Peking, Dongjiaomin Lane, in the guest room of Liuguo Hotel.
"Dong dong dong!" There was a knock on the door.
The beautiful secretary (assistant) Veronica opened the door and said with a smile: "Hello."
"Miss, your coffee." The hotel waiter said respectfully.
"Leave it to me, this is your tip." Veronica took out a silver dollar and without waiting for the waiter to thank her, she turned around and returned to the room with the coffee.
Toynbee was reading the sample book of the French version of "Guns, Germs and Steel". He looked at it and turned back to the previous chapters from time to time, repeatedly thinking and recalling some of the ideas in the book.
Veronica said: "Sir, let's have some coffee."
After shouting twice in succession, Toynbee suddenly raised his head and said, "Put it on the coffee table."
Although Veronica is young and beautiful, she is not a woman with big breasts and no brains. She also studies the history and culture of various countries, otherwise she would not be qualified to be Toynbee's assistant secretary. She asked curiously: "
What is this book about?”
"The origin and development of various nations, or civilizations, in the world," Toynbee said with emotion, "This is a great book, more rational and systematic than my theory of the development of civilization. It is simply unbelievable that someone can actually write it
If such a work is published, it can cause a sensation in the entire historical field."
"So powerful?" Veronica said in disbelief.
Toynbee said with a wry smile: "As for the development of civilization, I have always believed that there must be challenges. A comfortable group without challenges cannot grow into a strong civilization. But after reading this book, I realized that my views are too
It’s too one-sided. Challenges alone cannot create a strong civilization, there must also be environmental factors suitable for development. In his book, Mr. Zhou Hexuan explained the fundamental reasons for the backwardness of America and Africa, which I think is very reasonable.”
Veronica smiled and said, "I can't wait to read this book."
"After reading this book, I think I have to revise my thesis. Some of the ideas are indeed flawed," Toynbee said.
Veronica took out an invitation and said with a smile: "This is what Mr. Zhou sent this afternoon. He is getting married soon and the wedding will be held in Shanghai."
"Really?" Toynbee is leaving early, and Zhou's wedding cannot be missed. It just so happens that I want to ask him some questions about Chinese civilization."
Veronica drank coffee and sat next to Toynbee to read for a while. Suddenly she blinked and said, "I'm going to take a shower first."
"Well, okay." Toynbee was immersed in fun and had no interest in having sex at all.
By the way, Toynbee had a wife at this time.
But well, everyone knows this kind of thing. If upper-class European and American men don’t have a lover, it’s a very bad sign.
It was not easy for Veronica. She admired Toynbee's talent and worked as a secretary in obscurity for more than 20 years. It was not until the end of World War II that she finally succeeded in becoming a mistress.
Two days later, Toynbee took his beautiful secretary south, taking the same boat as Zhou Hexuan.
This guy pestered Zhou Hexuan all day long, asking for advice and discussing issues about China in order to accumulate information for his academic works.
As a result, Toynbee was very depressed to find that the thoughts and views he wanted to express had been compiled into teaching content by Zhou Hexuan, and this ridiculous academic research had actually been cut off.
how to say?
Just like one night, someone was in a mood for poetry and wrote "The moonlight is bright in front of the bed, I suspect it's frost on the ground." It's a famous saying that has been passed down through the ages. Then suddenly I realized, damn, that guy Li Bai actually stole my poem!
This was not the first time Toynbee encountered this kind of thing. Eight years ago, when he witnessed the tragic situation in Europe after World War I, he thought about writing a paper on Western Civilization. When he had considered many issues maturely, he was about to start writing.
, suddenly read Spengler's "The Decline of the West" and everything he wanted to write had actually been written and published.
The great work "Historical Research" in the field of history is actually the inheritance and development of Spengler's historical theory of cultural forms. However, now Zhou Hexuan wrote the second part of "Historical Research" first, while Toynbee only wrote the introduction.
…
so awkward.
During the academic discussion on the ship, Toynbee and Zhou Hexuan had a heated argument, because although their views were generally consistent, they were very different in details.
Zhou Hexuan thought of the "Cambridge" series of works and suggested with a smile: "Mr. Toynbee, let's do this. We each write our own parts, organize them into chapters, and then publish them together. The same parts are signed together, and different parts are divided into chapters.
Each of them will sign their names, and then they will be jointly signed and published. What do you think?"
Toynbee thought for a while: "That's a good suggestion. Let's state our respective opinions. As for how readers understand it, it depends on who they choose to believe."
"Then it's settled." Zhou Hexuan said happily. After all, he plagiarized Toynbee's great work. If he could co-sign, it would more or less compensate the original author.
Just as they were sailing south, the focus of public opinion across the country was on Chang Kaishen's major disarmament.
In fact, as early as half a year ago, when several major military leaders held a spoils-sharing meeting in Tangshan, Chang Kaishen proposed a disarmament plan and even listed in detail the number of military regions the country was divided into.
Li Zongren expressed his opposition on the spot and said that disarmament was of course possible, but he was afraid that someone would have selfish motives.
Feng Yuxiang happily agreed to disarmament, but he wanted to modify Chang Kaishen's disarmament plan. According to Feng Yuxiang's idea, after disarmament, half of China's army would be the Northwest Army.
Yan Xishan, on the other hand, was in harmony with everyone. They neither agreed nor objected. They were both on good terms with each other, and no one could be offended.
The matter of disarmament was shelved due to serious differences among the four major military leaders.
Regardless of Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, they all believed that Chang Kaishen did not dare to disarmament and was just talking about it.
But what I didn't expect was that since November, Chang Kaishen suddenly started to create public opinion on a large scale, and also published the government's annual fiscal revenue and annual military expenditures in newspapers. Now the entire Chinese people know that disarmament is needed.
Both gentry and celebrities, as well as merchants and scholars, all expressed support for the government's disarmament plan, and Chang Kaishen's prestige rose again.
After taking control of public opinion and popular sentiment, Chang Kaishen sent a telegram inviting Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and others to a meeting in Nanjing to discuss specific disarmament matters.
Several major warlords were so angry that their lungs exploded because Chang Kaishen had gone too far and wanted to kidnap public opinion and force them to hand over military power.
If Chang Kaishen's disarmament was out of public interest, maybe these warlords would support it. But the problem is that Chang Kaishen disarmament did not disarm himself. He cut most of other people's armies, but his own army only cut down some miscellaneous troops like cats and dogs.
The food looks so ugly!
In mid-December, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi ignored Chang Kaishen, but Yan Xishan happily ran to Nanjing.
This year, the Nanjing National Government had just established Central Radio. Yan Xishan personally went to the radio station to speak, expressing his support for the government's disarmament plan and his willingness to put aside personal gains and losses to contribute to China's prosperity.
For a time, Yan Xishan's reputation became so great that it even surpassed Chang Kaishen. Everyone praised him as a lover of love.
Well, no matter how the disarmament is reduced, Yan Xishan has established a positive image anyway, so this business is not a loss.
Waiting and waiting, Yan Xishan waited from mid-December to the end of December, but Feng Yuxiang and others had not yet come to Nanjing for a meeting. Yan Xishan was not in a hurry, and said to his wife: "Mr. Zhou will get married in a few days, let's go to Shanghai and then..."
return."
By the way, you can also go to Shanghai to give a speech at the Communist Party of China. Yan Laoxi does not want to engage in loss-making business. In order for the disarmament to go smoothly, Chang Kaishen must help Yan Xishan with propaganda. Our Minister Yan came to the south to invite names.
