Zhu Jingyuan held a meeting with the military attaches at the Wuying Hall to discuss the organization of the military parade.

After the general direction was basically determined, some details of various aspects were discussed.

When the meeting was almost underway, Zheng Xingyang, Zhu Jingyuan's staff, walked in quickly from outside.

Zheng Xingyang explained the situation to the guards at the door, and then walked to Zhu Jingyuan's side with Lin Zexu, who came to inquire.

Zheng Xingyang handed a telegram to Zhu Jingyuan, and at the same time lowered his voice and reported:

"Your Majesty, King George III of Great Britain has passed away."

The same content was written on the telegraph in Zhu Jingyuan's hand.

The famous mad king in British history, George III, died in early 1820 in the original history.

However, he lived to be eighty-two years old, which is considered a long life in later generations, and even more so in this era.

And he reigned for a total of 60 years, second only to Victoria and Elizabeth II in the original history.

Now the latter two queens have not yet appeared, and the current George III is the longest-reigning king in British history.

The level of medical care in this world is higher, but it can't stand his continuous madness, which always consumes his energy.

Eighty-two years old is already an advanced age, and in the end, he lived half a year longer than in history.

When Zhu Jingyuan saw the news, his expression did not change, but he was a little emotional in his heart.

The mad king George III is finally dead, and this old man is actually quite uncomfortable.

He may have made a group of unfilial children mad.

After going crazy, the state of the unfilial children stayed when he was crazy.

Someone else may be happy when he is crazy, but he is definitely living in pain.

Now that he has finally passed away, it can be regarded as a relief.

Originally, when George III died in history, Zhu Jingyuan didn't remember at all.

But I also have a general impression that he shouldn't live long.

Now there is finally definite news.

Charlotte's father, the current Prince of Wales of England, and the future George IV will also succeed him.

But at this juncture, it's a little troublesome.

The succession of the king of England is actually very similar to the succession model of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

When the old emperor died, the Prince of Wales would soon succeed him.

Then prepare for the official coronation.

Therefore, George IV's coronation ceremony will be very close to his own enthronement ceremony.

Moreover, George III was Charlotte's grandfather, and when he died, Charlotte had to go back to the funeral.

Charlotte and her children, Zhu Diyu and Zhu Yuewei also had to go back with them.

I can't wait until I've ascended the throne to the throne.

Zhu Jingyuan's mood is not very good.

Considering that the discussion of this meeting was basically determined, Zhu Jingyuan directly asked Niu Jian to announce the dismissal of the meeting.

Zhu Jingyuan went directly back to the harem and went to Charlotte's residence.

Zhu Jingyuan didn't have anything serious to talk about, and when he went to a certain concubine's residence, he wouldn't let people pass it on in advance.

I also told them on weekdays that unless there is a ritual, there is no need to go to the gate of the palace to greet them.

However, when Zhu Jingyuan arrived at the palace gate, the maid at the door also had to go in immediately to report.

When Charlotte entered the door, Charlotte greeted her very warmly:

"My dear majesty, you have finally remembered people again......

"Let me tell you, Di Yu learned two more poems today!"

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded lightly, and picked up Zhu Diyu, who was following Charlotte.

At the same time, he handed Charlotte the telegram he had received.

Charlotte didn't know what it was, and opened it quite curiously, but when she looked at it, she was immediately stunned:

"Grandpa, he'......"

Zhu Jingyuan teased his son, and said in a rather melancholy tone:

"He is eighty-three years old, and he is a happy mourner in our Ming Dynasty......"

As soon as Zhu Jingyuan said this, Charlotte couldn't help it, and tears flowed out directly:

"Grandpa......"

George III's favorite son was the second son, and his favorite daughter was the younger daughter.

Favorite granddaughter...... There was no choice, only Charlotte herself.

Charlotte has been very cared for by her grandfather since she was a child, so her relationship with her grandfather is also very good.

Now that her grandfather has passed away, her sadness is natural.

Zhu Jingyuan handed over his son to the servant and let Charlotte hold him in his arms and comfort him for a while.

waited for her to cry happily, and then slowly told her to get down to business:

"Your grandfather's funeral, your father's coronation, you can't be absent.

"So you can pack up in the next few days and take Di Yu and Yue Wei back to London."

Charlotte was so depressed that she couldn't speak, and nodded her head softly and silently.

Zhu Jingyuan stayed in Charlotte's room that day.

The next morning, Zhu Jingyuan went to the morning court again and asked the Ministry of Rites to announce the news of the death of the British king.

The death of the ordinary King Tessie, Da Ming actually didn't care very much.

George III was mainly Charlotte's grandfather, so the officials in the Ming court were also more serious.

Zhu Jingyuan arranged for the Ministry of Rites to write a memorial article and send it over.

Prepare a congratulatory article on the coronation of George IV in advance, this is Charlotte's father after all, and it is even more important to pay attention to it.

At the same time, let the Ministry of Rites arrange personnel to prepare the envoys for mourning and congratulation.

Then he instructed Niu Jian to prepare, as his personal representative, and set off with the envoys of the Ministry of Rites.

Accompany Charlotte to London.

Except for the death of the old king of England and the succession of the new king, everything else is a daily routine.

Today's morning dynasty is also coming to an end soon.

Zhu Jingyuan returned to the harem again, and took the women and children of the harem to Charlotte's residence to say goodbye to her.

It's the last time to stay with her.

After dinner that afternoon, Charlotte took her two children, escorted by a group of servants, to the royal station in the palace area of Yingtianfu New Town.

Charlotte had to take a special train across the continent of Shenou, arrive in France, and then take a boat back to London.

Charlotte is the de facto heir of the United Kingdom, and her children are still the heirs of the next generation, and the key is Zhu Jingyuan's children.

So it's impossible for them to take a risky plane, and it's too slow to take a boat to the UK.

Fortunately, the Shenou Continental Bridge has been opened for several years now.

The special train dedicated to the Ming royal family has also been upgraded from a steam locomotive to a diesel locomotive.

The maximum speed of large diesel engines and electric transmissions has exceeded 120 kilometers per hour.

It is safer to keep the speed below 80 to 100 km/h.

In this way, the whole journey of more than 13,000 kilometers of railway from the south of the Daming River to the northwest of France can be reached in six to seven days.

Able to make it in time for George III's farewell ceremony and funeral.

Charlotte's royal car after leaving the professional station.

Niu Jian and the delegation headed by Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites also rushed to the royal station at the same time and went together in the royal car.

However, instead of living with Charlotte, they added a few official cars to the back of the royal car.

This is also an arrangement that has become a habit.

Royal travelers often had to be accompanied by courtiers, and it was really troublesome for the courtiers to take another car.

So it's all arranged in different compartments on the same car.

After the train starts, the diesel engine outputs electricity, and the electric motor drives the locomotive and slowly drives the train out of the station.

While driving outward, you are constantly accelerating.

When I got out of the city, I already mentioned 100 kilometers per hour.

Then just keep up that pace and head all the way northwest.

Slowly leave the most prosperous southeast region of the Ming Dynasty and enter the vast and flat Central Plains.

After arriving inland, the scene of small cities in the southeast, where built-up areas are built one after another, gradually disappears.

The large farms grew larger and larger, and eventually turned into endless fields.

Charlotte spent the first night of her trip on the train.

The next morning, he arrived again in Xi'an, where Charlotte had followed Zhu Jingyuan.

Charlotte has lived here for two years, and she has some feelings and impressions.

But Charlotte soon discovered that Xi'an had changed even more than it had been five years ago.

The city is bigger.

Five years ago, the railroad was supposed to pass along the edge of the city, and now there are built-up areas on the outside of the railway.

The population of the city has also increased visibly.

Charlotte soon realized that this change was not entirely spontaneous, and that Zhu Jingyuan's policy promotion was important.

Zhu Jingyuan built a big city within the Ming Dynasty.

Concentrate people in remote areas to cities near key rail and road transport routes.

Reduce the waste of administrative and financial resources in remote areas of communication.

Concentrate on providing living infrastructure and services at a higher overall level and lower unit costs in large cities.

It is better to build hundreds of small clinics in villages and towns with a population of only a few hundred to a few thousand, rather than to concentrate them and build a regular government-run large hospital.

It's the same logic with schools.

In this way, first of all, it can reduce the management cost of the imperial court, and it can also reduce the operation and construction cost of the government-run foundation.

This, in turn, increases administrative earnings and corporate profits.

At the same time, the concentration of the population has broken the local clan groups and objectively reduced the local evil forces in remote areas.

After Xi'an, this trend of population concentration became more pronounced.

The Hexi Corridor, the Western Regions Grassland, the Kazakh Principality, where there are no cities, there are endless wildernesses and grasslands, and where there are cities, construction is in full swing.

The streets were full of cars, as well as hordes of engine mopeds, that is, motorcycles from Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.

Of course, there are a lot of bicycles, but there are fewer of them than motorcycles, and many of them are half-grown children riding and playing.

There are also no idle homeless people in and around the city.

But there are kids running around everywhere.

From three or four-year-old children who can just run, to thirteen or fourteen-year-old half-grown children, they often appear in groups.

There are also half-grown children who are running together on bicycles.

Obviously, there are too many children.

At this time, ordinary people basically did not have the concept of contraception, and the concept of eugenics (involution) had not yet appeared.

When adult men and women get married, they keep having children.

It is normal for a couple to have three or four children, and five or six or even more children.

Now the amount of labor in Daming is still huge, and unless it is a particularly wealthy family, it is impossible to hire a nanny.

So the vast majority of children are not accompanied by adults.

It is a child who is already sensible over the age of seven or eight, playing with his younger siblings who are three or four years old.

At this time, there are no mobile phones and TVs, and there are many children, and they all like to get together, and they often have a large area.

Daming participated in the world war more than ten years ago, and Daming at that time was also forced to the brink of collapse.

But after all, the war did not break out on the mainland, so the Ming mainland was not destroyed.

As soon as the war ended, as soon as the reforms promoted by Zhu Jingyuan began, the local area quickly regained its vitality.

The repressed fertility rate during the war also skyrocketed, creating a wave of fertility.

And this wave of fertility has not stopped since it began, creating a terrifying data of 300 million population increase in the fifteenth year of the Ming Dynasty.

Fifteen years have passed, and the oldest of these children is only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the youngest is of course newborn.

Now the total population of Daming is less than one billion, but there are 300 million children under the age of 15, accounting for one-third of the total population.

So now there must be children everywhere in the cities of Daming.

The Ming court has banned child labor, has not promoted compulsory education, and the income of ordinary workers is also very good.

Even if there are many parents who are willing to send their children to school, there are many who are directly free-range......

Zhu Diyu, who was next to Charlotte, had a yearning expression every time she saw a child playing in the distance outside the window.

Apparently she wanted to run out and play with them, and the child loved it as much as her mother.

Charlotte looked at the busy workers and the crowds of children, as well as the yearning eyes of her son, and said to herself more than once:

"Daming people have always been so energetic, and Daming's children have always been so carefree......

"Daming now has a population of nearly one billion, but it will definitely continue to grow......

"I hope the UK and the US will do the same......"

Charlotte continued to look at the scenery with anticipation, watching the train pass through the borders of the Principality of Kazakhstan, the Principality of Xianbei, and Lucia, and officially enter Europa in the current sense.

The border between Daming and Lucia is an oil field jointly developed by the two countries.

It's also a hot spot, and the field is still in the ramp-up stage.

After passing the oil fields, it enters the inland area of Lucia, which is also a large area of farmland.

After entering the city, Charlotte also saw a busy crowd.

However, the number of cars is significantly lower than in Daming's cities, and most of the commuters still ride bicycles.

At the very least, it's actually an engine moped, which is a lot less than a car or a bicycle.

After passing through a few cities, Charlotte discovered a new difference.

There are no hordes of children in and around these cities.

"You can't all go to school or ...... Went to work as a child laborer in a factory, right? ”

Charlotte knows that only Daming explicitly prohibits child labor, and no other country explicitly prohibits it.

A few years ago, it was very common for thirteen or fourteen-year-olds to enter the factory.

Charlotte doesn't think the Ctessi kingdoms will change dramatically in the last few years.

This contrast and speculation made Charlotte feel a little uncomfortable.

In the city of Daming, especially looking at those children, Charlotte can feel a vigorous vitality.

But in Lucia's city, Charlotte inexplicably feels depressed.

Although child labor was used all over the world in the past......

Judy Uranium was also not interested in this place, and began to feel sleepy after watching it for a while.

Charlotte was going home for the funeral, so she didn't stop in Lucia and didn't go to say hello to the Lucia royal family.

So there is no logic to explore it.

The train traveled all the way through Lucia, Prussia, and finally into France.

However, he did not go deep into the interior of France, and when he entered France, he transferred to the docks and returned to London on a cruise ship of the British royal family.

Charlotte came back for the funeral, and theoretically there shouldn't be anything to celebrate, so there was no welcome ceremony.

Charlotte changed from the pier to a special car and traveled through the city bytes to the royal palace.

Charlotte had the experience of Daming, Lucia, and Prussia, and after entering the city of London, she paid attention to it.

And now in the car, looking out the window is more direct.

The streets of London are just as lively, and the key thing is that you can also see children running around from time to time.

However, there are far fewer children than in Daming City.

There are also boys shouting and selling newspapers in the streets, and girls carrying baskets and selling flowers.

Charlotte sighed in her heart, of course, the United Kingdom is not as good as Daming, but it should be better than Lucia.

(End of chapter)