But he saw so many overseas Chinese following Xiao Zhenlei and his party to move forward together, and there were countless overseas Chinese on both sides who were cheering, and he suddenly realized that it might be a mistake for someone to let him assassinate Xiao Zhenlei, and the president who is so loved must be able to lead the people to build the country strong, what is the purpose of his participation in the revolution over the years? Isn't it just about building a strong country? It is very likely that the person who is coming forward now is the one who leads the people of the country to prosperity and strength, and if he pulls the trigger, that person will definitely die, what will happen to the country next? At that time, the country is likely to be torn apart again, is this the revolution that he has been pursuing? No, no, no, no! This man can't die, he must live, he has a mission, he has the ability to turn the tide, he has the ability to build this country into the most powerful country in the world.

Thinking of this, the young man silently put away the pistol, looked at the compatriots around him who were cheering, he was infected, and also waved a small national flag, but he didn't know that someone had already been eyeing him, just when he was about to make a move just now, the person who was staring at him was also ready to do it, but after seeing him put away the pistol, he also gave up his action against him.

I don't know how long I walked, Xiao Zhenlei and others finally walked into Chinatown, and stopped in front of a Chinese-style three-story building in Chinatown. At this time, some overseas Chinese elders had already walked out of the building and welcomed Xiao Zhenlei and others into the Zhonghua Building with great enthusiasm.

When the firecrackers were over, everyone sat down at the table, and the Zhonghua Building was filled with more than a dozen tables of banquets. Situ Meitang saw that the time was almost up, and he could hold a seat. So he walked to Xiao Zhenlei's side and whispered a few words, Xiao Zhenlei nodded when he heard this, stood up and smiled at the dozen or so delegates present with a wine glass: "Uncles and brothers. Today we are here from China, we are here to visit the door, I am your nephew, the two of you visit the seniors, we do not treat ourselves as guests, you do not treat us as guests, on behalf of all the staff of our new government, I would like to express my gratitude to all the uncles and brothers for your hospitality, this is the most solemn courtesy I have received so far. Even when I took office as president, it was not so ceremonious, and the rest of the words were in this glass of wine, I did it first, uncles and brothers, please feel free! After saying that, he drank it all.

The applause rang out, and soon everyone applauded desperately, and then these old and young Chinese representatives raised their glasses one after another. Next, under the recommendation of Situ, Xiao Zhenlei met and clinked glasses with every table of overseas Chinese representatives present. With so many overseas Chinese present, the staff was worried that Xiao Zhenlei would get drunk. Remind him that he only needs to drink once per seat.

This banquet lasted for a long time, and due to the reminder of the staff, Xiao Zhenlei was not drunk, and after the banquet dispersed, he held a symposium with these overseas Chinese representatives. Listen to their opinions and suggestions for the new government.

In the afternoon, Xiao Zhenlei and his entourage went to the hotel arranged by the Los Angeles government, and had just checked into the hotel. The mayor of Los Angeles came to see him, and the two talked in the guest room for more than an hour. Due to the long time at sea, Xiao Zhenlei and his entourage were very tired. Decided to rest in Los Angeles for two days, ready to leave for Washington the day after tomorrow, Xiao Zhenlei proposed to the mayor of Los Angeles to go to some large factories and companies to visit tomorrow, Los Angeles said that there was no problem, tomorrow he personally came to Xiao Zhenlei and his party as a guide, Xiao Zhenlei originally wanted to go to the famous Hollywood in the future to see, but at this time Hollywood has already built a studio there, but at this time it is only a small town with less than 8,000 people.

The next day, Xiao Zhenlei and his entourage, accompanied by the mayor of Los Angeles, visited a number of factories in the city, including petrochemical companies, as well as an aircraft factory, which has been in Los Angeles for many years, and the aircraft factory has just been built, and is still far behind the new government in terms of scale, equipment, and technology.

They then visited the factories of the shipping and shipbuilding industries at the port, the Port of Los Angeles, the largest seaport on the West Coast of the United States, handling 70% of the overseas trade throughput of the West Coast. The city also has one of the largest ethnic and religious groups in the world.

On April 22, Xiao Zhenlei and his entourage took a special train to Washington.

On the train, Xiao Zhenlei was nibbling on a piece of bread and reading a local newspaper in the United States, and the secretary Xiao Gao came over and said: "President, a telegram has been sent from China saying that Britain and France have agreed to give up other concessions in China, but Britain is still insisting on Hong Kong and France not letting go of Guangzhou Bay, and they still have reservations on the issue of tariff autonomy!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei heard this: "Then continue to talk, it is best to talk for a year and a half, and tell the diplomatic negotiators, don't make any form of statement, they don't have this right yet!" ”

"Yes!" Kodaka said yes and jotted it down in his notes with a pen.

Xiao Zhenlei asked again: "What about the Japanese and German sides?" ”

Xiao Gao said: "Germany agreed to return Qingdao, no longer ask for the remaining amount of Gengzi's indemnity, and also agreed to return the concessions in other places, and said that some other unequal treaties could be resolved through negotiation, but the Japanese always insisted that they would not return the Liaodong Peninsula and the South Manchurian Railway annexes, not to mention Bay Island and affiliated islands, and all the leased lands in other places could be returned."

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and said, "I know, sue them, don't worry, talk slowly!" ”

"Okay, President!"

Accompanied by the special envoy sent by Wilson, Xiao Zhenlei and his party stopped and stopped on the way to Washington, basically stopping for half a day or a day in the big cities along the way to inspect or visit, Xiao Zhenlei himself did not want to visit anything, he came from later generations, and he did not feel that the factory production in this era was not good-looking, his purpose was to let those subordinate officials who came with him have a good visit, so that they could learn from experience and absorb a little American strengths, After going back, he will improve it to see if it is suitable for the domestic factory, in fact, another big purpose of his visit to the United States to meet Wilson is to take these subordinate officials to open their eyes and gain a long insight.

The train continued to move toward Washington that day, and he summoned a meeting of all the officials who accompanied him. Both government officials and military generals attended, and he said: "You should understand. The main purposes of our visit this time are: First, to get closer to the United States diplomatically. The Americans have already returned all the concessions to us. The unequal treaties that were signed in the past have all been abolished, so for now, the diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States are better than those of other countries in the world, and what we need to do now is to see if we can take this relationship one step closer, and it is better to agree on a strategic alliance with the United States.

This was an effort to do so before the Qing court was overthrown, when the German Emperor Wilhelm II proposed a strategic alliance between Germany, China and the United States, and a lot of work had already been done in the early stage, and Germany was also preparing to send the crown prince to visit our country to facilitate this matter. However, this matter was leaked to the Japanese by the incompetent people of the Qing court, and the Japanese interfered with it, and the matter ended without a problem, so we have to see if we can continue to do this.

Why? Because our country cannot be isolated internationally, and once isolated, diplomatic relations become extremely complicated and sinister, and we will be caught between the Central and Entente powers, and if both sides become hostile to our country, then our country will become a battlefield between them. Therefore, our country must look for allies, and the only suitable ally for us is the United States, and other countries are either interested in allies. Either the heart is towards the Entente. The situation of the United States is similar to that of our country, but it is different from our country in that there are no enemy countries around it. A Mexico to the south is too weak to withstand its fighting. This is its advantage, and our country is surrounded by Japan, Tsarist Russia, and England and France. China also does not share a border with the United States, and there is no major conflict of forces and interests. The similarity between our country and the United States is that they are both relatively isolated now, and the United States itself pursued isolationism during this period, but after the establishment of the two major camps in Europe, the isolationism that the United States has been pursuing cannot be sustained, and it must also look for allies! Our country is a very good choice and the most suitable."

Zhang Jian asked: "President, why are our country and the United States the most suitable allies of each other?" Why can't our country choose between the Central and Entente powers? And the same is true for the United States? ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded when he heard the words and said: "Very good, Minister Zhang asked a few questions very well, if China and the United States choose one side to join at this stage, it will offend the other side, China's situation is that the Qing court has signed too many unequal treaties with the great powers, even if China joins one of them at this stage, it is not easy to abolish all the unequal treaties, for example, if China joins the Entente right now, will Britain and France be on an equal footing with us?" Will all the unequal treaties that I have occupied and my land be abolished? It may be possible in the future, but not yet, there has not been a fight between the two sides, and it is the same with joining the Allies, the Japanese occupy Wandao and the Liaodong Peninsula, Korea, will Japan spit it out lightly? I'm afraid that it is impossible, only when the two of them fight to the death, will he know the importance of our country, and when we put forward conditions at that time, it is impossible for them not to accept! And before that, we can't be isolated, we have to find an ally, that is, the United States!

The United States is a commercial power, due to geopolitical relations, it does not have a relatively large conflict with the allies and the Entente, and the United States has very frequent commercial contacts with both of them, if you join one of them will offend the other party, it will suffer a lot of damage economically, so the United States will not join these two camps lightly, but the United States is not a fool, he also needs to find allies, because once one of them wins, the next is bound to deal with the United States, so in order to prevent it, the United States must also have allies, If our country is still in the situation of warlord separation, the United States will not look down on our country at all, but now it is different, our country has ended the situation of warlord division and formed a unity in the true sense, which is completely different in the eyes of the US authorities, and it is fully qualified to be worthy of his wooing! That's why Wilson sent me three invitations to visit the United States. Of course, you also have to remember that we hope to go further with the United States diplomatically, but not begging, not begging to beg around him in vain, the alliance is two-sided, the two sides need to carry out this alliance on an equal footing, we are by no means begging for alms, so our status is the same as that of the US authorities, you don't have to be like those officials in the former Qing Dynasty and wagging their tails and begging for mercy when they see foreigners! ”

Xiao Zhenlei has made it very clear in this regard, these accompanying officials are all the best of this era, how can they not understand this? Xiao Zhenlei only nodded a few words, and they quickly understood these joints of international politics.

Xiao Zhenlei took a sip of water and said: "Next, the second point is the issue of the Chinese Exclusion Act!" This is the top priority of our visit to the United States! Some people may think that those overseas Chinese are already people from other countries, not our Chinese people, and we can't afford to get along with the Americans for their sake, this kind of thinking is very wrong! Although the vast majority of overseas Chinese have become American citizens, but after all, they have the same blood in their blood as ours, and my speech on the dock that day was not nonsense, not to fool them, you will be heart-to-heart, if you are replaced by them, someone in the country comes to raise donations, and they donate all the money they have earned through blood and sweat, and finally hope that the domestic revolution will succeed and the new government will be established, but regardless of their life or death, how sad they will be? Aren't we crossing the river and demolishing the bridge? Isn't that ungrateful? Oh, when you are sleepy, you go to ask people, but you mix them up but leave them aside and don't ask, some people may do it, our new government must not do such shameless things, if so, in the future, if we need help abroad, will overseas Chinese around the world still help us? Unity, unity, colleagues! We Chinese can only give full play to our greatest strength by unity, we don't think about infighting all day long, fight in the nest, have the ability to go abroad, don't stare at the bowl of rice in your own pot all day long! Don't be told by outsiders that we are insiders in civil wars and outsiders in foreign wars, okay? I would like to emphasize here that national interests are higher than one qiē, and overseas Chinese all over the world are also part of national interests, and safeguarding their interests is safeguarding national interests! ”

Xiao Zhenlei's words were silent one by one, and it was obvious that Xiao Zhenlei was using the matter of overseas Chinese as a metaphor for the internal contradictions that had gradually emerged in China! (To be continued......) R1292