Shadow of great britain

In a dark corner at the end of the street, a young man carrying a light green canvas file bag was wrestling with a homeless man holding a knife on the ground.

"Let go. If you don't let go, I will give you two hard blows! Don't blame me for not reminding you, my knife was just sharpened this morning!"

"I can give you some money, but you can't take my bag!"

When the tramp saw that the young man would not compromise no matter what, he suddenly felt angry and evil in his heart.

He held the handle of the knife and raised it high, ready to stab the young man twice in the stomach.

However, before he could make a move, a hand as strong as an iron pincer strangled his wrist.

Arthur simply exerted force, and the homeless man suddenly felt soreness in his arm, and he couldn't hold the knife in his hand and fell to the ground.

Arthur stepped on the knife under his feet, stretched out his head and said in the tramp's ear: "You should be glad that I didn't go to work today, otherwise you would have been beaten lightly. Get out, get out before I regret it!"

As soon as he let go of his hand, the tramp covered his painful wrist, glared at him fiercely, and then walked away with his back bent.

Arthur stretched out his hand towards the dusty young man and pulled him up from the ground.

"As soon as night comes, the feeding time of crows and vultures begins. It is easy to bump into them when you go to places without lights at this time."

The young man dusted himself off, raised his head and was about to reply, but hesitated after seeing the outline of Arthur's face.

He took a closer look and said in surprise: "Officer Arthur, I didn't expect to see you here!"

Arthur also recognized the other party: "Charles?"

The other party is Arthur's new friend, court clerk Charles Dickens.

Arthur touched his neck and shook his head: "If something happens to you here, it will be a huge loss to the entire British literature and even world literature. You must cherish your life and stay as far away from dangerous places as possible."

Dickens smiled and said: "Officer Arthur, you have started again. I am just a court clerk and newspaper interviewer, not the great writer you say."

"Even if you are an ordinary person, you should not come to St. Giles at this point! You should know where this place is, right? This is the place with the highest crime rate in the entire West End of London, even compared to several famous slums in the East End. Duo Rang. Fortunately you met me today, otherwise your life would have been decided here."

Dickens was also a little scared: "In fact, if he just wants money, at worst I will give him all the coins and banknotes I have. But if he insists on grabbing the bag in my hand, then I can't give it to him even if I die. Otherwise, all my work today will be in vain."

Arthur asked: "Is there anything important in the bag?"

Dickens nodded, and he pulled out an interview manuscript from his bag with excitement and handed it to Arthur.

He said: "Thanks to you, I have gained some fame because of the article I wrote about you, so many newspapers have been looking for me to write articles recently.

Even a committee of the House of Commons privately commissioned me to conduct investigative interviews for them, and I came to St. Giles just to complete the interviews.

I accepted this commission excitedly at first, but when I got there, I realized that I had thought of things too simply.

Because I have never been here, my impression of St. Giles Parish is still limited to the London Beer Flood of 1814, when beer cans at the Mews Brewery exploded en masse, destroying two nearby houses and another. That time in the pub.

I thought I would be able to complete the investigation and interview quickly when I came here during the day, but later I realized that I was overthinking it.

Most of the people who live here are engaged in lower-level heavy manual jobs in nearby markets, factories, business districts or government departments and have no time to be interviewed by me.

Even homeless people and pickpockets living on the streets know that there is little money to be made locally, so they go out to look for targets in other areas during the day.

Therefore, I can only wait here until they go home to sleep at night before I have the opportunity to interview one or two energetic people.

You see, the article I am giving you is an interview I just completed. I have been guarding this manuscript for a whole day, and no one can take it away from me. "

Arthur glanced at the manuscript. Although the content was brief, every word written on it was extremely heavy, like a thousand pounds of stones weighing on the palm of his hand.

Interviewer: Elizabeth Bentley

Reporter: Charles Dickens

Di: What is your occupation?

Yi: I am a female textile worker, working in a nearby factory.

DI: When did you start doing this job?

E: Probably around 1815, starting when I was six years old.

Di: What kind of work do you do in the factory?

Yi: I am in charge of doffing.

Di: Can you briefly describe your job content?

Yi: When the thread on the spinning key is full, stop the spinning machine, remove the key and all the spools, take them to the reel, replace them with empty spools, and start the spinning machine again.

Di: How long do you work in the factory every day?

Yi: From 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Di: Has it been like this since you were six years old?

Yi: Yes, but I'm used to it.

Di: With such a heavy job, you must be busy from morning to night, right? Is it okay if I work a little slower or arrive a little later?

Yi: No, they will whip me with a belt.

Di: Have you ever experienced any physical deformities due to long hours of working?

Yi: Yes, it started when I was thirteen years old. My chest was somewhat sunken, my back was not straight, and I often felt out of breath. Sir, can we end the interview? I just got off work, and now I just want to have a good sleep. I am really tired. I can’t lift my hands and can barely move my feet. I don’t want to say anything now.

Di: Sorry, madam, please take this shilling. This is your reward for the interview.

Yi: You are such a generous gentleman. This is already worth my day’s salary. Thank you for your kindness. I hope God bless you.

When Arthur saw this, he looked at Dickens and said nothing, but his expression said everything.

He only felt that there was a breath stuck in his chest, and he had to shout to the sky to release this suffocating breath.

He was silent for a while and then said: "Charles, you are right. No one can take this thing away from you."

Dickens just smiled, took out a box of tobacco from his pocket, opened the lid and asked Arthur.

"Want some more? To be honest, I feel the same as you now, I also need some of this."

Under the dim moonlight, the glowing red dot changed from one to two.

Arthur blew out a smoke ring and asked: "Which committee of the House of Commons commissioned you to investigate?"

Dickens said: "To be precise, it is not a committee of the House of Commons, but a committee initiated by Whig MPs. They want to investigate the poor living conditions of the local people in St. Giles, and then initiate an impeachment of the current Tory government. .

In fact, that's not all, they also commissioned other investigators to go to rural areas. You should know, right? In the past two years, rural famine has occurred in several agricultural counties. Due to grain taxes and high land rents, coupled with poor annual income, many farm laborers have been cultivating the land but have not enough to eat.

I heard that in serious areas, the income level of farm laborers has dropped to two to three shillings per week. Even if the consumption level in rural areas is not as high as in London, it is still too difficult to feed a family with a weekly salary of two or three shillings. "

When Arthur heard this, he held it in for a long time, and finally couldn't help but curse.

"The Whig Party's investigation of the Tory Party is nonsense no matter how you hear it. Behind the Whig Party are those big factory owners, big bankers, big lawyers, etc. You have to ask themselves why St. Giles Parish is doing this.

As for the Tories, behind them are the nobility, clergy, soldiers and those large and small landowners who profited from the land enclosure movement. It is not my fault who is responsible for the grain tax used to protect the price of domestic agricultural products and the land rent that cannot be paid if it is raised. explain.

Do these bastards really have the nerve to investigate each other? I admit that there may be some good people in both parties, but in terms of average quality, they are just half the best! "