"First, the most urgent question," Shen Rongxuan glanced at the ministers and pointed at the ceiling, "should we lower the flag at half-mast."
Foreign Minister He Ziguang first nodded and said: "The flag should be flown at half-mast. This does not involve any substantive decision, it just shows our basic attitude."
Information Minister Chen Jingzhi asked tentatively: "But... should we consider that last time we did not lower the flag at half-mast, will this time..."
Navy Minister Fan Yaochen shook his head and said: "You don't need to think so much. Flying the flag at half-mast just shows the mood of the Ming government, and it is purely from a humanitarian perspective. Mr. He is right. It is just lowering the flag at half-mast, and it does not involve any substantive decisions. Moreover, in 1912 This was before the World War. Now... everyone's hearts are much softer."
Shen Rongxuan smiled, but felt a little disappointed in his heart: I asked the Minister of the Navy to attend today, just hoping that these people can see the difference from the past and be aware of it. But now it seems that they don't seem to feel it? It's just a matter of time. If the flag is flown at half-mast, I am afraid of what others will think...
Several people laughed after hearing the words of the Navy Minister. Shen Rongxuan also laughed and said:
"Then it's decided, the flag will be flown at half-mast."
After speaking, he picked up the phone on the table and said, "Answer His Majesty for me."
After a while, Shen Rongxuan spoke into the microphone in a respectful and kind tone:
"Your Majesty, after discussion with the cabinet, I feel that it is more appropriate to lower the flag to half-mast now... I request your Majesty's permission to lower the flag to half-mast for the compatriots who died in Batavia."
Zhu Yourong said in a gloomy voice: "Mr. Ge is right, it should have been like this a long time ago. Then Mr. Ge will arrange it. How long will it take for the flags to be flown at half-mast across the country?... Well, I think it will be before noon tomorrow. All places with national flags will have them." Reduce it by half.”
"All..." Shen Rongxuan was stunned. His original intention was to lower the flags at half-mast in several important places such as the Chief Minister's residence and the palace as a sign of expression. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yourong lowered all national flags across the country with just a casual word.
But this is better and closer to Shen Rongxuan's meaning.
"Yes, I obey the order. Before noon tomorrow, flags will be flown at half-mast across the country."
Shen Rongxuan hung up the phone, took out the paper from the drawer, and quickly wrote an order to lower flags at half-mast across the country.
Several ministers looked at him blankly and were surprised. The Foreign Minister said curiously:
"Flags at half-mast across the country?"
"Yes, what's wrong?" Shen Rongxuan immersed himself in writing the order, signed it, and gave it to his secretary to handle. Then he raised his head and said normally, "It said the flags were lowered to half-mast nationwide. Is it just lowering them here?"
…
Outside the official residence of the Chief Minister, thousands of citizens and students gathered. They held banners like waves and chanted loudly. A student leader stood on a stool, raised his arms and shouted:
"The government sends troops!"
Hundreds of people below shouted in unison:
“The government sends troops——!!!”
He waved his hand again and shouted:
"eye for eye!"
The following shouted in unison:
"eye for eye--!!!"
In addition, there are many leaders of civil political organizations scattered throughout the crowd, standing on boxes and steps to give speeches. One of them is speaking impassionedly:
"... Fang Hongru's cabinet just sat in the office and did nothing! Our Ming Dynasty is like a coward! ... Shen Rongxuan's cabinet still sat in the office and did nothing! Our Ming Dynasty is still What a coward!...Why do we, the Ming Dynasty, always act like a coward?...Why do they spend our people's money but let us be a coward?"
At this point, everyone applauded and cheered.
"...Our Ming Dynasty has the second largest fleet in Asia, which our people spent money to build and maintain! Why are we people willing to spend money to maintain a fleet? Is it fun?...No! In order to build and maintain the fleet in our Ming Dynasty,
When the people are bullied, the fleet can protect us! Now our people in the Ming Dynasty are being bullied, killed, and raped in Nanyang! Where is our fleet? Where are our giant ships and cannons?... They are dumb.
In Hong Kong, do nothing!!!”
Audiences on all sides shouted, stamped their feet, and clapped, and the atmosphere in front of the official residence of the Chief Minister was pushed to a climax.
"...Why do our cabinets change one term after another, and each term is so meat-headed? Why do they dare not do anything except 'protest' and 'serious protest' every time Ming expatriates are massacred in Nanyang?
Do?... If our government was elected by the people, then the government would at least consider the people's feelings. But they are not! They don't care at all about how the people feel, they only care about the seat under their own butts! Again, nothing.
It’s safest not to!”
There was another burst of enthusiastic shouting and applause.
"...Their whole reason is the oil issue! This is not unusual, it has become a commonplace! We all will remember it! The government is just worried that if the natives of Batavia Island do not kill our expatriates, the Netherlands will not sell to us
Oil. Since we can't live without oil, we should continue to buy oil from the Netherlands and let them continue to kill our expatriates. This is the equation they came up with. Look, how rational our government is and how well it can consider the overall situation.
!
"... Then I have to ask: As long as the Netherlands sells us oil, they can kill us as much as they want? If one day, the Dutch allow the natives to kill all the Chinese in the East Indies, will we still not be able to kill them?
Will they stand up for those wronged souls? What would happen if we changed to another country? Japan also relies on imports of oil from East India, why don't they dare to touch Japanese expatriates? Because the thinking of the Japanese government is normal thinking, and they will not go to the painful place at all.
Choice: Do you want overseas Chinese or do you want oil? Let alone slaughtering thousands of Japanese overseas Chinese, why don’t you try to kill a Japanese overseas Chinese? The warships will just sail over! I’m afraid they can’t find an excuse!”
Cheers and applause resounded outside the official residence of the Chief Minister and also into Shen Rongxuan's office.
Shen Rongxuan stood in front of the window, looking at the situation below, then turned around and said calmly to several ministers:
"Everyone has heard what others say. Our cabinet must be different from Fang Hongru's. The last time we were excluded from China, Fang Hongru's cabinet handled it very unpopularly. We cannot be the same as them under any circumstances."
Several ministers looked at the chief and assistant ministers quietly. Only now did they catch something, and then they looked at the Navy Minister Fan Yaochen in unison.
Now they suddenly understood why the Minister of the Navy was sitting here. Fan Yaochen himself had just woken up, looked at Shen Rongxuan, and said with a tongue-tied tongue:
"Master Shen...the Lord does not raise armies out of anger, sir, think twice!"
The Foreign Secretary was also a little unconvinced and said tentatively:
"Master Shen, that's not what you mean, right?... Our real enemy is in the north, and what supports us in resisting the north is oil... Once we have an enemy with the Netherlands, the Qing will definitely invade the south again. By that time, we will have the most fuel reserves.
Hold on for half a year..."
Shen Rongxuan waved his hands and said with a smile:
"Of course that's not what we mean. However, we must take some actions to show that we are different from the previous cabinet, and to win back the hearts of the people and His Majesty..."
Several ministers looked at each other. "Your Majesty's heart"? The chief minister said it too seriously. This has already involved His Majesty's perception of our cabinet...
The Minister of Information murmured:
"We...this is all for the sake of the overall situation...wasn't it the case in 1912..."
Shen Rongxuan interrupted coldly:
"First, in 1912, he was still the late emperor, and the late emperor was not as kind as your majesty in thinking about problems; second, the power in the hands of the late emperor was not as great as your majesty. The late emperor still could not remove the cabinet based on his preferences. But now, your majesty is in a coup. After that, it's okay. Thirdly, the late emperor didn't Xiang Xiaoqiang at that time."
As soon as he said this, everyone was stunned.
"By the way," Shen Rongxuan said, "Xiang Xiaoqiang is giving a speech at the Singapore port now. Maybe you would like to listen to the live broadcast."
He made a gesture, and the secretary went over to turn on the radio next to the fireplace and tuned it to a channel. Amidst the noise of the radio, Xiang Xiaoqiang's voice came out:
"...In this place in the Far East that we call 'Southern Ocean', there are two most dazzling pearls. One of them is the Philippines. The American people drove away the brutal Spaniards and liberated the Philippines, making the Philippines one of the few shining pearls in Southeast Asia. There are happy places... and another pearl is where I am standing now, Malaya (Singapore is part of British Malaya)! The British people came here from earlier, bringing people from European civilization spread here, and they got along well with the local people and the Ming expatriates, like brothers...
"Here, under the rule of His Majesty's Government, the British, Chinese, and locals have truly realized the equal coexistence. They are worthy of the title of Christians! Especially here, Singapore can be said to be the most civilized place in the entire Southeast Asia. , the happiest place for Chinese people to live! Why is it that every time a tragic disaster occurs in the Savage Islands in the south, Singapore is the first choice for us Ming expatriates to take refuge? Because we Ming expatriates are very smart. They know the deep friendship between Great Britain and Ming Dynasty. They know that once they escape to England, Under the protection of His Majesty's government, safety is absolutely guaranteed!
"When the tragedy of Batavia Island happens again, on behalf of the Ming Dynasty government, I would like to thank His Majesty the King's government again and thank the Governor. Because of you, our expatriates have a place of refuge in Nanyang... Ming Dynasty The people of the two countries should be friends from generation to generation and stand together in the world. The Ming Empire will continue to respect everything the British Empire has in the Far East, including its territories and commercial interests, as it has done for a century... Under the authority of His Majesty the King When the government needs it, Ming Dynasty will help protect these interests... Ming Dynasty has done this for a century, and Ming Dynasty will do this again in the next century...
"But the sovereign states of some barbaric archipelagos seem to have spotted this point about the Ming Dynasty. They seem to have determined our respect for the Southeast Asian territories, our kindness, and our refusal to fight back or scold us. , so we challenge the limit of our patience again and again... We in China have a saying, if you want others to respect you, you must first respect others. Everything is done with a heart-to-heart. Britain is good to us. If we are good to our expatriates, we will naturally treat them as friends and relatives. Of course we will respect their relatives' property and help protect it...
"However, some people are different. To use a Chinese saying, this kind of people are shameless. Not only are they shameless, but they also tear it off layer by layer... Please forgive me for using bad language... The West
There is a giant, that is the British Empire. There is a giant in the east, that is the Ming Empire. There is always mutual respect between giants and giants. However, under the feet of that eastern giant, there is such a wild child.
Sex, constantly teasing the giant, scratching with nails, biting with teeth...
"The giant tolerated him time and time again, but made him feel that the giant was easy to bully and that he was very powerful... In the end, he actually cut off the giant's toes with a dagger, which made the giant feel heartbroken... This wild boy made a mistake
: He should have known a long time ago that the reason why he can live under the giant's feet and still live well is because the giant allows him to live... As long as this giant is willing, he can lift his foot at any time and trample it into flesh.
Jiang...everyone, you understand such a simple truth, I understand it, even pigs understand it, but some people just don’t understand it!!!”
Then, there was a burst of fanatical shouting from the radio, like a mountain roaring and a tsunami.
The office of the Chief Minister was quiet, and no one from the ministers spoke.
After a long time, the Foreign Secretary said in disbelief:
"This...is this Xiang Xiaoqiang?"
Shen Rongxuan smiled and said: "It's Xiang Xiaoqiang... I have said before that this boy is very talented and very talented. If I remember correctly, this is his first official public speech."
Chen Jingzhi, the Minister of Information who always prided himself on his eloquence in speeches, sighed after a long time:
"Genius, really a genius...I am ashamed of myself. I wonder who helped him write the speech?"
Shen Rongxuan smiled slightly:
"Then I don't know. I only know that he helped write His Majesty's last war speech... He was very smart. He first praised the British colonies and the American colonies desperately, tried his best to reassure Britain and the United States, and repeatedly
Guaranteed that the Ming Dynasty would not get involved in Malaya and the Philippines, and then desperately emphasized the difference between the Dutch East Indies and the British and American territories. Even if we did something to it, it would be intolerable and helpless, and it was definitely not out of concern for the Nanyang resource area.
Greed... The concept of a kind giant is very interesting. Let’s not say whether Britain and the United States will believe it. If he can say this, he is already right... Think about it, even if we really plan to attack the Netherlands
If East India wants to stabilize Britain and the United States, it can only do what he said."
The Lord Admiralty hesitated and said:
"Master Shen...are we really..."
Shen Rongxuan muttered:
"With Xiang Xiaoqiang's shrewdness, the reason why he dares to say this now is probably because he has received some kind of instruction from His Majesty... Don't forget, he carries a radio with him so that he can contact His Majesty at any time like me. Your Majesty seems to have
I really like to work with Xiang Xiaoqiang, bypassing us and making some decisions alone. It's okay to give the People's Guard a few more tanks. After all, we can't control it, but we'd better not be bypassed on things like this that are related to the future of the Ming Empire.
.If this is the case, we have to catch up quickly."
The Foreign Minister squinted his eyes and said tentatively:
"We want everyone to see that it is not just His Majesty and Xiang Xiaoqiang who can make decisions for the overseas Chinese, but also us?"
Shen Rongxuan smiled and said:
"Yes...there is another important reason..."
He looked out the window with a cold light in his eyes:
"That is - there is a difference between me, Shen Rongxuan, and Fang Hongru. I, Shen Rongxuan, am not only a politician, but also a bloody person."