March 18, Central, Hong Kong, Queen's Road

“…… Heh, what? Already at HSBC? Oh, this is the car money, no need to look for it. ”

The latest consul of the British Imperial Foreign Office in Wuhan, Thomas Murphy. Sir Humphrey yawned, rubbed his eyes, grabbed his staff of civility, jumped out of the rickshaw, and then took out the money to send the coachman while looking boredly at the bustling street scene around him.

Although it was only early spring in March, the subtropical colony was already warm enough for Sir Humphrey, who had a slight rheumatism, to feel comfortable.

Unfortunately, the century-old city beneath his feet did not look as wonderful as the weather at this time.

In general, Hong Kong in the thirties of the twentieth century was, to Sir Humphrey, as tattered and disheveled as Taranto in Italy. Near the wharf where he had landed, there were only two façade-filled European-style buildings, the Customs House, which were relatively decent, and outside the rusty iron fence were crowded with countless natives in fat black cloth trousers, frantically selling all sorts of simple goods and local products to travellers, and the monosyllabic cries of selling sounded crude and primitive to the ears of Sir Humphrey, an English gentleman.

As soon as you step out of Hong Kong's customs, you will be greeted by low, dilapidated buildings as far as the eye can see, and dirty streets full of standing water. Between the crooked wooden buildings, there are layers of billboards and all kinds of exaggerated and poorly painted posters. On the streets, vendors sell tea in steaming copper kettles, and people sell all sorts of weird, scary-looking snacks. For example, roasted bugs or something—Sir Humphrey, who was pampered in Whitehall, London, apparently did not have the good appetite of Uncle Bell in the future—and many Chinese men and women in outdated suits and fancy dresses were speaking very broken English. Talking arrogantly to the Indian patrolman...... The rough grafting of European civilization with the Eastern tradition makes all this so bizarre, as if it were a testament to the frenzied exploitation and miserliness of the overlord in the construction of this Far Eastern colony.

However, in Thomas. Sir Humphrey's current Queen's Road, and Victoria's Central neighbourhood, where Queen's Road is located, are very different from the rest of Hong Kong's neighbourhoods. Just as Sir Humphrey had dismounted from the carriage and looked around, a strange sense of familiarity struck him.

-- There is no messy signboard that I just saw on the rickshaw. There are no noisy and messy cries, no vendors selling things on the roadside, and no standing water on the road. There weren't even a few people. In the quiet spring breeze, there are only neatly paved stone roads, neatly planned streets, and English road signs posted around the corners. and Western-style houses made of red bricks and gray stones......

Well. Aside from the fact that there are more yellow-skinned faces, the scenery here is not much different from that of London's upper-class neighborhoods.

“…… Sure enough, it's this familiar street scene that makes people feel more at ease. ”

Sir Humphrey seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then looked at the pair of bronze lions in front of the HSBC Bank in Hong Kong, remembered his first stop in China - Hong Kong, and couldn't help but collapse his face again, "...... Dealing with the fickle Chinese government is tiring enough. And to squander money from the hands of the bank consortium to the waste warlord...... God willing, it all doesn't go wrong! ”

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Generally. Consul of the British Empire in Wuhan on his way to his appointment, Thomas Murphy. Sir Humphrey was not very fond of the Orientals.

As a diplomat, Sir Humphrey has been in contact with a number of Chinese and Japanese diplomats. But in his eyes, the character of the Oriental is clearly less mature than that of the "civilized people" of the Western shijie, and is more emotional than rational, and even the Eastern diplomats, who are supposed to be the most educated and have the best knowledge of Western civilization, behave in the West shijie, so that it is often difficult to communicate.

-- They never seem to understand that the so-called international politics is a cruel game waged by the leaders of the most powerful powers, based on the coldest calculations of interests and interests, and with the life and death of weak nations and countries as bargaining chips, and there is no room for the slightest warmth and affection.

Among them, the Japanese personality is somewhat similar to that of an eleven or twelve-year-old boy, who is as proud and domineering as a rooster, and always seems to try to make up for the lack of short stature, which makes people laugh; The Chinese, on the other hand, are a mixture of complexity and contradiction – in general, they tend to behave modestly and politely, and even warmly invite people they meet for the first time to their homes. Every upper-class Chinese Sir Humphrey met liked to gush about their nation's glorious past, and their eyes were always shining, excited, and infectious; But the problem is that when asked about the current situation in their homeland, these Chinese always avoid it with a hurt and depressed look, and their nerves are so fragile that people can sympathize. The most terrible thing is that any subtle and imperceptible impolite action and tone of a Westerner will be extremely sensitive to the thinking of these Chinese intellectuals to the level of insulting the national personality and personality, and then they will tremble with anger, like a leaf in the wind, as if they are ready to fight to the death to defend their dignity...... Oddly enough, they never seem to have ever asked someone to throw their gloves into a duel......

Although Sir Humphrey had worked in Shanghai and Nanking for several years, and was barely a half-China expert, he was still confused about the causes of Chinese of these eccentric personalities...... In short, according to his experience, if you want to get along well with the Japanese, you can generally get used to their arrogance and rudeness. And if you want to get along well with the Chinese, I am afraid it will be more tiring than building good relations with the Japanese. Especially those high-ranking Chinese, the skill of playing tricks on people is even more outstanding, and they also boast of being the basic quality of leaders......

Of course, dealing with the Chinese is only a little troublesome, as long as you have the status of a diplomat of the British Empire, you do not have the slightest fear in front of these "semi-civilized" Chinese. But the representatives of the banking community, who were waiting for him in the HSBC building at the moment, did not take Sir Humphrey's title too seriously—even if the British Imperial Government wanted to help make peace with it, it would have to require the dictator Chiang Kai-shek to show enough sincerity...... However, based on past experience, although Chiang Kai-shek was unruly and full of eccentricities, he at least understood current affairs.

Looking at Kong Xiangxi, the Minister of Finance of the Wuhan Nationalist Government, who hurried out of the door to greet him, Sir Humphrey raised his staff of civilization reservedly, greeted the smiling fellow, and then walked straight into the door of HSBC, ready to participate in another round of conspiracy related to China's fate. (To be continued......)