Gu Kun gave Mahathir an investment opportunity and offered high-quality assets to let the other party share the investment dividends in exchange for Mahathir and the Abu Dhabi consortium behind him to unite the front with the people of Lanfang on the issue of leading the fashion trend of the global luxury industry.
.
Was this done in an honest way, and did it damage the prestige of the Lanfang people?
This is a very complex issue, and to a layman, it will definitely seem confusing.
Especially the Chinese, perhaps because they have seen too many "humiliations" of weak Song people, or the "peace marriage" of the Han Dynasty, or the "territory cession and compensation" of the late Qing Dynasty, they still have some inner feelings about the matter of giving up profits and seeking alliances.
A bit conflicting.
After Mahathir and Gu Kun reached a secret tacit understanding, Gu Kun's subordinate, Tang Jia, who was in charge of foreign affairs, had to remind Gu Kun of this situation many times from the perspective of an international relations expert.
"Kunkun, your purpose is good, but you must also pay attention to the impact. Historically, when going public or accepting external investment, it was all done to make money, that is, only giving unprofitable business to those oil dogs
Large investors or retail investors invest.
If it is a very profitable business, it would be shameful to allow big oil investors or retail investors to share it. Money is a trivial matter, and I am afraid that you will leave a weak image to the world's peers as "losing power, humiliating the company, and paying compensation to relatives", then
But it is not conducive for you to lead top luxury fashion. How can a weak boss be sought after by others?"
These words were proactively reminded by Tang Jia the day after Mahathir was sent away.
After listening to his subordinate's advice, Gu Kun was very calm and showed his wisdom: "You also said that small money is not important, the key is reputation. Therefore, we should do a good job in keeping secrets, don't give money but not face.
, if we don’t let people know that we gave money, it doesn’t matter. What we paid was just ‘unimportant small money’, nothing else at all.”
Tang Jia was a little confused: "This... can the confidentiality work be so good?"
Gu Kun lit up a cigar: "If I can't do that, I will suppress the new luxury brands that Mahathir has invested in and make Mahathir lose money. This is all in the accompanying secret agreement. Anyway, he wants to
If you want to get the benefits, you must ensure that you cooperate with us throughout the process.”
Gu Kun was talking, and he couldn't help but give a specific example: "Jiajia, after all, you majored in international relations. Anyway, I have nothing to do today, so I will tell you something about the past and the present.
Let’s put it this way, where do you think the shame of Wenjing’s marriage with the Xiongnu and the Song Dynasty’s Chanyuan Alliance giving Sui coins were thrown away? Are women and money themselves important?”
Tang Jia: "Of course women and money are not important. The key is that what the Xiongnu wants is not women. Is the Xiongnu Chanyu willing to secretly drag the Han Dynasty princess to sleep like an elopement? If so, it would be convenient.
The key thing he wants is the publicity and demonstration effect brought by public forced marriage.
In the same way, for the Song Dynasty, 300,000 taels of silver silk every year is nothing. In the past two years, I don’t know if you have paid attention to China. There is a new thing called online novels. I saw one this year that traveled to the Song Dynasty.
In the online novel, it was mentioned that the few coins given to the Liao and Xixia people were actually earned back several times or dozens of times by the Song people through subsequent trade, which in turn caused the Liao country's financial difficulties.
But the key point is that the people of Song Dynasty have lost face. After giving money once, people think you are weak and can be bullied. The negative speculation on your determination to resist in the field of international relations is the greatest harm!"
You were bullied in school when you were a child, and five dollars were robbed from you, and you admitted it. Of course, the biggest loss in this matter was not the five dollars, but the "This kid can't be beaten, and he is too cowardly to dare."
It’s okay to make trouble at the teacher’s place, so it doesn’t matter if you rob him of his money. You can still come and rob him if you don’t have any money to spend next time.”
Once this knowledge spreads in the circle, the kid who was robbed should stop messing around. This is a truth that all elementary school students understand. That's why so many elementary school students have to be bullied even if it gets out of hand.
Revenge, revenge is to regain one's reputation that cannot be bullied, it is to kill the enemy to establish prestige.
Therefore, Gu Kun reminded Tang Jia just right: "What you said makes sense, but it is precisely because this kind of inertial thinking is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that it leads to many people being dark in the dark and easily mistaking 'giving money' and 'losing face'.
'Always treat them together, but ignore another very subtle possibility of operation, that is, 'just give money without losing face. I gave money and accomplished big things, but outsiders still don't know that I gave money.
Get money'. The key here is whether it is open or secret.
When the Song Dynasty sent money to the Liao people, there was little point in keeping it secret. That was because in the world at that time, international relations were too simple. It was just the Song and Liao parties. You couldn't deceive yourself and others. Therefore, the Song people had no "international relations conspiracy" in their minds.
This string.
But in fact, it would actually be beneficial if the money given to the Liao people by the Song people could be given secretly without being known to other international forces and restraining forces - at least then the Xixia people would not be given the opportunity to get money from the Song Dynasty.
It's easy to make psychological expectations. It's just that the corrupt scholars who engaged in diplomacy in the Song Dynasty were too weak-minded, so they messed up again and again.
Why are we Chinese always overly sensitive to 'foreign compromise'? We always feel that whenever it is mentioned, it is bad, and whenever it is mentioned, it involves 'weak countries have no diplomacy'? It is because we are accustomed to thinking of ourselves as the country above the sky and the country in the middle.
So subconsciously, I feel that there are only "China" and "foreign countries", I feel that all foreign countries are one, I feel that all foreign countries are interconnected, and I can see the whole picture from God's perspective.
But in fact, foreign countries are a group of countries. The more modern they become, the less intelligence they share. If you compromise with one of them in exchange for greater actual benefits, the other counterparties may not know it. The French cannot see the Italians’ vision.
In terms of scope, for them, Italy is also shrouded in the fog of war.
Therefore, in this case, weak countries also have diplomacy. "Between Qi and Chu" is the diplomacy of weak countries. It secretly gives some benefits to one of the parties, but in exchange for the other party openly respecting you, fearing you, and respecting you as the leader of a certain field.
, this is the most successful weak country diplomacy, there is nothing to be ashamed of, why should we be ashamed of giving money to Mahathir secretly in exchange for Mahathir openly respecting us as the leader of the alliance?"
Gu Kun's thinking is very clear.
Just like the Cuban missiles in the 1960s, if you really look at the final actual effort, the scale of medium-range ballistic missiles that Kennedy withdrew from Italy and Turkey was far greater than the number of slippers that Baldhead withdrew from Cuba.
But the reason why Kennedy won was because he withdrew late, and in a shameless and secret way of supplementing the agreement. What he declared on the surface was, "We withdrew the slippers six months after Baldhead, because we didn't want to."
We continue to deploy ballistic missiles in Turkey, so we took the initiative, not because of our deal with Bald He."
This would give Kennedy face.
This is the grand strategy for success for people with high IQs.
Instead of being like the protagonist of a novice novel who can't stand any anger at all, he must be tough to the end and not give in at all. If he gets a little angry, the reader of the novice novel will threaten to abandon the article.
Giving money is not something to be ashamed of.
As long as no one knows when you give money, and you can slap the recipient in the face, and make the recipient agree to be slapped in public in exchange for the money, then the party giving the money will be a top successful person.
"This... is there anyone in the world who thinks about international relations in this way... It seems that I am indeed a bit narrow-minded. I feel that all the international relations I studied at Jiaotong University was in vain. Could it be that in my subconscious,
I have always felt that there are only 'China' and 'foreign countries' in the world, and that all foreign countries share the same vision, so is this blind spot created..."
Tang Jia couldn't help but feel shocked in her heart, feeling that she had been refreshed by the perspective of Gu Kun, a non-Chinese person.
It was really dark under the lights.
Seeing that she had become enlightened, Gu Kun finally nodded happily: "Okay, as long as you can accept this, I hope I can guide you to do a better job in foreign affairs for Lan Fang in the future, and know which benefits can be used to benefit others."
Not only is it not embarrassing, but it also saves face.
Let me test you now. As a national advocate, let you stand on the sidelines and look at the Han generals who dealt with the barbarians in the north in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Who do you think is the real hero? You also said it
, something called "online novels" has emerged on the Internet in the past two years, and historical time travel should be one of the more mainstream types of content.
According to those novices, Gongsun Zan must be a great hero. There is no doubt about this. However, Liu Yu, the shepherd of Youzhou, is said to be a capitulator because he likes Huairou, even though his prestige among the Hu people is as high as a letter.
Even if you can make Qiu Liju, the leader of Wuhuan, beg for mercy and surrender, and kill the rebels, there will still be a lot of noobs complaining about it.
Some people say that Liu Yu is hypocritical and appears to be honest, but in fact after he was killed by Gongsun Zan, it was found that Liu Yu's concubines were all wearing gold and silver and accumulated a lot of property at home. This shows his prestige in convincing Wuhu.
In fact, they were all bought by paying rewards to foreigners - what do you think about this?"
Tang Jia became serious in a rare moment, and seemed to have returned to the diligence and seriousness she had when she was studying at Jiaotong University. She thought carefully, and then answered firmly:
"Gongsun Zan is still a great national leader, and his contribution to protecting the country and expelling the barbarians is certain.
However, Liu Yu is not the coward that Xiaobai complained about. The real world is complicated and is not a simple dichotomy of 'the enemy of a good person is a bad person'.
If Liu Yu had lived in the Western Han Dynasty, in an era when there were only Xiongnu besides the Han Dynasty, then his method of secretly spending money to beat the Hu people and warning the Hu people not to reveal how much money he paid to be loyal to the Han Dynasty was worthless.
, just like the Song Dynasty's Sui coins, they are humiliating and traitorous.
But the key point is that Liu Yu was not born in an era when there was only one kind of "Hu", the Xiongnu. He was facing the Five Hus. Therefore, as long as he can do the same as the modern masters of high-end international relations, he can ensure that the relationship between the Five Hus
Each other cannot open the full map field of view, making the five Hus each suspicious of the price at which the other is being bribed.
So, he secretly gave money to one or two of the Hus to buy loyalty, not to betray the apparent international prestige of the Han, not to let the other Hus despise the Han, and to drive a wedge between the five Hus and let them eat dogs. Liu Yu's actions were also national.
hero.
Just like the rise of Germany, we cannot only praise the military victory of Gongsun Zan or Marshal Moltke, but also the diplomatic deception of Bismarck or Liu Yu.
You don’t know how to bribe someone, you don’t know how to use law, and you don’t know how to use law. You know how to bribe someone, but the law doesn’t know what you mean. If you have this ability, you are a genius in diplomatic deception.”