Expedition to Europe

February 2, also known as the "Spring Plowing Festival", "Farming Festival" and "Spring Dragon Festival", is a traditional Chinese festival. This day is the day when the dragon raises its head. People should respect the dragon and pray for rain, and ask God for good weather.

Lanfang is a country founded by the Chinese, and it still attaches great importance to Chinese customs. Although the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar are meaningless to Lanfang natives, Lanfang people have their own way of celebrating.

As early as last year, Lanfang had made an attempt similar to a "carnival", and the effect was very good. This year, the Lanfang government officially decided to start a week-long carnival on February 2nd.

This "Carnival" has different forms in various places. For example, in Coconut City, the main activity of the Carnival is the costume parade. People participating in the Carnival dress up as soldiers of the Foreign Legion, gods from myths and legends, or various A variety of strange monsters will participate in the parade together with the dragon dance team, lion dance team, and stilt team. Lu Zhengxiang and Huang Bohan will also have fun with the people on this day to show that the Lanfang government is close to the people.

On Penglai Island, the National Center for the Performing Arts will hold a week-long New Year's concert. Here you can listen to the Lanfang Symphony Orchestra's world-famous music from various countries. You can also watch Peking opera, opera, stage plays and other repertoires, and there will even be movies. The premiere ceremony was an audio-visual feast.

On Lanling Island, this casino city positioned as a paradise for leisure celebrates the Carnival by splashing water. On this day, everyone can splash water on anyone without restraint, even the mayor - not everyone People, if someone accidentally spills water on the soldiers and policemen on duty, then sorry, his carnival may have to be spent in a detention center.

Even in Surabaya, the city where Lanfang Military Headquarters is located, there is a carnival, but the way soldiers express their feelings is definitely implicit, so there is no water splashing or parade in Surabaya. The way Surabaya celebrates the carnival is to watch movies, " "World War Trilogy" must be released, and most other movies reflect war and patriotism. Lanfang Military Department is "edutaining" and in this way strengthens patriotism for all soldiers. socialist education.

The effect is very good!

Strictly speaking, the 1924 Carnival was the first official carnival in Lanfang, so all walks of life paid great attention to it. The event was so grand that almost all urban residents participated, and farmers scattered in the countryside also went to the city to participate in the carnival. , which also leads to a sea of ​​joy all over Lanfang throughout the carnival, and even throughout February.

There are also unhappy ones. The Russian Embassy in Lanfang in the corner of the Yecheng Embassy District is gloomy and gloomy.

This was originally the embassy of the Kolchak coalition government in Lanfang. After Stalin overthrew the coalition government, the Soviets inherited the ownership of the embassy, ​​so it just changed the brand.

Stalin did not have many diplomatic staff, but in order to show a new look, Stalin still changed all the embassy staff. The current Soviet ambassador to Lanfang is named Lev Sviridov.

At noon on February 2, when the carnival in Coconut City entered its first climax, Lev Sviridov was restless in his office. Opposite him sat Stalin’s plenipotentiary envoy Georgi Vasily. Jevich Chicherin.

Georgi just arrived in Coconut City two days ago. Georgi has only one mission for this trip: to sign the "Sulan Non-Aggression Treaty" with Lanfang at all costs on behalf of Russia.

At any cost!

Stalin was really willing to spend money.

Although there are Stalin's top instructions, the negotiations will definitely not be smooth sailing. The normal way to negotiate is to meet the high price and pay back the money. Therefore, when Georgi contacted Lanfang Foreign Minister Zhang Jingzong for the first time yesterday, the conditions he proposed were: Lanfang All territories occupied by Russia should be returned.

This refers to the northern territory including Lake Baikal, Sakhalin, Kamchatka Peninsula, and Vladivostok.

Zhang Jingzong was speechless in response to such an "overwhelming" asking price. He just said "ridiculous" and then left the negotiation site.

It is indeed a bit absurd. The Lanfang Northern Territory was not obtained from the Bolsheviks. If Lanfang wants to return the Northern Territory to Russia, then all the treaties signed by Russia and the former Qing Dynasty will also be invalidated. By then, the negotiations will be protracted. Maybe there will be no results in ten or eight years.

And a more important issue is that the contracts signed by the former Qing Dynasty and Russia had nothing to do with Lanfang. Even if there were negotiations, the Republic of China should have negotiated with Russia.

Therefore, Zhang Jingzong's attitude is very clear. The status of the Northern Xinjiang Region is unquestionable and there is no room for negotiation. Let alone this negotiation, Lanfang will not put the Northern Xinjiang Region on the negotiation table at any time.

Georgi had already been mentally prepared for Zhang Jingzong's reaction, so Georgi didn't care. He contacted Zhang Jingzong again this morning and asked to continue negotiations.

"Carnival—is participating in the Carnival more important than national security?" Georgi's expression was ugly, and he almost slapped the table and shouted.

Lev, the Russian ambassador to Lanfang, had no expression on his face. In his heart, he had already scolded Georgi's eighteenth generation ancestors. If Georgi hadn't spoken so loudly yesterday, Zhang Jingzong would not have ignored Georgi so much. Erji, this is entirely your own fault. If you want to find the reason, look for it in yourself first.

Georgi is the current Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union. Before that, Belarus and Lanfang, under Stalin's control, had not established diplomatic relations, so this was Georgi's first time dealing with Lanfang.

In fact, Georgy is a "China expert". This guy has lived in the capital of the Qing Empire at that time. So when dealing with the Lan Fang people, Georgy made an empiricist mistake and used the same tricks he had used to deal with the Chinese on the Lan Fang people.

Strictly speaking, this is not a mistake. After all, Zhang Jingzong is also a Chinese, and the Lan Fang government is also dominated by Chinese. However, the Chinese in Lan Fang are definitely different from the Chinese in the Republic of China. Treating the Lan Fang Chinese in the same way as the Chinese in the Republic of China is doomed to fail.

However, Lev couldn't explain these words to Georgy, so he had to let Georgy vent.

"Continue to contact Zhang. I want to start negotiations immediately. I am here on behalf of the Soviet Union. I should be treated as I deserve." Georgy was still angry and didn't realize his mistake.

Lev didn't refuse. After picking up the phone and dialing a number, he put it down and spread his hands helplessly: "The call can't be connected. The operator is probably at the carnival-"

The telephones in this day and age are not program-controlled telephones, but magnet telephones. This kind of call must first be called to the machine room, and then the machine room will transfer it. Fortunately, the Soviet Embassy in Lanfang is also in Coconut City. If it is a cross-regional call, then the call must be transferred from the Coconut City computer room to the destination computer room, and then the destination computer room will transfer it again. This is still not far away. If the distance is too far, it will take several transfers. This process is so long that it can drive people crazy.

The operator in Coconut City will definitely not go to the carnival. At this time, the call cannot be connected. It can only mean one thing. The operator deliberately ignored the signal from the Soviet Embassy. Lev said this just to take care of Georgy's face.

"Call again! Until the call is connected!" Georgy is also a smart person. Of course, he knows what's going on, but this makes Georgy even angrier.

Then fight. It's not a good idea to provoke an angry lion. Lev did not resist Georgy's orders.

The original text can be read in Liu # 9 @shu/bar!

If Lanfang is a country with clear class divisions, then the Soviet Union should be a country with a strict sense of class. Although Stalin has not yet carried out the infamous "Great Purge", everyone in the Soviet Union follows a reality: the orders of superiors cannot be disobeyed.

Stalin is the biggest "superior" of everyone in the Soviet Union.

So the next hour passed slowly as Lev kept resetting the time.

After a whole hour, Georgy finally calmed down.

"What kind of people are the Lanfang people in your eyes?" Georgy began to face reality.

"The Lan Fang people - it's hard to describe them with one word." Lev's expression was a bit complicated, that is, the kind of hatred and helplessness, but also a little bit of unnoticeable envy: "The Lan Fang people are not as cowardly as the Qing people, not as arrogant as the Japanese, and not as submissive as the Koreans. Whether it is military, political, or economic, the achievements of the Lan Fang are remarkable. They are very confident and have enough strength, which makes the Lan Fang highly aggressive-"

Lev glanced at the silent Georgi and paused, but finally gave his own opinion: "I suggest that we should be low-key. If we have a unified Russia, we certainly don't have to keep a low profile, but now, we need time, time to make Russia strong again, so-"

Lev is right. In fact, long before the establishment of Lan Fang, the Soviet Union had controlled Russia, but looking at the current Soviet Union and then looking at the current Lan Fang, it is hard not to sigh.

There is at least a "Soviet Union" between Russia and Lan Fang.

"Your suggestion is very timely, I will consider it." Georgi is ready to start being pragmatic.

Russians always bluff when dealing with people, just like Li Kui's three axes. If they can bluff, they will bluff. If they can't bluff, they will do something else. Georgy also treated this negotiation in this way, but looking at the current situation, even a small operator dared not give the Soviet Embassy face. If he insisted, he would only bring shame upon himself.

"This is what I should do." Lev did not dare to take credit. Although Georgy's words sounded good, God knows what Georgy was thinking.

In fact, it was not easy for Lev. If the negotiation with Lan Fang was successful, it would probably not be Lev's credit, but if it failed, Lev would definitely be implicated.

To be honest, Lev did not think that the success of the negotiation was a credit. Now it is obvious that the Lan Fang people are preparing to take advantage of the fire again. God knows what the Lan Fang people are eyeing.