blueteamnovel Chapter 338 Gunfire Erupts
Chapter 338 Gunfire Erupts
Chapter 338 Gunfire Erupts
When Klein arrived in the East District, he immediately noticed the changes there.
In the past, the East District would have been bustling with people at this time, with the streets filled with either burly men drinking heavily or prostitutes soliciting their clients, creating a lively and lively atmosphere.
But today, the eastern district is somewhat like Tingen, where chaos broke out a few months ago. There is not a single person on the streets, and even the gangsters who usually maintain order are nowhere to be seen.
"Where are the people in the East District?"
Klein finally found a woman peeking at him through a small door and asked her anxiously.
Klein's neat attire and polite demeanor gave the woman, who looked to be at least forty, a certain amount of courage. She spoke, her voice surprisingly soft and trembling:
"Led by those gentlemen from Mr. Juventus, they all went to the factory to demand a pay rise!"
Klein felt a sudden darkness engulf his vision, and he almost lost his balance!
He rode at full speed and arrived in the East District from the North District in just half an hour, but he was still too late. George III and his men had acted too quickly!
"Sir, are you Mr. Juventus's colleague? Are we really going to give the factory workers an extra 2 pence a week?"
The woman behind the door peeked at the gentleman, whose expression was extremely unpleasant. After hesitating for a moment, she looked at Klein with hopeful eyes and said:
"Sir, do you think they can succeed? Mr. Juventus said that as long as the workers can unite, everything can be changed!"
This is the future that those corrupt agitators promised to the workers in the East End, and assured them that it would be delivered.
He calculated that if Backlund had a million workers, even if each worker received an extra 2 pence per week, it would only increase the factory owner's costs by less than 10,000 gold pounds per week.
A large factory's daily turnover is much higher than that. Spread across the hundreds of factories of all sizes in Backlund, this pay rise is nothing at all!
Klein gave a wry smile, unsure how to respond to the woman's words.
"Two pence—two pence, the price of half a fish, less than the price of a rusty loaf of bread—"
Klein felt an overwhelming sadness. Just for such a small increase in weekly wages, he was being used to fill the capitalists' guns!
Of course he knew that the accounts weren't calculated that way. After all, in a world where factories were squeezing workers to reduce costs, a cutthroat competition would amplify any fluctuations in costs. In such a situation, either the factory owner or the worker would inevitably suffer losses!
When there is a complete imbalance between labor and management, it is obvious who will suffer a loss!
Klein also agreed that a weekly raise of 2 pence was nothing to wealthy factory owners and capitalists!
It was just the cost of a few banquets held by the extravagant and wasteful nobles!
But for capitalists, why should I give my money to you poor peasants who depend on me for a living? I'm already being lenient by not making you pay to work, and you still expect a raise? If you don't want to work, there are plenty of other people who will!
A complete lack of empathy between two different classes will cause the conflict to escalate rapidly, and what will happen next is predictable!
This is exactly what Klein feared most.
Ever since he received the task of monitoring the Juventus group from Evan, he has often followed these people and listened to their speeches!
Their speeches were passionate, infectious, and persuasive, yet also very reasonable, often captivating Klein and reminding him of the GMs in his textbooks from his previous life!
But Klein later discovered that something was wrong with these people, because they were often stirring up workers’ discontent with reality and encouraging them to do outrageous things, which caused the violence in the East District to increase exponentially during this period. This is definitely not something a real GM would do!
Then he discovered the fact that these people had been contaminated through the gray fog!
At first, Klein tried to undermine their mobilization and authority through various means, but he soon realized that it was impossible.
Because the ideas they instill in the workers are all correct, and only the truth cannot be exposed!
So for the past month, Klein could only watch helplessly as the workers became the servants of these contaminated people, unable to do anything about it.
In the end, the only solution they could come up with was to secretly deal with these people through the church!
To become the de facto henchmen of capitalists and factory owners!
Klein didn't want to do this at all, but he didn't want innocent workers to be the victims of capitalists' guns, allowing George III's human extermination plot to succeed!
"No, I'm not one of those Juventus players, and they won't succeed either!"
Klein put on his hat and walked toward Dunn Smith and the others who were rushing over!
The hopeful gaze of the young woman behind the door dimmed instantly; she felt that this well-dressed gentleman had no reason to deceive her.
But this fact also made her feel hopeless about the future, because it not only meant that she could not raise her price for taking on laundry and cleaning jobs, but also that she could not raise the prices she offered to attract customers. Her future was still shrouded in darkness!
Thinking of this, the girl couldn't help but lean against the door and burst into tears!
She used to live in the countryside. Although her whole family worked the land for the men, often going hungry and lacking proper clothing, they still managed to catch some field mice in the fields.
By secretly hiding some ears of wheat, they can still survive, and the family can still stay together.
But last year, for some unknown reason, the grain in the fields suddenly became worthless, and the lords no longer wanted so many people to farm. Many people were driven away and had no choice but to go to the legendary capital city of Backlund to survive, hoping to receive the protection of the benevolent King.
But she had thought of giving up and leaving this painful world. However, she remembered her parents who had starved to death on their way to Backlund last year, so she could only endure and live on. It was her parents who gave her their last rations, allowing her to come to Backlund and survive!
This life doesn't just belong to her; how can she so easily throw it away?
"Perhaps that gentleman doesn't know the details, nor does he know how great Mr. Juventus and his team are, so his words cannot be trusted!"
'
She wiped away her tears, as if she had thought of something, and hope suddenly reappeared in her eyes!
"Yes! Maybe that person was a lackey of the factory owner that Mr. Juventus mentioned, and he might be hiding among them, saying things that slander him!"
"Yes, that must be it, otherwise why would such a neatly dressed gentleman answer my question?"
Thinking of this, she quietly opened a crack in the door and peeked at a group of brightly dressed people gathered together, talking about something!
Klein, whose appearance and physique had long since changed, walked up to Dunn Smith and said with an extremely grim expression:
"Captain Dunn Smith, we're too late! The workers, incited by those contaminated individuals, have already stormed the factory demanding a pay rise!"
Upon hearing this, Dunn Smith knew that the person in front of him was the spirit that had just been able to break into St. Serena's Church.
At the same time, he looked around at the empty streets and remembered Tingen a few months ago. His face turned just as ugly as Klein's. Having just read Klein's letter of complaint, he certainly didn't know what had happened!
Dunn Smith, with his richer life experience, didn't need Klein to explain further; he already realized the seriousness of the situation!
According to Archbishop Anthony's plan, Dunn Smith, under Klein's guidance, was to secretly control the corrupted before the riots broke out, thus eliminating the source of the unrest. The sealed artifacts 1-80 were for this purpose!
But before they even arrived, the target had already been successfully instigated, and a storm was brewing at an unprecedented speed, and it was unstoppable!
"If we hurry now, we might still make it in time—"
Before Dunn Smith could finish speaking, he heard a burst of gunfire coming from the direction of the factory, along with screams that the gunfire couldn't mask!
"Grass!"
Dunn Smith completely lost his composure, cursed aloud, and then turned and rushed towards the direction of the gunshot!
Klein was in a terrible mood and followed Dunn Smith in silence.
Half an hour earlier, workers demanding a pay raise, holding torches and led by their leader, faced the guns of gang members working for the factory owner.
No concessions whatsoever!
The bosses and managers standing at the entrance of the factory area all looked relaxed and didn't seem to care at all.
Because the workers' movement has erupted more than once in the past hundred years, they are very experienced in dealing with workers, so they are not at all stressed by the current situation. Instead, they stand on the sandbags piled up behind them, chatting and laughing, pointing and gesturing.
They didn't even take any action to negotiate with the leaders or listen to their demands!
And just then, a sharp whistle rang out, followed by a series of hurried footsteps!
The workers, bewildered, quickly backed away, only to discover that a group of several hundred policemen, armed with gleaming steam rifles, had broken through their ranks and stood in front of the sandbags at the factory gate, kneeling before them and protecting the armed gangsters and the factory behind them!
In all of Backlund, only the East District Police Department is equipped with equipment comparable to that of a regular army, thanks to the never-ending appropriations from Congress and the generous donations from capitalists!
Although the workers had already made an emergency retreat, many were still trampled by the police who rushed over, suffering serious injuries and lying on the ground in agony.
The workers glared angrily at the police who were pointing guns at them, but the police remained unmoved. Ironically, one of the officers was a man weighing 300 pounds.
The police chief, who struggled to even climb the sandbags less than half a meter high, shouted through a megaphone:
"You rioters, get out of here immediately, or I will arrest you all under the Anti-Riot Law, and the ringleaders will be executed on the spot!"
The police chief's shout caused the workers present to lose their temper and they started hurling insults at him!
The police chief hadn't expected these rioters to dare provoke him like this; his fat face turned bright red, and he almost lost his footing.
Fortunately, his deputy directors were quick-witted and helped the unusually heavy director down!
"These thugs have really got some nerve, daring to insult me like that! I'll arrest them all in a minute!"
Feeling humiliated, the police chief uttered a harsh remark.
Meanwhile, his subordinates, being very sensible, spoke up to condemn the barbarity of the troublemakers, completely disregarding the angry crowd of workers outside!
Since the invention of the steam rifle, unarmed workers have been unable to successfully storm factories using sheer numbers, because steam rifles can fire in bursts!
This is also a major reason why the workers' movement, despite its many years of activity, has never succeeded!
Meanwhile, the factory owners who had been squatting in the back, "enjoying the scenery from the Yellow Crane Tower," also rushed over and showered the police chief with extremely sycophantic praise.
In their eyes, when the police chief arrived with his officers, the unexpected turmoil was about to end.
Although the money given to the bureau chief afterward far exceeded the workers' demands, it was still better to give it to the fat pig in front of him than to those dirty peasants!
Hmph, if they dare to ask for a raise today, they'll dare to ask for holidays and overtime pay tomorrow.
This is no ordinary troublemaker; we must take strong action!
The police chief thoroughly enjoyed the flattery from the usually impeccably dressed and arrogant factory owner and the sycophancy from his police officers.
As for the troublemakers outside, he completely disregarded them, even viewing this "riot" as a golden opportunity!
Not only after resolving this riot, but the factory owners and capitalists would have followed the old custom and given him money that he might not have been able to earn even after ten years of hard work.
Furthermore, district police chiefs who have successfully suppressed worker riots in the past are strong contenders for the position of police commissioner. At the very least, they can become lords, and if things go wrong, they can even become high-ranking members of parliament.
Therefore, in the eyes of the police chief, the rioters outside were not a problem at all, but rather a group of talking heroes, tools for him to demonstrate his loyalty to the aristocratic lords behind the factory owners and capitalists.
The more they cause trouble, the greater the police chief's credit will be, and the more favor he will receive from the higher-ups in the government!
Even if it weren't for the Anti-Mob Law, which stipulates that police can only order the firing of shots if the mob does not disperse half an hour after the police issue a warning.
He had already ordered the shooting to disperse these people, so why waste so much breath talking to them?
While the factory owner and high-ranking police officers were chatting and laughing, they didn't notice that the eyes of both the gangsters and police officers protecting them, as well as the workers shouting excitedly outside, were starting to look strange.
The workers, whose eyes were already red with anger, could no longer accept that the police were openly ignoring their demands and not even glancing at them.
Without anyone else instigating them, someone found some beer bottles and threw them at the police not far away. This made the police, who were already hiding behind sandbags and fighting alongside the gangsters' bodyguards, look very fierce for a moment, but they couldn't completely hide!
Because the officer had not yet given the order to fire, the policeman holding the sharp blade grew increasingly angry, and the workers' actions became more and more violent.
At this critical and extremely tense moment, a gunshot rang out, followed by more gunshots!