After breakfast, Lu Ming wanted to go for a walk to change his mind. As soon as he came out of the Liuyuan Garden, he saw a guy in a suit and tie waiting outside the gate. When he came out, he greeted him.
"Is this Mr. Lu Ming?" the man asked politely.
"Yes, I am." Lu Ming nodded.
"This is for you." The man said and handed him a note.
This is a note from the Consulate General of the United States of America in Shanghai. There is only one line on the note: Mr. Frank is looking for you.
There is not even a signature below.
The guy who left the note must be very lazy. Lu Ming murmured in his heart. Of course he knows who Frank is. Could it be that Frank has arrived in Shanghai? Improbable. If he really arrived in Shanghai, he would definitely come directly to the door. Mr.’s character has always been
It's a hands-on job.
"Mr. Consul General, I hope you can come over now. It's urgent." The man said without any expression on his face.
"Let's go." Lu Ming looked lazy.
An eight-cylinder Cadillac produced by General Motors in the United States in 1928 is waiting at the corner. The black body is like a large piece of black crystal carved out of it. It is a piece of exquisite art, not like a large factory assembly line.
This is a great achievement of mankind in the era of industrial civilization.
This car is also one of the symbols of the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai, which is actually a symbol of the United States of America.
Seeing this car, Lu Ming seemed to have returned to Detroit, USA, and saw the prosperity of that world's automobile capital.
As soon as he got into the spacious back seat of the car, the car started to move. It turned out that this person was the driver for the Consul General, and he was Chinese.
Lu Ming couldn't help but smile guiltily when he thought of the message on the note.
Mr. Frank was his tutor when he was studying in the United States. After arriving in the United States, he first entered a college preparatory class. After studying for a year, he was admitted to the law department of Harvard University. However, when he was in college, he also took an elective course in international politics at Harvard University.
Courses on East Asian Political Culture at the School of Relations.
It is this Mr. Frank who teaches courses on East Asian politics, economy and culture.
Mr. Frank has a heartfelt persistence and enthusiasm for East Asia, especially China. Among the people Lu Ming has met, only Leighton Stuart can rival him.
Perhaps Lu Ming was the only Chinese student in the class, and he was diligent and studious, so he won the favor of Mr. Frank. Frank often brought Lu Ming home to have dinner and chat, and learned from him about various current situations in Chinese society.
Only then did Lu Ming realize that Mr. Frank's research on Chinese culture was no less than that of ordinary Chinese people. He had even systematically studied the Four Books and Five Classics, and he had read all Chinese books.
It was hard for Lu Ming to imagine how an American could learn Chinese classical Chinese and read thick thread-bound books without punctuation. He could also speak fluent Cantonese and Shanghai dialect, and then he learned Huzhou dialect from Lu Ming with great interest.
During the four years, Lu Ming almost became a member of Frank's family. He often came to his house for dinner and even stayed overnight at his house when it was late. He got along with his wife and children and became a family. They had a deep relationship with each other. His classmates all
Jokingly speaking, he became Mr. Frank's godson.
Before graduation, Frank invited Lu Ming to stay as his assistant many times, but Lu Ming was homesick and refused.
The night before he returned to China, Frank held a family dinner to see him off. After the meal, the two of them tasted whiskey in the study. Frank revealed something to him. It turned out that Frank was not only a tenured professor at Harvard University, but also President Roosevelt's East Asian Politics and Economics.
As a private consultant on culture, Mr. Frank's advice has a certain authority on the White House's decision-making in East Asia and even Asia as a whole.
Frank also had extensive contacts with the Nanjing Republic of China government. The Nanjing Republic of China government had a team specifically to contact Frank and regularly inform him of the situation, hoping to get support from the U.S. government on Asian affairs.
Frank made a request, hoping that Lu Ming would become his personal observer after returning to China, because official intelligence is inevitably flashy, or avoids the truth. It still has a certain value in peacetime, but it is not enough once it encounters war. Problem
The key is here.
The U.S. economy developed rapidly during the "Roaring Twenties". The "illusion of prosperity" created in the short term seems to be peaking. In the recent period, financial markets have been bubbling up and problems have arisen. Politicians and businessmen from various countries are very concerned about the development of the US dollar.
Trends, in Asia, Japanese political, economic, military and other advisory teams came one after another.
Mr. Frank smelled it. The economic turmoil in the United States will definitely spread to Asia. In which way, he does not want to make the worst guess, but once the incident occurs, the result will be worse than imagined. This
It is the experience he has accumulated over many years.
Frank hesitated to speak. He could not tell Lu Ming the shadow he saw as a fact. He decided to further observe the situation in Asia, so he proposed to let Lu Ming become his personal observer. He would pay Lu Ming five hundred dollars a month.
, it is stored in Lu Ming’s bank account in the United States.
If the information provided by Lu Ming is particularly valuable, then additional compensation will be paid. This money is not given by Frank personally, but comes from a special fund of President Roosevelt, which is specially used to pay for some expenses that cannot be recorded on paper.
.
Lu Ming refused. He still remembered his answer at the time: "I will not be a spy, and I will not betray my motherland."
In his opinion, this kind of behavior is like spying for the U.S. government and selling out his country for money.
Frank seemed to anticipate his answer, so he told him that he was just an observer, just like the special observers hired by major news organizations in various countries, except that he was not serving the major news media in the United States, but the U.S. government.
Frank assured him that the observation report he provided would be sent to President Roosevelt's desk after being properly sorted and deleted for reference in the president's decision-making on Asian issues.
"You have to believe that the United States loves peace. I am also a frank person and will never do anything that is not beneficial to China. Of course, I will not force you, Lu." Frank understood what Lu Ming was thinking and finally added
One sentence.
Lu Ming has not expressed his position, but he knows in his heart that Frank does not want him to be a spy, and he does not have access to national secrets. However, it is true that Americans like to meddle in other people's affairs, and they also want to meddle in Asian affairs.
If the observation data he provided could influence the U.S. government's policies toward Asia and China, it might not be a bad thing. However, Lu Ming has no interest in politics and always feels that there is no need to wade into this muddy water.
"Lu, you have to know that this matter is not only important to the U.S. government, but more important to China. China needs the support of the United States. China has lost the opportunity for the first industrialization, so how to carry out the second industrialization?
It needs the full support of old and powerful industrial countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. There are also many hidden crises in Asia, such as the fight against the Japanese Empire. Without the support of the United States government, China will be very difficult. You understand me
Do you mean it?"
Frank's words were very straightforward and frank, but it also made Lu Ming realize the fact: It is not that the United States needs China, but that China needs the United States more, especially as the threat from Japan continues to expand.
Even if there is no threat from Japan, if China wants to restart comprehensive industrialization and modernization, it must rely on the support of powerful industrial countries. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the world has developed too fast, and it is impossible for China to be like the United Kingdom.
It will be the only way for China to complete industrialization alone and speed up the industrialization process with the help of external forces.
In the process of world industrialization, Britain was the first to complete the industrialization process, followed closely by France, and then Germany successfully learned from Britain. The United States learned from Britain and Germany at the same time, mainly from Britain. In this regard, the United States is the most loyal student of Britain.
, and it is better than its predecessor. Japan is comprehensively learning from the powerful industrial countries in the West, and has received strong support from countries such as Britain and the United States. Without the support of the West, Japan would not be able to complete industrialization. Of course, Japan would not dare to have any undue influence on China, an ancient civilization.
Think about it.
Lu Ming knew Mr. Frank's good intentions. He was a kind-hearted scholar with a sense of justice, but he was an American after all. After a period of ideological struggle, Lu Ming finally agreed. The reason why he agreed was because of Frank.
Borrowing a famous saying from the US Secretary of State: A gentleman should not pry into what is in other people's pockets. No further explanation is needed, Frank's words are equivalent to giving Lu Ming the whole story.
Lu Ming believes that Mr. Frank is a real gentleman, otherwise he would not be so close to him.
Although Lu Ming agreed to be Frank's private special observer in China, he almost forgot about it after returning to China, mainly because he had a resistance to the term "providing observation information".
However, he did adopt another piece of advice from Frank: Don’t give up your U.S. citizenship, it will be useful in critical situations. So he still holds a U.S. passport after returning to China and is still a legal U.S. citizen.
The government of the Republic of China did not care about this matter. Not to mention dual nationality, even multiple nationalities were legal in the Republic of China.
Lu Ming suddenly thought of Sheng Youde's attitude towards him. He actually wanted to put the life and death of the entire Sheng family in his hands and paid a huge sum of US$100,000. Was it because of his identity?
Of course, being Frank's special observer in China was a secret, but the Republic of China government somehow knew about it. So when he returned to China and just landed, the Republic of China government appointed relevant personnel to contact him and offered to provide him with convenience in his work, and even
Entrusted with an important task, he understood that it was actually to monitor him. He did not hesitate to reject the other party's kindness at that time.
If he wanted to be an official, he might as well have followed Frank. At that time, Frank gave him two options, one was to stay at Harvard University as his teaching assistant, and the other was to recommend him to join the U.S. East Asia Policy Research Office as a secretary, but he refused both.
At the last moment when he left the United States, Frank told him that as long as he was still teaching at Harvard, he was welcome to be a teaching assistant at any time. For some reason, Frank had a special affection for this Asian young man.
Lu Ming was still thinking about the exchange between him and Frank, when the car suddenly stopped.
Lu Ming looked out the window and saw a heavily armed American soldier looking at his strange guest.
"He is Mr. Lu Ming, an American citizen. Mr. Consul General invited him to discuss matters." The driver said in English.
Lu Ming almost laughed out loud when he heard the driver speaking Pidgin English, but he could understand it at least.