Literary Master 1983

Chapter 400 Shaking Britain
However, Colin discovered that the edited documentary was being reviewed very slowly.

He originally planned to broadcast it before Christmas, but now, no matter what arrangements are made, it will have to wait until next year.

He joked, "If your novel can be published in Japan, why can't your documentary be published in the UK? Who's the fascist here? This is truly the most ridiculous thing ever."

Yu Qie took these things in stride: "You can never say forever."

The BBC, or British Broadcasting Corporation, is the world's oldest television station. Shortly after its founding, it became a breeding ground for spies, with both the US and the Soviet Union placing their own agents there. The famous Burgess, one of the "Cambridge Five," worked as an announcer at the station.

Britain itself also turned its television stations into spy organizations. During World War II, in order to facilitate the control of public opinion, the BBC established a special organization to liaise with the Ministry of Defence, specifically to vilify the enemy and guide public opinion.

The publication of "The Lisbon Maru" in Japan proceeded extremely smoothly. This was because Japan's censorship system required publication before review. Furthermore, since no one complained, there was no review process.

Haruki Kadokawa gritted his teeth and published it anyway, printing half a million copies in one go. Even if the Japanese government realized its mistake and decided to ban Yukichi's novels, this one would still sell well for quite some time!

Back then, "The Devil's Feast" exploited this loophole! No wonder Haruki Kadokawa dared to promise its publication.

"Actually, Japan didn't allow writing bad things before! After the Allied landings in Japan, they ordered the Japanese publishing industry to have no local censorship organizations. The Americans kept a close eye on the newspaper editorial departments, teaching them step by step how to report the news..."

"Kadokawa, you're so bold. Do you have American citizenship?"

“I don’t have one, but I have a U.S. green card. I am an American in the United States and a Japanese in Japan.”

"What about in China?"

"Yu Sang, I am yours."

"Kadokawa, you should first thank the Five Star Emperor for his good intentions, otherwise you would never have been able to turn things around."

Five-star emperor?

Haruki Kadokawa was quick-witted and immediately knew that he was referring to General MacArthur, the Allied Commander-in-Chief in Japan at the time.

"Yes! Arigato, Mr. MacArthur!"

London is preparing for Christmas.

Every year, Oxford Street attracts a large number of tourists with its grand Christmas lights display, which includes not only light shows but also charity events. Rumors circulate that Princess Diana of the British Royal Family will visit Oxford Street to meet with the public.

BBC director Kevin Corvinus is very much looking forward to this. "In Britain, Princess Diana is incredibly popular. She was a commoner princess who experienced many hardships, yet possessed stunning beauty and kindness!"

Yu Qie asked him, "Why do you like her so much? Is it because she's a princess?"

"No! Because she is a traditional wife. She cooks, cleans, treats all your friends kindly, and raises the children well."

"And she's not materialistic! She didn't take a single penny of the gifts the royal family gave her," Cowens emphasized.

It's only the 1980s, and the British are already starting to miss their "traditional wives"?

This version is forty years earlier than the mainland version!

Yu Qie smiled: "Wasn't Princess Diana beautiful?"

"It's not about whether she's pretty or not, she has a beautiful soul!"

"It's a pity she's already married; you've missed your chance."

"That's right... But the newspapers say she's not happy."

"What exactly is wrong with her?"

"Because Prince Charles is a serial philanderer and a hypocrite, he didn't love Diana at all!" Cowens revealed the "insider information."

The others pretended not to hear, but Yu Qie asked him, "Why don't you explain yourself more clearly?"

Cowen looked around, demanding that everyone keep quiet about the "insider information." Only after receiving assurances did he whisper mysteriously, "I heard that someone inside the TV station has been wiretapping Diana's phone for a long time and discovered that she and Charles have separated and have almost no affection for each other. Charles doesn't care about his wife either, openly having affairs with other men."

At this point, someone exclaimed in surprise, "Has their relationship broken down to this extent?"

“I only heard about it! I also heard that Princess Diana had severe depression, that she banged her head against the wall, bled, and took a lot of medicine... she did all sorts of things.”

Everyone was shocked.

The British were shocked to discover that the beloved royal couple were actually estranged.

On the Chinese side, the idea of ​​"eavesdropping on the royal family" was outrageous and utterly lawless.

Yu Qie ended the debate with a single sentence: "Daring to eavesdrop on the royal family, this is no ordinary media outlet. We must take strong action! I believe we should mobilize the British Royal Guard and parachute them onto the television station for a swift operation!"

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this, then burst into laughter.

Currently, Yu Qie is working hard to arrange a meeting between British prisoners of war rescued and mainland fishermen.

A Chinese business owner in London who sells semi-prepared Chinese food donated $50,000 to Yu Chee's Foundation. Combined with the $50,000 he already had there, the Yu Chee Foundation now has $100,000, which can be allocated to promote several exemplary cases.

I never imagined that the first sum of money allocated to the foundation would be used here!
The Lisbon Maru is currently receiving a good response, and Cowens also has a documentary filmed following it that is under internal review by the television station. Once approved, he can ask a British charity for some money to be invested in the fishing villages in the Zhoushan area, which can be considered as the British repaying a debt of gratitude.

Despite the British government's unusual policies, the public still maintains respect for World War II veterans. Most of the British prisoners of war held on the HMS Lisbon Maru were from the Royal Army, and they had their own veterans' charity foundation. Post-war British veterans have also been quite active, starting businesses like "veterans burgers" and "veterans transport"... and the British appreciate this approach.

In the original timeline, when this veterans' charity was short of funds, the veterans stepped forward and raised 30 million pounds in just a few days. This shows that British veterans who survived World War II were quite wealthy.

Christmas is here in the blink of an eye.

Thousands of gold and white lights illuminated the streets of Oxford, creating a dazzling spectacle. At exactly eight o'clock in the evening, the royal couple appeared on the street in a convertible Rolls-Royce. Yu Qie and his entourage were staying at a hotel not far from Oxford Street, where they could see the grand spectacle diagonally opposite from their windows.

It was a sea of ​​people, completely packed. Crowds kept throwing flowers into the car and trying to reach out and touch the Princess and Prince. Prince Charles seemed unfazed by the cheers, but Diana always made a point of reaching out to respond to the calls.

Diana was indeed a great beauty, with a high nose bridge, prominent brow bones, and deep-set eyes! She also had a square face, making her look somewhat masculine! But when she smiled, she instantly exuded a maternal aura, coupled with her tall figure and dignified posture… she was a quintessential British beauty with a strong, masculine presence. It's a pity she died so young. Diana would likely have died in a car accident a few years later.

Yu Qie had seen Diana's son William on television news in his previous life. Although he was bald, he was handsome when he was young, and you could vaguely see Diana's features.

After William came of age, he tried every means to investigate the cause of his mother Diana's death: he believed in conspiracy theories that his mother Diana did not die from accidental factors, but rather from human intervention.

Yu Qie sighed, "Why do you think these people drive convertibles? If someone were to place a gun here and fire a shot, wouldn't that open the minds of the people in the car?"

Then, Yu Qie imitated the American smile of former US President Kennedy: he grinned, revealing his bright white teeth, and passionately declared, "God bless this country! Defend its founding principles..."

Kevin was completely baffled by the "hellish" reference Yu Qie was using. He trembled with excitement: "She's Diana! How could she use sheet metal to separate herself from the people?"

Soon after, Diana and others gave impromptu speeches in the street. She changed into a noble carriage, her lips moving rapidly. Yu Qie couldn't hear what she was saying, but the television station was broadcasting it live, so Yu Qie turned the volume up to the maximum.

All I heard was her first words of thanks to God, celebrating the arrival of the holiday.

After a long string of polite words, she said, "Where do we begin? Society always sees women as people who are good at accepting good advice, and no matter what difficulties life throws at them, they can handle them well!"

"They are on call 24/7, and can handle anything—whether it's a sick child, a jobless husband, or elderly parents in need of care!"

"They can cook, clean, work, and take care of others—they can handle it all perfectly!"

"They may suffer all sorts of misfortunes: postpartum depression, domestic violence, struggling to support their families. But they can handle everything!"

"Strangely, women, like men, believe the above to be true? I think women hold up half the sky..."

Hearing this, Yu Qie couldn't hold back any longer and asked Ke Wensi next to him, "Do you still think she's a traditional wife?"

Cowens seems to be a die-hard fan of Diana: "Don't look at what she says, what matters is what she does! Diana was a kind princess, and even though she had two children, she was still as innocent as a young girl."

Upon hearing this, Yu Qie felt that Diana's popularity was ridiculously high.

No wonder the TV station has been wiretapping her for so long. This princess has no background and is a hot topic, making her perfect for reporters to use to bully her in their newspapers.

Diana's speech was brief, lasting only about ten minutes. She and Charles then left Oxford Street and went elsewhere. Yu Qie changed the stage and discovered that Queen Elizabeth was also giving a speech.

This is the Queen's annual Christmas address, a national address she delivers every year.

"Queen Elizabeth has been doing this since World War II, and she has deeply inspired many people. We have also become accustomed to her presence," Cowens told Yu.

Yu Qie was puzzled: Do all of you people love the British royal family so much?
Since you like Elizabeth, why did you watch Princess Diana's speech first instead of Elizabeth's?
Cowens laughed and said, "Professor Yu, you are not British after all! Diana was the first commoner to marry into the British royal family in three hundred years. She was of noble birth and highly educated, but she went through many hardships. She met Prince Charles when she was sixteen, and there was a full twelve-year age difference between them..."

"At the time, Charles was depressed, and no one dared to approach her. Diana, unaware of his identity, walked straight up to him and said, 'You look a little unhappy?'"

“At that moment, Prince Charles was completely flustered, and I, as a British man, was also completely flustered! She is a woman like Snow White, a good wife, mother and daughter of the British people, she is our treasure!”

No wonder idol culture originated in Britain.

The British were too sexually repressed and too easily brainwashed by the media. Back then, they believed that the shampoo boy would stop and wrote many comments admiring this fascist leader, claiming that the shampoo boy was a naive and handsome guy... which later proved to be completely wrong.

Now, people still believe that Princess Diana was innocent and naive.

how can that be possible?
According to later deciphering, there is much evidence suggesting that while Diana was a kind-hearted person, she was also an unstable and extremely rebellious individual.

She rejected any royal discipline and privately associated with people of different ethnicities and social classes. She was highly talented in sports but terrible at academics... Her only passion was for romance novels and rock music.

Yes, Diana was the royal version of the "spirited younger sister."

Charles certainly cheated, but Diana was no less so; she had at least seven lovers in her lifetime.

Whenever someone displayed heroic qualities, Diana would admire him, which infuriated Charles! Was the centuries-old prestige of the British monarchy to be ruined by a commoner princess like her?

Thinking of this, Yu Qie shook his head inwardly.

At this point, the novel "Lisbon Maru" was finally serialized to its final chapter. In the grand finale, three British sailors exposed the brutality of the Japanese army and explained the tragedy that occurred near Zhoushan to the international community! After the collapse of the fascist camp, a total of 11 countries established an international tribunal in Tokyo, Japan, to try many Japanese war criminals.

The war criminals must be executed! However, finding evidence has become a major challenge! The Japanese war criminals refuse to admit to killing prisoners and are putting up a stubborn resistance.

The sailors brought their testimonies, recalling the events of 42. However, these sailors hadn't carefully gathered evidence; they were only concerned with escaping at the time, and now they were clumsy in debate and couldn't out-argue the Japanese.

The Japanese war criminal asked, "How can you prove you were on the Lisbon Maru? How can you prove you weren't lying?"

One by one, they stepped forward, looking at each other, unsure how to prove their point! In the end, they could only sing together a song that was popular in the army at the time: "The Long Road to Tipperelli".

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Far East has a total of 11 judges, six of whom are from British-affiliated countries.

Many judges were moved to tears upon hearing this.

This is a folk song from Ireland.

"A long road to Tiberley"

There is still a long way to go.

A long road to Tiberley,
Go to my dearest girl!

A long road to Tiberley,
But my heart has already arrived…

In 1942, British sailors, knowing their days were numbered, sang loudly together in their cabins aboard the Lisbon Maru. In their song, they dreamt of returning to London, to their old homes in the English countryside, but when they opened their eyes, all they saw was icy, bone-chilling seawater and Japanese bullets.

Now they sang it again in court.

(End of this chapter)