Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 391 130 The Diplomat of the Monastery

American Minister Harrison, my own Minister Nagai Matsuzō and British Minister Sir Duff came to visit in turn, which gave Chen Muwu a good show when he attended the Nobel Prize dinner today.

Regardless of whether it was an American or a person, they at least introduced themselves when they came up and told Chen Muwu where they were from.

Only Sir Duff from the UK has a kind of arrogance unique to the British. He seems to think that Chen Muwu, as a student trained at the University of Cambridge in the UK, should inquire about the situation in Sweden before coming to Sweden. Naturally, this includes the name of the British Minister in Sweden.

Especially when they met just now, Chen Muwu directly addressed him as "Your Excellency the Minister", which caused Sir Duff to misunderstand him and made him feel that Chen Muwu should know who he was.

So Sir Duff did not introduce himself any more and directly raised his question to Chen Muwu, which was whether the newly established Prince's College in the suburbs of Stockholm, as mentioned in the Swedish newspaper, had extended an invitation to Chen Muwu. , invited him to take up the position of professor in the freezing cold Northern Europe.

Although Chen Muwu did not know the question raised by the British minister to him, the real motive behind it was to spy on intelligence.

However, he himself was unwilling to reveal too much about his itinerary in Stockholm, and strived to increase the confidentiality of the construction of the cyclotron to the highest level.

Therefore, Chen Muwu's answer was deliberately vague and ambiguous: "It's just newspapers and news media spreading rumors. The real situation is that I attended the Solvay Conference attended by physicists in Belgium some time ago. Before leaving the UK, I I received an invitation from my good friend, His Excellency the Crown Prince of Sweden, and asked me to take this opportunity to drop by Stockholm to meet him.

“So after the Solvay Conference, I came to Sweden to meet friends I hadn’t seen in a few years, and by the way, I was helping a university here in Stockholm install a particle accelerator for microphysics research.

“I came to Sweden this time not to take up any teaching position. On the one hand, it was because of a personal relationship between friends, and on the other hand, it was related to business matters.

"Mr. Minister, you may not know that the installation of external particle accelerators is one of the key projects of our Cavendish Laboratory this year and is also an important source of funding."

From a young age, diplomats have been trained in politics, and their understanding of science, especially physics, which is the hottest topic in this era, is not deep enough.

Just like the people in today's upper class society, everyone can talk about the theory of relativity.

But if you continue to ask him what the theory of relativity is, then eight or nine out of ten people will not be able to talk about it any more. The remaining one can probably only talk about the boring "Beauty and the Stove" and the theory of relativity. The relationship between them is just a pitiful joke.

The same goes for Chen Muwu. He just briefly talked about what microphysics is and what a particle accelerator is during the conversation. Sir Duff was already confused and confused.

Especially at the end of the speech, Chen Muwu also moved out of the Cavendish Laboratory. Since the officials of Cambridge University agree with this matter, it seems that the news mentioned in the Swedish newspapers is indeed untrue, and there is no need to refer to these hearsays. The news was compiled into intelligence and reported to his superior, the British Foreign Secretary.

Feeling that he had received a satisfactory answer, Sir Duff nodded. After asking what he called serious matters, the British minister began to congratulate Chen Muwu. Congratulations to someone in the project he directed for winning this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. .

He also invited Chen Muwu to attend the dinner at his table, and even said against his will that he had more physics questions that he wanted to ask Chen Muwu for advice.

But Sir Duff's real intention was just to show that he was chatting and laughing with Chen Muwu, and then let other colleagues from around the world express their envy towards him.

So at the Nobel dinner table, Chen Muwu finally met the top bureaucrat in the Republic of China Embassy in Sweden, the third secretary who served as charge d'affaires, Lei Bingyang.

Just like he didn't know who the Republic of China's minister in Belgium was, and he didn't know the name of the British minister in Sweden, he didn't know who the Republic of China's top spokesperson in Sweden was.

Chen Muwu didn't want to have too much interaction with the domestic government, so he just nodded and said hello.

Another Chinese compatriot won the highest academic research award in the world today. Lei Bingyang was very happy, but the dismal business in Sweden made him worried.

There is a myth that has been circulating in the circle of diplomats, that is, as long as you can flatter Dr. Chen, getting promoted and making a fortune is not a dream.

Look at Zhu Zhaoxin, who has been serving as the British Charge d'Affaires for several years. The British ministers who refused to perform their duties and were working remotely at home were replaced one after another, but he could not go any further.

In the end, Zhu Zhaoxin picked up Chen Muwu who fell from the sky in vain. He just asked him to say a few nice words to the country, and he successfully got the opportunity to be promoted. From being a first-class secretary to the temporary British charge d'affaires, he directly became a minister in Italy. , skipping the position of counselor, and the diplomat rank was promoted by two levels.

The diplomats of the Republic of China in Europe are all jealous of Zhu Zhaoxin's promotion speed. They only hate why Chen Muwu went to a country that was not theirs in the first place, and they also hate the overseas students in the country. A ruthless person like Chen Muwu.

Everyone is deliberately hoping to find connections, preferably by transferring to the British Legation.

Or they hope that Chen Muwu can leave the UK and go to the country where they are.

They must also be better at flattering than Zhu Zhaoxin. They must make Chen Muwu live comfortably locally so that he can put in a good word for himself to the domestic Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Although Lei Bingyang is only a low-key third-class secretary, he has still heard a little about these myths in the diplomatic circle.

Now, Chen Muwu, the lucky star who was rumored to be mysterious and capable of making people promoted and rich, appeared in front of him, but Lei Bingyang had no intention of getting along with him at all.

He felt that Zhu Zhaoxin just caught up with a good time and got acquainted with Chen Muwu before the Beijing government completely collapsed.

Although he was promoted to the position of Italian Minister, what was the result?

He worked harder than anyone else to build a salary-demand group for ministers stationed in Europe, and he also personally served as the leader of the salary-demand group.

Now the domestic government cannot even afford the funds for foreign embassies and consulates and the salaries of diplomats. Even if it can get Chen Muwu to put in a few nice words and let him serve as the minister to a certain European country, he can even rise to the top directly and directly serve as a diplomat. Minister, what's the point of not paying wages?

Didn’t Sweden’s former Minister Zeng Zongjian also come down from the position of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs?

Although he only served in Sweden for a few months, Lei Bingyang heard the minister complain countless times about how unbearable the domestic diplomatic environment was. Every day, foreigners were accused of various things. They came to the door, and their way of dealing with it could only be dejected every time. They never dared to whisper to foreigners, let alone be tough.

Lei Bingyang was born into a family of foreign teachers. His father, Lei Butong, served as the Right Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Qing Dynasty. He also came to Europe and served as minister to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

When Lei Bingyang first entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was happy that he could inherit his father's legacy and engage in the same profession as him. But after seeing the corruption of the Republic of China government and the real situation abroad, Lei Bingyang became increasingly frustrated.

He even wanted to learn from Lu Zhengxiang, another senior in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and simply quit the diplomatic profession and find a monastery in Europe to escape into Buddhism.

Lu Zhengxiang is a name that cannot be skipped in modern Chinese history.

His name is generally associated with the 1919 Paris Peace Conference held at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France.

Although at that meeting, Gu Shaochuan said the very classic and powerful sentence "China cannot lose Shandong, just like the West cannot lose Jerusalem", which made him famous at home and abroad, even a hundred years later This sentence is also printed in history textbooks.

But among the delegation sent by the Republic of China to participate in the Paris Peace Conference, Gu Shaochuan was just a deputy in the delegation. The main leader of the delegation was the senior Lu Zhengxiang that Lei Bingyang had in mind.

He was also the one who refused to sign the peace treaty due to domestic pressure.

Lu Zhengxiang's life is a legend among the diplomats of the Republic of China.

During the Qing Dynasty, he served as a minister to the Netherlands and Russia. After the Republic of China, he served as Minister-General of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister and Secretary of State.

He married a Belgian wife, led a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, and served as minister to Switzerland.

After experiencing various job changes, Lu Zhengxiang was as frustrated as Lei Bingyang.

So this year, in 1927, he announced his complete withdrawal from the diplomatic community, entered a Catholic monastery in Belgium, and completely became an ascetic Catholic believer.

Lu Zhengxiang's career as a diplomat may not have gone smoothly. His diplomatic activities have always been criticized. Many people believe that he should be responsible for the major diplomatic failures in the early years of the Republic of China.

But his journey as a monk in the second half of his life was quite smooth.

Eight years after becoming a monk, he was promoted to a priest in 1935 and almost became China's first cardinal after World War II.

In 1946, Lu Zhengxiang was awarded the honorary abbot of St. Peter's Monastery by the Holy See, and eventually spent his entire life in this position.

Chen Muwu was completely unaware of Lei Bingyang's pessimism and his desire to escape.

He just felt that the charge d'affaires in the Chinese embassy was not as articulate as others, and was a passive person who only answered questions.

Therefore, at the Nobel Prize dinner table, Chen Muwu basically interacted with the British Minister Sir Duff throughout the whole process, listening to his "high talk" about science.

When the dinner was finally over, he said goodbye to the familiar and unfamiliar ministers at the same table. What Chen Muwu wanted to say was to say hello to the Crown Prince of Sweden who also came to the dinner today, chat for a while, and explain this. What did he do during his days at Prince's College in Stockholm.

He felt that the Crown Prince of Sweden would definitely be curious about what he was doing in Sweden. If he didn't say anything today, it would be a waste of time whether His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would visit him in person or invite him to his house.

However, just as Chen Muwu was about to leave, Lei Bingyang, who had been silent since the beginning, finally took the opportunity to speak.

"Dr. Chen, please, please stay."

"Agent Lei, do you have any advice?"

Chen Muwu didn't take it seriously at first, thinking that when Lei Bingyang stopped him, he might be just like Wang Jingqi in Belgium, inviting him to attend a dinner at the embassy when he had time.

But Wang Jingqi also gave him a shot that time. Chen Muwu would not go there rashly without being able to distinguish the other party's political affiliation.

He didn't want to give a platform to the southern faction without knowing it - even though the northern faction wasn't that good either.

Chen Muwu had already thought of a way to refuse in his heart, but he didn't expect Lei Bingyang to speak again and said something that surprised him:

"Dr. Chen, I just heard you say in your words that you have a sworn relationship with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden.

"I would like to ask you to do a favor and help our embassy in Sweden to temporarily borrow some funds from the Swedish government?

"Since the end of 1925 two years ago, the embassy has not received funds from the domestic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, let alone the salaries of our staff. Now it is very difficult for the embassy to continue to operate."

Chen Muwu has always been begging for alms from others, but now it is the first time that someone has begged for alms on his head.

This was not the first time he heard that the embassy had no funds.

As Lei Bingyang said, Zhu Zhaoxin had been complaining to him about this in London, England since the end of 1925.

But Chen Muwu didn't expect that when Lei Bingyang met him for the first time, he started crying about poverty and wanted to reach out to the Swedish government and borrow money from them to tide over the embassy's financial crisis.

Even if Sweden is willing to lend money, Chen Muwu still finds this matter quite embarrassing.

And if he really borrows money, this matter may become one of the reasons for Swedish locals to attack him in the future.

Chen Muwu had the money to open a school in Stockholm and carry out cultural colonization.

His country's embassy had no money to operate and had to borrow money from the Swedish government.

Chen Muwu didn't want to leave this excuse to others, so he thought for a while and asked Lei Bingyang: "How much money do you guys lack now? If it's not a lot, can I just lend it to the legation?"

(End of this chapter)