musicians of old

Chapter 455: Soaring Prices
"It turned out to be a priest."

"It seems to be the one who entered the city to register last night? What's his name, Antoine?"

"Those who have just returned to China don't quite understand the new regulations."

The soldiers heard what Fan Ning said and saw him dressed up, but they just looked at each other a few times and said a few words, but ignored them and followed suit.

Janus is a country with a religious system. The pope appointed the king as the head of state in various practical senses. The predecessor of the current army is the former Crusaders of the Sun. In the above sense, the army, as a violent institution of the authorities, is also ultimately Attributed to Pope leadership.
But this does not mean that the army will definitely buy the face of those who know the ordinary church, especially in wartime.

First of all, a practical problem is that in the face of a large-scale armed army, there are too few middle- and low-level knowledgeable people who really can't please. The steam industry technology in the new calendar has been developed to the extreme half a century ago. Today's The weapons are partly close to the level of Fanning's previous life before the First World War. Not only the lethality of military firearms is very impressive, but also the existence of airships, grenades, tanks, battleships and even chemical weapons. Looks very fragile.

Only at a high level, with the ability to visualize inspiration, and being involved in a war, can one protect oneself while being cautious not to die, and only one who has the understanding can pose a real threat to the heavily armed army.

From another structural point of view, the church headquarters is the "highest-level department", and the relationship between the counties or parishes, church branches or military districts below is somewhat "parallel departments".
In addition, the army is more centralized, unlike the diocese, which has such strong autonomy, so it is easy for the heads of the military education levels to be friendly on the surface, and the various subordinates are holding chicken feathers as arrows, and they are not very good at each other. Condition.

The fat officer motioned for several of them to keep their guns up: "You new priest, do you have any diocesan or municipal work letters issued according to the procedure?"

"Just right, just right." Fan Ning looked at another place.

"What's right? I asked if you have any work letters." The fat officer's voice was a little impatient.

At this time, on the street on the other side of the square, the sound of the engine's "tuk-tuk" sounded, and five motorcycles with flashing yellow lights drove over with a heat wave.

"What's the situation here?" On the leading motorcycle, jumped off a more stylish white-gloved officer, who was also not small.

"Brigadier General Boles, you are personally inspecting the discipline tonight." The fat officer immediately put on a smile, took a step forward, and explained a few words.

After listening to Boles, he still spoke calmly: "The order of the curfew was made by Marshal Enukem as a coordinator of the whole army and made by the city halls. If there is no special reason, the priest must abide by it. Go back to your residence immediately. You are not allowed to stay here, and the other two will go back for questioning."

"From now on, I will be in charge of everything here. What kind of business letter should I write to myself?"

Fan Ning didn't care what the background of these military personnel was. In fact, he didn't even know the military rank system clearly. He raised his hand, "clicked" a few times, and all the pistols and rifles came out of his hands, and fell directly on Fan Ning. by the feet.

He saddened and taught: "You soldiers are all the sharp blades of the sun, remember to believe in the truth, no one should commit the commandment of arrogance, even if Marshal Enukem comes over, even Janus The king of my father comes, and the name of the Father shall be hallowed."

He walked up to Boles, the white-gloved officer, and put his hand into his coat pocket.

With the stunned expressions of the eight people, Fan Ning directly pulled out a piece of ham, walked back to the two homeless mother and daughter and handed it over.

After the dirty young mother took it, she couldn't help but glanced at the platoon of soldiers, with fear and hesitation on her face.

"You can eat and drink with peace of mind. The grains in the soil, the livestock on the ground, and the birds in the sky in this city grow without seeing the sun. The saints in the city also bathe in the light and reproduce their offspring."

Fanning's gentle tone made them feel that a priest's words should be listened to more than soldiers, and coupled with hunger, the woman quickly tore the seal of the ham with her teeth, took a small bite, and handed the rest to the Gave it to the little girl.

The little girl's height is far less than the legs of an adult, and she will not be older than four years old. At this moment, she started to gobble it up, and the little piece that the woman bit off had already finished chewing, she just stared at the little girl, not reaching out to take it.

"Two dollars more." Fanning went to take out the white-gloved officer's overcoat again, and this time he found only the cigarette case, which he put in, and stretched out his hand to the others.

"Give it to him." After the firearm was handed over, Boles signaled his subordinates in a low voice.

The fat officer muttered, and threw a large and a small piece of ham in his pocket to the woman.

The two of them ate ham so much that they almost bit off their own fingers, their faces turned white and blue, and then they grabbed the snow piled up on the ground and stuffed it into their mouths. Only then did Yin Hong show on her face.

Seeing this mother-daughter look, Fanning recalled the mountain of food that was still piled up at the dinner party before leaving, and then flashed through the months and years, and countless similar scenes in his memory, feeling bored and irritable in his heart—in modern times This kind of situation is common on Blue Star, and such an old industrial world where the mysterious power can be validated, the strong and the weak are more clearly distinguished, and even the heights of the Hui Tower are chaotic, one day it will be lucky not to go completely crazy and die.

After calming down a bit, Fan Ning spoke gently, still in Lavoisier's usual tone: "Which city are you from, who can't get enough food and clothing? Is it because of bad habits, being a widow, or being oppressed?" ?”

"Mr. Priest, I belong to Lebic, I live in a small workshop, and I am not a homeless man." The woman said cautiously, "It's just that I really don't have enough to eat now. I will take the children to the church to eat cakes in the morning, and come out to meet them in the evening." By luck, I can occasionally catch up with some food left over from the dinner at the master’s house. After the incident in the Southern Continent, the textile company I worked for went bankrupt and I couldn’t find a job. My husband is serving in the army. Died at the front in the first month after the war"

"You should have pension money."

"It's nearly spent, Monsieur Priest."

"Flow so fast?"

"The amount sent to me was 232 pounds. At first I thought it was a relatively large sum, but now the price of food has tripled, the price of oil has increased five times, and the price of meat, vegetables, cloth and medicine has increased by six times." Seven times to more than ten times, our family has to hold a funeral, five people have to eat, and some people are sick. At first, they thought they could last for two or three years, but the expenses in the first month were 28 pounds. In the second month, I Try to save as much as possible, not as full as the first month, but spent 50 pounds, and I really can’t support it later.”

(End of this chapter)