Early Saturday March 14th, Hogsmeade Village, Hogsmeade Village, outside Glasgow, Scotland's largest city

Facing the morning sun, Wang Qiu yawned while opening the window of the guest room on the second floor of the "Pig's Head Bar" to feel the morning breeze.

Due to the early hour, there were not many people on the streets of Hogsmeade, and there was an idyllic and peaceful atmosphere everywhere, except for a few young people in sportswear who had exercised early, panting and running. In addition, there is a big fat dog bear, sitting on a stone bench next to a bluestone well, wearing a bowler hat on his head, a thick cigarette in his mouth, and a very cute red-haired girl peeling apples next to him...... Huh? Something strange seems to have gotten in? Did this fat bear run out of the circus?

Well, of course not, this big bear is no ordinary bear, but Mr. Scottish Druiverny in the state of a giant bear.

The so-called druids refer to the ancient Celtic priesthood who flourished in France, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and other vast regions 2,000 years ago. In general, this is a group of people who love nature, and extreme environmentalists whose sacrificial methods are too bloody. They were priests, politicians, and magicians who wielded great power in ancient Celtic society.

Transforming into animals and communicating with animals are also unique natural skills of the druids. What's more, with those who didn't return to this shijie until the nineties of the twentieth century, and all of them were in captivity. Modern vampires, who have no majesty from the start, are different. Although the druid's legacy was weakened for a time, it was never completely severed, and even revived several times. For example, the great Mr. Druiverny was born into a very noble druid family in the Scottish Highlands. The family history is quite ancient, dating back to the time of the Roman Empire in Britain BC, so much so that the family is no longer able to distinguish whether they are human or animal, and is more accustomed to living as an animal. So, when he had nothing to do, the Grand Druid worked for a time in the circus of Glasgow, and this red-haired girl was his trainer......

Except for this perennial Mr. Druiverny. and the incoming Scottish Minister of Magic, the other druids with lower mana do not look much different from ordinary people. It's just that he has a thick beard and a rough appearance.

After carefully observing this cute fluffy bear for a while, Wang Qiu looked away from the near distance and raised his eyes. The village of Hogsmeade was surrounded by a quiet and peaceful landscape - a clear blue sky without clouds. Crisp and melodious birdsong, rolling hills, lush forests, cobbled paths, wooden steeple houses, low fence walls, neat crop fields...... Although I know that this is a "toy village" built entirely according to the content of the "Harry Potter" novels, there are various scenes in front of me. It still gave him the illusion of being in a different world, as if he had really come to a small village of medieval magical shijie. Or maybe it's a newbie village for an RPG.

…… Well, if all the crops around this village are grown in normal crops, not a large field of lush hemp......

Hemp? That's right, the kind of marijuana, which is regarded as a drug by the Chinese, can be legally cultivated in the UK immediately.

-- According to the new law promulgated by the relevant departments of Whitehall in London, in order to adapt to the trend of legalizing soft drugs in Europe and the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will allow the legalization of marijuana and other soft drugs from April 1. And the police won't bother with the "cafes" that sell marijuana.

There is no way, seeing that the Netherlands, which has already legalized soft drugs, is now about to become a cannabis distribution center for the whole of Europe, not only making a lot of money from it, but also digging a big hole in the anti-drug dam of EU countries, so that the flood of soft drugs can no longer be stopped...... Of course, the legalization of drugs does not necessarily symbolize the collapse of society, but may prevent some crimes. And there is no country on Shijie that can fully legalize drugs, and even after the relaxation of the drug control bill, the only thing that can be legally smoked in the UK is the least harmful cannabis cigarettes, and the concentrated and refined cannabis essential oil is still contraband. Trafficking in other natural and synthetic drugs is a felony.

But even so, the legalization of drugs is a bit of a dove to quench thirst, and it is definitely not a good way to solve the social problem of drug proliferation.

In addition, although the use of marijuana has been legalized, the cultivation of marijuana still needs to be approved by a special license, or even a state monopoly, in order to expand the source of taxation and increase fiscal revenue -- to put it simply, when anti-narcotics measures have failed, the state finances have collapsed, and drug trafficking gangs are rampant, the state has simply planted drugs, and the market has been squeezed by dumping methods, so as to destroy the financial resources of the drug trafficking syndicates at the root...... Basically, it is the same as the practice of those Chinese warlords who planted opium poppies and imposed opium tobacco taxes in order to loot money for military salaries.

So, the well-informed Scottish druids, who had just taken over Hogwarts Castle, immediately kicked out the vampire hunters who had partnered with them to run an underground cannabis greenhouse village at the "Niangniang" Sichuan restaurant in Soho, London, and turned Hogsmeade Village into a hemp farm.

Of course, Hogsmeade is located on the outskirts of Glasgow, higher latitude than Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, the climate is cold and humid, the length of day and night varies greatly, and the light and heat conditions are really very different from the origin of marijuana, and ordinary marijuana cultivation here is simply not viable.

The druids, known as the "sons of the forest", racked their brains and eventually overcame all odds to develop a hardy form of cannabis that was specially adapted to the climate of the Scottish Highlands - although it grew slowly and was produced in low quantities. But the good thing is that the toxicity is reduced to a minimum, the addiction is increased to the maximum, and the hallucinations and pleasures remain largely unchanged. It is very suitable for large-scale promotion by the government.

Next, they circled dozens of acres of land in Hogwarts theme parks, planted this new type of cold-resistant marijuana, and carefully calculated the ripening and harvesting time, just waiting for the marijuana to be banned, and then the first batch of them to be released and occupied the entire British market, using a price war to defeat other sellers...... Therefore. These greedy druids fell out with the vampire hunters who were growing marijuana in their basements.

However, due to the fact that in the midst of this monopoly business. The government will definitely siphon off the lion's share of the profits, and they will have to strictly control production, so the profits that the druids can really make are not too big. Now, as soon as he heard that the vampires had a more money-making business--the ancient Egyptian space-time and space-time interdimensional business in partnership with the Chinese, Mr. Druiverny was undisciplined, and immediately ran over to restore the old good. I want to get a piece of the soup.

on this. In line with the idea of a large number of people, Wang Qiu and the others ignored the ugly faces of the vampire hunters, and included the druid in the list of participants in the meeting, in addition to the former Prime Minister Kotori Yumashiro, who came from Japan, also joined on the grounds that the traverser who possessed Queen Cleopatra was Japanese. Plus Harry, the permanent undersecretary of the British Ministry of Magic, who had just heard the news. Gordon, too, asked to get involved as a landlord......

As a result, this alliance meeting, which was originally limited in scale. Soon it turned into a crowded shijie sex conference, and more and more shili were inserted one after another. Even the Russian werewolves, despite their fear of heat, sent Ms. Balalaika to get involved, a female werewolf who usually organizes "dynamic social groups" in Southeast Asia, and spends her days fighting and killing on tropical islands, which is relatively heat-resistant and adaptable to the Egyptian weather.

As a result, Hogsmeade Village, which was originally sparsely populated and peaceful because it was closed, suddenly became very lively. And the whole negotiation process has become more and more chaotic -- just like the United Nations, the more people there are, the more mixed they are, and the more trivial they become. And Wang Qiu's joint development meeting is the same, more and more countries are involved, and the situation becomes more and more uncontrollable.

Seriously, Wang Qiu is also at a loss for what today's meeting on the joint development of ancient Egyptian time and space will look like.

Anyway, after looking at the early morning scenery outside the window for a while, he went back to his bedside, changed his clothes, and went downstairs for breakfast.

It seems that it is because the number of guests staying in Hogsmeade Village has suddenly increased several times, and it is not easy to lose face, or it is because of the local directors of the Scottish Druid Society and the British Ministry of Magic. Secretary Gordon signaled that the food offered at the pig's head bar had also risen to a higher level, and it was no longer just a variety of potato dishes - although potatoes could be made into french fries, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, baked potatoes, potato salad, but not just potatoes?

But the problem is that even with the increase in the number and variety of dishes, the food served at the Pig's Head Bar is all pure British flavours.

So, what are the characteristics of these so-called "pure British flavor" dishes?

According to Wang Qiu's personal experience and practice summary during this time, the so-called "pure British flavor" dishes can probably be summarized as follows:

1. In addition to frying, frying, roasting and cold dressing, there is basically no other cooking method.

――Due to the difference in food culture, there is a great difference in cooking methods between Chinese and British. British people basically do not put oil in the stir-fry when cooking, and vegetables are generally eaten raw or as side dishes. Hell, they are very fond of non-healthy foods like fried.

2. Except for potatoes, fish, meat, bread and onions, there are basically no other main ingredients.

3. Except for chips, fried fish, and "stargazing" fish pie, there are basically no other special foods.

4. Except for the lamb belly stuffed haggis in Scotland--but as long as you hear the name, you probably know how to make it, are you willing to eat it?

Anyway, Wang Qiu just tasted a mouthful of greasy Scottish-style lamb tripe, and was about to spit out by the rushing sheep commotion - the outer skin is a whole lamb tripe, and the filling is all kinds of offal + fat + beef + onions + spices chopped and made into a paste, and then boiled in the pot until it is close to exploding...... Unless it's someone from Gansu in Xinjiang, most Chinese are hard to get used to it.

In short, the food in the UK is really unpalatable. You can be nostalgic for the classical culture of the Victorian era in England. He loves the blue skies, green grass and fresh air of the United Kingdom, and the charming architecture of the United Kingdom, but he never seems to have heard anyone say that he misses the British food.

Of course. For the rich, it is not so much to worry about what to eat. Today's shijie is a global village after all, and the cuisine of Shijie in Italy, France, China, India, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Mexico and other places is popular in the UK. Unfortunately, this is not a bustling metropolis, but only a small village attached to the Hogwarts theme park, and if you want to have a tooth festival, you can't find a good place, so you can only talk about it.

While I was having breakfast, the morning news was playing on the TV. In addition to continuing to broadcast riots and repression in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other major cities in England, there is also a strong news in Scotland: the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh has further officially announced that it will launch an independence referendum after gaining autonomy power. It is up to the Scottish people to decide the fate of the country...... Seeing this news, the British people present sighed again and again, saying that this time London was really disgraced, and Scotland might really want to secede from the United Kingdom.

Speaking of which. Scottish independence is like Taiwan's independence. It has been an old problem that has plagued successive British governments for decades.

In fact, both the Scots and the English were immigrants from the European continent, not the aborigines of the island of Great Britain. In B.C., the Western European continent was dominated by two ethnic groups, the Celts and the Germanic. Of course. At that time, the center of Western civilization was on the Mediterranean coast, and the hinterland of Europe, far from the Mediterranean, was a wilderness. In the eyes of both the Greeks and the Romans, the Celts and Germanic peoples were equally ignorant barbarians, and the Germanic people seemed to be more ignorant.

The first to cross the English Channel were tribes belonging to the Celts, around 500 BC. After a series of battles that are not recorded in history, these Celts conquered the British ancestors who had built Stonehenge and replaced them.

In the first century AD, the Roman conquest of southern Britain and its incorporation into a Roman province gave the Celts about 400 years of civilization, building cities, elevated canals, and baths, but also depriving the Celts of some degree of wildness.

When the Western Roman Empire collapsed and a Roman garrison withdrew from the island of Great Britain, some tribes of the Germanic people took advantage of the situation and began to cross the sea to infiltrate the island of Great Britain. This included the two Germanic tribes of the Anglos and Saxons, which eventually formed the English people.

The Celts fought a bitter battle against these invaders for a century and a half. The legendary King Arthur, who wielded a "sword in stone", was based on a warlike Celtic monarch of this era. However, Celtic Zuihou was still unfortunate and had to retreat to Wales and Scotland. And the most fertile part of England was taken by the Anglo-Saxon invaders. This great game between old and new immigrants eventually turned into a battle between the highlands and the lowlands. That is, the dominant ethnic group, the English, occupied the fertile southern lowlands and became the core nation; The Scots, on the other hand, retreated to the northern highlands, relying on the terrain to resist the infiltration of the English. The Great Game continued with the birth of the United Kingdom, and it never really ended.

In the following history, the fighting on the island of Great Britain still did not subside, and it became the Anglo-Saxon invaders of England, while continuing to wage a tug-of-war with the Celts in Scotland and Wales; On the other hand, it has also repeatedly clashed with the European continent. In this long geopolitical game, the English clearly had the advantage in terms of overall strength, not only successfully annexing Wales, but also maintaining military superiority over Scotland for a long time. But interference from the Continent constantly interrupted the process of the English unification of Great Britain - first the centuries-old invasion of the Norwegian Vikings, then the conquest of the Norman dukes, and then the endless and long war between England and France...... Coupled with the fact that the Scots themselves were more competitive, a heroic figure could emerge in the most critical moments, Wallace - the protagonist of "Braveheart" - so that the English could not swallow it. Zuihou also completed the peaceful reunification of the island of Great Britain in the form of the United Kingdom.

Originally, in the heyday of the British Empire, the Scots followed the English Armada all over Shijie, sharing the glory of Shijie's first power and the huge benefits brought by the vast colonies, but there was not much dissatisfaction at all. But with the collapse and disintegration of the British Empire, the loss of overseas colonies, and the loss of former glory and interests, the Scots, who felt that the benefits were short, gradually had strange words, and felt that it was not interesting to continue unification. Ireland's successful independence set an example for them - and from then on, the question of Scottish independence began to arise.

Next, Labour's large-scale policy of absorbing foreign immigrants and the discoloration of the island's demographics have made conservative Scots find intolerable. The two sides have been tossing and turning until now, and I am afraid that a peaceful breakup is not far away.

Of course, for foreigners like Wang Qiu, Scottish independence is just a talking point. But for David in Hogwarts Castle. For Chancellor Potter, this is a heart-wrenching affair. (To be continued......)