The meandering river, the sapphire blue waters, the gentle banks of the river, and the farmland along its banks are the landscape of the Shannon River, the longest river in Ireland. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

On the river north-east of Limerick, a milky white painted yacht carries dozens of passengers up the river. Powered by an internal combustion engine, this small ship of less than 100 tons is an ancient and innovative catamaran, not as smoky and dusty as a steamer, with a clean exterior deck and a spacious interior, and its furnishings are predominantly modern and devoid of expensive and extravagant objects, which seems to be somewhat out of step with the status of a royal yacht.

At this time, it is not yet the planting season, and when you look out from the yacht on both sides of the river, you can see the endless flat fields that give you the feeling of abundance. Blessed by the Creator, the Shannon River valley has been Ireland's main crop-growing region since ancient times. Nowadays, after the Irish government's policy of balancing agriculture and animal husbandry, Ireland's grain production has increased by 40% compared with before independence, and it can meet the needs of the whole people in a good harvest year.

Arriving at an open inlet on the river, the yacht dropped anchor, some well-dressed passengers began fishing with their fishing rods, while others sunbathed leisurely on deck.

In the past, the Irish lived in poverty, and it was difficult to catch fish in this section of the river near the downstream when the crops failed, and the economic miracle of the Kingdom of Ireland gave ordinary families a stable source of livelihood, in just over a year, more than two-thirds of the labor force left the small villages and towns where they had lived for generations, and went to work in cities, industrial areas and along roads. Naturally, it will not take the road of development first and then governance, taking the opportunity of dredging the Shannon Canal to renovate the coastal vegetation as soon as possible, raise seedlings and ban fishing, and the coastal residents are loyal and simple, follow the rules, and after a few hours, everyone on the boat only caught a lot of fish with a few fishing rods, and then through the accompanying chef's skillful hands, a sumptuous and delicious river fresh meal suddenly made everyone's appetite great.

"I've been to Ireland twice and I've never found it so interesting." Edward **** is praised, but it is more subtle, after all, the British royal family has ruled Ireland for many years, and the recognition of the effectiveness of the new Irish regime is to admit his own mediocrity.

A monarch with a heart naturally wouldn't pull someone else's pigtails and taunt him, so Natsuki smiled slightly and didn't say much.

The eldest princess Mary winked mischievously at Natsuki and whispered, "Could it be ...... Does Your Majesty want to turn Ireland into the most beautiful garden in the world, and when the flowers are in full bloom and beautiful like a fairyland, you can marry your sweetheart in the most grand way? ”

Two days ago, she sent Charlotte's cherished "tulip" to Xia Shu, and criticized him unevenly, although it was not ladylike, but Xia Shu's impression of her changed greatly, and the relationship between the two became much closer. However, Natsuki was not stimulated by Princess Mary's words, and it was inconvenient to share her worries and thoughts, so she made some explanations lightly, and her low and tactful tone made Princess Mary almost cry.

As Princess Mary said, Natsuki really wants to give Charlotte the best life, but he knows that Charlotte doesn't care about this, as long as she can be with her without psychological burden, even if she lives a very ordinary life, she will feel very happy. The problem now is that the relationship between Britain and Ireland is not good, and public opinion is especially antagonistic, if Charlotte becomes the queen of Ireland, the Hill family will inevitably be despised and isolated by the people around them, and this is a military family that regards honor as their life, even if they respect Charlotte's choice, they can't get rid of the torture of humiliation - the reason why Charlotte reluctantly left Natsuki earlier was that it was difficult to bear psychological self-blame.

Natsuki hid his inner turmoil with a calm expression, and then said to Princess Mary, "I heard that girls have ignorant dreams, and their other half is a hero of the world, and one day he will come to marry him with the most perfect attitude." ”

The eldest princess hesitated for a moment, then said with a shy face: "Yes, every girl has a fairy tale in her heart, either a princess and a prince, or a Cinderella and a prince, and the prince must be handsome and personable. ”

The gentlemen present listened and smiled in unison.

"I don't know what the noble and elegant Princess Mary looks like in her mind as the perfect prince."

That voice came from Ireland's Foreign Secretary, Roel McClean. Since the British rule of Ireland, many Gaelic nobles have intermarried with local English nobles, and Maclean's family is no exception, but only female family members marry outside, and the direct members still maintain pure blood, so they maintain a high reputation among the Gaelic nobility. In the ****** of the last century, although these declining aristocratic families had no worries about their lives, the terrible disasters suffered by the whole nation made them feel disgusted and hated for Britain, but McLean never showed his emotions in public, nor did he speak quickly in private, but always maintained the sanity and calmness that a diplomat should have, which is a point that Natsuki attaches great importance to, so how to suppress impeachment by German officials, as long as it is not a matter of principle, Natsuki will vote in him.

Everyone present more or less knew that Princess Mary had a love for His Majesty the King of Ireland, and Maclean's question seemed a little out of place, but it had the meaning of forcing the other party to draw a line in public and help Natsuki get rid of the people's doubts.

The eldest princess looked at Natsuki, and then turned her gaze to Edward****: "In a family with an elder brother, most girls will unconsciously combine the conditions of the perfect prince with the image of their elder brother, and I should belong to this situation." ”

This answer is clever and decent, and there is room for it, highlighting the quick thinking and quick style of this British princess, coupled with her extraordinary background, from a rational point of view, she is indeed an ideal spouse that monarchs or **** can not find.

"No wonder whenever I meet someone with whom I can talk very well, our Highness the Princess is full of interest in this person, and it turns out that she is looking for her perfect prince in my likeness. But then again, there are very few such people. Edward **** teased while looking at Natsuki playfully.

Natsuki gave him a smile out of sheer politeness, and then continued to bury his head in dealing with the grilled fish on the plate.

The parties were reluctant to deal with it, and everyone did not respond, Edward **** felt bored, so he changed the topic and said: "In a few months, the World Expo in Ireland will open, this is a much grander international event than the Aviation Expo, the number of exhibits and visitors should be counted in multiples, I think Limerick's urban construction seems to have slowed down, I don't know whether the supply of building materials can not keep up, or other aspects have encountered problems." Although the UK is not the country with the largest number of World Expos, the first and most exciting ones were held in the UK, and a lot of experience will help Ireland to run the Expo well. ”

Natsuki was picking at the fish bones with a knife and fork, so he didn't answer immediately. There was silence, and the atmosphere was somewhat strange, and the British officials who accompanied them thought that Ireland was indeed in trouble, but they were reluctant to speak for the sake of face. After cleaning up the fish on one side and eating it in his mouth, Natsuki replied: "Thank you Your Highness for your kindness, in fact, our preparations are going according to plan, if there is any problem, that is, there are some self-built venues in individual countries that are slower than the scheduled construction period, and if there is no improvement after a while, we have to intervene." ”

"Oh?" A look of curiosity appeared on Edward's **** face, and he turned his gaze to the accompanying officials of the Ministry of Trade, "How is the construction of our pavilion progressing?" ”

The official replied with his head held high: "It was built exactly according to the standard, and it will be completed in five weeks." As far as we know, the UK Pavilion is one of the largest in the world, with the best appearance and finish. ”

Edward **** nodded in satisfaction.

There is no time span limit for the holding of the World Expo, nor is there a hard limit on the qualifications for holding the World Expo, but it costs a lot of money and requires the response and support of various countries, and it is difficult to hold it without a certain national strength and influence. Prior to Ireland's announcement of the World Expo, 15 World Expos had been held by six countries, all of which were powerful countries except Australia and the Netherlands. The French were particularly enthusiastic about it, and from 1855 to 1900 it was held five times, all in Paris and four in the United States, each hosted by four different cities.

It is worth mentioning that although Germany's overall national power has long jumped to the second place in the world, and the victory in the Great War has brought the country's international prestige to unprecedented heights, they have never held a world fair, and they have no intention of holding it, but they have never been absent from the world exhibitions held in other countries, and Krupp's cannons have always attracted people and received a lot of orders.

After a war that swept Europe, Britain, France, Russia and Austria were all greatly injured, so they were eager to revive their national strength by expanding trade and stimulating the economy, and successfully held the Global Aviation Exposition to impress the world on Ireland, so after the Irish government announced that it would hold a comprehensive World Exposition in the autumn of 1917, countries responded one after another, and the exposition pavilion has always been divided into two forms: self-built and leased, and Britain and Austria-Hungary are self-funded design and construction, France and Russia rented the existing venues built by their hosts, while the German government continued its usual frugal style and chose to rent the venues, but in view of the special relationship between the two countries, the Irish government offered the German allies additional preferential terms - the German Pavilion was built according to the design agreed between the two sides, and after the exhibition, the pavilion will be permanently retained to commemorate the contribution of German volunteers during the Irish War of Independence.

When the British **** visited Limerick, the main body of the German Pavilion had been completed, and it was in the center of the entire exhibition area, and it had a magnificent momentum, which was more eye-catching than the unconventional British Pavilion.

(End of chapter)