Thousands of sparks

Chapter 14 Duchamp
"Today, I finally possess some of the attributes that a traverser should have. I'm starting a business!" Of course Dusande didn't know that the founder and actual controller of the Newsail Police Department was sitting in the steam carriage that hurried into the manor. Or—he is busy writing his diary.

Journaling is a good habit, especially in a place like the Empire.Writing a diary always makes Du Sande clearly aware that the place where he is now is completely different from the country where he lived for more than 20 years.

As a Chinese, every aspect of the empire made him feel uncomfortable.From food to customs, from law to morality... To put it bluntly, the empire is like a half-formed civilization in the civilized and uncivilized stages.

All in all, from the outside, Newsail is the epitome of a rapidly developing civilization.Every day, countless inventors with dreams of getting rich overnight, and explorers who hope to discover new settled planets in the universe arrive or leave here, and then move on to more distant places.

There is hope and people have dreams.

But not everyone has the ability to invent, or become an explorer, and... the financial resources.

In fact, most of the civilians living in Newsail or Orin don't even have the intelligence to invent and explore.They have never been educated, can't even write their own names, and even fewer can add and subtract within 100.

Because the quality of the civilian population is relatively poor, even the Imperial Military Department has issued regulations specifically - civilians who have not completed university education can only join the Imperial Army.The Navy recruited only the sons of nobles, or merchants who had obtained a commercial high school diploma.

Only civilians who have obtained a university diploma can enter the Imperial Navy.

And there are very few civilians who can support their children to study all the way to middle school. In the whole of New Saal, the civilians who can go to college... there are only about 300 people.The imperial navy has almost become an army of nobles, mixed with some children of big merchants who want to become nobles through military exploits.

In the Empire, there were two routes for class mobility—the commoners became great merchants, and the great merchants became nobles.

The second is more conventional - to receive education, to work in the imperial government system, and to become a part of the bureaucratic system through the hard work of several generations.

Although the imperial government system did not expressly stipulate that "sons can replace their fathers", there are still unspoken rules that give priority to the children of other government officials.

A political official working in the government affairs department can at least ensure that his children for the next three generations can smoothly enter the government affairs system.

If Du Sande is to judge, his most intuitive judgment is that the current state of the empire is between the Victorian era on earth and before the Opium War in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.

The bureaucratic system of the empire is overstaffed and the whole system is lifeless.It even has a taste of "partisan struggle above national interests" in the late Ming Dynasty.

In order to pursue wealth among the people, everyone is racking their brains.Opening up new settlements for the empire is of course the most profitable, which can directly bring noble titles and a lot of rewards to the pioneers.

But... the empire has not discovered a new habitable star for 54 consecutive years.

There is no new livable star, which means that there is no new large number of new positions for officials, no new fiefdoms for many military nobles, and no new adventurers who get titles... Even if Du Sande studied pharmaceuticals as an undergraduate, he can be very It is easy to perceive the something wrong and dangerous inside.

When the channels of social class mobility are closed, the whole society will be in turmoil.

Obviously, the upper echelons of the empire also perceive the risk of not discovering a habitable star for more than 50 years.Since two years ago, the empire has started a series of reforms from top to bottom.And one of the most important ones is the establishment of the House of Commons.

The House of Commons will become another way for adventurers and big businessmen to pursue fame and fortune.At the same time, it can also become a direction for the placement of redundant administrative officials.

Dusand, who is keen on reading newspapers every day, has made his own judgment - the House of Commons, which adopts an electoral system, is likely to be a collection of a lot of trouble.Members of Parliament who intend to run for election need to pay a large deposit to the parliament first, and then conduct election campaigns at their own expense.

Before there is a mature regulatory system, fair elections are a joke.

Fortunately, my mother didn't plan to go in and get involved.

"It is of course a traditional kingly way to engage in business and crush the aborigines through technology." Dusand wrote in his diary while thinking wildly, "My aristocratic status is the most powerful cheat, at least in New York. Thrall can walk sideways. With this identity as a cover, as long as Polina’s progress in improving the internal combustion engine is smooth enough, I estimate that large-scale production will start within half a year—I’m afraid I’ll be able to lie in bed and count money to play!”

As a time traveler, Dusand is extremely optimistic and full of confidence in his future.

"My lord, it's time for dinner." The maid called from outside Dusand's room, "Madam is already in the dining room, please go over as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll come right away!" Dusande threw the dip pen into the drawer as soon as he finished writing the diary, and pulled the lever to lock the desk.

No matter how confident you are in your future life, safety and security should always come first.

Dusande was locking the table, when the maid outside the door suddenly said, "The baron has arrived home, please hurry up, sir!"

Hearing this sentence, Dusand suddenly froze when changing clothes.

"You said... Father... is back?" He hoarsely asked the maid outside the door for confirmation.Then, got an affirmative answer.

In the next second, Dusande, who had just put on his trousers and put on a shirt and hadn't buttoned it up, rushed out of the door. Shirt cuts wrestled.After he managed to put on his shirt, he threw his coat on indiscriminately, and the door of the restaurant appeared in front of his eyes.

He took two deep breaths, and tidied up his messy hair by the way.With a perfect smile on his face, Dusand pushed open the wooden door and walked into the restaurant.

"You're late." The figure as tall as an iron tower directly occupied Dusand's entire field of vision - as soon as he opened the door, he saw his father's thigh in military uniform standing at the door all the time.

"Father." Dusand took two steps back, then bowed and saluted, "Welcome home."

The iron tower moved slightly, and his broad right hand reached into the uniform.After digging for a while, a pocket watch that seemed extremely small in his hand appeared in front of Dusand.

"What time should you come for dinner every night?" Iron Tower bent down, and a sharp-edged face appeared in Dusand's sight, "How long have you been late?"

"A quarter of an hour." Dusande put his feet together and shouted loudly, "Report sir, request to speak!"

"The request to speak is not allowed, go run fifteen laps and come back to eat." The angular face rose again, and then an order came from Dusand's head, "Five pounds of weight, carry out now!"

Du Sande glanced at his mother's helpless expression, then curled his lips, took the weight-bearing vest handed over by the butler and put it on, and then started to run outside.

The wooden door was closed again, and Androni glared at her husband and said angrily, "He has been busy all day today, and he also cleaned up troubles for you, but the first thing you did when you saw your son was to ask him to go for a run? I'll tell you How many times have I said it... Duchamp!" Androni suddenly raised the volume, and after hearing her name, Iron Tower suddenly stood up from her seat.

The restaurant echoed with Duchamp's shout, "Here!"

After realizing that he was being teased by his wife, Duchamp showed a rare embarrassment on his face, "You know, I don't know how to communicate with him."

"Then you can't just let him go out and run fifteen laps!" Androni jumped off her seat and punched Duchamp in the chest.

Then she squatted on the ground clutching her wrists.

Dusan was frightened by his wife's behavior. He quickly squatted down and asked, "What's wrong? Your hand hurt?" As he asked, he reached out to grab Androni's wrist.

Shrewd and capable, gentle and considerate, Androni, who can throw a glass in front of Sir Peel at the same time, suddenly flashed a hint of cunning in her eyes.

"Fucked!" She stood up abruptly, then opened her mouth and bit Duchamp's arm hard.

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When Dusand returned to the restaurant out of breath, his father was eating steak slowly.And mother... She clutched her chin and drank the soup angrily.

After weighing the atmosphere of the scene, Du Sande decided not to wonder what happened when he ran the lap.He sat quietly in his seat and began to eat the dinner in front of him.

Dushan speeded up his eating speed calmly, and after quickly finishing the steak on the plate, he said, "I heard from your mother that this afternoon, you dealt with a gangster?"

"According to the surrounding residents, they are not only ordinary gangsters, but also star thieves." Du Sande nodded and added, "However, it happened quite suddenly, and the people who did it were all guards... When I entered, the room There are no survivors left."

Duchamp was not at all surprised that his ten-year-old son had already seen the "room without survivors". He thought for a while and said, "The guards are more thorough. If you want to get enough information, the best The method is to use people from the police department to act."

"Some information, I think it's better not to know." Dusand also finished eating the steak on the plate in front of him. He looked at Dusan and said helplessly, "Father, your usual job is to fight against star thieves and smugglers. They Don't you think it's strange that Newsail claims to be able to sell smuggled goods with great fanfare?"

"My work is done very well." Duchamp said very calmly, "These people must have sneaked in from other defense zones."

"So, it's better not to know this information." Du Sande explained, rubbing his aching forehead, "If your other colleagues are accomplices with these people, after discovering the corresponding information, you should pretend I don’t know, should I turn against my colleagues?”

Androni, who was clutching her chin and drinking the soup, took the opportunity to chime in, "In terms of politics, Mr. Colonel, you should learn from your own son."

Duchamp's expression was a little strange. Obviously, he still didn't understand the relationship between "it's better not to know some information" and "colleagues may be accomplices with these gangsters".

Androni resisted the urge to mock her husband. While drinking soup, she announced her decision to the two men in the family.

"I'm going to run for a seat in the House of Commons," she said, talking about the weather. "Tomorrow morning, I'll pay my bond."

"Okay." "Absolutely not!" A completely different answer came from the dining table.

Duchamp, who decided to obey and support his wife unconditionally, and Dusande, who was so surprised that he stood up, looked at each other. Their eyes were full of surprise at each other's answer.

"Can you agree with this?" This was the surprised meaning in Dusand's eyes.

"How dare you deny your mother's decision?" This is the meaning in Duchamp's eyes.

(End of this chapter)