The newly appointed Su Song Taidao Taitai Zeng Jize was handling official business, and the staff who graduated from the International School Park came over to report: "My lord, the public concession is so lively, do you want to take a look?" It was the founder of our school, my nominal adoptive father, Mr. Downing Windsor, who, well, didn't know me. ”

"What?" Zeng Jize threw away the official document, very excited, and said: "That's also my teacher, hurry up and take a look!" ”

Although the public concession has been out of the control of the imperial court, Lord Su Song Taidaotai is still the nominal parent official in Shanghai, and it is impossible for the foreigners to stop Zeng Jize from coming to welcome the Duke and give way to the Qing Dynasty bureaucrats. When Zeng Jize came to Tang Ning's side, his staff member Esso Windsor was afraid that Tang Ning did not know his superior, so he introduced: "Lord Duke, I am Esso Windsor, a graduate of the London International Academy, and I am now working under the account of Su Songtai, the local magistrate of Shanghai, and this is our Lord Zeng Jize. ”

How could Tang Ning not know the Daotai Master he "personally raised", he couldn't help but smile and said: "Haha, no need to introduce, I know Daotai Lord, I have known it for a long time, Zeng is really young and promising, he became Su Songtai Daotai at such a young age, and he was disrespectful and disrespectful." ”

Zeng Jize said sincerely: "I'm ashamed to trust my father's fortune to steal this position, and I'm honestly afraid." There are still a lot of affairs that the lower officials are not clear, so they have to ask the Duke for advice, and they also ask the Duke to give advice. He thought that it was because the emperor saw Zeng Guofan's face that he asked him to be the Taoist platform in this anointed place of Shanghai, but he didn't know that Tang Ning wanted local officials in Shanghai who could introduce the modern civilization system as quickly as possible, otherwise there would be obstacles to the construction of the railway.

Tang Ning immediately pointed out a truth about Xindaotai: "Whether Shanghai is well governed, I think it should be seen whether this city can be free, this is the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River flows through all the richest and most developed provinces in China, and then all the goods are concentrated in Shanghai, which is the essence of Sino-foreign trade." If the government can guarantee Shanghai's free-market status with a strict legal system, it will surely become the center of Asia, even surpassing Singapore, which is now in the limelight. ”

Zeng Jize said happily: "Yes, yes! I also see it this way, the imperial court seems to be going in this direction, the court's recent policy is merchant autonomy, I have examined the operation of the Shanghai Ministry of Industry Bureau, it is very democratic, very similar to the parliamentary system in the West, this should probably be the direction of my reform in the Qing Dynasty, right? ”

Tang Ning patted the young official's shoulder with relief as a sign of encouragement.

Hu Xueyan and his gang of Chinese businessmen saw that the Duke of London was so open at home and abroad, and suddenly once again set off in their hearts the emotion of "the big husband should be like this".

At this time, a reporter from the Times came to join in the fun and asked, "Hello! Lord Duke, I'm Verlo, a reporter for The Times, could I ask you for your views on international hot issues? For example: now that the war in Italy is basically over, it is rumored that you will become the king of the Italian Empire, is that true? ”

The question tickled everyone's mind at once, and everyone wondered whether Downing wanted to be king of Italy, or whether he really wanted to turn Italy into a republic, as his prime minister Mazzini had advocated, while the member states such as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies wanted to maintain the current federal state. The current state of the federation is a temporary transition, because Downing evaporated from the world during the Italian War, in fact, he came to the Qing Dynasty to become the emperor, so everyone does not know the true intentions of this real talker. Therefore, there are all kinds of rumors now, and federal, republican, and imperial systems are all possible.

Princess Sisi wants Italy to become a unified kingdom, so she is the queen, and the status of the queen is much more glorious than the president's wife or something, and she is quite envious of Empress Eugenie. It was widely believed that Downing would opt for federalism because he had already established a federal system for Japan, and his choice of Mazzini as prime minister heralded the possibility of a unified republic. What exactly? Anyway, Madame's opinion is more important than the public thinks, and don't forget why this powerful figure in this era was exiled to this world before - because of vanity in his girlfriend!

Will Downing still make this "mistake"? If it was a mistake to be emperor.

All of them were waiting for his answer, their eyes eager.

Downing didn't care what the name was, just like he was in India, although he was only a major shareholder of the East India Company in the eyes of the outside world, but anyone with a discerning eye knew that he was the great dictator of India, and the Governor of India wanted to obey his orders.

"First of all, please remember that whatever role I play in Italy, I am a faithful protector of the free market economy, because I believe that a sound market mechanism is the only way to create prosperity," he said.

The second point is that I personally don't want to be a king, glory means responsibility, it means busy, and I'm very busy now, so I don't need to give me too many worldly things.

Thirdly, I respect the opinion of the Italian people. And then...... I decided to give the Italian people a national referendum, and of course, now that the Papal States are still under the protection of French soldiers, and Rome, an important city, is still not under the control of a united Italy, we need a little time to negotiate an amicable solution with our French friends and try to avoid war. I'm done. ”

There was a round of applause in all directions, awesome, all the guys who can understand English are secretly yy themselves have a day when they can proudly say "I don't want to be a king" Such bold words, and what is even more awesome is that Tang Ning is likely to be true when he says this, why is there such a big gap between people?

A reporter from the New York Times came here, and she asked: "Mr. Windsor, can you express your views on the current situation in the United States, and do you think it is legal for the Southern Confederate States of America to come out of the United States?" What kind of foreign policy will Luxembourg, India, Italy, which you represent, have in this regard? ”

Downing had thought deeply about this question, and he decided to carry out his "original intention of a drug dealer" to the end, that is, to do whatever it takes to achieve the end, since the powerful United States of America does not conform to his ideology of free market competition, then tear the United States apart, and in the face of a tentative question from a New York Times reporter, he gave an earth-shattering answer: "I support the South." ”

Wow! This answer really frightened many people, especially the American foreign companies, Qichang Foreign Companies, Lai Kee Foreign Companies, Fairhasti and other American-funded foreign companies are in a commotion, and high-ranking and powerful political figures are very cautious in their speech, and Tang Ning's frank and unspeakable remarks about "supporting the South" are as unavoidable as the heads of state of the two big countries saying "beat him".

The New York Times reporter said that it seemed that shocking the world was more rushing and opinionated than the world war, and she excitedly asked, "So, can you explain why?" ”

Downing gave an impromptu speech, saying, "Many people think that freedom is important, wrong, freedom is not very important, but a qiē. The history of mankind is the history of material and spiritual freedom, and all the constraints of the law are to protect the freedom of citizens. ”

Populist newspapers like The Times immediately shot back: "So Mr. Windsor, what do you say about the 4 million black slaves in the American South?" Who will guarantee their freedom? ”

Without hesitation, Downing immediately replied: "Mr. Reporter, don't you know that the U.S. Congress has just passed the Critendon-Johnson resolution, stating that this war is for federal unity, not for slaves?" I said that I support the ** rights of the member states, but not slavery, I think what I have done in the past makes you deduce that I support slavery, then I am really a failure. ”

Or is it the New York Times reporter who is better at digging up the news and asking, "So will Mr. Windsor take real action to intervene in the war?" For example, the Windsor Military Hospital was sent to help the Southern Army. ”

It seems that people in the United States also know the glorious deeds of the Windsor Military Hospital in the war, and the prestige of the treatment output can really be said to be far and wide.

Tang Ning: "Well, it's hard to say now, I'm not familiar with the Americans, so I can't wade into this troubled water, so let's do business in China." In fact, he knew that after his strange talk today, the Confederate States of America, which strongly hoped for foreign intervention, would automatically come to the door to talk about "business", which would be about war.

The French journalist also asked an international question, this time in relation to the Port of Windsor. The port of Windsor is located at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, bordering Lebanon, and the Syrian capital, Damascus, recently had a religious massacre, where tens of thousands of Catholics were massacred by the rebellious Muslim branch of the Druze, forcing the French protector of Catholicism to send troops to maintain stability. （http：／/.）。

As soon as the French army landed in Damascus, it was reported that the garrison of Port Windsor had already suppressed the rebellion, and that all factions were to be disarmed or they would be mortally attacked by the Windsor Legion. The mighty army armed with the Desert Eagle displayed extraordinary combat effectiveness, suppressing riots of tens of thousands with more than 1,000 troops, and effectively capturing several large cities in Lebanon, including Damascus and Lebanon's important ports.

The question asked by the French journalist was whether the troops in Port Windsor were ready to occupy Lebanon for a long time. This region is the most important granary of the Arabian Peninsula, and its population density is the highest in the Arab world, and Damascus was once the capital of the Arab Empire. Of course, this is also the pocket mouth of the entire Arabian Peninsula, the area that Downing has been planning for a long time, and when he comes, he will not leave.

Now, France has two antagonistic intersections with the Windsor forces, the other is, of course, the city of Rome.

Downing turned the reporter's question to the International Workers' Federation, founded by Marx, who is currently in charge of Port Windsor, and of course, the House of Lords, dominated by the League of Prophets, would temper the populist policies of the Union so that capital would remain a driving force for the economic vitality of Windsor Harbour.