Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 312 51 The lion of Hanchen opened his mouth

When Zhu Zhaoxin left the Republic of China's Embassy in Britain, resigned from being the charge d'affaires for several years, and was promoted to the Embassy in Italy as Minister to Italy, he was actually very satisfied in his heart.

After so many years of being a laborer who took the blame for others, he finally had the opportunity to go one step further and become the top talker in a country during the Republic of China. Zhu Zhaoxin felt that this was worthy of all his hard work for so many years.

Although Italy's national power is not as strong as Britain's, it is still one of the great powers.

But Zhu Zhaoxin never thought that after leaving the UK and moving to Italy, his good days would come to an end and his quality of life would deteriorate.

The reason for this phenomenon is not that Italians look down on the Republic of China, but because Zhu Zhaoxin's immediate boss, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Beiyang government, has not sent funds to various embassies and consulates abroad for a long time.

Since the start of the new Northern Expedition, the southern army has been in unstoppable strength, while the northern army has been having a harder time day by day.

The Beiyang government itself has little money, so how can it care about the lives and deaths of those envoys who are wandering abroad?
Zhu Zhaoxin's embassy in Italy is already in a state of de facto shutdown. Even he, the minister, is not doing his job every day. He is busy connecting with ministers in other European countries to pressure the Beiyang government for money, and threatens that if they If we don't give money anymore, we will immediately defect to the southern government.

Thinking back to when he asked craftsmen to engrave words on the trophy in London's Chinatown last winter, the other party asked if he needed help engraving that symbol. Chen Muwu felt that these ministers and adults might not just talk, but they had probably communicated with Nanfang behind his back. Those people are connected.

When he was in the UK, whenever Chen Muwu went to London, he would definitely go to the embassy to have a toothpaste ritual to comfort his homesickness.

And Zhu Zhaoxin will not offend the God of Wealth, who can help her get promoted and make a fortune. She always eats, drinks and entertains her well.

Unexpectedly, after coming to Italy this time, because of Chen Muwu's reputation, he would be able to meet the de facto supreme ruler of Italy and even have a dinner at the Prime Minister's official residence.

Things are really constantly developing and changing. Zhu Zhaoxin never thought that one day she would meet Chen Muwu.

The Prime Minister finally finished his work for the day, and the person who opened the door of the reception room again was the official residence staff sent to inform Chen Muwu and Zhu Zhaoxin to attend the dinner.

Chen Muwu subconsciously felt that today's dinner should be similar to Trinity College, Cambridge University, and the one on the last day in Como: there were several tables in a wide hall, and a large group of people gathered together to toast and have fun. Drink freely.

But the reality was completely different from the scene he imagined. The staff leading the way did not lead the two to a place similar to a banquet hall, but just to a small restaurant.

After entering, there were only four chairs placed beside a small bar-shaped dining table.

One for Prime Minister Mo, one for Minister Zhu, one for myself...Whose will be the remaining one?
After thinking for a while, Chen Muwu got a reasonable answer: It should be a translation, right?
After all, neither he nor Zhu Zhaoxin can speak Italian, and the Prime Minister cannot speak English.

In such a private place, if there is no translator, will everyone just keep their heads down and cook without saying a word?

It should be unlikely. If this is the case, then what would be the motivation and purpose of Prime Minister Mexico staying for dinner?

After waiting for a while and exchanging a few compliments with Zhu Zhaoxin, the host of today's dinner arrived belatedly.

Because he had already had the opportunity to deal with him alone in the afternoon, Chen Muwu felt that the Prime Minister was not too difficult to get along with.

So facing the upcoming dinner, Chen Muwu took it calmly.

On the contrary, Zhu Zhaoxin, who had a higher nominal status, was a little nervous. This was his first time meeting the most powerful person in the country alone in a small group.

When he took office last year, although he immediately submitted his credentials to the Italian head of state in accordance with diplomatic etiquette, the apparent head of state was the current puppet of His Excellency the Prime Minister, King Emmanuel III of Italy. , not the Prime Minister himself.

Behind Prime Minister Mo was a young man who looked about the same age as Chen Muwu. If nothing else, he should be the translator, the mysterious fourth person at today's dinner.

Seeing the Italian Prime Minister whom she often met from a distance at various events, Zhu Zhaoxin stood up quickly and waited to shake hands with him, while saying a few polite words in English.

The young man next to Prime Minister Mo stood by and accompanied him, translating between the two people word by word.

After saying hello to Zhu Zhaoxin, he arrived at Chen Muwu again.

Because the two people had just met in the afternoon, they simply shook hands and did not say many greetings.

After exchanging pleasantries, the four of them came to sit down at the dining table.

"My name is Galeazzo Ciano, who serves in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Italy. Dr. Chen, Your Excellency the Minister. It is a pleasure to meet you two today."

As soon as he sat down, the young man introduced himself.

After hearing about his workplace, Chen Muwu was convinced that this person was a translator.

But hearing his name...

Damn it, isn't this Prime Minister Mo's son-in-law, the one who everyone always thought would succeed him in the future, but was shot to death by him in a "just and righteous" style?

There used to be a very popular saying called the six degrees of separation theory, that is, "there will be no more than six people separated between a person and any stranger in the world." The popular saying is that only through no more than six degrees of separation As an individual, you can get to know any stranger in the world.

If you don't count the "Chen Muwu-Prime Minister Mexico-Ciano" line, Chen Muwu can still have two other different ways to build a relationship with the people of the same age in front of him.

The first line is that Chen Muwu knew the second prince of England, the Duke of York, and the Duke of York knew his brother, the Prince of Wales.

The Prince of Wales later had a mistress whom he eventually married and abdicated because of him, named Mrs. Simpson.

Mrs. Simpson once went to China with her first husband, where she met Ciano, who was a diplomat in China. The two had an affair, and the latter made the former pregnant and miscarried, which ultimately led to Mrs. Simpson's lifelong infertility. .

Chen Muwu - Duke of York - Prince of Wales - Mrs. Simpson - Ciano, there are only three middlemen in this line.

The second line is that when Chen Muwu returned to China last summer and autumn, he met Mr. Zhang, the son of the Northeast King, in the Northeast.

Mr. Zhang is young and talented, and often hangs out in the social circles of the upper class.

At a certain party, he met Ciano and his wife Ada, who served as the consul at the Italian Consulate General in Hainan. The handsome young master Zhang easily captured Ada's heart.

Ciano, who likes to cheat, turned a blind eye to the matter, and Ada got together with Mr. Zhang in a daze.

This second line is even shorter than the first one. The only middlemen between the two people are Mr. Zhang and Ada.

I don’t know whether I should say that the world is such a small place, or I should say that the world is really chaotic.

If Ciano can appear at the dinner party today, he will definitely not just be a translator.

For now, Ciano is the son of the Prime Minister of Mexico and he belongs to a family of aristocratic friends, so he should be regarded as someone who is favored by him.In the reception room in the afternoon, in front of so many reporters and staff, the things and words that could not be announced, if nothing else happened, should be made clear at the dinner now.

Prime Minister Mexico proudly introduced the young people around him, and then Ciano embarrassedly translated the words of his elders who praised him from Italian into English.

"The Prime Minister and my father are family friends. Because of this relationship between the two families, the Prime Minister also values ​​me very highly."

I'm sorry, but Ciano's words were still filled with a deep sense of superiority.

It's normal for young people to be a little crazy, but not everyone is Dr. Chen who is kind, humble and polite.

"Mr. Ciano, nice to meet you." Chen Muwu and Zhu Zhaoxin greeted him successively.

Today's protagonist is of course Chen Muwu. Unexpectedly, Ciano struck up a conversation with Zhu Zhaoxin first: "Your Excellency, Minister, in a while, I will go to the Chinese embassy and consulate to take up my post. I hope to get a letter from you. It will be more convenient for me to move around China."

Since Ciano is going to China, it means that he is not far away from hooking up with Mrs. Simpson.

It is estimated that even if Ciano takes office, he will probably go to the Beiyang government in Beijing, because even if the Beiyang government is defeated by the southern army, they are still legally orthodox in China.

If it had been anyone else, Chen Muwu would have advised him to wait for a while before going. Firstly, China, which is currently in the midst of a civil war, is in great turmoil. Secondly, if he had waited a little longer, he would have been able to go directly to Tengjing to take up his post. .

But the other party was Ciano, so Chen Muwu thought about it and decided not to say this.

What if he didn't go to China this time and didn't meet Mrs. Simpson, and the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson had a child in the future?
He didn't know whether an illegitimate child had legal validity, but it was likely to add obstacles to the Duke of York's path to succeeding as king.

Chen Muwu pointed to the second prince's ascension to the throne. Why should he deliver more benefits to China during World War II? He must not let any mistakes occur in this process.

The exchange between Ciano and Zhu Zhaoxin took a few more words, which then made the big shot sitting aside a little unhappy.

This young man still needs training. He has not figured out his position. Can you figure out who is the protagonist in today's dinner?

Prime Minister Mo picked up his fork and tapped the side of the wine glass, making a crisp sound.

Ciano noticed that he was talking too much, so he quickly closed his mouth and sat up straight.

He didn't need to translate the next words. When he saw the cup being held up, Chen Muwu knew it was a toast.

Ciano's translation indeed confirmed his guess, but what he said after the toast was the key point: "Dr. Chen, Your Excellency the Prime Minister would like to ask you, is it really possible to find oil deposits that have not yet been exploited in the world?"

It seems that if nothing unexpected happens, this is the real purpose of Mussolini’s invitation to dinner.

There are many people in the reception room, and only in this kind of private setting can you express your heart and soul.

Oil has always controlled the lifeblood of a country's development. As a leader of a country, how could he not be tempted by it?

Chen Muwu nodded and gave a positive reply.

Zhu Zhaoxin is actually also very interested in the topic of new energy sources such as oil.

China, like Italy, is an oil-poor country that relies heavily on imports. If it could find oil resources and exploit them independently, wouldn't it no longer need to be choked by the great powers?

But the excitement in Zhu Zhaoxin's heart could not last long, because Italy was considered a great power, but China was not.

Even if oil resources are found, how can we guarantee that the oil wells will not be plundered by foreigners like the two mining bureaus in Kaiping and Luanzhou?
The country's strength is declining and it has little say in the international community.

Fortunately, God will not destroy our country and sent Dr. Chen.

But is Dr. Chen enough?
Zhu Zhaoxin was thinking wildly here, and the bald Mo on the other side spoke again.

"The Prime Minister asked, can Dr. Chen reveal the specific location of the oil resources? Is it far away from Italy? Which country is currently within the sphere of influence?"

It was obvious that Prime Minister Mo was very anxious.

But Chen Muwu was not sure whether he wanted to have sex for nothing, so he pretended to be embarrassed and said that his theoretical judgment alone was not enough. He had to form an investigation and exploration team to participate in the field investigation.However, establishing an inspection team will definitely require a lot of money, but I don’t have the money.

It's not that Chen Muwu has no money, he just wants to put the problem back.

Chen Muwu could not afford to set up an oil exploration team at his own expense.

But his ideas coincided with Zhu Zhaoxin's. Even if he found oil, he was not strong enough to dig wells and exploit it, and ensure that his interests would not be coveted by other countries and big oil companies.

He is asking for fees now, which can be regarded as asking for directions. In fact, he really wants to drag Italy to search for oil mines with him.

If such a second-class power takes shares, other countries or large companies will have to be more cautious if they want to take action.

Compared with the huge profits from oil extraction, the cost of funding a scientific expedition team is negligible.

Therefore, the Mexican Prime Minister readily agreed to Chen Muwu's request and promised to fully bear the entire cost of the oil exploration team.

He also proposed that there must be several Italian experts in the team. Everyone is smart. There is no need to specify what these experts are sent to do.

The Prime Minister is very anxious to know where the oil reserves that Chen Muwu said are located.

But the other party obviously understood what he was thinking. Not only was he not in a hurry, but he was even prepared to bargain with him on this basis.

Chen Muwu slowly stretched out two fingers and made the same gesture as the British Chancellor of the Exchequer.

"Mr. Ciano, please tell the Prime Minister that if we really cooperate in extracting oil, I will take [-]% of the net profit from this oil production area."

Ciano opened his eyes and translated English into Italian. The expression on Prime Minister Mexico's face was uncertain.

Zhu Zhaoxin lamented in his heart that he was a terrible young man who dared to bargain with the Italian Prime Minister. At the same time, he was also worried. If the other party turned against him and lost his temper, would he, the minister in Italy, also take advantage of Chen Muwu?

(End of this chapter)