That night, Augustus had a very long dream, dreaming of the neon lights and bustling traffic of a modern city, dreaming of many familiar people and things, dreaming of the life he used to find tiresome day after day, dreaming of all the past, and gradually, the images became blurry.
The scene then shifted to a strange world, where he had everything he wanted, and he quickly became immersed in it, striving to pursue his goals, but when he wanted to go back, he found that he couldn't find the way back at all.
At this moment, a voice sounded in his ear: You can't go back.
Augustus suddenly woke up with a start, large beads of sweat rolling down his cheeks.
It was just a dream, Augustus breathed a sigh of relief. But was it really just a dream? Or was it foretelling something? Why did he come to this world, was it really just an accident? Could he still go back? Even if he could, what would the world be like then? Could he still adapt?
After thinking for a while, there was no answer. Augustus suddenly felt a bit ridiculous, when did he start to be affected by such ethereal things, it was just a dream.
It was still early, so he lay back down and continued to sleep.
The concept of statutory holidays was not yet deeply ingrained in this era, but without special circumstances, Christmas theoretically still meant time off. And because this was equivalent to the New Year, the holiday period would not be short, otherwise many people wouldn't have enough time to go home.
Of course, theoretically is theoretically. In fact, only a small number of people enjoyed this treatment, such as government officials and army soldiers, and many people had to continue working. Workers in this period did not go on strikes or demonstrations at every turn, and capitalists were basically unrestrained.
Slaves did not enjoy personal freedom rights, so they certainly had no holidays; when they could rest depended entirely on the slave owner's mood. Ordinary workers, due to livelihood pressures or capitalist exploitation, might also have to continue working.
Augustus saw these situations and felt some sympathy, but he did nothing. Extracting the surplus value of laborers was not just something capitalists did; the state also needed it to a certain extent.
Without the guidance of theoretical thought, and with no one taking the lead, they would not threaten the stability of the state; even if riots or rebellions occurred, they were usually like moths to a flame and were easily suppressed.
More importantly, almost all workers were accustomed to this and did not feel there was any problem, or rather, did not realize the crux of the problem.
So doing nothing was the best approach, and in fact, there wasn't much that could be done. Legislating statutory holidays now would also be useless; given the administrative efficiency of the current era, even household registration had not been fully achieved, let alone expecting decrees like ensuring workers got holidays on time to be implemented effectively.
Furthermore, most Popes of the Papal States were elected in their later years, averaging one every few years, and each Pope had different ideas, leading to very poor continuity of measures; everyone was accustomed to policies changing overnight.
A decree that fundamentally could not be implemented would not attract attention when issued, and might even make people think this Pope was a bit foolish. Augustus certainly would not do things that could not be done.
Moreover, assuming he truly overcame all difficulties and achieved this, it would not benefit the Papal States at all and would bring a host of problems.
Firstly, he would certainly have offended a large group of people, most of whom were powerful and influential, or at least wealthy, thus shaking his own foundation.
Secondly, if producers' working hours were shortened, with efficiency unchanged, the output of goods would inevitably decrease, everyone would earn less, and naturally, less tax would be collected, cutting off his financial resources.
Lastly, with capitalism not yet sweeping across Europe, promoting worker rights awareness now would either be like playing a lute to a cow, or it would completely alter the course of history, which did not align with his grand strategy.
If he couldn't give others a holiday, he could at least take one himself. Recently, recruitment, military service, and troop integration meant one thing after another to consider, plus a pile of miscellaneous annoying matters handed to him, even causing him nightmares.
During this holiday, everyone who should rest has gone back to rest anyway, so nothing should happen, and he can also rest a bit. Only by resting well can he work better; it is clearly not worth it to collapse his body and mind for some short-term achievements, and some things cannot be rushed.
The holiday included new recruits of the National Defense Force and Field Army who had recently enlisted, as well as existing units that had not yet begun integration, although their daily lives and holidays were not much different.
Duke had complained about this, saying that just when the training of new recruits had shown some improvement, who knew what they would be like after the holiday. Augustus just listened casually to Duke's complaints; he couldn't possibly prevent people from taking holidays just out of fear of regression, could he? Karl, on the other hand, seemed indifferent and even quite eager for a holiday.
The Papal States currently had neither internal nor external troubles, and looking across Europe, there were truly few countries where soldiers could rest assured on holiday. Wars were raging across the European continent, and how many soldiers on the front lines lived day to day, some having maintained this state for years or even decades, becoming numb to life and death separations.
Among them, the soldiers of Austria stationed on the border of Hungary were the most miserable; their enemies were the Ottoman, who did not celebrate the New Year at this time. Moreover, knowing that the other side was celebrating the New Year, they would deliberately intensify their offensive to annoy them. War is inherently about using all means, let alone something that is not even considered underhanded.
On Christmas Eve, the Ottoman army launched a surprise attack on the Austrian troops stationed in the Transylvania region. Over three thousand imperial soldiers from various places met their demise in this raid, but because Austria was well-prepared, the Ottoman also paid the price of over four thousand casualties.
As soldiers, their other identities might be sons of fathers, husbands of wives, fathers of children, and their families might still be waiting for them to return home for reunion.
At this time, in Spain, the Netherlands, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, and Russia, there was no hope for troops on the front lines to go home for the New Year. The official religion of Russia was Orthodox Christianity, which used the Julian calendar, while Catholicism used the Gregorian calendar, so the New Year dates differed by about 13 days, but this had no impact; the war could not end in a few days, so there was still no chance.
As the holiday approached, Rome became increasingly lively, as not everyone went home for the holidays. Many soldiers from various places chose to stay in Rome; some had entered the barracks immediately upon their first arrival in Rome, confined outside the city for a month, and had not yet had a good time sightseeing. Now that they had been paid and finally had some free time, they naturally wouldn't miss the chance to explore.
Soldiers from the existing units had no novelty for Rome, but this was still an unusual Christmas for them, especially for those who wanted to do something to prevent troop integration. In Rome, seeing the new recruits enjoying much better treatment than themselves, many veterans were very indignant, but after their indignation, their opposition to integration wavered somewhat.
These days, the noble officers who opposed troop integration also became more frequent in their movements within noble circles, inquiring everywhere for news and seeking help.