Chapter 495 Enke
Chapter 495 Enke
In San Francisco, a total solar eclipse took place today, darkening the sky.
On the long street, more than 30,000 people spontaneously lined up on both sides of the street to see their emperor off.
When His Majesty Norton died, he had no more than $10 in property, but his funeral was as grand as that of a true emperor.
California Governor Perkins personally carried the coffin, and the constables and soldiers cleared the way as they transported His Majesty's coffin to the Woodland Mausoleum in the small town of Colma in San Francisco for burial. The state government erected a marble tombstone for him, inscribed with "Norton I, Emperor of the Confederacy and Protector of Mexico."
Norton I's funeral was treated like a true emperor. In terms of the people's genuine love for him, his achievements exceeded those of most emperors.
Federal newspapers published His Majesty's obituary with real grief, and Mark Twain, writing on the scene, reported that "all of San Francisco was crying."
It is impossible for a clown to gain such respect.
At the beginning, Norton called himself the emperor, of course, in order to make a living by relying on traffic.
But when people half-heartedly curtseyed to him, he got into the act.
The emperor role he played was not a tyrant or a foolish ruler, but a truly wise ruler.
He is passionate about charity activities. Although he is extremely poor, he spares no effort in raising funds for the poor and sick children during his catwalk speeches at various commercial events.
He really raised a lot of money, but he didn't keep a penny for himself. He spent it all on the fundraising goals. He still needed to go to restaurants to exercise his "emperor" privilege - to eat for free.
He often spoke on behalf of the people and argued with state officials.
He wore a blue "emperor's uniform" with gold-plated epaulettes and carried a rapier. When he was "inspecting" the streets, he was actually monitoring the construction of municipal projects and supervising the work of the constables to see if they were doing their jobs conscientiously.
Compared to the free meals he got, the amount of work he did for the citizens of San Francisco exceeded that of any other civil servant, and his dedication was unparalleled.
His responsible attitude moved the citizens, and they no longer regarded him as a clown. All the theaters reserved three special seats for him in the front row. The theaters that refused to do so were boycotted by the citizens and had to surrender to them.
This was just the beginning. His Majesty Norton was a hero who led the abolition movement. He was at the forefront of several large-scale walks in California demanding abolition and was called the "leader of California."
In 1867, His Majesty Norton was unfortunately arrested by the police for trivial matters. The citizens of San Francisco were angry and surrounded the police station. The police had to give in, and His Majesty was rescued by his own subjects.
After gaining influence, his vision became broader and he issued one "imperial edict" after another.
When President Johnson was assassinated, he "ordered" the federal army to dissolve Congress, but this order was not carried out. Ahem, the federal army disobeyed the order.
But other imperial decrees were actually carried out. For example, he ordered the establishment of a conference of heads of state in the world, so that people from different countries and different faiths could sit down and negotiate instead of going to war.
At the Versailles Peace Conference, President Hayes proposed the formation of the League of Nations in full compliance with the imperial decree of His Majesty Norton. Now, the League of Nations has actually been established.
He ordered the construction of a suspension bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco. Now that the Great Depression had begun, the federal government had begun designing and constructing the Golden Gate Bridge in order to stimulate the economy.
When President Johnson was in office, immigrants were brought in from the Qing Dynasty, the Homestead Act was implemented, and five million Chinese came to the West Coast.
A small number of locals believed that these immigrants were here to steal their jobs, and a group of thugs prepared to massacre the newly arrived immigrants.
When the rioters rushed towards the immigrants who had just disembarked and were unfamiliar with the place with weapons in hand, His Majesty Norton stood out, standing between the rioters and the new immigrants, reciting scriptures repeatedly and praying constantly.
The rioters were intimidated by His Majesty's huge influence among the citizens of San Francisco and did not dare to harm His Majesty. After Norton stood up to the weapon, they had to disperse regretfully.
After this incident, Norton was regarded as a brave man of faith and was respected like a true emperor from then on.
Shao Quanzhong knew Norton through this incident. The Marshal has always emphasized that a little kindness from others should be repaid with a spring.
Norton's behavior was no less than the good deeds done by the French translator Elison. He was a benefactor to the Chinese. Therefore, Shao Quanzhong ordered people to express condolences with imperial standards.
Zheng Zaoru, the new ambassador to the United States who was ordered to pay condolences, was very worried that he would make a diplomatic joke.
But when he arrived in Colma, he knew he was wrong. Californians revered Norton I as a true emperor.
Because he truly fulfilled the duties of an emperor and "benefited the people."
Indeed, he had been "playing" the emperor. The California people who were there to see his majesty off did not know that there is a Chinese saying that goes, "When the false is made to appear true, the true becomes false."
Later, such performances became more common, with at least two actors successfully playing the role of famous rulers for several terms...
Mark Twain, who was interviewing on the spot, was filled with emotion when he met the Daxia ambassador who came to pay his respects.
The next day, Mark Twain's sentiments were published in a commentary in the Los Angeles Times.
"I knew Shao would send someone. The people of Daxia will repay a favor. The Federation should continue to maintain good relations with such a country. Now President Hayes's unfriendly strategy towards China will lead the Federation to a road of no return."
Mark Twain dared to criticize anyone, and his sharp writing style has always been the reason why his articles are popular. But this "inappropriate statement" got him into trouble.
On the day the newspaper was published, he received a warning from the "superiors" of the society. All printed newspapers were forcibly recalled and destroyed before they were sold to readers. Mark Twain was furious and told his journalist friends everywhere that "the Union is no longer the Union I knew. The efforts of Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Lincoln are being eliminated by the potential dark forces..."
However, friends who heard Mark Twain's rebellious declaration avoided him like the plague - for the sake of their own jobs.
On the third day, Mark Twain was expelled from both the society and the Los Angeles Times.
…………
On February 1880, 2, Tesla led a technical team to Niagara Falls, on the border between the Union and Canada, to design generator sets for the Niagara Hydroelectric Power Station, a joint venture between the Union and Canada.
After a few days of on-site inspection, the plan was finalized and Tesla designed 13 hydroelectric generating units for the Niagara Hydropower Station with a design power of 4.76 kilowatts.
Tesla left behind the design ideas and the rest of the work was done by his assistants. Tesla himself went to Nevada and designed the generator unit part of the "Hayes Dam" for the federal government in the Black Gorge of the Colorado River.
This is also an unreasonable project undertaken by the federal government to stimulate the economy, building a large hydroelectric power station in the desert.
It cost $4900 million and created a large number of jobs. A large number of construction workers had nothing to do in the desert, so they built a temporary camp called Las Vegas to gamble...
This dam in a different time and space is called the "Hoover Dam" and is one of the wonders of mankind.
However, the title of miracle now belongs to the Three Gorges Dam.
Tesla was very busy. After inspecting the Hayes Dam, he boarded the airship and prepared to return to Hailing to design and guide the manufacturing of the generator sets, which would then be shipped to the federation for installation.
Then the next step is to go to the Three Gorges to investigate and design a more complex Three Gorges power generation unit. Preliminary exploration and resettlement work are currently underway there.
When the airship was about to take off, a reporter boarded it at the last moment and said, "Hello, Mr. Tesla, I have heard of you for a long time and would like to talk to you in detail. My name is Mark Twain."
The connection between people is wonderful. Tesla, who had a weird temper, and Mark Twain, who loved sarcastic remarks, actually chatted with each other. They quickly became good friends who could talk about everything on the airship. It was like another world.
"The Federation has changed, and the free trade community has also changed. I'm leaving here and going to Hailing with you. It's not that I've abandoned the Federation, but this Federation is no longer worthy of my love."
"I'm going to Daxia to find my ideal country."
…………
June 1880, 6, Hailing, Hailing New City in the eastern suburbs.
Next to the original Daxia Planning Investment Committee building and in front of the newly built Daxia government building, more than a thousand cultural people in Taoist robes gathered.
This was not a gathering of sects in Wudang Mountain, but the first imperial examination in Daxia.
That’s right, the imperial examination.
There are universities everywhere in Daxia now, but the scholars of the old era are still there, and their paths to advancement have not been cut off, and the new Daxia government still holds the imperial examinations.
Zhang Zhidong served as the chief examiner and Shao Quanzhong went to the site to inspect in person.
Of course, people in the new dynasty could no longer wear long gowns and jackets, and the old scholars were not used to the new clothes with stand-up collars, so they all wore Taoist robes, which seemed to be a revival of Taoism.
This time, the time for taking the national examination was very tight and it did not fall in time with the spring examinations in previous years. This was one of the "special examinations" of the new dynasty that was held at irregular intervals.
The list of successful candidates was announced, and 1872 candidates were admitted out of 100 candidates who took the exam. This was not much different from the number of successful candidates admitted in the two lists of imperial examinations in the past. The successful candidates were all delighted.
There is no first or second place in this national examination. According to the candidates' wishes, they will be assigned to five directions: ordinary government offices, financial government offices, educational government offices, diplomatic government offices, and constable government offices.
The Xin Dynasty did not set up the Hanlin Academy, but built a training institution called "Finney Central School". Candidates admitted through traditional imperial examinations had to undergo temporary training before they could take up their posts.
The training included the new official document style taught by Zhang Zhidong, Finney's principles taught by Zhang Siwen, and the practical operation of planning and scheduling taught by Wang Yongxian.
This is the last traditional imperial examination. In the future, the imperial examination will continue, but the content of this temporary training will be increased. The proportion of new practical work will continue to increase every year, and it will gradually become a new type of national examination.
Universities cannot replace imperial examinations; national examinations for selecting officials have been necessary in any dynasty.
After encouraging the successful candidates, Shao Quanzhong led his men to the nearby Dongjiao Airport to pick them up.
An airship from Europe was slowly landing, with four big words "Mulan" written on it.
A group of young people in sportswear filed down from the airship, with the handles of tennis rackets sticking out of the backpacks on their backs. The last one to walk down the gangway of the Mulan was Rong Hui, who was also the director of the Daxia Sports Committee.
Rong Hui was holding hands with a 17-year-old girl, who had long legs and a slim waist and looked youthful in her sportswear. She was Dongmei, the women's singles champion of the 4th Wimbledon Tennis Open, who had returned home with honors.
(End of this chapter)