerners regard natural disasters as unstoppable God's punishment, the Orientals feel that the flood can also be cured by humans, and he prefers the latter in comparison.

The effect of the third class was better than the previous two. Everyone loves to hear fairy tales.Moreover, Haiwen has learned how to give a speech in his previous life, so he can tell stories vividly and interestingly.Later, more and more people listened to it, and Haiwen didn't mind, so he called all the servants to listen to the story.The story contains the thoughts of his previous life, and he hopes that the seeds of these thoughts can take root in the hearts of these students.

After telling the story, someone asked him: "Your Honor, can the flood really be controlled by humans? Isn't that a natural disaster?"

Haven told him: "It can be cured. We can dig ditches to divert the river, or we can build dams to stop the flow."

"That's too difficult!" Hyacinth said at this time, "How many people would it take to do it? It's a miracle."

"If you don't do it, you will never be able to do it. Not to mention whether there is a god in this world, even if there is a god, it is a cruel god. Think about it, since God caused the flood to erupt, would he build a dam for you in kindness? We can only rely on ourselves. Besides, the matter of the flood has nothing to do with God. I will tell you about it in the next class. This time I hope you remember that there is no savior. If you want to live a happy life, you must Rely on your hardworking hands. Okay, let's dismiss the class."

The first course was successfully completed, and the effect was better than he expected.Haiwen hopes to expand the enrollment of more students, and then select some outstanding students from the inside to form a teacher echelon to help him continue to spread knowledge.However, there is no rush for this matter. He is just a judge now and has no real power. If he spreads some ideas rashly, he may cause trouble.He had to be mayor—no, not yet mayor, he had to be baronet of the estate before he could continue to spread his ideas.

At the same time as this class, he was also observing each student: Hyacinth had the most questions, Violet understood the fastest, Isrit took notes, fat Vandry looked blank, and Dreyer looked contemptuous and disdainful at first, but later But it became more and more dignified.

These people are his basic backbone.He has to get to know everyone.

He had been busy all afternoon, and after eating in the evening, he did some exercise before returning to his bedroom.He took out his notebook and continued to write down what he was going to do in the future.Estelle watched quietly from the side, and occasionally asked some things, such as:

"Dig the sewer? Get the dirty water out? Is there any point in that?"

"Tea and coffee? Does anyone like bitter drinks?"

"Replacing gold with paper? It's unlikely, is it? Will merchants receive gold made of paper?"

Haiwen will patiently answer these questions for her.After a while, he felt a little sleepy, his shoulders and neck were sore.It's been dark outside for a long time, and it's not too late to rest.His fiancée was already waiting for him in bed, so he was going to bed too.At this moment, he suddenly heard a strange cooing sound coming from outside the window.That sound is a bit like a dove, but more like an owl...

It's Gelieta's owl!

So he opened the window and let the bird fly in.He wondered, this "pigeon" has never been to my house, how could it know the way?But "the witch of the forest has her own tricks", he didn't bother to think about it.There was letter paper wrapped around Owl's leg, so he took it off to read.Yisrit who was at the side stroked the bird's head, and the owl cooed comfortably.

He put the letter under the candlelight, and saw a line of small words on the letter:

"The poison is prepared."

He burned the letter immediately after reading it.

Chapter 18: Poison

Chapter 18: Poison

The next morning, he went to Gerrit's laboratory alone.He bypassed Gelumeng's manor and went straight to the back.Gerette was feeding the pigeons when he arrived.She sat on a bamboo chair with her legs crossed, throwing a few grains of corn to the birds from time to time, and there was a cooing sound below.

"It's really early for you to come." She said to Haven.

"Well, what about the medicine?"