Benjamin, who held the power in his hands, issued an order, and all newspapers in the British Isles received a warning. From now on, no one can continue to report on the Chinese Oriental series.
In this era, there was no such thing as press freedom, and newspapers had to bow their heads under the pressure of the government. They could only endure the temptation of money from the Chinese and suffer in silence the constant abuse from readers.
But Benjamin did not expect the power of market forces. When the needs of the people have been developed to form a strong supply and demand relationship, administrative orders are sometimes pale.
Many newspapers, including The Times, were jointly abused by their readers, and a hail of letters flew over and overflowed their newspaper boxes.
Some readers calmly state their needs, some break it into pieces to make sense, and some even make powerful statements. Of course, there are also some who abuse and threaten the newspaper... The most common one is to use subscription rights to intimidate the newspaper.
If you don’t continue to report on the Oriental Chinese series, I will unsubscribe...
Are you stupid? People are criticizing Tsarist Russia and the shameless French. Why did your British newspaper ban the publication in the first place? Are you a spy for the French?
This kind of scolding is still popular in Britain. Britain and France actually spent hundreds of years in competition. Not to mention the Hundred Years War, the two sides fought several naval battles. In the international colonial plunder The two countries are also constantly competing.
When the Americans wanted independence, it was this group of French people who supported them and turned the British North American colonies into the United States of America.
Will France be the good guy? Do you know that this life is going to hell?
This was the true attitude of the proud British towards the French back then, full of the winner's sense of superiority and the sense of crisis in the face of the hot pursuit of second place.
Look down on them but you still have to be wary. Such complicated national relations will create very complicated national feelings. Coupled with the government's previous intentional guidance, it is very common for the British to look down on the French.
Benjamin shot himself in the foot. Originally, the public opinion guided by the government was to curb France's aggressive national destiny. Even the upcoming Franco-Prussian War was a war that the British wanted.
But when Xiao Letian also joined the scolding war between the black Frenchmen, Benjamin started to regulate public opinion. Didn't this go against the will of the people, and it was natural for him to be scolded.
The newspapers did not dare to openly say that they were threatened by the Prime Minister. They could only shut up silently and suffer from headaches as they watched the sales figures that fell off a cliff every day.
But on the other hand, the public did not care about the Prime Minister's face at all, and some people directly disclosed the details to the public. Suddenly, the public criticized Prime Minister Benjamin.
Benjamin's biggest mistake was not to ban Xiao Letian's reports at the beginning. If he had ordered a strict ban when he attacked Tsarist Russia, he would not have encountered such a huge public backlash at this moment.
The in-depth reporting has lasted for nearly fifty days. The colorful Oriental Chinese series has accumulated millions of fans in the UK. This force has been formed and it will be difficult to extinguish it.
It doesn't matter if you ban a habit before the people have developed it. But when the habit has been developed and becomes a dependence, it would be crueler than weaning it off if you continue to ban it.
Public opinion was surging, and undercurrents were surging. Just three days later, an underground account produced by an unknown printing house began to be disseminated among the public for free.
This is a tabloid that does not use the newspaper sales network at all, but is only circulated for free among fans. It is a completely illegal underground newspaper.
In these occasional pamphlets the attacks on France continued.
In the pamphlet, the French were portrayed as inciting the British to attack the Qing Dynasty and as the main perpetrators of the burning of the Old Summer Palace. In the propaganda war, the British responsibility was weakened, and France was portrayed as the devil who destroyed the treasures of oriental art.
There are dozens of copperplate engravings and photos of the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, including imaginary art paintings. The beautiful palace is the envy of British fans.
"Damn it, such a beautiful palace should be left and converted into a museum! Why should it be burned? Napoleon III is really a devil!"
Not only the Old Summer Palace series, but subsequent booklets also introduced in detail the origin of the hatred between France and the Chinese, starting from the earliest kidnapping of Xiao Letian by the French navy, to the small-scale conflicts on the French-Swiss border, and then to the French taking advantage of the Austro-Prussian War. A sneak attack on Ryukyu...
Of course, there were also atrocities such as the massacre of the city in Naha and the attack on the Tanggu Special Administrative Region, which completely revealed the truth.
This is an indictment article with a very sufficient chain of evidence, pictures, photos, time, place, people...records of third-party certification of physical evidence, whatever is required.
Now the charge of initiating the war was immediately firmly placed on the head of French Emperor Napoleon III, leaving him unable to defend himself.
Benjamin panicked. He suddenly discovered that he had lost the ability to control public opinion, and the evil pamphlet spread among the people at the speed of light.
London police have discovered hundreds of people secretly distributing this illegal publication. Just like opium smugglers, they trade in secret strongholds and circulate to each other under the tables in taverns and cafes.
They couldn't catch it at all, and they couldn't stop it at all. If they confiscated a hundred copies, maybe a thousand new ones would flow into the public. The series of reports on the Oriental Chinese people did not stop, and they struggled to penetrate into the public under high pressure.
Britain was in chaos, and in France such illegal pamphlets were a thorn in the side of the French emperor.
In the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, the old French Emperor roared and cursed the incompetence of the Paris Police Commissioner, "You idiot! Why is this illegal publication circulating in my country? Why would my people read this kind of article!"
"How do you explain? How do you want me to explain!"
The police chief did not dare to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and could only let the sweat flow down. "Report to Your Majesty...it's those Republicans! They are secretly circulating these articles..."
"Those criminals who have been trying to restore the Republic have colluded with our enemies! I will intensify my efforts to suppress them, and I will raid all underground printing plants. Please rest assured, Your Majesty!"
At the mention of those political opponents, Napoleon III's blood pressure began to rise uncontrollably. This was a serious problem for him.
France is the birthplace of the idea of human rights and the birthplace of the Great Revolution. Those citizens beheaded the emperor, formed a civil government, and had experience in the republican system.
In other words, Napoleon III's position as emperor has always been unstable. There has always been an active volcano under his butt that is gathering strength.
For the time being, we can rely on the alliance of capitalists and aristocrats to stabilize our country, but those extremely poor workers and farmers will always be the most feared force of the French emperor. God knows what those thugs who believe in the Republic will do.
Napoleon III waved his hand and asked the police chief to go down and handle the case, while he rubbed his temples.
