London Politics and Economics,

Office of Polls.

A group of students are busy here, and the office is completely deserted.

Nikolić flipped through the data sheet,

Solomon next to him asked, "What is the rate and efficiency of the response?" ”

Nikolic said: "It was better than expected. We issued a total of ...... today"

At this moment, the door was pushed open.

Lu Shi walked in and nodded to everyone,

"You go on. Leave me alone. ”

Nikolić continued the topic just now: "A total of 30,000 questionnaires were sent out, and 7,100 were collected at the site throughout the day today. Considering that more than 10,000 copies are expected to be collected tomorrow, this response rate is quite good. ”

This result surprised everyone present.

What about "pretty good"?

It was so much more than expected!

In Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, almost everyone except those who had property and aristocrats worked overtime.

There is a lot of work, so naturally I don't have the heart to care about anything else.

Combined with the reality of literacy rate and relatively backward education for all, the questionnaire response rate must not be high.

Solomon muttered, "It looks like it's going to be 70 percent." That's a very good stat......"

Nikolic chimed in: "It's weird. In the past, not many people were willing to fill out the poll questionnaire. "The 20 Greatest Britons" is unprecedented. ”

Lu Shi casually moved a chair and sat down,

"It's not hard to understand."

Everyone's eyes turned on, flashing with thirst for knowledge.

Lu Shi said: "'The 20 Greatest Britons' is very entertaining and can provide after-dinner conversations, and the citizens certainly like it. Like, 'Who did you vote for?' ', 'I voted for XXX', 'Ah, I voted for him too', which can instantly open up the topic. ”

Indeed,

In the streets and alleys, many people are discussing the matter of "The 20 Greatest Britons",

Such a large-scale discussion has even made the polls more fashionable than when they were elected for prime minister and parliamentarians.

Solomon joked,

"I even had the illusion of national participation."

Lu Shi shook his head,

"That's not true, it's just that it's easier to talk about. Moreover, it can also create a sense of identity and cohesion. ”

Those present felt something.

Solomon said: "Indeed, to discuss 'The 20 Greatest Englishmen', it is inevitable to know the people on the list. For example, I gave an example earlier, the great engineer Isambard Kindham Brunel, who even Professor Lu had never heard of. ”

When the land is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

"I know it now. Brunel was the chief engineer and chief designer of the Great Western Railroad and also designed the Box Tunnel, which was the longest tunnel in the world at the time. In addition to these achievements on land, his contribution at sea is also very large. He designed the Great West, the Great Britain, and the Great Eastern, each of which was bigger than the other, and would always be the 'world's first ship'. ”

Solomon's hands,

"Look."

Nikolić on the side gave him a blank look and complained: "What 'look'!? Can't you just make it clear!? ”

Solomon said, "What do you think about Brunel's life?" ”

Nikolic groaned for a moment,

After a long time, he said, "I understand." ”

From one small clue one can see what is coming

These contributions to Brunel's transport sector have actually helped the UK develop its economy as a whole.

Therefore, when the British come into contact with his deeds, they will have a sense of pride that "I am a citizen of the British Empire";

And when foreigners come into contact with these, they will yearn for the British Empire.

This is what Professor Lu calls "shaping identity and creating cohesion".

It's no wonder that "The 20 Greatest Britons" has such a high degree of discussion.

Nikolić shook his head,

"It's just a pity that it's useless. This kind of thing is too easy to imitate. I dare to pack a ticket, at the end of this year, there will be similar selections in countries around the world. ”

Solomon said, "Inevitably." Anyone has a reason for this. For example, I think Cai Lun is as great as Gutenberg. ”

The two of them got farther and farther apart.

Lu Shi brought the topic back to voting and asked, "How efficient is it?" ”

Nikolic replied: "No problem. As a result, the queen is overwhelmingly number one. However, Faraday, Sir Newton, and Darwin were all at the bottom of the rankings, which I didn't expect. It's as if the British don't value intelligence. ”

Solomon quipped: "We just make excuses for ourselves, 'I'm not stupid, I just don't have money, I don't have power.'" ”

Everyone couldn't help but laugh.

Solomon said, "Irony, I learned it from Professor Lu. ”

Lu Shi couldn't help but complain: "Don't pull everything on me, hey!" It sounds ironic. ”

As he spoke, he stretched,

"It's normal for different circles to have different cognitions."

Some people think it's Newton;

Some people think it's Queen Victoria;

Some people think it's Shakespeare;

……

There is no one right or wrong in this matter.

Nikolic, still with some regret, said: "The point is not the difference between Newton, Faraday or Darwin. The crux of the matter is that people didn't vote for the greatest first person to be a scientist, an explorer. ”

The young man is still sad and sad.

Lu Shi patted him on the shoulder,

"Well, although the results are not quite out yet, they are almost there. Send it to Fleet Street, and let Mr. Scott prepare in advance. ”

He had a hunch that the time was almost up.

……

Isle of Wight.

Osborne Palace, the Queen's bedchamber.

It's early in the morning.

"Ahem......"

"Hot ......"

After a moment of respite, the queen barely opened her eyes from her ailing coma.

She looked around with difficulty, and found Margarita lying on the side of the bed, and two nurses standing not far away, carefully fiddling with the needles for injection, not noticing that the queen was awake.

The climate of the Isle of Wight is humid and warm,

In this era, there was no air conditioning, and the queen was covered with a thick quilt, which was terrible.

Moreover, the air is filled with a rich floral fragrance,

Originally, this was the queen's favorite scent, but at this moment, she almost wanted to gag.

The Empress raised her hand slowly, aiming for a small window high up.

As a result, she found that she could not move at all, her right arm was numb, as if it had been pulled out of a bone, and the numbness spread down the veins to her fingertips.

Margarita then woke up,

"Grandmother?"

The two nurses next to him also looked over,

"Your Majesty."

The queen didn't say anything, but said briefly: "Open the window." ”

Margarita gently wiped the cold sweat from the queen's forehead, and whispered: "You are sick like this and still open the window?" ”

The queen let out an "um" and repeated, "Open the window." ”

Margarita looked helplessly at the two nurses, her eyes full of consultation.

How dare a nurse do this?

“……”

“……”

“……”

For a moment, there was silence in the room.

Margarita said, "Grandmother, give me the voting paper in your hand first." ”

The queen was a little surprised,

"I've got something in my hand?"

She had lost sensation in her right hand.

Margarita nodded and said, "Yesterday, since you took the voting paper for The 20 Greatest Britons, you haven't let go. I can't take it out of your hand if I want to. ”

The queen wants to pinch her fingers,

As a result, he was still paralyzed and unconscious.

Vaguely, she knew it was time to come.

She smiled at Margarita and said in a very kind tone, "Okay, you open the window first." I'll give it to you when you open the window. ”

Margarita chuckled,

"Why are you still bargaining with me? An old kid who loves to be spoiled~"

After speaking, she touched her grandmother's forehead,

"It's so hot, how do you open the window?"

The queen said, "Five minutes." It only takes five minutes. ”

Margarita can't take the queen,

"Let's talk about it first, I'll only leave the window open for five minutes."

As she spoke, she helped the queen tuck the corners of the quilt, and then got up, moved her numb arm slightly, and opened the window.

The sea breeze with a faint salty smell slowly blows into the house,

The room was immersed in a coziness and silence that could not be experienced in London.

Margarita's long hair was blown by the wind, and the tips of the hair touched the tip of her nose, tickling,

Some of the ends of her hair touched her eyes, making her eyes moisten slightly, as if they were about to cry.

A strange feeling filled my heart.

Margarita turned around,

"Grandmother, the window is open~"

However, there was no response from the Queen.

Her hand was on the edge of the bed, naturally drooping, and the "20 Greatest Britons" voting paper that she had been holding fell to the ground.

The moonlight poured in through the narrow window,

Two nurses knelt in front of the bed, as if praying, but could not speak in grief.

Margarita looked at the queen on the hospital bed,

For a moment, she did not recognize this great woman, because the queen was even smaller and older than she remembered.

One of the nurses whispered, "Your Highness......"

Margarita interrupted: "I know. ”

With that, she pushed the door open.

In the room, the Prince of Wales and other royal families all looked at Margarita, as if waiting for something.

Margarita slowly stretched out her right hand, her index finger pointing to the sky.

Osborne Palace was silent, as if even the noise of the seabirds chirping outside had suddenly disappeared.

The Prince of Wales slowly stood up,

"I'll send a telegram to London."

……

London.

Curfew!

For no reason, the pedestrians on the street seem to have disappeared,

Even the drunks were cleaned up in front of the bar, under the bridge, and the streets were empty.

The citizens who had good deeds ran out of the door, and then they were chased back to their homes by the Queen's Guard, who suddenly appeared in the streets, and were not allowed to go out into the streets, so they had to go to bed honestly.

But for the Westminster guys, things are very different,

There are very few parliamentarians who can sleep.

Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil sat neatly dressed in his study with a serious face, closing his eyes and resting.

The two gas lamps behind him flickered on and off because of insufficient gas supply.

Looking at it from afar, it looks like two dying old men.

Long

Knock Knock Knock –

There was a knock on the closed door.

Cecil opened his eyes suddenly, and scolded: "I have already said, don't bother me until the news is sent!" ”

The knocking on the door stopped immediately,

The cautious voice of the butler came from outside: "The news has been sent." The Times' Buckle editor-in-chief said they must have finished the last two hours to get the news in the news. ”

"Whew~"

Cecil let out a sigh of relief,

"What about the Daily Telegraph? Come in and talk. ”

The door was pushed open.

The butler rushed in with small steps, bowed deeply to Cecil, and said, "There is no letter from there." ”

Cecil's brow furrowed,

For a long time, he shook his head,

"That's it, don't force it."

Since the Daily Telegraph began serializing Lu Shi's articles, there has been some estrangement between the two sides.

But this kind of thing can't be put on the table and said,

The Telegraph's early political stance was personal with the party, and later close to the Conservative Party.

It's not so distinct, but it's also a protective color.

Cecil muttered to himself, "I can't force it......"

He turned to the butler and asked, "How did the news get out?" ”

The butler replied, "The Queen's Guard has withdrawn." ”

Cecil was slightly dazed.

Yesterday, he received a telegram from the Isle of Wight that he knew that the Queen had died of illness, so he sent his family out to inform his Conservative colleagues to prepare for it.

This period of time, because of "Yes! Prime Minister" and the Royal Navy budget, Cecil was under attack, both the people and the parliamentarians were quite complaining about him, and he saw that he couldn't survive and dissolved the cabinet.

Unexpectedly, the queen soared at this juncture.

At the turn of the old and the new, the Prince of Wales will inevitably seek stability,

As a veteran politician, Cecil certainly knows that he must make good use of this buffer period to find ways to control public opinion and regain the initiative in parliament.

Unexpectedly, all the people he sent out yesterday were driven back by the Queen's Guard on the grounds of "curfew".

This made Cecil reverie,

Could it be that the Prince of Wales is also on the side of the Liberal Party?

Or did Queen Victoria have some last wish to settle the Anglo-Boer War once and for all?

All kinds of doubts welled up in his mind, and Cecil could not sleep peacefully.

Can ...... now

"You tell me the Queen's Guard is gone?"

Cecil was still a little incredulous.

The butler nodded,

"Yes."

Cecil asked again, "So, the curfew is over?" It's only been a few hours, and that's the end of it? ”

The butler glanced at the clock and said, "Less than two hours." ”

Cecil became more and more dazed, and couldn't understand what the Prince of Wales was doing with this two-hour curfew.

Is it fun?

Or is it the new Wang Liwei, the new official takes office with three fires?

Or is it really just a curfew to keep London in order?

No matter how you think about it, it's a little incredible.

Cecil was puzzled,

For a long time, he felt that he was too sensitive as a politician and interpreted too many signals from some very ordinary things.

Gradually, the self-confidence of the veteran politicians returned,

From the analysis of the current situation, Cecil believes that the Prince of Wales is not a fierce and iron-fisted monarch like Queen Victoria.

In other words, the Prince of Wales is not prepared to interfere in the Cabinet, the Parliament,

As long as you take advantage of the buffer period of the queen's death, you will definitely be able to beat down those ducks who like noisy freedom!

The corners of Cecil's mouth hooked,

"Hmph, look how I picked the ducks!"

After saying that, he wrote a letter and handed it to the butler,

"Delivered to the headquarters of the Times."

The butler took it and turned to go out.

Cecil stopped him again: "Prepare a carriage for me, and I will go to Balfour." ”

The butler looked back,

I saw Cecil puff out his chest, and regained his former majesty, no longer the frustration of bowing his head and slumping his shoulders just now.

The butler couldn't help but laugh,

"Yes, I'll prepare it right away."

(End of chapter)