"Dad, my brother is so ugly. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info not as good as Linda's younger brother. Early in the morning, little Ella lay on the side of the cradle, staring at her brother for a long time, and finally said to John with some disappointment. Her words made both John and Adele laugh.

Yesterday after dinner, little Ella was sent to the neighbor Mrs. Donaldson's house for the night. When she got up in the morning, she couldn't even bother to eat breakfast, so she couldn't wait to run back, clamoring to see her little brother. However, it seems that little Ella is a little disappointed with her brother's appearance, and feels that she is not as good-looking as her little brother's brother, that is, the young son of the Donaldson family, who has just turned one year old.

"It's like this when a child is born, and it looks good when it opens up in two days." Adele took her daughter into her arms and said affectionately.

In fact, in John's opinion, little Ella was not as good-looking as Eric is now when she was born. Adele paid attention to maintenance during her pregnancy this time, the child developed well in the belly, her facial features were basically open, and her eyebrows and eyes were very similar to herself.

Little Ella thinks that her brother's ugliness is entirely due to hairstyle problems. Probably overnourished in his mother's womb, Eric was born with long, thick chestnut hair that didn't match the baby's small face.

Little Ella is just talking about it, she still treasures her little brother in her heart. It's just that I'm too young to express myself. After a while, she giggled and teased her brother with a toy.

"Ella, take care of mom and brother at home, dad goes to work." There was no paternity leave these years, and he had to go back to the Army Staff to complete the handover before he could start enjoying the vacation that Major General Bull had given him.

The next few days were very busy. It's not because of the handover. When he was in the UK, Jairo was temporarily in charge of those jobs, and the entire handover took only half a day.

It's not because I have to take care of little Eric, there are Adele, Grandma Susan, Mary and a whole bunch of servants at home, and I don't need him to be a daddy at all. Besides, taking care of babies was something that John had no experience in his life.

What John needed to worry about was little Eric's baptism.

On the one hand, the birth of Eric, his only son, was a major event for the Vanderbilt family. Everyone knows very well that this little baby, who was just a few days old, will be the first heir to the "logistics kingdom" created by John, and it is almost certain that he will enter the family decision-making level in the future.

Therefore, since the news of the call came out, the well-known figures of all branches of the family have called to congratulate them, and all kinds of gifts have almost filled the storeroom at home.

On the other hand, since Uncle Frederick's funeral, the family hasn't had a big party for a long time. At the end of last year, the family was trying their best to resist the infiltration of the Morgan family, and they didn't have the heart to do any Christmas party.

Now that the New York Central Railroad is a family base that has been basically solidified, and it coincides with the major changes in the situation at home and abroad, the family bigwigs also intend to bring everyone together to unify their thinking and concentrate their efforts on dealing with the new changes that may arise in the future.

Therefore, the baptism of little Eric became an excellent reason for the Vanderbilt family to hold a family reunion. John was soon shocked to discover that more than 700 family members and in-laws were expected to attend the baptismal service.

In this case, John wanted to save trouble, and it was impossible to find a random church in Washington to baptize little Eric. Eventually, Eric's baptism was scheduled for this year's Columbus Day (a national holiday in the United States) and was held in New York's St. John's Cathedral in accordance with family tradition, with the Anglican Archbishop himself presiding.

While John was busy preparing for his son's baptism on a limited few days off, Mr. and Mrs. Stimson suddenly came to the door with gifts. Although they had come under the pretext of visiting little Eric, John knew that the little guy definitely didn't have such a big face.

Sure enough, when Mrs. Stimson teased little Eric, Stimson dragged John to the study.

"John, I've read all of your reports. It is well written, and both Roosevelt and Hull are highly rated. When he said this, Stimson's expression was obviously regretful. To be honest, I didn't expect you to do such a good job in the Army. If I knew this, I shouldn't have arranged for you to go to the staff so casually in the first place. ”

What does it mean? Did I do well or was I wrong? John was a little puzzled, it had been more than a month, hadn't Marshall and Stimson reached an agreement on where they were going? Although it is normal for there to be conflicts between the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army, don't the history books say that the two of them worked together quite well?

"Marshall wants you to go and be his secretary. What do you think of this proposal? Stimson's words took John by surprise.

"This ~ is not appropriate. Didn't Smith do a good job? Before he understood what had happened between Stimson and Marshall, John had the courage to agree. This is a matter of principle involving taking sides, and he is not allowed to cheat and play tricks.

"Marshall said that if you were willing to go, he would send Smith to the Army and Navy Joint Commission Secretariat." Marshall's capital is big enough. Historically, Smith has been his most powerful assistant. In 1942, when Eisenhower wanted to poach Smith as his chief of staff, Marshall dragged his head for a long time.

Now to make room for himself, Marshall actually wants Smith to go to the Joint Army and Navy Commission? Don't look at this committee as the predecessor of the future Joint Chiefs of Staff. But now, at best, it is a communication and coordination body between the army and the navy, with almost no substantive powers. In the military, serving on the Joint Commission of the Army and Navy is like being "exiled".

"Still don't understand?" Seeing John's ignorant look, Sting said angrily: "He wants to use you, but he doesn't worry about you, so he wants to bolt you under his nose." ”

John somewhat understood Stimson's train of thought. The position of secretary depends entirely on the leader he serves. Marshall took a fancy to his ability to communicate with foreign countries and wanted him to play a role in future exchanges and cooperation with foreign armies, but he was unwilling to give him too much power, so he let him be his secretary.

After all, it was no secret that he was Stimson's man, among the top echelons of the Army. No one would have thought that Marshall would really trust him completely, and in this way, his gold content as the first secretary of the Army Staff would be greatly reduced. And once John became Marshall's secretary, it would be difficult for Stimson to meddle in his affairs in the future, because it was very taboo. At that time, John may only be left with his job, and it will be wishful thinking to seek any further development and progress.

Although John roughly understood what Stimson meant. But in his opinion, Uncle Stimson was really thinking too much. It's not that John trusted Marshall's character and open-mindedness, but that he didn't care about the future of the military at all. After the war, he was determined to retire and go back to continue to manage the company, and any rank, position, and medal did not mean much to him. Does he still care about that retirement allowance?

At times, John even treats his participation in the World War as a challenging experiential game. He thinks that maybe he has been playing a little high lately, jumping up and down too hard. As a result, both Stimson and Marshall had a misunderstanding, mistakenly believing that he wanted to take root in the military world. As long as he explains it clearly, it'll be fine.

However, Stimson's next words made him suddenly realize that he had thought things too simply.