As in the past, resting for two hours after noon every day is a habit that Zhang Hao has developed over the years, especially in this hot summer, even more so, not because he is lazy, but because of the need to regulate the busy work and relatively tight emotions, only in this way can he work better.

As the diplomatic representative of Nanjing Political Axe in Europe, he even created a "miracle" yesterday in England, the next day in Paris, and the third day in Berlin, and the sober in diplomatic negotiations is an indispensable condition, diplomacy is no trivial matter, any negligence may lead to the loss of national interests, in the past as the company's business representative, can still tolerate slight negligence, but now he does not dare to have a trace of sloppiness.

After lunch, because he talked with the British diplomats and officials for several hours, so that Zhang Hao did not return to his house until 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and slept according to his habit, and in the evening he had to go to a banquet, although it was not a diplomatic banquet, but it also required him to devote himself full of energy, and less than half an hour after he fell asleep, he felt someone push his shoulder, and when he woke up, he turned out to be Fauber, an old seaman he had invited in Hamburg's Chinatown.

"Sir, quick! Madame asks you to go to her, things may be urgent, she tells you to rush over immediately! ”

A few minutes later, Zhang Hao drove his "Mustang" car, which was to be able to publicize the Mustang Automobile Company's allocation to him, but now he has "appropriated" it. Cars rumbled through the somewhat lively streets in the evening, making a beeline for the suburb of Stirling Manor. On the way to the suburbs, you can sometimes see some men and women on an outing in the suburbs, and they always have some envy on their faces when they see this red car passing by.

Perhaps the Mustang car is not expensive, the vast majority of the middle class can afford to buy the mustang, but the limited production makes the order as early as 1909, scarce is expensive, but the Mustang is not scarce and expensive, while sticking to the original price, more and more British, French, Americans have to wait anxiously for their own mustang.

When the car was heading towards Stirling Manor, he couldn't help but think of the lady who had "a pair of angelic eyes", she was the young lady of the Stirling family, and the title of Stirling's family was only a viscount in the fifth rank of the nobles, but this family could also be regarded as a member of the royal family, and in the body of the lady, there was also the blood of the royal family, but probably the lady, and even the Miss Catherine who inherited the title, did not know that it was the capable ancestor who gave them royal bloodHowever, the newspapers only mentioned that a distant relative of the Stirling family was the executed Charles I in the 17th century, and as for how far this family was, I am afraid that even she herself could not say.

Had it not been for the failure of their father, Viscount Stirling, who was constrained by the bankruptcy ban, the Stirling family would still have a seat in the House of Lords, despite having the least number of viscounts among the nobles of the House of Lords. The Sterling family does not have the glory of imagination, but after all, they have British royal blood, although it is far away, but even so, the country still does not agree with this lady very much.

But as a quasi-diplomat, Zhang Hao knew very well that Edward VII had recognized his wife as his cousin, and those palace ministers even found evidence from the history books to prove that the Stirling family had the right to inherit the Duke of Buckingham, since 1687, the second Duke of Buckingham, George? After Villiers' death, the title of nobility was abolished because he had no title.

Edward VII was prepared to recognize the Sterling family's right of succession to the Earl of Buckingham, and anyone understood that the title of Duke of Buckingham was in fact a gift from the British royal family to his wife, a title that matched his future status, and for Britain, it might be a way to extend the "politics in the marital bed" that prevailed in Europe to Asia.

"I don't know what China will think if it knows this news!"

Thinking of the news he got from the royal minister, Zhang Hao sighed helplessly, the original identity of the wife was not liked by the country, if there was a "Duchess of Buckingham", I was afraid that I would ...... To a certain extent, Zhang Hao admires this lady very much, but his personal appreciation cannot be changed, and the country is very concerned about the wife of the ruling party as a foreigner.

"Fortunately, there are still many people who support Madame!"

As she thought about it, the car had already driven into the Stirling Manor, the manor that Miss Gilly had redeemed when she had last returned to England. As soon as you enter the palatial garden, you will see two rows of old elm trees, which form a tree-lined avenue that leads to a tall and spacious house with Palladian columns on the front. The central part of the house was covered with ivy, which looked very old and old, and Duan Sha was standing in the doorway to face Zhang Hao.

"Mr. Zhang, Madame has been waiting for you!"

"Miss Duansha, do you know what's going on?"

Duansha shook her head, and then led Zhang Hao towards the living room, Madame sat in the living room, whether it was in the eyes of Ressa or Zhang Hao, Madame was a very unusual person, a woman like her with a gentle manner, elegant demeanor, and beautiful appearance was rarely seen even among the nobles of London. She has fair skin, golden hair, clear and bright sapphire eyes, and her beautiful countenance.

"Madame!"

After bowing respectfully, Zhang Hao sat down after his wife invited him to sit down.

When she looked up, Ji Li still had a smile on her face that she was accustomed to.

"Mr. Zhang, I'm going to send a gift to China!"

"Gifts? China? ”

Madame's words made Zhang Hao stunned, he looked at Madame and didn't understand what Madame meant by saying this.

After sending off the Fishers, she had been thinking about one thing, that is, the resistance of the Chinese people to her, although she was in England, Catherine and others kept sending her telegrams, telling her what was happening in the country, and naturally she had some understanding of the resistance to her at home.

Once, when he insisted on marrying Chen Moran, when the British expressed their opposition and even said that they had shamed the entire British aristocratic class, countless Chinese praised their courage, but now there are more Chinese who are concerned about their identity, do they not understand that when they married Chen Moran, they were already a Chinese.

"When I became his wife, I was already a Chinese, and as a Chinese, I was obliged to do something for China!"

"Madam, you have been working hard to open the Foreign Affairs Bureau in Nanjing, which has also been reported in China......"

Isn't it said that "women are out and decent"? ”

Ji Li said with a helpless smile.

"Isn't Germany's statement that it will recognize Nanjing in the near future the result of your efforts?"

"It's more of your efforts!"

According to Nanjing's instructions, they signed an order of up to 100 million marks in Germany, in addition to 10 million marks of arms, at most industrial machinery and equipment, which also involved as many as 600 patent transfers, and the huge order changed Germany's attitude towards China, which was not her effort.

"Madam, what do you need to care about the foolish people's opinion!"

"Mr. Zhang, do you know how European observers see the future of China?"

Ji Li asked rhetorically!

They do not think that after the restoration, China can choose a republican regime, the Chinese are used to the emperor, the vast majority of peasants and gentry cannot choose a president, they will elect an emperor, but this emperor is different from the past "Qing Emperor" or European "so-and-so king", he is the "emperor of the Chinese". The former represents the divine right of the king, the king is responsible to God, or the emperor is responsible to God, while the latter is elected by popular referendum, which is equivalent to the monarchy and the people after signing the sacred social contract, they believe that the future Chinese system may be similar to Greece, becoming a republic with a crown! ”

Saying that, Ji Li took a deep breath and stared at Zhang Hao in front of her.

"The opinion of the foolish people, whether my husband will become the emperor or become the president under the authority of the people in the future, one thing is undeniable, that is, his power comes from the people, that is, the opinion of the foolish people in your mouth makes my husband gain power and status! Without the support of the people, my husband would never have gotten what he would have gotten the emperor, whether it was the president, it was not his wealth that made him in the end, but the people! The people can put him on the throne, and they can also put him out of the throne. ”

Her words were not loud, but they sounded in Zhang Hao's ears like thunder, so that he couldn't speak for half a sound, and finally when he felt that he had woken up from the shock, Zhang Hao looked directly at the lady sitting in front of him, he wanted to find a trace of artificiality from this pretty face, but all he saw was a pair of watery beautiful eyes in the calm, the previous words were by no means contrived, and the heartfelt words of the lady.

"Madame!"

As he spoke, Zhang Hao stood up and bowed deeply.

"I think your words alone are enough to win everyone's respect!"

The same heartfelt words spat out from Zhang Hao's mouth. Ji Li didn't expect Zhang Hao to say this, the previous words were just words taken for granted in her opinion, in her opinion, whether it is gained or lost, the final decision will be made by the people, and it is precisely because of this that she cares very much about the people's recognition of her, and also hopes to get the people's recognition of herself. Just like getting the recognition of her husband by her family, she cares very much.

"I hope to be able to use my actions to tell all Chinese that I am a competent Chinese wife, and although my skin color and appearance are different from theirs, I am also a Chinese!"

Ji Li's tone seemed a little urgent, she knew that she had to defend her family and love no matter what, and all this was equal to whether the Chinese agreed with her.

She never wants to see her husband lose what he deserves because of herself, and because of this, she hopes to be able to exchange her gifts for the public's favor towards her, and the favor is always cultivated slowly.

As she spoke, Ji Li placed a document with the British Admiralty on the coffee table.

"Buy them and buy them, and they will be a gift to the Chinese people when I return to China!"

After a cursory glance at the open document, Zhang Hao's shock was almost no less than before, and he looked at the two numbers on it in a daze, and he looked up at his wife.

"Ma'am, this ...... This money ......"

"I'll figure it out myself!"

While thinking about it, Ji Li looked around the living room in front of her, hoping that her sister could promise herself!

"Madam, if you want, you can call on the funds allocated by the government, after all, this is also for the country!"

Zhang Hao reminded softly on the side, "No! That's the money for the political axe, it's not for me to use it, and I didn't get the permission of the ruling axe to buy them, not to mention that I hope to take this opportunity to get the people's approval of me! Even if it's the money of the public, I won't use it! I'm going to buy this warship myself! ”

Ji Li shook her head and said, she knew that the so-called funds allocated by the ruling party were actually the funds flowing from her own home, and the refusal of various countries to hand over the surplus to Nanjing made the expenditure of the ruling axe very tight, although it obtained nearly 20 million pounds of loans from foreign banks and industrial banks in the form of industrial company guarantees, but even so, it still could not meet the huge expenses of the ruling axe.

In order to alleviate the economic crisis of the ruling axe, the ruling axe issued 20 million pounds of bonds, and the prime minister himself successively took out as much as 16 million pounds to subscribe for the 20-year and 30-year bonds issued by the ruling axe with a face value of 18 million pounds.

After all, the bonds issued by a nascent regime that is not even recognized by the outside world have a certain amount of risk in themselves, not to mention the low interest rate, and the last two million pounds of bonds are still absorbed by domestic banks and money banks in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei and other places.

Money!

The money for the ruling axe is not abundant, it costs money to fight wars, it costs money to buy machinery, it costs money to run schools, and it costs money to build Nanjing into a capital.

"Ma'am, this is not a small amount!"

Although he didn't know how much money it would cost to buy these two warships back, Zhang Hao still reminded him on the side. Although the ruling has money, the lady obviously does not want to use the ruling money, and she needs to use these two warships to express her attitude to the people.

"Madam, a telegram from Miss Catherine from Peking!"

Hearing Miss Catherine's telegram, Zhang Hao immediately reacted, Mrs. Niang's family is also a wealthy businessman in Shanghai, and her sister owns a bank, is she going to borrow money?

(To be continued)