William Pitt died, the British cabinet was completely paralyzed, and British politics was in chaos.

Pitt is considered by the British to be one of the greatest prime ministers, and the most well-known capable man in British politics of this era.

Except for Pitt, the rest of the British politicians can't be said to be stinky fish and rotten shrimp, and most of them can't be put on the stage.

According to normal logic, the prime minister, the chief minister, is gone, and the foreign minister of the same party will directly succeed him.

Historically, after Pitt was gone, it was his cousin Grenville, the foreign secretary, who took over as prime minister and formed the so-called "meritocracy" cabinet, which means a cabinet composed of talented people in British politics.

Then this cabinet lasted fourteen months before it collapsed......

Because the much-loved Grenville himself is actually a "man of the day".

He is only less than a year younger than his cousin Pete, but his personality and pursuits are far from the same, and he entered politics to make money.

Pitt died during his second term in office, and when he expected to be prime minister, he refused to become prime minister because he had to give up a part-time job in the court and lose thousands of pounds a year in income.

It wasn't until the rest of the political scene at the time figured out a way to keep him on that income that Grenville officially became prime minister.

Although his cabinet quickly collapsed, he himself was very "happy".

Pete had no queen, and Grenville's wife was Pitt's sister and inherited a large portion of Pitt's fortune.

Grenville was no short of money, and lived until he was seventy-four years old, when he died of a stroke.

Grenville is about to become prime minister after the death of his cousin and uncle, as in the original history, and the situation in British politics can be imagined.

…………

On the other hand, Zhu Jingyuan also paid special attention to the newspaper report.

Zhu Jingyuan even saw the copy of "Prince Da Shi is a coward!" article.

After Zhu Jingyuan read the articles in these tabloids, his expression became very ugly.

The main reason is not because the article is scolding itself, or even because the newspaper is propagating militaristic ideas.

It's that there is a problem with the ideological style and direction of their propaganda, and those things are already similar to "heavenly punishment of national thieves".

Claiming that compromise and capitulation were an obstacle to the Ming Dynasty's unification of the world and an obstacle to the Ming Dynasty's unprecedented historical goals.

It is required that the imperial court and even the people must find a way to clean them up.

is even hinting that the emperor may have been set up by the rebel son of Prince Dashi, and the people must take action.

However, now in the Ming Dynasty, the prince wants to overthrow the emperor, which is simply impossible.

Although Zhu Jingyuan's power is huge, it is fundamentally supported by two generations of emperors.

The reason for the support was that the emperor felt that Zhu Jingyuan could make the Ming Dynasty stronger.

It's this very simple and pure logic, not some power struggle and conspiracy.

In Zhu Jingyuan's view, uncontrollable militaristic thinking is absolutely unnecessary, not to mention that it already involves advocating assassination.

Similar newspapers must be controlled, and the writers of the relevant articles must also be punished.

However, the more important thing is that the existence of this kind of tabloid, as Hardenberg said, shows that this kind of thinking has the most basic basis of public opinion.

The various opinion articles in newspapers do not directly represent the direction of public opinion.

But the style of the newspaper's articles, combined with the number of sales, gives an idea of what percentage of the audience is for this idea.

Now only third-rate tabloids write articles like this, and mass newspapers with a wide audience do not write like this at all.

This shows that this foundation is still not solid and not extensive.

However, this matter still needs special attention.

The tendencies of these tabloid articles made Zhu Jingyuan realize the importance of ideological guidance in the era of change.

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Mere closure of newspapers and punishment of those involved cannot completely curb the spread of relevant ideas.

The ancients said: It's better to be blocked than to be sparse.

Human thinking is diverse, and different political ways of thinking are also complex and changeable.

The current environment and status of the Ming Dynasty, the current world pattern and culture, it is not surprising that aggressive militaristic thinking has emerged.

It's just that the direction and train of thought should be controlled and guided.

They must not be allowed to flow in uncontrollable directions.

Zhu Jingyuan carefully considered it for a long time, and finally decided to publish some newspapers and broadcasts in the direction of "key government" and "military and military" from both official and non-governmental directions.

Study world events, discuss military equipment, and attract people with related hobbies to participate.

Keep abreast of the ideological trends in this circle, and subtly influence the thinking direction of the relevant personnel.

Be enthusiastic but not blind, and engage in discussions without breaking the law.

The official plan is easy to do, just let the Ministry of Rites organize people to build two new newspapers and broadcasts.

The non-governmental scheme does not seem to be very troublesome.

From the existing tabloids of similar style, choose a few newspapers that better meet your own requirements.

The official contacts and gives support, asking the other party to maintain style and direction, or do some fine-tuning and guidance.

Official support is sure to set such a newspaper apart from its peers.

In order to maintain their position, such newspapers must also maintain a tacit relationship with the authorities.

In essence, they are still profit-driven, which will make them naturally not take the extreme line and not deviate from the official ideology on a large scale.

Zhu Jingyuan simply wrote a plan and sent it directly to his father, Zhu Jianyan, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jianyan himself didn't pay attention to those tabloids, so he was taken aback by the situation in the report sent by Zhu Jingyuan.

Zhu Jianyan, as the head of the imperial family, could not tolerate the continued circulation of this trend of thought.

Zhu Jianyan did not hesitate to ask people to shut down this tabloid and arrest the newspaper staff and the author of the article for censorship and education.

Then there was basically no hesitation, and the Ministry of Rites prepared according to Zhu Jingyuan's suggestion.

Form a newspaper in a similar direction and talk directly to the existing newspapers.

When the relevant affairs began to be processed, the news of the death of the British Prime Minister reached the Daming Honglu Temple.

Honglu Temple had long known that William Pitt was seriously ill, and the lower departments of Honglu Temple also helped contact Daming's doctors.

So I knew that Pete was probably running out of time, and I didn't feel any surprise at the news of his death now.

Honglu Temple presented the relevant news to the Ming Emperor, and at the same time copied it to Zhu Jingyuan.

Zhu Jingyuan didn't pay much attention to Pete's affairs, so he felt that Pitt's death was quite "sudden".

Zhu Jingyuan understood the cause and effect, and he really felt a little emotional in his heart.

The political leaders of this generation in Britain are gone.

At the beginning of the peace talks, he and Niu Jian tried to kill William Pitt.

The effect of the original killing was actually very good.

It's a pity that when the matter came, George III's madness attacked, and he did not come up with a decision to remove Pete from office.

There is no one in British politics who is an opponent of Pitt.

In the absence of an absolutely strong monarch decision, there is simply no way for anyone else to knock Pete off his position.

However, after George III went crazy, Britain seemed to enter a state of headless flies, and the threat to the Ming Dynasty was reduced at the same time.

Zhu Jingyuan also put this matter in the back of his mind.

Unexpectedly, a short key policy between himself and Wu Zhiyuan indirectly sent away Pete, who was already seriously ill.

Now the question is, should Daming send someone to Pete's farewell ceremony and funeral?

As is customary...... In the past, there was no habit of participating in the idea of completely looking at the emperor.

The Ming and Taixi countries are not countries of equal status, and they do not need to set up detailed rules at the diplomatic level for themselves.

This time, Zhu Jingyuan felt that someone should be sent over.

Because the funeral of a politician is essentially an informal political and diplomatic event.

Tessie ...... now It seems that an informal diplomatic event is also needed to discuss the current situation.

Da Ming at least has to send someone over to listen and see what these people want to do.

The matter of exporting ship-building technology to the countries of Taixi that I planned a while ago can also be talked about at the funeral.

However, with the status of the Ming Dynasty, you can't send too formal people.

Of course, it is impossible for him to go over in person, and it is a bit too important to let Honglu Siqing run.

This is William Pitt dead, not George III dead.

Zhu Jingyuan finally decided that he could send a staff member to participate in his private capacity.

Because nominally, he and Pitt have a personal friendship, and during the peace talks, he publicly showed his favor for Pete.

So Zhu Jingyuan recruited Niu Jian, one of his earliest and most important core staff.

Niu Jian heard Zhu Jingyuan talk about the task, and subconsciously asked:

"His Highness asked students to attend Pete's funeral? This...... Are you going to go by plane? ”

Zhu Jingyuan nodded directly:

"It's true that you have to fly over, and you can't catch up by boat, and you have to wait for you, Pete's people are rotten.

"It's a funeral, but it's actually a diplomatic event, and even since you fly to it, it's already a diplomatic affair."

Niu Jian confirmed Zhu Jingyuan's thoughts:

"If the student understands, then the student can contact or even directly use the plane to bring the representatives of Lucia, Ottoman, Prussia, Austria, Italy, France and other Tessie countries to London for a meeting, and then go to the funeral."

Zhu Jingyuan couldn't help but nod when he heard this:

"It's a good idea, you can do it, and on the way, you can start talking to them about shipbuilding and the export of artillery technology.

"In addition to electroslag remelting and hydraulic body tube self-tightening technology, the original equipment made by traditional technology can be sold.

"It's better to sell the finished product directly, and if you have to be technical, you have to add money.

"It's not cost-effective compared to the finished product, and it's not very cost-effective relative to the cost of their own R&D.

"All in all, it is to make the Taixi people feel that the most cost-effective thing is to buy the finished product directly, followed by the introduction of Daming technology, and finally they develop the same technology themselves.

At the same time, special attention should be paid to the targeted negotiations between the Thai and Western countries, and the priority should be given to exporting the technology that has been developed by other Thai and Western countries to the Thai and Western countries, so as to avoid their internal technology exchange.

"This degree is not very easy to judge, you should prepare well in the past two days, and consult with the two waiters of the Ordnance Department."

Niu Jian nodded again and again when he heard this, knowing where the focus of this question, that is, the focus of his task, was.

It is to find ways to maintain and enhance the dependence of Taixi countries on Daming products and technologies.

Let Taixi's external technical exchanges all directly and unilaterally point to the Ming Dynasty, without forming a local internal exchange.

After Zhu Jingyuan taught Niu Jian face-to-face, he wrote a report and explanation and sent it to Honglu Temple and his father.

Explain your intentions carefully and convince them to support the direction of operation.

Of course, Zhu Jianyan and Shen Fu were supportive, and directly asked Honglu Temple and the Ordnance Department to fully cooperate.

Niu Jian began to exchange information with Wang Lai and Li Rui, preparing to attend Pete's funeral.

Zhu Jingyuan went on to visit Nantong's Motor Vehicle Industrial Park on Chongming Island.

This industrial park is dominated by Daming Airlines, which can produce and manufacture a variety of civilian and military cars, trucks, engine mopeds, as well as various types of large, medium and small construction machinery.

Although motor vehicles and construction machinery may be inferior to aircraft in terms of technical level, the output and scale are not comparable to those of aircraft.

The range of uses and use is much wider than that of aircraft, and the market prospect is certainly greater.

The entry threshold of this industry is also a grade lower than that of the aircraft industry, and the scale and agglomeration effect are better than those of the aviation industry.

The bicycle plus a small gasoline engine is the simplest moped, that is, the motorcycle of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.

Motorcycle is the external transliteration of the engine, the original meaning is a car with an engine, this world did not appear in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Similar vehicles are called automatic vehicles, engine-assisted bicycles, etc., and the more commonly used ones are "mopeds" and "mopeds".

It is a bicycle with an engine that assists people.

The original manufacturer of bicycles, slightly modified the production line, purchased the small engine produced by Daming Airlines, and then went to produce two-wheeled and three-wheeled mopeds.

Around Daming Aviation's own industrial park, a large number of private related industries have gathered, including low-end product manufacturers and supporting product manufacturers.

At the same time, due to the role played by the Aviation Industry Association, which was seen by the imperial court and the Ministry of Industry, coupled with Zhu Jingyuan's same initiative to promote, the Motor Vehicle Industry Association was also established.

The related industries of Daming Airlines and the Royal Family Foundation, as well as major private automobile, engine, and moped related manufacturers were brought into the association, and a centralized patent authorization system similar to the Aviation Industry Association was established.

The products of Daming Aviation Motor Vehicle Factory are also high-end and even luxury-level.

The most expensive cars are more expensive than small general-purpose aircraft, and the price of the highest-end product line has even reached 100,000 silver bills.

It is equivalent to Zhu Jingyuan's 10-million-level luxury car in his previous life.

Then there is the high-end main product line with a price of 10,000 to 60,000 silver bills, which is equivalent to a luxury car of 1 million to 6 million.

Zhu Jingyuan's original design of the car has been iterated three times in the past seven years.

And this iteration is not the iteration of the later generations that can change the shape slightly and produce a new model in two years.

Each time it's a complete upgrade or even reinvention from the inside out.

The technologies related to internal combustion engines and vehicles that are being developed are being rapidly applied to products.

Although the original product was an eight-cylinder four-wheel drive, Zhu Jingyuan felt that the driving and riding experience was at the level of Wuling Hongguang.

Now the latest product has made Zhu Jingyuan feel like a luxury car worth millions in the future.

In this world, it is even more luxurious and high-end to the extent of banning exports.

If Zhu Jingyuan's luxury car is sold to various countries in Taixi, it is likely that it will be dismantled to make armored combat vehicles.

Not to mention the latest diesel engines, even the gasoline engines are better than the chariot engines of the Tessie countries.

Like the Automobile Industrial Park, the Motor Vehicle Industrial Park on Chongming Island also does not include engine manufacturing.

Civilian small and low-end engines are produced in Suzhou, and military and high-end large engines are produced in Yingtianfu.

The production of chariots and military aircraft in the southern region was also placed on the boundaries of Suzhou and Yingtianfu.

The technical level is more high-end, but the economies of scale are not as good as those of automobiles and civil aircraft.

This is the equilibrium strategy of the Ming court and Zhu Jingyuan.