Zhou Hexuan had a very pleasant time on this trip to the UK
Day 1: At noon, have dinner with the Mayor of London, the Private Secretary of the British Minister of Culture, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK and other officials. In the afternoon, visit the Chinese Embassy in the UK and communicate with the embassy staff. In the evening, attend the reception at the Chinese Embassy in the UK
Dinner.
The next day: In the morning, go to London's Chinatown to communicate with overseas Chinese. At noon, attend the overseas Chinese dinner. In the afternoon, meet with international student representatives and give a speech. In the evening, have dinner with the international students.
Day 3: In the morning, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Culture, we visited the British Library. In the afternoon, we visited the headquarters of The Times, accepted a newspaper interview and gave a speech. In the evening, we attended a dinner and watched a stage play.
It wasn't until the fourth day that Zhou Hexuan finally met his "partner".
A country villa in the western suburbs of London was a property purchased by Zhou Hexuan to register a patent, and it has now become his residence during his stay in London.
In the early morning, Zhang Leyi opened the door and came in, rushed to the bed and shouted: "Brother Xuan, get up and have breakfast!"
"Let me sleep a little longer, I'm exhausted." Zhou Hexuan said drowsily.
Zhang Leyi sat on the edge of the bed and said funnyly: "You are tired of playing, watching theater, giving speeches and eating all day long?"
Zhou Hexuan yawned and sat up, stretched and said: "The most tiring thing in the world is to deal with a group of strangers all day long, paying attention to your words and deeds all the time, and having to put on a smile and pretend to be very happy."
"Okay, okay, I see you are aggrieved," Zhang Leyi said with a smile, "There are no activities scheduled for this morning. You can rest after breakfast."
Zhou Hexuan got up lazily and washed up. Just after breakfast, Yu Peichen said: "Mr. Zhou, there is a gentleman outside who wants to see you. He said that he has already made an appointment."
"Let him go to the study room." Zhou Hexuan said angrily.
A young man came. He was quite tall, almost 1.9 meters tall. He introduced himself: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, my name is Howard Sassoon."
"Hello," Zhou Hexuan shook hands with him, "Excuse me, what is your relationship with Mr. Victor Sassoon in Shanghai?"
"He is my uncle," Howard Sassoon explained carefully. "My father is Philip Sassoon, the British head of the Sassoon family. I am here to meet you this time, representing the British finance department and the military.
and British investment interest groups in China.”
"Military?" Zhou Hexuan was a little surprised.
Howard Sassoon nodded: "Yes, my father currently serves as the British Deputy Minister of Air Force."
After Zhou Hexuan inquired in detail, he found out that Howard's father was very special. The old guy was the private secretary of Marshal Haig during the First World War, and later became the private secretary of Prime Minister Lloyd George. From 1924 to the present, he has been the private secretary for two consecutive years.
Served as the British Under-Secretary of the Air Force for the first time.
Howard's mother, Eileen Caroline, is a daughter of the Rothschild family. Howard's aunt is married to the Marquis of Chomley, an influential old aristocrat.
Zhou Hexuan asked again: "Mr. Siegfried Sassoon, the famous poet, is your..."
"Uncle." Howard smiled.
Damn!
The power of these big British families is simply intertwined. Through marriage, they have penetrated into various fields such as the British aristocracy, military, politics, business, culture, and social circles.
"Tell me, what will happen next?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
Howard smiled and said: "The anti-war speech is the kind of real anti-war speech that opposes all wars, not just imperialism and fascism. Mr. Zhou, when you give your speech, it is best to ignore fascism."
"Why?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
Howard smiled sarcastically and disdainfully: "Because the British are afraid of war and fear of provoking fascist countries and triggering a war."
Zhou Hexuan said happily: "This is an escape."
"Yes, escape," Howard lit a cigarette, "some time ago, the British League of Nations Association conducted a poll. Do you know what the result was? 99% of the voters agreed that Britain should continue to advocate peace in the League of Nations, 99
90% of the voters support the abolition of the British Air Force, and 90% of the voters support a ban on the production and sale of arms."
Zhou Hexuan was stunned when he heard this. It is easy to understand that the British pursue peaceful disarmament, but what the hell is supporting the abolition of their own air force?
Now that the whole world is undergoing air force construction, the British actually want to abolish their own country's air force!
Zhou Hexuan said with a slightly sarcastic smile: "Britain is really a country that pursues peace. I admire it very much."
In Britain in the 1930s, "pacifism" was politically correct. In a 1936 poll, 90% of British people even said that if war came, they would refuse to participate in the war.
In order to cater to the so-called public opinion, British politicians have completely lost their minds and turned into pacifists one by one. Their policy philosophy is: as long as there is no war, all interests can be sacrificed, including Britain's own interests, such as acquiescing to Irish independence.
Howard said: "So, Mr. Zhou must avoid mentioning fascism. Fascism is a very sensitive topic in the UK now. You only need to accuse Japan of its shameless aggression against China and Japan's numerous war crimes in China. Then, the rest
It is up to us to resolve the matter, especially the Ministry of Finance and the military, who are firmly on our side."
"Wait a minute," Zhou Hexuan asked doubtfully, "The current British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Chamberlain, seems to be the most determined 'appeaser', isn't he afraid of angering Japan and provoking a war?"
"He is a politician first," Howard laughed.
"Understood." Zhou Hexuan also smiled.
As the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Chamberlain's biggest responsibility is to lead Britain out of the economic crisis. He needs the support of large financial groups. British investment interest groups in China are very powerful, and the Sassoon family is just one of them. These people will force
Chamberlain takes action.
Not only that, in order to expand the pound system and enhance the international status of the pound, Chamberlain is also eager to bring China into the pound group.
Zhou Hexuan's biggest enemy at this time was British Foreign Secretary Samuel. This guy would do anything for "peace". In order to avoid angering Japan, he was firmly opposed to Britain helping China solve the silver crisis on its own.
For politicians, the butt always determines the head.
On this point, Chamberlain was particularly obvious. In the late 1920s, Chamberlain served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and advocated sending troops to China to help the Beiyang government because the Northern Expedition forces wanted to abolish unequal treaties and concessions; in the mid-1930s, Chamberlain served as Minister of Finance and
He supported China in solving the silver problem, even at the expense of angering Japan; in the late 1930s, when Chamberlain became the British Prime Minister, he immediately turned into a pacifist and opposed all wars in the world.
As a result, Chamberlain received very contradictory reviews. The military scolded him for cutting defense spending, while the Labor Party called him a "war monger."
"This is the information we collected. We hope it can give you some help." Howard took out a document bag.
Zhou Hexuan took it apart and looked at it, and immediately said happily: "Thank you, these are very useful."
The document bag was filled with evidence of Japan's invasion of China, including many photos of the Japanese army massacring and abusing Chinese civilians. I don't know where they got it.
After these materials are released, with the current attitude of the British towards war, they will definitely fully support China in public opinion. You know, just because he opposed the war, Gandhi became a hero in the UK in the 1930s, and all he did was to pry Britain