bookandnovel Chapter 927: The Uprising!
Chapter 927: The Uprising!
Chapter 927: The Uprising!
"Please come in."
The door creaked open.
Anna pushed open the slightly ajar door. Inside, a kerosene lamp was lit, its dim light illuminating six figures sitting inside.
There was a very handsome coal miner who had washed the coal dust off his face and sat in the middle of the room. His straight back didn't look like that of a miner who toiled in the mine all day and was hunched over.
There was also the female miner who gave her "power." Anna could hear the other's slow heartbeat, as if it resonated with her body. The closer she got to the other, the more excited her blood flowed.
The other four are also very beautiful ladies, which is still noticeable even when they are hidden under the brim of their hats and work clothes.
"I knew I was right about you, little girl."
Fryn smiled, revealing a pair of small tiger teeth, and with great satisfaction, she raised her hand and moved a chair next to Anna.
Anna sat down on the chair somewhat awkwardly. Even though she had turned evil, she felt that she was still just as vulnerable as before in front of these six figures.
"Who are you?"
She mustered her courage and asked.
The only man smiled and pointed to the chestnut-haired wolf girl next to him: "This is Lavinia, her Russian name is Natasha, and this is Hannya, Fringilla, Cherinina, and Jeanne."
Anna quickly replied, "Anna, just call me Anna."
Losa carefully examined Anna. The thin young girl looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a tattered cotton-padded jacket covered in patches and a pair of ill-fitting old leather boots.
As his dragon blood servant, and having merged with Fringilla's blood servant, she now possesses immense power.
That was the extraordinary bloodline that Lothar and Fryn created at the cost of sacrificing their maximum power.
If this were in the Middle Ages, the two of them certainly wouldn't have done that.
However, Lothar no longer believed there were any enemies that required their full strength. Once the combat record was completed, their lost power would be restored, making this sacrifice seem insignificant.
"Miss Anna, can you tell me what happened to you?"
Losa patiently and persuasively explained.
Anna was originally very wary of strangers, but perhaps it was because he personally delivered a heavy loaf of bread when she needed it most; or perhaps it was because she desperately wanted to find a "home" again after losing her family.
Anna genuinely believed that everyone present was a good person.
After listening to Anna's story, Lothar sighed softly: "Anna, what do you think caused this misfortune?"
Anna was somewhat confused.
For a young girl living in poverty, she had no idea how her family had fallen to such a state.
Was it the bosses who refused to distribute bread? Or the foreman who threatened her with sex before agreeing to let her take over her sick mother's job? Or the ever-increasing prices on the black market?
Too much is too much.
Too much misfortune has befallen their family.
Anna shook her head: "I don't know, but I've read some Social Democratic Party pamphlets that say the Tsar and the war took everything from us."
"Don't talk about other people's ideas, talk about your own."
Anna lowered her head and pondered for a while before saying uncertainly, "It's the war. If there hadn't been a war, Father wouldn't have been sent to the front lines, and his fate would still be unknown. He was the best coppersmith in the entire Hay Market and the guardian of our family."
Anna's family could be considered middle class, after all, they owned a detached house, unlike the tenants in Carpenter's Alley who could only live in a tiny room.
But that was before the war.
After the war broke out, Anna's family's standard of living plummeted after her father lost his well-paying job.
Lothar shook his head: "That's right, but too general."
“When war breaks out, conscription will lead to a shortage of labor in rural areas and factories. All production of materials will be prioritized for the front lines, which will crowd out transportation capacity and cause a shortage of materials in the rear. But if I told you that with the vast territory and abundant resources of the empire, and with the generous donations from allies, the materials are actually more than enough, would you believe me?”
"How can it be!"
Anna's eyes widened: "The whole of St. Petersburg is short of food. There's a hay market, and the price of bread has skyrocketed twelvefold. Moreover, it's sold in limited quantities every day. Once the time is over, even if you have money, you won't be able to buy it."
"You can't buy them anymore, because they've all gone to the black market."
Lothar's expression was solemn: "I have seen the situation on the front lines of Tsarist Russia. Not only are you in the rear lacking food and clothing, but most of the soldiers on the front lines, except for a few elite troops, are also lacking food and clothing. Some people have withheld supplies that should have been sent to the front lines and sold them on the black market."
“If the grain merchants in St. Petersburg released all their grain, there would be enough to feed the entire city until the end of the war—but they wouldn’t do that, because if they did, the price of grain would collapse.”
"Many military trains and railway lines that transported supplies to the front lines were requisitioned by the nobility and capitalists to transport supplies for them."
"They always say, everything is for the war, everything is for the motherland."
"But most of those who shed blood in war are the poor, and they are the ones who make a fortune from it."
Losa talked with Anna for a very long time until there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Who?"
The person outside stopped knocking and instead slipped a note through the crack in the door.
Lothar picked it up and couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "It's from the Social Democratic Labor Party. They claim they'll launch an uprising tonight with the slogan 'For Ms. Natasha.'"
Lavinia said with a hint of helplessness, "I didn't agree to that."
The Social Democratic Labor Party members naturally invited Ms. Natasha, the recently famous "savior of the poor," but she declined.
"Anna, you should go."
"what?"
Anna pointed to herself in disbelief: "Can I?"
Lothar said meaningfully, "Of course, this is your war. Believe me, the power you possess is terrifying."
The Cossack cavalry, who had just entered the city, encountered a fierce attack from the "rebels." Unfortunately, these rabble were no match for the seasoned Cossacks and were quickly wiped out.
The Cossacks cleaning up the battlefield were clearly not satisfied with the pile of junk they had collected.
"Are these poor bastards starting to rebel like the noble lords?"
"They don't even have the most basic firearms!"
Tennis sighed softly: "Everything they're doing will not only fail to improve their situation, but will actually make things worse."
He could understand the unrest in the city; people could no longer survive, and taking up arms and rebelling was their only way out.
But in his view, this way out was also a dead end.
They are too weak.
The quartermaster muttered under his breath, "I heard it was the majority faction in that Social Democratic Labour Party that did it. They said they wanted the Tsar to abdicate, make peace with the Germans, and immediately withdraw from all wars."
"The emperor abdicates? Which crown prince will they put on the throne?"
The Cossacks all looked over, some with surprise and delight.
If this group of rebels is backed by a crown prince, their upcoming battles will certainly be more dangerous, but the rewards will also be greater.
The quartermaster said helplessly, "Which crown prince will ascend the throne? Those crazy social democratic workers don't want an emperor anymore!"
"No emperor? How can that be? Can a person live without a head?"
"Exactly, if there's no emperor, who will govern this country?"
The Cossacks had been under the rule of the Tsar for hundreds of years, and they were used to fighting for the Tsar; it was an inertia that came naturally to them.
"It seems to be something like the State Duma."
The quartermaster scratched his head: "They also said that everyone, regardless of their background, should be equal."
"Equality? According to these lunatics, does that mean we have to be equal to those peasants?"
A few Cossacks were worried: "Now, we are on strike and fighting a civil war among ourselves. The Germans will advance from Riga and land at the mouth of the Neva River. They will not let this good opportunity pass them by and invade St. Petersburg."
"Therefore, we must quell the civil unrest as soon as possible and drive all the strikers back to the factory."