The International Welcome Hotel built for the Limerick Expo is located on the south bank of the charming Shannon River. It adopts the rare spherical shape of this era. The main beams of all steel structure and tempered glass walls are very modern and beautiful. It is said that after the end of the Expo, all materials can be recycled and reused, setting a precedent for modern environmentally friendly buildings. Since the opening of the Expo, the king of Ireland and the national military and political officials held a welcome banquet for distinguished guests from all over the world. The most famous princes and nobles in Europe were rarely absent. The most influential figures outside Europe, the US President, the Japanese Prime Minister, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc., all left their footprints here.

In June 1918, the Limerick Expo schedule was halfway through, and a huge group of people from the upper class of the Ottoman Empire came late. Taking into account the long-standing reputation of this ancient empire and the luxurious lifestyle of the Ottoman nobles, the Irish government changed its past practice and prepared a feast for the Turks with great glitz.

In name, the visiting Ottoman tour group was led by the Imperial Vizier, the Prime Minister of the Government. However, in the Ottoman Empire, which had been repeatedly tested by coups and war, the people who controlled the army had a real say. Among the many brightly decorated and arrogant Pasha, several of them were friends that Xia Shu had made many years ago. Fatih, who is currently the chairman of the Ottoman Navy Committee, was probably the best of these people. This committee is in charge of the equipment procurement and organization training of the Ottoman Navy, and has a great say in the personnel appointments and removals of the navy. It is not difficult to see how comfortable his life was just from Fatih Pasha's fat and distorted figure.

"Oh, oh, is that? Tsk tsk, it's so pitiful!"

After a greeting, Fatih, who was stooled, heard Charlotte Hill tell him the original intention of the establishment of the Ireland Fund for Women and Children, and expressed deep sympathy for the orphans. War, disease and disasters caused more than 70,000 orphans in Ireland, most of whom did not have the ability to take care of themselves, and about one-quarter suffered from congenital diseases or disabilities. Although the Irish government has opened nearly 100 orphanages and included the original orphanages in the scope of official supervision and subsidies, these orphanages with poor backgrounds have the most basic survival guarantee. However, the state invested limited funds, and most public orphanages have shortages of manpower and poor facilities. The living conditions of sick and disabled children are particularly unoptimistic. The existing charity organizations raise funds every year like drops in the bucket.

Out of humanitarian concerns, reputation building and character accumulation, under the arrangement of Xia Shu, Ireland Rescue Women and Children Fund was established in the name of him and Charlotte Hill, and raised charity funds for orphans in their own country and women who do not have the ability to take care of themselves.

After listening to Charlotte's speech with rich expressions, Fatih seemed to realize that the quasi-Queen of Ireland was raising funds for charity. Without a moment of hesitation, he stretched out a pair of hands full of gem rings and said loudly: "I donate 100,000 Kuru...gold coins in my personal name!"

Forget it, Fatih solemnly announced in Turkish: "I donated 100,000 Kuru gold coins to the Women's and Children's Fund initiated by the King and Queen of Ireland!"

As soon as this said, the small half of the banquet hall suddenly became quiet.

Calculated by the value of gold, this money is about 20,000 marks, which is equivalent to the income of ordinary German workers for 10 years. Even in the upper class, it is a considerable amount of money.

In recent years, the Ottoman Navy has successively purchased, customized and modified more than 40 ships, as well as many channel dredging and dock expansion projects, all of which are huge projects. The abundant oil and water of the Imperial Navy Committee is naturally enviable. However, Fatih seems to be not afraid of the wealth he has. The reason is that the Ottoman ruling class has collectively become a nouveau rich oil-producing Middle East, which was originally the territory of Ottoman Turkey. After the war, the camp of allies led by Germany forced the British forces to withdraw from this area. In the next two years, the scale of oil extraction in the Middle East had exceeded the pre-war level. The resource transfer or cooperative development agreement signed by the Ottoman Empire and Germany brought it tens of millions of marks every year. The down-and-out Ottoman royal family turned around and became a willful group of tycoons.

Before people could settle their minds, they heard another voice announce in a very standard German and then in Turkish: "I donated 200,000 Kuru in my personal name, of course, gold coins!"

The speaker was Abbas Pasha, the commander of the 2nd Army stationed in the Bosbruce Strait. He was the son of the current Sultan Muhammad V and an orthodox Ottoman prince. He not only had a strong background, but also studied in Germany. His understanding and application of new and modern tactics was much stronger than that of most Pashas in the Ottoman army. However, he was arrogant and not as smooth as Fatih, and always had a domineering attitude. Therefore, in the eyes of Ottoman subjects, he was far less popular than his brother Abdul. It is said that he was not very popular in the Ottoman army.

When he visited Ottoman Turkey many years ago, Natsuki met Abbaspasha and knew that he and Fatih were cousins. The two competed with each other, but in the end, there was no competition or suppression between the military boundaries. As for the real power status of the Ottoman Empire, Abbas was obviously even better, but in a Muslim country that is elusive outsiders, it is still very glorious today and may become a prisoner tomorrow.

Abbas may not be the richest among the Ottoman tycoons present, but no one would annoy this arrogant prince who held military power to show off his wealth. After complimentary applause, Pasha and Vizier, who were full of jewels, responded, and the amount of pledges ranged from 10,000 to 50,000 or 60,000 Kuru. The banquet unexpectedly turned into a charitable donation conference. Not only did the Irish officials and staff who came to the scene were shocked by these numbers, but even Charlotte looked surprised, but Xia Shu still sat firmly on Diaoyutai. In addition to appreciating exhibits from various countries, the Ottoman delegation also had a grand strategic goal, which was to build a powerful team for the Ottoman Empire.

Modern aviation power, military aircraft made in Ireland, in addition to the top models, the performance and quality are not inferior to German goods, and have certain advantages in price. The rebates given to buyers in private are very high. The Turks have tried to purchase combat reconnaissance aircraft from Ireland and are very excited about the re-cooperation between the two sides. If the deal can be reached on satisfactory conditions, the donation tonight is just to give first and then take. Another point is that the Ottoman air force belongs to the Army and Navy. When the procurement scale is roughly determined, the Army and Navy hope to achieve results that are beneficial to them, and this depends to a certain extent on the aircraft model recommended and given concessions by Ireland.

In an atmosphere that deviates from the theme, the grand dinner continued until late at night, and the consumption of beef, mutton and wine was much more than the previous banquets of the same scale. Unfortunately, the Irish people did not have the habit of steaming saunas. The Turkish bath equipped with the Ottoman Pavilion was smaller in size, and it was far from the usual level of enjoyment by the Ottoman nobles, which made the Turks who were full of wine and generously donated money.

Before the banquet, the attendant officers had already counted the amount of donations from the Turks, with a total of 1.52 million Kulu. With the current price level, it is enough for the living expenses of fifty medium-sized orphanages throughout the year!

The Ottoman tycoon night at the International Welcome Hotel surprised people at the open-mindedness of the Turks. You should know that the Ottoman national income level was not as good as that of Ireland. Millions of people live in hunger and poverty. There are much more orphans and abused women in the entire Ottoman world than in Ireland. Although the funds of more than 300,000 marks did not help change the plight of the Ottoman poor, they reflected the attitude of a country's ruling class.

Only with comparison can one be satisfied. This philosophy has realities. In the next few days, not only did the official media of the Irish government highly praised His Majesty the wise and powerful King and British friend Charlotte Hill, but the public opinion was also a voice of praise. Taking this opportunity, Irish industrialists, traders, farmers and even the old nobles who were vaguely in the world actively responded to the fundraising call issued from the Limerick Palace. In just a few weeks, the donations sent to Ireland's Foundation for the Rescue of Women and Children reached nearly two million marks, which was more than six times the donation of the Ottoman Turkish delegation. It is worth mentioning that Grady, who is influential in the Munster area, is highly regarded as the donation of

The family, the Ahern family, the Bourne family and the famous Meragorgon family not only strongly supported this charity event, but also expressed their sincere respect for His Majesty the King and Ms. Charlotte Hill through various channels. They also wrote Gaelic poetry and Gaelic stories in the way they were good at, celebrating Charlotte's kindness and lenient feelings, and portrayed her moving love story with the Irish king. Later, the famous Irish playwright Mrs. Gregory collected these poems and stories and compiled them into a light comedy called "The Modern Knight", which invited many famous actors to participate. The performance at the Limerick National Grand Theater was welcomed and favored by people from all walks of life.

With the joint efforts of all parties, by the fall of 1918, the public opinion situation in Ireland about the marriage of the king had been greatly reversed. Under the invitation and arrangement of the Irish royal family, the daughter of the late former Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Ferdinand, Princess Hohenberg, visited Limerick and provided a letter written by Ferdinand during his lifetime to the Irish Daily, which reviewed his precious but not accepted by the court with his commoner's wife, and mentioned a young couple who were similar and more difficult to do so. He saw his persistence and happiness back then from each other, and he felt that they should be recognized and blessed by the world.

The content of the letter from Grand Duke Ferdinand was published by the Irish Daily, which caused a huge response in Ireland. The unfortunate marriage of the Ferdinand couple was considered to have triggered a world war, which then ruined millions of lives and left a source of pain and disaster for countless families. However, their loyalty and persistence in relationships are worthy of respect and admiration. People began to think about the marriage of the king of Ireland from an unprecedented perspective, trying to find answers between history and reality, feelings and reason. Before secular ideas completed their self-liberation, the Roman Catholic Church, representing religion, and the Hohenzollern Royal Family, representing secular power, successively gave formal support to the couple finally entered the marriage hall, thus helping them clear the final obstacles.
Chapter completed!