Southern Rose [Gone with the Wind]

War will change a person. Scarlett has changed, Ashley has changed, Melanie has changed, and Rhett will also change.

She wasn't directly affected by the war, but had she changed?Maybe.The impact of the war on this country is comprehensive, and the rich people are not affected much. They can feast and party every night as before the war, but there are still some things that are different.People who have not experienced war cannot imagine the cruelty of war, just like Annabelle and Margaret, they can't imagine that Scarlett will work in the fields by herself, and there is no "eldest lady doing rough farm work" in their minds Concept, do not know how to start.

But Scarlett didn't know either.

She spoke of Scarlett's bravery in front of the girls, which changed their opinion of the in-law.Before, the two of them only liked the quiet Karin, and thought that Scarlett and Su Lun were too superficial. The reason was that Scarlett and Su Lun didn't like to go to school, they didn't like reading, and their knowledge was superficial.

Now the two of them humbly think that Scarlett's responsibility to support the whole family under such difficult conditions is really amazing, and they would not be able to do it.

"This is the responsibility of being the eldest sister, isn't it?" Margaret, the youngest in the family, asked.

"Yes. Like your eldest brother, he must support your family. Now Stanley."

Annabelle nodded, "She's really amazing that way."

"But I don't know that." Margaret looked at her tender hands worriedly, "I want to give her my pocket money, do you think it's okay? I don't need to spend money."

Annabelle said quickly, "I can save pocket money too. How can we help them?"

"You don't need your pocket money, I've already sent someone to deliver the money." Josephine felt relieved.Girls are kind by nature, and the education they receive is also "positive energy". They are girls who are 100% good wives and mothers who meet the needs of this era.Of course, this is not to say that kindness is not a good character. Kindness is an excellent character no matter what era it is.

The newspapers in the north were always full of joy when they reported the war situation, saying that the victory of the northern army was in sight, and that the corrupt southern puppet president and puppet government were unpopular and would eventually be trampled down by the iron hooves of the army.But the newspapers rarely mentioned the current situation of civilians in the south. Josephine asked the girls to read the newspapers, and asked the girls to think about what would happen if a city was besieged by troops outside and gangsters who took advantage of the fire inside.

The girls are well protected by their brothers. In fact, they have never seen what a person who commits crimes looks like, so it is hard to imagine.Most of their knowledge comes from books, not the real world, lacking intuitive impressions.

Protected girls are innocent, which is a good thing, but sometimes it is not necessarily a "good thing".

John Robillard is eager to return home, intending to leave for the United States in October, first to New York, and then to see if he can go to Savannah by land.

In his letter, he again mentioned the Duke of Austria, not without irritation. The Duke did not come to Paris this time, but sent Thomas's sister. The Duchess was married, married another Duke, and became a Duchess.

The young duchess hoped that her brother would come home and be a good son.

But the problem is that the Robillards have never met Thomas Wolfe.

Where did Thomas Wolfe go?

A rich nobleman can actually do a lot of things, and he doesn't take Dad's house arrest as a thing at all.If he has no money and has to rely on his rich father, he can only go home obediently.

The biggest mistake the Duke made was not raising his son to be a waste.

Regarding the duke's thoughts, Josephine expressed her understanding. The duke's father definitely wanted his son to marry a well-matched aristocratic wife, at least the daughter of an earl. Unfortunately, Emile married an American nouveau riche, and her family background was "downgraded". The Billards were not aristocrats, and Thomas wanted to marry Miss Robillard, and she was a widow, unless she was extremely rich.

It doesn't matter how beautiful you are.

Beauty is a weapon, but in many cases the weapon of beauty is useless.

The newspapers in the north kept saying that the war was coming to an end, but they did not expect that the south would continue to resist and the war would continue to drag on.

There were always several letters from Rhett every month, and sometimes at least three at once if the messengers were late.

She also got a lot of first-hand information.

The south was retreating steadily, and there were not many people in the army, and they were basically fleeing.What battle can an army with no one fight?A lot of old and sick people, even Aunt Pauline's husband, Carey, was ready to go to the front line.Minor injuries are not allowed to go to the hospital for recuperation, unless a broken leg or an arm is lucky enough to stay in the hospital for recuperation.

Some people secretly shot and wounded their feet or calves in order to leave the front line. Once they were found out, they would be severely punished. A lieutenant shot and killed a self-harming soldier on the spot. The lieutenant was dead, and no one knew whether he had been shot by northern soldiers or by his own soldiers.

There are deserters everywhere, and there is no way to stop them or restrain them.The deserters robbed food and money everywhere in the countryside, raped women, and killed the old, weak, sick and disabled men who stayed at home. There was chaos everywhere.

He was quite conscientious, and tried to find out about Tara. Fortunately, Tara was not bad. Sheldon didn't leave after sending money and food, and assumed the responsibility of protecting the O'Hara family.However, what he received was how to manage an aristocratic family's education, and he had never been to the land. Scarlett asked Sheldon to take care of the sick Melanie and Gerald, who was confused all day long, and manage everything in the family.

Sheldon also managed to send a letter back to Boston: Master O'Hara was very ill, and he always couldn't remember that Mrs. Ellen had passed away, and sometimes he would regard Miss Scarlett as his wife; the black mother followed Scarlett to the ground To work, Su Lun complained all day long, but she still went to work every day; Miss Karin was too weak, Sheldon didn't want Karin to do rough work, Scarlett scolded Sheldon, and the two had a big quarrel the black mammy scolded Sheldon bloody;

There are a lot of people in the family now, but there are not many people who can work. Master O'Hara can't be counted on. Mrs. Wilkes is too weak and can only stay in the big house to take care of the two children. Master Wilkes Jr. , Young Master Hamilton.The two boys are both thin and small, which makes people feel sad.Both Su Lun and Karin were recovering from serious illnesses. Su Lun was in better health before, and Scarlett always tried to let Su Lun do more things as much as possible.Karin was too thin, and he was worried that Karin would get sick again. After the quarrel, he had a good talk with Scarlett. The family didn't have much money, and he had to wait for Mrs. Talent from Boston to send someone to bring the money. Otherwise, if Karin gets sick again, she has no money to see a doctor, and it is very difficult to find a doctor, so she has to go to Atlanta to ask for a doctor.

After weighing the pros and cons, Scarlett reluctantly agreed that Karin would not have to work in the fields.

The original black servants in the family, as well as the black mammy and Pork, all had to work in the fields. Pork went out to steal chickens at night, and he always brought something back every time, so Scarlett didn't even ask Pork where he got it from. food.Sheldon has never lived a life that needs to be counted on money in his life. Thinking that such a delicate lady like Miss Scarlett has to go to the ground to pick cotton, he just thinks this is a nightmare.

There is also Prissy, Scarlett's little black slave. Prissy is as old as Karin, and now she has to work in the fields.

Tara has a little money, but it is very difficult to buy things with money these days. Every family has no food surplus, and every family is full of old and weak women at home. The old and the young, Tara is actually Clayton The people living well in the county are because Josephine will send people to send money and food, so they are very popular, and people from the southern army often come to ask for money and goods.

Scarlett was furious about it.And it just so happened that Red asked people to come to inquire about Tara's situation. The person who came was an unscrupulous guy, and pointed out that they should dig a cellar in the cotton field to hide food and money.

Scarlett made an analogy, instead of digging a cellar, she wrapped the slightly more valuable utensils at home, such as silver tableware, and the saber left by Master Hamilton to Young Master Wade, with linen and buried them separately in the ground.

If Sheldon is such a strong laborer, he has to work in the fields, but something bad happened at home before. A deserter ran into Tara, and two young wives killed the deserter. It was not Scarlett or It was Melanie who said it, and Sheldon guessed it, so Scarlett asked Sheldon, a young man who knows how to shoot, to stay in the mansion to protect the old and the weak.

The work in the field is to grow cotton, which is not for sale but for personal use. In winter, he needs to make quilts; he chops firewood and saves it for winter use; he grows vegetables and potatoes for his own food.

Tara also has a cow that Scarlett picked up halfway when she escaped from Atlanta, and gave birth to a calf, but because the calf suckled so much, the two young masters and Karin didn't have enough milk Drink, Scarlett reluctantly decided to slaughter the calf.The family couldn't finish a calf, and Sheldon said he should send some veal to the neighbor, who wasn't as good as Tara.

Scarlett was reluctant, but finally agreed, and shared some of the veal between the Munroes and the Fontaines, and the Tarletons—all four of the Tarleton sons were killed in battle, old Mr. Tarleton He died too, and now there are only Mrs. Tarleton and four young ladies in the family, which is really poor.

Josephine looked at the letter and felt that the word "miserable" was on the back of the paper.

But she has no good way, and it is impossible to support the entire Clayton County.She asked someone to prepare a lot of food that could be transported and stored, and asked Percy to leave the messenger for Rhett next time, and ask that person to help transport the food to Tara.

This matter is actually very difficult to handle. The person who handles the matter not only has to collect money, but may also only send a small amount of food. After all, food is equal to money at this time.

At this time, Ryan ran around and returned to Boston. He said, "You should ask someone you trust to send money and food."

"I don't have many people to use." Josephine frowned, "I also know that I can rest assured only when my people are doing things, but I can't send it to Sheldon last time, this time to Percy, and next time Li, if they all go, they won’t be able to come back.”

"Oh, indeed!" The blacks are not worried about being trafficked now, but the road is too difficult to walk, and it takes a lot of money to hire people.If it's just going to Charleston and Savannah, it's not difficult, just find a smuggling ship to send things there, and the Paulines, the Eulalie's, and the Robillards can pick up the goods at the pier by themselves.

Stanley and Ryan didn't stop her from supporting her relatives. To be honest, it would be too cruel to care about the life and death of relatives despite being rich and well-connected under such circumstances!Just sending some food over there, it's impossible to send a lot of money over there, and they're not that cold-hearted people.

However, it was impossible for a northern young master like Ryan to go to the southern war zone by himself. He sent one of his subordinates there, paid him generously, and sent the food to Tara.

Josephine wrote to Scarlett and Melanie, asking them to send the baby to Boston, and if she wanted, she would send someone more reliable.

Ryan's subordinates brought back letters from the two wives in October. Melanie thanked her for her kindness, but the child was too young to leave her mother, and it was impossible to walk that far.Scarlett's letter was much more straightforward, asking her for money and food.

There are no people, Josephine can only let Scarlett pay attention to herself, if there are any black slaves in Tara returning home, keep them; if there are poor whites and blacks who escaped from the southern army, if there are more reliable ones, Also stay.

Scarlett was worried about safety, the family was full of young women, Sheldon was in the mansion, Pork was in the field, but if there were several deserters swarming over, they would not be able to handle them, so they worried all day long.

Josephine didn't have a better solution to this kind of thing, and began to worry all day long.

Ryan's solution is very simple and rude. Take all the people from Tara and live in Savannah or Charleston. There is still a certain degree of safety in the city, and it is not difficult to deliver food to them, Robillard The family's old house has been vacant and unoccupied, so of course the O'Hara family lived in it without any problem.

But this is not something that Josephine can decide. Gerald is not clear at this time, and he is probably unwilling to leave; if the old father does not leave, it will be difficult for Scarlett to leave Gerald who needs someone to take care of Germany does not matter.

"You women are always like mothers-in-law!" Ryan said disdainfully: "Since Mr. O'Hara has lost his mind, tie him up and put him in the carriage, and take him away, he can't do anything."

"Do you think it's still before the war? Tara doesn't have a carriage now." What a young master who doesn't eat fireworks!

"Oh! Yes!" Ryan suddenly realized.He really had no intuitive impression of war, so he didn't take this issue into account.

"Besides, if they leave, Tara will be gone in the future." Josephine frowned, "His family only has the plantation. Without the plantation, the children will be poor without land in the future."

This is the most practical, and Ryan also agreed with this idea, and he began to think hard.

After a long time, he said: "There is no solution to this matter. They are short of people and money. You can't hire people from Boston or New York. Who knows who those people are? Look at the New York docks, it's still Shiploads of Frenchmen, Germans, and Irishmen came to the New World, but who were they? People who couldn't live in their own homes, and there was no way of knowing whether they were criminals or not."

Josephine nodded, "Yes. Now I can only let them stay in Tara. I will try my best to send money, food and medicine to make their lives better."

"If you don't have a reliable person, don't send money." Ryan said hurriedly: "Food doesn't matter, we can even prepare a whole boat of food, even if only one-third of it reaches Tala in the end, it's enough for them to eat. It's been a month."

Money is the most likely to cause unnecessary troubles, so if there is no enough reliable people, Josephine will only send food.Tara is still struggling financially, but at least she won't go hungry.

Ryan made arrangements for the railroad company.The war in the south is actually basically calm now, with only some minor frictions. The number of southern troops is too small to support a major battle of thousands of people, so many states have gradually resumed production. Speed ​​up the construction period.

Her railway company undertook the construction of the main railway line in Ohio, and won a large order. Now it has been built in Indiana, and it also undertakes the branch line of Cincinnati, where the three states of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky are handed over. The expenses are very high. Big, but already profitable.The railway company starts operation immediately after building a section of railway, and repairs a section to operate a section, so it costs a lot at the beginning. Once the section operation starts, it can start to pay back, and the profit can be used to offset expenses in the medium term.

This is also the reason why small and medium-sized railway companies are blooming everywhere. Railway companies have driven a large number of factories and small workshops. Locomotives and steam locomotives are large orders, and only factories can produce them; You can place orders from small businesses and small workshops to save costs.

Wherever the railway is laid, those small workshops will follow.

In addition to these production materials directly used on railways and trains, mobile canteens for workers to eat, simple houses or tents for sleeping at night are needed. After a day of work, workers need to relax after work, so there will be pubs, special The needs of workers, laundry women, etc., and the supply of firewood or coal for heating in winter, the expenditure in this area is not small.

But overall, it has already started to make a profit, and this profit cycle is at least 100 years, which can be said to be a huge profit.

There is no railway company in the Tarent family. If Philip helped her manage the railway company, she would not need to give him shares, but now that she needs a man to do these external things, Josephine can't let him work for nothing, so Ryan was given a stake of two points.

Ryan is not bad, he is a fairly responsible agent.

He is 23 years old. He is not as handsome as his elder brother, but he is also a handsome young man with a good appearance. Back then, Emile said that it would be nice if Ryan married Scarlett.well!

Ryan doesn't like Victor very much, but likes his little niece Cynthia. Cynthia is sweet and cute. She is a very beautiful little girl who combines the advantages of her parents' facial features. After Ryan returned to Boston, he often took little Cynthia out. Walking around so much that the neighbors think Ryan is Cynthia's father.

Cynthia sometimes called Ryan "papa" by mistake. Josephine didn't take it seriously at first. The child actually knew that when she saw other children calling "Daddy", she would come back and ask her why the poor little Cynthia didn't dad.