The living room was filled with smoke. Churchill was sitting on the sofa with a big belly and a cigar in his mouth.
Guo Taiqi took the initiative to chat: "I heard that Mr. Churchill just returned from Germany?"
"Yes, I went to investigate the current situation of the Nazis in Germany. The situation was worse than I imagined." Churchill shook the ashes from his cigarette casually. He didn't even bother to look at the ashtray. He reached out based on his feeling, and more than half of the ashes were shaken.
On the coffee table.
Guo Taiqi had long remembered Zhou Hexuan's instructions and followed his advice: "The expansion of fascist forces is indeed worrying. Germany and Italy in Europe, as well as Japan in Asia, we must be wary of these three countries."
"Oh, really?" Churchill became interested, "Mr. Guo also opposed Nazi expansion?"
Guo Taiqi said: "Of course, Nazism is the public enemy of all mankind, and people with insight can see its harm to the world."
"Indeed." Churchill nodded.
Zhou Hexuan got up and returned to the study, brought a copy of "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" over, handed it to Churchill and said: "Mr. Churchill, this is my humble work, and some of the content discusses the expansion of fascism."
Churchill took it and turned it over: "It's a pity that I don't understand Chinese."
"You can find someone to translate." Zhou Hexuan smiled.
Churchill casually put "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" into his bag without even bothering to pull back the zipper of his briefcase, which shows how lazy the fat man was.
Churchill's grandfather was a British Duke, and his grandfather was an American real estate developer. His family was so rich and well-established that he developed the habit of being a young master since he was a child. Except for lighting cigars and being diligent, he was unwilling to do any small things at all, even even
I can't squeeze the toothpaste onto my toothbrush, I won't lift the bottle up if it falls over, and I don't bother to wipe the tea on the table if I knock over the tea cup.
No, before he finished smoking a cigar, he shook the ashes all over the coffee table.
A super lazy guy like Churchill will never lose weight in his life. When he can sit, he will never stand, no matter how comfortable he is.
Perhaps Churchill's character was inherited to a large extent from his American mother. The daughter of a real estate developer, she was wild, bold, willful, informal, had a big belly, and even went to dance. After dancing, she came home
Churchill was born and was severely premature at seven months of pregnancy.
Therefore, Churchill was also very willful and could even be described as stubborn. In order to achieve his own goals, he did not care about the opinions of others.
He was originally a member of the Conservative Party, but was disqualified from the Conservative Party because he opposed the Prime Minister's policies. During World War I, he issued a naval mobilization order on his own without cabinet orders, and was ostracized by the Liberal Party.
Later, the British people supported the Labor Party, but Churchill firmly opposed the Labor Party's ideas, thus offending the Labor Party.
It can be said that Churchill at this time was a street rat in British politics, and no party liked him.
Throughout Churchill's life, from his entry into politics to his appointment as Prime Minister, he always stood on the side of the minority, a bit like "everyone is drunk and I am alone". Perhaps this was how he was able to survive World War II when pessimism was spreading.
Among them, he turned the tide against the bombing of London.
After smoking one cigar, Churchill immediately took out another one. As if he had a compulsive cigarette, he subconsciously lit the cigar, holding it between his fingers without smoking, letting it burn slowly, and said: "The Nazi Party is already in Germany.
The Reichstag holds 230 seats, overwhelmingly becoming the first party in Germany. Hitler will soon take full control of Germany, and I estimate that within five years, war will break out in Europe."
Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile: "Who do you think Germany's first target is?"
Churchill thought for a while and said: "It is very likely..."
"Wait," Zhou Hexuan interrupted, "why don't we write the answer on paper."
Churchill was stunned and said with a smile: "Interesting game."
Zhou Hexuan found paper and pen, and he and Churchill each wrote out their answers. Guo Taiqi quickly came over to take a look, and saw Austria written on both of their papers.
"Hahahaha!" Churchill laughed endlessly.
Guo Taiqi flattered him and said: "The two heroes have similar views and can be said to be close friends."
Zhou Hexuan explained: "Actually, this is easy to guess. Germany and Austria are both countries with the theme of the German nation. After the European War (World War I), Germany and Austria both had the intention of merging, but they were separated by Britain, France, and
The three Italian countries just intervened to stop it. If Hitler wanted to expand abroad, Austria would naturally be his first choice. He could annex Austria without any blood through political means."
Churchill added: "Now that Britain and France are pursuing appeasement, it is likely that they will not prevent the Anschluss of Germany and Austria. The only obstacle is Italy. As long as Italy does not interfere, Hitler's annexation of Austria is a foregone conclusion."
Churchill felt that it was a pleasure to chat with Zhou Hexuan. Now that the whole of Europe is anti-war, no one supports his idea of expanding the army and preparing for war. Now a person suddenly pops up and his ideas are so coincident with his own. It is like finding a confidant in the vast sea of people.
Churchill asked excitedly: "Mr. Zhou, if Hitler succeeds in annexing Austria, what will be his next plan?"
Zhou Hexuan drew a simple map of Europe, circled Czechoslovakia and said: "The Sudetenland is home to many German-speaking peoples. Hitler could use the pretext of rescuing his compatriots to send troops to the Sudetenland and then invade Czechoslovakia. Annexing Austria would allow Hitler to
Obtain abundant human resources; and occupying Czechoslovakia can double Hitler's military strength, because it has the second and third largest arsenals in Europe. Once Hitler completes the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, he will need guns and people.
Someone has the confidence to challenge the entire Europe."
Churchill's expression became solemn: "Mr. Zhou, your prediction is likely to come true."
Guo Taiqi seemed to be listening to fantasy: "With Germany's unscrupulous expansion, will the great powers of Britain and France just ignore it?"
Churchill ridiculed: "Those stupid politicians still have extremely naive illusions in their hearts. Only when the war really breaks out and burns to their own land will they wake up. Mr. Zhou, please continue talking."
Zhou Hexuan drew a few more circles on the map: "Next is Poland, then Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. As long as it controls these four countries, Germany will have a maritime strategic base and a supply of food and iron ore."
"It's interesting," Churchill looked at the map and drew circles with his pen. "No matter how stupid the politicians in Britain and France are, they will not tolerate Hitler's wanton expansion. It is possible that when Germany attacks Poland or Denmark, Britain and France will
China will declare war on Germany."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Don't forget Italy. Italy and Germany both belong to fascist regimes. They are likely to form a military expansion alliance."
"What about the Soviet Union?" Churchill asked.
Zhou Hexuan said: "If I were Stalin, I would choose to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and laugh at the several major capitalist countries fighting to the death. Even when Germany invaded Poland, I could even share the spoils with Hitler and take the opportunity to occupy large areas of Poland.
Then quietly supported Germany in attacking Britain and France."
Churchill nodded and said: "Stalin is indeed such a person. When the war breaks out, the French land will become a meat grinder again, and European capitalism will suffer heavy casualties. The Soviet Union may become the biggest winner."
Well, no matter how accurate Churchill's vision was, he could never have predicted that the French would surrender so quickly. He thought that the tragedy of World War I would be repeated, with both warring parties fighting to the bitter end in France, and in the end it would be the Soviet Union's turn to come out and take advantage.
Of course, Zhou Hexuan would not say it explicitly, and it would be better to let Britain and France suffer. What's more, even if Zhou Hexuan said it, Churchill would not believe it. Anyone who believes it is a lunatic.
The two discussed the future war enthusiastically, and the simple map was drawn in a mess, and was finally collected by Guo Taiqi.
Seventy years later, when Guo Taiqi's descendants were sorting out their old belongings, they found the map hidden in the diary, and happily took it out for auction. Zhou Hexuan's grandson bid 8 million U.S. dollars, and as if he had found a treasure, he bought the map and the diary together.
, and donated it when the "World Anti-Fascist Museum Alliance" was established.
Whenever a tourist comes to visit, the museum guide tells this: "This diary is a relic of Mr. Guo Taiqi, the first chief representative of China in the United Nations and permanent representative of the Security Council. In the diary, Mr. Guo recorded in detail Prime Minister Churchill and
Mr. Zhou Hexuan met for the first time, and left behind a map they drew while chatting. From the circles and routes on the map, we can see that as early as 1932, Mr. Zhou and Churchill anticipated the outbreak of World War II, and
Very precise calculations of German expansion were made..."