The second volume is full of glory and splendor in the capital, and the spirit is full of vitality in the foggy city. Chapter 289 He’s Coming (Part 2)
Subtitle of this chapter: He is not Trouble, but Terrible!
"Ding-ling-ling..."
"Moshi Moshi, I'm Inoue..."
Inoue Narumi, the "sea man" who hadn't appeared for a long time, answered the phone. After listening to a few words, he stood at attention and said, "Hey, wah gah limasi da!"
He turned to the other two Imperial Japanese Navy officers who were having breakfast in the room and said, "Nomura-kun, Yamamoto-kun, you two can eat first. Ambassador Matsui wants to see me."
The "Ambassador Matsui" mentioned by Inoue Narumi is the current ambassador to the UK, whose full name is Matsui Keishiro.
He was born in Osaka in 1868, the fourth year of the Qingli reign, and graduated from the English and French Department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1889.
In fact, Tokyo Imperial University was later known as the University of Tokyo. It was renamed during the "de-imperialization" period after World War II.
As soon as he graduated, he joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister to France and Plenipotentiary Commissioner of the Japanese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference .
In 1924, he would become Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Tsukiji Cabinet, but the Tsukiji Cabinet soon fell from power, and he was succeeded by the current Chinese Minister to the United States, Kishigero Shidehara.
"Go ahead, Inoue-kun." Nomura Yoshisaburo said naturally without objection.
As soon as Inoue Narumi walked out of the room, Yamamoto Isoroku, who was reading a newspaper, exclaimed: "That Chinese man is really here!"
The two of them came to London together naturally to meet Crown Prince Hirohito who arrived here in July.
Nomura Kichisaburo asked knowingly, "Yamamoto-kun, are you talking about Yuan-san?"
"Nomura-kun, who else could it be besides him?" Ba Maoqian handed over the Times and said, "And he did something strange the moment he arrived."
Colonel Nomura took a quick look and said in surprise, "What a strange thing!"
Lieutenant Colonel Yamamoto picked up his chopsticks, but then paused for a moment. After a moment, he asked thoughtfully, "Nomura-kun, do you think it appropriate for us to introduce him to His Majesty Di?"
Nomura Kichisaburo replied in surprise: "Mr. Yamamoto, what's the appropriateness or inappropriateness of this? In any case, Yuan Sang is a Chinese who is very close to our Great Japanese Empire. Moreover, I think His Majesty Di would like to meet such a kind person."
Yamamoto Isoroku thought about it and suppressed the sudden ominous feeling in his heart. He nodded and said, "Nomura-kun is right. I guess I was just worrying too much..."
Almost at the same time, London, 10 Downing Street.
At this point in time, the UK was not ruled by the Conservative Party, but by a coalition of the Liberal and Conservative parties. The Prime Minister was David Lloyd George (1863-1945), 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor.
British peerage titles are divided into life peerage and hereditary peerage.
Life peers are all barons, and the title cannot be inherited.
There are five levels of hereditary nobility: Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. These titles are naturally inheritable and can be promoted.
Lloyd George was originally a commoner, but was awarded the title of earl this year because of his "outstanding achievements" in World War I.
He is the only Welsh Prime Minister in history and the only British Prime Minister whose second language is English and whose first language is Welsh.
Overall, this man and the Liberal Party he belongs to are left-leaning.
For example, during his tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he adopted the eight-hour work day and established pension and unemployment insurance systems.
For example, during his tenure as prime minister, he reformed the electoral law, allowing women over the age of 30 to vote and giving them the power to be elected as members of parliament.
However, Prime Minister George maintained the style of an old-line imperialist power in foreign policy. By 1921, he relied mainly on the support of the Conservative Party, not his own party members.
Therefore, his cabinet is full of Conservatives, just like the two people sitting in the reception room of 10 Downing Street waiting for a meeting.
The man with the cigar in his mouth is a fat man that Yuan Yanshu is very familiar with, the current Secretary of State for the Colonies of the British Empire.
He was heard angrily picking up a newspaper and pointing at a photo on it to a gentleman next to him, saying, "George, have you read today's newspaper? That 'CHINK' is here!"
The photo shows our Master Yuan standing tall and heroic with his head raised to the sky and his hands behind his back, with a group of people kneeling on the ground beside him to serve as a contrast to him.
This "George" was the British Foreign Secretary at the time - George, Marquis Curzon, whose full title was 1st Marques Curzon of Kedleston.
This man had a close relationship with India because in 1898, at the age of 39, he became the youngest Governor-General of India in history.
After arriving in India, he extended his evil hand to the Snowland. In order to compete with Tsarist Russia for Central Asia, he had a strong intention to split the Snowland. Therefore, in 1904, he sent troops to capture Lhasa and forced the Snowland government to sign the "Lhasa Treaty".
This man is also famous in history for the "Curzon Line".
In December 1919, Curzon proposed a temporary border line to divide the Soviet-Polish border, advocating that all areas that should belong to Poland be assigned to Poland. This is the famous "Curzon Line".
He strengthened Poland to guard against the Soviet Union. However, this line brought Poland into conflict with the Soviet Union and Lithuania, laying the groundwork for Poland's subsequent diplomatic isolation and becoming one of the factors that led to the Soviet-German alliance.
After reading these deeds, we know that Lord Curzon was also a die-hard imperialist, and naturally he and Churchill had the same bad taste.
The current British Foreign Secretary frowned and said with a somewhat amused look: "Winston, why do you care about that 'Chinese'? Just because of those articles..."
As a senior diplomat, he naturally pays more attention to the way he addresses others than his cabinet colleagues.
Churchill immediately shook his head and said, "George, it's not because of his articles. You don't know, I've been paying attention to this 'Chinaman' recently. His deeds in the United States are very strange and difficult to explain. Moreover, his attitude towards the British Empire is very bad. Such a person is definitely a..."
"TROUBLE? Hahaha..." Marquis Curzon couldn't help but laugh. "Winston, you really worry too much. What kind of trouble can a Chinese person cause us?"
Churchill said seriously: "No matter what, I have a strong feeling that the Chinese man's visit is definitely not good!"
"Then what are you going to do? Deport him directly?" Marquis Curzon couldn't help but become serious.
"What's the reason?" He pointed at the newspaper in Churchill 's hand and asked, "Just for this matter?..."
"Winston, I've seen the news too. Putting aside the fact that the Chinese man was acting in self-defense, all the protesters are fine; they were just knocked unconscious."
"Also, I know that Chinese man is quite influential in America. He's not only a well-known writer, but he was also appointed as an advisor by Secretary of State Hughes and even a guest of honor at the White House."
"The most crucial question is, at this critical juncture, do you think it's worth causing unhappiness on both sides of the Atlantic because of a Chinese person?"
As a cabinet minister with access to the empire's internal secrets, Churchill certainly knew that Lord Curzon was right.
After Warren Harding came to power, he raised the banner of isolationism again, and the relationship between Britain and the United States was certainly not as good as it was during Wilson's time.
Later, Ireland experienced the "Bloody Sunday" incident, which naturally angered the Irish in America. In this timeline, there was also our Master Yuan, who had once again slightly… slightly betrayed the British Empire, bringing the "temperature" between the two countries to a freezing point.
Of course, the biggest problem still lies in the uneven distribution of spoils in the Treaty of Versailles, so Secretary of State Hughes convened the Washington Conference to establish the Versailles-Washington system.
In the original timeline, Britain demanded that the United States give up its support for Ireland at the cost of actively abandoning the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and participating in the Washington Conference.
However, the deal between the United Kingdom and the United States is currently being negotiated in secret, so the timing is quite sensitive. If things go wrong, the cousins may become enemies.
As the Foreign Secretary in charge of this matter, Lord Curzon certainly hopes that there will be less trouble than more.
In fact, he also has a small concern, because Sino-British relations are not very good due to the Shandong issue.
This Chinese man was no ordinary person without roots; he was a well-known figure, and a relative of Gu Weijun, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom. If he were to be expelled for no reason, it would cause a diplomatic dispute, which would be a major problem.
"George, but..."
"Winston, the Prime Minister is here." Lord Curzon pulled Churchill, and they both stood up at the same time and bowed slightly to Earl George.
