Chapter 387 The Embassy in France

“There’s no doubt that in terms of developments over the last two years, there’s growing hostility between the US and us, and conversely there’s hostility in the UK, but at the moment it’s the Labor Party that’s in power after all. The Conservative Party, of which that bastard Churchill is a member, is currently in opposition.”

In the middle of Stalin’s own office in the Kremlin, he was instructing Zhdanov and Beria, “It is true that Britain and the United States are in the midst of a merger, but again, the situation is slightly different from what it was in 1945, Roosevelt is dead, Truman is clearly more confrontational, and Britain is under the leadership of Aidley, and Churchill will not be able to make an impact, at least in the short term. ”

“According to reliable sources, we will be invited to this U.S. aid program for Europe, explicitly, but only at the cost of opening up the market to U.S. impact on the whole side. And at the meeting Britain and France will surely step in instead of the United States and make accusations against our country.”

“General Secretary, do we protest?” Zhdanov frowned, “Expose the American conspiracy.”

“No, use a little ingenuity. As I said, compared to 1945, the present situation has changed again. At that time Churchill was the one who was more hostile to the Soviet Union, while now Truman is the one who is the biggest enemy. So our strategy has to change for that.” Stalin shook his head and laughed, “The British still want to save the British Empire now, I can help them get on their feet, and the Eastern European countries can order British machines as a replacement for the U.S. Admittedly, because of the severity of the damage done, it probably won’t change the British desire for aid.”

“But the effect is there, the change in the whole general environment can raise a hope in Britain to revive the prestige of the British Empire, and as long as the British have that hope in them, they will not be willing to be completely at the mercy of the Americans.”

“Since the General Secretary has made a decision, I’ll arrange for the specifics of how to do it.” Beria nodded after listening.

“It’s really about opening an opening for British goods to be imported into Eastern Europe. And technically speaking, the Eastern European countries really need advanced machinery and technological updates. Czechoslovakia and Finland can both be used as countries to contact Britain, and they’re unlikely to go against our will anyway.”

Didn’t the US tell the USSR to open up its markets before giving aid, the USSR won’t open up its markets, but it can cause trouble for the Americans in the other direction.

“It’s just that even if we make a show of goodwill to Britain, the British will still blame us for the loan and have the U.S. exclude us.” Zhdanov mused, “Is there a better way.”

“Not at the moment, it would be good enough to keep Britain and America from joining forces so soon.” Stalin laughed bitterly, “Let’s take one step at a time, in fact, the British look still very powerful, but its dependencies are all overseas, sooner or later, it’s not going to be able to play. With the current posture, it’s really not good for the Soviet Union to weaken too early.”

On the matter of accepting American aid? Stalin could not do anything about it, after all, the Soviet Union and the United States could not be compared in terms of financial strength, but since he already knew the general direction in advance, he could make some preparations to deal with it.

With that, Stalin told Zhdanov and Beria to leave and copied the phone on the table, “Get me Molotov.”

Allen Wilson, who was in what was now the city’s granddaddy, Paris, with a camera around his neck, was like an ordinary tourist traveling through the nooks and crannies of Paris, beautifully searching for the real side of the city, but of course as a diplomat, he brought a gun that was perfectly normal, after all, he was very self-conscious, and had very little confidence in his own force value.

Allen Wilson in the worst part of Paris, navigating the bustling Paris, the old city walls are extremely thin, only a little thicker than a matchbox, in order to cover the gaps, the wall with pink paper paste layer after layer, but has been loosened, the inside bedbugs hide densely. Near the ceiling, a long line of bedbugs marched all day long, like a line of soldiers.

There were all sorts of people in this part of town: cobblers, plasterers, stonemasons, laborers, students, prostitutes, rag-pickers.

Some were penniless, some were well off. In one of the attics in the center lived a student who made beautiful shoes for the American market. Every day from six to twelve, he sat on his bed and made twelve pairs of shoes for thirty-five francs, and spent the rest of the day attending classes at the University of Paris.

The slums of Paris are a place of eccentrics who have fallen into the lonely, half-mad orbit of life and no longer try to lead a normal or decent life. Poverty had freed them from general standards of behavior, just as money had freed people from work.

“Undersecretary!” Daniel wanted to say, wondering if he was doing the right thing as a staff member of the embassy in France, accompanying his superior in rank here, or not.

Alan Wilson was taking a picture of a couple who were old, shabbily dressed, and short of five, sitting on the side of the road selling postcards, and was so offended at being disturbed that he turned his head and said under his breath, “What for?”

“Are we behaving inappropriately?” Daniel had a look of shame on his face and was quite puzzled by such behavior on the part of his new boss.

“How is it inappropriate, we’re documenting the real Paris.” Alan Wilson justified, “Only by understanding the real Paris, can we understand the real situation in France, so that we can know ourselves and know our enemy, so that we can jointly deal with the United States.”

Saying a bunch of illogical words, Allen Wilson continued to fiddle with his camera, although he hadn’t found a French limousine to drive yet, but of course that wasn’t important, what was important was to understand the environment in which the French Communist Party was thriving through the work so far.

It was all in preparation for a joint response to the Soviet Union, and it was clear that this embassy man, who had been arranged to come over and work for him, had not grasped the spirit of the layer, and the future did not look good.

Just so said at the same time, a bare butt body dirty boy ran out of the alley, Allen Wilson found a new target, hurriedly took the camera out of the neck, to record this moment.

Like an important meeting of the Marshall Plan, that is not a day or two to get the results, no accident at least a few months in Paris, wait until all the talk is almost done, the important moment of signing, the foreign minister will only drive to Paris with glory.

So of course Alan Wilson had to find something to do, or what? Let the Foreign Secretary stay in Paris for a few months first?

And he wasn’t happy with the entourage that this embassy had arranged, just a casual chat and he probably knew what Daniel was all about, key politics!

But it was concerned with the military, claiming to be about strategy and military history, he had read countless books, the theories of Napoleon, Kutuzov, Clausewitz, Mauch and Foch, he talked about them and anything to do with being a soldier made him happy.

A favorite café to visit was the Clove Garden in the Montparnasse district, simply because of the statue of Marshal Ney outside.

What kind of statue of Marshal Ney are you, an Englishman, going to see? Don’t you know it’s the marshal of the French army during the Napoleonic period?

With this one, this embassy arranged life assistant, has been in Alan Wilson here labeled unreliable, Daniel if you know of his boss think so will certainly feel very wronged, Marshal Ney is the commander of the French army at the Battle of Waterloo, how can he not have nothing to go to see.

Because of the lack of knowledge accumulated by his boss, and was labeled unreliable Daniel, if he knew Alan Wilson’s thoughts, will certainly feel very wronged.

With the regret of not having photographed a French luxury car, Allen Wilson finally left this old town.

British Embassy in Paris, not far from the Elysee Palace, after the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington bought the Duke of Shalost residence, let it become the British Embassy in France.

This embassy is held annually to celebrate the official business is not necessary to mention, Alan Wilson is actually more interested in the embassy staff oral history, Napoleon’s sister Pauline Bonaparte is the earliest owner of the residence.

When she got up, she liked to walk around naked, showing off her enviable body; “fit Negroes” accompanied her in the bath; if she felt cold, she would put her feet into the breasts of the maids of honor, who were already lying on the floor.

After Napoleon’s defeat, the residence was sold to the Duke of Wellington, commander of the British army.

Learning of this history Alan Wilson stood in awe, as if he could see with his own eyes the weighty history contained therein, absolutely nothing to do with the life of Napoleon’s sister.

“Alan, we have news from home that Finland, Poland and Czechoslovakia have beneficially joined this one.” Sir Prince, the ambassador to France, called Alan Wilson over and spoke, “Are we supportive at the conference? Czechoslovakia, in particular, would like to have our support.”

“Of course we support it, the Soviet Union will oppose it anyway.” Alan Wilson said with a big, bad smile, “Actually, from our point of view, it’s Canada’s interests that should be more of a concern.”

Canada was relatively similar to the United States-again, it had suffered little damage from the war and was, in 1945, one of the largest economies in the world. Unlike the United States, however, Canada’s economy was more dependent on European trade than the American economy. As a result, after the war, the Canadian economy began to show signs of trouble.

Alan Wilson felt that in fact, if Europe could recover early, if Britain could have a leadership position in the EEC, the benefit would also go to Canada, after all, the British and Canadian feelings were still there.

“Who is the foreign minister of Czechoslovakia?” Alan Wilson, although not really concerned about what the attitude of those countries affected by the Soviet Union is, still expresses a polite question.

“Jan Masaryk, son of the first president of independent Czechoslovakia, now foreign minister and before the war ambassador to London.” Sir Prince shrugged.