Chapter 141: A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities, published in April, was a hit, referring to London and Paris. Britain and France have a long history of feuds, sometimes eased and sometimes tense, but the fates of the two cities are closely linked, and they are too close geographically.

In Downing's planning, in the near future, public transportation is divided into three levels, urban transportation, mainly bicycles, which is a mode of transportation that everyone can afford, ordinary people can easily ride to 15 kilometers per hour under normal circumstances, more than this number people will not be happy to use bicycles, at this time Downing's planning of trunk buses will shine.

The so-called trunk line, is the station between the line will not be too close, in the planning, on average every 5 kilometers will have a trunk station, there is also a bright spot, the public can take bicycles on the trunk bus, the bus is specially optimized for taking bicycles, you can board the front of the bicycle up, securely fixed on the special lever. Bringing bicycles on the bus will not only not increase the price, but will also be discounted by 5%, encouraging the round table riders to use the bicycle as a relaxed, pleasant, environmentally friendly good tool, after the trunk bus station comes out, within a radius of dozens of kilometers comfortable and free, truly bring a good experience to the public.

There are already a lot of knock-off versions of bikes out there, and they have changed the design to be less infringing and put it on the market at a low price, or a one-time buyout, which seems to be a lot more cost-effective than the Round Table Rider in the form of an annual rental. Downing pushes the trunk bus that can get on the Round Table Rider bicycle, which is to increase the added value of the Round Table Rider and continue to maintain an unshakable dominant position, and users will eventually find that with the benefits of trunk transportation, the Round Table Rider is still more cost-effective and convenient than other copycat bicycles, which is also difficult to copy.

The third level is the long-distance travel traffic, which is made up of airships and suspended rail traffic. Don't engage in duplicate construction, where the railway is developed, Tangning does not intend to steal their business. The advantage of the airship is that it does not require ground construction, there is almost no noise, and it can easily break into the most central part of the city. It can also easily cross a mountainous region like Switzerland, where even poor mountainous areas are in demand, and the use of long-distance airship traffic at long intervals can greatly improve traffic in the mountains and lay the foundation for a more efficient market. Transoceanic airships are another matter, this is the next development task, to build a large airport, with a huge wing of semi-buoyant airships to accomplish this task, its size is too large, not any small airship can carry out intercontinental travel, that is too slow. An airship with long wings will be more than 200 meters long, and its wingspan will not be shorter than that of the future Boeing airliner, and its speed will reach more than 300 kilometers, and the energy consumption will still have the unique advantages of airships.

Many people don't understand what is the principle of wing lift, take a closer look at the mature wing will find that it is always curved on the top, the plane is below, this is the mystery, the air path is longer when passing through the curved surface, and the air up and down always reaches the tail at the same time, which means that the speed of the air above must run faster than the bottom, the faster it runs, the less pressure it has on the wing, and the air pressure below exceeds the above, resulting in lift, which is the magic wing principle.

An airfoil airship with helium to support most of its buoyancy is much less likely to stall and can make a forced landing at a safer speed in case of an emergency, so it is more reliable and controllable in this respect than the ordinary fixed-wing aircraft we see today.

An airship with a large wing may be regarded as the fourth level of the bus, and the difficulty of research and development is a special test for the airship team, which cannot be done in one or two years.

Downing also thought that the statement of "A Tale of Two Cities" would make relations between Britain and France better, but unexpectedly understood the relevant content, it seems to be talking about the French Revolution, and then the commoners persecuted by the aristocracy were forced to flee to London, which is Dickens boasting that Britain is more civilized than France, which may make the French even more angry. Anyway, at a party at the Little Holland House Literary Club, he finally met the great writer Dickens, Dickens was even more complacent because of the recent hot sale of "A Tale of Two Cities", and also brought his good friend Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, haha, it really didn't take much effort, and it just so happened that he wanted to ask Andersen for the idea of the brand name "Snow Queen", of course, the benefits are also great.

Hans Christian Andersen is the ugly duckling in reality, his father is a shoemaker, but he has a literary dream, and it is the worst to have a dream but fail to gain a little, his father is depressed all his life, pinning all his hopes on his son, and his destitute father had to go to Napoleon's army as a mercenary, and the hard military career knocked his body over, and died shortly after being discharged from the army. Hans Christian Andersen, a small-town teenager, traveled to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark at the age of 14, and had a lot of ambition, but he was tormented by the cruel reality like 99% of teenagers with dreams.

Balzac believed that only when writing novels without inspiration would he engage in drama, and that it was impossible for Andersen to cross over to the palace of literature in one step, he studied dance, and at the age of 16, he also worked with the famous ballet dancer Anna? Margaret? Mrs. Scharr also plays a role in the same dance drama.

He went on to study at the Royal Opera House Conservatory, but was forced to drop out due to a voice problem. He also figured out how to make a living by writing and became a "freelance writer". But the poems and novels he wrote were not appreciated, and the criticism and hurt stung him deeply, almost to the point of exhaustion. He once described the situation as follows: "I could not say a word, and I was swept away by the great waves. I felt the stab wound of the knife deeply, and I was on the verge of despair because I had been abandoned by the people by this time. I couldn't stand the cynicism of others, and every time someone I loved was viciously whipped at me, I felt that those whips were like scorpion-tailed whips. ”

The young migrant worker in the capital endured a huge test of survival and mental grinding, but he finally overcame fate. When he found a way to fully display his intellectual talent and fantasy genius in the fairy tale world, his literary path suddenly became so open and open.

It stands to reason that a die-hard atheist doesn't like fairy tales, however, the Duke has always been out of common sense, and he really likes it, or he thinks that accommodating this wild magical imagination is in line with his aesthetics, at this time Andersen is already in his fifties, and he has already been famous all over the world, and there is no shortage of money, and after receiving the Duke's invitation, he generously said in his not very fluent English that Downing can use the brand idea of "Snow Queen" for free.

Just kidding, do big tyrants have a habit of taking advantage of others? Since the elder brother is so generous, the local tyrant duke is ready to return the favor by hiring Andersen as the cultural director of the cold drink chain and owning 1% of the shares. At this time, no one thought that this 1% stock was amazing, which Downing intended to use to monopolize agricultural products such as chocolate beans and coffee beans in South America.

The Snow Queen's goal is to become a transnational cultural icon like Starbucks, although that sounds a bit weird. Downing has too many promotional chips in his hands, for example: he can open the first Ice Queen and flagship store in Paris, and use the occasion of his visit to Paris to present the Emperor and Empress of France with signature ice cream, hehe, make Eugenie the Ice Queen, and inadvertently become a brand ambassador, the popularity of this intoxicating and innovative chocolate product with milk is definitely expected.

After observing Napoleon III's cousin, Downing judged that he was not a man who dared to take risks, so he dared to go to Paris, and he was newly officially nominated by the Duke of London and approved by the Queen, who also sent him to the port before his visit, which meant that the Duke of London had a close relationship with London, and he would make sure that he would be safe.

I arranged a qiē, took the Ice Queen's team, and set off. His vehicle was the East India Company Navy One, a battleship that was no different from the Great Eastern on the surface, but who knew what secret weapon the Duke had arranged on it?

France is a die-hard Catholic country, fortunately the emperor controlled the newspaper, and before the Duke of London visited, he had instructed the newspaper to say a lot of good things, Napoleon III had seen the terrible black technology of Swiss precision instruments, and he did not dare to make a bad idea until he had to, and sent the most loyal troops to the port to protect all the way, and finally the emperor and empress greeted the duke and duchess with the etiquette of the head of state at the Palace of Versailles, and the Leica camera with improved imaging quality recorded the historic moment, The queen and the duchess, the "first beauty in Europe", finally stood together.

"I didn't expect us to meet again so soon!"

"I really didn't expect it!"

Handshake ceremony.

On the surface, the two rivals have abandoned their previous suspicions and are intimate.

The Palace of Versailles is undoubtedly a luxurious palace with a long history, but it is more famous than the Duke of London in the Palace, and the Dukes were envious that Napoleon III could live here.

Downing's favorite is also the Hall of Mirrors, the most famous hall of the Palace of Versailles. It was converted from a loggia. It is 76 meters long, 13 meters high and 10 meters wide. 5 meters, on one side are 17 huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows facing the garden, and on the other side are a huge mirror surface composed of more than 400 mirrors. The floor is carved in fine wood, the walls are decorated with lilac and white marble veneer, and the pillars are in green marble. The capital, base and parapet are gilded with brass, and the motif depicts the sun with its wings outstretched, in homage to Louis XIV. The ceiling features 24 huge bohemian crystal chandeliers and an oil painting extolling the merits of the Sun King. In the center of the east side of the hall are the four gates leading to the King's Quarters. During the time of Louis XIV, the furniture in the Hall of Mirrors and the decoration of flowers and bonsai were also made of sterling silver, and grand masquerade balls were often held here.

Tang Ning: "I like this Hall of Mirrors, Emperor and Empress, do you know why?" ”

Napoleon III still does not know why Downing visited Paris, and Downing's past behavior leads one to believe that he did not come to Paris purely for tourism. The third world didn't know anything, so he could only say: "I want to hear about it." ”

After many years of training, Downing, who was already gifted with French, now speaks quite well: "Because I have a small gift for you and the Queen, and the name of the small gift is 'Magic Mirror Fragment'." ”

In the Ice Queen's book, the magic mirror is different from the magic mirror of Snow White's stepmother, it is more evil, as long as you are stabbed by a fragment of the magic mirror, you will become bad.

The exquisite gift box was presented by the assistant and opened, and the royal photographer hurriedly captured several ice cream cones, including a pair of cones inlaid with black chocolate flakes, symbolizing the fragments of the magic mirror!

Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales are quite controversial, some people think that his language is not the language of a writer at all, and the fantasy in it is also ridiculous, which will bring trouble to the formation of children's worldview, and Napoleon III has never read such a book, Downing explained: "This is the Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen's work "The Ice Queen" The queen's most powerful treasure, the fragment of the magic mirror. Be careful, who will become extremely evil after eating it, unless there is true love in the heart of the person who eats it, can the ice of evil be melted, otherwise the consequences are unimaginable, Your Majesty, Queen, do you dare to eat? ”

All the ministers and nobles present laughed, and some wanted to be the emperor's tasting stand-in.

Later, the photo of the brave French queen trying to eat the fragments of the magic mirror became a front-page favorite in major French newspapers, as if to prove that Eugénie had true love in her heart.

At this time, Mr. Andersen, who was accompanying him, had already had a hunch that his 1% Ice Queen stock seemed to be not so simple, and this kind of marketing promotion was really ......

It's all a piece of cake, and the show will be called wonderful later. In short, after some secret talks, I don't know what means the Duke used to persuade Eugenie to become one of the spokesmen of the Ice Queen, uh, yes, there are two queens, how dare the Duke forget his wife, and not be afraid to go home and kneel on the ice pick?

What's even more incredible is that the Ice Queen's first flagship store was approved by the emperor and was located at the Palace of Versailles! Damn, was our emperor really hurt by the broken card of the magic mirror? Puzzled representatives of Parisian citizens from all walks of life are invited to the Palace of Versailles to attend the unveiling of the flagship store, where the two ice queens want to show off their magic.

It's real magic!

In the spotlight of all the people, the Duke's assistant brought out a model of a fairytale town that had been prepared in London for a long time, and the most unique feature of this beautifully built town is that it is dotted with houses surrounded by soft springs, and because it is 25 square meters in size, it is a delight to the eye.

Everyone thought that this was the best part of the show, but they didn't expect that this was just the beginning, and the two ice queens were about to show off their magic - they saw them standing together like a pair of sisters, closing their beautiful eyes, as if they were brewing a spell casting time. （http：／／.)。 Five seconds later, Eugenie and Sissi glanced at each other and slowly touched the surface of the spring with the delicate palm of their right hand.

Everyone didn't know what the two queens were messing with, but their eyes widened, and magic appeared—the spring water began to freeze from the place where the palms of the two ice queens touched!

Yes! The timid little girl even hugged her mother's thigh, there is really magic in it~

The spring water that surrounds the town is slowly frozen! The small river, which was still babbling just a moment ago, froze under the magic of the two ice queens.

The crowd of onlookers who did not know the truth were all stunned and shocked...... This......

The jaws of the jubilant audience dropped and half of the Catholics had crossed on their chests.

Empress Eugenie said solemnly: "Yes, you have seen that magic is real!" ”

Then she couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing.