"Gao, I heard that the princess is coming? It's a pity that I can't go back to receive her on the front line. Please be sure to do a good job in reception and ensure that every minute of Her Royal Highness's stay in Downton is happy, so that every Downtonian can feel happy.
Proud, wish everything goes well!"
After reading the telegram sent by Robert, Gao Bin said to Carson:
"You also heard that my father is paying close attention to this matter on the front line. Have all the preparations been completed?"
"Yes, young master, in fact we didn't do anything. It was all prepared by the staff of the royal family's internal affairs department."
"I haven't seen them yet. How many people are here?"
"A housekeeper, two maids, a stylist, a driver, a chef, a whole team."
Although Carson spoke calmly, Gao Bin could hear the dissatisfaction in his words.
"Man, just get used to it, we are the royal family after all."
"I would rather show the style of Downton."
"There will be many opportunities in the future. Remember to show the menu to mother for confirmation."
"Of course, my young master."
...
A week later, the line from the train station to Downton Abbey was cordoned off by the county security team, and many people stopped along the cordon to watch.
The carriage the princess is riding in will pass through Long Street and then enter the internal roads of Downton Abbey.
Gao Bin went to the train station to greet the princess in person and took a carriage together. This was also a link that had been designed long ago to create an opportunity for the two young people to communicate.
"Mr. Crowley, the town has been managed very beautifully by you." Princess Mary said softly.
"Thank you for your compliments, Her Royal Highness, Princess. We haven't done enough."
"Why do you say that?"
"In my imagination, this town should be a paradise that people yearn for, but the people are not rich enough and the scenery does not achieve the effect of paradise."
Mary withdrew her gaze and looked at him in surprise:
"This is a great idea, can it really be realized?"
"Of course, as long as there is enough money, we can realize it little by little, and we are working hard for it.
Because of the war, nearly half of the population in the town is currently working in factories. I believe that as time goes by, they will earn enough wealth to build their own homes."
Gao Bin's words made Princess Mary's eyes sparkle:
"I heard in London that your factory is the star of the entire British industry."
"It's not enough, Your Royal Highness. In the future, I will modernize the factory. From production efficiency to production technology, it will be further improved. By then, the first phase of construction will be barely completed."
"Oh?"
"I plan to build Downton into a light industrial town. There will be no heavy industry that pollutes the environment, and naturally it will not destroy the stable and peaceful environment."
Princess Mary smiled bitterly:
"I feel like you're mocking London's smog."
"Although saying this may make you feel uncomfortable, if the fog in London is not controlled, there may be endless consequences."
"Why do you say that?"
"Have London managers not considered the causes of smog?"
"At a previous gathering, I heard several ministers say that they thought it was due to the massive burning of coal."
"There is a relationship with coal, but it is not absolute."
Gao Bin is now working hard to show his knowledge and insights to Princess Mary. He knows that in terms of identity, honor and wealth, he is not the best choice for Princess Mary.
So if you want to arouse her favor, you must find another way.
The best and most direct way to make a woman fall in love with you is to worship yourself. As long as you make the other woman worship you, she will fall in love with you in a matter of minutes.
Especially in such a relatively 'innocent' era, a princess who is not familiar with the world can easily be attracted by a young man who is knowledgeable, thoughtful, and has great ambitions and ideals.
Closer to home, he used 21st-century hindsight to analyze the causes of smog in London for the princess.
"Since the mid-16th century AD, with the enclosure movement of British society and the formation of urban settlements around London, a large number of idle laborers from agricultural villages have gone to London to seek a livelihood.
It is this urbanization process that has led to a serious shortage of urban resources in London, the first of which is the fuel resources used for heating and daily life, which is what you call coal burning.
By the end of the 17th century AD, London's annual coal consumption had increased six times compared to the beginning of the century.
At this time, household coal use and coal use in small handicraft workshops scattered throughout London became the initial source of air pollution in the London area.
At the end of the 17th century, the urban population of London, England, had reached 600,000, an increase of three times compared with the beginning of the century.
A large number of citizens need convenient, high-calorie and portable fuel for home heating and daily life fire.
Therefore, the vast majority of coal imported into London is used for household consumption, and London's citizens have become a new force in coal consumption.
Due to the hidden nature of household coal heating and the dispersed emissions, the environmental impact of coal burning in London households has not been noticed from the beginning."
Princess Mary has been listening since Gao Bin started talking, maybe out of politeness at first, but now she is more shocked.
In her impression, young people of the same age group do not have Gao Bin's insights.
While others were studying how to eat, drink and have fun, Gao Bin focused on an inconspicuous but far-reaching little thing.
This makes Mary very curious, what is Gao Bin thinking?
"To be honest, I don't understand why people chose coal instead of more environmentally friendly wood." Mary followed Gao Bin's words and asked.
"It's very simple. The first thing people consider when using something is the price factor. Cheap and durable are good things. On the contrary, expensive and flashy things will be despised by them."
In the eyes of London citizens with meager incomes at the time, the high price of lumber in London was the main economic factor for them to choose coal.
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Since the 16th century AD, the price of charcoal as a fuel in the London timber market has been almost three times the price of coal in the same period. With the economic pressure brought by inflation, more and more London citizens are willing to choose coal as their first choice of household fuel. p>
On the other hand, London's dependence on coal imports is also gradually increasing.
At the end of the 16th century AD, the standard carrying capacity of London coal ships was 25 tons each. However, 100 years later, the standard carrying capacity of London coal ships has reached 250 tons, a full increase of 10 times.<
/p>
At the end of the 17th century AD, London's coal consumption increased to 450,000 tons per year. This figure was already twice the total coal consumption in the last century, which shows the rapid rise of coal's status in London.
In London's industrial sector, the first to use coal was London's brewing and printing and dyeing industries. This was also one of the few industries in the UK that allowed the use of coal in the early days.
Even so, the pollution produced by burning bituminous coal made the British king very unhappy.
Especially during the time of Elizabeth I, because the thick smoke polluted the walls of the Palace of Westminster in London, the angry Queen once ordered a ban on burning coal within one mile of the palace, which was also the beginning of the no-burning zone.<
/p>
Since the 17th century AD, the no-burning zone has been further expanded. The palaces and church areas of British princes have been classified as no-burning zones by the British Parliament.
However, this kind of ban can only protect the king and bishops from the soot of coal burning, and as British residents and handicraft industries further deepen their dependence on coal, this symbolic protection has also become weak.
When the British handicraft industry and households show an olive branch to the coal industry, the disorderly expansion of the coal industry is bound to have a certain negative impact.
The most important phenomenon is that at this time, countless traders of shoddy goods appeared in the London coal market, and the market in which bad money drove out good money made inferior coal with lower prices occupy a dominant position in the London coal market.
Because inferior coal does not contain enough effective combustion substances, it often produces a large amount of ash and toxic gases in coal stoves. These conditions further aggravate the decline in London's air quality.
Even the coal ban cannot stop the spread of thick fog in the air... Whether in the King's Whitehall or on the streets of downtown London, the pungent smell of coal smoke is filled.
People who cover their mouths and noses on the street are not immune to the harm, and often make coughing and wheezing sounds similar to consumption.
"If coal is the cause of the decline in London's air quality, then the birth of the first industrial revolution is the culprit of air pollution!
In order to export industrial products to overseas colonial markets and make huge profits, they increased investment in local industrial products, and then dumped these industrial products to overseas colonies at extremely high profits.
It was precisely due to the continuous development of industrial demand that the first industrial revolution was born, and the large demand for coal in the industrial revolution made London's air pollution show a trend of further deepening.
Because steam engines require a large amount of coal to provide heat to maintain operation, London's industrial capitalists began to find ways to import coal resources. By the beginning of the 19th century, London imported more than 2 million tons of coal every year.
A large part of this coal is used in the UK's light industry, but household coal still accounts for a large proportion, and even the only combustible resource available to many London households is coal.
Due to the unreasonable heating design of London homes, it is difficult to achieve the ideal indoor temperature even if a large amount of coal is burned in winter.
A large amount of coal heat is wasted into the air along with billowing smoke and dust, making it difficult for the average temperature in a London home to exceed 10 degrees Celsius.
Under the dual influence of industrial and household coal use, a large amount of sulfide produced after the combustion of sulfur-containing coal is emitted into the air. Once these fine particles are absorbed by water vapor, it is easy to form large-scale acid rain and fall to the ground.
.
The arrival of acid rain not only seriously harms human health and the ecological environment near London, but also seriously erodes the city's marble buildings, threatening people's life safety.
By the time of the second industrial revolution, this situation had further intensified.
It seems that all the reasons are directed at coal, but the inaction of managers is the root cause.
Since the late 19th century, residents of London along the Thames River have chosen to move to other areas because they could not tolerate the exhaust gases emitted by a large number of factories, leaving a large amount of vacant real estate.
The Archbishop of Canterbury complained that soot from nearby light industrial manufacturing plants was staining the sacred palace of Lambeth and eroding nearby marble statues;
Affected by London fog, the value of real estate near the Thames River has also shrunk significantly, because no one wants to live in such dirty and polluted air;
Even the street trees growing along the streets of London could not withstand the toxicity of London's black fog and gradually withered.
Didn't all this make managers realize the seriousness of the problem?"
Gao Bin's question was like a heavy hammer hitting Princess Mary's heart.
It's a pity that she is just a princess and is not qualified to participate in management.
But this does not prevent her from conveying Gao Bin's words to her father and mother, who are people who can influence London managers.
"Unexpectedly, there are people in Yorkshire who see things more clearly than the natives of London."
"Haha, this is just what I came up with when I was bored. Your Highness, Princess, you don't have to take it to heart. This is just a casual chat."
"No, your words are very constructive. I can't do much, but I will bring your words back to London. I hope to remind those managers as soon as possible and let them take action. I don't want London to become a city of death.
."
Gao Bin nodded and changed the topic to a lighter topic:
"Your Highness, according to the itinerary, you can only stay in Downton for one day this time. Do you want to return to London afterwards?"
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After a pause, he quickly added:
"I have no intention of asking about your future whereabouts, I just want to keep you for a while."
"Haha, why?" Princess Mary asked with a smile.
"Of course, I want to have more time to show you my advantages and marry you with peace of mind."
Princess Mary was surprised and said:
"So straightforward?"
"I think honesty is my greatest advantage. If before I met you, I was still hesitant about pursuing you formally, then now, I have no hesitation anymore."
"The short journey from the train station to here has made you determined?"
"Yes."
"Is there a reason?"
"Isn't that reason enough that you have grown up with my aesthetic point of view? Of course, your gentle personality and your willingness to listen to my boring nonsense are also reasons."
"Well, you are really a strange person. Others will be very reserved when they see me and try their best to please me, but you..."
Gao Bin immediately said:
"That's because you haven't arrived at the manor yet. Once you enter the manor, you will know how I try to please you."
"Haha, you are so interesting, I will wait and see."
"There is still some time before lunch. Your Highness, would you like to try the desserts I made by myself?"
"Can you make desserts? By the way, it is said that you invented the opera house cake. Is this true?"
"Of course, this can't be a lie. Everyone in Downton can testify for me."
"Oh my god, you are a gentleman and you can actually make desserts? Although I am a loyal supporter of opera house cakes, I still can't believe it."
"You will know later that this is all true. In order to welcome you, I have specially researched a brand new dessert."
"Really? Then I'll have to look forward to it."
This princess is not the kind of person who is pampered. Of course, she is also willing to enjoy it, but she has never resisted the responsibilities that her status requires.
Just like this time, although everyone knows the real purpose, it is to go on a blind date.
But on the surface, she came here to visit the wounded.
After getting off the car and meeting everyone in Downton, he visited the injured under the leadership of Countess Cora.
Mary performed perfectly. She listened carefully to the story of each injured person's injury, shed a few tears from time to time, and then offered heartwarming words that were useless but made people feel comfortable.
It took an hour to complete the visit process, and then he wandered around and gave a speech in front of the villagers.
I won’t talk about the content, it’s all nutritious talk. Gao Bin feels that all leaders’ speeches at all times and in all over the world follow the same formula – falsehood and empty talk.
Not only did Gao Bin get tired of listening to it, but Princess Mary also got tired of what she said.
As she joked privately, the main structure of this speech is 100 years old.
The implication is that this set of words has been used by members of the royal family for 100 years. They can continue to use it by changing it temporarily according to different occasions. It is all a routine.
After getting off the podium, Mary wiped the sweat on her neck with a handkerchief and said to Gao Bin:
"I don't think I can eat dessert now. It's too hot and I need something cold."
Gao Bin raised his lips:
"Luckily, my dessert is cold."
Princess Mary's eyes suddenly lit up:
"Is it ice cream?"
"That's right, and it's a brand new flavor of ice cream. I guarantee you've never tasted it before."
"Quick, I want to try it."
Princess Mary's sudden behavior shows that she is still a child.
There are always different opinions about the origin of ice cream. Gao Bin's preferred theory is that it was the era of Marco Polo's exploration in the East in the 13th century.
Someone once claimed that he learned the art of making iced desserts from China, which is a dessert similar to smoothies mixed with a small amount of milk and fruit puree. It was he who brought this dessert-making technique back to Italy, where it eventually evolved into
The sorbet.
Sorbet is a dessert made of fruits and smoothies, usually without adding milk or sugar, and has a refreshing taste.
Sherbet is somewhat similar to the slushy that Arabs love. Although it is very different from real ice cream in taste and production, it is certain that this dessert is similar to the ice cream that appeared later.
.
In the early 17th century, descriptions of making ice cream with fruits appeared in Italy.
The earliest records of frozen milk and ice cube recipes appearing in literature were in Naples in the 1680s and 1790s, which is also considered the birthplace of modern ice cream.
It was the French Sun King Louis XIV who introduced ice cream to the European courts. Banquet records at that time described in detail the deliciousness of Italian ice.
The Italian Francesca Pocopio brought this delicacy from Sicily to the people of Paris.
In 1686, he opened a cafe called Procobus, selling a mixture of fresh cream, fruit, sugar and ice, which became the earliest ice cream in Paris.
Diderot, Rousseau, Beaumarchais and other great thinkers of the Enlightenment were all regular customers of this cafe.