London, December 1862, the sky is covered with snowflakes, and when Christmas is approaching, the whole of England will be covered with snowflakes. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The mist that drifted from the Atlantic Ocean all the way from the mouth of the Thames to London made London a veritable fog capital, and in winter, such fog would be as diffuse as it is now for several days, and the air was filled with white fog for several days. The steeple churches on both sides of the Thames, the high-rise buildings are covered up, and only a few pavilions in the sky remain.

It looks like a wonderland in the whole of London!

However, this fog is not a white mist, but a yellow mist, different from ordinary fog, this fog has a choking smell, this is a yellow fog, the industrial revolution in Great Britain supported by coal, so that the city of London is full of factories, and hundreds of thousands of homes here are also burning coal for heating, the smoke and dust produced when coal is burned and the fog is mixed into yellow and black, often shrouded in the city for many days, day as night.

I can't see my fingers!

Although this yellow-black fog makes people feel very uncomfortable, and even breathing is not smooth enough, and even leads to the death of many children and elderly people with poor resistance, for many foreigners, this yellow-black fog that does not disperse all day long symbolizes industry, symbolizes strength, and symbolizes the hope of a country......

If he had visited London as a poet, he might have written a poem about the fog in London, in which he admired the magnificence of the yellow-black industrial fog, and of course more so the power of Britain.

The strength of the country!

Perhaps, this fog belongs to London, to the pride of Britain, although now the pride of Britain is being talked about day by day.

Of course, for the vast majority of ordinary people, this fog is just fog, it is choking, even disgusting, annoying, whenever this fog envelops London, I don't know how many rich people will leave London, they will hide in the country manor like in the past to avoid the stench of summer, for the rich, the powerful, they always have a variety of choices.

But for the vast majority of ordinary people, they have no choice, they still have to endure this choking fog in London, and then work hard for life, at this time in London, because of the fog and snow, the weather seems quite cold, forcing many pedestrians to put up the high collar of their coats to make themselves warmer.

At a salon table near the Admiralty in London, a middle-aged man sits. His tweed jacket was cut to a great fit, his shirt was white, and his shoes were shiny. He was six feet tall and had a dashing demeanor, with dark brown hair that gave him a complete aristocratic bearing. After the waiter served the afternoon tea and snacks he wanted, he poured himself afternoon tea and drank it.

The average person would drool over afternoon tea and sumptuous snacks, and although on the surface the war did not affect Britain, in reality it had had an unprecedented impact on Britain. And for ordinary people, it was the war with China, which led to the severance of the source of tea, and now the tea that the British drank could only be smuggled from France, and this led to its high price, which can even be said to be an extremely fatal blow to the British who have become accustomed to drinking afternoon tea. After all, the rhythm of life of tens of millions of people has been completely disrupted, but for the rich, the war has not affected their lives in any way, and their wealth allows them to enjoy all the material things they can enjoy as long as they want.

Just like the Duke of Marlborough's afternoon tea now, as a member of the Royal Navy Headquarters Committee, as long as he wants to, he doesn't need to speak, and all the shipbuilders in the whole of Britain will rush to give him everything he needs, including money, of course.

In order to regain the status of the Royal Navy and regain sea power, the Royal Navy issued an astonishing number of orders for ironclad ships to the shipyard after the approval of the House of Representatives, and the Duke of Marlborough, as a member of the Navy Headquarters, was in a position responsible for the equipment of the Navy, and because of this, he is now a more authoritative figure than the Queen for the British shipbuilding community.

Women, pounds, famous paintings, etc., almost everything, the owners of those shipyards will send it to him, as for such things as tea, it is not worth mentioning at all, afternoon tea like this, well, the Duke of Marlborough does not even have to pay for it.

Naturally, there would be some people who offered to pay for him, just like now, when a young man in a modest suit came to him and stopped, the Duke of Marlborough looked at the young man with a smile on his face.

"Phyris, what's the matter, what's the big news lately?"

The young man in front of him was a newspaper reporter, and although he was very young, he was also a very well-known journalist in London at the moment, and the reason why the Duke of Marlborough was so enthusiastic was that last year there was a news about him himself, and it was with the help of this young man that he did not even appear in the newspaper.

In return, the Duke of Marlborough always gave him some news, and the most popular news in times of war was the news related to the war, and the Duke's help allowed him to get some news in advance.

"Your Excellency!"

After politely saying hello, Ferris sat down, and then he said what he meant,

"Your Excellency, if I could, I would like to be able to take a warship to Dublin and report the news there on the front line!"

Ferris's suggestion made the Duke of Marlborough stunned, and he looked at the other party in surprise for a while before speaking.

"My friend, how could you have such thoughts! Go to the front? No, it's too dangerous there! ”

The Duke of Marlborough refused almost without thinking, in London, every politician needs friends in the press, these friends can be the owner of the newspaper or the journalist, of course, for any person, having a well-known journalist as a friend, is a good and harmless thing, if this well-known journalist, also "valuable", then naturally it is even better.

Just a few months ago, the Duke of Marlborough had used the hand of Ferris to fight a political enemy, and now he is actually going to Dublin, what a joke, he is more needed here than there!

It is precisely because of this that the Duke of Marlborough will immediately speak out to dissuade him.

"If you need news there, I'll give you some news as soon as possible, but Dublin, it's too dangerous!"

Duke Marlboro's refusal had long been expected by Ferris, and he did not show any emotion, but said calmly.

"I'd like to be able to get first-hand news there, and no journalist in the London press has ever been there, sir, and I hope to be the first to do so, because reporting from the front will give me more reputation."

When Ferris mentions "reputation", it makes the Duke of Marlboro's heart move, they may be friends, but in fact, for the Duke of Marlborough, he needs to be his status as a well-known journalist, they just help each other,

"This ......"

"Moreover, I don't plan to stay there until the end of the campaign, if all goes well, I think I'll be back in two weeks, if ......"

Phyllis looked at Duke Marlborough and said tentatively.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Admiralty seems to be planning something lately, is it sending reinforcements to Dublin? Of course, I think it must be so, I can go by boat and come back by boat in two weeks......"

Phyris's words made the Duke of Marlborough stunned, and then asked in surprise.

"Philis, who did you listen to?"

The Admiralty is indeed planning a big operation, but it is a secret, a secret that only a very few people know, and the Duke of Marlborough is one of them.

"You know, it's ......"

Looking at the smile on Ferris's face, the Duke of Marlborough immediately realized that he had fallen for the other party and was cheated out by him.

"You guy, do you know, just now I was even thinking about whether to put you in prison, interrogate you properly, and see who leaked the secret to you!"

Shrugging his shoulders helplessly, Ferris replied with a smile.

"Your Excellency, you know, this is just the instinct of the journalists, I noticed that some army units are massing in the port area recently, so they must have some action, so I will boldly guess that it is related to Dublin, and your reaction tells me, it seems that I guessed correctly, right?"

Looking at Duke Marlboro, Ferris asked curiously, but Duke Marlborough did not respond to his curiosity, but picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and then said slowly.

"My friend, there are some things, even for you, I can't be honest with, after all, the stakes are high! After all, you're a journalist! ”

Despite saying this, the Duke of Marlborough deliberately emphasized,

"Of course, you're also my friend, and for friends, perhaps...... You should know that right now, the whole world is watching Dublin, and so is London, and the future of Britain is at stake, so we have to win there, no matter what, my friend! ”

After a very common point was made, the Duke of Marlborough put down the teacup in his hand, looked at Phyllis and said.

"That's why we have to do everything we can to defeat the Chinese there, and now, that's exactly what we're doing, my friend!"

Then the Duke of Marlborough was silent, and in the face of Philis's curiosity, he only smiled mysteriously,

"Aren't you going to go? Perhaps, at the right time, I can let you go with the warship! ”

When is the right time?

For his part, Ferris had been waiting for that time to come after obtaining permission from the Duke of Marlboro, and after waiting for about a week, he received a messenger from the Duke of Marlboro, who told him to prepare him for departure.

The next day, as soon as it was about to dawn, a carriage stopped at the apartment where Ferris lived, and when he got into the carriage, he saw two naval officers in the carriage, and the three of them quickly became acquainted.

From their mouths, Ferris finally learned one thing - the navy and army jointly planned a big plan, they planned to send 100,000 troops to Dublin by the end of the year, so as to break the Chinese siege of Dublin.

"At that time, we will definitely be able to inflict heavy losses on the Chinese, and when they are defeated in Dublin, the army will launch a counteroffensive from there, and then the whole of Europe will see how Britain won this war!"

After arriving at the port, Phyllis did not see any more troop carriers in the harbor except for a few naval warships, but when the navy warships sailed to the sea, on the sea, one troop carrier and warship after another were constantly converging - dozens of troop carriers full of soldiers, escorted by naval warships, headed for Dublin.

"Isn't there a need to worry about the interception of the Chinese fleet?"

On the sea, in the midst of this huge fleet, looking at the troop carriers, Ferris couldn't help but ask Major Luke beside him.

"The fleet of the Chinese, they have not sent their fleet, not because they do not want to, but because they do not have a suitable port, except for Dublin, there is no suitable port for warships in the whole of Ireland, there is no suitable dock, which means that their warships are not properly maintained here, and compared to us, the number of their warships is very limited, in this case, the Chinese would rather give up control of the Irish sea supremacy, and because of this, the ownership of Dublin is very critical, If the Chinese get Ireland, then their fleet can use the shipyards in Dublin, for Britain, this is simply a disaster, when the time comes, we will have to fight a decisive battle with the Chinese Navy near the UK, their fleet can appear outside our ports at any time and intercept our merchant ships, that's why Dublin will be so important! ”

Luke's words made Ferris nod approvingly, and the two of them went on to talk about some other topics, mostly war-related, and as the two finished their discussion, Phyrist asked meaningfully.

"Major, is the telegraph in Dublin still open to the people? If I could, I would like to send a telegram to the newspaper office upon arrival in Dublin, and of course, the contents of the telegram can be checked if necessary! ”

Luke, who was well aware of the journalist's relationship with the Navy Commissioner, did not refuse, and even offered to help him send a telegram -- which would save money.

A few hours later, almost as soon as he arrived in Dublin, a telegram from Ferris was sent from Dublin......

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