China and India are two old neighbors for thousands of years, with very close contacts, the story of Master Xuanzang's journey to the west to learn scriptures is familiar to almost every Chinese, and the ancient history of India is largely to be found from the Chinese translation classics, it can be said that as long as the history of the two countries is spoken, they have to mention each other.

But this does not mean that China and India are very familiar, on the contrary, the understanding between the two countries is very poor, most Chinese know that India is the homeland of Buddhism, but do not know that Buddhism has died out there, in the concept of most Indians, China is still full of big braids, everyone smokes opium East Asian sick man.

However, since the beginning of World War I, some elites in India have begun to pay attention to China, the armies of both countries have participated in the war on the Western Front in Europe, in fact, the two countries have almost the same idea of participating in the war, China wants to regain its lost sovereignty, and India thinks that helping the old suzerains to fight, in exchange for the mercy of the British, let them achieve independence, the cruel reality soon proved that the Indians are just wishful thinking, Britain will never give up this crown jewel.

After the end of the First World War, China and India embarked on completely different paths, relying on the industrial base accumulated in the First World War, armed with a powerful army, constantly regaining the lost sovereignty and land, and gradually regaining the status of a great power, while India remained a colony, living in the shadow of the British Empire.

The upper echelons of India were desperate for the country's independence, but in the process, two factions were born, one was the non-violent non-cooperation movement led by Gandhi, and the other was the violent revolutionary faction led by Chandra.

Chandra pointed out that only two countries in Asia today, China and Japan, are truly independent countries, and in the process of achieving independence, both countries have expelled imperialist forces on the basis of strong force. There is no strong army. It is impossible to be truly respected.

However, the young Chandra was far inferior to Gandhi in terms of prestige and status, and did not have the ability to turn things around, but gradually became excluded from the Congress Party, and at this time Tagore was invited to China to exchange literature, and Chandra accompanied Tagore to China, hoping to take the opportunity to make friends with the upper echelons of Chinese politics and gain China's support and sympathy.

All the way in China. Chandra was still very shocked, although China is also relatively poor at present, but the whole society is vigorous and energetic, and almost everyone is working hard, and they passed through the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which has just been devastated by the war. However, it is recovering rapidly, and new factories, residential houses, and commercial centers are under intense construction.

Chandra was particularly struck by the Kaga, a huge battleship moored outside the port of Shanghai, which was completely destroyed by Chinese aircraft carriers during the Battle of the Ryukyus, and many of the ship's facilities were burned to the ground, leaving it with essentially an empty shell.

Before the war was over, China began to salvage the Kaga. Shipped to Pudong, Shanghai. According to the plan, the steel monster will be converted into a naval museum for the world to admire. The shock of the battleship was staggering, and China's ability to destroy such a huge ship was even more shocking, and Chandra valued China's strength even more.

Although he is an Indian, he can't understand why he has so much prejudice against his country and government, he has been introducing Tagore to all the traditional things, calligraphy, painting, carving, snacks, temple fairs, tai chi and so on, but he has no interest in factories, railways, airplanes, and ships that can reflect China's industrial strength.

He would repeatedly talk about the country's brutality of women, the perverted foot-binding system, and the cruel rituals, but the reality they saw was that a large number of women were not bound to their feet, but instead were able to work in factories, sell goods on the streets, and work as teachers in schools.

There are even a significant number of women in government offices, who work the same as men, with little difference, and Chandra also learned that the Chinese government's electoral law has given women the right to vote from the beginning, which is rare in the world.

European and American countries have only begun to give women the right to vote in recent years, but although they have the right to vote, women are still mainly bound by the family, and the occasional female members in parliament are just window dressing, and European and American countries have many restrictions on women's participation in politics.

China is a completely different situation, although Chinese women have not been out of the house for a long time, but they have not been discriminated against too much, in many cases and men, are on the same starting line, there are women in all walks of life in politics and business, they are not an ornament, but an important link that can really play a role,

In addition to women, ethnic minorities are also severely restricted in the West, and the racial divide is very serious, but these problems are not very obvious in China, everything depends on ability, as long as there is enough ability, everything is not a problem.

"Mr. Xu, I admit that maybe what you said is true, but those things have either become history, or insignificant details, not the current situation of China, which is now a rapidly developing country with a thriving national strength, and is an example for all countries that are still under colonial rule!"

"No, it's not like that! China is far behind Europe and the United States, and all this is the mistake of China not implementing the European and American systems, and there is nothing without democracy! ”

Chandra turned his head to Tagore and said, "If there is a virus in this world called democracy, then Mr. Xu must have contracted this terrible disease, and there is no cure!" ”

Tagore is already very old, and he is still very modest to others, and smiled slightly bitterly at Xu Zhimo: "Mr. Xu, when looking at a country, you can't just look at the present, nor can you just look at history, but you should see more long-term development, the speed of your country is very amazing, I believe it's only a matter of time to catch up with the European and American powers!" ”

The two sides obviously got along very unhappily, and after Tagore returned to the Six Nations Hotel in Beijing, it didn't take long for Liang Qichao to come to visit, and Liang Qichao had been managing the work of controlling Huang in several provinces in the Central Plains for many years, which was a very huge project. There is a need to coordinate the interests of all parties. Liang Qichao is highly respected, and he is just able to coordinate from it, and it really took a lot of effort.

However, the Yellow River control project is still relatively smooth, a large number of people in the Loess Plateau area have been relocated to the three eastern provinces, after the population pressure is reduced, the government began to vigorously promote the planting of sea buckthorn, so far more than 20 million acres of sea buckthorn planting has been completed. There will be greater action in the future, and a large number of water conservancy projects are also being built downstream, which can not only solve the problem of salinization, but also increase the fertility of the land, and at the same time eliminate most of the floods that plague the downstream areas.

Of course, it will take at least one or two decades to achieve this goal. But now there is no doubt that a good start has been made, and as long as we persist, the Yellow River, which has plagued China for thousands of years, will definitely be able to turn from a harmful river to a river on both sides of the river, which will have a huge effect on the economy of the entire north.

After several years of busy work, Liang Qichao finally found some free time, he is still a literati at nature, and he can preside over the exchange between the Chinese cultural circle and a great writer like Tagore. Absolutely unwanted.

The two sides met at the Rokkoku Hotel. Liang Qichao said with a smile: "Qichao has been busy with mundane affairs all these years and has neglected Mr. Please forgive me! ”

Tagore smiled slightly, looking very kind: "Mr. Liang is welcome, along the way we have experienced the scenery of China, which is completely different from what we imagined, and the development of China is very amazing, I am sincerely happy to see this!" ”

"Where, where, Mr. praised falsely, there are so many things in China, there are still too many things that need to be done, and it will take a long time to catch up with the trend of the world!"

Liang Qichao asked politely: "Sir, several universities in Beijing want to invite you to give some speeches these days, China and India are both ancient civilizations, we have had an exchange of ideas for a long time, and now you are a master of learning from China and the West, teachers and students are looking forward to this grand event of Sino-Indian literary exchanges!" ”

"You can do it at any time, don't look at my age, but I don't have any problems with my body and mind, and I am very willing to exchange feelings with teachers and students in China!"

"Mr. Liang, I don't know if you can help me introduce Chinese officials, such as Mr. Jiang Baili, Chief of Staff, Mr. Wu Tong, Minister of National Defense, and so on!" Chandra took the opportunity to make her own request.

"Is there something this gentleman wants to see Chief of Staff Chiang?"

"Mr. Liang, my name is Chandra, I am a member of the Indian National Congress Party, I think China is a role model for India, I hope to get China's support, and then drive the British colonists out of Indian soil through violent revolutionary means, and achieve real independence of India!"

Liang Qichao frowned slightly, he invited Tagore to come, purely to engage in a literary exchange, he didn't expect that someone would take the opportunity to put forward political demands, you must know that although Liang Qichao is an executive member of the United Democratic Party, but he has not been exposed to too many core secrets, and he also knows very little about the internal affairs of various countries, he has only heard Gandhi's name, and he really doesn't know much about Chandra.

"Mr. Chandra, have I heard that India is not advocating non-violent means of national independence? How could you make such a request? ”

"Mr. Liang, the colonizers conquered India by violence, then only by violence can they be driven out, wanting peace and independence is completely wishful thinking, China and India are both countries that have been victimized by colonialism, the difference is that China has successfully mastered its own destiny, and India is still struggling, so I implore the Chinese side to give India some support, India will definitely work hard to repay China's help!"

Liang Qichao turned to Tagore and asked, "Is that what Mr. mean?" ”

"No, I'm a pacifist, but I also want my country to be truly independent, and Chandra's proposition may be a solution, but you need to talk about the specifics yourself!"

Liang Qichao nodded and said, "In that case, I will convey Mr. Chandra's request to the President and the Ministry of Defense, but I can't guarantee that there will be a result!" (To be continued.) )