Although the Washington lobby has always been legitimate, lobbying is only lobbying, and in many cases, the final decision can be made in the building at 100 Pennsylvania Avenue, which has been burned black and painted white, the White House, which is the real heart of power in the United States, perhaps the United States is dominated by Congress, but on the other hand, in this country with a presidential system, the power of the president is only limited by Congress and the law.

Anyone in Washington knows that there are always differences on too many issues between an ambitious, bold and flamboyant president and a Congress that embraces the Mén Royce doctrine, but that does not prevent Roosevelt from dominating the country.

“…… Fierce boycotts of American goods have taken place in several cities in China, or are brewing to boycott American goods. ”

John Hay's words made Roosevelt's brow frown, in the past year, Japan and Russia fought for their own interests in northeast China, and then the Chinese were involved in the war just after the New Year, becoming one of the wars, and the entire Far East fell into unprecedented chaos.

In the eyes of the 46-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, in the past few months, he has accomplished an unprecedented feat, successfully intervening in two international disputes, first for Russia and Japan, then for China and Japan, and finally for Northeast China to be quiet.

The Japanese and Russians have withdrawn from the northeast, and the Chinese have also gained Taiwan, and although the Russians and the Japanese are still fighting in Korea, they are gradually pulling the Japanese and Russians to the negotiating table and helping them redivide their "sphere of influence" in the Far East.

Roosevelt thought he would hear thanks from the Chinese—at least in his opinion, the Chinese should thank him. But the opposite is true, and despite the official Chinese gratitude, the Chinese are not buying it. Even China, a country that is in the midst of anger against the United States.

"They don't know at all"

Roosevelt, with a slight annoyance in his voice, said in a reproachful tone.

"If I didn't have it"

In an affirmative tone, John Hymers smiled in his heart.

"Without me, they would not have been able to end the conflict with the Japanese so easily, and they would even be able to get the whole of Taiwan, but they ......"

Again, more annoyance.

"Those Chinese don't even know how to be grateful to the United States"

Standing up, holding the table top of the resolute desk, Roosevelt looked at John Hymers and said almost word for word.

"I thought we should be grateful, but we were met with anger and ridicule"

The boycott from the Chinese people could not help but make Roosevelt feel angry, and this anger was like being used by others, and then being thrown aside and stepped on twice, which only made people feel humiliated.

"We must lodge our protest with the Chinese government and ask them to ......"

"They also asked us to explain"

John Hymers interrupted the president.

"Mr. President, the growing boycott of the United States in China is first of all triggered by our China policy, and although we have given a lot of help to the Chinese government in this conflict, we cannot deny that the "Treaty on Restricting Chinese Business in the United States" is indeed tantamount to humiliating the Chinese, and even their government."

"John Hymers, Chinese workers should not compete with our own workers, and cheap labor means cheap citizenship."

In the face of John Hymers's self-confession, President Roosevelt said not without arrogance, but at the same time with great seriousness.

"Maybe now China is like an inflated balloon, and the victory in the northeast has made them a little carried away, so they will launch a boycott movement."

"Ambition"

Roosevelt, who sat back at his desk, looked solemn and spat out two words.

"Ambitions, Chinese, Japanese, they are expressing their ambitions in different ways, and these ambitions will undoubtedly seriously damage the interests of the United States."

At this time, Roosevelt put aside the issue of "boycotting American goods" and analyzed the Far East from the perspective of "seeing the essence through the surface".

"Now the eyes of the whole world are staring at the upcoming decisive battle between the navies of Russia and Japan, but without exception, they ignore the dispute between China and the Netherlands in Southeast Asia, but they do not know at all what kind of stimulation China's expansion will have on Japan once the Chinese get Borneo."

Roosevelt's expression was so solemn that he could even give the illusion that he was talking about something that had to do with the life and death of the United States.

"Damn the Japanese, if they see that the Chinese actually got Borneo by blackmail, their ambitions will definitely swell to the extreme, and then maybe they will blackmail the Russians in every possible way"

Listening to the president's analysis, John Hay only kept smiling, and in his opinion, the president, who had forgotten the purpose of the previous conversation between the two, was clearly not worried about the Russians.

"Of course, when Russia's defeat is inevitable, blackmail at all costs will only deepen the contradictions between Japan and Russia, so this is still acceptable."

In front of the secretary of state, Roosevelt did not hide his views, and in fact, it was precisely under the dominance of this view that he used the threat of "stopping loans" to force Japan to agree to the "exchange of South Korea and Taiwan", and the purpose of doing so was undoubtedly only to deepen the contradictions between China and Japan.

"But if the Chinese get Borneo, the Japanese defeat the Russians, and try their best to squeeze Russia, their ambitions will swell further, and then they may threaten the Philippines and even Hawaii."

Roosevelt's voice as he stood up seemed to be a little agitated, as if he had seen the Japanese attack on the Philippines and Hawaii.

"Balance and Inhibition: Counterbalance and Competition"

John Hymers slowly spit out a few words, the first sentence was no stranger to Roosevelt, but the latter sentence was something he couldn't understand for the time being.

"John Hymers, speak more carefully"

"Mr. President, is it possible for us to curb the ambitions of the Japanese now?"

John Hymers set his sights on the president.

"Americans don't want to fight"

The implicit meaning of Roosevelt's words could not be more obvious: it is impossible for the United States to confront Japan, it is impossible for Congress to approve military action against Spain, although the "Maine" is used as bait, but until now there is still too much opposition in the country, and when fighting for the right to build the Panama Canal, the United States has even chosen to use the method of "bribery" to give every Colombian soldier $100 at the cost of bribing soldiers to win the war.

Confronting Japan, not only is it difficult to pass relevant bills in Congress, but the vast majority of Americans are also unacceptable, at least until the Japanese ride on top of the Americans' heads, but Roosevelt will never tolerate the Japanese riding on his neck before fighting back.

"In that case, let's finish Japan through competition"

John Hymers's words seemed a little rude, and he added at the end.

"At least with confrontation to keep their ambitions from being realized"

Roosevelt, who had returned to his desk, stared at John Hymers and motioned for him to continue.

"There is no doubt that after winning the naval war, Japan will win a resounding victory in the war against Russia, thus further expanding its influence in the Far East and the Pacific, where Japan's aggressive expansion will likewise seriously threaten American interests."

Roosevelt nodded, he did not deny this, in fact, long after the Japanese occupation of Arthur, he believed that Japan had won the war, which is why he had been trying in every possible way to hope that Russia would return to the negotiating table before losing the slightest bit of capital, and that despite the threat posed by Russia to the Pacific, there must be a country to contain Japan's ambitions.

"And now that most of our main naval forces are concentrated in the Atlantic, and the fleet deployed in Asia is so weak that it is simply not able to compete with Japan, the reality will force us to adopt a policy of retreat to avoid an open conflict with Japan in Asia, and between countries, and until the United States fails to demonstrate its strength, this avoidance will only intensify Japan's ambitions."

"So what do you think we should do?"

Roosevelt asked, agreeing with John Hymers' analysis.

"The Russians are doomed, but they may rise again in a dozen years, and for the time being they may not be able to resist the ambitions of the Japanese, but the Japanese have to consider the threat from Russia."

John Hymers first used Russia to pave the way for his own words.

"But we have to think about who will be able to contain Japan in the next few years."

"China, huh?"

Roosevelt glanced at John Hymers, and of course he knew that John Hymer, a Republican, had been more or less funded by the Rockefeller family, and the Rockefeller family was also an advocate of "Sino-US cooperation." In recent days, some congressmen have always liked to talk about the "Japanese threat" in private or in public, and they seem to be paving the way for public opinion for Sino-US cooperation. ,

But on the other hand, he is not opposed to doing this, reality is reality, but the Chinese's boycott of American goods made him more or less unhappy, after all, he supported this bill, and he originally hoped that the Chinese would be grateful to him, but he never thought that what he got was that they used the boycott of American goods to "gratitate" their mediation.

"When the Anglo-Japanese alliance emerges in Asia and threatens American interests, the United States must be prepared"

Faced with the president's question, John Hay did not rush to give an answer, but directly answered with another question.

"I have to admit that I didn't like Chinese in the past,"

Roosevelt habitually lifted his glasses, and it was no secret when it came to dealing with China.

"We must not play the role of China, if we repeat the mistakes of China, become complacent, covet the peaceful pleasures of our own territory, gradually degenerate, have no interest in foreign affairs, indulge in drunkenness, forget the noble life of striving for progress, hard work and adventure, and spend our days busy satisfying our temporary desires, then, no doubt, one day we will suddenly discover the fact that China has already happened today: the fear of war, the isolation of the country, A nation that covets peace and pleasure will surely decay in the face of the attacks of other warlike and adventurous peoples......"

In the United States, many Americans have read these words in the newspapers, and these words are spat out from the mouth of the owner of the White House, Roosevelt, since 1900, after the Eight-Nation Coalition conquered the Chinese capital, Roosevelt used China's "lessons" to warn Americans who are immersed in wealth and pleasure.

It is precisely because of this that the vast majority of Americans know that in the eyes of President Roosevelt, although Japan is a threat, it is a respectable opponent, and China, although it is not a threat, is a "mud that cannot support the wall", but Roosevelt's attitude has undergone fundamental changes in the past few months.

"But now, we have to admit that the Chinese army is fundamentally different from the Qing army, they are better at fighting"

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Roosevelt looked at John Hymer and said.

"The United States is also better at expansion, and the United States is still concerned about Japan's ambitions, and if China defeats Japan in the future and further expands its influence in the Far East and the Pacific, we will have to face the threat from China."

At this time, Roosevelt ignored the theory that he had repeatedly emphasized in the past: "The Chinese have no sense of expansion at all, and do not have the cultural foundation necessary for expansion."

"And they've built nearly 18,000 tons of warships, and our intelligence suggests that they're ordering 330mm guns in Bethlehem to arm their own warships, and their warships are probably more advanced than all of our warships."

"Mr. President, for the United States, what we need is to maintain the balance in the Far East, and if the Chinese have no intention of expanding their navy, then I am afraid that they will not be able to contain Japan's ambitions."

John Hays smiled and pulled out a copy of today's Washington Times newspaper, which reported that Japan had asked Britain for an order for two new warships, which was seen as "Japan's response to China's construction of warships."

"The Japanese may win the war against Russia, but Mr. President, Japan also regards the "Korean-Taiwan jiāo exchange" as its national shame, and the Chinese's "robbery while the fire" is regarded by the Japanese as "stealing the fruits of Japan's victory", and the hostility between these two countries will only grow stronger over time, and their relationship will evolve into France and Germany in Asia, both industrially and economically, Japan is a weak country, and their poor and low-quality industrial products can only be exported to China, But China is also building its own industry, and soon, Japan will lose the most important market for them, Japan does not have extra wealth for the construction of capital ships, if China develops its navy, in order to maintain its advantage over China, it will inevitably continue to expand its navy, compared to Japan, China's financial strength is several times that of Japan, they can support a naval arms race that is enough to drag down Japan, and eventually, economic factors will completely destroy Japan"

"And what about the United States?"

Roosevelt asked rhetorically, dragging down Japan through naval armaments, a question he had considered, but there were too many accidents and uncertainties involved.

"Balance and restraint, that is, now China is relatively weak, then we will help China, if ......",

John Hay then took a deep breath and said.

"If Japan is relatively weak, we will help Japan, in short, it will be beneficial for us to maintain a balance and ensure that there is lasting hostility between the two countries."

"If they contain each other, Japan's fleet will be held back by China's fleet, and China's fleet will be held back by Japan, and in this confrontation and confrontation, the position of the United States will be transcendent, and even our fleet will play a decisive role in the confrontation between the two countries, neither China nor Japan will be able to resist the other party's alliance with the United States......"

After understanding John Hymers's intentions, Roosevelt seemed a little excited.

"Mr. President, if necessary, we must let the contradictions between these two countries continue to intensify, and let China and Japan remain on the brink of war, not friendship or war, is what we need to do, because only in this way can the United States achieve a balance of interests in the Far East and the Pacific, and at the same time, the direct confrontation between the two countries will put the Anglo-Japanese alliance in a situation where the Anglo-Japanese alliance is in a situation where it is clear that it is dead, then we only need to consider the threat of Britain."

By supporting the frameless glasses, John Hay sorted out his thoughts.

"According to some information we have received, the Chinese government has been keeping calm in the current boycott of American goods in Shanghai, but behind the business associations there are British and German backs, and they do not want us to exert more and more influence in China and the Far East, Mr. President."

John Hay looked at the president and said seriously, compared to the president with American arrogance, John Hay never felt that arrogance helped the foreign jiāo, as a professional foreign official, he naturally understood the anger of the Chinese, and even in his heart he thought that it was the "president's stupidity" that caused the United States to not get the due reward.

"Mr. President, although the Empress of China is British, the Emperor of China has lived in the United States for more than ten years, and their Minister of Finance, Mr. Guan Mingtang, has also studied in the United States for more than 20 years, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Liang Dunyan has also been a member of the young children who studied in the United States, even His Majesty the Emperor's special envoy Huang Huiyun also has a long-term experience of studying in the United States, it can be said that the influence of the United States on China has never been so strong as it is now, and China's expectations of the United States have never been so good as they are now, perhaps in terms of system, But it doesn't prevent them from looking up to the United States, but now? Because some of our actions are causing China to choose to leave the United States, and if that happens, I think it will be the worst defeat of the United States in the 20th century