British writer

Lu Shi didn't expect that he would have to give lectures on the boat.

But he's used to it,

During the period when I was a guest of political and economic affairs in London, I talked about various historical stories and historical analysis a lot.

Lu Shi smiled and said, "Since we're talking about Peter the Great, let's talk about his father."

The jump is a bit big.

Peshkov frowned and recalled for a while, then took over the conversation: "Alexey?"

It is not difficult to see from these words that he does understand history,

Because there are two tsars between Alexei and Peter I, namely Fyodor III and Ivan V, many people who can only read and do not read are easy to put on their hats.

Lu Shi said: "Like Peter the Great, Alexei also made a lot of achievements. During his reign, he captured Smolensk and was able to control the east of the Dnieper River. This may be more important than Peter I's control of the Baltic Sea."

Peshkov frowned,

"After all, it's still a territory. The achievements of Peter I lie in Westernization and industrialization."

Lu Shi said: "Wrong. The work of Westernization had already started during Alexei's time. You should know that Peter the Great grew up in Huangcun, and Huangcun is near a foreign immigration area. There are many Germans skilled worker."

Peshkov was speechless.

As a result, before Lu Shi finished speaking,

"Also, Peter the Great's daughter was no mediocrity. After Peter the Great's death, the conservatives returned to power, the Baltic Fleet was nearly deserted, and his daughter Elisabeth took power, retrained the navy and defeated Sweden."

George Bernard Shaw reminded: "Mr. Peshkov doesn't care about territory, he only cares about Westernization and industrialization."

Lu Shi went on to say: "Elizabeth actively participated in the construction of the Russian Academy of Sciences. During her reign, an all-round scientist appeared in Russia, Lomonosov, who was known as the 'Peter the Great in the history of Russian science'."

The corner of Bernard Shaw's mouth curled up, and he turned to Peshkov,

"Sir, do you understand?"

Peshkov could not speak a word for a long time.

After a while, he finally came to his senses and asked, "Ming... what do you understand?"

Bernard Shaw smiled and said, "I understand that I don't understand the history of the motherland. You say you are very good, why provoke Lu? He is our visiting professor of political and economics in London, and the academic circles call him 'the founder of modern historiography'."

Being a visiting professor at such a young age?

What's more, "the founder of modern historiography"?

This title is too bluffing!

Peshkov was dumbfounded.

Lu Shi said: "Great achievements cannot be accomplished by one or two generations. It requires the joint efforts of multiple generations of monarchs in one direction. It is great that Peter the Great singled it out, but the accumulation of little things is the characteristic of the Romanov dynasty."

Bernard Shaw laughed and said, "Not necessarily, it's okay to live a little longer."

He is clearly implying the current queen.

Lu Shi complained: "The Romanov Dynasty has been around for nearly three hundred years. If anyone lives that long, he will become an old monster."

old monster?

Bernard Shaw grinned and smiled more happily.

Seeing the two arguing, Peshkov couldn't help asking: "Professor Lu, is it possible that you are a supporter of dictatorship?"

Lu Shi rolled his eyes,

"Who says I support dictatorship?"

Peshkov said: "Then you just wrote a special letter for the Romanov dynasty?"

Lu Shi sighed,

"The Romanov dynasty still has faint kings~ For example, Peter II issued an edict to move the palace back to Moscow. Although St. Petersburg is still the capital of the empire in name, in fact, all administrative orders came from Moscow. This behavior is undoubtedly Stand up for the conservatives."

Peshkov was stunned and couldn't figure out what the other party was thinking.

Lu Shi saw through his thoughts,

"Mr. Peshkov, don't classify and label people at will. For example, just now, I said that there are great rulers among the tsars. Do you want to evaluate all Chinese people because of this?"

Peshkov blushed,

Just now, he really wanted to complain that "the Chinese are either yearning for a wise ruler, or they are yearning for an upright official".

Lu Shi chuckled,

"Looking at things, we still have to be objective~"

Peshkov said respectfully: "Be taught. I never thought about... um... wait! Mr. Xiao just said 'the founder of modern history', could it be that Professor Lu is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" author?"

Lu Shi said, "That's right, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" is exactly my clumsy work."

A gleam of joy flashed across Peshkov's face, and he looked at Bernard Shaw,

"Then you are the Chancellor of LSE, Mr. Shaw?"

Bernard Shaw smiled, a little resigned to his old age, and taught: "It's good for young people to have ideas and enterprising spirit, but don't be foolish. If you fall into a bag and can't get it out, not only will you fail to accomplish anything, but you will easily hurt yourself."

Peshkov was in his thirties and could indeed be called a "young man" by George Bernard Shaw.

He said, "But... well..."

Long sigh.

Seeing that the other party lowered his head in deep thought, Bernard Shaw should still be thinking about the conversation just now.

He winked at Lu.

For the two of them, Peshkov's intrusion was like a small episode. A few words of chat were fine, but in-depth exchanges were fine.

None of them wanted to say more.

Lu Shi took the opportunity to say: "I'm going to pass by the White Cliff of Dover at a short distance. Come on, let's go to the deck on the other side and have a look. If we're lucky, we might see the rock wall of the White Cliff slide down. Spectacular."

Bernard Shaw followed suit:

"good."

After the two finished talking, they were ready to leave.

Seeing that they were going to leave, Peshkov was a little unwilling, hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "Professor Lu, Mr. Xiao, I am the person in charge of Knowledge Publishing House. I wonder if you two have time next?"

Bernard Shaw stopped slightly, as if he had thought of something.

Lu Shi was curious,

"Have you heard of Knowledge Publishing House?"

Bernard Shaw replied: "You should know that Russia has not been peaceful recently."

Lu Shi touched his chin,

"Is there any peaceful place in the world?"

Bernard Shaw laughed loudly and said, "No indeed! However, the unrest in Tsarist Russia is different from other places. They are brewing a revolution~"

As he said that, Bernard Shaw glanced at Peshkov, and said in a low voice: "If I remember correctly, the Knowledge Publishing House is one of several 'vanguards'. Through the publication of series, it has united a large number of democratic writers of socialist tendencies.”

Lu Shi was curious,

"What's the name of the series?"

Bernard Shaw laughed and said, "It's called Knowledge."

Lu Shi was startled suddenly,

He turned his head and stared at Peshkov's face,

Gradually, this face overlapped with an oil painting in the textbook.

Lu Shi carefully asked in Russian: "Maxim Gorky?"

Peshkov's instant flush,

"You know me?"

It really is!

"hiss……"

Lu Shi couldn't help but gasp.

No wonder I didn't recognize it just now. It turned out that the pictures I've seen are all oil paintings, which are a bit more abstract than real people.

Bernard Shaw asked Gorky: "Young man, your face is so red, are you nervous?"

Gorky's face became even redder,

two reasons,

One, excitement,

It is his honor to be known to the founder of modern historiography;

Second, sorry,

Gorky is his pseudonym, which means "greatest pain" in Russian,

This pseudonym is full of power on paper, but if it is said in person, especially if it is said by a foreigner in Russian, it will sound awkward.

Gorky whispered: "I didn't expect Professor Lu to know me."

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yeah, I didn't expect that either."

As he spoke, he rubbed his temples, muttering to himself,

The world is too small!

Bernard Shaw said: "I have read Mr. Gorky's Essays and Short Stories, and I especially like "Song of the Eagle", which is very good."

"Collection of Essays and Short Stories" is Gorky's first collection of works. Although there are only two volumes, Gorky has since become famous in the Russian and European literary circles.

Gorky hesitated to speak,

He wanted Bernard Shaw and Lu Shi to call him by his real name, but in the end he held back.

Communicate in person, or by pseudonym,

Although a little secondary disease.

Gorky saluted Shaw,

"It is my honor that Mr. Xiao has read my work."

Bernard Shaw waved his hand and said, "No wonder you only said you were Russian, but you didn't want to talk about Russia. It turns out that it was because you were dissatisfied with the Tsar."

Of course Gorky would be dissatisfied with the Tsar,

Those who have watched "In the World" should know that he has been earning a living independently since he was 10 years old. He worked as an apprentice, porter, janitor, and baker successively.

Gorky sighed,

"However, Professor Lu seems to have a different point of view from mine."

Bernard Shaw raised his eyebrows slightly,

He didn't wait for Lu Shi to open his mouth, and he took the initiative to break the siege: "Mr. Gorky, as I said just now, you'd better not get into a dead end. Let's just talk about Peter the Great. Without his Westernization reforms, what would the literacy rate of your country be? From this point of view, he also helped you promote the revolution~"

Gorky could not refute this.

Lu Shi saw that he was embarrassed, so he changed the topic and said, "Mr. Gorky is running a publishing house in Russia? Why did you come to England?"

Gorky replied: "Because of a lecture given by a professor at Cambridge University."

He took out his magazine,

"here."

Lu Shi and Bernard Shaw glanced at the opened page, and couldn't help but look at each other,

It's actually "I Have a Dream".

Bernard Shaw coughed lightly,

"That's not what a professor at Cambridge University did."

Gorky was a little confused,

"no?"

He looked at the magazine again and asked, "Isn't this an internal publication of Cambridge University?"

Bernard Shaw sighed, and complained to Lu Shi: "I have always known that the overseas influence of University of London Alliance Press is far less than that of Cambridge Press, but I am still unhappy when things come to an end."

Lu Shi comforted: "It's okay, when "Mirror" is opened, it will get better."

What UCL Press?

What "Mirror"?

...

Listening to the inexplicable conversation, Gorky's eyes wandered back and forth between the two,

It looked like watching a table tennis match.

George Bernard Shaw said: "Mr. Gorky, you are here in England to visit Cambridge University and request to publish this speech in Knowledge?"

Gorky nodded,

"That's right. Is there a more inspiring article on equality and democracy than this speech? Fortunately, the professors at Cambridge University have an international spirit. I didn't even meet the speaker himself, and he agreed to my request for publication. Really People are like their own words."

Lu Shi coughed lightly,

"This speech, I did not mention the copyright requirements."

Gorky bowed to Lu,

"Thanks……!?????"

He bowed halfway, then stood up abruptly, almost shaking his waist.

Lu Shi pointed to the magazine,

"That name, Lu, is me."

When Gorky stared at Lu like a god, his whole body was in a state of shock.

Bernard Shaw on the side said: "You may not know that Lu, like Mr. Tolstoy and Mr. Maupassant, satirizes everyone. His play "Yes! Prime Minister" is sought after by almost all London citizens."

This is a bit too much to say,

Lu Shi didn't dare to compare with those two.

He hurriedly said: "It's different, it's different. Although they are all satires, "Resurrection" and "Ball of Fat" are distracting, and "Yes! The Prime Minister" is distracting."

George Bernard Shaw because he had read "Yes! Prime Minister”, understand the difference between walking the heart and walking the kidney:

Yangchun Baixue VS Xialiba people;

Aftertaste vs Immediate Thrill.

Gorky can't,

"That...what is 'kidney loss'?"

After asking, he twirled his beard with his fingers embarrassingly, and said, "I heard that there are two popular new dramas in London, "Roman Holiday" and "Yes! Prime Minister", but I was pressed for time, so I didn't go to see them."

Bernard Shaw looked at Lu Shi,

"Why don't you give me an example of losing a kidney?"

Lu Shi said: ""Yes! The Prime Minister" is full of political satires of Great Britain, so it's hard to give examples."

He turned to Gorky,

"Didn't we talk about Napoleon when we talked about "Resurrection" just now? About his restoration, I have a sarcastic joke, listen to it?"

Gorky made a state of all ears,

"You say."

Lu Shi said:

"

When Napoleon was restored, he led his army gradually approaching Paris. At the time, the newspapers in Paris reported this:

"The Monster from Corsica Lands at Port Jouin";

"The Unexplainable Ogre King Approaches Grass";

"The Entry of Despicable Kleptocrats into Grere-Noble";

"Napoleon Bonaparte Occupation of Lyon";

General Bonaparte Approaching Fontainebleau;

"His Majesty the Supreme Emperor Arrives Today in His Faithful Paris".

"

Gorky laughed loudly,

A simple example is enough to illustrate what it means to "walk the kidney".

"Is this true?" he asked.

Lu Shi pondered,

"It's not necessarily true. However, these news should have prototypes. For example, "Napoleon Bonaparte Captures Lyon" and "General Bonaparte Approaches Fontainebleau", you should notice that I am saying 'Bonaparte' Nabal' is pronounced slightly differently."

Gorky was embarrassed,

"To be honest, I didn't hear it."

Lu Shi explained: "The former is 'Buonaparte', half-French, half-Corsican, with a non-my race color, while the latter is 'Bonaparte', a purely French spelling."

Bernard Shaw on the side was quite touched when he heard this,

"It's no wonder that "Yes! Prime Minister" can be written, and even such small details have been noticed. Napoleon went from Lyon to Fontainebleau, and the media also became lower and smaller. dramatic."

Gorky nodded again and again,

Unexpectedly, Professor Lu is good at drama, speech, history, so versatile,

He sincerely praised: "This is everyone's demeanor."