In Washington, there is an embassy district on Massachusetts Avenue. Embassies and legations from all over the world in the United States are located here. One embassy here is one after another, and each one has strict access control.//www.//And among them, there is one

The Union Jack flag is raised on the flagpole in the courtyard. This is the British Embassy in the United States. The British Embassy in the United States covers a large area with a large lawn. It is the largest embassy among the embassies of various countries on Massachusetts Avenue.

At this time, in the British Embassy building built in the early 19th century and almost the same age as the city of Washington, Ambassador Alfred Humworth was sitting in his office.

Looking through the congressional documents that had just been sent to him, he found the resolution documents of the Congress only made him frown, and there was no trace of relaxation on his face.

Like many ambassadors of this era, Hamworth was not a professional diplomat. He was the master of new British journalism. He was named Lord Northern Rock in 1QC5. This newspaper magnate came from an Irish lawyer family.

, is a rare journalistic genius. As early as his childhood, he contributed articles to the famous magazine "Diandai" at that time. At the age of 17, he officially became an assistant editor of a magazine. In June of that year, Hamworth

He founded the "Answer" magazine, which was a great success. In 1894, he bought the bankrupt "Evening News" at a very low price, and made it maintain the world's highest circulation record for evening newspapers for a long time. In 1896, Hamworth

Founded the successful popular newspaper "Daily Mail", which claimed to be "the busy man's newspaper" and the "poor man's newspaper" and achieved great success. In 1989, its circulation exceeded 500,000 copies, making it the world's largest newspaper at that time.

One of the largest newspapers.

In 1900, Hamworth acquired the "Weekly Express". In 1903, he founded the "Daily Mirror". In 1905, he acquired the "Observer". What is particularly surprising is that in 1908, Hamworth acquired another newspaper.

With control of The Times and numerous other local newspapers and magazines, Hamworth established the largest newspaper group in British history.

Hamworth is one of the most influential journalists in the UK. In the UK, he is known as the "Fleet Street Napoleon". He was given the title of aristocrat in 1qc5. After the outbreak of the European War, he actively participated in political activities and supported the war against Germany.

He boldly exposed the shortcomings of the war and advocated military reform, becoming a powerful political figure.

Just two months ago, he was appointed as the British Ambassador to the United States and took up the post of director of wartime propaganda against the enemy, presiding over propaganda against Germany. The reason why he received this appointment was that London's purpose was to let him influence the American press.

The American press moved to support Britain.

At this time, such a resolution just passed by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee put Hamworth, an outstanding journalistic genius, into a dilemma.

"These rednecks!"

Although on the surface, this congressional resolution granting equal status to China has nothing to do with the United Kingdom, Hamworth knows very well that this resolution has a direct relationship with the United Kingdom. The privileges and interests that the United Kingdom enjoys in China far exceed any other

As a Western country, it is precisely for this reason that London takes a stand against the "Revision of the New Testament" proposed by the Chinese and even refuses to have contact with the "Special Diplomatic Committee" under the Chinese State Council.

But now, such an American bill has forced the United Kingdom into a situation where it has to make a choice. The United Kingdom now is not the United Kingdom ten years ago. The United Kingdom now needs the help of the United States and needs the United States to help Britain win this war.

The war in Europe did not end when winter came as many people imagined. Instead, it intensified. Not only did Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey invest all their strength, but the United Kingdom, France, and Russia also

Put all the effort into it.

Tens of millions of soldiers from both the Allied Powers and the Entente were fighting on the Western and Eastern Front battlefields in Europe. The war was bogged down by trench warfare. Thousands of soldiers were killed and wounded on the battlefield every day. At the beginning of the year,

, when Lord Admiralty Churchill proposed to use the strength of the British navy to open the Dardanelles Strait and land, then land at Gallipoli, and then occupy the Turkish capital Constantinople, forcing Turkey to withdraw from participating in the German war and opening up transportation to Russia.

The Great Battle of the Passage.

For this reason, Britain and France invested 500,000 troops in Gallipoli, but the result of the war exceeded all imagination. The British and French coalition forces lost too many hundreds of thousands of troops, and Turkey's counterattack brought the war to a stalemate.

It is said that it was this war that made London realize that unless Britain gained more power, this war would only have the possibility of an armistice when the three countries of Britain, France, Russia and Germany, Austria and Turkey exhausted their last drop of blood.

.

It is precisely because of this that Alfred Hamworth's mission has changed since two months ago. Before that, London's request to him was to ensure that the United States would not join the Allies and join the German camp. But now it has

It is to promote the United States to join the camp of Allied countries.

In the past two months, through lobbying the American press, Alfred Humworth has successfully "vilified" Germany. Germany is an aggressive country that wants to colonize the world, and Britain and France

The three Russian countries are defending the freedom of the world. In short, Alfred Hamworth, who understands the psychology of Americans, uses what Americans like most - American values ​​​​to influence Americans, thereby influencing the political situation of the United States.

Purpose.

But now, the resolution passed by the United States has forced Britain into a dilemma, at least Alfred Hamworth has been put into a dilemma. If Britain refuses to "make a new treaty" with China,

If the problem is over, then the Chinese can accuse Britain of "colonialism at heart", and the American press and pro-German people will inevitably make a fuss about it. Once this happens, the favorable situation formed in the early stage will immediately be destroyed.

Turn into bubbles.

"What qualifications does a country that has not changed its colonial mentality towards its allies have to shout about defending freedom and the world? What they are defending is just Britain's colonies, and all they want is to deceive the American people and fight for Britain's

Fighting for the colonial empire, as for freedom, the British have never considered it!"

After thinking for a moment, Alfred Hamworth's mind came to the articles published by pro-German people in newspapers. Americans may speak English, but the vast majority of Americans do not have much favorable impression of Britain.

, just like some Americans he came into contact with.

What did my grandfather teach me? First, speak English and second hate the British!

Although they are both English-speaking countries, Britain has never left a good impression on Americans in history. The exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes before the Revolutionary War, the burning of the White House during the quasi-war between Britain and the United States, and the British support for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

, only from a historical perspective, Americans do have reasons to hate the British. If now, those pro-Germans use China as proof to prove that the British purpose is only to defend the colonies, and the United States participated in the war and shed blood to defend the British colonies.

, then the United States will never be involved in this war.

If the Germans further add fuel to the flames,

Meditating, Alfred Hamworth's heart was filled with worries about the future. Finally, after putting down the resolution of Congress, Alfred Hamworth picked up the pen on the table and began to write to the Prime Minister.

Got the letter.

In the Prime Minister's residence at No. 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith nervously tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him. He looked tired and troubled. In fact, Asquith was really tired.

After the war broke out, he felt exhausted almost every day, and in terms of personal hobbies, he was very greedy. However, Bona Law, who had no reason to like him, said: "Asquith's drunken speech

, better than we would have in our clear heads." But war is another matter.

War requires a completely different government, which can only have one purpose, and all other policies must unconditionally obey this purpose; war requires ministers to be administrators first and then politicians. A wartime prime minister not only needs

Wisdom also requires energy. He will not be blamed for losing an election, but for losing a battle. The military defeat in the Dardanelles finally led to the replacement of the Liberal government by a coalition government.

It can be said that the Battle of Gallipoli was Churchill's battle, maybe it was. But Asquith was the Prime Minister, actually the Commander-in-Chief, and was responsible for appointing candidates. Therefore, he also shouldered the fault of one of his generals. It made things worse.

Worse, Asquith did not trust Churchill's judgment.

The generals who lost a battle in France blamed the failure on not enough artillery shells; however, in some cases, too many artillery shells can also cause military failure. However, at that time, the press criticized the minister, first of all, censuring Al

Squith. The press was filled with resentment and malice to an astonishing degree.

Yet it also reported some truths; Asquith was getting older, he was tired at times, and he was drinking - although, it is said, he was never drunk enough to impair his judgment. This was his enemy

He clings to a fact. He is not able to devote himself to the war with enough fanaticism, and he has no intention of political intrigue. He also does not have much regard for the talent and reputation of Conservative leader Bonar Law.

Worse things are yet to come: on the issue of conscription, Asquith exaggerated the public's dissatisfaction with this bill. It can be said that Asquith has reached "the end of his rope", and now, there is another

A new crisis was placed in front of him.

Suddenly, after a long silence, Asquith resumed the conversation where he had left it.

"I do not understand,"

He looked at Earl Gray in front of him, the Foreign Secretary of the British Empire,

"What do you really mean is that the situation in the Far East is not that desperate?"

"At least it's not as desperate as we imagined. As for China, they have never imagined using forceful means to take back their customs and abrogate treaties with other countries. Judging from the process of their choice to revise the new treaty, they still admitted it.

"Treaties must be observed," which means that, to a large extent, they don't have much courage!"

At this time, there was a hint of contempt in Gray's tone. He always maintained a "high-level" view of China. In his opinion, the reason why the Chinese Army Air Force was able to severely damage or even annihilate the Japanese Navy was because

Thanks to that revolutionary sudden attack, the failure of the Japanese Army was caused by the failure of the Navy. This had nothing to do with the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Army.

But even so, the whole world was still stunned by the dazzling achievements of the Chinese Army. The French Army regarded the Chinese Army as its savior. They made great compromises on the issue of sending troops to China. Everyone in Paris was talking about it.

"When the persevering Chinese corps appears in the trenches, the entire war will be changed." In the eyes of the French, the Chinese corps will recreate the oriental bravery and oriental perseverance in France, and this is exactly what happened.

It is necessary to defend the front, and in the process, hundreds of thousands of French people will not have to shed their blood.

"Let us look again at Hamworth's letter."

Asquith handed over Hamworth's letter. The letter was a rewrite of the coded telegram sent by Hamworth.

"Dear Prime Minister:

Some things that happened recently shocked me a lot.

Maybe I have done a terrible stupid thing, but I don’t see it that way. If my conclusion is correct, then Britain must appropriately change its position and change the way it treats China, otherwise we must face the pro-American pro-China policy.

German groups attacked Britain and the Allied Powers. Once the Americans realized that they were only participating in the war to defend Britain's overseas interests, the angry Americans would not only not participate in the war, but might even turn to Germany. Perhaps Woolold

Gentleman will firmly oppose it, but in a democratic country like the United States, it is not the president who ultimately plays a decisive role, but Congress.

...For Britain now, what we need is not the privileged interests in the Far East, but how to win this war. Judging from the current shape of the war, for Britain, if it wants to win this war, it must

To gain more power, the United States is an indispensable force. Once the United States falls to Germany, the blow to Britain will be devastating. In fact, large American consortiums have always existed to compete for overseas colonies.

Thoughts, the only thing they lack now is a suitable excuse.

In international history, there are countless wars caused by anger caused by fraud. Britain must avoid falling into this dangerous situation as much as possible.

Now the whole incident is undoubtedly extremely detrimental to Britain, but if we accept it, it means that Britain will lose everything it has gained in the Far East since the Victorian era. But please, Your Excellency the Prime Minister and friends in London

We have noticed that this war is completely related to the fate and future of Britain, and its purpose is to keep the British flag still flying in Britain. I think, although we are extremely reluctant, we still need to make a decision.

choose.

I think I know what the Americans really think. For the United States, they hope to use this to influence China, and then use China to restrain Japan, which has just formulated the "eight = eight fleets" plan. It seems that, for the United Kingdom, China is destined to

Lost, perhaps, we can consider restoring relations with Japan and using Japan to maintain the balance in Asia. As for whether this is possible, the final judgment needs to be made by the Prime Minister and the elites in London.

But I have a feeling that if we do this, then it will turn out to be the right one. Anyway, I put my thoughts and suggestions into the sealed envelope, because they are my suggestions after careful consideration, and I personally
To be continued...