Manhattan Reborn 1978

The Far East region of Xiong Daguo, Nakhodka Commercial Port.

Early morning~

In a small building near the port area.

Marat Poyezhnev came to Uncle Popov's room with a hearty breakfast and smiled at him.

"I've already unclogged it. After breakfast, you can go home first and see your family."

"Then I'd like to ask you to come with me on the boat to complete today's transaction."

"Deal?" Popov, who had just trimmed his beard with a razor, washed his chin with water and asked with a hint of self-mockery in his expression.

"What exactly do you need from me?"

Marat turned around and closed the door, walked to the table and sat down, pushing the dinner plate in front of Popov with his hand, and said seriously because the smile disappeared from his lips.

"I want you to continue to be my uncle!"

"...!" Popov threw the towel aside, held the dinner plate with one hand, looked at him quietly for a few seconds, and slowly shook his head.

"You are not the Marat I know, and I am not your uncle!"

"I know."

"But the Marat you knew so well is dead. I inherited his name and identity and started a family~"

"Believe it or not, I have a lot of ambiguity about my identity a lot of the time."

"Maybe...maybe...I have already thought of myself as Marat, too deep into the drama!"

"You see, even my speaking habits and actions have become more like an American..."

The corners of Popov's mouth twitched imperceptibly twice, and he picked up a piece of bread without answering.

Marat smiled with emotion, sat back in his chair, and said relaxedly.

"My wife and children, my friends and family, don't know who I really am."

"I can only bury it deep in my heart, devote myself wholeheartedly to life, let myself become Marat subtly, and do Marat well..."

"So I am Marat, Marat is me!"

"Except for the relevant records about me in the headquarters' confidential archives, only four people in the world know my true identity."

"Uncle Popov, you are the fourth!"

"Oh?"

"Are the remaining three people your bosses?"

"No~" Marat shrugged with a slightly weird expression and spread his hands.

"Of the three, only two are my direct supervisors."

"The other person is an important person who can facilitate this transaction and open up trade channels."

"You have lived in Nakhodka for many years, surely you can guess this person's name?"

"..." Popov ate his breakfast in silence and nodded.

(Note: Nakhodka Commercial Port belongs to the Far Eastern Primorye Territory. In terms of jurisdiction and importance, it cannot be compared with the Khabarovsk Krai in the north.

Because Amur Komsomolsk (Russian: komcomo?льckhaamy?pe) in the Khabarovsk Territory is the largest heavy industrial city in the Far East, with crude oil mining and refining, steel smelting, heavy machinery manufacturing, ship manufacturing and repair, wood processing, and building materials. and a series of important enterprises such as papermaking.

The largest normal college and comprehensive technical university in the Khabarovsk Territory are also located in Komsomolsk, Amur.

In 74, in order to further develop Siberia and the Far East, create favorable conditions for building a foreign trade base on the east coast, and increase the ability to transport military supplies and important materials to the eastern region, the Xiongguo government decided to restart Ust-Kut on the north shore of Lake Baikal in the west. , east to Amur Komsomolsk, a 3145-kilometer-long Belarus-Asia Railway construction plan.

Once this railway is opened to traffic, Khabarovsk Krai will complete a strategic transformation, replacing Vladivostok (Vladivostok), the most important military base in Primorye Krai, and become the real center of the Far East! )

. . .

in the room

Marat turned his head and glanced at the morning light outside the window, and said with nostalgia and helplessness in his eyes.

"When I was studying a few years ago, I didn't know the meaning of the military-industrial complex...what does it mean!"

"It wasn't until I went to the United States and occasionally heard people talking about former President Eisenhower that I finally understood its specific meaning."

"The so-called military-industrial complex refers to a huge interest group composed of military departments, military-industrial enterprises, some members of Congress and defense research institutions, plus giant private enterprises in many industries."

"When Eisenhower left office, in his famous farewell speech, he warned the American people to be wary of the dangers caused by the arms of the military-industrial complex."

"However, with the passage of time, the U.S. military-industrial complex has not only been restricted by the government, but has been controlling the country's politics, diplomacy, military and military strategies from behind."

“You can see from news reports in recent years that among the large contractors of the U.S. Department of Defense, the top ones are Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop and Grupo Mann Company.”

"Among them, Boeing does not rely entirely on defense arms orders like Lockheed Martin, Northrop and Grumman."

"It mainly produces civilian aircraft and occasionally accepts arms orders from the Ministry of Defense."

"In addition, there are companies such as General Dynamics, Raytheon and the British BAE Systems, which are also major contractors for US defense arms contracts."

"They not only accept defense orders from the United States and European countries, but also accept various transnational arms orders."

Marat's face turned red, he tapped his knee with his index finger, turned his eyes to the silent Popov, and said.

"When you hear what I say, does it sound a little familiar?"

"That's right~"

"Interest groups in the industrial towns in various regions of our country are also gradually transforming into military-industrial complexes."

"In a country within a country, this ridiculous and sad situation has already occurred in the country."

"What can we little people do?"

"Haha~"

"There's nothing we can do!"

"Because as long as we make the slightest move, those who want to protect their own interests will immediately evaporate us and disappear without a trace~"

Marat's face slowly turned from red to dark, and he tried to control his emotions and whispered.

"If our transaction today can be successfully completed, it will make the Nakhodka Commercial Port a breakthrough point in the Far East's foreign export blockade and establish a trade channel that can steadily earn countless foreign exchanges!"

"So regardless of national interests or personal interests, I and we must do our best to facilitate the successful completion of today's transaction."

"Uncle Popov!"

"Maybe you still love me in your heart..."

"Okay!" Popov waved his hand to interrupt Marat, picked up the milk cup and drank it, stood up and said.

"I will cooperate with you to complete the work, and you will help me get out of here."

"Deal!" Marat stretched out his right hand habitually and said with a smile.

Popov ignored him at all, turned around and walked to the bed to put on his coat, glanced at the scenery outside the window, took out a dagger transformed from a table knife from his pocket, and whispered.

"Take me home."

"Okay~" Marat said this habitual spoken word, and immediately realized that he had forgotten where he was.

After hearing this, Popov, who had his back turned to him, showed an intriguing smile.

----

Europe.

London, England.

A quarter past eight in the morning.

Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane, sixth floor.

Otis Parker was sitting in the living room of the suite, inviting the visiting guest Miss Tilda Swinton to sit down and smiled.

"Did you just get off the train?"

Tilda Swinton, a girl with a ponytail, glanced at the suitcase placed at the door by the hotel attendant and nodded.

"Yeah~ I just came back from school."

She asked with curiosity in her eyes, looking at the smiling Mr. Parker.

"My parents were invited by Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire, to visit her. When they came back, their attitudes completely changed."

"What on earth did you do?"

"Haha~"

Mr. Parker smiled and waved his hand, poured the freshly brewed black tea for Tilda, and explained.

"I just talked to the Duchess about some issues that she has been unwilling to think deeply about, and she agreed to help you persuade your parents to respect your freedom and choices more."

"Uh...?!" Tilda felt even more curious and showed a question mark on her face.

Mr. Parker picked up the milkshake cup, poured some into the teacup, stirred it evenly, then held it up and smiled.

"When I say this, you may not understand."

"Let me tell you a historical event~"

"King Pahlavi II of Iran, in order to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the First Persian Empire (Achaemenid Empire) established by Cyrus the Great~"

"At the same time, he also wants to take this opportunity to show the world the history and prosperity of Iran's civilization."

"Therefore, Pahlavi II chose to hold a celebration to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire in Persepolis, the capital of the Persian Empire."

"But Persepolis, once the capital of the first Persian Empire, although extremely prosperous thousands of years ago, has long since lost its glory~"

"The city's infrastructure is simply not equipped to handle such a world-class event."

"So, in order to ensure the successful completion of this event, Pahlavi II launched a series of preparation plans."

"He first sent people to Angpospolis to drive away all the low-level people living there."

"He also transplanted fifteen thousand trees and countless blooming flowers to the outskirts of Persepolis to form a lush green garden~"

"Then he imported more than 50,000 birds from Europe and put them in the woods, hoping that the guests who came to the celebration could see the beautiful scenery of singing birds and fragrant flowers~"

"Finally, he got inspiration from the temporary palace where King Francois I of France met with King Henry VIII of England in 1520, and commissioned the famous French decoration company Maison Jansen to use 50 kilometers of silk, A golden tent city was built in the green garden!"

"On October 1971, 10, the celebration was held as scheduled."

"More than 600 guests attended the celebration, all of whom were high-level representatives and celebrities from governments around the world~"

"Pahlavi II, in order to facilitate the travel of distinguished guests during the celebration, specially purchased more than 200 Mercedes-Benz cars as special vehicles."

Mr. Parker observed Tilda carefully while telling "rambling" historical stories.

When he saw that Tilda was not agitated at all and her eyes showed a more curious light, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly and asked casually.

"Have you ever heard of Maxime, the most famous restaurant in Paris?"

Tilda was stunned for a few seconds, blinked her big eyes and shook her head: "No."

"Haha~"

"Pahlavi II, in order to let the guests feel the host's enthusiasm, specially invited all the staff of Maxim Restaurant to arrive at the celebration banquet in advance to prepare carefully."

"The Maxim restaurant, the focus of Paris, has been temporarily closed for two weeks for this reason."

"The wine that the guests drank at the banquet was Dom Perignon Rose produced in 1959."

"It is said that the total volume of this batch of red wine is less than 1,000 bottles. Its current price per bottle is enough to cover a middle-class family's living expenses for several months."

"The main dish at that banquet, which was reported by media from all over the world, was 50 roasted peacocks inlaid with exquisite foie gras and surrounded by quail."

"What? Roasted peacock??"

"The peacock was roasted and eaten by them...??"

"Yeah~"

Mr. Parker looked at Tilda's extremely shocked expression and smiled crookedly.

"The peacock was once a symbol of the Persian Empire."

"The throne of the ancient Iranian kingdom was once called the Peacock Throne."

"In the end, this grand banquet, which lasted more than five hours, came to an end with a beautiful nighttime sound and light show~"

"The day after the celebration, Pahlavi II returned to Tehran, the capital of Iran, and held an unveiling ceremony for the Shah's Memorial Tower (Azadi Tower), a landmark building in Iran~"

"At the unveiling ceremony, when a foreign reporter asked Pahlavi II how much the celebration cost~"

"An official under his command said that in order to reduce the overall cost of the celebration, the king has repeatedly reduced the planned funding for the scale of the celebration, and only spent about 1500 million yuan."

Mr. Parker raised the index finger of his left hand to the "dumbfounded" cute girl Tilda and smiled.

"However, after summarizing the intelligence information I obtained through various channels, the final figure I calculated is... more than 100 million yuan!"

"One hundred million?" Tilda couldn't help but open her mouth wide, her face full of disbelief. .

"Yes!"

"In August 71, President Nixon had just announced that gold would be decoupled from the rice dollar... 8 million meters!"

"Hi~hoo!!!"

Tilda seemed to understand somewhat of Mr. Parker's intention in telling this story.

Because recently, news about Shah Pahlavi II of Iran has been reported on television and newspapers almost every day.

News such as the ouster of Pahlavi II and the return of Khomeini to reorganize the government gave ordinary British people another new thing to discuss in addition to work, study and life. .

Mr. Parker took a sip of the "homemade milk tea" and suddenly smiled evilly when he saw the "awakened" expression on Tilda's face.

"This story sounds good, right?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Haha~ I made it all up!"

"...Huh?!" Tilda was so surprised that she opened her mouth and asked.

"Did you make it up?"

"Hmm~"

"I made these up temporarily after you came in."

"That's not right..."

Tilda murmured feeling a little "confused".

"I remember seeing some reports on TV news..."

"Yes."

"Based on the little information you know, I processed it and made up this story that will make you feel extremely surprised, curious and sighing."

"..." Tilda was speechless.

Mr. Parker took another sip of milk tea, raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "There is a word David often says - think independently!"

"do you remember?"

"Yeah..." Tilda's eyes brightened a little when she heard the name, and she nodded in response.

"Then do you know what independent thinking is?"

"...I don't quite understand."

"It's ok."

"This is actually more difficult. You need to observe more, listen more, and record more to lay the foundation for independent thinking."

"And when you gradually see more, listen more, and understand more, you will naturally understand the value of having independent consciousness and independent thinking ability!"

"Okay..." Tilda looked at Mr. Parker seriously for a few seconds and nodded slightly.

"ok~"

"So, let's move on to the next topic."

"When are you going to find David?"

"what?"

"this.."

"You don't want to go? Don't you want to see him?"

"..think!"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"Should I book a flight for you now?"

Tilda blinked her big eyes and looked at the suitcase placed at the door, her mouth open but she didn't say anything.

Mr. Parker put his hand on the microphone, looked at her silence, and simply helped her make a decision. .

Young people should make some passionate and impulsive decisions!