Subtitle of this chapter: The Spiritual Master is here! There should be applause......

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Saturday, March 26, 1921.

"Washington Union Station ......"

"Washington Union Station has arrived, arriving passengers, please be ready to get off the train."

"Boss, we're here! This is my first time in Washington. ”

"Aisi, the world is so big, you should really go out and see it when you're so young. Would you like to go with me to Europe and Asia? ”、

If you pick up a girl, you have to loosen and tighten. The domineering president is the domineering president, and the warm man is the warm man.

"Europe...... And Asia? Miss Stenographer tilted her little head cutely and said, "If the boss really wants to take me there, then I'll go." ”

"Hahaha...... There is a chance, there is a chance. ”

Master Yuan took his stenographer, Miss Ethel Moreman, followed by his attendant, Condor, and called a porter to help them carry their luggage, and walked out of the bustling Washington Union Station.

As soon as they walked out of the station, they saw a small group of well-dressed American troops waiting in the square in front of the station, and it was ...... who led the way

"Major Patton, I didn't expect you to pick me up in person. What a surprise! Yuan Yanqian stepped forward and said with some surprise.

In fact, he had come to Washington at the invitation of the commander of the 4th Cavalry Battalion to attend an Easter party hosted by his wife, Bentrice Banning Patton.

Easter Day, also known as the Day of the Lord's Resurrection, is an important holiday in Christendom. As the name suggests, it is to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, a "foreign object". According to the Bible, he was resurrected three days after his crucifixion.

Unlike Christmas, Easter does not have a fixed date every year. The Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. established that Easter was celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon of the equinox.

In 1921, the vernal equinox was on March 21, and three days later on March 24 was the full moon, so Sunday 27 March became Easter this year.

Like Christmas, Easter is actually a holiday originally celebrated in ancient Rome. It's just that Christmas is derived from the Winter Solstice Festival, while Easter is derived from the "Spring Festival".

By the way, the Orthodox Church highly regards Easter as a more important holiday than the birth of Jesus, claiming that "how much the sun is higher than the stars, then how much more important Easter is than other holidays." ”。

In addition to attending this spring party, Yuan Yanqi also plans to stay here in Fort Myer for a few days, ride a horse and relax, and become a true gentleman and master.

Major Patton smiled and said, "Haha." Mr. Yuan, of course I will come to greet a 'warrior' like you. ”

"Oh......" Master Yuan said with a deliberate frown, "I thought you only welcomed the dead warriors and not the living warriors." ”

"Haha...... Hehe......"

The U.S. soldiers on the side also laughed when they heard this. For one of the daily duties of Major Patton, the commander of the 4th Cavalry Battalion, was to come to this Union Station to load the coffins that had been transported here onto the gun trucks, and to carry the remains of the dead to Arlington National Cemetery with solemn ceremonies.

For the ambitious Patton, this is naturally a boring job, but it is indeed a very emotional way to motivate the majority of American soldiers.

Major Patton let the orderly he brought carry Yuan Yanqi's luggage into the car and said, "Mr. Yuan, don't you mind waiting a little longer, right?" I also have a friend's car coming soon. ”

Yuan Yanqian secretly said in her heart, I don't stay in New York, didn't I come to Fort Myer to attend your Easter party just to get to know more of your "friends"?

In the original timeline, Patton, the commander of the fourth battalion, would not be long in office, and he would be changed more than a dozen times before World War II. And Master Yuan will leave the United States in a few months, so hurry up and take advantage of the current effort to bring the two sides closer...... Well, the relationship between him and the US military.

"Don't mind, of course not." Master Yuan pointed to the little beauty beside him and said, "I almost forgot to introduce it, this is Miss Moman, my secretary ......"

He saw a teasing smile on the corner of Major Patton's mouth, and immediately explained: "No way, I have been busy lately, and I am still writing a book in addition to the manuscript I have at hand, so I have to ask Miss Moreman to follow along." ”

Major Patton smiled noncommittally, and after greeting the female secretary, he turned his head and asked with interest, "Mr. Yuan, what did you write this time?" Is it a follow-up to A Song of Ice and Fire? ”

"A Song of Ice and Fire...... I don't really want to write about this fantasy lately. ”

So far, A Song of Ice and Fire is out in its third volume. Master Yuan will have to be a eunuch if he "writes" two more volumes.

Yuan Yanqian waved his hand and said, "I'm currently writing a book on the theme of European wars." ”

"European war theme?!" Patton's interest was greatly increased, he was a veteran of the First World War, so he was naturally very interested in this subject. So he immediately asked, "Mr. Yuan, can you tell me what you wrote?" ”

"Of course, there are some details I want to ask you about." Master Yuan nodded and said, "I wrote about a young German ......."

"German youth! Are you going to write about the Germans? Patton interrupted a little rudely, "Mr. Yuan, why don't you write about us Americans?" ”

Isn't it because you Americans are not as famous as the one written by the Germans?

When Yuan Yanqian was just making an excuse, he was stopped by Barton.

I saw Mr. Major pointing behind him and said apologetically, "Mr. Yuan, I'm sorry." My friend is here. ”

Yuan Yanqian turned his head and saw a young officer about thirty years old, who should be his wife next to him, and the two happened to walk out of the gate of Union Station side by side.

Well, this guy's face seems to be a little familiar, but it doesn't look good. The lady beside him also had a sad face, and there was a thin black veil on top of her hat, which should be mourning for someone.

Master Yuan naturally knew that they were here for the Easter party, and others who didn't know thought that they were coming to Arlington Cemetery to attend the funeral.

"Mamie, welcome to Fort Myer." Major Patton stepped forward with a smile on his face and gave the lady an intimate veneer.

"Ike, you're welcome, too."

"Thanks, George." Then the two U.S. Army majors shook hands vigorously.

Ike......

Yuan Yan's heart jumped, then this couple who didn't look very open-minded was......

Sure enough, Major Patton came over with the couple and said, "Mr. Yuan, please allow me to introduce you, this is my good friend Major Dight David Eisenhoer, and this beautiful lady is his wife, Mamie Eisenhoer. ”

Master Yuan secretly said in his heart, Lao Tzu has seen the current commander of the United States Imperialism, Warren Harding, the next Hoover can be regarded as saying hello, and the next FDR is now half a friend, and he also met JFK and his father. I didn't expect to meet another US imperialist commander today.

"Hello, ma'am. Hello, Mr. Major. He took off his hat and said politely, "I'm Neo-Yuan......"

"Hello, Mr. Yuan." Mrs. Eisenhower said somewhat perfunctorily.

It was the future Allied European Commander-in-Chief who forced a smile and said, "It turns out that the great writer you drank the British down." Mr. Yuan, I've seen you too, and I'm really fortunate to have met you. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen. The luggage is all arranged, let's get in the car. Major Patton greeted him, and with the two men and two women he got into a very spacious and comfortable two-horse carriage.

"Master Ball, you search for me, for Mao They are so sad now."

"Host, receive ......"

After Master Yuan finished reading the search results, his heart moved......

It turned out that this was why the couple looked so "depressed", and that was why Barton invited them over to the Easter party. I thought it was to let my little brother and his wife relax.

Their friendship began at the Army Base at Fort Meade in Maryland in the summer of 1919.

According to biographers, although the difference between the two men was as clear as day and night, Patton, commander of the 304th Light Tank Brigade, and Eisenhower, commander of the 305th Tank Brigade, hit it off at first sight.

Barton was five years older than Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was born in 1890, and by this time he was already a well-known war hero in China. As later generations have liked, Barton was notoriously egotistical, and so wealthy that he didn't care about money at all.

Eisenhower, on the other hand, stayed at home during the European War, and was transferred to various military bases to train recruits. He was humble and kind, and he was a poor boy from a somewhat poor family. Even after getting married, I couldn't even afford to rent an apartment.

Eisenhow's father was a bankrupt businessman in Texas who enrolled in military school to save money on tuition. He enrolled at both the Annapolis Naval School and West Point because he was older than the first-class military academy and therefore second-class.

These two army officers, whose personalities and experiences are completely different, have become close friends because of the tank. Through Patton, Eisenhower was able to get to know many important people in the military circles, and Barton always cared for the little brother in the days to come. It can be said that Patton played a crucial role in Eisenhower's growth.

However, in World War II, the two fell out because of their personalities.

In August 1945, at a press conference, Patton fell into a "language trap" designed by a journalist, saying that the Republican and Democratic Party in the United States were no different from the Nazi Party in Germany.

The world was in an uproar, and Eisenhower could no longer tolerate Patton's nonsense, so he gave him the title of commander of the 15th Army (the "shelf army" used to write the history of the war) and sent him home.

"I'm sorry, Miss Morman, Mr. Yuan. Mind if I smoke? As soon as the carriage started, Eisenhower asked a little embarrassed.

The history books are right, he was a huge smoker, and it is said that he smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day during World War II.

"Of course I don't mind." Master Yuan took out three fine Cuban cigars from his inner pocket and said, "Major Eisenhower, Major Patton, get one?" ”

"Thank you, Mr. Yuan." Seeing the cigar, Eisenhow's eyes lit up and he really took it, "Then I'm welcome." ”

Barton took it, and the three addicts opened the windows and lit their cigars.

Cigarettes and alcohol are really the lubricant of relationships, and they start chatting while swallowing clouds.

When the atmosphere in the car was a little more harmonious, Yuan Yanqian pointed to the black veil on Mrs. Eisenhow's face, and asked casually, "Forgive me, have you any relatives passed away recently?" ”

The couple's faces froze, and Mrs. Eisenhower's eyes immediately turned red.

Eisenhow's performance was a little better, but it was only after half a ring that he nodded and said bitterly: "My son died of scarlet fever in January this year. ”

That's right. The young couple's eldest son did die more than two months ago, at the age of three.

This tragedy hit them very hard, and Eisenhower once wrote in his memoirs that it was the greatest disappointment and disaster of my life, and I have never been able to completely forget it. His wife almost had a nervous breakdown and hid in her apartment for a month after the funeral.

"Oh, no wonder ......" Master Yuan sniffled vigorously, and "deliberately" lowered his voice to himself, but the volume of this voice was just enough for the others in the car to hear clearly, "There is a baby soul in this car!" ”

“Baby Soul？！” Before Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhower and Major Patton could ask, Miss Moreman, who was on the side, asked curiously, "Boss, what is a baby soul?" ”

Yuan Yanqian smiled "embarrassedly", and said in a hurry: "Infant soul? I didn't say anything about infant souls, you heard me wrong, Miss Morman. ”

The stenographer was unconvinced: "Hmph, BOSS." You just said 'baby soul', and you said that there was a smell in the car. ”

Master Yuan glanced at her "angrily" and said, "You must have heard it wrong......

"Nope! Mr. Yuan, I also heard you say that the infant soul! Mrs. Eisenhower, who had been silent, suddenly straightened her waist and stared at him with burning eyes, "Mr. Yuan, may I ask what you smell?!" ”

......The "honest" and "honest" Yuan Yanqian didn't want to "lie" in front of the lady, so she fell into a "predicament".

He took a hard puff on his cigar and then said leisurely, "Ladies and gentlemen." We Cyris share your belief that when people die, their souls go to another world. It's just that we call it Hades, and you call it Heaven and Hell. ”

"Unfortunately, sometimes the souls of the dead remain in our world. Especially those ignorant children, who will only follow their instincts and cling to their parents......"

"I'm sorry Mr. Yuan interrupted you." Major Patton frowned and asked, "Didn't you say you were a strong atheist last time?" How do you talk about the soul and the afterlife again? ”

Master Yuan patiently explained, "That's right, Major Patton. I have said that I am a strong atheist, and I do not believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful, and eternal god. But that doesn't mean that I deny that people have souls, and that I don't think souls go to another world. ”

"It's like the earth is round, humans are monkeys, and apples fall to the ground when they're ripe, it's an objective phenomenon that really doesn't have much to do with the gods."

Mrs. Eisenhower was about to speak, but her husband stopped her.

The major gentleman looked at Yuan Yanqian suspiciously, and asked in a deep voice, "Mr. Yuan, do you have evidence to prove that Aiji (his son's nickname)...... Is the infant in this carriage? ”

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This chapter is excerpted in part from Carlo Dest's Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life.