At that moment, a group of nobles from An Zhu were shaking their wine glasses in a mansion, discussing the profits from their respective factories.
This was also a lingering issue from Alberto’s era. In a rush to accumulate wealth, the nobles quickly colluded with the factory owners, and behind every factory in An Zhu stood a noble – great or small. The factories and the nobles had become an inseparable and distorted relationship.
“Business has indeed become harder and harder lately.”
A noble placed his wine glass on the table and wiped his lips with a special napkin.
“Isn’t that the truth? With age restrictions and mandatory education, does His Majesty the Emperor not know how many families we’ve saved?”
Another noble, seemingly a little tipsy, pounded the table angrily.
Immediately, someone made a gesture to silence him, saying, “Lower your voice; be careful, the walls have ears.”
Although no one was punished for their words at the moment, His Majesty the Emperor despised those old nobles, and in the eyes of these nobles, speaking ill of His Majesty meant that even if they wouldn’t be punished for their words, there were other charges the Emperor could use to deal with them. They never considered that their troubles might stem from their own unclean dealings.
“Nonetheless, business is really getting harder.”
These nobles were not great nobles; they had grown due to swallowing the factories thrown out by the great nobles and were subtly beginning to rise, even considering uniting to carve a piece of the pie under Lind.
In the situation where those great nobles were shutting themselves away, these nobles who had acquired factories nevertheless held regular balls, gathering often to discuss current issues.
Today was one of those gathering days.
“The Empire keeps demanding that we improve workers’ welfare, and if we don’t meet the standards, they even threaten to shut down factories for rectification. Has His Majesty ever actually run a factory? Does he know how much it costs us to add those meaningless magical lamps? Does he understand how much production time is wasted by giving workers more holidays?”
To these people, being able to pay wages normally and provide jobs for the commoners meant that those commoners should be grateful, after all, this was far better than the treatment of serfs in the past. His Majesty just didn’t understand; the half-dead commoners were the most obedient. Once they became full, they would start thinking of other things.
“Exactly, he’s demanding that factories fully adopt new production tools; don’t those tools cost money? I think His Majesty has gone crazy thinking about money, making us buy all that equipment produced in the Northern Border. We’ve already paid quite a bit in taxes!”
These nobility, who had begun to feel like street lamps, started to drunkenly rant, saying, “We’ve been earnestly solving so many employment issues for the Empire, yet His Majesty persists in targeting us. Sigh, if only Emperor Alberto were still around, he would never let such things happen.”
Many nobles began to silence those among them who were ranting; after all, the more they spoke, the closer their necks came to the street lamps.
Just then, urgent footsteps suddenly echoed throughout the gathering. A sheriff’s squad burst into the venue, firearms drawn.
Seeing those nobles who secretly owned factories, and thinking of those child laborers thrown into factories and mines, Isha immediately had all of these nobles arrested, leaving not one behind.
At the moment the nobles saw the sheriff’s squad, their faces were initially filled with disbelief, but they soon gave up on resisting. The sheriff’s firearms were only intended for dealing with ordinary people, and they were usually not even loaded. However, many of the nobles present, who were professionals, did not dare to move at all.
Any act of resistance would mean they were blatantly opposing the Empire’s law enforcement, and if that happened, it wouldn’t just be the sheriff’s squad that would come next – it meant they wouldn’t look good, and the Empire would ensure they looked good.
Of course, there were still many nobles struggling violently.
“Let me go, let me go, I’ve paid taxes to the Empire! I want to see His Majesty! I want to see His Majesty!”
The loyal sheriff naturally ignored the nobles who cried out in despair. These nobles, who had once bowed humbly to those of higher status just a few years prior, were now dragged out by the most lowly sheriff and, though they had power, did not dare to resist at all.
Isha approached the table where those nobles had gathered, casually flipping through some papers and soon spotted a slogan written by one of the nobles for a parade.
Sure enough, how could workers who barely had enough to eat afford to buy a large banner full of slogans?
At this point, Isha finally no longer felt like she was hitting a pillow with her fist; at least now she had found her leverage.
Interrogation quickly began, and those nobles readily confessed to inciting and exploiting the workers under them.
Of course, it didn’t matter whether they confessed or not; these people had not hidden anything at all. A mere investigation into their financial channels and those controlling the factories would reveal everything.
“You can’t treat me like this! You can’t treat me like this!”
One noble clung to the railing, shouting at Isha: “We are doing this for the Empire! Without our control, based solely on His Majesty’s policies, how many people do you think would lose their jobs?”
Isha recalled during her communications with Lind, he had provided examples, specifically the so-called “millions of transport workers depend on their livelihoods.” If this issue was not resolved, even with the highest productivity, liberation would remain impossible.
But if it truly were the case that those “millions of transport workers depend on their livelihoods,” Isha would feel soft-hearted and hesitate if destroying these nobles’ factories would cause ordinary people to be unable to survive. However, these nobles continued to exploit the lower-level workers in the same manner they had once oppressed serfs.
If these nobles were not hanged on the street lamps, the lives of those lower-level workers would never improve.
“Proceed according to the law,” Isha said to the judge beside her.
The judge wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded.
Isha was the Emperor’s special envoy; in other words, she was a plenipotentiary. Moreover, Isha’s status was even higher than that of a plenipotentiary, not only a friend of the Emperor but also a special religious figure, and coupled with the privileges granted to her by Lind, even those great nobles, even if the situation involved the former An Zhu royal family, Isha could order their execution without hesitation.
After many people were hanged from the street lamps of An Zhu, the so-called worker revolt with millions of transport workers did not occur; instead, someone stepped in to take over these nobles’ factories and began to honestly implement the Empire’s laws, improving workers’ welfare.
The phrase “if you don’t do it, someone else will” ultimately fell back on these nobles. If you are not loyal, then naturally, someone else will be more loyal. Moreover, factories were not inherently losing ventures; it was simply that those nobles were greedy, wanting more, tightly holding onto whatever little profits they had.
As for the other unemployed persons, they were put into An Zhu’s major infrastructure projects, and with the poverty alleviation policies implemented by Lind, the backward factories and mines in that area of An Zhu finally began their industrial transformation.
In fact, infrastructure projects that had been lagging behind, including the An Zhu railway and others, started to be constructed at an accelerated pace because of this upheaval.
After staying in An Zhu for a long time, Isha finally noticed that no factory dared to openly recruit child labor anymore, and that basic education schools and newly established technical night schools were gradually filling up with students. Only then could she truly relax.
Once the situation stabilized, Isha visited the home of a family she had previously been to.
The family’s father was still busy, and the one receiving Isha was the father of the family, as it was the day for the children to go to night school.
The father had lost his job, but it was fortunate that he found work in the major infrastructure projects, earning even more than his previous factory job. The children still worked at the factory, but it wasn’t as exhausting.
The girl who once worked in the underground mine did not go to school because she was too weak. Following the doctor’s and the Church’s advice, she stayed home to recuperate, but now this worker family could at least afford to support one child’s education.
The children’s father took out a wooden box containing several copper coins that were wrapped in paper.
“To be honest, this is what the factory manager gave us to go parade in the streets. At that time, we treated it as a treasure and as a last resort for emergencies; we didn’t dare to use it. Now that we look at it, how could it be that good? These few coins, combined with my previous wages, are still less than the wages I earn now.”
After suffering through brutal exploitation, the workers finally began to realize some truths.
After randomly visiting a few more families, Isha looked up at the still somewhat gray sky in An Zhu, as weak sunlight penetrated the thin mist and sprinkled down on the newly reborn An Zhu.
Having come to An Zhu, where she had once worn a frown and a serious expression, Isha finally smiled.
Isha hummed lightly as she walked freely along the newly constructed avenue in An Zhu. Usually, Isha always gave off a mature, steady, and somewhat burdened impression, but in reality, she was just a girl carrying responsibilities that didn’t belong to her.
Lifting her hood, silver strands cascaded down like a waterfall, glistening under the sunlight as if shimmering with golden holy light.
Isha had finally set forth on the road back home.
