This is Zhang Leyi's real reaction. She appears in the public eye as a fiancée. No woman can compete with her in the future.?
With Zhou Hexuan's current reputation, marrying his concubine would be regarded as a romantic affair, which would not affect his image as a "friend of women" at all, but if he abandons his fiancée, he will definitely be burdened with a heavy reputation.
Therefore, the thinking of the Republic of China is very strange. It allows men to have three wives and four concubines, but the bottom line is that they cannot let down their first wives (including fiancées). This so-called "failure" does not mean cheating on someone with a mistress, but announcing a divorce or regretting the marriage.
It is a tradition to have three wives and four concubines, and it is also a tradition to not abandon the wife who is poor. Everything is caused by traditional moral concepts.
Therefore, Xu Zhimo would be reviled if he divorced and remarried, so Lu Xun only dared to live with a female student, but did not dare to break his arranged marriage.
"Wow, Mister Zhou, when did you get engaged?" Roger asked pretending to be surprised.
Zhou Hexuan couldn't refute Zhang Leyi's face, so he could only follow her and said: "Just a while ago."
Hervage smiled and said: "When you get married, you must give me an invitation."
Zhou Hexuan said: "I hope that by then, the two consuls will be able to attend the wedding."
While the men were talking, Zhang Leyi smiled and said nothing. Wanrong was also smiling, but her smile was very forced. She knew that there was no way she could have a relationship with Zhou Hexuan, but she still felt very disappointed.
Roger took out his cigar box, handed one to Zhou Hexuan, and said, "Mister Zhou, I already know about cleaning up the channel. It's a very clever way. Do you have any other suggestions for this?"
Zhou Hexuan did not answer, but said to Zhang Leyi: "Leyi, you can play ball with Wanrong first, and I will discuss something with Mr. Consul."
"You are busy." Zhang Leyi smiled and nodded to the two consuls.
After they left, Zhou Hexuan, Roger and Herway walked to the bench next to them and sat down to talk in detail.
Zhou Hexuan said bluntly: "Actually, I don't care about cleaning up the waterway. I just hope that the work can start quickly and help the victims of Tianjin with work instead of relief."
"Zhou, your kindness is admirable," Roger said, "but this is a big project. Even if the money is sufficient, it still needs the cooperation of the Tianjin local government. From formulating a plan, issuing public bonds to officially starting construction, it will take less than half a year.
.”
"It can be done at the same time," Zhou Hexuan suggested. "It's not that the Tianjin local government doesn't want to take care of it, but it just doesn't have the money. As long as the concession board and customs raise funds, they will definitely be willing to cooperate. The management of Haihe River has been carried out since the late Qing Dynasty.
Having worked on five major projects, I have a lot of experience. Find those old river workers as guides and consultants, and then ask competent water conservancy experts to make plans, and you will be able to come up with a plan very quickly. As long as you confirm the plan, you don’t have to wait for the meeting to pass it.
Let’s do some side projects first. I think the customs, ports and traders can’t wait for a long time. For them, the sooner it is dealt with, the better.”
Roger shook his head and smiled: "Young people are always so impatient."
Hervé suddenly said: "Japan seems to disagree with the use of customs duties bonds after three years."
"This is normal, because they have never thought about returning China's customs autonomy," Zhou Hexuan said disdainfully, "but the management of the Tianjin waterway is related to the commercial interests of more than a dozen countries, and they must agree! No matter how strong Japan is, it will never
Is it possible to challenge the whole world alone? And the project cost can only be 1 million yen at most, and it will be even less to be shared among various countries. The Japanese spent millions of yen on free support for Zhang Zuolin at the beginning of the year, and they will definitely pay this amount of money."
When Roger chatted with Zhou Hexuan, it was obviously not about the waterway management project, because it was just a trivial matter in his eyes. After what Hervé conveyed, Roger found that Zhou Hexuan was well aware of the situation in the world and China, so he wanted to hear his views.
Changing the subject and asking: "Kang, do you think the southern government will win?"
"I'm sure that within one or two years at most, China will achieve nominal reunification." Zhou Hexuan said without hesitation.
Roger said: "But the Fengjun army is still very powerful. Although it suffered successive defeats on the battlefield, the main force of the Fengjun army has never been dispatched. In the end, it is difficult to see a conclusion."
"The main force of the Feng army has not moved because Zhang Zuolin is trying to drive away wolves and devour tigers," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "Do you know how to drive wolves and devour tigers? Zhang Zuolin asked the Anhui clique, the Zhili clique, the Shanxi army, and the Feng clique to go with the Northern Expedition.
The revolutionary army fought to the death, while he conserved his strength and wanted to wait until the end to clean up the mess. But the situation was beyond Zhang Zuolin's expectations. The Northern Expeditionary Army fought so smoothly. What awaited him was not a mess, but an army of tigers and wolves."
"Then what?" Hervé asked.
Zhou Hexuan analyzed: "Zhang Zuolin is an old fox, and his follow-up actions are only threefold: first, if the war of the Beiyang factions goes smoothly, he will immediately send the main force of the Feng army to the front line to seize the results; second, the Beiyang factions and the Northern Expeditionary Army
Both sides will suffer losses. This is the best situation for him. He can directly send his army south to pacify the whole country. Thirdly, it is the current situation. The Northern Expeditionary Army has reached Henan and its army is getting stronger and stronger. In this case, Zhang Zuolin will not
If he is risking his family wealth, his most likely move is to lead his army back to the Northeast. If he doesn't have the chance, he will become the emperor of the Northeast. If he has the opportunity, he will enter the customs again and fight for the world."
Roger and Herway nodded repeatedly. The great powers also had various analyzes of China's situation, but they were all in a strategic sense. Zhou Hexuan started from Zhang Zuolin's character and thought of Zhang Zuolin's consistent approach over the years. It was obviously very interesting.
Maybe it was said by Zhou Hexuan.
Roger has even decided to report Zhou Hexuan's views to Congress when he returns, which can be regarded as a reference.
"What about the chaos in the South?" Herway asked.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "The situation in the south has been decided. Otherwise, how could Nanjing send troops? Moreover, the strategic coordination with Wuhan is so good. If you don't believe it, just watch. Within half a month at most, Yan Xishan from Shanxi will
Change the banner and declare to believe in the Three People's Principles."
Roger was surprised: "Are you so sure?"
"If we don't surrender to Yiyi, the territory in Shanxi will be occupied by Feng Yuxiang. Yan Xishan is not that stupid." Zhou Hexuan joked.
"Sure enough, the Chinese understand the Chinese," Hervé said with emotion. Foreign consuls like them also often predict the current situation in China, but they are all guessing when Yan Xishan will be defeated, but they don't think about when Yan Xishan will surrender and change the country.
flag.
Of course, it was just talk at the moment, and they didn't believe everything Zhou Hexuan said.
It was not until a few days later that Yan Xishan electrified the whole country to support the revolution and turned around to help Feng Yuxiang attack Fengjun. Only then did Roger and Hervage be shocked to the point that Zhou Hexuan had caught them!
Hervé wrote in his memoirs in his later years: "China is a magical country. As Napoleon said, it is a sleeping lion. It will wake up one day... I have met many wealthy people in China.
Among the legendary figures, Mr. Zhou Hexuan is undoubtedly the most special one. He is not keen on politics, but he has a keen insight into the situation and can always predict the future accurately. When I was in Tianjin, whenever I had doubts, I
I would invite Mr. Zhou to drink. Strictly speaking, he was my free consultant in China. Of course, I also paid a lot of money for drinks." 8