Chapter 1532 Transfer of Cultural Assets
President Montero was very interested in the copper mine issue mentioned by Ambassador Huguet. In recent years, under the economic crisis in Chile, whether mineral exports can be restored is the most important economic issue of concern to the Chilean government.
"Ambassador Huge, our government needs to discuss this matter internally. Please give us some time. We will be able to give the East African side a reply soon."
President Montero's words at least prove that he already has an answer in mind for the East African proposal.
Ambassador Huger added: "Mr. President, I would like to remind you that there is a saying in East Africa that if you miss this village, you will miss it. Chile is not our only choice. Alaska in East Africa is farther away, but it does not mean that Alaska cannot play this role."
East Africa does not want the Chilean government to push its luck further, so Huger must make East Africa's attitude clear. This is not the East African government asking for anything from Chile.
…
January 20, 1932.
Far Eastern Empire, Shanghai, Commercial Press.
After providing some insignificant military assistance to the 19th Army of the Far Eastern Empire, the Shencheng Consulate in East Africa had more important tasks to perform.
Historically, the Far Eastern Empire has been attractive to East Africa in two main aspects: first, trade, and second, culture. East Africa has a large collection of cultural relics and ancient books from the Far Eastern Empire.
Shencheng is one of the important cultural centers of the Far Eastern Empire, and it is also one of the important bases in East Africa for collecting ancient cultural materials of the Far Eastern Empire.
There is no shortage of East African companies, government departments, individuals, and research institutions that are involved in various activities to acquire ancient books from the Far East. As Shanghai was the cultural center of the Far Eastern Empire during this era, there were many East Africans engaged in such activities.
Luo Wen, deputy consul of the East African Consulate in Shanghai, is holding talks with the chairman of the Commercial Press, Zhang Yuanji, at the headquarters of the Commercial Press.
"Mr. Zhang Yuanji, the purpose of my visit is mainly to persuade your company to temporarily transfer the Commercial Press and the various ancient books and cultural relics collected in the Oriental Library to the consulate in East Africa for safekeeping."
Zhang Yuanji was the chairman of the Commercial Press and an important figure in the cultural dissemination of the Far Eastern Empire. He wore a pair of glass glasses and a simple blue-gray gown, looking like a traditional scholar.
Zhang Yuanji was no stranger to East Africans, as he had been dealing with East Africans for quite some time and had many cooperations with them. When he was young, Zhang Yuanji once served as a secretary in the Far Eastern Empire's Prime Minister's Office of Foreign Affairs, which was equivalent to the Far Eastern Empire's Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time.
Therefore, when he was young, he had dealt with diplomats from many countries, and East Africans were one of the more frequent types among them.
During his tenure in the Zongli Yamen, which was in the early 1990s, there was a period of "East African fever" in the Far Eastern Empire. At that time, it was not long since East Africa defeated Britain and Portugal. East Africa had become a new world power, attracting the attention of many countries in the world and becoming an object of study for some backward countries, so as to achieve "rich country and strong army".
During this period, cultural exchanges between East Africa and the Far East Empire were quite frequent, so Zhang Yuanji had more opportunities to interact with East Africans.
After entering the 20th century, with the internal turmoil in the Far Eastern Empire, Zhang Yuanji joined the Commercial Press and quickly helped the Commercial Press grow and become the most prestigious publishing giant in the Far Eastern Empire today.
Although he lost his official position, Zhang Yuanji, who was engaged in business, could not avoid dealing with East Africans. Over the years, many East African personnel, companies and units cooperated with the Commercial Press to introduce ancient books from the Far Eastern Empire, photocopied them and published them in East Africa.
After all, the Commercial Press is currently the largest publishing giant in the Far Eastern Empire, so it is not surprising that East Africa has started some cooperation with them.
They can better help East Africa collect cultural information about the Far East Empire that is of interest to East Africa. At the same time, they can also help East Africa spread and introduce its culture in the Far East Empire through their channels.
Therefore, Zhang Yuanji was very familiar with dealing with East Africans. However, Luo Wen's words stimulated him this time.
"Consul Luo Wen, I don't know what you are talking about. The ancient books in our Commercial Press and Oriental Library are all treasures of ancient Chinese civilization. Your request is too unreasonable. If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Luo Wen didn't mind Zhang Yuanji's anger at all, because he knew very well how important those ancient books were to Zhang Yuanji, and he even regarded those ancient books as more important than his life.
Luo Wen comforted him, "Mr. Zhang Yuanji, don't blame me for speaking so bluntly. I came here not to covet your country's cultural treasures, but on the contrary, to save the overall cultural assets in your hands."
"Our consulate just hopes that you can temporarily store these ancient books and cultural relics with us to prevent the war from destroying these precious cultural heritages of mankind."
"If you believe that our East African intelligence department has obtained some information, perhaps we can make a decision later."
"According to our East African intelligence department, Japan may launch a war against Shanghai in the near future, and your Commercial Press and Oriental Library may be the targets of the Japanese government. The Japanese may bomb you."
Luo Wen's words shocked Zhang Yuanji. He asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
As to whether Japan will invade Shencheng, the people of the Far Eastern Empire are completely unaware, and only the top leaders of the Far Eastern Empire's Jinling government know about it. After all, Japan's military deployment in Shencheng cannot be concealed, but the Jinling government knows it in its heart, but is pretending to be dead in its specific actions.
Luo Wen replied affirmatively: "There is no need for me to joke with you about this matter. After all, I am a diplomat in East Africa and I represent the imperial government."
"Of course, I also hope that Mr. Zhang Yuanji, you will not disclose the 'intelligence' we obtained in East Africa to the outside world. That would cause unnecessary trouble to the empire."
Zhang Yuanji's face looked very unhappy. At this time, he was not in the mood to consider East Africa's attitude, but was worried about the safety of Shencheng.
He asked, "When Japan launched an aggressive war against Shanghai, didn't you alert the Nanjing government?"
Luo Wen sighed and said, "Mr. Zhang Yuanji, you have to understand that there is no need for us in East Africa to report this matter to the Jinling government, not to mention that this is a war that has not yet occurred. Moreover, the relationship between East Africa and the Jinling government is not that close."
"To put it bluntly, judging from the recent performance of the Jinling government, they themselves do not have the courage to fight against the Japanese. To put it more conspiratorially, we all suspect that many of the Jinling government's top officials have been bribed by the Japanese government, otherwise they would not have made such a stupid move as to hand over your country's Northeast to others."
"There is one last point. No matter what your Jinling government says, it is impossible that they are completely unaware of Japan's activities in Shencheng. For example, now most of the major powers in the world know that Japan has increased its military strength and weapons and equipment in Shencheng..."
Zhang Yuanji slammed his hands on the table and said indignantly: "These beasts!"
Obviously, the "beasts" Zhang Yuanji mentioned include not only the Japanese, but also most of the people in the Nanjing government.
Luo Wen said at this time: "Mr. Zhang Yuanji, at this time, you are a small businessman and cannot decide the decision of the Jinling government. Now, you should find a way as soon as possible to prevent the Japanese from deliberately attacking your company and assets during the war."
"You don't have much time left. Japan may launch a war against Shanghai at any time. From a pessimistic point of view, it may happen tonight. From an optimistic point of view, it may happen within this month. After all, Japan is in a desperate situation of launching a war to divert domestic conflicts due to the economic crisis."
At this point, Zhang Yuanji had already believed most of what Luo Wen said. He smiled bitterly and said, "If this is true, what can we do? The Commercial Press is a large company. Even at this time, it is too late to relocate."
As the largest publishing giant in the Far Eastern Empire, the Commercial Press had a considerable presence in Shanghai, with various printing equipment and a huge amount of printed materials. It was completely unrealistic to move them out within half a month, not to mention that the Japanese would not be able to give them so much time.
In response, Luo Wen said: "Regarding this, Mr. Zhang Yuanji, you now have only one choice, which is to temporarily store the most important books, materials and cultural relics in our consulate."
"We will use the convoy to help you complete the relocation. You can make the next decision after the war is over. We in East Africa will never covet your assets. After all, this concerns the international reputation of the empire."
Having said that, Zhang Yuanji obviously still had doubts. Although Luo Wen had an oriental face, East Africa was a foreign country after all.
Luo Wen continued, "We in East Africa have also had a lot of cooperation with your company, so Mr. Zhang Yuanji, you should believe in our sincerity. East Africa attaches great importance to the ancient books of the Far East Empire culture, which are important treasures."
"We don't want these ancient books to disappear in the long river of history because of the war. Of course, we do have some small ideas for extending a helping hand this time, that is, to copy some of the books we need in East Africa and back them up by copying, photographing, etc. As for the originals, we will never bother with them, and there is no need to do so."
If Dong Africa really didn't want anything, Zhang Yuanji would be worried. Now that Luo Wen said this, he was less wary.
Just as Luo Wen said, Zhang Yuanji had dealt with many East Africans, including Luo Wen and other people from the East African Consulate in Shencheng. At least after so many years of contact, the credibility of this East African country in the Far East Empire is still not a problem.
Therefore, under Luo Wen's persuasion, Zhang Yuanji finally agreed to the cooperation between the two parties and temporarily deposited part of the collections of the Commercial Press and the Oriental Library in the East African Consulate in Shanghai.
The reason why it was part of it naturally shows that Zhang Yuanji was still wary of East Africa, so all eggs should not be put in one basket. Therefore, the Commercial Press decided to transfer other ancient books and important assets to concessions in various countries.
The East African consulates have also begun photographing, copying and properly storing these ancient books.
Most of the classics come from the Oriental Library, which is currently the largest private library in the Far Eastern Empire. The director is Zhang Yuanji himself. The library has a collection of more than 400,000 books, including many rare books from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Of course, this library also has a large number of Western documents, making the Oriental Library an important place for the Far Eastern Empire to introduce Western culture and technology. East Africa was completely ignored. After all, according to the standards of the Far Eastern Empire, East Africa belonged to Western countries.
Late night on January 28, 1931.
The Japanese Navy's First Expeditionary Fleet bombarded the Wusong Fort. At the same time, the Japanese Marine Corps attacked the 19th Route Army's base in Zhabei. The troops of the 78th Division of the 19th Route Army deployed in Zhabei resisted, and the First Battle of Shanghai, known in history as the "January 28th Battle of Shanghai", officially began.
On the first day, the gendarmerie in Shanghai stubbornly resisted the Japanese offensive. Immediately afterwards, the 19th Army quickly entered the battlefield and engaged in fierce exchange of fire with the Japanese army.
On the morning of January 29, the Japanese army launched its first bombing. The Japanese Marine Corps and Air Force carried out indiscriminate bombing of Zhabei. At 10 a.m., Japanese planes specifically targeted the Commercial Press and dropped incendiary bombs. The printing factory, the compilation office, the warehouse, etc. were all set on fire. Later, Zhang Yuanji recorded in his diary that "the planes dropped bombs and burned the Commercial Press. The flames soared into the sky and the ashes of paper flew. They could be seen for ten miles."
The Oriental Library, which is adjacent to the main factory, was not completely burned down despite the earthquake due to its solid building. However, from the 29th to the 31st, the fire spread rapidly because most of the books in the library were paper. Although some employees and citizens tried to rescue, the fire brigade could not enter due to the war blockade and could only watch the books burn.
According to survivors' recollections, the Japanese army set up a cordon around the library to prevent the fire brigade from entering to put out the fire. On February 1, Japanese ronin broke into the library, poured gasoline and set it on fire to ensure that it was completely burned.
The destruction of the Oriental Library has been called "one of the worst cultural disasters in the Far Eastern Empire in modern times," with losses far exceeding ordinary war damage.
The East African Consulate also used cameras to record this "cultural genocide". Later, the East African Consul Cruz recalled: "The fires at the Oriental Library and the Commercial Press emitted thick smoke and ashes that even drifted to the concession area. Millions of valuable documents were purposefully destroyed. This was a very bad cultural genocide."
Japan could not deny this, because Japanese Navy Commander Yukichi Shiozawa once publicly declared: "The bombing of the Commercial Press in Zhabei is enough to make the Chinese dare not resist for 30 years."
…
The First Battle of Shanghai, just like in the previous life, had consequences that were enough to make one's "blood pressure soar". The Nanjing government hoped to rely on international intervention to stop the war, delayed aid to the 19th Army, and advocated limited resistance. Later, it was forced to support the battlefield under pressure from people from all walks of life in the country.
In March, the two sides announced a ceasefire. The armistice agreement signed subsequently restricted the Far Eastern Empire's right to station troops in the area around Shanghai, but gave Japan the right to station troops. At the same time, the Far Eastern Empire's right of military investigation and supervision was also transferred to Japan and the United Kingdom, the United States, and France.
The 19th Army, which persisted in resistance, was also liquidated by the Nanjing government after the war.
Ernst had long anticipated the outcome of the war in Shencheng of the Far Eastern Empire. The performance of the Jinling government was completely in line with his judgment. This was also the main reason why East Africa had not had in-depth cooperation with the Jinling government in recent years. After all, "this boy is not worthy of being consulted."
(End of this chapter)
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