Chapter 166: Easing Relationship with Lao Su
In Hong Kong, a book that sells 100,000 copies is considered a bestseller. After all, there are only so many people in Hong Kong, and many people don't have the habit of reading. They prefer to read newspapers, so even Jin Yong's martial arts novels only sold a few hundred thousand copies when they were first published. The reason why so many copies were sold was the result of multiple publications later.
Jin Yong's novels have been popular from the 1950s and 1960s to the new century. Not only have they been published many times, but they have also been adapted into film and television dramas many times, and have always been a guarantee of ratings.
In this regard, Liu Hongmin is indeed far behind Jin Yong.
However, in terms of international influence, Liu Hongmin is far ahead of Jinyong.
"Richard, is The Terror Ship available?"
Richard is Liu Hongmin's exclusive editor at Random House, serving only Liu Hongmin. Random House hopes that Liu Hongmin will focus more on Transformers. Compared with the income from Transformers, the income from publishing Liu Hongmin's books is negligible.
"Mr. Liu, The Grim Reaper was just released the day before yesterday and has been selling well. According to distributors, it has received very good reviews and is very popular among young people. I'm not going to tell readers that they bought the book because of recommendations from friends in Hong Kong."
"Friends from Hong Kong?" Liu Hongmin was a little surprised. "Do you know what's going on?"
"I asked my friends in Hong Kong and found out that young people there really like The Cruise. They even set up a reading club to discuss the contents of the book."
Liu Hongmin laughed, "Really? Then I really have to thank them."
He didn't expect that there would be an unexpected surprise. These young foreigners in Hong Kong could actually increase sales in the European and American markets. This butterfly effect was really unexpected.
In May, Liu Hongmin returned to Beijing. When he went to see Professor Tao, he felt that the atmosphere in the school was a little different.
"Professor, what's going on in the school?"
Professor Tao shook his head and said, "Isn't this because Lao Su has changed his leader?"
"I know about this, but what does it have to do with us?"
"The new leader is a believer in Western democracy and has always wanted to change the old Soviet political system."
Liu Hongmin frowned slightly, "This... has nothing to do with us, right?"
Professor Tao glanced at him and asked, "Don't you know the reason?"
Liu Hongmin shook his head speechlessly. He actually guessed the reason. There were American factions and Soviet factions in the country. When the new leader of the old Soviet Union came to power, he was ready to abandon the political system, which made the Soviet faction feel that the sky had fallen.
The Soviet faction thinks too highly of everything about the Soviet Union. Even if the two countries have fallen out, they still regard the Soviet Union as their big brother. It's not that they don't know that there is no affection between the two great powers. The Soviet Union has been targeting us for many years, and they have also witnessed it. They just want to find a shelter out of fear of the United States. Compared with the United States, the Soviet Union has the same system as us anyway.
To put it bluntly, both factions are actually surrender factions, but their goals of surrender are different.
Liu Hongmin has always disliked these two gangs, but since the higher-ups didn't punish them, it means they are still useful. "I heard in Hong Kong that Lao Su's aid to Yuehou has decreased a lot?"
"That's true." Professor Tao said, "After the new leader took office, Lao Su focused his attention on internal rectification. So at this time, Lao Su will gradually restrain his minions, and there may be no new external actions before the internal rectification is completed."
"So, our relationship with Lao Su will gradually improve."
"It all depends on what Lao Su does. If they really want to improve relations with us, they must stop aiding Yuehou."
Professor Tao was right. Although the Soviet Union did not stop its aid, it gave less aid to Vietnam. Under the blockade of Europe and the United States in recent years, the Soviet Union's economy is not very prosperous. Not to mention compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, even compared with us after the reform and opening up, there is still a big gap. If it weren't for the strong foundation of the Soviet Union, I'm afraid it would have collapsed long ago.
The Soviet Union's tough approach has made it make too many enemies. If you want to engage in bipolar confrontation, you should just focus on dealing with Europe and the United States. You have to rely on your own strength to bully us.
We are the third world. Although we cannot catch up with the United States and the Soviet Union, we have a large group of countries behind us. Take the Three Kingdoms as an example. You, Liu Bei, can't even deal with Cao Cao, but you have to bully Sun Quan when fighting Cao Cao. Now Cao Cao and Sun Quan are forming an alliance. How can you, Liu Bei, be okay?
Lao Su's presence in Afghanistan is equivalent to the Battle of Xiangfan. Being dragged into the quagmire of war is equivalent to Guan Yu being dragged by Cao's army, waiting to be stolen by Lu Meng. Once the war is unsustainable, it is equivalent to Guan Yu leaving Maicheng and Liu Bei losing Jingzhou. If there is no genius like Zhuge Liang, fear is not far from destruction.
Obviously, the new leader of Laosu realized this, so soon after taking office, he sent us a signal of goodwill.
However, improving relations between the two countries cannot be achieved in a short period of time.
We accepted the goodwill, but we were still wary of Lao Su. In northern Xinjiang, we withdrew some troops and sent a signal of goodwill to Lao Su.
In the two years after Chen Yu retired, the northern border was not peaceful. Liu Hongmin's childhood friends were all militiamen in their hometown. Once again, something unusual happened in the northern border, and they received a transfer order to march more than 100 miles on foot to garrison in Hanhai City. However, just as they arrived at Linxiang, they received an order to withdraw.
Sure enough, Lao Su gave a response. They not only withdrew part of the troops, but also once again cut aid to Yuehou.
As relations between the two countries gradually eased, trade in the north began to normalize. This was an opportunity for development for the Northeast region.
The strange atmosphere on the Kyoto University campus gradually disappeared. The Su faction was extremely disappointed with Lao Su and began to change.
Some of them felt that we still needed protection, so they turned to the American camp. Some others finally realized that it is better to rely on oneself than on others, and turned to the self-reliance camp.
By June, the goodwill shown by both sides was sufficient, and Xiyuan adjusted its policy and announced a reduction of one million troops.
A large number of active military personnel returned home, and Liu Hongmin took the opportunity to set up a construction company and then recruited veterans. The quality of military products these days is very trustworthy, and the construction speed is very fast. The construction of the toy factory's family quarters and commercial streets has already started. After recruiting a large number of engineering soldiers, the construction speed immediately increased. It only takes another three to five months to complete the project.
This is the result of strong support from Pengcheng. Without the coordination work from Pengcheng, the building materials could not be delivered in time. According to the rationing these days, it would be good if it could be built later.
(End of this chapter)
