The STOL competition organized by Daming Airlines lasted for three days, and the top ten and top three were determined.
Some people are happy and some are sorry, but no one is too disappointed.
Originally this kind of activity was their hobby.
Originally, I had to spend my own money to prepare and apply for venues and airspace. The rewards were also symbolic.
But this time it is semi-official, so you don’t have to think about all the expenses and affairs yourself, you can just think about the game.
As long as you participate, you will receive a subsidy, which is equivalent to a free trip to an aviation holy place like Daming Airlines.
It was worthwhile anyway.
Reaching the top ten will give you better rewards than previous champions.
Not to mention the top three.
Zhu Jingyuan personally met the final winners and personally distributed championship flags, certificates, documents and commemorative books to them.
The Ming Dynasty in this world completed industrialization on its own, so although it cannot be said that it was completely uninfluenced by the West, the impact on most aspects was very small.
Only a very small number of things that interested people in the Ming Dynasty, and which had no corresponding functions in the Ming Dynasty itself, gradually became popular with the continuous exchanges between the East and the West.
Most of the places where the Ming Dynasty already had traditional habits and plans, unless Emperor Shizu specifically promoted modifications, most of them still stubbornly retained the original traditions.
For example, for symbolic rewards in competitions, Ming Dynasty did not use Western trophies.
The tradition left by many people to drink from one cup was not considered worthy of the Ming Dynasty’s intellectuals.
Although China was in the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were also records of using silver cups and bowls as lottery heads.
But prizes such as silver cups and silver bowls are usually prizes for various informal games in private settings.
The scope and scale of its use, especially in terms of seriousness, cannot be compared with the formal "championship".
Trophies and flags are usually competition symbols for multi-person, large-scale outdoor activities, including military activities.
"Capture the Flag" has always been one of the most important honors in war.
The tradition of "winning" in dragon boat racing has existed since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
By the Tang Dynasty, championships had become the absolute mainstream symbol of competition, and in the Song Dynasty, they began to become the official method.
Emperor Shizu did not adjust it, so today's Ming Dynasty still maintains this habit.
The pennant itself is just a symbol of victory, the actual rewards are written in the booklet.
Zhu Jingyuan distributed awards to the third runner-up, runner-up, and champion in turn, and said a few words of encouragement to them in turn.
In this situation, the content of the words is not important, everyone is very excited, and ordinary words in this situation are very powerful.
The champion of this competition is Wu Zhiyuan, a local from Shanghai, a young man who has just turned 20 this year.
Similar to other contestants, they are people who often do outdoor activities. Their faces are tanned and their bodies are quite strong.
Wu Zhiyuan took over the championship banner given by Zhu Jingyuan, and his whole spirit was lifted to the extreme.
While Zhu Jingyuan handed over the certificate again, he began to chat with him casually:
"You're really good at flying airplanes. Have you ever considered joining the army and flying fighter jets?"
Wu Zhiyuan immediately said excitedly:
"Of course I do. The power of single-engine fighter jets now exceeds 2,000, and I think the top speed can exceed 700. It's exciting to think about it.
"But there are too many rules in the army. The key is that our Ming Dynasty does not fight now.
“It’s just a step-by-step training all day long, it’s not as interesting as continuing to play with airplanes on your own.
"When will our Ming Dynasty officially unify the world, I will sign up to join the army and go to the battlefield immediately!
"We, the Ming Dynasty, are two out of three people in the world. We have been cultivating for almost ten years, and now we have completely recovered.
"The key is that now with His Highness's new inventions, if we drive planes, tanks, and battleships to fight against the West, it will definitely be like... we will definitely be able to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop."
Zhu Jingyuan was just chatting casually, but he didn't expect that the other party would directly engage in political affairs with him.
He stopped mid-sentence in one sentence. According to the context analysis, it was probably the same as "the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu".
However, the Western Jin Dynasty has never been favored by Ming historians and politicians.
Comparing the Western Jin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty is certainly not an appropriate statement.
So Wu Zhiyuan compared this sentence to something stuck.
Being able to immediately realize this kind of problem in a very excited state shows that the other party's mind is really flexible.
The key is that you must have the habit of "keeping tabs on politics" on a daily basis and like to participate in discussions on political affairs.
Not a player who just likes to play with machines and weapons.
Of course, most "military enthusiasts" have this tendency.
Zhu Jingyuan also understood from these words that in the minds of Wu Zhiyuan and other local "key officials" of the Ming Dynasty, the world of the Ming Dynasty now included the entire world.
Then, according to China's traditional political thinking, since two-thirds of the world has been conquered, it is just a matter of following the trend to continue to capture the remaining one-third.
The other party raised the topic, and Zhu Jingyuan, as a key political figure, certainly could not back down:
"Your analogy is not accurate. The entire world now is not the world of China it once was.
"Because all the people in China are from the Ming Dynasty, even the surrounding Yi people are actually from the same ancestors.
“After the division of dynasties in the past, there will eventually be successors who can unify the world, relying on this foundation.
"But the image of the more than 300 million Westerners in the West is completely different from that of our Ming people, and it is also completely different from the image of the various groups surrounding the Ming Dynasty.
"It is easy for us to take over this land now, but how to deal with these foreigners is a big trouble."
Zhu Jingyuan felt that what he said was very reasonable, and he only raised existing problems without giving solutions.
So there is no possibility of being pushed into a corner.
As a result, Wu Zhiyuan, a young man, gave the solution without hesitation:
"I think it's very simple. We just kill all the men and give the women to the Ming people as concubines and slaves.
"Thirty years later, when the children born to our Ming Dynasty by Xiyi women grow up, there will be no Xiyi in the world."
Zhu Jingyuan was silent.
This simple and crude thinking...
This child is indeed still too young. Although he is two years older than him physically in this life, his actual mental age has actually doubled.
Zhu Jingyuan smiled and patted Wu Zhiyuan on the shoulder:
“It is good for young people to be motivated, but they must also carefully consider practical matters.
"If we show that we want to exterminate the Xiyi clan, then the entire Xiyi clan will definitely resist with all their might.
"If we want to completely eliminate the Western Barbarians in this state, the losses we Ming people will have to bear are also immeasurable.
“The key is that the local resources in Western Europe currently appear to be very poor.
“There was just some coal and steel, and very little oil production.
“Our Ming Dynasty’s Yinzhou and Tiannan are rich in steel and coal, while Nanyang, Dashi, and Yinzhou are rich in oil.
“We in the Ming Dynasty already occupy the best land in the world, and the resources we have are enough for us to use for several generations.
"In this case, do you think it is necessary for us to completely eliminate the barbarians in the western land at the cost of millions or even tens of millions of Ming people?
“The emperors of the Ming Dynasty and the old gentlemen who served in the imperial court were not the dynasty monarchs and ministers of the classical era.
"I will not waste the Ming Dynasty's national power and sacrifice the people of the Ming Dynasty out of thin air for the so-called meritorious service of unifying the world.
“The previous world wars were only self-defense and counterattacks that had to be fought.
“World peace is now the mainstream, and the main thing that the Ming Emperor, the court, and I personally consider is development.
"In other words, we are thinking and studying how to make the people of Ming Dynasty live a better life."
Zhu Jingyuan still asked questions, but without giving a direct answer, there was no way to give him an answer.
After all, he is an official member of the imperial court, and whatever he says now may spread, causing immeasurable impact.
Zhu Jingyuan felt that he had put forward an option that he could not decide on this time.
But the boy opposite made a decisive choice again:
“I think it is necessary, very necessary. Only by doing this can we truly remove obstacles for future generations.
“We are now at the height of the Ming Dynasty, and the losses of millions of people are not unbearable.
“By bearing these losses now, we can completely eradicate the only enemy that currently seems to be a possible threat to the Ming Dynasty.
"Even if...even if future generations are unworthy, it will at best be just an internal fight among our own people.
"Just like... just like eight hundred years after the Zhou Dynasty, whether the Qin Dynasty unified the world or whether the Han Emperor Taizu won in the Chu-Han conflict, that was all the Xia's own affairs.
"We leave the Taixi people to continue to develop on their own. If someone like Motun or Temujin emerges among them, it will be a disaster for our descendants."
Zhu Jingyuan showed a few subtle smiles on his face.
The Taixi people's Maodun and Temujin seem to have really appeared in history, but it was too late.
In the era of Napoleon and Mustache, it was no longer possible to conquer a place by defeating its feudal lords as it was in the classical dynasty era.
Napoleon failed in Lucia, and Mustache also failed in Lucia.
On the contrary, the Americans developed on their own in the new land of the New World and established a new Roman city of the West.
Then, Wu Zhiyuan himself had this kind of thinking, but it was not as extreme as this young man Wu Zhiyuan.
He also wanted to completely eliminate the threat to future generations, but he chose to limit the opponent's development space.
Just drive all the Taixi people back to the Taixi mainland and control them within the scope of the Taixi continent:
“After the industrial age, the gap in combat effectiveness caused by the gap in technological level and ethnic group size will become more and more obvious.
“After the first industrial revolution, with cannons, railways, and rifled guns, the grassland peoples were no longer a threat to the Central Plains.
“After this industrial revolution, regional powers can no longer threaten the status of world powers.
“The resources that the Thais currently control determine their upper limit.
“Their existence is also an external driving force that urges our future generations not to be decadent and lying down.
“So neither the Ming court nor I have any intention of completely wiping out the Taixi people, nor do we have any plans to do so.
"Of course, if the countries in Europe and the West take the initiative to request to become tributaries of the Ming Dynasty, we will also consider accepting it."
Zhu Jingyuan gave the right words this time, and this kind of right words must be given.
It is impossible for today's conversation to be completely leak-free, and some news will definitely leak out.
If he always talks about others in a discriminatory manner, when word spreads to society and the world, it will become like "The Prince of Great Food is noncommittal on whether to eliminate and annex the European and Western countries."
Considering his special status, after hearing the news, the countries in Europe and the West would immediately become upset.
The situation in the whole world will soon become tense.
Therefore, politicians cannot speak casually, especially those countries that can affect the world situation but cannot determine the world situation. Every word must be carefully considered.
The higher your status and the stronger the country, the more casual you can be, but you can't just talk nonsense.
Even if he actually agrees with the complete elimination of the Taixi people in his heart, he will definitely say that he does not support it and has no relevant plans.
What's more, I don't support doing that in the first place. The most I can do is find ways to limit the population growth of the Thai people.
When the Ming people are more than twice as many as the Taixi people, preferably three to four times more, then we can consider complete conquest and absorption.
So Zhu Jingyuan left an additional explanation that if the other party is willing to become a vassal, we will also consider accepting it.
Wu Zhiyuan obviously has some regrets, but he also feels that this is a natural choice for politicians.
Wu Zhiyuan discovered that Zhu Jingyuan's last words were official.
Then I sighed in my heart:
As expected, things in politics are like this. They all involve making trade-offs and compromises in various situations.
But for now, compressing the living space of the Taixi people, letting them consume each other, and controlling their development is obviously more reasonable and the method with the least loss...
However, considering the status of His Highness Prince Dashi, he should not be able to say it even at this level.
This is originally at an award ceremony, and it is impossible to continue chatting without restrictions.
So this temporary and not completely free political confrontation between the two ended like this.
Zhu Jingyuan temporarily retreated to the back, leaving the middle of the field to the winners.
As the champion, Wu Zhiyuan picked up the banner and waved it vigorously from the high platform to the people below.
Staff from the newspaper and the royal palace took photos and videotaped the process.
Then Zhu Jingyuan returned to the stage again and gave a brief speech.
The main purpose is to announce that relevant activities will become official events in the future and will be organized and held regularly by the Aviation Industry Association.
Daming Airlines will continue to provide sponsorship and support, and also invites other aviation industry manufacturers to participate.
This time the game and subsequent videos will be archived, and a version suitable for broadcast will be edited and played publicly on appropriate occasions.
Subsequent games will be broadcast live through the latest broadcast system.
Finally, it was announced that Daming Airlines will also launch lighter and smaller aircraft in the future, so stay tuned.
The day after the award ceremony, Zhu Jingyuan set off for the Motor Vehicle Industrial Park in Nantong.
(End of chapter)
