At dinner, Li Mu was invited to dinner with Grant in the restaurant of the Presidential Palace. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

To tell the truth, all the cooks Li Mu met in the United States were not comparable to Lao Yan and Yan Mu, and Li Mu had to focus on Grant in order to take his attention away from the food in front of him.

Maybe he noticed Li Mu's absent-mindedness, but Grant still cared: "What? Not to your appetite - oh, I remember, you have a cook from the Qing Empire. ”

It seems that Grant really knows Li Mu well, which makes Li Mu secretly vigilant.

"The food is fine, I'm just a little nervous-" Li Mu showed weakness, acting like a normal young man.

should be nervous, this is in the presidential palace, facing the president of the United States, if Li Mu feels as free as his own kang, it is too demonic.

"Oh, don't be nervous, you're not a nervous person in Burnside and Able's description—" Grant didn't doubt him, and sure enough, he fell for it.

"It depends on who you're facing, and I'm certainly not nervous about facing Burnside and Able, but I'm facing the President of the United States, a federal hero, and I've heard a lot of stories about Mr. President in Springfield—" Li Mu deliberately pulled the corners of his mouth when he said this, looking like he wanted to smile, but it was more like making a grimace.

Li Mu's coping strategy was studied with Abel, and Li Mu now wants to play a teenager who finally meets his idol, even if it is a bit exaggerated, it is acceptable.

"Is it—what's it, let's hear it—" Grant was in high spirits, and it seemed that Grant was still paying attention to the comments.

"It's mostly during the Civil War, uh, Will was a soldier during the Civil War, so there's a lot going on in this area—" Li Mu deliberately directed the topic to the Civil War period, which was the most glorious period of Grant's life.

Sure enough, Li Mu was the most itchy place in Grant's heart, which made Grant look at Li Mu more and more pleasantly, and even loved Wu a little: "Will, that's a good soldier, and he is also a national hero of the United States-"

This is too false, and you are a national hero, why didn't you give Will a one-ton medal?

"What do you think about the Republic of Cuba?" Grant put down his knife and fork and picked up his glass, and finally got down to business.

Yes, Li Mu is the "spokesperson" selected by the U.S. government, and it stands to reason that Grant should know more about Li Mu, perhaps this is the real reason why Grant invited Li Mu to dinner.

Li Mu is a good baby in front of Grant, so Li Mu doesn't drink, Li Mu drinks boiled water.

After sorting out his thoughts by drinking water, Li Mu slowly spoke: "America should be the Americas of the Americans, for the United States, the geographical location of Cuba is too important, so even if the Stars and Stripes can't fly over Cuba, and the Spaniards can't control Cuba, in my opinion, the whole of Latin America, including Cuba, should be the sphere of influence of the United States, at least we can't let the Europeans control where, that is not in the overall interests of the United States." ”

When Li Mu spoke, Grant listened attentively, and after Li Mu finished speaking slowly, Grant slowly put down the cup in his hand: "So, you support the Monroe Doctrine?" ”

Monroe refers to James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States. In 1823, U.S. President Monroe addressed Congress, declaring: "No European power shall henceforth regard the independent and free countries of the American continent as the object of future colonization." At the same time, Monroe also said that the United States does not interfere in the internal affairs of the European powers, nor does it allow the European powers to interfere in the affairs of the Americas. This address is commonly known as the "Monroe Declaration," and it contains principles that are commonly referred to as the "Monroe Doctrine."

When the "Monroe Doctrine" first appeared, it caused a lot of controversy in the United States, and the reason why Li Mu dared to mention the "Monroe Doctrine" in front of Grant was because Li Mu knew from Abel that Grant himself was a fanatical "Monroe Doctrine".

Just two years ago, Grant elaborated on the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that the United States of America would not tolerate the transfer of its colonies in the Americas by European countries.

Look, this is a typical example of someone in the DPRK and China who is good at being an official.

At this time, there must be no hesitation, so Li Mu replied quickly: "Yes, I support the Monroe Doctrine, as far as the current point of view, our United States is not strong enough, so we cannot compete for colonies in Asia, Africa and Europe, but we must at least ensure a relatively pure Latin America, so that we can retain the qualification to compete with Europeans." ”

In fact, the strength of the United States during this period was really not very good, and the economic development was not bad, but the military was much worse, perhaps because of the lack of natural enemies on the American continent, the Americans did not attach much importance to armaments, the United States did not even have a standing army, and the navy was lackluster, and it did not even have a battleship.

This objectively created a false impression of a "peace-loving" attitude for the United States, so when the Qing government chose the direction of sending students, it immediately fell in love with the United States.

The "peace-loving" of the United States is only an illusion, and in fact the ambitions of the Americans have never subsided; just 20 years ago, when the United States had just become independent and its national strength was still quite weak, some people in the United States proposed to expel the Spaniards from Cuba on the basis of the "Monroe Doctrine."

The reason why the Americans did not take action was that, on the one hand, the United States was not strong enough, and on the other hand, because the domestic contradictions were acute, so the US Government did not dare to act in a hurry.

Now the situation is different, the United States is getting stronger and stronger, and the sharp domestic contradictions in the United States after the Civil War have eased somewhat, so Céspedes has just established the "Republic of Cuba", and the United States can't wait to admit it, and now it has found Li Mu and asked Li Mu to act as a "spokesperson" to support Céspedes to drive out the Spaniards.

Obviously, Grant was very satisfied with Li Mu's answer, so Grant put down his cup and began to speak at length: "You are right, the Americas are the Americas of the Americans, and from the standpoint of the United States, we will never tolerate the transfer of their colonies in the Americas by European countries, nor will we tolerate the interference of European countries in the affairs of the Americas, let alone the enslavement of the Americans by Europeans, so we must support the Cubans to drive out the Spaniards, which will be the first battle of the rise of the United States. The United States should also have international powers on an equal footing with the European countries—"

See, this is Grant's true heart, and it can also be said that many Americans have their hearts, more than 20 years later, it is with this idea that the Americans defeated the Spaniards in the Spanish-American War, and since then they have begun their journey of hegemony.

Just when Grant was talking, Li Mu kept listening attentively, and the expression on his face was just the right amount of admiration and fanaticism, which stimulated Grant's desire to speak.

After talking for nearly half an hour, Grant stopped and breathed a sigh: "I can now be sure that you are the best person to contact the Republic of Cuba, tell me your request, I heard Burnside say that you have a little trouble there?" ”

When it was finally time to give sweet dates, Li Mu endured the verbal bombardment for half the night, just for this moment: "I don't have any trouble over there, as a member of the United States, it is my duty to serve the United States-"

Before Li Mu could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Grant: "That's right, duty!" Many people are unaware of this, and always fantasize about pie falling from the sky, their wishes are doomed to fail, and there is no gain without giving-"

It seems that Grant is talking about it tonight, and it is another burst of talk.

Li Mu still kept listening, but this time he echoed from time to time, "That's right!" "That's it! "Indeed"-

It took another ten minutes before Grant stopped: "I heard that you have a lot of business in Springfield, how about it, if you are asked to leave your business and go to Cuba, are you willing to go?" ”

Going to Cuba?

No, no, no, Li Mu never thought that there was a war going on in Cuba, and Li Mu didn't want to be cannon fodder.

However, since Grant asked, Li Mu couldn't pretend at this time: "Of course I do!" Otherwise, I am very worried that the Cubans, with their tactical qualities, will not be able to defeat the Spaniards, who are weakened, but after all, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the weaker the Spaniards, the more they cannot take it lightly, because they will certainly do their best to keep the last remaining colonies. ”

To be honest, Li Mu is also worried that his investment has been lost, and if there is no external force to intervene, Li Mu is really not optimistic that the Republic of Cuba can defeat the Spaniards.

In fact, in the original history, the Republic of Cuba of Céspedes did not exist for long, after the arrival of the Spanish regular army led by Willé Nicolaú in Cuba, the Republic of Cuba was defeated in the frontal battlefield, and Céspedes's control of the Republic of Cuba also had problems, in 1873, that is, this year, Céspedes was deposed in absentia by the Court of the Republic, and in February 1874 the new Cuban government insisted on not allowing Céspedes to go into exile and deprived Céspedes of his guards, and subsequently, Céspedes was killed in the province of Oriente by Spanish soldiers while taking refuge in the mountains.

Look, everything is a routine, first remove Cespedes from the presidency, then deprive Cespedes of his guards, and then Cespedes was killed by Spanish soldiers, this process has a strong conspiracy flavor no matter how you look at it.

If Li Mu only does business with the Republic of Cuba, then Li Mu doesn't care about Cespedes' life or death, but if Li Mu is the financier of the Republic of Cuba, then it can't be said that for the sake of his own investment income, Li Mu wants to have a good fight with those anti-bones of the Republic of Cuba.