Soon, a strong wind of opposition to Brazil's participation in the peninsula conflict blew up in Brazilian politics and military circles, and this wind naturally quickly reached the ears of President Scalia.
He also quickly understood the Fang family's attitude towards this matter, and his original intention to get involved was quickly extinguished.
But even so, he still took the initiative to invite Fang Lang. After all, making a decision after communicating with Fang Lang face to face and making a decision based on just hearing a little rumor are two completely different things.
Who knows if Fang Lang can understand what he means.
Just when Fang Lang was busy trying to persuade others to support his idea, an unexpected guest came to his house.
Fang Lang had been out all day and had just returned to his manor in Rio de Janeiro. When he was about to have dinner with the women in his family, he saw the doorman running into the restaurant and said to Fang Lang in a hurried tone:
"Sir, there's a man outside who claims to be the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, and he's here to visit."
Hearing this, Fang Lang couldn't help but frown. Needless to say, he could guess the purpose of the American ambassador's visit at this special moment.
As soon as the other party approached the president to push Brazil to join the UN forces, he immediately jumped out to sing a different tune and even colluded with others, making it clear that he was unwilling to get involved with the Americans. I guess this guy is probably very angry with him now!
...
...
However, Fang Lang didn't care what this guy thought. Even if he was angry, he couldn't vent it on him. He was just a small American ambassador to Brazil. He could give face if he was willing to. If he didn't want to, he could just ignore him.
But to have come this far, Fang Lang was not a reckless person, so he just hesitated for a moment, then smiled apologetically at Audrey Hepburn and the sisters Yingchun and Xichun who were dining with him, then turned to the doorman and said,
"I see. Please go to the front hall and wait. I'll come right over after I clean up."
He was not familiar with the American ambassador, so it was impossible for him to invite him to have dinner with him. Besides, the other party came here with obvious bad intentions, and Fang Lang was already giving him a huge honor by being willing to meet him.
After hearing his instructions, the doorman nodded and walked out quickly.
Audrey Hepburn waited until the concierge left before speaking to Fang Lang:
"Honey, are you okay?"
Seeing Audrey Hepburn looking a little worried, Fang Lang smiled indifferently and said:
"What could possibly happen? He's just a small American ambassador to Brazil. If you give him face, you can invite him for a cup of tea. If you don't give him face, you won't even let him in."
Audrey Hepburn, who was already very familiar with her man's strength, smiled slightly when she heard this, put down the bowl and chopsticks in her hands and said:
"Then go and do your work first! We'll wait for you to come back and eat together."
Fang Lang heard this, stood up and walked to Hepburn's side, put his arms around her shoulders and kissed her delicate cheek, then said softly:
"Your stomach is not in good condition. You can't go hungry. Eat your meal. I'm going to meet this annoying guy first."
After saying that, he kissed the two sisters Yingchun and Xichun respectively, then walked out of the restaurant staggeringly with a very satisfied look on his face.
The three sisters were left in the restaurant looking at each other, then shook their heads helplessly and started eating quietly.
Master Fang walked towards the reception room at a leisurely pace. As soon as he walked out of the restaurant, the butler Fu Bo took two quick steps to Fang Lang's side and said:
"Sir, do we need to prepare another dinner for this guest?"
Hearing this, Fang Lang glanced at the other party and said indifferently:
"We'll see then! For an uninvited guest like this, who knows if he came after dinner."
With just one sentence, Uncle Fu understood that Fang Lang did not like the American ambassador, and nodded slightly:
"I understand. If there is any need, I will ask the kitchen to make arrangements."
After saying that, the two of them staggered to the front hall, and saw two white men in suits and leather shoes sitting on the armchairs in the front hall, looking around at the layout of the front hall.
When they saw Fang Lang and the other man in casual clothes coming out, they also stood up with smiles on their faces to greet them. Seeing this, Fang Lang also forced a smile on his face, and stretched out his right hand from a distance and said:
"I'm sorry for not welcoming you in person! I'm Fang Lang."
A tall, thin, blond white man in his forties on the opposite side shook Fang Lang's outstretched hand enthusiastically and said:
"Hello, Mr. Fang! I am the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Ciriaco Reina. I am sorry for the intrusion of you today. I apologize for being rude. Please forgive me!"
Hearing this, Fang Lang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. Good fellow, you still know that you are being presumptuous! However, this American ambassador actually knows the false courtesy of his hometown.
It seems that this old guy has either been to his hometown before, or has studied me before! It seems that I have to be more careful.
Fang Lang greeted the other party with a smile on his face:
"Welcome, welcome, Mr. Reina's visit has brought honor to my humble abode. How can you say that I am being presumptuous?"
After the two exchanged greetings, Mr. Ciriaco Reina pointed to the young man behind him who looked to be in his early thirties, with curly hair and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and introduced him:
"This is my secretary, Penry Connolly."
Fang Lang also exchanged pleasantries with the other party very politely, and then everyone sat down as host and guest. Without waiting for the other party to explain his intention, Fang Lang asked knowingly:
"Mr. Reina, I am the Deputy Minister of the Navy of Brazil. I rarely deal with people in the diplomatic department. I wonder why you are here this time?"
His meaning was very clear. I am just the Minister of the Navy. You shouldn't come to me if you have any problems. Even if you do, I can't help you.
Hearing his words, Ciriaco Reina on the opposite side did not show any dissatisfaction on his face. Instead, he said with a smile:
"Haha... Mr. Fang, you are joking. You are not just the Navy Minister of Brazil. Long before I came to Brazil, our former US Secretary of State, Mr. George Marshall, told me that he had a very good friend in Brazil.
If you encounter any unsolvable problems in Brazil, you can go to him. I believe that for his sake, this friend will definitely lend a helping hand. "
Hearing this, Fang Lang's expression froze. He didn't expect that this guy would not play by the rules and directly bring up George Marshall.
But it was obviously impossible to change his position by relying on his relationship with George Marshall. So, he just smiled and changed the subject:
"Oh! So Mr. Reina and Marshall know each other, haha... why didn't you tell me earlier! I wonder if Mr. Marshall is doing well recently?"
Fang Lang was of course well aware of George Marshall's situation. As early as 1949, the old man had resigned from his post as Secretary of State. This was why Ciriaco Reina just said that he was the former Secretary of State.
But Truman did not let him rest. Instead, he reappointed him as US Secretary of Defense at the beginning of this year. So, Marshall is now one of the bigwigs of the US government.
Seeing that Fang Lang did not shirk his friendship with Mr. Marshall, Ciriaco Reina breathed a sigh of relief.
Before going to work in Brazil, as Marshall's old subordinate, he went to say goodbye to Marshall. When Marshall introduced him to such a friend in Brazil, he didn't care.
After all, Marshall did not explain Fang Lang's specific situation to him, but only told him that Fang Lang was a Brazilian navy major general. Therefore, he did not take this major general seriously.
First of all, as Fang Lang said, he is a diplomatic officer, and it is somewhat inappropriate for him to have private contact with naval officers from another country.
Secondly, he did not think that a Brazilian rear admiral could be of much help to his work in Brazil, so he never thought about having too much contact with this friend of General Marshall.
But this time President Truman asked him to push Brazil to join the United Nations and intervene in the Peninsula War. What was already a sure thing, but because of the appearance of this inconspicuous Deputy Minister of the Navy, the situation changed dramatically.
The president, who had originally somewhat agreed with the situation, soon changed his attitude. The military and political circles throughout Brazil also began to express the risk that the war on the peninsula might lead to Soviet intervention and eventually turn into a nuclear war.
This put his work directly into a difficult situation, and at this time he had to go back and carefully check the information of the young Deputy Minister of the Navy.
It doesn't matter if you don't read it, but you will be shocked when you do. It turns out that this inconspicuous Navy Minister has such a powerful background. Not only did he become a Vice Admiral of the Brazilian Navy at the age of 25, he also served as the Deputy Minister of the Navy with absolute power.
What shocked him even more was that this young man also had a huge influence in the United States. Not only was he closely related to the Morgan and Rockefeller consortiums, but he was also the behind-the-scenes boss of the newly rapidly rising American Global Consortium.
At the same time, the Fang family's Fangyuan Group in Brazil is also the largest consortium in Brazil, controlling the lifeline of Brazil's industry and agriculture. No wonder the other party has such a huge influence on the Brazilian president.
If other people were hindering his efforts to push Brazil to join the war, he could still use his influence to deal with them and let them know how powerful the American father is.
But this person is obviously not someone he can influence through his influence. If he really does this, he, the American ambassador, may be directly influenced and step down.
Therefore, he had to rush to visit this real boss who was not very conspicuous in person.
"Thank you Mr. Fang for your concern. Mr. Marshall is in very good health. This time, he asked me to bring you a small gift on his behalf!"
After saying this, he glanced at his secretary, who then picked up the briefcase next to the chair, placed it on his lap, opened it, took out a gift box from it and handed it to him.
Hearing this, Fang Lang couldn't help but roll his eyes. Fang Lang believed that Mr. Marshall was in good health, after all, he still had eight or nine years to live. But if he said that he would entrust this guy to bring him a gift, Fang Lang didn't believe it at all.
Because the American ambassador has been in Brazil for almost two years. If it was really a gift from Marshall, wouldn't it be a little too late to send it now?
However, since the other party had given him a gift, he could not delve too deeply into the issue. He just smiled and motioned for Uncle Fu to go forward and take the gift box handed over by the other party's secretary.
When Uncle Fu handed it to him, he opened the package without hesitation and saw a very exquisite pipe inside. What's interesting is that this pipe is very similar to the pipe that Marshall used when Fang Lang met him last time. Maybe it was really a gift from Marshall.
But if this is true, it is quite interesting that the person who gave the gift only delivered the gift two years later.
This made him smile with an ambiguous meaning.
"Haha... General Marshall is so polite. He even bothered Mr. Reina to come here in person."
This seemed to mean that Reina's purpose of coming here today was to help General Marshall deliver gifts. Seeing this, Ciriaco Reina knew that the young man in front of him was not ordinary difficult to deal with.
If he couldn't get straight to the point, the other party might go around the world in circles. As the US ambassador, he didn't have time to waste on the other party, so he stopped beating around the bush with Fang Lang and went straight to the point:
"Mr. Fang, I came here this time not only to give you a gift on behalf of General Marshall, but also to ask for your help in something!"
Seeing that the other party was impatient, Fang Lang knew that he would have to face it sooner or later, so he waved to Uncle Fu beside him and said:
"Uncle Fu, have someone serve two cups of tea to the guests."
After saying this, he turned to the American ambassador and said:
"Mr. Reina, are you sure? You are the U.S. ambassador to Brazil, representing the powerful United States. Is there anything in this world that you can't handle? If you can't handle it, then I certainly can't do anything about it!"
Even a fool could sense Fang Lang's evasion.
But the American ambassador on the other side pretended to be deaf and dumb and pretended not to understand what he meant. He still spoke:
"Haha... Mr. Fang may not be able to help with other things, but I believe General Fang will be able to do his best with this matter."
After hearing this, Fang Lang knew that the other party would not leave without a clear answer here today. It must be said that these diplomats are really thick-skinned.
"Oh! If that's the case, I'm really interested to hear what it is that even Mr. Reina can't handle, but I, a Brazilian soldier, can handle it."
Hearing this, Ciriaco Reina smiled slightly and said directly:
"I heard that during World War II, General Fang took the initiative to apply to lead his fleet to the Pacific Ocean to participate in the Pacific War.
Now that a new war has broken out in the Pacific, we would like to ask General Fang to lead his fleet to the Pacific again to make achievements. I assure General Fang that as long as you can make this happen, our US government will fully support you in making further progress in the Brazilian military."
As soon as these words came out, Fang Lang's eyebrows instantly stood up, and he looked at the Ambassador Ciriaco Reina in front of him with cold eyes, and said word by word:
"If I understand correctly, Ambassador Reina means that you Americans are going to interfere in the management of our Brazilian military, right?"
As soon as Ciriaco Reina saw Fang Lang's expression and tone, he knew something was wrong. He might have said something wrong. He rolled his eyes and quickly said,
"Haha... General Fang misunderstood. How could we interfere in the management of your Brazilian army? What I mean is that I can promise you on behalf of the US government as long as you can make this happen.
We can sell some high-tech equipment to your Brazilian military, such as our latest jet fighters. I believe that with these equipment, the combat effectiveness of your fleet will be even stronger, and your position in the navy will be more stable."
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