Into Unscientific

Chapter 232 London Experience(5.8K)

Although it doesn't matter whether it is England or Scotland.

These two countries, both of which belong to the British system, are actually well aware of the reasons for the attack on the Danfries outpost.

But after all, this matter involved a border dispute, and there were also some direct members and even speakers of some large chambers of commerce who died in this riot.

Therefore no prior communication is required.

Scotland and England sent their own investigation teams at the same time.

Representing England was Henry John Temple, then Secretary of State for External Relations and the twenty-eighth Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Although he is also a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge University, later generations generally believe that this person is talented enough to be selected as one of the top ten diplomats in human history.

But Xu Yun didn't have a good impression of him.

There is no other reason.

Gein was the main maker of the British policy of aggression against China during the Two Crows.

Although Henry John Temple had never been on the battlefield himself, in a sense, his hands were no less sinful than Grant.

Again.

Xu Yun has no idea of ​​continuing his life in the current decadent country, but this does not mean that he has to show good looks to those foreigners who participated in the aggression, and it is impossible to have any feeling of "grateful".

Of course.

Whether friendly or hateful, Xu Yun has no chance to meet Henry John Temple now:

As early as the day after activating the mission, Thomson called Xu Yun and Mai Mai, and drove the carriage away from the Danfries outpost.

According to Thomson's words.

The political game of the behind-the-scenes black hands can be handed over to Henry John Temple, and the profit should be cut, and there must be an argument anyway.

These academics got involved in it rashly, and they probably didn't know how they died in the end.

So after leaving correspondence addresses with Gibson Lindsay and Ten Hag Rangnick.

The three happily went to the UK.

The town of Danfries belongs to the border area between the Soviet Union and Britain. After passing through Danfries, the front is the Carlisle area of ​​England.

Of course.

Compared with Carlisle, Newcastle, which is on the same level as it, should be more famous.

After Carlisle is Leeds, and after Leeds are several big cities such as Sheffield and Birmingham.

The three of Xu Yun walked peacefully for three and a half days without encountering any accidents.

Finally in the morning of the fourth day.

The group arrived in London, the capital of England and the core city of European politics and economy.

Over the years, with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the prosperity of commercial trade, London's population has also been increasing.

Today, the population of London has exceeded one million, and there is a prosperous scene everywhere, and the residents are happy and happy!

Outside the entry checkpoint.

Xu Yun sat in the front room of the carriage, stretching their necks with Mai Mai to look forward.

The towering chimneys that were faintly visible in the sight were emitting endless black smoke, and the thick fog was so thick that people could not see the buildings further away.

The coughing sounds at the checkpoint station kept coming and going.

Here, people are clearly divided into two groups:

Sitting in a gorgeous carriage, the nobles who can't see the face but can imagine the picture-or the upper class.

as well as

With a sallow complexion and a haggard appearance, both men and women looked much older than their actual age.

In the farther corner of the city, you can still see children in rags, whores of station sisters, and a large number of drunkards holding a wine bottle in their hands and lying against the wall with their feet stretched out.

For these people.

It seems that only by drinking non-stop all day can the smog that invades the body be dispelled.

This is a city with cool colors from head to toe.

Tall buildings and roaring machines all show the heyday that belongs to the core of Europe all the time.

But the incense generated by this heyday did not spread to all living beings, but floated to a higher cloud.

Heaven and earth.

Completely two different worlds.

Xu Yun looked up at the sky, and then at an old man not far away whose face was covered in mud.

Can't help but sighed deeply.

Since defeating the French Empire led by Napoleon in 1815, Britain has become the strongest hegemon in Europe in one fell swoop.

Known as

Empire on which the sun never sets.

But hidden under this prosperity is the blood and tears of countless British civilians.

It actually dates back to the end of the 18th century.

At that time, with the development of the industrial revolution, the amount of coal burned in London began to increase sharply, and almost every industry used a huge amount of coal.

For example, countless new factories need to burn coal, and trains also need to burn coal.

Ever since.

A large amount of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere.

In the absence of any air disturbance, these gases and water mist condensed and mixed to form a yellow-brown smoke.

This is an extremely harmful gas, similar in nature to the smog of later generations, but much more toxic than the smog.

What is worse than the smog is the living conditions of the civilians at this time.

According to statistics in the book "The Life and Labor of the People of London".

In this day and age.

30.7% of people in London live below the poverty line, living without food and clothing.

Today more than 5,000 London civilians die from respiratory diseases every year.

More than 3,000 civilians died on the job—that's the number of deaths on the job, not counting those who died at home.

More than 7,000 civilians died from the famine.

Among them, the former includes some nobles, while the latter two are 99% civilians.

Elizabeth Gaskell wrote a book called "The South and the North" in 1885, which described the life of the lower-class British civilians. (If you are interested, you can go directly to the British drama South and North).

In addition to the love story between the hero and the heroine.

You can see the bottom layer depicted inside, there is really no guarantee.

At that time, even children had to go to work, and if they didn't come for a day, they would lose their jobs immediately.

Want to raise wages, difficult!

It is still difficult to improve the working environment!

For example, the heroine's friend died of pneumoconiosis because of inhaling too much cotton wool.

There are too many people in it, just to be able to live and to be able to give their children a bite of bread.

In sharp contrast to the life of the people at the bottom, it is the aristocratic life in London.

These nobles drank red wine and ate beef every day, recited 242 details that should be paid attention to at the banquet, and considered whether to spend dozens of pounds to buy jewelry tomorrow.

in 1850.

The prosperity brought about by the industrial revolution has nothing to do with the people at the bottom who are just trying to survive.

The phrase "in the initial stage of capital, every pore is dripping with blood" is the best comment on this era.

Just when Xu Yun's heart was heavy, a weak voice suddenly came from his ear:

"Sir, give me something to eat."

Xu Yun turned his head and found a seven or eight-year-old girl standing beside him.

The little girl's face was pitch black, her eyes were bright, her clothes were ragged, and her hair was stained with mud and weeds.

He was obviously of standard Caucasian descent, but his complexion at this moment was an extremely unhealthy sallow.

Seeing this, Xu Yun couldn't help feeling calm.

Although he has never had a good impression of foreigners, and he is not a saint himself, the Huadun Biosciences founded by later generations and even the brains of the European, American, and Japanese and Korean regions are about to come out.

But this hostility does not include the current situation.

Any person with basic sympathy will inevitably feel a little pity when encountering this situation.

Then he thought for a moment.

Turning around, he took a few potatoes from the carriage, and Mai Mai also tacitly took out a few loaves of bread, and put them on the front of the car together.

Xu Yun packed these things in a small cloth bag, handed them to the little girl, and said:

"Hold it, hold it tight, don't be snatched away, if you're very hungry, don't eat too fast, it's not good for your stomach."

Gollum—

The little girl swallowed, took the cloth bag, bowed, and quickly ran back into the crowd.

Xu Yunjian said that he and Mai Mai looked at each other, and they both sighed.

As a result, before they could continue to sigh, Thomson, who had been watching with cold eyes, suddenly spoke:

"Two gentlemen, don't you feel very touched after showing your love?"

The naive boy Mai Mai didn't notice the sarcasm in Thomson's tone, and nodded vigorously:

"Yes, Mr. Thomson, the little girl is very poor."

Hearing his words, the corners of Thomson's mouth curled up slightly:

"Poor? Look at your pockets before you talk."

Mai Mai was taken aback when she heard the words, and immediately looked at her waist.

After a while.

He suddenly let out an ah, and quickly touched his waist with his hands:

"Hey, where's the cigarette pouch in my pocket?"

See this situation.

Xu Yun also gradually realized something, and quickly pressed the palm of his left hand on his waist.

fine.

The kidney is still there.

But the two gold nuggets he was going to break into change were missing.

Then he looked at Thomson and asked thoughtfully:

"Mr. Thomson, is that boy... a thief?"

Thomson sighed, nodded heavily, and said:

"Yes, it should be a pickpocket group active in this area. I think the things she stole are not very valuable, so I didn't remind you about it."

"Sometimes it's a good thing to lose a little money. It's better to have a longer memory than to lose money in the future and even lose your life."

Xu Yun opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

But in the end still did not speak.

Who would have thought that that miserable-looking little girl was actually a pickpocket?

And he can steal things without himself and wheat discovering

Not to mention how exquisite her skills are, at least it is impossible for her to be a skill that can be developed quickly in a day or two.

Think here.

The title of a work suddenly appeared in Xu Yun's mind:

"Oliver Twist".

After arriving in London, the protagonist Oliver in this work strays into the den of thieves organized by Fagin, among whom there are no less than a dozen young children trained to be pickpockets.

"Oliver Twist" was written in 1838. The social background is not too different from today's, and there is a lot of information in it for reference.

Therefore, in this era, child pickpockets are actually a very common type of 'tool'.

"Nowadays with the development of industry, many children in London become orphans every year, which makes it more difficult to identify those child pickpockets."

Thomson looked at the direction where the little girl disappeared, and shook his head with emotion:

"The money stolen by these child pickpockets is basically handed over to the gang leader, and they don't actually get much."

"Like the bag of food that you and Maxwell gave her, three or four potatoes plus the same amount of bread, right? Half a piece of bread and one potato are too much for her."

After he finished speaking, he let out a long sigh, patted Mai Mai, who had a face full of 'urban routines', pointed at the checkpoint and said:

"Okay, it's time for us to enter the city, hurry up and get down to business."

Although the town of Cambridge, where Cambridge University is located, is not in the city of London, London is a big city that must pass through to go to the town of Cambridge.

After crossing the north of London, the distance from Cambridge is only less than 60 miles.

That's why Thomson chose to enter the city today.

At the same time, he entered London with another purpose, that is.

He was going to say goodbye to Xu Yun here.

After all, according to Xu Yun's previous statement.

He disembarked from the port of Aberdeen in Scotland, ready to go to London to visit relatives, and then seek a way out.

It's a pity that he met a black-hearted coachman and he was left halfway. Only then did the follow-up story begin.

Now that they are passing through London, there is no need to take Xu Yun to Cambridge University.

Fifteen minutes later.

Thomson and his party passed the checkpoint and entered the city of London.

"Luo Feng."

After entering the city, Thomson looked around and asked Xu Yun:

"Where does that relative of yours live? Maxwell and I will take you there."

"Knowing the specific address, it will be convenient for us to write letters in the future."

Xu Yun made a false inquiry after hearing the words, and said:

"I think it was at 13 Bessim Street, Islington."

"Besheim Street?"

Thomson was taken aback for a moment, his eyes immediately widened a little, and then he said:

"Luo Feng, didn't your relatives leave any other spare addresses?"

Xu Yun glanced at him pretendingly blankly, and asked knowingly:

"Of course not, Mr. Thomson. What's the matter?"

Thomson saw that his brows were wrinkled, and said in deliberation:

"Luo Feng, I'm afraid you don't know. There was a cholera outbreak in London two years ago, and Islington was the hardest hit area, so many buildings were pulled down and abandoned at that time."

"Besham Street is in the very center of Islington, where residents have either moved or have left."

I heard this.

Xu Yun quickly put on a look of ignorance, like a sea king pretending to be innocent:

"Oh no?"

While making this expression, he also scored himself in his heart:

90 marks!

In 1848, there was a cholera outbreak in London, which killed more than 52,000 people and was also the worst cholera in British history.

Among them, Islington and Camden are the hardest hit areas of cholera, with a death rate of 68%.

Xu Yun's main focus in this life is biology, so he naturally remembers the time and the most central location of such a big event.

Although the current timeline has changed, the cause of the cholera outbreak has nothing to do with scientific theories.

Therefore, Xu Yun guessed with more than 80% confidence that this cholera also happened in the dungeon.

Of course,

If the cholera did not break out because of the instigation of the butterfly wings, Xu Yun would have other ways to make his 'relatives' disappear.

The line of sight returns to reality.

Xu Yun stared at Thomson for a few seconds, then he put on a hesitant expression and said:

"Mr. Thomson, the address I got was left by my aunt in a letter seven years ago. There is no other backup address."

"Now that things have happened like this, I guess there is little chance of finding them."

After he finished speaking, he paused and continued:

"However, Mr. Thomson, my original plan was to stay and work in London after visiting them, and then use the wages I earned to pay for my tuition to go to university."

"I originally planned to apply for University College London as an auditor, but now that I know you and Mr. Maxwell, I would like to ask."

"I don't know if I have a chance to study in Cambridge?"