Chapter 337: 336 [Jiang Zuobin]

France was affected relatively late by the economic crisis in the United States, but it lasted for an extremely long time. But Germany is just the opposite. It is almost the first European country affected by the economic crisis in the United States.

Why is this so?

Because the recovery trend of the German economy in the 1920s was based on short-term loans provided by the United States. After the stock market crash in the United States, about 20 billion marks of loans were suddenly withdrawn by the United States, which triggered the most serious and longest-lasting economic crisis in German history.

When Zhou Hexuan arrived in Berlin in mid-January, there were already signs of depression here, and from time to time you could see street homeless people caused by unemployment.

Not long after leaving the train station, Zhou Hexuan saw many citizens gathered somewhere on the streets of Berlin. A thin man like a sick man, standing on the temporary steps, made an impassioned street speech:

"Germany's coal production is declining, German steel production is declining, German pig iron production is declining, German machine-building output is declining, German power generation is declining, Germany's total imports, exports, and treasury gold reserves are all in decline. Declining. Only the unemployment rate in Germany is rising. Last summer, the unemployed population in Germany was only 1.2 million, but in the past six months, the unemployed population in Germany has approached 2 million! Workers, farmers, traders, capitalists...every citizen in Germany lives Things are going from bad to worse! What caused this? An incompetent parliamentary democracy and a party government! Germany, led by those A new unified country that transcends class, property and occupation will reverse the current unfavorable situation...

The political parties under the Weimar Republic system only represented specific interest groups. All parties are damned, they are all part of the same party system that destroyed Germany, all responsible for policies ranging from the Treaty of Versailles to the terms of the reparations of the Dawes Plan to the signing of the Younger Plan. Their lack of ability to govern the country leads to misery for the whole society. Democracy, pacifism, and internationalism have made Germany impotent and weak, and brought a great nation to its knees.

Friends, it's time to clean up this rotten system. Only the National Socialist Movement under the leadership of the Nazi Party can safeguard the interests of the entire country! Germany under the leadership of the Nazi Party will be reborn, and the new German people will no longer be a hodgepodge of class, occupation and property. The new Germany will be a community of people that transcends all differences and has the power to save the entire nation. The old country, decayed and aging, must be replaced by a new country built on racial values. A new state of achievement, strength, will and fighting spirit, a new state of meritocracy, individual genius, and the restoration of the power and strength of the entire German nation, which only National Socialism can bring about...

Long Live Germany! "

The thin man on the stage waved his arms and let out a sharp cry from his throat, just like a funny clown on the stage.

But the Germans on the side of the road were aroused by him, and many people hissed and shouted: "Long live Germany!"

Zhou Hexuan shook his head helplessly, what he saw was not speech, but war.

The thin man on the stage who made a speech was not Hitler himself, because Hitler had been banned by the German government from speaking publicly. It was Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda of the Nazi Party, who was yelling.

If it hadn't been severely affected by the economic crisis, Hitler would not have come to power so quickly. If it were not affected by the economic crisis, Japanese militarism would not be so easy to spread.

The source of the Second World War, I have to say, the Yankees have to bear some responsibility.

It was the stock market crash and economic crisis created by the Americans that seriously affected the national economies of Germany and Japan, making it difficult for civilians to live, and that gave birth to the soil for fascist forces.

Zhou Hexuan went to the legation in Germany by car, and soon met Jiang Zuobin, the Chinese ambassador to Germany and Austria.

This gentleman was born in the Qing Dynasty army in the late Qing Dynasty and secretly participated in the League. After the Wuchang Uprising, he lobbied to unify Jiangxi by lip service, and served as the chief of staff of the Jiujiang military government. Last year, Jiang Zuobin came to Germany as a minister. The German government specially sent a float to the German-Swiss border to greet him, and sent senior officials to greet him at the Berlin station.

This legation was also just built, and the Nanjing government allocated insufficient funds, so Jiang Zuobin made up for it out of his own pocket, using his own envoy allowance.

What's even more ridiculous is that the Nanjing government often owes embassy staff salaries. Jiang Zuobin could only advance the payment by himself, but as a result, more and more advances were made, making himself a pauper.

More than ten years later, Jiang Zuobin was sick and destitute, living in a hut in the countryside of Chongqing, with no medicines and poor nutrition, and he was still appealing to the people to donate to the Anti-Japanese War.

Until Jiang Zuobin's death, the national government still owed him a lot of salary, which was paid to the embassy staff in advance.

During the Republic of China, there was no shortage of honest and good officials who served the country and the people, but these people generally did not end well. Take Jiang Zuobin as an example. He was a member of the League who participated in the Revolution of 1911. He could be called a veteran.

The country is good, I am good. The country is poor, and I am poor. This is what Jiang Zuobin said during the Anti-Japanese War.

Zhou Hexuan said respectfully: "Mr. Jiang, I have admired your name for a long time!"

Jiang Zuobin took Zhou Hexuan's hand and laughed loudly: "Hahaha, Mr. Zhou, I have been waiting for you for a long time. If you don't come again, I will go to the Soviet Union."

"What are you going to do in the Soviet Union?" Zhou Hexuan asked curiously.

How could the Chinese envoy to Germany and Austria leave his post without authorization and go to the Soviet Union in person?

Jiang Zuobin explained: "The Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with China. I would like to contact them and hope that the two countries can resume normal diplomatic relations."

"That's difficult." Zhou Hexuan smiled wryly.

"No matter how difficult it is, someone has to do it," Jiang Zuobin sighed. "Everyone says that the Soviet Union is China's greatest enemy, but they are all wrong. China's greatest enemy is Japan. Within ten years at most, Japan will inevitably invade China. At that time, it was fundamental to unite with the Soviet Union to resist Japan. Therefore, the Soviet Union must never sever diplomatic relations.”

"Mr. has a long-term vision, and I admire it." Zhou Hexuan said.

Jiang Zuobin waved his hands again and again: "In front of Mr. Zhou, I can't say I have a good eye. The book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" you wrote is really amazing. It analyzes Japan clearly and thoroughly. I have read it no less than ten times. There are new gains.”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Mr. Jiang is ridiculous. You insisted on speaking in Chinese at the League of Nations meeting last year. That is admirable."

"These are trivial things, just to save face for the country," Jiang Zuobin said with emotion. "If China really wants to be strong, it must develop industry, military and education, so that it will not be unable to cope with the war with Japan."

Zhou Hexuan said: "This is the truth."

"National strength needs to be developed, and national reputation also needs to be developed," Jiang Zuobin said with a smile, "This time Mr. Zhou is in the United States and France, and he has won glory for our China. I heard that Mr. Zhou's "Goddess" has already ranked first in the French bookstore. Is it at the top of the sales list?"

"That's the honor of the Goncourt Literature Award." Zhou Hexuan laughed.

Since winning the Goncourt Prize for Literature, sales of "The Goddess" have skyrocketed. Think about it too, the French like to give Goncourt award-winning works as Christmas gifts, so it's no wonder that the sales are not overwhelming.

In just one month, the new sales volume of "Goddess" has exceeded 300,000 copies, and the total sales volume has exceeded 500,000 copies, making it the best-selling Asian literary work in France.

Jiang Zuobin said: "Mr. Zhou, you are quite well-known in Germany now. This lecture activity should do more positive publicity for the country."

"Of course." Zhou Hexuan said.

Nowadays, Chinese who come to Europe and the United States to give lectures, no matter how much they hate the government at home, they will not speak ill of their own country. Because China's international image is already bad enough, they can only choose the good ones and try their best to contribute their own strength to China.

How does it look like future generations?

A mere international student dared to say in his graduation speech that he could not stay in his country, and the air in the United States was sweet.

Jiang Zuobin suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, do you want to have an exchange with Einstein?"

"Einstein?" Zhou Hexuan asked in surprise.

Jiang Zuobin said: "Yes, Einstein is very famous in Europe. If you communicate with him, it will definitely attract widespread attention, which is also good for promoting China. I will try my best to help you contact him, and he will probably agree. .”