Edward Bridges, who has worked in Whitehall for many years, has been immune to the prime ministers who are overlooked, and there is no such thing as a genius, and it was a mistake for Prime Minister Chamberlain to raise Germany, and it was wrong for Prime Minister Churchill to sell his blood to resist?

"Sir Edward, even for reasons of correctness, we can only endorse Prime Minister Churchill's ideas." Alexander Cadogan smiled bitterly, admitting in his heart that Edward Bridges was right, but he couldn't say it.

"Yes, that's the limitation of our officer, we just carry it out, and even if we oppose it, we can't oppose it openly." Edward Bridges said helplessly, "It's not that I haven't reminded the Prime Minister that the current situation in the British Empire is really bad, but you also know that the Prime Minister is a stubborn person." ”

Had it not been for Churchill's stubbornness, British citizens might not have been able to unite and resist to the end in times of war. But it can't be stubborn to the end, and in the eyes of Edward Bridges, Churchill is a person who does not know how to be flexible.

Zetzlienhof Palace, which has been designated as the palace of the Potsdam Conference, although the whole building has 176 rooms, but from the outside, it is almost impossible to see, it really looks like a country house.

After entering the large arch of Cécilin Hof Palace, the first thing you see is the paving greenery, a large circle of grass in the shape of a white ring and a five-pointed star in the middle, and five red brick series chimneys on the right roof are particularly conspicuous, which looks huge and heavy, which is the architectural symbol of Céciline Hof Palace. The main building, with its triangular façade, was designated as the meeting place in Potsdam.

It may seem a little rudimentary, but in Frederick the Great's time, it was as important as Berlin, with summer palaces, office space, and court residences. The status is similar to that of Versailles or Fontainebleau in France.

The size of the palace is indeed not suitable for the leaders of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, but there is no way, now the urban area of Greater Berlin is ploughed by the heavy artillery of the Soviet Red Army, and there are ruins everywhere, which is okay for military parades, but I really can't find a complete palace to let the leaders of the three countries talk quietly.

At noon on June 26 at Berlin Airport, a plane with a British logo landed on the runway, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the current British Foreign Secretary, Robert Anthony Eden, came together.

Edward Bridges, who also had a lot of complaints about Churchill himself a few days ago, was also in the team below, with the iconic pit bull expression, Churchill, who may have made great achievements in becoming a gangster, walked down as the prime minister of the British Empire, and saw Edward Bridges, the cabinet secretary in front of the crowd, at a glance.

"Sir Edward, are you ready?" Churchill asked with a deliberately strong expression.

"Yes, Prime Minister!" Edward Bridges, as if he had been with the Secretary of the Foreign Office before, gave a gentle smile about the current situation in Berlin and the preparations he had made for many days.

"Then we will have a real negotiation with the opponents of the British Empire." Churchill recounted his grand plan and left the airport with Edward Bridges and Foreign Secretary Robert Anthony Eden.

Alan Wilson was an inconspicuous figure in the team of diplomats in charge of the Potsdam Conference, and he followed everyone behind, but his attention was more focused on Foreign Secretary Robert Anthony Eden than on Churchill's classic image, and if nothing else, he would be meeting regularly with the Conservative Party's No. 2 man during the conference.

"He was the one who was humiliated by the United States and the Soviet Union in the Suez Canal War?" Alan Wilson muttered in his heart.

The Suez Canal War was a key event in the transfer of power, Britain and France formed a coalition to unite with Israel to fight against Egypt, the leader of the Arab countries, but they were finally forced to give in, and from then on, in the eyes of the world, they no longer deserve to be compared with the United States and the Soviet Union.

It was after the Suez Canal War that Britain allowed its colonies to become independent step by step, and finally completely retreated to the British Isles and became a follower of the United States.

Because Berlin had lived up to its previous prosperity, in order to avoid delaying the good mood of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, the convoy arranged by Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges did not pass through the city of Berlin and made a detour to Potsdam.

Entering the Zetzlienhof Palace, Edward Bridges told Churchill the news of the present: "A telegram has been sent from the Soviet side, that the Soviet leader Stalin himself and Molotov have departed, and that the Soviets have come by land. ”

"As for the U.S. side, U.S. President Harry S. Truman is expected to arrive tomorrow, and the current message is that the Secretary of State should not be accompanied! It seems that there have been frequent personnel transfers in the U.S. government lately. ”

"Truman will be here tomorrow, so it's okay, before Stalin arrives, I'm going to talk to our allies, so that it might be easier to face the Soviets together." Churchill nodded, thinking it was a good start.

"This is Allen, and during the meeting, he will follow the foreign secretary." Edward Bridges waved Alan Wilson over and introduced to Foreign Secretary Robert Anthony Aiden, "Allen has overseas work experience, studied at the Oriental College, knows the customs of the Far East, India and the Middle East very well, and also has a certain understanding of the Soviet Union, so he is a rare young talent. ”

Robert Aiden bowed slightly, "Diplomats working overseas, this is very similar to Alexander." ”

Alexander Cadogan, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was once the ambassador to China, and Robert Eden is still very clear about the resume of the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"These are the diplomats who are negotiating during the meeting." Edward Bridges introduced the others in all aspects.

"Together, we defend the interests of the British Empire." Churchill held his head high and said with a hint of toughness on his face.

"Yes, Prime Minister!" The diplomats who were in charge of the Potsdam Conference opened their mouths to give assurances to Churchill.

On 27 June, US President Truman's plane arrived in Berlin, and compared with his famous predecessor, President Roosevelt, Truman was the first time that Truman had gone abroad to attend an important international conference, and his opponents were still Stalin of the Soviet Union and Churchill of Britain.

But immediately, Truman, who arrived in Potsdam, was dissipated by the warm welcome expressed by Churchill. Regarding the special relationship between Britain and the United States that Churchill said in his mouth, Truman nodded in agreement, but did not give a positive response.