London after Christmas is like a drunkard who is not drunk, who is about to wake up,

Everything is shrouded in the smell of wine.

In the morning mist, a carriage moved at a low speed, and the coachman carefully manipulated the reins to prevent the horses from trampling the necks of the drunks lying on the ground with their hooves.

In the carriage, two English gentlemen sat opposite each other.

Churchill pulled out a cloth bag and said to Wardhouse, "Sir, do you need a little gingerbread?" ”

Gingerbread is a small shortbread eaten at Christmas, usually made with flour, ginger, honey, brown sugar, almonds, candied fruit peel and spices.

Wardhouse raised an eyebrow,

"You don't want me to trade a cigar with you, do you?"

"Haha, how could it be~"

Churchill had a smile on his face.

Wardhouse will be skeptical,

"Really?"

Churchill sighed and said, "I'm not going to be so bored. ”

As he spoke, he took out a piece of gingerbread and handed it to the other party.

Wardhouse took it,

Unexpectedly, Churchill's hand was not immediately withdrawn, but spread out and made a similar gesture to asking for a red envelope.

Churchill smiled and said, "The great and noble Earl of Kimberley doesn't eat people's short mouths, does he?" ”

You know that's it......

Wardhouse reluctantly gave the other man a cigar.

Churchill expertly cut off the cigar butt, lit it with a match, took a deep breath, and said, "Sir, I have told you all my thoughts about the polls, what do you think?" ”

Wardhouse couldn't help but ponder,

Long

"Polls...... Is it really that powerful? ”

He asked, lighting himself a cigar as he pulled back the window to dissipate the smell of smoke.

To be honest, he felt that Churchill took the polls too seriously,

Could it be better than "Yes! Prime Minister" is awesome!?

It's impossible to think about it~

"It's normal for Professor Lu to be a man of letters, poetry, and plays, and to write powerful novels, poems, and plays, but I think it's a bit too much to say that he can make waves like the editors of those big newspapers," Wardhouse said. ”

Churchill shook his head,

"You have to think about what he wrote. "No One Survives" aside, "Yes! Prime Minister", "Generation", "Answer", which is not inflammatory? And then there's those articles in the Manchester Guardian, not to mention. ”

Wardhouse was somewhat moved, and bowed his head in contemplation.

He forgot to smoke his cigar, causing the cigarette to burn for a long time, and the columnar ash could not bear the weight and fell on the floor of the carriage.

Churchill stretched out his right foot, crushed the soot with the sole of his shoe, and then gathered it into the corner.

The two of them were silent,

The wheels of the carriage pressed against the wedge-shaped stone brick floor, and there was a soft sound,

Silence goes well with noise.

After a while, Wardhouse said, "You're right, I really should have made some requests. ”

Churchill smiled,

"That's right~"

Wardhouse was a little curious,

"Winston, I noticed that you have changed a little in the past few days, and I am anxious to give me advice."

Churchill didn't pick up.

With his two-headed bet play, he shouldn't have fallen to the Liberals so quickly,

But Cecil's cabinet is now showing signs of crumbling, and at this momentum, Bannerman may come to power within six months, and if Churchill had not been able to join the Liberal Party by then, he would not have been reused.

So, it's time to give it a go!

Churchill said: "In short......"

Before the words fell, the soft sound of the wheels "click-click-" came to an abrupt end.

The two looked out the window,

Blaya Road has arrived.

Wardhouse told the coachman, "Wait. ”

Subsequently, he turned to Churchill,

"I think we should sort out our strengths before we go to the door. First of all, the first point, financial ......"

Churchill shook his head,

"It didn't work. Mr. Lu has already accumulated a considerable amount of remuneration, and money is not a problem with him. And, not just the remuneration, the reissue of "No One Left Alive" is a hardcover book issued by the Royal Publishing Bureau, and the royalties must be frighteningly high. ”

Waldhouse sighed, and said in his heart that Lu Shi was really a freak,

Chinese pick up money in London like this, I'm afraid Gu Hongming can't do it,

Moreover, Gu Hongming cannot be regarded as an absolute Chinese.

Churchill added: "In terms of manpower, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to restrain Mr. Lu." With his influence in the college student community, it is too easy to pull a few people to work, even if he is forced to drop out. ”

This is something that Wardhouse agrees with,

"Then there's the last point – printing and dissemination," he said. ”

That's to the point.

Questionnaires first appeared in universities,

Because of the need for fieldwork in various social science disciplines, students brainstormed and came up with this method.

However, the power of universities is limited, and neither printing nor dissemination can reach all corners of society, resulting in a small number of test samples.

As a result, the development of questionnaires has been severely limited.

This continued until the print media joined,

Major newspapers sell tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies in London every day, and these readers are natural subjects, as long as they add a page to the newspaper, they can quickly get data, thus pushing the questionnaire survey to the whole population.

Churchill said: "Public opinion polls, without the participation of a large number of citizens, are not authentic. ”

Wardhouse will,

"Professor Luk is familiar with the Manchester Guardian and The Scotsman, and he will inevitably reach out to both newspapers when he sends out the questionnaire, and we can project our influence on...... Wait, wouldn't Professor Lu look for other newspapers or magazines with publishing capabilities? ”

Churchill laughed,

"The Times? Or the Daily Telegraph? Or the Royal Publishing Bureau? ”

Hearing this, Wardhouse couldn't help laughing,

I really think too much.

He waved to the coachman.

The coachman ran over and pulled open the carriage door.

Churchill did not get out of the car, but only said to Wardhouse, "Wait for your good news", and then the old god closed his eyes on the ground.

Wardhouse stepped forward and knocked on the door of Braia Road.

Soon, the door was opened,

Lu Shi stood at the door, making way for the room to enter and exit, and said at the same time, "Sir, why did you come suddenly...... Hmm, I see, I want to discuss the polls, right? Please come in and watch your step. ”

The brick-sealed windows on Brea Road have been torn down and replaced with brand new glass,

The morning light enters the room, and there are almost no dead spots in the line of sight.

Wardhouse looked around from side to side, and although he didn't understand what to be careful with, he stepped into the door cautiously.

At this moment,

"Meow~"

A cat meow came.

Wardhouse felt a flash in front of him, as if something had jumped from his feet under the table in the room.

Lu Shi apologized: "I'm really embarrassed." I don't know what's going on with this little guy lately, he's so lively, likes to jump on furniture, and yesterday he stained my manuscript. ”

Wardhouse was surprised: "Draft? Professor Lu has a new work? ”

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yes, it's a drama. But I'm talking about the same series of articles that were previously serialized in the Manchester Guardian. Recently, I've been working with the Royal Publishing Bureau, so I'm putting together the manuscript and preparing it for publication. ”

"Royal ...... Royal Publishing Bureau? Deep...... Deep ......"

Wardhouse couldn't speak.

Lu Shi explained with a smile: "Deep cooperation. In other words, I am preparing to cooperate with the Royal Publishing Office for a long time, for example, the questionnaire of the poll, and I am ready to entrust them to print and distribute it. ”

Wardhouse: !!

He looked at Lu Shi with a shocked expression.

Lu Shi was about to laugh in his heart, but his face was a light and breezy expression.

"Sir Wardhouse, it is admirable that you are willing to invest in the polls in your own capacity, and not as a Liberal or Honorary Vice-Chancellor of the University League of London, and to be an unsung hero. By the way, are you going to use a check? ”

Not in the name of an individual......

It's not in the name of a person, hey!

Wardhouse's heart was bleeding, but he could only smile and pull out the checkbook,

While writing the amount, he said gentlemanly: "The most important thing for us Liberals is freedom of expression, and with such a project, of course I will help the field." ”

As he spoke, he squeezed out a smile that was more ugly than crying.