At half past four in the afternoon, the day's work arrangements had been completed, and there was still an hour before he got off work, Xiao Zhenlei picked up the phone and asked, "Xiao Gao, is the British Minister to China Zhu Erdian here?" ”

"Yes, President, there is another person with Zhu Erdian, named Morrison, who also wants to visit you, do you want to see him?" Kotaka said on the phone.

"Morrison?" Xiao Zhenlei remembered after hearing this name, this man named Mo Lixun was a correspondent of the British Times in China, who had been hired by Yuan Shikai to become a political adviser to the Beiyang government after the Xinhai Revolution. This person was originally a doctor of medicine from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. From 1897 onwards, he was employed as a correspondent for the British newspaper The Times in China. At that time, China was in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War, the focus of the world, and the target of the conspiracy of the great powers of various countries. Morrisson's scoops from the first time made The Times a well-deserved authority on reporting from China. It can be said that as many readers of the "Times" as there were at that time, as many people knew about this "Morrison of China".

Since he became Yuan Shikai's political adviser, there is a street in the capital that is named after him, called "Moritsun Street", Morison is the first foreigner in the history of China to be a foreigner's political adviser, after that, Yuan Shikai's foreign political adviser has joined the Japanese Ariga Nagao, the American Goodno, the Japanese Sakanishi Rihachiro, the French Berisso and others.

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a moment and asked, "What is this Morrison doing now?" After Yuan Shikai fell, he continued to work as his Times correspondent in China? ”

"President, he is no longer a journalist, do you think a person who once served as a political adviser to the president of a country will go back and continue to be a journalist?"

Xiao Zhenlei pondered for a moment and said, "You let Zhu Erdian in first." Let him in when I'm done talking to Jurdian! ”

"This ?????? President, do you have enough time? This will delay your end of work! ”

"I tried to keep my interview with Jurdian as short as possible. So be it! ”

"Okay, President!"

It didn't take two minutes. Zhu Erdian was led by Xiao Gao to the reception hall for foreign guests, although the weather was still very hot, but in this kind of formal diplomatic occasion, Zhu Erdian was still wearing a straight black tuxedo and a top hat, Xiao Zhenlei was already waiting here, and shook hands with him when he saw him coming: "Welcome, Mr. Zhu Erdian!" ”

Zhu Erdian took off his hat and bowed slightly, shook hands with Xiao Zhenlei and said, "Your Excellency, I take the liberty to disturb you." I'm so sorry, I hope you understand how I desperately want to meet you! ”

"I understand!" Xiao Zhenlei said and stretched out to the sofa next to him: "Please take a seat!" ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency!"

After the two sat down, the staff brought two cups of tea, and Zhu Erdian leaned on the back of the sofa, his legs side by side, and his hands on his deputy, looking very cultivated.

Xiao Zhenlei invited Zhu Erdian to drink tea, and Zhu Erdian expressed his feelings, and the two of them each drank a few sips of tea. Xiao Zhenlei asked, "What is the matter with Mr. Zhu Erdian being so anxious to see me?" ”

Zhu Erdian put down the teacup and said: "Your Excellency, as far as I know, your army has taken Jinzhou and Dalian, and is now storming Lushunkou, and I believe that under the fierce attack of your army. The Port of Arthur will soon be taken back by your country, and now Europe is in the midst of the ravages of the Germans, Your Excellency. I have been entrusted by my Government, the French Government in exile in London, to convey to His Excellency the President the wishes of the Entente on the part of our Entente. I hope that your country will send troops to Europe and participate in the war against Germany. At the same time, your country has deployed hundreds of thousands of troops on the Far Eastern border of China and Russia, and the Entente hopes that your country will be able to launch an offensive against the Japanese army in the Far East of Tsarist Russia and Siberia! ”

Xiao Zhenlei said with a smile: "It turns out that Mr. Minister is here for this matter, I can tell Mr. Minister very clearly, I and my government do not rule out sending troops to Europe to participate in the war against Germany, but you also know that there are still large areas of land in our country that have been shamelessly occupied by the Japanese invaders, such as the Port of Arthur, the Ryukyu Islands and Bay Islands and affiliated islands, as well as the Korean Peninsula, etc., and the Tsarist side also occupies a lot of our land, and does not take back these lands. How can our country send troops to Europe to participate in the war against Germany? I also ask Your Excellency the Minister to convey to the high command of the Entente that when our country recovers these lands, we will inevitably send troops to Europe to fight against Germany."

As for sending troops to Europe to participate in the war, this is something that Xiao Zhenlei has long considered, because if you want the country to have influence in the international arena and be able to influence the political situation in certain regions, you must send troops out of the country and let the army form a deterrent force in Europe in order to achieve this effect, otherwise European and American countries will always think that China is backward and ignorant. It's like the Song Dynasty, what if you have money? What about the economy, no matter how developed? The military power is not good, every qiē is for nothing, Liao, Jin, and Mongolia want to eat this piece of fat, so they take a bite, and in the end, they directly occupy the pig farm.

Zhu Erdian also knew that these two things could not be rushed, and there was still a large amount of land occupied by Japan in Huaguo itself, and if these lands were not recovered, the people would definitely not allow the government to send troops to Europe, and it seemed that these two things would have to wait a little longer.

Zhu Erdian had no choice but to retreat and said: "Okay, Your Excellency, I wish your country to recover these lands as soon as possible, for the land occupied by the Tsarist side of your country, I think we Britain, France and other countries can mediate one or two from it, and persuade the Tsarist side to return the land of your country that it occupied before, but on this point, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do it, we can only do our best!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "Thank you, Mr. Minister and your government, if the Entente side can facilitate the return of our land to the Tsarist side, my country will be grateful to Your Excellency the Minister Minister!" ”

Zhu Erdian took a few sips of tea and then said: "Your Excellency, I have one more thing to do today, that is, about that batch of weapons and ammunition, one million Li?" Enfield and the negotiation of those ammunition, because of the heavy losses of our country on the battlefield in France, a large number of troops and weapons fell into the hands of the Germans, and the domestic arsenals did not have time to manufacture them, so that our country is now in dire need of weapons and ammunition, so there is an urgent need for this weapon, and I hope that the President will see that we are allies, and do my best to complete the deal with us."

Xiao Zhenlei pretended to be surprised and said: "Mr. Minister, as far as I know, your country's military does not seem to have expressed any objection to the strengthening of this batch of weapons during the negotiations, and I believe that an agreement can be reached soon and the deal will be completed!" ”

Zhu Erdian frowned when he heard this, and was embarrassed: "President, things are indeed as you said, at the beginning, your country's military asked us to use Chinese dollars to pay, which is a bit difficult for strong people, and you also know that my country does not have enough Chinese dollars, so ??????."

Xiao Zhenlei was displeased when he heard this: "Mr. Minister, this is the wrong thing about you British, as far as I know, because the successive defeats of the Allied armies on the battlefield have caused the currencies of some countries of the Entente countries to depreciate, and the speed of this depreciation is still accelerating, please don't think that we don't understand the economy, okay?" If we agree that you can continue to pay in pounds, will we not have to pay for the depreciation of the pound? Please don't take everyone for fools, okay? ”

Zhu Erdian's face turned red instantly when Xiao Zhenlei said it, and the normal reaction after this little abacus was exposed, he tried his best to justify: "Your Excellency President, please forgive me, my government has no intention of offending your country, and you also know that this kind of thing is not something that our government can unilaterally stop, the currency depreciation is caused by the war, and the war was started by the Germans, and my country is also a victim!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei's face became ugly when he heard this, and he held back his anger and said: "Mr. Minister, the war between your Entente and the Central Powers has caused inflation and currency depreciation, do you want us to pay for both of you?" If you Entente countries still want to continue to maintain an alliance with our country, we must allow the Chinese dollar to circulate freely in the pound zone, and allow the Chinese dollar to exchange money with the pound sterling and other currencies in the pound zone at a free exchange rate, as for what the exchange rate is, it is up to the market to decide! ”

The more Xiao Zhenlei spoke, the more angry he became, knocking on the coffee table and saying: "Your Excellency, I seriously doubt the sincerity and intentions of your Entente countries in forming an alliance with our country, don't think that the current China is still the former Qing State, and we will not allow any country to exploit us, either you allow the Chinese dollar to circulate freely in the pound sterling area and exchange the British pound and other international currencies at a free exchange rate, or this business will fail, and you Entente countries will never want to buy any goods, weapons and ammunition from our country in the future. Equipment and raw materials, since you don't recognize the purchasing power of Huayuan, then we don't recognize the pound at all! ”

Xiao Zhenlei was angry, and after taking a sip of tea, he said: "Don't think that my country can only form an alliance with the Entente, with my country's current strength, it is completely possible to negotiate peace with the Allies, the Japanese must be unwantable now, as long as the Japanese promise to return the stolen land of our country, our country can completely shake hands with Japan and make peace, hmph, without our country's containment, do you think Tsarist Russia can resist the attack of the Japanese?" Tsarist Russia was caught between two sides, how long do you think Tsarist Russia can hold out? If Lao Tzu is in a hurry, my country will join the Allies again, unite with Japan to defeat Tsarist Russia as quickly as possible, force Tsarist Russia to surrender, and then Huade-Japan, Austria and Russia will be connected into a line, what hope do you have for the Entente? Do you think that the English Channel will ensure the safety of the British mainland? It's not exactly the navy anymore! ”

Zhu Erdian saw that Xiao Zhenlei was furious, and hurriedly smiled: "President, don't be like this, don't be like this, you can talk about anything!" (To be continued......)