Chapter 39: Is Marx Coming? Please Collect

  New book uploaded, seeking collection and recommendation

  Zhu Jishi and Isabel chatted all the way back to the factory on Vincent Street, where it was already six or seven o'clock in the evening for dinner.

  In this era, the land price in Britain was not high, so the area of this factory was quite considerable, with an area of about 300-400 acres, equivalent to more than 2,000 Chinese mu. Since it had not yet officially opened for business, the inside of the factory was quiet and still, a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle outside.

  At the factory gate, there were not a few shabby and barefoot poor people, mostly Irish immigrants. In this economically depressed era, they would always be unemployed earlier than the English. These people were unemployed workers who came to see if the factory under construction was recruiting workers. However, today they could only return in disappointment. The factory had already recruited a batch of porters, and as for the production line workers, they would not be recruited temporarily because the design of the pharmaceutical and rubber production lines had not been completed yet - there were not many ready-made production lines that could be purchased in this era, and engineers needed to be found to design them by themselves. Some equipment even needed to be custom-made, so it took a lot of time.

  Inside the factory, only the office building had light shining through, of course not electric lights, now there is no electricity, relying solely on candles and whale oil lamps for lighting. Isabelle told Zhū Jìshì that Robert Churchill was inside the office building accompanied by Old Bluntschli, this aged Jewish military doctor had retired from the British Army and was now the deputy general manager of Heroic Pharmaceuticals.

  "Jason, hurry up, Roman must have already prepared dinner, I'm starving." After getting off the carriage, the countess pulled Juli's arm and urged him to go upstairs quickly, saying that Mrs. Dulan had already prepared dinner.

  "Has Roman also come to Manchester?" Zhu Jishi thought, this familiar woman stared at herself tightly enough! If it were 170 years later and there was such a beautiful and charming French woman pursuing oneself, oneself would definitely dump Ye Yiren. From this perspective, oneself is still doing pretty well in this era.

  Just as Zhu Jisheng was feeling rather pleased with himself, he suddenly heard loud arguing voices coming from the corridor.

  "Universal suffrage is merely a tool for the poor devils of the lower classes to get something for nothing, and such an arrangement would lead to the downfall of Western society, which no gentleman with any sense of responsibility could permit!"

  "The ones who truly reap without sowing are the entire upper class! Look at those people in the Omar Khayyam Club, what do they do all day? What contributions have they made to this society? Why are they so rich?"

  "Everyone in the Omar Khayyam Club is respectable, their wealth comes either from noble blood or because they themselves or their ancestors were good at business and creation. In fact, anyone has the opportunity to become a member of the Omar Khayyam Club, even yellow people from China are no exception!"

  Listening to the sound, the two men who were arguing were Engels and another man. Zhu Jie thought that he had invited Engels to the factory to discuss cooperation on writing a book - introducing European military and political affairs to China. Zhu Jie wanted Engels to be the main author, while he would be responsible for translation.

  As Zhu Jishi pushed open the door of an office, he saw several men and women sitting inside. Engels was among them, frowning at a fat man who had come to Manchester with Isabel's sister Churchill. The fat man sat next to a 13- or 14-year-old British girl wearing a half-new but clean dress that seemed too big for her. Although she looked pretty, she lacked some elegance. Her bright eyes stared tightly at the food on the table, and she didn't look like a young lady from a wealthy family.

  One of Pongzi's hands was wrapped around the little girl's waist, his cow eyes staring widely, and the other hand still held a lit cigarette. He looked like a somewhat annoying rich second-generation, no, the Churchill family had long been more than just two generations of wealth.

  Look, Jason and Isabelle walked in, and Fatso stopped arguing with Engels, got up and came forward, first kissed Isabelle's cheek (not a good etiquette), then smiled and shook hands with Jason: "Jason, thank you for saving me, if it wasn't for you, I'd be a cold corpse now."

  "This is what I should do." Zhu Jishi smiled. This was in his heart, although Qiu Pangzi was a hateful guy, but without his 50 pounds, the days when Zhu Jishi first arrived in this era would not have been so comfortable.

  Engels also came up, hugged Zhou Jie and... kissed each other on the cheek! This shows that the relationship between Zhou Jie and Engels is quite close.

  "Friedrich, this is Isabel, Countess of Nauen, my friend - and this is Friedrich Engels, the manager of Ermen & Engels' textile mill, my best friend." As Zhuzi introduced Isabel and Engels to each other, he couldn't help but wonder if his own portrait would one day hang alongside those of Marx and Engels.

  "This is Robert Churchill, Friedrich, I think you've met him already?" Zhu Ziyu pointed at the fat man and smiled at Engels.

  "Yes, we've met." The two people spoke in unison, but their facial expressions were somewhat stiff, clearly not on the same wavelength.

  "This young lady is..." Zhu Jishi pointed at the little girl who was drooling in front of a table full of food, thinking to himself: "This kind of person definitely isn't a Churchill."

  "Who's she?" Chubby Zhang chuckled, "Don't know her, saw her on the way to the factory, spent three cents."

  "Hmmph!"

  Engels let out a cold snort. Zhu Jisheng, however, sighed inwardly, originally it was a young prostitute who sold herself for three shillings!

  "Jason, I have something to attend to first." Engels gave Qiu a white eye and bid farewell to Zhu Zijie.

  "Alright, I'll see you off." Zhū Jìshì also didn't detain him and walked out with Engels.

  "Friedrich, I'd like to ask you for a favor..." Zhu Jishi shared his idea of publishing a book with Engels, who readily agreed.

  "Ah, yes, there's something I almost forgot." Engels suddenly said to Zhu Jishi: "My friend, Mr. Karl Marx, the editor of the Rheinische Zeitung, has recently encountered some trouble and may have to leave Germany for England to seek refuge. I think you can ask him to write a book introducing the history and politics of various European countries, he's more knowledgeable than me in this area."

  Karl Marx

  Alright, the majestic and stirring International Anthem once again resounded in Zhū Jì Shì's mind. What on earth did Heaven's arrangement mean? He had only just arrived in this era and already knew Engels; soon he would know Marx! Did Heaven intend to arrange for him to be the ancestor of GCism?

  "By the way, what kind of trouble has Mr. Marx gotten himself into?" asked Zhu Jishi with interest.

  He published a series of articles attacking the Prussian government on the "wood theft issue", and recently the Prussian government ordered the closure of his edited Rheinische Zeitung.

  "Is the theft of wood a problem?" Zhu Jishi thought, did Marx sympathize with a certain proletarian family's thief just because he opposed the Prussian government?

  Engels sighed and explained: "The thing is, in western Germany there are vast forests and grasslands where the original residents used to be able to cut firewood and graze their animals. But later, some noble landlords occupied these vast forests and grasslands, not allowing the residents to get close. Many residents thought of going into the mountains to pick up some firewood, but were considered thieves. The broad masses of residents were dissatisfied, and the German parliament had to seriously deliberate on these matters. However, they only considered the interests of the noble landlords, and the result of the deliberation was: the behavior of the residents was indeed theft! If this continues, it will have to be solved by legal means!"

  "Not even allowed to chop firewood!?" Zhu Jishi thought, what kind of world is this? Needless to say, the German working people must also be living in a desperate situation now!