The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Huang Ke that this morning, Stilwell, the chief of staff of the theater sent by the United States, was coming over.

Stilwell had communicated with the diplomatic department before he arrived, saying that he would exercise some special powers over the Chinese theater, such as commanding the US and British troops in the Chinese theater and deploying American supplies to China.

Foreign Minister Song Ziwen had already discussed these with him before, so Huang Ke did not need to be surprised.

Stilwell's arrival was naturally a result of Sino-US cooperation, and out of etiquette, Huang Ke and his wife Zhao Xiaowan held a small welcome ceremony for him at the Ministry of National Defense in Nanjing.

These are all procedural things, and naturally the people below are responsible for the specific handling. During this welcoming ceremony, Huang Ke also gave a short speech to welcome Stilwell. The draft of the speech, Chen Bui, who was in charge of propaganda, had already been written, and after making appropriate revisions, he handed it to Chen Liewen, Huang Ke's political secretary. Although Chen Liewen is a soldier, he is also from a pen position, and he only presented it to Huang Ke after some polishing.

These are all official articles, which are nothing more than to express some welcome to Stilwell, re-emphasize the importance of Sino-US cooperation, reiterate the consensus reached by the two sides, and promise to defeat the fascists together.

Although it was an official article, Huang Ke still read it carefully, because some of the sentences in it also represented some attitudes of both sides. At the end of the article, there is such a sentence: "I believe that with the joint efforts of China, the United States and Britain, we will be able to defeat the Japanese fascists as soon as possible!" ”

After Huang Ke looked at it, he made a special stroke with the pen in his hand, and then after thinking about it again, he changed it on it. Then he handed the manuscript to Chen Liewen and said, "Well, that's it." ”

Chen Liewen took it and looked at it, and Huang Ke changed the last sentence to: "With the cooperation of China and the United States, and with the efforts of the Chinese people, we will definitely be able to defeat the Japanese fascists!" ”

After the change, Chen Liewen gasped, Huang Ke not only took Britain out of it, but also directly defined the relationship between China and the United States as a cooperative relationship.

Diplomacy is no trivial matter, especially when it comes to US aid, Chen Liewen did not dare to make his own decisions, but he was not good at giving opinions on the manuscript that Huang Ke had personally corrected, so he had to say after taking it: "Okay chief, then I will have someone reprint the manuscript and send it to Chen Bui and Minister Song Ziwen for correction, and then send it to you for review after it is correct." ”

This is the established procedure, because the speeches are written with pens by the people of the propaganda department and the secretariat, and then proofread and then handed over to the typist to print out word by word, and finally retrieved correctly, and then sent to Huang Ke's desk for the final decision.

Among them, if there are any changes, Huang Ke will use a pen to modify them directly. The revised article is also returned to the Secretariat. The staff of the Secretariat will check the previous manuscript and highlight the revisions, first transcribe one copy with a pen in block letters, and then hand it over to the typist to reprint a new copy.

The printed manuscript was then handed over to leaders at all levels for review, and finally submitted to Chen Bui, the direct leader of the propaganda department, who reviewed it and handed it over to Chen Liewen for final review, and finally handed it over to Huang Ke for finalization.

In this process, if some special departments are involved, they also need to be handed over to the head of the department for review. For example, if the design is on the railway, you need to find someone from the Ministry of Communications, and if it involves diplomacy, you need to find someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The reason for this is to avoid some professional mistakes and thus some jokes.

This draft is considered to involve the diplomatic department, and Chen Liewen also asked the comrades in the diplomatic department to read it before, but he just mentioned it again, which means that he is not sure about these and wants to ask Foreign Minister Song Ziwen to take a look, but Huang Ke did not notice this.

After the manuscript was printed, it was sent to Chen Bui of the propaganda department and Song Ziwen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When giving it to Song Ziwen, Chen Liewen also hung up the phone and went to Song Ziwen's office.

"Hey, is this Minister Song? Hello, I'm Chen Liewen from the Secretariat of the Ministry of National Defense. Hello Minister Song, I have sent a copy of the speech of the General Director at the welcoming ceremony to welcome General Stilwell, and I would like to ask you to take a look at it. Yes, the chief has read it before, and the last paragraph was changed by himself. If you have no objections after reading it, then the speech of the chief at the welcoming ceremony will be confirmed. ”

Chen Liewen has been in officialdom for many years, and has long grown from a hairy boy to a veteran who is well versed in officialdom. In the handling of many things, he has to do it without leakage.

For example, in today's case, there are doubts about Huang Ke's changes, but he can't directly point out his mistakes to Huang Ke in person, or even suggest them, because if he does, Huang Ke will feel that he is manipulating his political life, and to put it bluntly, he is interfering in major decisions.

It's not a written crime, but it can kill anyone in a high position.

In the same way, he felt that it was inappropriate, so he naturally had to discuss it with others. Foreign Minister Soong Ziwen is a suitable candidate. Under the circumstance that he could not discuss with Foreign Minister Song Ziwen with a clear attitude, he could only remind him by phone, hoping that Song Ziwen could see this sentence. If Song Ziwen felt that it was inappropriate, he would naturally find Huang Ke to discuss, and if he felt that it was appropriate, then it would prove that Chen Liewen himself was suspicious.

Song Ziwen found Huang Ke to discuss in accordance with the procedure, he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the diplomatic influence must be taken into account, not to mention that Mr. Song is also the younger brother of Mrs. Zhongshan, and he is suitable for both public and private affairs.

Sure enough, after reading this speech, Song Ziwen called Chen Liewen and asked, "Liewen, is the chief now in the office?" ”

"Yes, is Minister Song a matter of giving speeches?" Chen Liewen asked.

"Yes, did Chairman Huang personally correct the last sentence of the summary?"

"Yes, the chief personally revised it." Chen Liewen said.

"Okay, I got it. I'll go over now, and you can talk to the chief first. After speaking, there was a busy sound on the other end of the phone, Song Ziwen hung up the phone, presumably he had already rushed here.

Ten minutes later, Song Ziwen rushed over from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Because most of the buildings were seriously damaged in the defense of Nanjing, many ministries and commissions moved to the Ministry of National Defense to work.

After Song Ziwen arrived at Huang Ke's office, after greeting him for a few words, he clearly pointed out the problem in the last sentence of his speech. He said that such a statement is somewhat inappropriate, because the current Chinese theater is China, the United States and the United Kingdom, and at the same time, China and the United States are working together to fight against the Japanese invaders, and the text only reflects the Chinese side. The chief of staff sent by the United States has just arrived in China, and Huang Ke's statement is really inappropriate.

After hearing this, Huang Ke smiled and said: "Brother Ziwen is too worried, Britain is insignificant in the Asian battlefield. And the United States cannot be regarded as the main force at this stage, so there is nothing wrong with such wording. ”

Song Ziwen moved forward and said: "You are not satisfied with the requirements put forward by the American side, the chief of staff, who was supposed to be good, has to command the army when he comes, and he has to distribute the materials for aiding China." Not only you, but I have no complaints about this behavior of the Americans, but what is the use of our verbal venting? This is a period of cooperation between the two countries, and every word and deed of the gentleman represents the government, so think twice. ”

After saying this, there was a silence. Huang Ke also felt that he was a little arrogant. These days, the United States and Britain have always used the threat of US aid and made many demands on China. In addition, many domestic financial matters are also troublesome, and it is inevitable that Huang Ke is a little upset.

"Okay, you guys can change it." After Huang Ke finished speaking, he handed the manuscript to Song Ziwen, he expressed his dissatisfaction like this, and Song Ziwen naturally knew about it.

At noon, a welcoming meeting to welcome Stilwell and his entourage was held in the lobby on the first floor of the Ministry of National Defense. During this period, the two sides issued a corresponding declaration and completed all these processes in accordance with the procedures. Against the backdrop of the national flags of the two countries, reporters at home and abroad flashed their spotlights and took group photos of the two sides with a bang.

……

While Stilwell was in Nanjing, wrapped in flowers and honors, one of his compatriots was training in attack and defense as a fighter jet, thousands of miles away.

Chennault, captain of the U.S. Air Force for China, is exchanging combat experience with Fu Guoqiang, captain of the Chinese Air Force's Flying Tigers.

Chennault and his boys looked casual and chic in black flight jackets, sunglasses and boat-shaped hats. The young men of the Chinese Air Force led by Fu Guoqiang uniformly turned over their military uniforms and big-brimmed hats, and their military appearance was much neater than that of the US army.

Fu Guoqiang and Chennault had known each other a few years ago at Jianqiao Aviation School, when Fu Guoqiang was still a student, and Chennault was an external instructor.

In Chennault's seriousness, Fu Guoqiang was an outstanding pilot. Not only does he possess superb flying fighting skills, but he also has extraordinary courage and perseverance. So when he heard that Fu Guoqiang had shot down dozens of Japanese planes from the beginning of the war, he was not shocked at all.

Similarly, Fu Guoqiang had a good impression of Chennault, an old fellow, who was funny, knowledgeable about combat flying, and most importantly, one of the few foreigners who really wanted to help China.

"Fu, can you tell us about some of your feelings when you fought with the Japanese?" Chennault asked.

"One word - cool!" Fu Guoqiang said with a smile.

The translator didn't know how to translate, so he had to translate the past according to the meaning of "enjoyable" and "exciting".

Chennault stopped after hearing this: "Excitement? So you mean to enjoy fighting the Japanese very much? ”

Fu Guoqiang also stopped, he turned to face Chennault and said, "No matter how much you say, it's not as good as actually." Why don't we go to the Japanese? ”