As a farmer's son, young Carmen Gable is simply a model of personal struggle.
Farmers in the south are much poorer than farmers in the north, because they have to bear heavier taxes in comparison. In fact, having more people and less land is a major shortcoming of the farmers in the south. In the eyes of northerners, the southern climate
If it is warm and rich in products, it should pay more taxes.
Judging from the history of Europe, the foundation of a unified regime has always been laid in the north, and then the south surrendered and handed over its own tax rolls. They rarely even resisted, and then this became part of the tradition, just like the southerners
It would be strange not to pay more taxes.
As farmers, they dig their food from the soil and pay land tax, military service tax, poll tax and their surcharges every year, as well as monetized road donations. Even the most diligent farmer has nothing left. What if something happens to him?
Natural disasters and man-made disasters bring bad luck, so one can only borrow debts from the church or the rich and hope that they can be repaid in the coming year.
Therefore, it is simply a luxury for a farmer's son to want to study and become literate. Some far-sighted farmers want to do this, but the burden is even heavier, and they often bring about ridicule from their neighbors, who ridicule him for not knowing how high the sky is.
Since the age of 6, Carmen has been working as a waiter for the son of a rich man to supplement the family income. The rich man hired a tutor to teach his son how to read, and Carmen was able to attend and showed that he was far more intelligent than ordinary people.
at.
The respectable tutor was cherishing his talents and took the initiative to find Carmen's parents and offer to support Carmen's education.
But the good times did not last long. Within a few years of funding, the tutor died of illness and the funding was interrupted. At this time, Carmen's uncle, the LeBron Gable whom Xiaosi knew, stepped forward.
She worked hard to earn money to support her nephew, so that Carmen could continue her studies. Her uncle was also an ordinary person and could only barely pay the tuition by working hard.
When he grew up, Carmen found himself a job as a copywriter. Because his handwriting was neat and fast, he had many customers. By the way, he also wrote letters for others, and he always wrote letters.
I can get a few copper coins. Sometimes I have to take on more than a dozen such jobs a day.
The only regret is that he put on glasses very early.
This kind of life followed him until he was admitted to the University of Poitou. At this time, not only did he not need funding from his uncle, but he also performed better and better and could support himself by himself.
As the rewards of working part-time outside became more and more, Carmen became more and more particular about clothes and grooming. He learned to smoke, learned to dance round, and was also very knowledgeable about many brands of wine.
Although the life of the leisure class is enviable, Carmen only regards it as a stepping stone to the upper class society.
It is this background that gives Carmen a personal understanding of the so-called classes in the world.
Just like the representatives of the Estates-General, there are three circles of upper class people: priests, nobles and rich people. Each circle has different small circles. For example, among the rich, there are big bankers and big businessmen, big landowners, and
Factory owners and small workshop owners, as well as small and medium-sized rural landowners.
As for herself, Carmen asked herself, she doesn’t belong in any circle.
Perhaps a priest who had been accused of rape would ask him to write a psalm praising the apostles of God. Perhaps a morally corrupt noble would use the tone of charity and ask if he would be a private tutor for the children of his family.
The rich man simply threw him a bag of gold coins and asked him to write an article attacking his opponent, and he must not be caught by his opponent.
Carmen calls the above people collectively the leisure class, because only in this way can they be called with a high degree of unity. Carmen even thinks that he has created a new word with profound meanings. Well, this belongs to sociology as well as economics and politics.
A category that distinguishes a small group of people from the majority.
Early that morning, after staying up all night and writing her graduation thesis, Carmen had a few bites in the cafeteria and hurriedly walked out of the school.
He was rushing to the newspaper office of "Le Genovese". He was now the assistant editor of the newspaper. Because of his solid writing skills, spicy and seasoned writing style, and unique insights, several articles were published by this newspaper and caused a great response.
He was discovered and hired by the newspaper even though he had not yet graduated.
This new newspaper is in desperate need of talent, especially when dozens of newspapers suddenly appear.
For Carmen, this job is not only decent, but also pays well, especially because it is a pen he likes.
This job was simply tailor-made for him, and Carmen worked very hard.
Although he went out in a hurry, Carmen paid more attention to his appearance. This outfit cost him more than half of the manuscript fee for a collection of poems. When he made this decision, it was very painful.
The atmosphere in the newspaper office is a bit strange today. The members, both proofreaders and reporters, are immersed in their work, but it is much quieter than usual.
Opposite a long row of desks, there are several sofas, which are usually the places where guests from outside come to the newspaper office. Today, there are several sinister-looking guys sitting in this position, and they sit there and smoke.
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A few colleagues who were relatively familiar with Carmen winked at him and nodded vaguely with their chins in the direction of the editor-in-chief's office.
Carmen took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Mr. Duva, the newspaper's president and editor-in-chief, responded from inside.
"Good morning, Mr. Dewar!" Carmen was very respectful and polite.
There was another person sitting in the room. Although she was extremely shocked, Carmen still pretended not to recognize him because it was Thomas Daley, the director of the secret police.
Chief Daley has become a public enemy of the newspaper industry recently, as he has forced more than two dozen newspapers to close their doors.
"Carmen, this is Director Daley. He has some questions to ask you." Mr. Dewar confessed and fled, leaving his office to the two people in the room.
Carmen secretly scolded Mr. Dewar for being cunning, and said bravely:
"Good morning, Mr. Director!"
"Good morning, are you Mr. Gable?" Director Daley walked to Mr. Dewar's seat, and then Shi Shiran sat down.
"Yes, my name is Carmen Gable, and I am the assistant editor of this newspaper." Carmen said.
"Sit down and talk, don't be nervous." Daley smiled and motioned for the other party to sit down, "I'll call you Carmen. Let's talk like friends. Don't worry, it's nothing serious."
Carmen would not believe this nonsense. Seeing that Daley was about to take out his cigarette case, Carmen quickly offered his own cigarette.
After lighting up the cigarette, Dai Li took a puff and laughed at himself:
"Sorry, I'm a bit addicted to cigarettes. You know, doing our job, just like you literati, requires the most brainpower. Because I often need to find even a few useful clues from a lot of mess, which requires
I put in hundreds of times of time and effort, but my boss always thinks that my work is not commensurate with the salary he pays. Likewise, my subordinates also complain about me, haha!"
"Mr. Director, I can completely understand this. The longer you stay up late, the harder you smoke, even though we all know that smoking is harmful to health." Carmen said, "I don't think Mr. Director came here in person to discuss with me.
Are cigarettes harmful? In fact, I am in favor of imposing a luxury tax on tobacco. The higher the better, because then I may quit smoking because of lack of money."
Although Carmen is young, he has seen a lot of world affairs. He has not experienced a single incident in the journalism industry in vain in the past two years. He is very good at this kind of verbal litigation. If he wants, he can chat with people all day long, and
The topics are never the same.
Daley tilted his head and glanced at him, then found a few newspapers from the newspaper rack next to him and spread them out on the table:
"Okay, let's get back to business."
"Please advise!" Carmen was full of fighting spirit at this time, and even a little eager to try.
"On February 15th, the news summary "On the Great Role of the Parliament of the Nobles" was written by Mr. Gable, right?" Daley asked.
"It is indeed my humble work." It was written in black and white, and it was certainly impossible for Carmen to deny it.
"The Parliament of Nobles should be renamed the Parliament of Nobles, because its members are all great nobles, and they are all nobles personally selected by His Majesty. However, after studying the bills passed by the Parliament of Nobles in the past thirty years, this institution only plays a facade role.
It can neither solve the problems that the empire desperately needs to solve nor
It can put forward proposals to solve problems. Its only function is a nursing home, because the average age of its members is fifty-eight. This is really a leisure class, and they can have a lot of time to take turns giving speeches there. From a mathematical point of view, it is completely
The result of being averaged out because a few are younger..."
Daly read a long paragraph, and then looked at Carmen: "Mr. Gable, are you loyal to the emperor?"
"Of course!" Carmen replied seriously.
"Then what made you write such a paragraph?" Daly asked, "I read your dissatisfaction with His Majesty from it."
"No, Mr. Director, I am extremely loyal to His Majesty. The more loyal I am, the more I am prompted to make well-intentioned criticisms. Just like a critic, I'm sorry, I am humble and overstepped, but good medicine tastes bitter and loyal advice is harsh to the ears. Mr. Director should be
Clearly. As for my readers, they wrote in and commented that this passage describes
"Precision, please note, is precision and not just accuracy, because it involves mathematics." Carmen said, "If anyone can prove that my mathematics is poor, I am willing to apologize to everyone and ask them to forgive my ignorance."
Because as a liberal arts student, calculation errors are understandable."
Daley stared at the other party. The other party's words were really sharp. He pulled out another newspaper:
"Well, from the newspaper on February 18th, it seems that Mr. Dewar thinks highly of you and even asked you to write an editorial."
"Just one of the contributors," Carmen corrected.
"Okay, what did you ask me to read and write?" Daley curled his lips, "All members of the country should have the same need for the protection provided by the monarch, so they are all equally obliged to contribute to the needs of the country.
.Attempts to evade taxes or claim immunity will break the connection between the country and its citizens. We must correct the original stereotypes and oppose privileges..."
After reading this, Daly asked: "Are you a sympathizer of the True God Party?"
"No, Mr. Director, the True God Party does not want you to pay taxes. They are opposed to all taxes, and of course they are even more opposed to privileges. This is fundamentally different." Carmen defended, "Can I think that you are trying to combine water with
Fire fuses together.”
"I heard that some of you at the University of Poitou are restless, and you are the most active among them. Young man, your remarks may seem tempting, but they are dangerous. Anything that involves opposition to privileges is
Prohibited." Dailey said.
"Mr. Director, I must say that you completely misread my intention."
"Want to hear the details!"
"Our principal said..."
"Wait a minute, what does this have to do with Viscount Connery? Have you received funding from him?" Daly's expression changed drastically.
Carmen realized that he was a little careless and quickly said: "The principal, Viscount Connery, once said that in the past, the king should live on the output of his own territory, and taxes would only be paid when the country has special needs.
Expropriation, such as war. Mr. Director, is this correct?"
"Yes!" Daly admitted.
"When everyone generally holds this concept, taxation is not an easy task, because almost everyone who pays thinks that taxes are temporary rather than a legitimate institutional behavior. Since
If it is temporary, it can be cancelled. The Viscount believes that the country provides public goods for every people..."
"Public goods, what do you mean?"
Carmen said: "For example, your duty is to fight crime and protect people from thugs. Please allow me to pay tribute to you and your colleagues. In the same way, maintain the army and defend the country, and build roads."
Promoting exchanges between various places, providing relief to victims when natural disasters occur, and setting up welfare homes to adopt abandoned babies are all products provided by the state and government to the people."
"That seems to be the case." Daley felt that the current situation was contrary to his intention.
"Since the country provides products to the people, the people should pay the price, right?" Carmen asked.
"right!"
"So, where does this kind of public product come from, it is taxation. So I was inspired by the principal's talk and thought that it is not appropriate to break the old concept and advocate that everyone is equal before paying taxes. The rich pay more taxes, and the poor pay less or even no taxes.
?”
Daly stared at the other party for a long time and said, "Viscount Connery often talks about this with you?"
"No, it's just this time. Can I think that the principal's words violated the law? Mr. Director, you seem to have forgotten that our principal is a nobleman. Is he against you? This is completely fair from the standpoint of the country and the emperor.
Discuss!" Carmen asked straightforwardly, "Or does Mr. Director think that I have violated the law?"
"No, since it was said by the Viscount, there must be truth in it." Daly was a little angry. He stood up and said, "Mr. Gable, I still have official duties to attend to, so I'm leaving!"
"Mr. Director, welcome back next time!" Carmen quickly stood up and sent Director Daley out of the newspaper office.
Looking at Daley's leaving figure, Carmen was thoughtful, even though her shirt was soaked.
Although the Viscount Principal seemed very willing to contact the students, Carmen had never had any personal contact with him.
Sure enough, they are the leisure class. He can make the same remarks, but I can't?