[78] The White House is thinking

In the Oval Office of the President of the United States in the White House in January 1950, President Harry S. Truman and his secretary of state, Acheson, were having a long conversation. Truman rested his legs on his desk, his whole weight resting on his warm, thick dark blue velvet armchair, his innocent blue eyes, beloved by his constituents, flickering behind the glass lenses.

Truman skillfully opened the cigar in his hand with small scissors and handed it to Acheson: "Dean, what do you think of Mao's new speech?" With that, he pricked up his ears as he cut his cigar. He knew that his secretary of state was better at making foreign policy than he was as president.

Acheson took the cigar, sniffed it, and said to him, "Great Havana cigar, you know, a German man came home and saw a cigar still smoking on the table, and he asked his wife where it came from." Acheson struck a match and slowly turned the cigar as he smoked, the end of which was evenly lit.

Truman said, "What did his wife say? ”

Acheson went to the fireplace, threw into the fireplace a long special match that had burned most of it, took a deep breath, and said: "His wife was so frightened that she could not speak, and then her lover, who was hiding in the closet, replied with trepidation, 'Cuba.'" ”

Truman put his hand holding the cigar on the armrest of the armchair, squinted and smiled, "Oh, Dean, you bad guy, what a funny story, what do you want to say?" ”

Acheson gently stroked his neatly trimmed lips with his hand and smiled, "This lover didn't need to answer, but he did." ”

Truman took a light puff on his cigarette and said, "You mean, Mao is courting us?" Is his heart empty? Of course, he was afraid of us. ”

"It's obvious, you know, the CCP didn't get anything in the war except land and power, they desperately need money," Acheson said. ”

Truman shook his head and said, "No, I'm not going to give him a son, and if that's the case, the McCarthy guys in Congress are going crazy, you know, Dean." ”

Acheson spread his hands and said, "Of course, we don't need to give him a son, my judgment is that Mao's purpose is clear, he wants to ease relations with us, even under Stalin's pressure." ”

"But Stalin gave him a loan." Truman muttered.

"We can also give him a loan, as long as he opens the market to us and agrees to use the loan to buy American goods. Of course, we should strictly abide by the rules of the Paris Coordinating Committee and export only our goods, except for the military and industrial equipment, which cannot be loosened. Acheson said.

He paced over to Truman and sat down, and continued: "All this can be discussed as long as Mao is willing to distance himself from Stalin and to be neutral with the Comintern like Tito." The Communist Party, of course, was our enemy, but we should focus our attention on the USSR. If Red China were to fall completely to the Soviet Union, it would threaten our interests throughout Asia, South Vietnam and South Korea, Japan and even the Philippines. Once the USSR gets the Chinese access to the Pacific Ocean, the threat to us is too great, and by that time all of Asia will be under Soviet control. ”

Truman said worriedly: "Yes, I understand your concern that if China joins the Soviet Union, the Communists will challenge all our interests in Asia. But Dean, you forget, China is too big.

Our loan of $100 million to Tito is enough, after all, Yugoslavia has only more than 5 million people, while China has 400 million people! Oh my God, that's eighty times more than Yugoslavia. ”

The corners of Acheson's mouth twitched, and he raised his eyebrows and said: "Business, my old fellow, business, our loans can be recovered with the profits of commodities, China does not have the ability to produce any complex industrial products, they have to buy parts and assemble even the simplest radios from abroad." It's a very big market, very big. Even under the conditions of the Batumi embargo, American merchants were able to make a lot of profit from trade. ”

Truman's eyes lit up, and when it came to business, he was all too familiar with it, he opened a commissary when he served in the army, made money from soldiers, and after he retired from the army, he opened a clothing store to make money from citizens. In short, as long as he smells money, he can't help but get excited.

"Chiang Kai-shek's people have been handing out gold all over Washington lately, and I don't think Congress will be interested in your proposal at the moment......"

In Washington, where snowflakes are floating, the two people in the White House continue to talk about each other......

Xiaoqiang returned to Li's house, but he was not drunk, but he was a little dizzy, and Mr. Li didn't like to pour wine into others, so the guests and hosts did their best, and everyone talked about the wine.

Halfway through the meal, Old Man Li put down his chopsticks, looked at Xiao Qiang and said, "Xiao Qiang, I heard Mu Bai say about you, and you have a lot of ability." Tell me old man, who have you sold to? ”

Xiaoqiang suddenly heard Mr. Li ask this question, and he was a little speechless for a while, he is not a person who can lie, and asking him to suddenly switch to this topic from the short chatter of his parents for a while is tantamount to asking him to instantly turn from honesty to lying, and he can't react for a while.

"No, I didn't sell it to anyone. It's just small African countries. Do you want to know? Xiaoqiang didn't have any urgency, and stammered.

Li Muyun pouted on the side, chewed fried kidney flowers in his cheeks, and said vaguely: "When I look at you kid, you know that you are lying, you are obviously a stupid person, why do you learn to deceive people." ”

Old man Li poured his cup full of wine, this small glass is very comfortable to drink liquor, and it is only one or two glasses. Old Man Li squinted and said, "My granddaughter has seen it, and you still want to hide it from me?" If you have something to hide, it's okay not to say it, but I can tell you, if you endanger national security, no one can protect you. ”

Xiao Qiang was really a little frightened, and hurriedly said: "I can guarantee this, these weapons will not appear on the market at all, they are all internal digestion, internal digestion." ”

The old man was a little confused by Xiaoqiang's words: "Internal digestion? How about internal digestion? ”

Xiao Qiang froze his mind, and quickly turned his brain, which was a little dizzy from alcohol, and said: "That is to say, these weapons will not appear again at all, and they cannot be seen on the market." Buyers take it for training. ”

The old man scolded in Sichuan dialect with a straight face: "You lie to a ghost, if you say something like this, either you have bad sense in your brain, or you are talking nonsense." With so many weapons bought, you can imagine that this is going to be a war.

But let me tell you Cao Xiaoqiang, you'd better tell your buyer that these weapons are too backward, it's okay to make a fuss in Africa, and when you meet a powerful big country, you can beat him all over the ground and find teeth. ”