The International State Guest House, built for the Limerick World Expo, is located on the south bank of the charming Shannon River, with a spherical shape that is rare in this era, with all-steel beams and tempered glass walls, and is the first of its kind in modern environmentally friendly architecture. Since the opening of the www.biquge.info World Expo, the King of Ireland and the country's military and political dignitaries have held a welcome banquet for distinguished guests from all over the world, and the most famous princes and nobles in Europe are rarely absent, and the most influential figures outside Europe - the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Japan, the Governors of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc., have left their footprints here.

In June 1918, the Limerick World Expo was halfway through its schedule, and a large delegation of the Ottoman elite was long overdue. Taking into account the prestige of this ancient empire and the extravagant lifestyle of the Ottoman aristocracy, the Irish government changed its past practice and prepared a feast for the Turks in the most glitzy way.

Nominally, the visiting Ottoman delegation was led by the Grand Vizier, the prime minister of the government, but in the Ottoman Empire, which had been repeatedly tested by coups and wars, it was the people who had the military in charge who had a real say. Among the many brightly dressed and swaggering Pashas, several were friends whom Natsuki had made many years ago, and Fatih, who was now the chairman of the Ottoman Navy's Council, was probably the best mixed among them. This committee was in charge of the Ottoman Navy's equipment procurement and training, and had a greater say in the appointment and dismissal of naval personnel.

"Oh, oh, yes? Tsk, what a pitiful! ”

After some pleasantries, the pot-bellied Fatih listened to Charlotte Hill tell him about the original purpose of the Irish Save Women and Children's Fund, and expressed deep sympathy for the plight of the orphans. War, disease, disasters have led to Ireland currently has more than 70,000 orphans, most of them do not have the ability to take care of themselves, about a quarter of them suffer from congenital diseases or disabilities, although the Irish government has opened nearly 100 orphanages, and the original orphanages into the scope of official supervision and subsidies, so that these poor orphans have the most basic survival guarantee, but the state investment funds are limited, most of the public orphanages have a shortage of manpower, poor facilities difficulties, The living conditions of sick and disabled children are particularly disastrous, and the funds raised by established charities each year are a drop in the bucket.

Out of humanitarian care, reputation and character building, under the arrangement of Xia Shu, under his and Charlotte Hill joint name, the Irish Save Women and Children Fund was established to raise funds for orphans and women who are unable to take care of themselves.

After listening to Charlotte's speech with a rich expression, Fatih seemed to realize that the queen-to-be of Ireland was raising funds for charity, and he did not hesitate for a moment, stretched out a pair of hands full of gemstone rings, and said loudly: "I personally donate 100,000 kurou...... Gold! ”

With that, Fatih solemnly announced in Turkish: "I am donating 100,000 kuru gold coins to the Women and Children's Fund launched by the King and Queen of Ireland!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the small half of the banquet hall suddenly fell silent.

In terms of gold content, this amount is about 20,000 marks, which is equivalent to the income of an average German worker for 10 years, and is a lot of money even in the upper classes.

In recent years, the Ottoman Navy has purchased, ordered, and modified more than 40 ships, as well as many waterway dredging and dock expansion projects, all of which are costly projects, and the Imperial Navy Council's abundance of oil and water is enviable, but Fatih does not seem to be shy about his wealth, and the reason for this is that the Ottoman ruling class has collectively become nouveau riche - the oil-rich Middle East was originally the territory of Ottoman Turkey, and after the end of the war, The Allies led by Germany forced the British to withdraw from the region, and in the next two years or so, the scale of oil exploitation in the Middle East has exceeded the pre-war level, and the Ottoman Empire and Germany signed a resource transfer or cooperative development agreement, bringing it tens of millions of marks in revenue every year.

Before the minds of the people had settled, another voice was heard announcing in fairly standard German and then Turkish: "I personally donate 200,000 kulu, of course in gold!" ”

The person who spoke was Abbasparsha, the commander of the 2nd Army stationed in the Bosburus, who was the son of the current Sultan Muhammad V, the orthodox Ottoman prince, not only had a hard enough background, but also studied in Germany, and his understanding of the new army and modern tactics was much stronger than that of most Pasha in the Ottoman army, but he was arrogant and not as sleek as Fatih, and always had a domineering posture, so he was far less popular in the eyes of the Ottoman subjects than his brother Abdul, It is said that the Ottoman army was not very popular either.

During a visit to Ottoman Turkey many years ago, Natsuki met with the Abbasid Pasha and knew that he and Fatih were cousins, and the two competed with each other, but after all, they were separated by military lines, and there was no competition or suppression. The Abbasids were obviously even more powerful in the Ottoman Empire today, but in a ****** country that is elusive to outsiders, today it is a great place, and tomorrow it is possible to become a prisoner.

Abbasid may not have been the richest of the Ottoman tycoons present, but no one would annoy the powerful prince in order to show off his wealth, and after flattering applause, the bejeweled Pasha and the viziers responded one after another, pledging from one or two thousand to fifty or sixty thousand kuru, and the banquet unexpectedly turned into a charity donation meeting. Not only were the Irish officials and staff who came to the scene stunned by these numbers, but even Charlotte was surprised, but Natsuki was still sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai platform. In addition to appreciating the exhibits of various countries, the Ottoman delegation also has a grand strategic goal, that is, to establish a strong modern aviation force for the Ottoman Empire, Irish-made military aircraft, in addition to the top models, the performance and quality are not inferior to German goods, the price has a certain advantage, and the rebate given to the purchaser in private is very high, the Turks have tried to buy combat reconnaissance aircraft from Ireland earlier, and they are looking forward to the re-cooperation between the two sides, if the deal can be reached on satisfactory terms, Tonight's donation is just a give-and-take. Another point is that the Ottoman aviation units are divided into the army and navy, and if the scale of procurement is roughly determined, the army and navy hope to obtain a favorable result for themselves, and this depends to a certain extent on the aircraft model recommended and concessioned by the Irish side.

In a off-the-beaten-track atmosphere, the grand dinner lasted until late at night, consuming much more beef and lamb and wine than the previous banquets of the same size, but unfortunately the Irish did not have the habit of saunas, and the hammam equipped with the Ottoman pavilion was small in scale, and it was far from the usual level of the Ottoman aristocracy, which was regrettable to the well-fed and generous Turks.

Before the banquet was over, the attendants had counted the amount of donations pledged by the Turks, totaling a staggering 1.52 million kuru. At the current price level, it is enough to cover the living expenses of 50 medium-sized orphanages for a whole year!

The Ottoman night at the International State Guest House surprised the Turks with a view to the fact that the Ottoman national income level was not as high as that of Ireland, millions of people lived in hunger and poverty, that there were many more Ottoman orphans and abused women than in Ireland, and that the funds of more than 300,000 marks, although not helpful to change the plight of the Ottoman poor, reflected the attitude of the ruling class of a country.

In the following days, not only did the official media of the Irish government give high praise to His Majesty the wise King and her British friend Charlotte Hill, but also public opinion was full of praise. Taking this as an opportunity, Irish industrialists, traders, farmers and even the hidden old aristocracy responded to the call for donations from the Royal Limerick Palace, and in just a few weeks, nearly two million marks were remitted to Save Women and Children in Ireland, more than six times the amount donated by the Ottoman Turkish delegation. It is worth mentioning that the Grady, Ahern, Byrne and the famous Merragon family, who are influential in the Munster area, not only supported this charity, but also expressed their sincere respect for His Majesty the King and Lady Charlotte Hill through various channels, and wrote Gaelic poems and Gaelic stories in their own way, celebrating Charlotte's kindness and generosity, and depicting her love story with the King of Ireland. Later, the famous Irish playwright Lady Gregory collected these poems and stories and compiled them into a light comedy called "Modern Knight", which invited many famous actors to participate, and the performance at the National Theatre in Limerick was welcomed and favored by people from all walks of life.

By the autumn of 1918, the tide of public opinion in Ireland about the king's marriage had been greatly reversed. At the invitation and arrangement of the Irish royal family, Sophie, the late daughter of the former Crown Prince Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and lord of Hohenberg, visited Limerick and provided the Irish Daily with a letter written by the Archduke Ferdinand during his lifetime, in which he recalled his precious but unacceptable love with his commoner wife, and mentioned a young couple in a similar and more difficult situation, in whom he saw his own perseverance and happiness, and he felt that they should be recognized and blessed by the world.

The contents of Archduke Ferdinand's letter, published in the Daily Irish Newspaper, caused a huge repercussion in Ireland, and the unhappy marriage of the Ferdinand couple is believed to be the source of the disaster that caused the world war, which in turn buried millions of lives and left countless families with pain, but their loyalty and dedication to their feelings are worthy of respect and admiration. People began to think about the marriage of the Irish king from an unprecedented perspective, trying to find answers between history and reality, emotion and reason, and before the secular idea could complete its self-liberation, the Roman Catholic Church, which represents religion, and the Hohenzollern royal family, which represents secular power, successively gave formal support to the couple's eventual marriage hall, thus helping them clear the last obstacles.

(End of chapter)