10 Downing Street.

Prime Minister Cecil sat behind his desk with beads of sweat the size of beans on his forehead, which had to be wiped frequently with a handkerchief.

There were several officials sitting across from them, also very uneasy.

What they seem to be waiting for.

After a few moments, the door was pushed open with a "bang",

Belfort flashed into the house,

"Didn't come."

"Whew~"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Balfour smiled bitterly and said, "Those workers didn't come, probably because they couldn't figure out the location of the prime minister's office, so they all went to the Palace of Westminster." ”

In fact, 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the First Chancellor of the Exchequer.

However, since this post was held by the Prime Minister, it has become what is now generally considered to be the official residence of the British Prime Minister.

Of course, the workers were not aware of these doorways.

Cecil stretched out his hands depressedly, brushed the wrinkles on his forehead with his fingers, and said, "They are wandering around Westminster like flies, which shows that this rally and march is spontaneous, which is all the more troublesome." ”

The crowd fell silent.

The gravity of the matter needs no more emphasis.

Cecil asked, "What the hell is going on with the Tafu Valley case?" ”

The officials looked at each other,

Suddenly, someone whispered: "Your Excellency, isn't the way this case is handled the tone you set?" ”

Cecil: "Huh? ”

Looking at his expression, he was really impressed.

The prime minister had a lot of opportunities, and the death and injury of several railway workers was a small matter for him.

He asked, "I mean, let the court decide?" ”

That's a ridiculous question.

After another strange silence, someone whispered: "Your Excellency, the Barry Company has sued the Union of Railway Employees, and you think that the union should be ordered to pay compensation." ”

Cecil touched his head,

"That's what I thought."

Balfour whispered: "I advised you at the time that such a judgment would be contrary to the Trade Unions Act of 1871, and, even more, to the Industrial Disputes Act, which is now on the agenda, and would cause a backlash." But you ......"

The latter words are not explicitly stated,

But everyone here can hear that what Balfour is trying to say is "insisting on going his own way".

Cecil was silent,

There are some mistakes, and I really don't want to admit them.

Balfour continued: "In order to reduce the impact, I resorted to procrastination. It happened last year, and the court trial is going to be held this year, but what I didn't expect was ......"

Everyone's eyes moved to the "Mirror" together, and they were anxious.

Cecil mused,

Is it the Liberal Party?

As soon as he had the idea, he involuntarily shook his head, feeling that it was too ridiculous.

The Liberals love workers' votes, but never unions!

There's no reason for them to do that.

Was that the Mirror's own decision?

It's possible.

The Chinese student named Lu Shi always does things unexpectedly, killing people invisibly,

"Yes! The Prime Minister" is a lesson from the past, almost knocking Cecil to the ground with a political satirical drama,

Fortunately, the queen drove the crane west,

Ahem......

Fortunately, the Queen did the right thing at the right time, otherwise Cecil's cabinet would have been disbanded on the spot because of the Royal Navy budget.

But is it really land time?

Cecil frowned and looked at the Mirror's interview again.

After a while, he said helplessly: "Although I don't want to admit it, I feel that His Majesty wants to toss." ”

No one can argue with this view.

The king was interviewed, and his staff body, the Privy Council, was bound to communicate up and down,

And the current interview version, there are both interviews with the king and railroad workers, and children don't believe it if there is no shadow of Edward VII behind it.

As for why Edward VII did this......

"Nerves."

Cecil didn't bother to guess.

He turned to Belfort and asked, "The Tav Valley case has already been decided?" ”

Balfour shook his head,

"Not yet."

Cecil frowned, and after a moment, said, "Someone must have known the verdict tendencies in advance, so he moved his mind. In my opinion, this time it has nothing to do with the Liberal Party, but it is more likely that it will be the Independent Labour Party. But how they got in touch with His Majesty the King, I can't figure it out......"

No one can figure it out.

Cecil simply didn't want to, and said to Balfour: "The most important thing now is to put this case to a firm end and let Barry withdraw the lawsuit...... No, it is not possible to withdraw the lawsuit, and Barry must be ordered to lose, and then ordered to pay a full amount of pension. ”

In order to eliminate the impact, it is necessary to make a public judgment and a clear and canonical sentence, and it is meaningless to withdraw the lawsuit.

Belfort immediately realized,

"I'll arrange it."

As he spoke, he was leaving.

Cecil hurriedly shouted in a stoppable manner: "You wait! ”

He got up and walked to the window,

Wow –

The curtains opened.

I saw industrial workers holding various slogans and wooden signs outside, walking towards the Palace of Westminster.

One of the particularly tall, gigant-like workers held up a sign in his hand that was not "Fxxk!" It's "Shiit! It's simply a face-riding output.

Cecil's temples throbbed,

"The second thing, I'll quit tomorrow."

This incident was not unexpected.

In fact, members of the Conservative Party have a hunch that Cecil will not be in charge of the Cabinet for long.

Even if the Anglo-Boer war was a bad fight,

and the Royal Navy backstab,

In this case, it is long overdue to retreat bravely, end up with a better reputation, and still leave a political legacy for the Conservative Party.

Belfour, as Cecil's nephew, was a little sad,

"Your Excellency, you ......"

Cecil chuckled, "It's okay. In the future, maybe I will be able to enter the palace four times~"

As the leader of the Conservative Party, he served as prime minister three times.

1885～1886；

1886～1892；

1895 to the present.

The most important "political achievement" is to implement the so-called "glorious isolation" policy in Europe in order to manipulate the balance of power in Europe.

Balfour couldn't help but sigh,

"But ......"

Cecil shook his head and said, "Moreover, it is not necessarily a bad thing for me to retreat like this, and I can also nourish my body." It's really time to retire. ”

Due to his old age and frailty, he has had to give up his part-time job as foreign minister.

This is rare among any previous prime minister.

Cecil waved his hand,

"Alright, you all go down."

The people got up, saluted Cecil in turn, and came out in turn.

Balfour was the last,

He was about to salute, but Cecil stopped him and said, "Arthur, the next thing for Great Britain is yours." ”

Balfour said "um",

"I know."

Cecil added: "But our Majesty seems to have some thoughts of 'restoration.'" ”

Edward VII was originally king,

How can "restoration" be used?

Balfour couldn't help but laugh and said, "Uncle Robert, I understand what you mean. But I don't think I need to limit his power, neither the Conservatives, nor the Liberals, nor the Independent Labour, nor the anarchists, nor do they need a king with real power. ”

Cecil shook his head,

"The world is different now."

He turned his gaze to the Mirror spread out on the table and said, "The media can empower an individual, even if that person is the king that everyone hates." ”

In fact, Cecil is not very confident in his own judgment,

He just vaguely felt like this:

The media is the uncrowned king.

Belfort pondered for a moment and asked, "What to do?" ”

Cecil replied: "It is impossible to stop the current Mirror, and it is not advisable to fight it." Fortunately, I read the interview version and the Minsheng edition, and found that the "Mirror" has no partisan leanings, and you can find a way to win it over. ”

Belfour looked puzzled,

"But we've already had some unpleasant trouble with Lu Shi."

Cecil shook his head,

"It's me who has a bit of an unpleasant quarrel with Lu Shi, and it has nothing to do with the Conservative Party or you. Lu Shi and Cambridge University can laugh at each other, and so can we. ”

Belfort pondered for a moment,

"Well, I think I know what to do. I went to the courthouse first, and then I went to Fleet Street. ”

Cecil said, "Don't go to Fleet Street, go straight to Lu Shi's private house." ”

He pulled open the drawer on his desk, took out a note and handed it to Belfort,

It reads an address on Blya Road.

Belfort walked to the door,

"I'll go today."

……

Two days later,

Early morning.

Blya Road.

Lu Shi opened his hazy sleepy eyes, rolled out of bed, and prepared to eat breakfast after washing.

Natsume Soseki is covering his nose to shovel for my generation,

He finally finished the work, and then said: "Fortunately, the workers of the waterworks did not participate in the London strike, otherwise we with small pets would have been miserable." ”

Cats are animals from the desert, and their poop is a compressed creature rotten egg.

Now that the weather in London is getting hotter, I don't dare to think if there is no running water.

Lu Shi said: "The general strike should end today. ”

Natsume Soseki nodded, and then asked curiously: "Sir Balfour visited the day before yesterday, he won't lie to us, right?" Is the Marquess of Salisbury really resigning today? Also, the verdict in the Tafu Valley case will also be pronounced today? ”

Lu Shi replied: "No." Be. Be. ”

Natsume Soseki: ???

"What are you talking about?"

Lu Shi spread his hands and said, "You asked me so many questions at one time, of course I have to answer them in turn." ”

Natsume Soseki is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

He asked: "You say, is the Tafu Valley case really that tragic?" ”

Lu Shi's action of eating breakfast stopped,

For a long time, he said, "It will only be more miserable than what is published in the newspapers." Human language has boundaries, and many tragic situations cannot be explained clearly by description. What's more, the interviewed workers' representative, Mr. Andersson, has a limited vocabulary and is even more difficult. ”

Natsume Soseki sighed,

"It's a pity that the current photography technology is not very good."

Lu Shi said: "In the case a year ago, we asked the reporter of the "Mirror" to take pictures now, but there is no real scene, only ruins. Moreover, human language has boundaries, but empathy has no boundaries. ”

In this regard, Natsume Soseki is 100% recognized,

In that interview version, the most touching paragraph was the most simple:

“

Little Joe was so hungry that he bit off his toe in a daze, but I think he was hallucinating from eating the grass; Bull has always been able to find rats to eat, and we don't know what method he used; Ryu is very hungry, and he always jokes that he is a beef knee bone without meat......

”

It is precisely because of this passage that countless workers spontaneously took to the streets.

Natsume Soseki sighed: "The world is changing so fast. We had only been in London for a few months before the Queen was gone, and the Prime Minister stepped down. ”

This is the characteristic of the world of great contention,

Politics, Economics, Science and Technology, Literature, Sports, Arts, Entertainment......

Which one is not changing fast?

Lu Shi said: "Let's go, let's go out for a walk and buy a copy of today's "Mirror" by the way." ”

The two went out.

As a result, they bumped into a man and a woman head-on.

The male is James Keir Hardy;

The woman is Emmeline Pankhurst.

They came in groups.

Lu Shi raised his eyebrows,

"Mr. Hardy, Ms. Pankhurst, why are you here?"

Hardy had a smile on his face,

"Professor Lu, let's go into the house?"

Lu Shi didn't get out of the way, but directly blocked the door and said: "Two, if you have anything to say, we will say it outside, at this sensitive moment, I don't want to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings." ”

Pankhurst was dissatisfied,

"You ......"

Before the words fell, Hardy next to her glared at her, making her hold back the words that followed.

Hardy took out a copy of the "Mirror" and handed it to Lu Shi,

Front page: "Chaos: Prime Minister resigns! The term of office is a little longer than the softening cycle of a banana peel"

This headline is very tabloid style.

But judging by the content, the article is tightly structured, and the first paragraph quotes Cecil's resignation:

"I admit that, given the current circumstances, I am unable to live up to the mandate given to me by the Conservatives when they elected me. I have therefore informed His Majesty the King that I am resigning as Head of the Conservative Party. ”

That's what it starts with.

What could be more explosive?

The rest of the article describes what Cecil did during his three terms.

These objective contents are followed by a spicy and sarcastic comment: "Such a British prime minister is unheard of." He will be known for his 'heroism' in the Anglo-Boer War, his catastrophic ignorance, and his "Yes! The popularity of "The Prime Minister" and many other events are remembered. ”

Hardy said, "Professor Lu, this paragraph is really well written. ”

Lu Shi did not pick up the stubble.

Pankhurst said: "I didn't expect to really resign, but I still have some conscience. ”

Hardy sneered,

"Conscience? I think it's just hypocrisy. If he really had a conscience, he would have resigned a long time ago, and he would not have chosen to retreat after a strike of this magnitude. If I remember correctly, he also said on New Year's Day, 'I am a fighter, not a coward,' and said that he would never resign. ”

Pankhurst and Hardy have a bit of a tendency to talk to themselves.

Lu Shi was really too lazy to mix with these things, and continued to flip through the newspaper.

Second Edition: "Barry, Lose! Today's judgment in the Tafu Valley case》

This article is much more serious,

First, he briefly introduced the background of the case, and then predicted the future in which Barry would lose the case.

Finally, it was added that the pension for the injured worker would not be less.

Hardy looked at the sky and said, "Now, the court shouldn't be in time for the court to start, right?" The Mirror knew that Barry was bound to lose the case? ”

Lu Shi said: "To be a media, there should always be a bit of an internal information source. Moreover, the London general strike is in full swing, and if it continues like this, Obiei, as the center of the world, is about to shut down, and the court is forced to rule against Barry. ”

Internal Information Sources......

Hardy looked at Lu Shi and fell into deep thought.

On the other side, Pankhurst spoke: "Professor Lu, thank you for your support. ”

Lu Shi shook his head,

"Your Majesty is the one you should be thanking for."

As he spoke, he looked at Hardy,

"Especially you, Mr. Hardy."

Hardy was slightly embarrassed,

He didn't expect Edward VII to be able to ignore his past suspicions.

Lu Shi raised his hand,

"Alright, you two, let's talk about it here."

He handed the Mirror back and said, "I'm going to Fleet Street now." ”

(End of chapter)