Episode 33 Decision

"First of all, the most pressing issue," Shen Rongxuan glanced at several ministers and pointed to the ceiling, "."

Foreign Minister He Ziguang nodded first and said, "The flag should be lowered at half-mast." This does not involve any substantive decisions, but only shows our minimum attitude. ”

Minister of Information Chen Jingzhi asked tentatively, "But...... Should we take into account that we didn't lower the flag at half-mast last time, will it be ...... this time?"

Navy Minister Fan Yaochen shook his head and said, "You don't need to think about it so much. Lowering the flag at half-mast just shows a mood of the Ming government, it is purely humane, and what Lord He said is very right, it is just to lower the flag at half-mast, and it does not involve any substantive decisions. And 1912 was before the world war. Now...... Everyone's hearts are much softer. ”

Shen Rongxuan smiled, but he was a little disappointed in his heart: I asked the Minister of the Navy to participate today, just to hope that these people can see the difference from the past and know in their hearts. But now it seems, they don't seem to feel it? When the flag is lowered at half-mast, I am afraid that people will have some ideas......

Several people laughed when they heard the words of the Minister of the Navy, and Shen Rongxuan also smiled:

"Then it's decided, lower the flag at half-mast."

After speaking, he picked up the phone on the table and said, "Pick up Your Majesty for me." ”

After a while, Shen Rongxuan looked into the microphone and said in a respectful and kind tone:

"Your Majesty, after discussion between the minister and the cabinet, I feel that it is more appropriate to lower the flag at half-mast now...... The minister asked His Majesty to allow the minister to lower the flag at half-mast for the dead compatriots in Batavia. ”

Zhu Yourong said in a gloomy voice: "Elder Ge is right, it should have been like this a long time ago. Then the elder will arrange it, how long will it take for the flag to be lowered at half-mast across the country? …… Well, I think it's just before noon tomorrow, and the national flag will be halved everywhere in the country. ”

"All ......" Shen Rongxuan was stunned. His original meaning was just to lower the flag at half-mast and show it in several important places such as the official residence of the chief assistant and the imperial palace. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yourong said casually, and lowered the national flags of the whole country.

But this is better, closer to Shen Rongxuan's meaning.

"Yes, the minister obeys the order, and before noon tomorrow, the flag will be lowered at half-mast across the country."

Shen Rongxuan hung up the phone, took out the paper from the drawer, and quickly wrote the order to lower the flag at half-mast across the country.

Several ministers looked at him in amazement, and they were also surprised. Foreign Secretary Qi Dao:

"Flags are flown at half-mast across the country?"

"yes, what's wrong?" Shen Rongxuan buried himself in writing the order, signed it, handed it to the secretary, and then raised his head normally and said, "What I said is that the flag is lowered at half-mast across the country, is it just that we are lowering it here?" ”

……

Outside the official residence of the Prime Minister, thousands of citizens and students gathered, and they waved banners like waves and slogans that shook the sky. A student stood on a stool with a collar sleeve and raised his arms and shouted:

"The government sends troops!"

Hundreds of people below shouted in unison:

"The Government Sends Troops - !!"

He waved his hand again and shouted:

"Blood debt and blood payment!"

The following shouted in unison:

"Blood Debt and Blood Repayment-!!"

In addition, there are many leaders of civil political organizations, who are also scattered throughout the crowd, standing on boxes and steps to give speeches. One of them is impassioned:

“…… Fang Hongru's cabinet just sat in the office and did nothing! Our Da Ming is a shrunken turtle! …… Shen Rongxuan's current cabinet is still sitting in the office and doing nothing! Our Daming is still a turtle with a shrunken head! …… Why do we always be turtles with shrunken heads? …… Why do they spend the money of our people and make us shrinking turtles? ”

Speaking of this, there was applause and applause from all sides.

“…… We have the second largest fleet in Asia, which our people have built and raised with money! Let me ask you, why are our people willing to spend money to raise a fleet? Isn't it fun? …… No! In order for the fleet to protect us when our people are bullied! Now our Ming people are being bullied, hacked and killed, and **! And what about our fleet? And what about our giant ship artillery? …… They stay in the harbor and do nothing!! ”

The audience on all sides shouted, stamped their feet, applauded, and the atmosphere in front of the Shousuke Mansion was pushed to a **.

“…… Why has our cabinet changed one term after another, and each one was so meaty? Why is it that every time the Ming diaspora is massacred in Nanyang, they dare not do anything but 'protest' and 'serious protest'? …… If our government is elected by the people, it will at least take into account the feelings of the people. But they're not! They don't care at all how the people feel, they only think about their place under their ass! Again, it's safest to do nothing! ”

There was another round of shouting and applause.

“…… Their whole reason is the oil problem! This is not unusual, it has been a cliché! We'll all be on the back! The government is just worried that if we don't let the natives of Batavia kill our expatriates, the Netherlands won't sell us oil. Since we can't live without oil, it's better for us to continue to buy oil from the Dutch and let them continue to kill our diaspora. That's the equation they came up with. Look at how rational our government is and how much it can consider the overall situation!

“…… Then I would like to ask a rhetorical question: as long as the Dutch sell us oil, they can kill us as much as they want? If one day, the Dutch connived at the natives to kill all our Chinese in the East Indies, would we still not stand up for those unjust souls? What if it were a different country? Japan also relies on East India imports for oil, so why don't they dare touch the Japanese diaspora? Because the thinking of the Japanese government is normal, people will not make a painful choice: do they want expatriates or oil...... Not to mention the massacre of thousands of Japanese expatriates, can you try to beat a Japanese expatriate? The warship drove straight over! People are afraid that they will not find an excuse! ”

Cheers and applause resounded outside the official residence of the first assistant minister, and also entered Shen Rongxuan's office.

Shen Rongxuan stood in front of the window, looking at the situation below, and then turned around and said lightly to several ministers:

"Everyone heard what they said. Our current cabinet must be different from Fang Hongru's. The last time the platoon was Chinese, Fang Hongru's cabinet handled it too unpopularly. We can't be like them anyway. ”

Several ministers looked at the first assistant minister quietly. They only heard a little taste now, and then they all looked at Fan Yaochen, the Minister of the Navy.

They now suddenly understand why the Admiralty Chancellor is sitting here. Fan Yaochen himself had just woken up, looked at Shen Rongxuan, and said with a stammering mouth:

"Lord Shen...... The Lord does not raise up troops out of anger, but think twice! ”

The Foreign Secretary was also a little incredulous, and said tentatively:

"Lord Shen, that's not what you meant, did you? …… Our real enemy is in the north, and it is oil that supports us in resisting the north...... In the event of a war with the Dutch, the Qing will inevitably invade the south again, and by that time, our reserve fuel will last for half a year at most......"

Shen Rongxuan waved his hand and smiled:

"Of course not that's what it meant. However, we have to do something to show that we are different from the previous Cabinet, and to bring back the hearts of the people, and the hearts of His Majesty......"

Several ministers looked at each other. "Your Majesty's Heart"? What the Minister said is too serious. This has already involved the question of His Majesty's perception of our Cabinet......

The Minister of Information muttered:

"We ...... It's all for the sake of the big picture...... In 1912, wasn't it also ......"

Shen Rongxuan interrupted coldly:

"First, in 1912, he was still the first emperor, and the first emperor was not as kind as His Majesty when considering problems; Second, the power in the hands of the first emperor was not as great as that of His Majesty. The first emperor still could not remove the cabinet according to his preference. But now His Majesty, after the coup d'état, is already could. Third, at that time, the first emperor did not Xiang Xiaoqiang. ”

As soon as the words came out, everyone was stunned.

"By the way," Shen Rongxuan said, "Xiang Xiaoqiang is now giving a speech at the port of Singapore, maybe you are willing to listen to the live broadcast." ”

He gestured, and the secretary went over and turned on the radio by the fireplace and tuned to a channel. In the "squeak" murmur on the radio, Xiang Xiaoqiang's voice came out:

“…… In this part of the Far East, which we call the 'South Seas', there are two of the brightest pearls. One of them is the Philippines. The American people drove out the brutal Spaniards and liberated the Philippines, making the Philippines a rare place of happiness in Southeast Asia...... And the other pearl is where I am standing now, Malaya (Singapore is part of British Malaya)! The British people came here from earlier times, spread the civilization from Europe here, and got along with the local people and the Ming diaspora like brothers......

"Here, under the rule of His Majesty's Government, there is a real equal coexistence of the British, the Chinese, and the locals, who are worthy of the title of Christians! Especially here, Singapore, can be said to be the most civilized and happiest place for Chinese people in the whole Nanyang! Why is it that every time a tragedy occurs in the savage archipelago in the south, the first place for us Ming expatriates to take refuge is Singapore? Because our Ming diaspora is very smart, they know the deep friendship between Britain and Ming, and they know that once they escape to the protection of His Majesty's government, their safety will be absolutely guaranteed!

"On behalf of the Ming government, I would like to thank His Majesty the Government of England and His Excellency the Governor for the fact that because of you, our expatriates have a place of refuge in the South Seas...... The people of Ming and Britain should be friends from generation to generation and stand together in the world. The Ming Empire will continue to respect everything the British Empire has in the Far East, including its territorial and commercial interests, as it has done for a century...... His Majesty's government will also help protect these interests in times of need...... For a century, the Ming Dynasty has done this, and in the next century, the Ming Dynasty will continue to do so......

"However, the suzerains of some barbaric archipelagos, they seem to have seen this point of the Ming Dynasty, and seem to have eaten our respect for the territories of the South Seas, our kindness, and the fact that we will not fight back or scold, so they have repeatedly challenged the limits of our patience...... We have a saying in China that if you want others to respect you, you must first respect others. Everything is heart-to-heart. People in the UK are good to us and good to our expatriates, and we naturally treat them as friends and relatives, and we will certainly respect and help protect the property of our relatives......

"But some people are different. To use a Chinese phrase, this kind of person is shameless. Not only is he shameless, but he also tears himself down layer by layer...... Please forgive me for being rude...... There is a giant in the West, and that is the British Empire. There is a giant in the East, and that is the Ming Empire. Giants and giants always respect each other. However, at the feet of the oriental giant, there was such a wild child, who was stubborn, and kept teasing the giant, scratching with his nails and biting his teeth......

The giant put up with him again and again, but made him feel that the giant was easy to bully and that he was very powerful...... In the end, he actually cut off the giant's toe with a dagger, which made the giant feel painful...... The wild child made a mistake: he should have known that he was able to live at the feet of the giants and live well because the giants allowed him to live...... The giant could lift his foot at any time and stomp it into meat sauce at any time...... Ladies and gentlemen, you understand such a simple truth, I understand, even pigs understand it, but some people don't understand it!! ”

Then, there was a frenzied shout on the radio, like a mountain roaring out of a tsunami.

The office of the First Assistant Minister was quiet, and none of the ministers spoke.

It took a long time for the Foreign Secretary to disbelieve the truth:

"This ...... Is this Xiang Xiaoqiang? ”

Shen Rongxuan smiled: "It's Xiang Xiaoqiang." …… As I said earlier, this kid is very talented, and it's not simple. If I'm not mistaken, this was his first official public speech. ”

Chen Jingzhi, the Minister of Information, who has always been conceited and eloquent, sighed for a long time:

"Genius, really genius...... I'm ashamed of myself. I wonder who helped him write the speech? ”

Shen Rongxuan smiled slightly:

"Then I don't know. I only know that the last time His Majesty made a speech on the opening of the war, he wrote it for His Majesty. …… He was very shrewd, first desperately praising the British colonies and the American colonies, desperately reassuring Britain and the United States, repeatedly assuring that the Ming would not get involved in Malaya and the Philippines, and then desperately emphasizing the difference between the Dutch East Indies and the British and American territories, and even if we did anything to it, we could not bear it and were forced to be helpless, and it was by no means out of greed for the South Sea resource area...... Good giants, the concept is interesting. Let's not talk about whether Britain and the United States will believe it, if he can say so, he is already on the right track. …… If you think about it, even if we really plan to do anything to the Dutch East Indies and want to stabilize Britain and the United States, we can only say this as he did. ”

The Admiralty Chancellor hesitated:

"Lord Shen...... Are we really ......?"

Shen Rongxuan groaned:

With Xiang Xiaoqiang's shrewdness, the reason why he dares to say this now is probably that he has received some kind of instruction from His Majesty...... Don't forget, he has a radio with him, so he can reach His Majesty at any time, just like me. His Majesty seems to like to be with Xiang Xiaoqiang now, bypassing us to make some decisions alone. It's just a matter of giving the People's Guard a few more tanks, after all, we can't control it, but this kind of thing related to the future of the Ming Empire, we had better not be bypassed. If that's the case, we'll have to keep up. ”

The Foreign Secretary squinted his eyes and said tentatively:

"I want everyone to see that it is not only His Majesty and Xiang Xiaoqiang who can make decisions for the diaspora, but also us?"

Shen Rongxuan smiled:

"Not bad. …… There is another important reason...... "

He looked out the window, and there was a cold glint in his eyes:

"That is, there is a difference between me, Shen Rongxuan and Fang Hongru. I, Shen Rongxuan, am not only a politician, but also a bloody person. ”