When the plane landed, Song Ziwen woke up Gu Weijun, who had been sleeping for a long time. At this moment, the arduous journey that lasted seven days and traveled 12,000 kilometers finally came to an end, and the two arrived safely from New York to Nanyuan Airport in Beijing. Compared with Song Ziwen, who was six years younger, Gu Weijun woke up with soreness, coughing and snot.

He has always been calm, and he has never been so non-stop as this time -- first flew from Washington to New York overnight, then took a high-speed cruise ship across the Atlantic to Liverpool, England, flew to London for a night's rest, and then boarded a special plane the next morning and flew directly to Beijing. The plane was no more comfortable than a cruise ship, the turbulence caused by the air currents was more unbearable, and the temperature of the high-altitude flight was extremely low, and the local weather was hot when Baghdad landed.

It's just that it is really a last resort to return to China so urgently. When Weng received a telegram from Washington informing him of the U.S. government's final decision not to sign a new naval disarmament treaty with China, he received an urgent instruction from Beijing that he and Soong Ziwen should return to Beijing urgently. Obviously, Chiang Ting-huang, who remained in Beijing, did not have the trust of Weng Wenhao in foreign affairs, and he needed the foreign secretary, who had been in charge of negotiations in Washington since he took office, to return to Beijing immediately to discuss countermeasures -- the day before yesterday, at 4 p.m. on July 30 and Friday, the day before yesterday, on the 23rd day of the sixth month of the Chinese calendar, the League of Nations finally released its report on the investigation of the conflict between Japan and the United States in Marshall.

"What do you think of the League of Nations report?"

"May I ask Mr. Gu, does the release of the Marshall Report mean that Japan and the United States are about to go to war?"

"May I ask Lord Gu, how will Japan deal with Japan and the United States in the event of a war, and will it strictly abide by the neutrality of the outsider......

The two had not yet gotten off the plane. As soon as a well-informed reporter blocked the hatch, Gu Weijun not only coughed. The body was also tired and had no energy to speak, and Song Ziwen, who was traveling with him, had no choice but to act on his behalf. Wanyan persuaded these reporters to disperse, and only after getting on the special bus sent by the Prime Minister's Office at the airport did the two breathe a sigh of relief.

"Brother Beihai actually came in person?!" Seeing that Wu Jingchao, the secretary of the prime minister, was sitting in the elongated official car, Gu Weijun and Song Ziwen were startled, no wonder the door of the car was closed just now, it turned out to be Wu Jingchao.

Song Ziwen and Gu Weijun are both older than Wu Jingchao, and when they heard the two call themselves brothers, Wu Jingchao was busy and said that he didn't dare to be, he said: "The two of you are really lucky." Just now, I wanted to go on the plane to greet me. But those reporters are really difficult for me to come forward, otherwise as soon as I report this face, the whole world will know that the prime minister is in a hurry. ”

Coughing twice, Gu Weijun ninja was dizzy and unwell and smiled: "Where is Beihai." You can think so thoughtfully, that's the prime minister is right. Ahem... cough cough ......" He had just finished saying this sentence and coughed again.

"Brother Shaochuan has a cold." Song Ziwen said in English -- he suddenly returned to Beijing from Europe and the United States in two days, and he was not used to speaking Chinese, and besides, he was more familiar with English than Chinese, and speaking English was commonplace.

"How is this good...... Wu Jingchao measured Gu Weijun's forehead with the back of his hand. It really felt a little hot, and he said a little eagerly: "Brother Shaochuan must not fall ill." The international situation has changed drastically in the past few days, and the prime minister wants you to come back just because he wants to know the details of the negotiations with the United States. Then I want to ask how we should respond to this situation. ”

"Is the Marshall report out?" Gu Weijun just forced a smile, but Song Ziwen asked about the report, after the report was announced. They did not see the original documents in Baghdad.

"It's out." Wu Jingchao nodded, he had sorted out the report before he came. It's all in English. He handed it to the two of them and said, "The League of Nations is also taking great pains, and the plan they gave is to hand over the Marshall Islands to the League of Nations maintenance force for three years. In the meantime, the U.S. government can continue to investigate the whereabouts of the female pilot on the island, but if no clues can be found after three years, the Marshall Islands will be returned to the Japanese government.

It's basically putting things off. Wu Jingchao commented on this. However, in order to stabilize Japan, after carefully analyzing the details of the US-Japan conflict, 13 of the 15 judges of the arbitration tribunal ruled that the forced landing of US Marines in the Marshall Islands violated public international law, so the report demanded that Washington formally apologize to the Japanese Government and compensate the Japanese side for the actual losses. The Assembly of the League of Nations, by a vote of seventy-nine in favour and one against the British, adopted a resolution of the League of Nations Committee on the acceptance of the report. ”

"Ahem..., Washington is not going to ...... cough cough ......" Gu Weijun wanted to say his judgment, but he coughed before he finished speaking, and only after taking a sip of hot tea and relieving his breath did he whisper: "Washington will not pay attention to this report." Public opinion in the United States generally believes that because China and Japan have promised to guarantee the security of France and other European countries, they claim that this report is full of hypocrisy and utilitarianism, and that every page is full of old European cunning and decay. In particular, at this time the Secretary General of the League of Nations, Mr. Evennow, was French, and France had very good relations with us and Japan, and he had previously said that a war between the United States and Japan would lead to a world war..."

"Say so......" Wu Jingchao looked at Song Ziwen again when he spoke, and when he saw that he also nodded, his heart kept sinking, and he said: "So the US government will not apologize to the Japanese government......

"There will be no withdrawal from the Marshall Territory either." Gu Weijun then added that when he wanted to say something again, the words came to his lips and he forced himself to endure it, and he said: "There are so many things that it will take some time to explain clearly, so I don't know when the prime minister will be able to see us?" ”

"The Prime Minister is waiting for you now." Wu Jingchao deserves to be a secretary, and the gloomy face just now smiled again. "We'll go straight to the Mandarin Palace."

Hearing that Wu Jingchao said that the prime minister was already waiting, Gu Weijun nodded reassuringly, and he said, "Then I'll be rude and sleep for a while." ”

"Brother Shaochuan, please." Wu Jingchao replied, and then he opened the window and said something to the driver in front of him.

The car slowly entered the city from Yongding Gate, and did not stop when entering the Forbidden City, but drove directly into the Forbidden City. Gu Weijun woke up and saw Wenhuadian's brows and couldn't help but lock a little tighter, it seemed that the prime minister was indeed in a hurry. Sure enough, as soon as he entered the hall and had not yet saluted, Weng Wenhao urgently asked him and Song Ziwen for details.

I haven't seen him for a whole year, Weng Wenhao is really thin, and the official robe is empty on him. His face was also unusually bitter, and his brows were still the same. The one on the left hangs high, looking extremely serious. The cup of strong tea and Xiao Xi in the car gave Gu Weijun the strength to speak. He said aloud: "Prime Minister, I am afraid that the war between the United States and Japan is inevitable. ”

"Hmm." Weng Wenhao, who had already guessed this, responded in a low voice, and then motioned for Gu Weijun to continue.

"In addition, Washington believes that although Japan withdrew from the East Asian Alliance last year, it is still one with Japan economically, industrially, and militarily, and even if it declares external neutrality, we cannot guarantee the flow of military supplies such as oil, steel, and grain into Japan, so they finally believe that it is impossible to sign a new naval disarmament treaty with us." Gu Weijun said. "Unless ......"

Looking at Gu Weijun's opening and closing mouth, Weng Wenhao's heart only sank. But the phrase 'unless' was clung to by him like a straw. "Unless what?" Feeling that he was too eager, Weng Wenhao smiled, and then said: "Shaochuan, you are the foreign minister, and your opinion is very important. Say, what should we do to avoid war? ”

"Yes, Prime Minister." Gu Weijun is also thinking about how to avoid war these days, but he is too anxious to leave Washington. I didn't talk to those in the know, so I'm just guessing at this point.

"If the United States and Japan go to war, considering that Japan is an island country, the United States should not want us to import military-related goods to it. They don't want us to buy their goods," perhaps feeling that this was not accurate, Gu Weijun paused before saying, "In other words." That is, we need to completely sever all economic and trade exchanges with Japan, and even the severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The second is the Asian dollar. Public opinion in the United States believes that the Asian dollar is an important chain that closely links China, Japan, and the DPRK. It is not important to withdraw from the East Asian alliance, it is important to abolish the Asian dollar. ”

"What's the third?" After Gu Weijun finished speaking, he paused, and Weng Wenhao asked the third question.

"The third is that the government wants to take back the fiefs of the nobles outside the Guan, because American public opinion believes that those areas outside the Guanwai that are independent of the Beijing government will secretly finance Japan, especially Manchuria." Gu Weijun said. "The fourth is to cut off trade with Korea, Miluo, Persia, and other European countries, because these exports are likely to be re-exported to Japan by merchants."

"Anything else?" Weng Wenhao seemed to have sunk to the bottom, so he showed a kind of composure similar to despair.

"Nope." Gu Weijun shook his head, but Song Ziwen added: "I think dual nationality must also be abolished, so that people with Chinese and Japanese nationality will not volunteer to go to Japan to assist the Japanese army in the war." ”

"And then?" Weng Wenhao nodded with a wry smile and asked.

"And then? What then? Gu Weijun and Song Ziwen were a little puzzled, these five points have basically explained all the worries of Americans, and there is nothing else to think about.

"And then the Americans will sign a treaty with us, right?" Weng Wenhao's voice was a little pitiful, and he looked at Gu Weijun and Song Ziwen expectantly, but what he got was still disappointment.

"Prime Minister, this is some of the issues that the United States is most worried about, which we have compiled based on American newspapers and broadcasts, and they are not directly requested or hinted at by the Washington administration." Gu Weijun didn't speak, and Song Ziwen opened his mouth to explain.

"That's it......" Weng Wenhao finally got a little excited, he held his glasses again and again, and said in a lost voice: "That means that even if we do all the above, Washington still doesn't consider signing a contract with us?" ”

After a short silence, with difficulty, Gu Weijun nodded helplessly: "Prime Minister, this is indeed the case." Secretary of State Hull was very vague in his final refusal to accept us, and he did not say how the agreement could be signed, only that the President and the Cabinet were opposed to the signing between China and the United States, given the current international situation. ”

"And what have you been doing all year?!" Weng Wenhao was finally angry, and he brought down his chair when he stood up, "What the hell do you mean by Americans?!" What exactly do they want to do? ”

What have you done this year? What do Americans really want to do? Of course Gu Weijun knew, he knew about it a year ago. It's just that, as a member of the American faction and a member of the brotherhood, he knows very well that the reality he understands will not be accepted by others. Therefore, he only spent a year, praying that God would give him and China a chance to completely change the trend of war in the Pacific, however, God did not give him a chance, and with the deterioration of the domestic economic situation in the United States, between war and revolution, the Americans finally chose war.

"Prime Minister ......" Seeing Weng Wenhao shouting angrily, Wu Jingchao, who was beside him, hurriedly lifted the chair up. He helped Weng Wenhao and wanted to sit down, but he didn't want Weng Wenhao to be angry. was helped by him and lost his temper even more. "You all told me that you want to make peace! Give in! Give in! Let's make peace! We've made enough in the past year. I let everything I can out, and I almost surrender to them! Overseas Chinese, those overseas Chinese all pointed at my backbone Weng Wenhao and scolded me for my short life on the street! But why, why didn't you sign a contract?!

What did Roosevelt really want to do? Is there going to be a war? If we want to go to war, we will clearly tell us that we are backward and specialized. system, but even if we lose, we will make them pay. But now they don't say anything, and you don't say anything, all with some clichés, some empty words, to lie to me. If I had known this, I, the prime minister, should have resigned!! ”

Weng Wenhao's voice pierced through the wooden planks and echoed throughout the Wenhua Palace. This is not the first time he has said he has resigned. After Seo Kyung-hee's funeral last year. He shouted countless resignations at every turn, but each time he persuaded Wu Jingchao and Hu Shi to come back.

"Shaochuan, you better go down and rest first." Wu Jingchao saw that Weng Wenhao's mood couldn't calm down for a while, so he took it upon himself to let Gu Weijun and Song Ziwen go down to rest first, and only after the two of them left, did he say: "Prime Minister, Shaochuan, they can't help it." Yang Jingcheng tied us to Japan so tightly, how dare the Americans sign a contract? Last time, the British ambassador said that more than half of the Japanese aviation school is Chinese. In the event of a war, these would certainly join the Japanese army in fighting against the United States, which ......"

Wu Jingchao spread his hands, looking not too incompetent in our army, and he was too cunning to blame the Turkish army. When he saw Weng Wenhao, he seemed to hear it. He said again: "Shaochuan's suggestions just now are not bad, especially the matter of recovering the fiefdom outside the Guanwai, which can be implemented in this way." ”

"Regardless of what will happen to Yang Jingcheng first. If you do those five...... "think of those five, especially the one that cuts off foreign trade." Weng Wenhao shook his head vigorously, "Foreign trade must not be short. ”

"Then only cut off diplomatic relations and trade with North Korea and Japan." Wu Jingchao compromised. "A ban on arms exports to trade elsewhere is."

"So what if the Americans still don't sign the contract?" Weng Wenhao asked that difficult question to answer.

"Prime Minister. Only when we do this can we have a basis for negotiation, and if we don't sign the contract, it means that there is still something that has not been done. Thinking of something, Wu Jingchao suddenly smiled: "Isn't it just this opportunity to do something that we wanted to do but couldn't do before?" I think that under the pressure of the war, the representatives of the Inspectorate must have agreed to whatever we said. If the Rifan Yuan does not agree, it will be attacked by public opinion as a misguided country.

"Is that really good?" was reminded by Wu Jingchao, Weng Wenhao also thought of another way. This is the path that Hu Shih and others have been persuading him to take -- that is, to give up all resistance and let the United States help China achieve true democracy.

"Prime Minister, you should ask how is the country now?" Wu Jingchao did not answer the rhetorical question. "Less than 30 years after the founding of the country, although the peasants were previously given land and exempted from agricultural taxes, so that they could be fed and clothed. Can be specialized. Under the system, the people are superstitious and ignorant, and the economic development does not make them richer, but they are getting poorer and poorer. In the brothels in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, the rich spend a lot of money, but the poor have no place to stand, and the so-called right to vote only after paying taxes is a scam at all, because the poor will never have to pay taxes, and if they do not pay taxes, they will not be able to make their voices heard, they will not be able to improve their own situation, and they will always be poor.

The equality of people is also a joke, how many of those rich children in the university halls of the provinces are admitted by scores rather than by connections, and how many of them are children of poor families? The so-called diversion of education and a harmonious society advocated by the Revival Society is actually a foolish trick to make the rich rich forever rich and the poor forever poor.

For twenty-seven years, we have only seen how exclusively this country is. system, how superstitious, how backward, I can't find any progress or cuteness in her. We really don't have to be overly attached to this country, but we should break it as soon as possible and rebuild a free and democratic republic. ”

It is said that Wu Jingchao, as a secretary, should not express his views at such length, but now he knows that China's fate is Weng Wenhao's thoughts. At this critical historical turning point, whether it was Wu Jingchao or Hu Shi, everyone in the brotherhood paid close attention to Weng Wenhao's thoughts and emotions, for fear that he would really resign in anger.

"Beihai, just tell me honestly," Weng Wenhao asked seriously after Wu Jingchao finished speaking, "If no matter what we do, the Americans will not sign a contract with us, but want to completely occupy the entire country, or even enslave this country...... what will you, you people, think?" Is it worth it to achieve democracy in this way? ”

Weng Wenhao spoke very slowly, and his expression was very serious, with Wu Jingchao's understanding of him, he knew that he really wanted to know what the people in the Brotherhood thought. He nodded his head first, and then said with great certainty: "It's worth it." ”

"Why?!" Weng Wenhao asked puzzled. "Do you want China to become the United States?"

"Brother Yongni, there will be no India under the rule of the United States, only the Philippines. The Philippines has become independent, and China will certainly become independent. Wu Jingchao said seriously. We are not spineless, we are not ignorant of shame, but the problem is that the flower of freedom and the tree of democracy cannot grow on this land! I can only hope that the Americans will bring the seeds of freedom and democracy in this piece. system of sowing seedlings on the land. For this, we can pay any price! ”

"But what if democracy is actually the degeneration of civilization, as Yang Jingcheng said? If people are only for themselves, then who bears those responsibilities? If everyone is selfish, no matter how democratic the country is, it will always be destroyed. Weng Wenhao twisted his eyebrows and retorted--he had read a lot of things written by Yang Jingcheng in the past year, and he didn't think what he said was outrageous.

"For example, France, which was the first republic in the world to achieve democracy, and her people enjoy full freedom, but now the French people don't want to work, they just want benefits, they don't want to have children, they just want to be single. Her population is growing negatively, and the government has tried everything to encourage people to have children, but the people just think that people should only live for themselves in this life, and having children is a burden in life. In this way, a once powerful country now depends on us and Japan to ensure her safety, I really ......"

Weng Wenhao's words made Wu Jingchao stunned, so much so that he actually forgot to refute for a while. When he mentioned France, he replied: "Brother Yongni, you must have read those things written by Yang Jingcheng." Don't you think that what Yang Jingcheng wrote is obviously subjective? He himself is an aristocrat, and of course he has to speak for the nobility. The so-called democracy is the degeneration of civilization, and it is simply those high-ranking officials and nobles who maintain their own tyranny. A pretext for power. After he said that, he shook his head at Weng Wenhao again, and said bitterly: "Yongni, Yang Jingcheng's things are very evil, it's better for you to see less in the future." ”

"I'm just flipping through it." Somehow, admitting that he had read what Yang Jingcheng wrote made Weng Wenhao feel that it was a sin.

"You can't flip through it." Wu Jingchao insisted, "His things carry a kind of poison, and it will be completely poisoned after a few more glances." I think that in the new country, we must prohibit the spread of this set of theories by Yang Jingcheng. seemed to feel that he was talking too much, Wu Jingchao said again: "Hey, don't mention this." I and Shizhi are still the old saying before, and it is more difficult to fight than to fight. What will become of this country in the future is all in the mind of Yongni. ”

"I know." Weng Wenhao nodded, but after a while, he laughed at himself again: "What you say is good is peace, and what you don't say is surrender, I am really ......, maybe I will be the one who kneels in front of Yue Fei Temple in the future?" ”

"Therefore, it is appropriate to say that a great man cannot be a great man with great wisdom and courage." Wu Jingchao encouraged. "In this situation, this is none other than Yongni. And from the ancient point of view, which time is not a king and a loser? When the country is truly free, the people will understand you. ”

"But what if Yang turns out to be them...... What about coups? Weng Wenhao returned to reality again, saying that he was most worried about the problem.

"No, it won't. In the past few times, Yang Jingcheng's bottom line is the law, as long as we don't break the law, everything is in line with legal procedures......"

Before Wu Jingchao finished speaking, Weng Wenhao asked, "But the law doesn't stipulate that we can surrender?" ”

"What if this is the unanimous decision of all the representatives of the Auditor's Court?" Wu Jingchao asked rhetorically. "No matter what the Americans will do in the future, as long as the American army occupies the coastal areas, no matter how much those people resist, they will not be able to return to the sky." (To be continued.) )