Chapter 978 977 [American Consultant with Chinese Ideas]

When Zhou Hexuan returned to Chongqing from Lizhuang, Hemingway and his wife were still doing interviews on the front line, while Curry, the visiting ambassador to China, had already left China.

Within a few days of Currie's departure, Chang Kaishen had a political adviser named Owen Lattimore.

In the next year and a half, Owen Lattimore, an American adviser, would accompany him on all important occasions, even when Chiang Kai-shek held a Christmas dinner. He is probably Chang Kaishen's favorite foreign consultant. Not only can he speak fluent Chinese, he can even understand Chiang Kai-shek's Ningbo dialect - Owen was raised by a Ningbo nanny.

At the end of May, Roosevelt openly conducted war propaganda across the country and declared that the president and Congress had the authority to commandeer manpower, material resources, and industry to deal with the impending war. Many financial groups and people in the United States strongly opposed it and demanded that the government continue to adopt a neutral foreign policy, but Roosevelt still started the tank in an orderly manner.

In mid-June, the historic U.S. Ranger unit was reorganized.

In late June, Germany implemented Plan Barbarossa, and the Soviet-German war officially broke out.

As early as half a year ago, the British media had been hyping up Germany's imminent invasion of the Soviet Union, simply because they wanted to draw the Soviet Union into the British camp as soon as possible. However, this kind of propaganda had the opposite effect. When the Soviet Union uncovered the German offensive plan, Stalin mistakenly believed that the intelligence was deliberately fabricated by the British.

Stalin believed that it was impossible for Germany to invade the Soviet Union on a large scale before it completely eliminated Britain, because only idiots would make such an unwise move.

Stalin seemed to have forgotten that Hitler was not an idiot, but a madman.

Therefore, the Soviet Union was caught off guard and lost 1,200 aircraft within half a day. 800 of them were blown up directly at the airport before they could take off.

The situation of the Soviet Red Army was very bad. Although they had the numerical advantage, 75% of the officers' tenure did not exceed one year. It can be said that they were all rookies on the battlefield.

Moreover, when the Soviet-German War just broke out, the consequences of the Soviet Union's wanton expansion in recent years were undoubtedly revealed. The newly occupied lands were full of leading parties.

Due to Poland's high-pressure rule, when the Soviet Union partitioned Poland, the local Ukrainians and Belarusians responded enthusiastically and welcomed Master Wang. However, they soon discovered that the Soviet Union's high-pressure rule was even worse than the Polish government.

So when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, various leading parties emerged. This was particularly evident in the three newly annexed Baltic countries. About 30,000 Lithuanians participated in the rebellion and declared independence from the Soviet Union the next day. As the German army advanced, this wave of mutiny quickly spread to Estonia.

On the third day after Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Chang Kaishen sent someone to summon Zhou Hexuan, and the newly appointed political adviser Owen was also called to ask for advice.

Chang Kaishen did not wear dentures today, which surprised Zhou Hexuan, because Chiang Kai-shek would only wear dentures on extremely private occasions. This was to appear close and trustworthy, and Irving Lattimore was probably the first foreign consultant to receive this honor.

The place where everyone meets is not in the study or living room, but in the garden.

Song Meiling cut two lemons on the spot, picked them up with toothpicks and put them into the water glass. She smiled and said, "Come and try it. This is lemon tea made by me."

"Thank you." Owen smiled and nodded, his Chinese accent correct.

Zhou Hexuan also nodded and said: "Thank you."

Chang Kaishen asked Irving: "What is President Roosevelt's opinion on Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union?"

"The president believed that the Germans would advance in depth, but the Soviet Union would recover," Irving said. "It would be Germany that would lose, and the Soviet Union that would win."

Chang Kaishen smiled and said: "Yes! I agree with the president's point of view. All my generals told me that the Germans will win, but I think the Soviet Union can persist. The Soviet Union has many people and a vast territory. Although its military strength is not as good as Germany's, You can trade space for time and persevere to the end with great perseverance. This is just like China's war of resistance. The aggressor will surely fail, but the just side will win."

Zhou Hexuan drank lemon tea and watched Chiang Kai-shek quietly.

Owen echoed: "Mr. Chiang's analysis of the international current situation is very correct. You have an amazing strategic vision."

Chang Kaishen felt very happy and introduced: "This is our country's famous expert on international issues, Mr. Zhou Hexuan."

Irving said: "Mr. Zhou has long been well-known in the United States, and I have also admired his name for a long time."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Mr. Lattimore speaks Chinese really well and uses idioms very accurately."

Irving said: "I have lived in China longer than in the United States. China is my second hometown."

Chang Kaishen helped introduce: "Mr. Lattimore is an expert on China's frontier studies."

This expert is not something you get by flattery. Irving first traveled from Beijing to Xinjiang, then from Beijing to Heilongjiang, and then went deep into Inner Mongolia to do research, which lasted several years. His understanding of China's borders is far better than 99.9% of Chinese people.

A few years ago, Irving visited Yan'an, met several of the founders of the People's Republic of China, and greatly appreciated the ethnic policies of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.

Chang Kaishen now thinks very highly of Irving, but he obviously has not read Irving's works. In the book "China's Asian Inland Frontier", Owen clearly pointed out: "The policy of uniting ethnic minorities to oppose Japanese imperialist aggression implemented by the Communist Party in China's northwest is actually a continuation of the 'kingly way' of China's past dynasties. It is foreseeable Yes: By uniting ethnic minorities, in the struggle to expel Japanese imperialism, the CCP first occupied China's vast border areas, and then, like the Sui and Tang Dynasties, used China's Asian inland borders as its base, and finally overthrew the corruption entrenched in the Central Plains and coastal areas. Ruler. A new, unified China will be formed..."

This man's body is foreign, but his way of thinking is completely Chinese. He has an extremely thorough understanding of China's history, culture, geography and people.

Later, Chang Kaishen compared Irving with Soong Ziwen, saying that Soong Ziwen was a Chinese American, while Irving was an American Chinese.

Let's just talk about it now. Irving has hidden his edge from beginning to end, and he also echoes and compliments Chiang Kai-shek in various ways. Although he was an adviser sent by Roosevelt, he never took the initiative to express his opinions because he felt that going too far was not enough. He believed that too much gesticulation would be annoying and impossible to be adopted by Chiang Kai-shek. Only by expressing a minority of opinions at critical times would they be taken seriously.

This person believes in the Confucian doctrine of the mean, and his understanding of the doctrine of the mean is more thorough than that of most Chinese people, and is even more in line with the original meaning of the doctrine.

After Chang Kaishen inquired about the Soviet-German war, the rest of the time was spent chatting. Song Meiling talked more and more, but Chiang Kai-shek shut up and remained silent - well, it wasn't that Chiang Kai-shek didn't want to talk, but that he couldn't intervene in the topic at all because he didn't know English.

All four people present could speak Chinese. Soong Meiling actually chatted in English and then translated the conversation to Chiang Kai-shek.

Owen looked very embarrassed and realized that Chang Kaishen and Soong Meiling did not trust each other. As a result, he became more and more cautious in his speech. He basically did not talk about politics and only talked about insignificant topics.

Song Meiling complained about the United Kingdom, and then began to criticize the Soviet Union. She said: "The quality of our Soviet military advisers is quite low, because now the Soviet Union is being attacked by Germany, and they need every capable officer they have. So the advisers we get are third- and fourth-rate, without any practical usefulness."

Owen echoed: "After the Great Purge, the Soviet Red Army was indeed in dire need of military talents."

Song Meiling turned around and asked Zhou Hexuan: "What do you think, Mr. Zhou?"

"That seems to be the case." Zhou Hexuan could only nod.

At this time, the chief military adviser of the Soviet Union in China and the head of the Soviet military delegation was named Valisy Ivanovich Chuikov...well, a third- and fourth-rate guy.

(PS: It’s not Lao Wang who is culpable. Soong Meiling really said this, including speaking English with Chinese speakers in front of Lao Jiang.)