Upon hearing this, Fang Lang immediately knew that what he and Nottingham Jones had said had reached the governor's ears. Seeing this, Fang Lang didn't hide anything and said directly with a smile:
"That's right! I asked the Governor to come here today precisely because of this matter!"
"Oh! So, there is a place where I can help General Fang, right?"
"Yes, I would like to ask the Governor to grant me a piece of land in Hong Kong City to build my museum."
As a British person, I am very interested in cultural relics from various countries. Think about how many precious cultural relics from other countries are collected in the British Museum.
Now that Fang Lang told him that a private museum would be built on his site, he would of course be very interested, especially the cultural relics collected in the museum.
"It seems that General Fang has a lot of collections! He actually needs to build a private museum to collect them."
The interested expression on Grantham's face set off alarm bells in Fang Lang's heart. These British people are all robbers. Now that the port city has not returned, when the time comes, you won't be bothered by these British people when you put your collection in the museum!
But now only Hong Kong City can store these cultural relics. It’s not that he can’t send these things directly back to his hometown, but if he sends them back to his hometown, it’s hard to say how much of these things can be retained when the special period comes. .
Therefore, even if it is to be sent back to my hometown, it must not be at this time. After the reform and opening up or after the return of the port city, I can send it back however I want. There is no problem in opening a private museum in my hometown.
Since I can't send it back to my hometown now, the best option is to put it in Gangcheng or Haojiang. Haojiang is actually not bad, but the place there is too small. I want to build a larger museum. There is not enough land.
In addition, in Hong Kong City, we have the opportunity to receive more good things from our hometown. Therefore, overall, we can only build the museum in Hong Kong City.
It is actually very simple to stop the British from coveting the museum collections. You only need to arrange a force that the other side does not dare to covet to guard the museum.
It might be really difficult for other people to come up with such a power, but he happened to have such a power in his hands.
As early as the night of the conflict at the food stall, Fang Lang had intended to open a Whip of God branch in Hong Kong City, but after thinking about it, he finally decided to postpone the implementation of the plan.
First of all, he was worried that if he proposed it, he might have a bad association with the other party. After all, as a Chinese, he had a powerful paramilitary force in Hong Kong City and was not under the official control of Hong Kong City. He would inevitably It made many British people feel uneasy.
It is better to let General Clark fly to the port city at the right time. It may be easier for him, a retired American general, to gain support in the port city.
Secondly, Fang Lang was also worried that the establishment of a Whip of God branch in Hong Kong at this time might be used to make a fuss by the Americans.
After all, the Peninsula War is about to break out. If you set up a God's Whip branch in Hong Kong at this time, the Americans might take the opportunity to place an order for the company and let their company create a little chaos in the south of their hometown. This is not convenient. Lang wants to see it.
Therefore, it is better to simply wait until the Peninsula War is over before officially opening a branch in Hong Kong City. This can not only protect its industry in Hong Kong City, but also prepare for the South Vietnam War that will break out in the future.
In the end, Fang Lang resisted the urge to propose building a Whip of God branch in Hong Kong City at this time. After pondering for a moment, he responded directly:
"There are some collections, but not a lot. This is just a personal hobby of mine. When I passed through Japan this time, I met two enthusiastic friends. They heard that I liked this stuff, so they bought some for me.
I thought about transporting them back directly, but the sea route was far away, the wind was high and the waves were rough, and I was worried about any accidents. I happened to arrive at the port city, so I wanted to see if I should leave them there. Just come over and have a look when you have time.
how? Your Excellency the Governor is also interested in these things? "
"Haha... I am interested in everything that carries history. Unfortunately, my personal financial resources are limited and I cannot collect too many collections. If your private museum can really be established in Hong Kong City, it will be a great success for me. Very good news.
I only need to pay the cost of one ticket to visit the precious cultural relics that only a big boss like you can afford to collect.
I just don’t know how big a private museum you plan to build in Hong Kong City? Now the port city has received many Chinese refugees, which has put great pressure on our population and very tight land resources.
So if you want to build a museum with a huge area, the location may not be very good. "
Grantham smiled very honestly and had no intention of being fake at all! There was no hint that Fang Lang wanted to give him two cultural relics, which made Fang Lang confused about the other party's true thoughts for a while.
However, the other party brought up the population pressure of the port city, which still made Fang Lang a little confused. After all, their labor dispatch company and immigration company had been transferring refugees from the port city. There were indeed a large number of refugees in port cities in history, but they should not exist now!
This made him unable to help but ask:
"Your Excellency, Governor, as far as I know, the labor dispatch company of Brazil Oriental Group has been recruiting Chinese workers in the port city, and their work is also very effective. One or two immigrant ships can leave the port city almost every week.
This should be able to greatly alleviate the population pressure on Hong Kong City. Why does the Governor still feel that Hong Kong City is facing huge population pressure? "
After hearing Fang Lang's words, Grantham first smiled, then turned into a bitter smile, shrugged helplessly and said:
"General Fang doesn't know. Before the war, the population of Hong Kong City was about one million. After the war, sporadic refugees who escaped from Hong Kong returned to Hong Kong City. At that time, your labor dispatch company recruited immigrant workers in Huacheng and entered our The number of refugees in the port city is actually not large.
But as the war broke out within China, some refugees gradually fled into the Hong Kong City to escape the war. According to our judgment, these refugees should value the fact that the Hong Kong City is closer to China and prepare to return to Hong Kong after the war. Back home.
Therefore, they did not follow the ship of your immigration company, which allowed the population of our port city to quickly recover to the pre-war one million people in mid-1946.
But this is not over yet. With the outbreak of the civil war, the actions of your labor dispatch company have obviously become bigger. Even people in Hong Kong City have appeared specifically to help you recruit refugees. This has caused the population pressure in our Hong Kong City to skyrocket. These people Most of them only stayed in the port city for a short time and then boarded your immigration ship directly.
But there are also some refugees who, for whatever reason, did not follow your immigration ship, but stayed directly. This put us in a difficult situation. As of now, the number of refugees stranded in our port city has exceeded one million, which means that one out of every two people in the port city is a refugee. "
When Fang Lang heard this, he was stunned. What do you mean? This is blaming our immigration company for the increase in the number of refugees in Hong Kong City!
However, Fang Lang also heard what Grantham meant. The Hong Kong government's current judgment is that these refugees should only stay in the port city for a short time to escape the war, and will not stay in the port city forever.
Therefore, Fang Lang also chose to follow his words directly:
"Haha... Mr. Governor, you have said that these refugees should be fleeing the war. When the other side stabilizes, they should all return to their hometowns. By then, won't the population pressure in the port city be greatly reduced?
This is not a bad thing for you. Is it just a very cheap labor force? It’s a good opportunity to develop some labor-intensive industries to quickly restore the port city’s economy! "
Grantham originally took the opportunity to complain about Fanglang and their immigration company, which attracted too many refugees to the port city, causing great population pressure on the port city. Unexpectedly, the other party took the opportunity to refer to these refugees as the port city. opportunities for development.
This filled his heart with Fang Lang's resentment, but Fang Lang's statement that the refugees would return to their homeland sooner or later coincided with his thoughts.
Unfortunately, he did not realize that Huacheng has been liberated now, and peace has long been restored in China across from the port city. If these refugees really wanted to return to their homeland, they would have gone back long ago, and there was no need to wait until now.
In fact, most of the refugees stranded in the port city support the government. It turns out that they are stranded in the port city hoping that the government will win, so that they can return to their hometown in glory.
But the actual situation now is exactly the opposite. The regime they had hoped for was destined to fail due to corruption and incompetence. Then naturally these people will not go back again.
Now most of these people still have some savings on hand, so they are unwilling to follow labor dispatch companies from Brazil to work thousands of miles away. But when their savings are slowly exhausted, their lives will inevitably fall into trouble.
"I hope so! I no longer have time to care about when the refugees will return home. The more important thing now is that the heavy troops stationed in Huacheng on the opposite side may cross the border at any time. This is what I am most worried about now. "
Upon hearing this, Fang Lang's eyes moved slightly. It seems that he took the initiative to say that the other side would not take the initiative to attack the port city last time, which aroused Grantham's attention! Now that the other party brought up this topic again, he obviously meant something.
Seeing this, Fang Lang smiled. At this moment, the waiters in the restaurant began to bring plates of exquisite dishes to the table. Fang Lang stopped talking and made room for the waiters to serve the dishes.
Because there were only two people eating, there were not many dishes on this table, only three meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one soup. In order to prevent waste, the portions of the dishes were not large. Therefore, the dishes were served quickly.
After the waiter left, Fang Lang picked up his chopsticks and gestured to Grantham:
"Your Majesty the Governor, the food is here, let's chat while we eat!"
Grantham was hired by the British Colonial Office when he was in his twenties and went to work in the Colonial Secretary's Office of the British Hong Kong Government. After arriving in Hong Kong, he went to Guangzhou and Macau to learn Cantonese. Therefore, he was already very familiar with Cantonese food and chopsticks. The use of it is even more comfortable.
After hearing what Fang Lang said, he was not polite, picked up the chopsticks skillfully and said:
"Then you're welcome. Jialinlou's barbecued pork tastes really amazing. I haven't tasted it for a long time."
As he spoke, he started to use his chopsticks.
Fang Lang looked at Grantham's skillful movements and smiled and said:
"Hehe... It seems that the Governor is also a gourmet! It was only after I stayed at the Peninsula Hotel in the past few days that I realized that the best Cantonese food in Hong Kong City is hidden in the restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel.
I've enjoyed a lot of food these days! It is a pity that the Governor lives in Central and it is not very convenient to come to the Peninsula Hotel. Otherwise, I could invite the Governor to have dinner every day! "
Hearing this, Ge Lianghong also laughed and said:
"Haha... don't tell me, I really thought about hiring the chef from Jialin Tower to serve as my personal chef in the Governor's Mansion, but then I thought that doing so might cause public outrage, so I had to give up this idea. idea."
"Haha... If Mr. Governor really did this, I would have no chance to taste such delicious food."
The two chatted for a while, and after drinking a few sips of red wine, Grantham saw that Fang Lang seemed unwilling to bring up the topic he had just raised about the mainland soldiers pressing the border, and couldn't help but speak again:
"General Fang, I remember you told me very definitely last time that the other side would not directly use force against the port city, right?"
This time Fang Lang did not answer directly, but picked up the wine glass and took a sip before slowly raising his head and saying:
"Your Majesty the Governor, it turns out that I do feel this way, but that is a judgment based on my knowledge of the other party.
But after living in Hong Kong City during this period, I learned about some of Hong Kong City’s policies and the thoughts of politicians. I feel that my ideas are one-sided. "
Grantham never expected that Fang Lang's thoughts would undergo such a huge change in such a short period of time. He was a little stunned for a moment. He even lost the mood to eat. He put down his chopsticks and asked:
"Oh! What unusual situation has General Fang discovered in Hong Kong City recently that would make you think like this?"
Noticing Grantham's move to put down his chopsticks, Fang Lang didn't pay attention, but continued to take a piece of roast duck and put it into his mouth. After carefully tasting the delicious food for a while, Fang Lang looked at Grantham's eager mouth. In his eyes, he slowly said:
"Because I had never heard of the "Muchi Yang Plan" before. This was a variable I learned about only after I came to Hong Kong City.
In my opinion, if Hong Kong City really implements this plan, then I am sure that the other side will directly use force to take back Hong Kong City. "
Grantham's expression froze when he heard Fang Lang mentioning "Muchi Yang Project", but he quickly recovered and looked at Fang Lang with deep eyes and said:
"So General Fang is very dissatisfied with this "Yang Mucci Plan"?"
Hearing this, Fang Lang raised his head with a smile, looked into Grantham's eyes opposite, and said word by word:
"Isn't the Governor himself very unfavorable to this plan?"
These words made Grantham silent for a long time. He did not speak at all, but looked at the young man opposite him with burning eyes. Fang Lang did not avoid Grantham's eyes, and looked at him very calmly for a long time.
(End of chapter)
