Chapter 809 808 [Mussolini and Raw Garlic]

The Victoria is a new-style clipper ship. The mission departed from Shanghai and passed through Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Colombo, Mumbai, Port Sète, and finally arrived in Italy via the Mediterranean Sea - which took about sixteen days and was extremely fast. .

Then Zhou Hexuan met Mussolini...

In fact, Kong Xiangxi resented Mussolini because he was deceived by the Italian.

After Chang Kaishen came back in 1932, due to the government's financial difficulties, Kong Xiangxi was responsible for going abroad to borrow money and purchase military equipment. His first stop was the United States. As a result, Time Magazine published an article about the marriage of the three families of Chiang, Song, and Kong to implement family rule over China, which quickly spread in the United States. With such a scandal, Kong Xiangxi was in an embarrassing situation in the United States and ran to Europe in despair.

When they arrived in Italy, Minister Kong seemed to be in good health. Mussolini received Kong Xiangxi with the etiquette of a head of state and sold him a batch of bombers and some military supplies at a low price.

After returning to China, Kong Xiangxi felt that he had made great contributions and tried his best to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to launch the "Big Air Force Plan." When the Italian bombers were shipped to China, Kong Xiangxi no longer mentioned the big air force strategy, because the goods received were a pile of scrap metal. Those planes were too old to be repaired. They could fly, but the rifle wires in the gun barrels had been worn away.

This deception caused Kong Xiangxi to lose face, and senior members of the Kuomintang Party demanded to be held accountable. As a result, it was difficult for Kong Xiangxi to be promoted in the next two years. It was not until Song Ziwen resigned from the post of Minister of Finance that Minister Kong came to the fore.

Of course, Kong Xiangxi did not lose money. The price of those antique bombers was very cheap, enough for him to make a fortune from them. Moreover, suffering is a blessing. Kong Xiangxi used this to establish friendship with Mussolini, and China and Italy entered a diplomatic honeymoon period.

On the contrary, Hitler was very unruly. When Kong Xiangxi visited Germany, Hitler sold China US$25 million in military supplies. Although the quality of German products is excellent, the Germans are also very clever and refuse to lower prices, so Kong Xiangxi did not receive any rebates.

Before leaving Germany, Hitler showed his greatest kindness - giving his signed photo as a gift to Kong Xiangxi and giving it to Chang Kaishen.

In Hitler's view, he was the greatest person on earth. Being able to get a signed photo of himself would make anyone in the world dizzy with happiness. This was a precious and glorious gift. But the blind man showed the head of state's flirtatious look. When Kong Xiangxi got the photo, he muttered angrily when he went out: Is this a gift?

On the second night after arriving in Italy, Mussolini personally received Kong Xiangxi, Chen Shaokuan and Zhou Hexuan, and prepared a dinner at his official residence.

Don’t believe the lie that Mussolini and Hitler were both vegetarians——

Hitler's favorite food was roasted squab, and he also asked the chef to put tongue and liver into the pigeon's belly. Even in his later years, Hitler suffered from severe stomach problems and still liked to drink vegetable soup with stewed meat, and animal liver was even more difficult for him to give up.

As for Mussolini, he especially liked chicken and rabbits. In his later years, he became a person with high blood pressure, high blood fat, and high blood sugar. Even his intestines were deformed, and he had to imitate Hitler's vegetarian diet and maintain health.

"Hello, Mr. Prime Minister!"

"Hello Dr. Kong!"

Kong Xiangxi and Mussolini shook hands warmly, seeming to have forgotten their experience of being deceived when they bought a junk airplane.

Kong Xiangxi introduced Zhou Hexuan and Chen Shaokuan again. Mussolini shook hands with Chen Shaokuan first. When he faced Zhou Hexuan, he suddenly opened his arms and hugged him and laughed: "Haha, Mr. Zhou, I like your works. After dinner, Please come and visit my study!”

"It's a great honor, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

In people's consistent impression, Mussolini was rude and violent, like the kind of reckless man who rose to high positions by luck.

Obviously, this is impossible!

Among all the heads of state in the world in the 1930s, Mussolini was the reporter’s favorite interview subject because he respected knowledge, culture, and even more respect for people with knowledge and culture. As long as you really have something in your mind, you will definitely be regarded as a distinguished guest by Mussonelli, and when you impress him with your knowledge, he will treat you as a teacher and not be ashamed to ask questions.

In fact, if you carefully study Mussolini's life experience, you will know that this guy was a very knowledgeable person. Between the ages of 19 and 21, Mussolini lived a wandering life, often without enough to eat, but insisted on reading theoretical books every night, including works by Marx, Hegel, Lassalle, Nietzsche, and Maldo. book.

In order to study Marx's original works, Mussolini once taught himself German - he was a fan of Marx when he was young, and always kept a portrait of Marx in his pocket; in order to read the original version of The Times, Mussolini began to learn English at the age of 42 , developed an authentic London accent. He loved literature, especially poetry. If he met a knowledgeable visitor, he would place a table full of poems by famous people to show his accomplishment in the field of poetry.

This guy was a journalist when he was young and made a living by writing. He also wrote celebrity biographies, novels and scripts. He also wrote his two subsequent autobiographies by himself and never hired a ghostwriter.

Now you know why Mussolini failed?

It's simple, this guy is a young man (squinting and smiling).

Of course, no matter how young he is, he cannot conceal Mussolini's taste, which can be seen from the food he entertained his guests.

At this moment, Mussolini pointed to the appetizers on the plate and said: "Italian food is the wealth of the entire Europe. The so-called French food is just a barbarian thing. To enjoy Italian food, you have to say something Planting appetizers is the kind of food you have in front of you. It stimulates the appetite, clears the mind, and puts people to sleep easily. The French do not understand this pleasure at all."

Zhou Hexuan looked down at the things on the plate and instantly lost his appetite. He would rather eat the British fried fish and potatoes.

Oh my God, how could there be such dark and anti-human cuisine in the world?

A plate full of raw garlic, with olive oil and lemon juice added, Zhou Hexuan could not imagine the taste at all.

This is what Mussolini would eat every night. He couldn't sleep without eating it. He also liked cakes and puddings, well, cakes and puddings with raw garlic instead of buttercream. Raw garlic cake…

No wonder Mussolini had a bad temper. No wonder his stomach was deformed in his later years and he had to declare himself a vegetarian.

Scientific research shows that eating too much raw garlic can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort, irritability, and affect vision.

Chen Shaokuan resisted his nausea, took half a spoonful and put it to his mouth, licked it gently, and immediately put back the raw garlic secreted with olive oil and lemon juice with a smile.

Kong Xiangxi has a fearless spirit. He not only ate a big spoonful, but also chewed it deliciously and commented: "The very unique Italian food made me feel the heritage of the ancient country of Rome. China, like Italy, has a long history The history, culture and food of the two countries. This is the common ground between the two countries and the cultural cornerstone of our exchanges. I believe that the friendship between the two countries will be as long-lasting as the food. If there is an opportunity, I hope to invite the Prime Minister to taste Chinese food."

Mussolini suddenly became happy, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Dr. Kong, you are a rare gourmet, and we have a common language." After that, he asked Zhou Hexuan, "Mr. Zhou, don't you like it?"

"Of course, it's very interesting food." Zhou Hexuan suppressed his nausea and swallowed it in one gulp. He swallowed it until it reached his throat and almost vomited out his lunch.

After the appetizer of olive oil mixed with lemon juice and secret raw garlic, the food on the table finally became normal, and Mussolini's conversation became more and more enthusiastic. He speaks very gracefully and clearly, often with literary allusions. This image is highly respected by literati.

No wonder that before Italy invaded Ethiopia, Mussolini had a large number of celebrity fans. Eliot, Pound, Yeats, Bernard Shaw, Tagore, Churchill and Gandhi all expressed their admiration for Mussolini.

After meeting Mussolini twice, Tagore praised: "His Excellency Mussolini seems to have been carved by Michelangelo's masterful hands. Every move he makes shines with wisdom and power."

Mussolini talked from sculpture to painting, from politics to literature. There seemed to be no field he was not good at, and he fooled Kong Xiangxi and Chen Shaokuan into a daze. Suddenly, he talked about poetry again and asked Zhou Hexuan: "Does Mr. Zhou know Pound?"

"Ezra Pound?" Zhou Hexuan confirmed.

"Of course, that's him," Mussolini smiled. "He lives in Italy and has been exchanging letters with me. Every year we get together to talk about poetry and literature. Mr. Pound is very interested in your poetry. He This is the evaluation: In the modern Far East, there were two real poets, one was Rabindranath Tagore and the other was Zhou Hexuan."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "That's really my honor."

Ezra Pound, a poet who was second only to Eliot in popularity in the 1930s, was a super funny man who loved Eastern culture, and a talent who inspired many writers.

He has encouraged penniless young writers to keep writing, helping them find publications, writing book reviews, and even helping to pay the rent. Two of the young people he supported later became Nobel Prize winners in literature - Eliot and Hemingway.

Eliot's "The Waste Land" is hailed as a milestone in modern British and American poetry and the most representative work of symbolist literature. The original manuscript of "The Waste Land" was sent to Ezra Pound, and Pound deleted one-third of it before publishing it.

In addition, Pound was particularly fond of Eastern culture, studying and translating ancient Chinese poetry and Japanese haiku. In his later years, he lived in a mental hospital for 13 years. While suffering from mental illness, he wrote 25 long poems, and translated "The Book of Songs", "The Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" into Italian. He also won the Bollingen Poetry Prize and made great contributions to the development of modern poetry.

This guy was a die-hard fan of Mussolini and often made bizarre political remarks, hoping to solve various problems for all mankind.

In the face of traffic congestion, Pound suggested building roundabout streets; in the face of food shortages in Italy, Pound suggested Mussolini grow a variety of peanuts; and on the geopolitical issues in Asia, Pound believed that the Chinese and Japanese should join forces to bring Australia to the People are driven out of Australia...

Mussolini laughed and talked about interesting things about Pound, and then invited: "Mr. Pound will come to Rome on the fourth week of every month. I can introduce you to meet. Two great literary figures from the East and the West Home, I think we should have a great time chatting.”