Chapter 325 The International Industrial Expo opens!
1851.
June 14th.
clear.
On this day, Xu Yun's 1X4th birthday.
Xu Yun's long-awaited first International Industrial Expo has finally begun.
In order to welcome this grand ceremony, Cambridge University...or all British universities have given students a seven-day holiday.
Xu Yun called Laotang, Mai, Aveline, Riemann and Kirchhoff, and rushed to London the night before so as not to miss the opening ceremony of the expo.
In fact, according to the original plan.
Xu Yun also planned to call Hiroshi Ueda and Sylph to come with them.
However, Tian Hao suffered from diarrhea, and Sylph was still afraid of London and said she never wanted to return to this nightmare place.
So the exhibition team organized by Xu Yun ended up with only six people, and it failed to be as lively as expected.
It was early this morning.
The group had breakfast early and took a carriage to the opening venue of the expo, which was Hyde Park adjacent to Buckingham Palace.
Just got off the carriage.
A huge and magnificent building appeared in front of the six people.
The height of this building is estimated to be close to 40 meters, the width is over 100 meters, and the length is over 500 meters.
Yawen library
The top of the building is an arched arc, and the entire building stands on the lawn, exuding a majestic and majestic atmosphere.
What is more attractive than its appearance is the material of the building:
Except for some supporting parts.
To the naked eye, more than 90% of the building is made of glass, making it look like a crystal palace.
Standing in front of this behemoth, Xiaomai, who had no knowledge at all, suddenly opened his mouth:
"God, it's so spectacular..."
Xu Yun also nodded in agreement.
Although the Crystal Palace covers an area of only 80,000 square meters, it cannot be compared with domestic buildings such as the Forbidden City and the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.
But know it.
Whether it is the Forbidden City or the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, they all took a huge amount of manpower and material resources to finally build.
The construction time of the Crystal Palace was less than half a year. In terms of efficiency, it is indeed worthy of Xu Yun's praise.
Lao Tang paid the fare on the side, and when he came to the crowd, he looked at the crowd around him and said:
"Okay everyone, let's hurry up and enter the venue - if it's any later, we may not be able to squeeze in."
Everyone readily agreed.
Then, under the guidance of Lao Tang, the group quickly arrived at the entrance of the venue and handed their invitation letters to the staff.
The price of a ticket for the first World Exposition was five pence, regardless of adults or children, which was equivalent to just over a hundred yuan in later generations.
The opening quota on the first day was 40,000, but there were only 8,000 for the opening ceremony.
More than 5,000 of these 8,000 places were distributed to the aristocracy, as well as educational or social organizations such as universities and the Royal Society.
Only 3,000 places are actually open to the general public, and the conductor has the right to review the appearance of ticket buyers, and those who do not comply will not be able to enter.
As prominent figures at Cambridge University, Xu Yun and the others would not have difficulty getting a few invitations.
Today, two teams of royal guards were arranged at the entrance of the exhibition, that is, 32 people.
They still wore bearskin hats on hot days, held guns in both hands, and looked at the passers-by with solemn eyes.
The entrance is divided into two areas, one for ticket sales and the other for verification of invitations.
The person responsible for verifying the invitations is an old man in his fifties, wearing standard butler clothing and with silver hair.
After receiving the invitation letter.
The little old man carefully checked the content and imprints on it, then looked at everyone's clothes, and finally nodded:
"Welcome to the first World Expo in human history. Ladies and gentlemen, you may enter."
Lao Tang thanked the little old man and led Xu Yun and others through the revolving door and into the interior of the Crystal Palace.
As soon as I entered.
Xu Yun and others suddenly felt a chill on their faces, and an icy cold air hit their faces.
This feeling is like being there...
Air conditioning installed?
But this is obviously impossible.
Air conditioning would not be invented until around 1900, let alone equipment that could cover such a large venue.
And just when Xu Yun was confused.
Riemann suddenly raised his head, pointed upward, and said to everyone in less than standard English:
"Look up there!"
Hearing this, Xu Yun and others subconsciously raised their heads.
The exhibition hall of the Crystal Palace is divided into two floors. The top of the second floor is about fifteen meters high. Above that is the space no longer used by exhibitors.
I only see this moment.
Every few meters in a non-public area about 20 meters above the ground, there is a large black box-like rectangular facility!
Each facility extends about one and a half meters in length, half a meter in height, and about two meters in width.
They are completely sealed, with only some small openings in the upper half, and a small tube inserted at the bottom.
And outside these facilities.
At this time, some workers were filling ice cubes, and you could vaguely see the fan blowing behind them (the fan was invented in 1820).
See this situation.
Xu Yun couldn't help but feel a flash of surprise in his heart.
So that's what happened...
Those workers regularly filled the cuboid with ice cubes, and fans blew the cold air emitted by the ice cubes out of the small holes.
The density of the cold air is greater than that of air, and it will naturally sink after leaving the hole, and then fall on the audience below.
This has a cooling effect similar to that of an air conditioner.
The ice water melted by the ice cubes is led away by the small tube, and so on, so that the Crystal Palace does not feel hot at all.
This operation is not complicated, but the labor cost is very high - the length of the venue is more than 500 meters, and the number of cuboids set up on both sides is at least more than 100.
In addition, the cycle of adding ice cubes must be taken into consideration, and the expenditure in this area is not a small number.
Then Xu Yun suddenly thought of something and looked upward seriously for a few times.
as expected.
The ones adding ice are all black people…
Then Lao Tang took out the pocket watch from his body, read the time and then closed it with a click:
"Okay everyone, let's go inside, the opening ceremony is about to begin."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yun and others withdrew their gazes and walked forward.
The opening ceremony podium of the first World Exposition was located in the center of the Crystal Palace, with a small fountain built next to it, which kept pouring water.
The opening ceremony has not yet started at this time, so the exhibition halls along the way are closed and there is not much to visit.
Therefore, Xu Yun and the others are like most of the audience.
After being surprised by the air-conditioning, he walked straight inward to the edge of the stage.
There were also several butler-looking service staff standing at the edge of the podium, but their attitude was much softer than that of their counterpart outside the door. They kept talking to the audience near the podium:
"Sir, did you get the invitation letter or the ticket? - Ticket, right? I'm sorry, please move to the second floor or outside the yellow circle to attend."
"Mr. Baron Sisak, your seat is on the left-hand side from the third to the fifth row, just choose any place... Uh-huh, you're welcome. I hope you have a good time today!"
"Mrs. Almis, I'm glad to serve you... What? Do you want the painter to draw you a little thinner? But in addition to being a painter, we also take pictures. With all due respect, I'm afraid there is no such thing as a 300-pound slimmer in the world.
Photography technology that weighs 100 pounds..."
Then, taking advantage of one of them being free, Lao Tang walked up quickly and handed over the invitation letters to several people:
"Hello, may I ask where the ceremony is at Cambridge University?"
"Cambridge University?"
The person who answered Lao Tang's question was a young man with blond hair and a handsome face. After receiving Lao Tang's invitation, he simply glanced at it - after all, the identity verification process had already been completed at the door, and then handed the invitation back to Lao Tang:
"Mr. Thomson, right? The viewing seat at Cambridge University is in the seventh row on the right. If you want to show your face, you can stay as far outside as possible."
"Thank you very much."
Lao Tang thanked him and led Xu Yun and others to the seventh row.
Strange to say.
The British royal family attached great importance to this industrial expo and invested a lot of manpower and material resources.
However, no matter whether it was the portraits or photos left in the original history, or the opening scene that Xu Yun personally attended, there were no seats for the audience to sit.
There were more than 8,000 people in the audience at the opening ceremony, and everyone can understand that it was impossible to take care of everyone.
But it’s not difficult to add seats for the nobles near the podium, right?
But in fact, no one, whether they were counts, marquises or heads of other organizations, enjoyed the privilege of having a seat at the table.
This leads to some rather funny consequences:
Some short nobles will be blocked by tall people in front of them. At the same time, because the higher the rank, the higher the status, he cannot ask the other party to bend down or change positions.
Therefore, in some related portraits of later generations, you can occasionally find some unlucky people with only half of their heads exposed, and some even have only a top hat recorded...
However, Xu Yun and the others had no intention of showing their faces in the portrait. After arriving at their seats, they obediently waited for the opening of the expo.
As time goes by, the number of viewers around them gradually begins to increase.
About ten minutes later.
Several people were already densely packed with spectators.
Among them were some Cambridge alumni whom Xu Yun knew, and some British dignitaries whom Xu Yun had never met before.
Then about five minutes passed.
There was a noise from the front left of Xu Yun and others.
After a while.
The scene suddenly fell silent, and a burst of ritual music suddenly sounded.
I saw a noble lady holding Prince Albert's hand, slowly walking out of the crowd, and stepping onto the podium step by step.
This woman is about in her early thirties, slightly fat, with a slightly pointed nose, and extremely thick nasolabial folds on both sides of her nose.
Wearing a silver-white crown on her head, wearing a white silk gown, and a string of pearl necklaces hanging on her chest, she is elegant with a hint of pride.
In later generations, Xu Yun once saw a picture of this woman turning into an aunt when she was old, that is...
Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria's full name is Alexandrina Victoria. She single-handedly created the famous Victorian era and was the first British monarch to be called "Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India".
Her love story with Prince Albert has also made countless young girls in later generations envious and intoxicated.
but......
Xu Yun's impression of her was not good, at best it could only be regarded as average.
Because she is different from Prince Albert.
The reason why the One Crow and Two Crows broke out in history is closely related to this aunt.
True.
The real promoter of Two Crows was Henry John Temple, but Henry John Temple was defined as the culprit, not the only sinner.
If Henry John Temple needs to bear 60% of the responsibility for a crow, Aunt Victoria has at least 15%-20%.
The butt determines the head, there is nothing to say about this.
It is strange that someone like Prince Albert has never expressed his attitude towards the East.
So you expect Xu Yun to have any affection for Aunt Victoria, which is obviously impossible.
However, Victoria didn't know Xu Yun's psychology at this time. After taking the stage, she waved to the audience gracefully.
The audience responded with applause at the right time.
After the applause subsides.
Prince Albert took Victoria's hand and walked to the stage, looked around and said slowly:
"Ladies and gentlemen, good morning everyone!"
"I am very happy to gather with you all today in the beautiful Crystal Palace to attend the first International Industrial Expo."
"On behalf of the British royal family and the British government, I would like to express warm congratulations on the opening of the expo! I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the guests who have come from afar!"
"A few years ago, I proposed the idea of holding an industrial expo, which received widespread response from the international community."
"A total of 57 countries and organizations are participating in the exhibition today, covering all known continents. I feel deeply honored..."
"So at this moment, let us abandon those complicated secular languages and welcome the opening of this expo with cheers and music!"
Prince Albert just finished speaking.
The music and ceremony behind him reached a climax, and outside the Crystal Palace, salutes exploded.
The First International Industrial Expo......
Official opening!
.........
Note:
The dungeon ends within ten chapters, and the ending will not disappoint you. It is definitely not the kind of experiment that just ends. I can’t wait for you to see the ending...