Seeing Churchill again, John noticed that the British "bulldog" was visibly much older. Although he still looked energetic, the large bags under his eyes and the obvious deepening of his forehead lines still told John that Churchill had not had a good time this past year.

"Hello, John. We meet again. Churchill wore a ridiculous blue double-breasted coat and a grotesque big-brimmed hat on his head. He greeted John with a smile and looked like a retired port authority official.

"Hello, Your Excellency Prime Minister." John gave a military salute, "I have been instructed by President Roosevelt to invite you to the welcome banquet to be held tonight aboard the Augusta, and to hear your views on the specific agenda for this meeting. With that, John handed Churchill a beautifully decorated invitation and the agenda for the next few days.

"Please tell you, Mr. President, that I am very honored to receive his invitation and look forward to having a wonderful evening with him." Churchill took the invitation and the meeting arrangements, glanced at them, and then handed them to Sir Cadogan, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who was standing aside.

After taking over the meeting, Sir Cadogan confirmed a few details with John from a technical point of view, and then politely took his leave, and went to make the arrangements.

As soon as Cadogan left, John breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that his official mission had been accomplished. To be honest, he has also been in contact with many big names, but he is still a little uncomfortable with this kind of formal diplomatic occasion. The diplomatic courtesy, the rhetoric, and the solemnity made him feel tense.

Sure enough, after Cadogan left, the atmosphere in the room immediately relaxed a lot. Churchill took out a cigar from his bosom, "John, I just made a pot of black tea, Clementine (Mrs. Churchill) made it herself, let's have a drink together." ”

"Great. Adele also learned to mix some at home, but the taste was not as good as that of Mrs. John, who was relaxed, sat down on the single sofa in front of the coffee table.

"I went to Felixstowe and saw the big iron boxes you built [the container terminal built by Commonwealth Shipping in the UK], and they all said it worked very well. Have you come up with any new tricks lately? Churchill said, gesturing to the porcelain jar containing the sugar cubes, "How many pieces of sugar?" ”

"One piece is enough." John hurriedly bowed and replied, "The Federal Shipping side is bidding for the design of a 15,000-ton container special freighter, but I have been in the field force recently, and I don't know much about the specific situation. I heard that the orders of the major shipyards are full, and there is no slipway for a while after the design. ”

"That's what we're going to focus on this time. Mr. President has said that he wants to turn the United States into an arsenal of the democratic world. But these materials could not be transported to the ocean, so they could not deal with Hitler. Churchill handed John the brewed black tea.

John took the tea and took the opportunity to turn the conversation to the extra task Roosevelt had given him: "That's right. So there are still many issues that we need to communicate and coordinate this time. Mr. Roosevelt would like to ask if you would like to attend an informal tea party after the dinner. He would love to hear your general views on the war. ”

"Of course that would be great, and I'd love to hear what President Roosevelt thinks." Churchill agreed without hesitation.

"Colonel, may I take the liberty of asking, who will be present at this tea party?" The question was asked by a middle-aged man sitting on Churchill's left-hand side.

"John, this is Lord Chewell, you may call him a professor as well." Churchill introduced him.

It turned out that this little man who was not good-looking was the famous "professor". John was taken aback. The Oxford University professor, who started his career in low-temperature physics, was a genius, not only in the field of science (hollow-loaded explosives, proximity fuses, and the H2S radar navigation system were all invented by him), but also in economics and politics.

At present, Lord Chewell, nominally Churchill's personal adviser on scientific matters, is in fact his chief thinker, in a position similar to that of Hopkins. It seems that at the end of World War II, he also joined the cabinet as the Comptroller and Privy Counsellor.

For such a staff member who could have a huge influence on Churchill, John naturally did not dare to slack off: "Hello, Lord Chewell. As far as I know, in addition to President Roosevelt himself, the tea party was attended by Deputy Secretary of State Wells, Chief of Staff Marshall, Secretary Stark, General King, General Arnold, and Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Harriman. ”

John then added, "The president doesn't want to be too formal, so let's have some tea, cocktails, and have a casual conversation." Say whatever you want, don't have too many people, and keep it to less than 20. ”

After whispering a few words to Cherwell, Churchill quickly finalized the British candidate: "Please tell you, Mr. President, that I will be present with Cherwell, Cadogan, Pound, Deere and Freeman." ”

"Yes, Mr. Prime Minister." John silently read the list in his mind, and it was about the same as he and Hopkins had expected, except for the absence of Marshal Roger Case. It is estimated that Churchill was afraid that the "old indignant young man" of Cases would say something inappropriate and spoil the atmosphere of the talks.

This is an important finding. John felt compelled to remind Hopkins and the Navy that Field Marshal Case might not be as important in the meeting as they had anticipated. It is likely that Churchill brought him here this time only to make room for the first British "rich second generation" (at this time, the position of "Commander of the Joint Operations Command" of Case had been replaced by the Commodore Mountbatten who had been promoted to brigadier general because he had sunk his pink ship "Kelly"), and not some compromise with the recalcitrant conservatives of the Navy.

"Oh, I almost forgot." John was still pondering Marshal Case's affairs, when Churchill patted his head and said, "I heard that Adele gave birth to a boy for you." Clementine even asked me to bring a gift for the child. Where do I want to go? ”

Churchill turned to his private secretary, Martin, and said a few words. Martin immediately went out and soon returned with a small wooden box. "yes, that's it." Churchill handed the box to John, "What is the name of the little one?" ”

"Eric, whose Christian name is Harry." John opened the box, and inside was an ordinary silver spoon. Since his birth, Eric Jr. has received no less than 200 stems. However, John still had a "flattered" smile on his face, "Thank you so much, Mr. and Mrs. Prime Minister." ”

If he had just crossed that time, he would have been grateful for the love of the Churchills. But now, he didn't believe Churchill's nonsense. Adele had always been in contact with Mrs. Churchill and had already sent a gift to Eric. Besides, how long he had been an army adviser to Roosevelt, Churchill probably didn't get the news until this morning. The silver spoon was apparently found in the ship's officers' quarters.

However, John would not puncture this point even if he was stupid. Churchill's overtures also raised his value in disguise, didn't you see the eyes of Ambassador Wynant on the side changing when they looked at him.

Historically, Hopkins described Churchill's meeting with Roosevelt as follows: "It was as if Winston had been taken to heaven to see God." "In the past, John thought it was a bit exaggerated, no matter how Churchill said that he was one of the Big Three, how could he fall so much. Now, it seems, most likely, it is true.

It seems that for Churchill and Britain, which was surviving in the German bombing, Roosevelt, the "best friend of the British people", was undoubtedly the only "savior". Otherwise, how could Churchill be so polite to him, a small White House aide?