On April 2, the 26th year of the Republic of China, Wusongkou Wharf was crowded with people, which was a delegation of the Nationalist Government to the United Kingdom to attend the coronation of George VI. The head of the delegation is naturally Kong Xiangxi, the special envoy of Chang Kaishen, chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, vice president of the Executive Yuan, and minister of finance, and the deputy envoy is Admiral Chen Shaokuan, minister of the navy.

The three leaders are divided into three factions, and Kong Xiangxi is naturally the family member of the chairman of the committee, Chang Kaishen, and the task is also the heaviest and the most confidential. But because he is a member of the family, he took his family with him on this trip - his wife Song Ailing, his eldest daughter Kong Lingyi, his youngest son Kong Lingjie, and a group of servants. Madame should go, Western diplomatic occasions are husband and wife, let alone at the ball; The eldest daughter went because of eye diseases, and German doctors are highly skilled, so it is appropriate to go there to see eye diseases; The youngest son went to Germany to study, and the second son of the chairman of the committee went to Germany last year, and the sons of other dignitaries are also in Germany, so it is not wrong for Kong Lingjie to go to Germany.

In addition to his family, the regiment commander also came under the jurisdiction of Du Luming, Gui Yongqing, Wen Yingxing of the Army, and Shen Dexie of the Air Force. Their mission, like Chen Shaokuan, is to go outside to buy weapons on credit, 'as long as people trust, they can buy as much as they can.' ’

On Kong Xiangxi's side, Admiral Chen Shaokuan's task is simple, he can become a deputy envoy because of the relationship between the navy and Britain, since China has a navy, the Chinese and British navies have always been close, and Britain is the hegemon of the ocean, and the navy is the majority of political leaders, so Chen Shaokuan should be appointed as deputy envoy. Compared with the chief and deputy envoys, Weng Wenhao's side is a little low-key, under the arrangement of the chairman, the purpose of his trip is actually to go to the Soviet Union, and the Resources Committee also has a strong Soviet style, although many of the people in it are liberals.

Amid the military music of the British Marine Corps Band stationed in Shanghai, the 30-member delegation bid farewell to Song Meiling, the wife of the chairman, He Yingqin, minister of military affairs, Wang Chonghui, acting president of the Executive Yuan, Zeng Zhongming, deputy of Wang Jingwei, and celebrities and dignitaries in Shanghai. Under the leadership of the chubby Kong Xiangxi, he waved his hand from under the ship to the ship, and when the cruise ship lifted anchor and left the port, the people were still saying goodbye on the railing.

As Kong Xiangxi's adjutant, Major Li Kongrong was tired, and the other self was obviously a woman who all night yesterday, and he himself had a warm encounter with his wife in the morning, and the ** too often made his tongue cramp, his back sore, and his pubic bone was swollen and painful. Now he stood by Kong Xiangxi's side and waved with him to the pier that was getting farther and farther away. Finally, the chubby envoy Kong was probably tired and moved into the cabin, and he and another adjutant, Lin Zhun, who had been newly promoted to major, also followed him - this time everyone's itinerary was arranged by China Travel Service, but the expenses of the three groups were each responsible, he and Lin Zhun were both counted on Kong Xiangxi's side, and they also lived on Kong Xiangxi's side.

"Brother Shaosheng's face is not very good." After returning to the cabin and sitting, Lin Zhun looked at Li Kongrong with a smile with tea. Although he didn't like Kong Xiangxi very much, he had another lieutenant besides himself, but for the sake of equal rank, he was also promoted, and he was responsible for the British itinerary, which means that Li Kongrong did not participate in the most important and grand coronation ceremony.

"Yesterday was too much of a rush." Li Kongrong explained to himself. Lin Zhun is younger in age and qualifications than him, but after all, his surname is Lin, and he has a different kind of arrogance when he speaks, and besides, he will be the general person in charge of the students who go to Germany in the future.

"That's right." Lin Zhun smiled slightly, it was not the right way to be born in the navy, when Admiral Du Xiqi, who was in charge of the Mawei Naval Academy (because he was lying on the couch and smoking a big cigarette every day, Sa Zhenbing laughed and called him the 'army commander') relied on palmistry to divide the students into majors, and the one who was assigned to the sea was full of sorrow, and the one who was assigned to navigation was jubilant. Since Li Kongrong is from an engineer, it must have nothing to do with it or nothing hard to do. "I've been to Europe for more than 20 days, and Brother Shao Sheng has to learn etiquette during this time, so as not to make people laugh at us."

Even when he waited for the machine in the engine room every day, Li Kongrong also heard the meaning of Lin Zhun's words - since it is your first time to go abroad, you should learn more from me. He didn't like to fight with others, and he pouted, and he didn't hear it. He began to close his eyes slightly and think about the passages in the diary: the other self said that he was also himself, according to the research of Western scientists, only three percent of the human brain was developed and used, and the remaining ninety-seven percent were not used from birth to death, and the impact split the original one in two, and now the other one was in the ninety-seven percent, and he was in the three percent.

These words were more mysterious than ghosts, and if they hadn't really happened, he wouldn't have believed it at all. In addition to explaining who he was, the other self also said something that he couldn't believe - in three months, China and Japan would go to full-scale war, and once the war started, the navy would be completely annihilated. This kind of big thing can't be changed by itself, so he suggested that it is better to change his small things: sell the house in Shanghai, then exchange the fiat currency into dollars before there are no foreign exchange controls, and finally stock up a batch of sulfur, nitric acid or medicine in Hong Kong before the war. Holding hard currency in troubled times is the most reliable, and fiat money like straw paper is straw paper after all.

The rest of the diary, except for the paragraph explaining who he was, was full of advice on how to behave in the war. Although Li Kongrong couldn't believe or believe what he wrote, the safety of his wife and children mentioned in it made him feel that he would rather believe it than not believe it - he Li Kongrong only had one son, and he was now studying at the Gaochang Temple Naval Primary School, Gaochang Temple is not a concession, and if China and Japan really went to war, maybe Japanese planes would bomb there.

In the first two days of this more than 20-day trip, Li Kongrong's diary repeatedly discussed this matter, and the other said that the reason why he wanted to write about submarines was because there would be a full-scale war between China and Japan, and that the purpose of this delegation's visit to Britain was to win foreign aid and buy arms. Chang bald head 'blackened one by one) has been linked to the Soviet Union, and it was because of the Soviet Union that his old life was not lost in Xi'an last year. However, the situation in which he fantasized about a war between China and Japan, in which the Soviet Union sent troops and Britain and the United States intervened, would never happen, and if it really happened, it would have to wait until Japan was exhausted and had to go south to grab resources and anger the United States......

As far as the general trend of the world is concerned, Li Kongrong, the marine engineering major, only listens, but the more he listens, the more frightened he becomes.

“…… You can't ask a woman how old she is; Don't refuse a woman's request at the ball; Don't easily take a woman's passion for love, a woman in the upper class of England is not a lowly Parisian bitch. Sub ......"

After talking about dining etiquette yesterday, Zhou Yingcong, who was in charge of teaching Li Kongrong, began to talk about dance etiquette again. There will be a dance party on the cruise ship tonight, which was specially held by the captain for Kong Xiangxi, the head of the delegation, who was afraid that Li Kongrong would make a fool of himself, so he had to tell these things in advance. In fact, these things were also taught to him by the wife of a British consul in China, who looked down on Parisian. Child.

"Okay, I remember it all." Li Kongrong nodded, he did write it down in his notebook. After he finished speaking, he asked another question that surprised Zhou Yingcong: "Brother Shuchun, I want to ask you something, do you want to start a war with the Japanese......?"

"Who did you listen to?" Zhou Yingcong's voice suddenly became smaller, but fortunately there was no one in the room.

"Anyway, I heard about it." Li Kongrong is not very good at lying, but asked, "The navy, land and air force are all going, it is impossible for them all to go to the United Kingdom to attend the coronation." ”

"There are some things that don't need to be passed on." After all, they took the dancing girl to watch the movie together, Zhou Yingcong spit out, but since he opened his mouth, he couldn't help it, he said: "I don't know about the army, the air force also said that the chairman said, 'As long as people trust, you can buy as much as you can'." Also, do you know why the chairman of the committee would agree to us going to Germany to order submarines? ”

Seeing Zhou Yingcong looking at him, Li Kongrong shook his head. Zhou Yingcong continued: "The electric mine school also wants to buy a few submarines, but the Italians don't sell them at all, so they agree to the minister's boat purchase plan, and often someone will not die if they want to destroy the Fujian navy!" ”

Zhou Yingming was obviously stimulated by something, and he sighed and said: "Once the war starts, the tens of thousands of tons of the navy will definitely be destroyed, and the only thing left is submarines." Brother Shao Sheng, you have to help Zunzhi, he is younger, it is inevitable that he will be arrogant, but he is smart, it is very suitable to be the commander of the submarine fleet in the future, you are not far behind, he is the commander, then you are the deputy commander, you must be sincere and united. ”

said that the war between China and Japan did not want to turn to sincere unity all of a sudden, and Zhou Yingcong, who knew the most about officialdom, really surprised honest people in everything. When Li Kongrong nodded silently, Zhou Yingcong said again: "Brother Shaosheng, the minister is very worried that Britain will not sell us submarines because of Japan, and the French side ...... We lack foreign exchange, and we can't afford to sell it if they want to, and only Germany will barter with us. What the minister meant was that you would not go to England and go directly to Germany. ”

"Huh?" Li Kongrong finally couldn't help but be surprised, the coronation of the British king is an international event, whether he was Kong Xiangxi's adjutant at that time or not, this experience is also a topic of conversation and glory in the future, and he doesn't want to even go to the UK.

After many interactions, Zhou Yingcong was basically able to eat Li Kongrong's temperament, and he continued: "This is what the minister meant, if you can't buy submarines, the navy here will be wiped out, how will you let the whole army deal with itself?!" When the minister first considered letting you come, he valued that you knew submarines and German, but not that you should go to England to see the coronation of the British king. ”

"Okay, don't talk about it, I'll go." Li Kongrong endured his grievances and nodded helplessly, he finally remembered what Lin Zhun meant by looking at him differently in the past few days, he was a stepping stone.

"Don't be wronged." Zhou Yingcong lit a cigarette, he never dared to smoke in front of Chen Shaokuan. "In the future, the submarine matter will be handed over to you and Lin Zhun, which is better than you doing a turbine on the Chuguan gunboat. How many people want to come to the minister's door and can't come? Your brother should be content, and when he is promoted to general in the future, you can't laugh yet. ”

Hearing that he would be promoted to general in the future, Li Kongrong finally smiled, and he began to be a little positive: "What did the minister arrange for me to go to Germany for?" ”

"What to do? Gather all the information related to German submarines; Inquiring about the situation of the German Navy and German shipyards, it is rare for us to buy submarines, but we should not fall for others. Zhou Yingcong said. By the way, the minister has telegraphed the latest batch of trainees who are going abroad to leave for Germany this month, and you can arrange them in Germany first. It was customary for these people to go to a German course at the University of Berlin to learn German for four months, when we had signed a contract with Germany and you were trained in the German Navy. ”

Sure enough, adding myself temporarily is the most useful. Li Kongrong was a little self-deprecating in his heart, he was a sentry and a nanny, but when he thought of being promoted to general, he endured everything. He said: "How many students are going abroad? ”

"There are only 10 people in this group, and they will leave at the end of the month and arrive in Germany at the end of next month." Zhou Yingcong said. "In addition, there are six people on the Italian side, and when the contract is finally signed, dozens of people will be sent out from the country. In order to save money, we don't live in hotels, and it's better to rent a house near the University of Berlin, and even better if you can get a cook, so you can save on food. ”

Over and over again, Zhou Yingcong basically finished the matter. He said that he wanted Li Kongrong to be an outpost, but the most important thing in the matter was to be responsible for receiving the new naval cadets in China. Li Kongrong suddenly wanted to laugh: Since this is the case, why do you still learn this messy etiquette. He thought so, but he didn't say anything about it. Zhou Yingcong also saw that he had something on his mind, but in the end, he just patted him on the shoulder, said again that he wanted to 'unite sincerely' and left.

Major Li Kongrong was depressed in his heart, but the dance party in the evening was lively and brilliant. The cruise ship is Italy's Victoria, which is more exquisite and luxurious than other cruise ships, under the crystal chandelier, the accompaniment of the luxury band makes the pair of men and women immersed in leisurely dance music, Li Kongrong in a tuxedo does not invite the lady to dance, but the strange thing is that the lady constantly invites him to dance.

"What a little white face!" Seeing Li Kongrong dancing with a white woman on the dance floor, Lin Zhun's tone was not very friendly. Although Li Kongrong is not against him, he always feels that Li Kongrong is pressing him everywhere. I have to admit that some people will feel very annoying when you see it at first glance, and the silent and cautious Li Kongrong is the person he hates.

"Hehe," Zhou Yingcong thought of that Xu Peipei, and smiled disappretently: "Shao Sheng plays women's kung fu, but I have seen the highest." Obey, he won't go to England anymore, and you will be responsible for most of the things in Germany in the future, so why bother so much. ”

Zhou Yingcong said, this song has ended, but when Lin Zhun was about to withdraw his gaze, a figure walked towards Li Kongrong, it was Miss Kong, he had taken the liberty to invite Miss Kong to dance, but she refused, which made him uncomfortable eating flies all night, and it was not pleasing to anyone.

"Comply? Compliance? Zhou Yingcong called him twice in succession, and when he saw that he didn't answer, he followed his gaze, and he was also stunned - Miss Kong was inviting Li Kongrong to dance.