"John, would you like a cup of coffee?" In the small reception room next to Marshall's office, Maxwell Taylor, dressed in a major uniform, walked up to a hungry John with coffee and a stack of small cookies.

"Great, thank you, Maxwell." John gladly accepted the other party's kindness. It's now more than 12 o'clock at noon, and more than 7 hours have passed since he left home at 5 o'clock in the morning, and he is already so hungry that his chest is pressed against his back.

"Maxell Coffee, as it is, lives up to its name!" After a sip of hot coffee and two more cookies, John finally felt more comfortable and made a pun on Taylor (Maxell is both Taylor's name and the name of a famous coffee brand in the United States, Maxwell and Maxwell are just translated differently).

"Good-to-the-last-drop!" Taylor understood and responded with a classic advertising slogan from Maxwell Coffee.

"You should get me a larger coffee mug, Maxwell, the size of a bathtub." John was not referring to the bathtub, of course, but to the famous coffee cup of President Roosevelt Sr. during his lifetime.

As the "number one barista" among all presidents, Roosevelt Sr.'s love for coffee is well known in the United States. He is said to drink an average of almost 4 litres of coffee a day, even during his illness. His oversized coffee mug, which is larger than an ordinary beer mug, is one of the well-known "White House stories", and people vividly call it "bathtub".

By the way, the Roosevelt family's love of coffee was nationally famous. The slogan "Dripping fragrant, unfinished" comes from the evaluation given by President Roosevelt Sr. in 1907 after tasting Maxwell coffee.

The family has always been committed to promoting coffee culture in the United States, and several of Roosevelt Sr.'s children not only invested in coffee plantations in Brazil, but also jointly opened the first modern coffee chain in the United States. Even the little President Roosevelt in the White House was a coffee fanatic. Historically, when the United States implemented the non-staple food rationing system during World War II, he also "invented" the famous Roosevelt coffee in order to save coffee beans.

"It's a good thing you're not from our secretariat, otherwise Secretary Smith's collection of good coffee wouldn't be enough for you to drink alone." Taylor smiled and refilled another glass for John.

"I don't pick it, the instant coffee in the C ration will do. And if I do move to the Secretariat, Smith won't have to worry about coffee anymore. ”

John's original intention was that if he was a member of the secretariat, he would not mind contributing his personal collection of fine coffee. But this sentence took on another meaning in Taylor's ears.

At the beginning, John almost replaced Smith as Marshall's secretary to Chief of Staff. If he hadn't insisted on going to the front-line troops, Smith would have been sitting on the cold bench at the Army-Navy Joint Committee (the predecessor of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), and naturally he wouldn't have to worry about coffee in the secretariat.

But then again, Taylor himself is one of the direct beneficiaries of this matter. If John hadn't intervened, how could Smith, who owed him a big favor, take action and transfer Taylor to the General Staff Secretariat as Marshall's assistant secretary.

This personnel transfer is not a big deal for John and Smith, but for Taylor himself, it is enough to change his fate. After working in the Secretariat for more than half a year, Taylor has gradually gained the appreciation of Chief of Staff Marshall for his diligence and ability. It is foreseeable that his military career is about to enter a fast lane.

After filling his stomach a little and joking with Taylor a few more words, John asked the other party again about the movement next door. "It's been almost an hour since General Strong went in. Is there any clear word from Secretary Smith, and when can I get in? ”

John had walked into the reception room with General Strong more than an hour earlier. It didn't take long for Secretary Smith to lead Strong into the next door in Chief of Staff Marshall's office. John was left behind, waiting for Marshall's call at any moment. Whoever thinks about it, this wait until now. John even began to wonder if Strong was deliberately trying to hang him and spend time inside.

"Don't worry, John. It should be soon. Taylor patiently comforted John, which was the main reason Secretary Smith asked him to bring coffee and snacks. For John, a bull with a deep background who can "easily" ruin his future, Smith, the first secretary of the staff, is very jealous and does not dare to treat him as an ordinary colonel officer. After seeing the meal, Marshall still had no intention of summoning John, and he hurriedly sent Taylor, who had a close relationship with John, to "put out the fire".

"Really, I knew I would have to wait so long, I might as well go downstairs for a meal and come back." John didn't mean to blame Smith, and this kind of thing was not something that one of his secretaries could do. So, having complained a word, he turned the conversation to Taylor again.

"I heard that you've been doing a good job in the Secretariat lately, what's the matter, do you plan to stay here, take Smith's class in the future, or find a chance to go down and practice?"

"It depends on the arrangement of the chief of staff. Personally, I'm still inclined to get out of the army. Taylor is now barely a peripheral member of the Vanderbilt family (Colonel Cresswell, the old prefect who single-handedly promoted him, is the son-in-law of the old Fan family), and the future development will inevitably rely on the power of the old Fan family, so naturally he will not have reservations about John on this issue.

"It's better to go down as soon as possible. What you lack most now is the experience of commanding front-line troops. If we don't make up for this shortcoming as soon as possible, it will be detrimental to future development. John was very supportive of Taylor's willingness to send troops. Since graduating from the military academy, Taylor has either studied in school or served as a military attache and observer in embassies abroad. Although the speed of promotion is not slow, it is difficult to really move up to a high position.

"That's what I thought, too. By the way, last month, when General Stilwell came to the meeting, he hinted that he wanted to transfer me to him. Taylor lowered his voice and revealed an important message to John.

This vinegar-hearted Joe, this is going to dig into the corner. John had long regarded Taylor and Gavin as his future right-hand men in the Airborne Forces, and when he heard that Stilwell wanted to cut off his beard, he immediately became nervous. "Joseph wants you to go to the Third Army (Stilwell has officially become the commander of the Third Army in June)? Are you familiar with him? ”

"I can't talk about familiarity. In 1937, I worked for a few months in an investigation team in Peiping, where Stilwell was the leader. But I was mostly dealing with the Japanese military, and Stilwell was in charge of the Chinese side. ”

Hearing Taylor say this, John remembered. After the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, the United States did send an investigation team to North China to collect intelligence on the Sino-Japanese War. The team leader was Stilwell, the U.S. military attache in China at the time. Taylor, as an army intellectual, (he was an assistant military attache at the U.S. Embassy in Japan, not only spoke fluent Japanese, but also interned in the Japanese Guards Artillery Regiment for six months) was also selected to join the investigation team.

"The Third Army is still forgotten, and Joseph himself is just going to overdo it, and it won't last long. I will help you pay attention to the affairs of the troops, and strive to solve this matter in the second half of the year. Historically, Stilwell was transferred back to Washington after only a few months in the Third Army, and in early 1942 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the China Theater and Commander of the U.S. Forces in the China-Burma-India Theater.

Rather than throwing Taylor into the Third Army now, it would be better to wait a few more months. Historically, when the 82nd Division was reorganized into an airborne division, Taylor was directly promoted from major to colonel by Marshall, replacing the Pop who was driven away by John and becoming the new chief of staff of the 82nd Division.

John also recalled the personnel layout of the 82nd Division after the reorganization in history. After Bradley was transferred, he was still very confident that he would compete for the position of the third commander of the 82nd Division. When the time comes, Taylor will be arranged to take over his post as chief of staff in the 82nd Division, and Gavin will go to the paratrooper regiment as the regimental commander. Even if John was transferred out of Stimson after the war began, he was confident that he would maintain his influence in the Airborne Forces.

That's it. John secretly decided to go back and start working on the layout.