Chapter Eighteen: 19th-Century Democratic Clowns

  Collecting and recommending

  Manchester was a city that, in the first half of the 19th century, had a status far more important than its later generations, it was the center of the textile industry in Britain and even the world. The so-called First Industrial Revolution started from the large-scale industrial production of cotton textiles here. With numerous factories and merchant houses, as well as the benefits of sea transportation and railways, this place was indeed the workshop of the world at that time. In terms of economic status, it even surpassed London, the capital of the British Empire.

  This is also Zhu Jishi's first time setting foot in a big city outside of London since he came to this era.

  As the train whistle blew, the train finally pulled into Manchester station with a loud screech, spewing out thick smoke and panting heavily. The station was built in the neoclassical style, with a waiting hall as high as an ordinary three- or four-story building, supported by more than a dozen tall pillars, on top of which were exquisite carvings. There were many people flowing above the station, most of whom wore rough and tattered clothes and had a vegetable-like complexion, obviously belonging to the working class. However, there were also middle-class and upper-class people like Zhu Jishi and Mrs. Dulan, who wore decent clothes, some of whom even had Indian servants carrying their luggage behind them - this was the first time Zhu Jishi had seen other yellow-skinned people in nearly three months since he arrived in this era, unfortunately not Chinese.

  "Jason, outside the station is a square where you can call for a carriage. Let's go to the hotel first and settle down. Tomorrow we'll go to the Northern Star News reporter station to find Mr. Hai Ming."

  Mrs. Dulan leaned on Zhu Jishi's arm and whispered in his ear. This French woman has now launched a fierce love offensive against Zhu Jishi, so she came to Manchester with him, claiming that she is very familiar with Manchester and often comes here to purchase fabrics, making her a great guide.

  But something unexpected happened, the two people had just walked out of the train station building and saw that the square outside was crowded with people, there was no sign of a taxi. The slogan shouting voices immediately swept in like a raging torrent.

  "Long live democracy! Long live universal suffrage! Ballots are equal to bread! Release the workers' leaders! Down with bourgeois dictatorship! Down with the Peel cabinet! Robert Peel (apparently the British Prime Minister) is a murderer..."

  Zhu Jishi stood on the steps outside the station building, took off his hat and looked at everything in front of him. The phrase "color revolution" suddenly appeared in his mind! Were these British crowds also stirred up by American imperialism to make trouble? Most of the crowd in the square were middle-aged men, with some women, all wearing almost identical blue overalls, holding banners and flags, gathered on the square, shouting slogans loudly. There must be tens of thousands of people! Among them seemed to be some leaders - were they American-bought opinion leaders? These leaders stood on some trucks or horse-drawn carriages, some leading the chants loudly, others making passionate speeches. As they spoke, the crowd cheered and jeered, like madmen, the entire square was incredibly noisy.

  In November, Manchester's temperature was already very cold. Tens of thousands of people gathered together, exhaling white air that swirled above the crowd like a misty cloud, making the whole scene boil over. In front of the train station building, roadblocks had been set up, and British soldiers wearing red military uniforms stood in a row behind them, their faces stern and holding black-rifled muskets with bayonets attached to the muzzles, shining coldly in the winter sunlight of Manchester. There were also some cavalrymen riding tall horses, forming neat rows, their shiny sabers already drawn!

  "Sir, madam, this way, please."

  The staff at the train station seemed to have seen such scenes long ago, and did not show any panic, but instead neatly diverted the passengers pouring out of the station into several channels guarded by British soldiers with roadblocks, from which they could leave the train station square.

  "Jason, let's get out of here too." Mrs. Dulan calmly pulled a somewhat dazed Zhū Jìshì along. "Let's go outside and find a carriage for hire, I know there are several inns in Manchester with very good facilities, but they're not cheap, unless we share a room together."

  This woman's nerve is too big, right? It has already... undergone a "color revolution", how can she still think about these things?

  It was probably the fear on Zhu Jishi's face - any Chinese person from the 21st century would have a similar reaction to this scene, and Zhu Jishi was no exception.

  "It's all right, the British won't make a big fuss about it." Mrs. Dulan patted Zhu Jishi's back and smiled, "If this happened in Paris, France, you'd have to hide far away. The civilians there will hold a riot every few years, and sometimes the army will bring out cannons and blast them, often harming innocent people!"

  "Great heavens!?" Zhu Jishi gasped, thinking that the French Revolution had passed decades ago, how could it still be in such chaos?

  "Jason, didn't you have such scenes in Russia?" Mrs. Dulan led Zhū Jìshì towards the garden path, still smiling and saying: "I remember that in 1825, the Decembrists launched a rebellion and had a bloody battle with the troops loyal to the Tsar on Senate Square in the center of St. Petersburg. In the end, more than a thousand rebels were killed and thousands were captured. Many Decembrists also fled to Western Europe, and there were many in London, Paris, and Germany. Ah, Jason, didn't you contact them when you were in Germany?"

  "Decembrist?" Zhuzi had heard of this term, but didn't know what they specifically did. However, opposing the Tsar was always a good thing, right? As long as they don't advocate for democracy or universal suffrage after overthrowing the Tsar, that would be fine. That stuff is said to be very bad and will disrupt social order, just look at Manchester's situation, who knows who is supporting it?

  "Roman, does such... riot often happen in Britain too?" As soon as they got on a hansom cab, Zhu Ziyu couldn't help but ask about the situation of "color revolution" in Britain.

  "Riot? Ah, this doesn't count as a riot," Mrs. Dulan smiled and shook her head. "I was in France when I saw the 1834 Paris uprising, that's what a real riot looks like. The crowd here in Manchester isn't armed, it doesn't count as a riot. By the way, things were even more severe before September, the government deployed troops to suppress it once, arrested over 1,500 people, and closed many newspapers. The Northern Star newspaper where Will Heming works was also shut down for a while, only resuming publication at the end of last month."

  "Why are they making trouble? Is it the Americans backing them?" Zhu Jishi asked uncertainly. He also knew that America at this time was not yet the later American Empire, but who else could be supporting the democratic movement besides them?

  France? The situation in France is often mentioned by Madame Dulan (Madame Dulan is French), I know that the Orleans dynasty is very weak, its own regime is not consolidated, and it is impossible to support foreign democratic movements.

  Germany? Um, it doesn't seem to be unified yet! And currently the British Queen and her husband are imported from Germany, they and many royal families in Germany and Italy are mostly relatives...

  As for Russia, the tsar himself is autocratic, and there are serfs in Russia, how can they possibly support democratic movements?

  "America?" Mrs. Durrant snorted, "How absurd! Those yokels are still arguing over the abolition of slavery!"

  Black slaves! That's right, the American Civil War hasn't been fought yet! They still have slaves themselves, and their American-style democracy probably hasn't been established yet?

  "These riotous workers were instigated by the Chartists, who demanded the abolition of property restrictions on voting, so that every sane and unconvicted adult male would have equal voting rights and eligibility to be voted for."

  "What does this have to do with workers?" Zhu Jishi was puzzled, "No matter how they're elected, it's not the turn of ordinary workers to be elected, is it? These workers are being used as cannon fodder!"

  "It doesn't seem to be what you said," Mrs. Dulan thought for a moment and shook her head, "I'm not very clear about this either, let's go ask Mr. Hai Ming at the Beixing Daily reporter station tomorrow."

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