The more time he spent wandering around Saint Denis, the deeper his impression of the city became.
However, in Saint Denis, the tall buildings were already not much worse than those of later generations; in fact, many countries today cannot rival these civilized structures.
But the drawbacks of capitalism were also particularly evident and abundant.
The poor in the slums lay on the open ground, sleeping wherever they fell, without even a blanket, and their clothes barely covered their bodies.
The rich indulged in pleasure at brightly lit entertainment venues, with dedicated human porters to cushion their carriages.
Those impoverished individuals serving as human porters had no dignity whatsoever, their faces plastered with humble smiles, allowing the gentlemen to step on their backs to board carriages, and then, with fawning expressions, picking up the few coins the gentlemen had tossed on the ground.
The city streets were brightly lit, and under the brilliant streetlights, city center residents strolled leisurely. Although their lives couldn't compare to the unrestrained extravagance of the rich, they were much better off than the poor. At the very least, their worry wasn't about how to eat tomorrow, but what to eat tomorrow.
And looking into the dark and quiet alleys within various streets, one could see the figures of vagrants everywhere.
Oh, at this time, they couldn't be called vagrants, because there were no vagrants then; those who wandered had starved to death. At this time, those lying in these alleys should be called laborers.
"See, Hosea, Arthur. This is civilization. Vampires live in luxurious villas, sucking the blood of the entire city to establish their lofty status."
Dutch and the two others rode their horses, clip-clopping through the streets, their gazes filled with curiosity at everything they saw.
As the vessel of Western civilization, Saint Denis was much, much larger in size and scale than all the places they had ever roamed before.
Various factories were so complex that they couldn't even comprehend them, and various facilities opened their eyes.
Of course, only Arthur and Hosea had their eyes opened.
"Dutch, can we really contend against this so-called civilization?" Hosea murmured, looking at the power plants on both sides continuously discharging exhaust fumes, finding it hard to believe.
With such massive factories and such a powerful industrial system, how could their small Van der Linde Gang possibly contend against them?
"Oh, Hosea, I only know that right now, at most, we could kill all the employees in these power plants," Arthur chuckled.
"Hosea, don't worry, old friend, we'll take it one step at a time, and we'll eventually stand at the pinnacle of the world!" Dutch comforted him, not wanting to see his old friend lose his fighting spirit.
In reality, everyone felt it was difficult to contend against vast capital, and even Dutch had to admit that.
And this was why he developed firearms.
If my economic power cannot contend with yours, then why don't I just use military suppression? What capitalists, what Wall Street tycoons? I'll kill your whole family, and then all your capital will naturally be mine!
If he could achieve his lofty aspirations, he would dare to mock Huang Chao for not being a true man.
If Huang Chao could slaughter entire aristocratic families, then Dutch naturally could too.
Dutch's eyes flashed with fierce light, but it quickly faded.
Before possessing any real power, any grand ambition is just showing off.
The three found a hotel, and after each called for a helper to assist with washing, they returned to their rooms.
"Oh, Arthur, are you sure you don't want to try?" Dutch walked towards his room with a very attractive woman, not forgetting to ask Arthur.
"And you, Hosea, don't you want one either?" Then Dutch's gaze shifted to Hosea, who was walking ahead.
"Hahaha, no, Dutch, I'm old, I don't have that much energy anymore," Hosea said with a laugh, waving his hand, and then walked back into his room.
"What about you, Arthur?"
"No, I don't want one either." Arthur waved his hand; his mind was completely filled with Mary right now, where could there be room for other women?
"Oh, well, I guess only I will have a tiring night then, fellas." Dutch said with a laugh, putting his arm around the woman and walking into the room.
Problems with material counterfeiting were still relatively rare in this era because the legitimate market had not yet been saturated, and there was still a lot of cake to be had, so naturally, there weren't as many issues with material counterfeiting.
And without counterfeiting, it meant the sound insulation of the room was good.
With good sound insulation, Hosea and Arthur were able to get a good night's sleep.
Their impression of Dutch's combat prowess over the past two days was quite strong. But they hadn't expected it to be so strong.
The service worker, who originally only provided hourly services, ended up serving Dutch for the entire night, and when she left the next day, she had to lean against the wall to walk out.
However, the expression on her face was exceptionally satisfied, not only with Dutch's combat prowess but also with the money Dutch had given her.
After breakfast, the three bought three suits of gentlemen's clothing in Saint Denis, and also trimmed their beards and hairstyles, striving to create a gentlemanly appearance for themselves. Only then did they leisurely find Ms. Dorothea, who was giving a feminist speech in the square in front of the clothing store.
Seeing three men dressed as gentlemen approaching, Ms. Dorothea immediately stepped forward and called out.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen, do you agree with women's rights? Can you support women's rights? Please support us, ninety percent of us women cannot survive in this society, we urgently need the right to work, we..."
"Oh, madam, madam, could you please stop for a moment? I have two questions for you." Dutch quickly interrupted her, taking the initiative to speak and seize the advantage.
"Alright, sir, please ask, but please support us, we women have suffered enough oppression!"
Ms. Dorothea reluctantly closed her mouth.
Her attire was indeed not bad, which Dutch noticed and was particularly pleased with.
In reality, Ms. Dorothea's family must have had some standing, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to openly advocate for women's rights here without being driven away.
In Chapter 3, there was also a women's rights demonstration in Rhodes, where a typical line was: "Oh, you will die…"
Clearly, the women's rights movement was not popular at this time and could even provoke men to attack en masse. In fact, feminism itself was guided by those congressmen, with all objectives focused on suffrage, while there were few demands for equal work or equal status.
This shows that any movement in America, from its inception, was not something the poor could control.
But this was the loophole Dutch could exploit.