Three Philosophical Questions for Travelers

Gerrit nodded, and said while cutting the steak: "I know. I once performed an amputation operation on a tiger. For a long time, it couldn't accept the fact that it had no claws. But after half a year, I cured it. gone."

"How did you do it?"

"I found a tigress for it." Gerrit stuffed a large piece of beef into her mouth and said while chewing, "The tigress didn't dislike it, and gave birth to many cubs for him, and then this guy became energetic, Even better than when I had four legs."

"You mean to say..."

Gerrit took a sip of her wine and said, "Real men get strong for their own families—in other words, a lone ranger who only thinks about himself is never a man. Like some guy with blue eyes." "

"Fasnut is just a child." Haven said.

Zhe Lite put down the fork, touched her lips and said with a sneer, "The child can pull a strong bow of 300 meters, and hit the red heart with one shot? My lord, this story has spread, and it is getting more and more evil. I think you should... "

"Fasnut saved my life." Haven interrupted, "I trust him."

The witch warned in a deep voice: "But he will cause you trouble, and even disaster."

"Then I'll bear it." After saying that, Haiwen started to cook the steak without saying anything more.Ge Lita looked at him for a while, then smiled happily: "My lord, it's no wonder Isrit fell in love with you at first sight. Although you don't look very good, you really sound manly when you speak."

"Shut up and eat," Hai Wen said.

So the two finished their meal quietly, and then Haven sent Zhe Lite out.On the way, Gelie advised him to rest more and just assign the work to the servants.However, Haiwen sighed, and said: "I have too few people who can do things under my command now. Dreyer counts as one, the old and young Ramon counts as one, and the accountant who came here a few days ago counts as one. There are only three people."

"Where's your chubby treasurer from before?"

"It's gone, I guess he died outside." Haven sighed, "I asked him to deliver the letter, but he never returned. He was either robbed by Little Charles or killed by Master Wayne. Gerrit, you If you meet someone who is capable, you must invite me back. I am very short of people right now."

"Yes, I mentioned an alchemist to you before, this time I will drop by to find him and see if I can invite him out."

While talking, the two had already arrived at the gate, and they parted at this point. Haiwen was already exhausted, so he went back to rest early.At six o'clock the next morning, he got up as usual and went to wash up with Isrit, and then went to work separately.Estherite is still an ordinary maid in front of people, so she has to work with the servant for a while-although Haven told her that you don't have to work, but Estherite insisted on doing it What, she doesn't like the life of opening her mouth with her clothes and hands.

And Haiwen is going to do morning exercises, and then go to work in the Yizheng Hall.The police force has not had a drill for several days, and the training cannot be slackened like this.So he found Jon and asked him to gather the police team and start today's morning exercise.However, it was already past seven o'clock when they waited for the assembly. According to military standards, the performance of this assembly was very bad.

However, Haiwen didn't intend to be too strict with these people. Excessively strict training would provoke a backlash from the people below, so he didn't lose his temper this time. He just told everyone that the emergency assembly needs to be completed within 10 minutes.As long as you're in town, come over as soon as you hear the assembly whistle.

Then there is the roll call.Smiley Cat was on bed rest, and Haiwen was the instructor himself. He checked the roster, but found that two people were missing.He asked the team members, and one of them with a big beard said: "Wilke went back to his hometown. Duer got drunk a few days ago and fell into the river and drowned."

"Drowned?" Haven asked. "Who is Dole? What does he look like and where does he live?"

The bearded man shook his head in silence, and no one answered.Haven looked at Captain Jon, and the expression on Jon's face suddenly became panicked.Hai Wen was very puzzled and thought to himself: What are you afraid of?

"Uh... my lord, what do you want to ask?"

"I've made it very clear. What does that person look like? What's the family situation? A member of the police force died, even if he didn't die in the line of duty, I have to pay some pension, right?"

"Oh, that's right!" Jon laughed quickly, "That guy... lives in the first house on the east side of your house. He is a single tenant and has no family. He... looks quite distinctive. With protruding ears and pockmarked face, he is quite thin."

Like where have I seen this guy?Haiwen was puzzled, "Has the funeral been held?" Haiwen asked him.

"No, but people have burned."

"Burn? Isn't it buried?"

Jon explained: "The local people can only enter the local graveyard, my lord. The tramps from other places are all burned."

"Okay, I get it. Let's start training!" Afterwards, he directed the people to start jogging, and he followed suit for a while, but his body was so sore that he couldn't keep running.So after a few laps he fell behind and rested.

During this time, he kept thinking about the drowned man.This person sounds very familiar, who is it?He just couldn't remember.

After a while, people finished running and practicing, and everyone stopped to rest.Hai Wen also sat on a big rock to rest.At this time, I saw Fasnat walking towards him. The blue-eyed boy looked around, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he leaned down and whispered to Haven: "My lord, do you see the dead man?" Pass."

Sure enough, I have seen it. "who is it?"

Fassnet lowered his voice again, and said, "It was when we were taking blood from Master Cat, there was a policeman who came with the housekeeper, and that was him. His face was pockmarked and his ears were protruding."

"Yes!" Haiwen finally remembered, it was him, the one who saw us take blood from the fruit...

How did he drown?

Chapter 68: The Conscience of Heaven and Earth

Chapter 68: The Conscience of Heaven and Earth

Hai Wen was in a daze all morning.

At the moment, everyone in the Yizheng Hall is dealing with official business and further checking the land distribution.Curritt made a list, everyone discussed, Hai Wen listened in, and occasionally offered a few comments.

After that, they discussed the process of the collective funeral. Old Ramon made a whole set of procedures in line with ancient etiquette, saying that this would definitely satisfy people; while Kurit generally fiddled with the abacus and told Old Ramon that this was too extravagant and wasteful. Rather than making such a big scene, it is better to send more money to the poor.

Later, people simply divided into two factions, one faction supported old Ramon, who believed that honor and etiquette were very important, which represented the face of Mustang Town; It's better to send money directly, it's better to send less money and save more.

It wasn't until they were arguing that Haiwen came back to his senses: I only have twenty people under my command, how come there are two parties?

Then little Ramon said to him: "My lord, what do you think?"

Haiwen froze for a moment, he had been thinking about the drowned man in his mind.At this moment, he pulled his energy back to reality and looked at the people on both sides. The old Ramon on the left and the first group of members of the council hall. These people are mostly clerical, mostly teachers, bachelors, and doctors. nobles and knights.Most of these people are conservative and follow the rules.

The people on the other side are headed by Kurit, including Red Brick's son King Kong, as well as some craftsmen, shop assistants, and freelancers.These people are more open-minded and have a natural resistance to the nobles, which is a force of resistance.They are particularly dissatisfied with the status quo and are radical reformers.

In other words, rightists and leftists.

Haiwen does not intend to overthrow any of them, he does not talk about left and right, and he is full of pragmatism in his bones.Rather than watching leftists and rightists fight, he is more willing to tell "the story of the black cat and the white cat".

"Etiquette is really important." As soon as Haiwen opened his mouth, the people around fell silent. "Old Ramon's words are very reasonable. We must respect every martyr and every family member of a martyr and give them enough respect." He said When he arrived here, old Ramon straightened out his thin chest and raised his beard so high.

"But we are not aristocrats, we are all commoners and poor people, right?"

Everyone nodded—Curritt nodded first, saying yes again and again; Old Ramon was half a beat behind, just moving his neck slowly.

"Since we are poor people, we shouldn't use the courtesy of nobles." Hai Wen said in a deep voice. Hearing this, many people couldn't help but nod to him. "The rites of the nobles are extravagant and corrupt, and they can enjoy such rites only because they squeeze the blood and sweat of the poor. We don't exploit our compatriots, so we don't use the rites of the nobles."

The clever little Ramon took the trouble at this time and said, "Then what shall we do?"

"We have the rituals of the poor." Hai Wen said, "the martyrs of the poor should be respected with the rituals of the poor. We don't spend extravagantly, but we must prepare the memorial service with all our heart to let people know that we respect these heroes. At that time, I will Speech in person, condolences to family members, and distribute pensions and medals to them. I leave the matter of the venue to you. Old Ramon, Kurit, what do you think?"

"As you wish, my lord," said the two together.

After the consensus was reached, everyone quickly discussed a plan for the memorial service.Hai Wen found that the people under him were very active and capable.This is a blessing in misfortune. His environment and position are very embarrassing, and the baron puts great pressure on him. He has no money and no power. Now the only people he can rely on are this group of people.

Old Ramon decided to invite some children to do the chorus, which saved a band's performance fee.The old Ramon once led the children's choir, and the young Ramon once served as the lead singer of the choir in the church orphanage. This is not a problem for them; King Kong can build a podium with the craftsmen in two days, Then I went to pick some wild yellow flowers and black vines for decoration; finally Kurit calculated the accounts and found that it was [-]% less than expected, and the remaining money could be kept in the treasury or distributed to the families of the martyrs. Haven decided.Hai Wen immediately made a decision and said, "Distribute the money to the families of the martyrs."

At last old Ramon asked him, "Should I get some priests from the church outside? Some people in our town still believe in that."

"This is feudal superstition." Hai Wen said, "This is the shackles of the people. If you want to improve your thinking, you must get rid of this hypocritical thing. I am a firm atheist."

Old Ramon said in fear: "My lord, if you don't believe in gods and Buddhas, you will be punished and go to hell!"

"Believe in gods and Buddhas, gods of death and living gods, can this help us defeat the landlords and local tyrants? Those gods and Buddhas are also pitiful. They have been worshiped for hundreds of years, and a single landlord and local tyrant has never been defeated for us! Now the peasants want land, I ask you Is there any way, believe in God, or believe in ourselves?"

When he said these words, many people at the table laughed.

So the meeting came to a successful conclusion. At noon, Haven went back to have lunch and called Delaire out by the way.

They met in the dining room, and Haven was going to have lunch with the butler.

Today's Dreyer is very well dressed, with black satin and white-bottomed woolen sweater, and shiny leather boots; his face is also refreshed, without the sick look of the previous few days.He was still on a short crutch though, as if he had been in the habit since the injury.But looking at it this way, he looks more gentlemanly; he is not as wretched as before, but like a well-bred nobleman—more like Haven.

Dreyer sat upright on the chair, and the servant began to pour wine and serve him food.Dreyer raised his glass and said, "My lord, good afternoon." After speaking, he took a sip in vain.

However, Haiwen couldn't laugh. He stared at the gentleman butler and asked, "Dreyer, have you heard that someone died in the police force recently?"

The butler continued to drink, and then cut pork and said, "No, how did you die?"

Haiwen hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard that he was drunk and drowned."

"Hey, there's always something like this! Those guys are drinking and visiting brothels all day long. It's not unusual for them to drink to death one day."

"But this person... we all recognize him." Hai Wen murmured, "It's the one from a few days ago, with protruding ears, pockmarked face, very thin... Do you remember?"

The butler glanced at Haiwen, showing a confused expression, and said in a deep voice, "It seems that there is one...who is it?"

Haiwen's expression froze, and he said, "Just a few days ago, the one who came with you. He saw the witch's flesh."

Holding the steak with a fork in one hand, the butler blinked at Haiwen, and then showed a sudden realization. "Oh! It's him! If I sound so familiar, hey, I've persuaded him to drink less, but this guy... this is 'good words are hard to persuade, damn it'!" He said, taking a sip of his wine.

Hai Wen said in a deep voice: "This guy... died too suddenly."

"Suddenly? I'd say it's a good death! I'm still worried about what gossip he might say, even after death... Oh, look at my mouth, the dead are the ones who die the most!" He rinsed his mouth with wine, and then spit out on the ground.

Haiwen's face tensed up, and he finally asked, "You really don't know anything?"

Dreyer's expression became serious when he heard this. He put down the fork with the piece of meat and said, "What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you suspecting that I killed someone to silence me?" The butler stared at him, "Is there any basis?"

"I'll ask."

"Ask?" Dreyer laughed dumbfounded, "You are a judge, you understand this legal matter better than me, just 'asking' is not enough to convict. What else do you want?"

Haiwen felt that he was about to be eaten to death by this servant, "I want to be honest, Delaire."

"The truth is that I don't know." He raised his legs.

Then the atmosphere became stalemate, Haven looked at Dreyer, and Dreyer held the wine glass, taking a sip occasionally.After a long time, Hai Wen sighed and said, "It's not moral to kill people just to silence them."

"I know, so I won't do that, my lord."

Should I be confused?Hai Wen thought to himself, or is it really just a coincidence?However, this person has been cremated and has no relatives, so... there is no way to investigate.

"Maybe...we should give him more pension." Haiwen said to himself.

Dreyer smashed his tongue, frowned and said, "No! Isn't that the same as being guilty of a thief? This matter has nothing to do with us. Why are you so stubborn, my lord? Coincidence, this is a coincidence, do you understand?"

Haiwen stared at him and said, "Coincidence, coincidence...Dreyer, I trust you, but you can't live up to my trust. If you let me deceive me, there will be an irreparable rift in the trust between us. At that time, everything will be irreparable, I hope you can... respect yourself."

Dreyer smiled, and immediately said with a straight face: "My lord, let me just say it straight, as far as you are concerned, I really want to lie to you and you won't even realize it. If you don't trust me, you can fire me. You are an adult, you have the final say."

Haiwen shook his head helplessly, and said, "Dreyer, you are kind to me. Although you always say that the master does not thank the servant, I remember everything you do. I will not be ungrateful."

"Well, that makes sense." Dreyer nodded with satisfaction, "My lord, the two of us actually have a clear division of labor. You deal with the problem, and I deal with the person who raised the problem; you do good things, and I do bad things; you eat, and I eat." Shit! Hey, don't blame me for being rude, this is the truth. Do you think you can achieve great things just by relying on integrity, courage, wisdom... these foolish words? Come on, my lord!"

"Justice, kindness, honor, loyalty, magnanimity..." Dreyer counted them one by one, "My lord, you have all these things, so you can be the god of people. But you can't do anything It just so happens that I have plenty of what you don’t have. So I’ll take care of the rest for you—oh, but it doesn’t include ‘killing people to silence’.” He spread his hands with an aggrieved expression on his face , "I really didn't do this, my lord! The conscience of heaven and earth! Haha."

Chapter 69: The Loyal Dog

Chapter 69: The Loyal Dog

In the end, Haiwen didn't ask why.This person has no family members, and the body has been burned, even if he wants to investigate, there is no way to find out.He is indeed a person who doesn't rub the sand in his eyes, but this matter... It can only be said that he really has nothing to do.

So they changed the subject, first they casually chatted about agricultural production, then for some reason, the subject changed to a dog.

"Didn't the lord witch get a dog back a few days ago? It's called Uffin." The housekeeper and Haiwen said, "Now that dog is my pet, and he is very good with me."

"Do you like dogs?" Haven really didn't know this.

"I like it!" The housekeeper laughed, "When I was poor, I always went to the mountains to hunt rabbits. At that time, I raised a good dog called 'Big Claw', and that dog often caught rabbits for me. It all depends on it.” He happily talked about the hunting days, “I was ten years old at that time, and we didn’t know each other—oh, what were you doing at that time?”

"Me?" When I was in my teens, of course I was in middle school. "My brother and I were begging for food."

The housekeeper smiled meaningfully, and said, "Let's go, my lord, I'll show you our new dog."

"it is good."

So the two drank the last sip of wine in the glass, and then the butler put together the leftover meat and vegetables, and walked out with a plate.When they came to the courtyard, they didn't take a few steps when Haiwen heard a dog barking excitedly from ahead.The butler walked over quickly and shouted, "Uffin, come here!"

Then I saw a big dog with black back and white hair running over, wheezing.The dog stuck out its tongue and wagged its tail, and when it saw Dreyer coming, it was about to jump on him.Dreyer pointed at it and said, "Sit down!" The dog barked and sat down immediately.Hai Wen saw that the dog looked a bit like Bian Mu, but it was a bit bigger than Bian Mu, and its coat was also gray, so the blood was probably impure.

But this didn't affect the housekeeper's liking for this dog, "It should be a mix of Northeast Hound and Huazi dog." The housekeeper said two dog names that Haiwen had never heard before, "This guy is very smart! Just like a human. After saying this, the housekeeper put the leftovers under the dog's mouth, and the dog opened its mouth to eat. At this time, the housekeeper shouted: "Did I say I let you eat it?"

Hearing this, the dog immediately barked, then sat upright.This guy!That's probably the case with police dogs, right?Haiwen couldn't help being amazed.

After waiting for a few seconds, the butler laughed loudly and said, "Eat, eat!" The dog bowed his head and started to eat after speaking.The butler patted Haiwen on the shoulder and said, "I said it's a good dog, right? Haha!" When the dog finished eating, the butler threw a wooden tray for the dog to pick it up again.The hound named Uffin seemed to be able to understand human speech, and it could do whatever Dreyer ordered.Seeing this, Haiwen couldn't help but think: This dog must have been trained by Gerrit and the others, and the forest witch can talk to animals.

The housekeeper teased the dog to run back and forth, and he was sweating profusely after a while, "I like this dog! Go, pick it up!" He threw the wooden plate again as he spoke, and the dog barked and went to give it to him again. Picked it up.

It can be seen that Dreyer really likes this dog.Hewen suddenly felt that Dreyer was not as gloomy as before. This guy used to always have a flattering face, a villain who followed suit; although he is not upright now, at least he is neatly dressed and behaves politely. Look like a gentleman.

This kind of change didn't just happen to Dreyer, the whole house, and even the whole Mustang Town were glowing with a new spirit.Hai Wen did not dare to take the credit alone and say that all this is because of him. He believes that all this is because the people's minds are awakening and everyone has expectations for a new life.

In the afternoon, he set up a blackboard in the courtyard of the house, and resumed classes for the people below.There were more people coming this time than any other time. At first, it was just servants, then people from the police force and the Council Hall, and then there were ordinary residents passing by, or some peasants who fought side by side with him back then.It didn't take long for his door to be surrounded.On the one hand, everyone is fresh and curious, on the other hand, people may think that listening to the mayor's lecture is an extremely glorious thing.

In the end, Hai Wen had to disperse some people, but even so, there were still hundreds of people who stayed to attend the lecture.He let his servants and a few cronies sit in the front; then he asked the children to come to the front and sit on the floor; finally he put the young and middle-aged people in the back row, and treated men and women equally.

He first gave the most important hygiene lesson, and then casually talked about some farming knowledge.He talked about the basics, such as fertilization, water diversion, and how to use oxen to plow the land more efficiently... But every time he talked about it, the people below were shocked, revealing that "is there still such an operation?" look.This made Haiwen realize that the farming technology of this era was even more backward than he expected.

After the class, he thought to himself: to set up a propaganda team to spread ideas and knowledge to the peasant friends; in addition, he had to open an open school and encourage every peasant household to get a child to go to school.

In the past two days, he exercises in the morning, goes to work in the morning, teaches people in the afternoon, and goes home to work in the evening. His life is very orderly.At dusk the next day, old Ramon came to him and said, "My lord, tomorrow is the memorial service."