In the sound of the whistle, the fast passenger ship was "slightly sneered" by several tugboats. The passengers on the passenger ship stood on the deck, looking curiously towards the pier, as if looking for someone to pick up the ship.

Among the passengers, a group of Chinese stood very low-key on the deck of the ship, looking out over the dock, and when they saw the four-wheeled carriages with emblems parked near the dock, they smiled at each other.

These Chinese are not ordinary passengers, their status is very special, they all came to Manila with diplomatic passports, as the hope of peace in the Far East, they will hold peace talks with Japanese peace talks in Manila, in order to resolve this conflict between China and Japan through diplomatic means and end the war. Restore peace.

Although he is very young, this does not prevent the Chinese president from trusting him, and in order to repay the president's trust, Gu has already made up his mind that he will never return to China if he fails to achieve satisfactory results during his visit to Manila.

The international situation is changing rapidly, and in order to prevent long nights and dreams, Gu Weijun decided to rush to Manila as soon as possible. For this reason, he changed his original itinerary. Instead of boarding the ship directly from Tianjin, he first took the train south to Wuhan, and then transferred from Wuhan to Hong Kong. And in Hong Kong, I took a direct liner to Manila and arrived at my destination in just a few days.

This is the port of Manila, the capital of the Philippine colony under American occupation, and the Chinese delegation will hold peace talks with the Japanese delegation in this harbor city, because it is a colony of the United States, so the American colonial officials in the Philippines will also attend the first few meetings as mediators.

The Japanese delegation arrived earlier than the Chinese delegation, arriving in the Philippines two days earlier, and the Japanese had a stronger expectation of peace and the war was not over. The chaotic state in Japan cannot be ended, and only by ending the war with China as soon as possible can Japan go all out to heal the wounds of the war. It was also possible to use the war in Europe to restore Japan's national economy, which was on the verge of collapse.

As a circumstantial evidence of the negative impact of this war on the Japanese economy, there are now several Japanese merchant ships moored in the port of Manila, and they are all fish that slipped through the net in the Anglo-German naval battle a few days ago, although the German ** ships did not deliberately attack these merchant ships flying the Japanese flag. But fearing an attack by the Chinese Navy, these Japanese merchant ships lost the escort of the British fleet. The Chinese Navy has also stopped its naval attacks on Japan's commercial routes, but these Japanese merchant ships anchored in Manila did not immediately return to Japan, because of the war, the price of rice in Japan is high, and the public is boiling, and the Japanese government has to find a way to collect rice everywhere, and these Japanese merchant ships anchored in the port of Manila are stranded here to buy rice, in order to empty the cargo hold full of Malayan tin ore, These merchant ships had to carry out a big fire sale of the tin ore loaded these days. On the docks of Manila, the merchants of war money are not the only Americans.

Gu Weijun When they entered the port by boat. Although they didn't know why they didn't return to Japan, they also understood that these Japanese merchant ships were scared into Manila by the Chinese Navy's attack fleet.

No matter how proud the diplomats are, one thing is clear, that is, if it were not for the bloody struggle of the squadron, there would not have been this peace negotiation, in the final analysis, national strength determines diplomatic action, and without victory on the battlefield, there will be no victory in diplomatic negotiations, this point. Gu Weijun knew very well.

Gu Weijun can also understand why the center agreed to the mediation proposal of Britain and the United States and other countries, and this Sino-Japanese war has been going on for almost a month. Military spending is huge, and the country is under tremendous economic pressure, just like Japan in the Russo-Japanese War, and now the center is feeling very struggling. It is wiser to end the war now.

But there is a premise for ending the war, and this premise, before Gu Weijun left Beijing, the president has clearly told the Chinese diplomats participating in the Sino-Japanese peace talks, that this premise is that Japan must admit defeat and must accept a peace treaty that is unfavorable to Japan.

As for how it is "unfavorable" for Japan. "The president didn't say it directly, just listed a few. principle, let Gu Weijun make his own decision, but Gu Weijun also knows very well that as long as the result of this negotiation is not satisfactory to the president, the president will not ratify any treaty.

But on the other hand, what kind of negotiation bottom line will Japan accept? As a rising star that has been accepted by the European and American powers, Japan has been very arrogant in recent years, and although the Japanese army has now suffered defeat on the battlefield, the Japanese people are in a state of indignation, and the Japanese government dares not to risk angering the radicals among the people and give up the "special interests" that have already been obtained in China. This? This is an unknown, before the contact with the Japanese mission, Gu Weijun had no bottom in his heart, and now he can only formulate some negotiation skills in advance to test the bottom line of the Japanese side's negotiations.

There are many aspects to be discussed, and the South Manchurian issue must definitely be discussed, as well as the North Korean issue. As for the Taiwan issue and the issue of Japan's concession in China, they are also the key directions of the current peace talks, and Gu Weijun must choose priorities and resolve these issues at the negotiating table.

With these thoughts in mind, Gu Weijun stood on the back deck of the liner and looked out at the wharf, and as soon as the ship docked, he immediately took all the members of the mission ashore to meet with the people sent by the Chinese consulate in Manila, who had come to pick them up.

Hop aboard a couple of four-wheeled carriages rented by the consulate. Gu Weijun and the others, accompanied by a consulate secretary, rushed to the consulate and were somewhat surprised to see the Chinese national flag outside many shops on the street.

"These overseas Chinese fly the national flag, aren't the Americans involved?" Gu Weijun asked casually.

Consulate Secretary: "Head Gu doesn't know anything. Since the news of Japan's peace suing spread, Chinese people throughout the Philippines have rushed to tell each other, and later some people proposed to hang the national flag. At first, there were some fears that the Americans would interfere, but now the Americans did not interfere with this move, so more and more people flew the national flag. In the opinion of Mr. Consul. The reason why the Americans do not interfere may be that they want to further enhance the friendly relations between the two countries

"The U.S. government is much more enlightened than the British government." A member of the mission sighed.

Gu Weijun smiled faintly and said: "The U.S. government values commercial interests, and it will naturally be more flexible than the British government, but the public has nothing to do with being enlightened or not being enlightened, and the business interests in China are huge, and the United States also needs to have an ally in the Far East, and if you understand this, you will understand the position of the American colonial authorities in Manila." ”

Consulate Secretary: "What Chief Gu said is right, the position of the US government is much more flexible than that of the British government, and there are rumors that some people in the US government are planning to make appropriate amendments to the "Chinese Exclusion Act" in exchange for the goodwill of the Chinese, but this matter is quite difficult to operate, unlike the Chinese government, the president can change the law with a stroke of the pen. ”

The consular secretary was frowning when he said this, obviously very glad that the president had monopolized power, but in fact, there are many people in China who think like him, and these people believe that the presidential government is far more efficient than the Congress, and the country needs such a form of government now, and only in this way can it ensure that it can catch up with the great powers in a big way.

But Gu Weijun has reservations. He studied in the United States for many years and was familiar with the American political system. He admires the American political system, so he doesn't agree with the president's discipline, but this does not prevent him from serving the president, in fact, the president also knows Gu Weijun's political position, but this does not affect the president's trust in him! In his opinion, the president can grasp the power of the country in the first year, which is closely related to the president's broad-mindedness, because only people with this kind of character can really know people and be good at their duties, and their subordinates can gather a group of managers and doers with real talents and learning.

When I was sitting in the carriage and galloping. Gu Weijun suddenly heard a burst of cannons, which seemed to come from the port.

"Is it a salute?" Gu Weijun asked the consulate secretary.

"That's right, it's a salute. Today, five battleships of the US Navy came from Guam and arrived in Manila, presumably already in port, and fired a gun salute from the harbor battery. "The secretary ordered

Head.

"The United States is sending battleships to Manila to anchor now, I'm afraid it's not just to solve the Malayan crisis, right? Now the war on the European side has just begun. The fact that the United States has deliberately set aside a part of its naval forces to strengthen the defense of the Philippines may also have profound implications. Gu Weijun sighed a few words, and his thoughts turned to other places.

The carriage soon arrived at the Chinese Consulate in Manila, and Mr. Consul led all the staff to greet him outside the Consulate, and Gu Weijun was not polite. Dafang stayed at the consulate and lived in a room specially prepared for him.

The room is very well furnished, the only drawback is that it is too hot, after all, it is tropical here, and it is blown by an electric fan, which cannot make people cool down, Gu Weijun had to take off his shirt and trousers, and only wore an undershirt and shorts. Sit by the window of your room and look through the documents prepared by those who have received the pre-life.

Since the Japanese mission has been hiding in the Japanese consulate since it arrived in Manila, the gate does not leave. It is difficult to contact them directly, and the Japanese also said that if the Chinese mission is not there, they will not communicate with anyone about the peace talks, so Mr. Consul can only indirectly test the bottom line of the Japanese government in this peace talks through the Americans, although there is not much information to go, and there are many inconsistencies, but it is undeniable that Mr. Consul has done his best, after all, this Mr. Consul was an ordinary overseas Chinese in Manila before he was appointed as a consul by the central government, His profession is a copra business.

Gu Weijun had to sort out the traces of his sister from this thousand pieces of news, so that he could make a bottom in his heart before the negotiation, and this sorting was almost an afternoon, and it was evening. Mr. Consul sent someone to invite him to dinner, and Gu Weijun put down his work and rushed away

。

Without waiting for Gu Weijun to pick up the chopsticks, a consulate staff member hurriedly walked into the restaurant and whispered a few words to Mr. Consul.

"Commander Gu, the Americans have sent a colonial official over to talk to you by name, do you think you can meet you now?" Mr. Consul asked Gu Weijun.

"Oh? Then ask Mr. Consul to arrange it. Gu Weijun nodded.

Gu Weijun met with the American colonial official in the living room, who was a member of the "Philippine Committee", and this "Philippine Committee" is equivalent to the U.S. Senate, so. This person can be seen as a senator in the colonial government, and his status is quite high.

This colonial official was not an American. It was a local native, and the reason why he came to meet Gu Weijun was mainly to discuss things about North Korean labor.

Now that the situation in the South Seas is somewhat unstable, in order to prevent a sudden situation, the US colonial authorities in the Philippines have ordered all the thousands of Korean laborers in Manila to be gathered and placed in several farms outside the country, and the Americans are ready to send these Korean laborers back to the Korean Peninsula as soon as the peace talks begin.

But now the Japanese government is not doing it, and the Japanese are refusing to allow these Korean laborers to land in Korean ports. The Americans had no choice but to come to Gu Weijun. Ask him for advice.

Although Gu Weijun is a diplomat, he has never handled such affairs, but given China's relationship with the United States, he also agreed to immediately send a telegram back to China to report the matter to the president.

Late that night, the president's call back came, and the meaning was very simple, the Americans don't want those North Korean laborers, the president wants them.

So, a few days later, the Americans happily dressed up these thousands of North Korean laborers, then sent them on a ship, transported them to Hainan, and then patted their butts and left, as for how the Chinese arranged these North Korean laborers, the Americans were not in the mood to ponder.

Soon after, the Korean laborers who landed on Hainan Island were divided into two groups, one who sailed north to Lushun and was incorporated into the "Goryeo Independence Army," and the other who sailed south to Borneo and landed at a remote location on the largest island in the South Seas. The heavily armed volunteers then disappeared into the rainforests of Borneo. They were joined by a small number of "Chinese volunteers" with special status, who were not only proficient in shooting, field care and Korean, but also responsible for operating the radio station.

In this way, under the instigation of the Chinese president, the situation of the whole Borneo state became more and more difficult to contain.

On the other hand, in Manila, under the auspices of the Americans, peace talks between China and Japan were officially launched.