Mannaheim's face was gloomy and gloomy, which shows how embarrassed someone said just now. But even if he was embarrassed, even if Mannaheim was angry, he had to admit that a certain immortal was right - there was never a free lunch in this world, and accepting the protection of the Allies, he would have to pay the corresponding price!

As someone said, Finland will lose its political freedom from then on and will inevitably be involved in the quagmire of the Allies and act as a lackey who can be sacrificed at any time.

For Mannaheim, he could not accept this price at all. What he wanted was Finland's complete independence and autonomy, not dominated and enslaved by other countries, and lived in this world like a man, rather than like a dog.

Because if you become a dog, the result will definitely not be so wonderful. When the owner of the dog chain feels that your dog is not so effective, or the interests of the dog conflict with his interests, it is time to kill the dog and eat meat.

Such examples are everywhere in history. The most famous and most profound lesson is the Czech Republic before the outbreak of World War II. Britain and France, holding dog chains, were not concerned about the fate of the dog in order to achieve their own appeasement policy, and they did not care about the fate of the dog at all. The same examples include the Pingdu Town Lu Dabobo, and the European country of foot-wiping cloth did not wait for the support of the two major allies until their demise.

The encounter between these two countries fully demonstrates that the independence and autonomy of a country cannot be relied on the charity of other countries. To stand tall among the nations of the world, one must strive for self-improvement!

Many politicians and ordinary people do not understand this principle. They tend to be accustomed to holding their thighs, some of whom intend to hold German thighs, and some of whom intend to hold their thighs. Of course, some of them are pro-Russia, or Bolsheviks. However, Mannheim understands this principle, and he never puts his hopes on the so-called friendly neighbors.

Mannheim said: "Although I am a soldier, my duty is only to defend my country. I have no interest in joining this meaningless world war!"

Li Xiaofeng could naturally understand the meaning of this sentence. The first level is nothing more than saying that he did not join the Allies or the Allies Group, while the second level of meaning must be investigated in depth. It is necessary to note that the subject in Mannheim's dialect is just "I", which means it is just his personal meaning. His personal will cannot represent the national will of Finland.

In other words, Mannheim's words are saying, although I understand you very much and I personally don't want to be a dog slave, but I can't represent Finland after all. If the will of Finland decides that it must be a dog, then I can only obey this decision.

It can be said that this expression means nothing. He is still ready to ride a fence. Speaking of which, Mannaheim is also a big expert in riding a fence. From the end of World War I to the outbreak of World War II, he has been riding a fence and opposing the Soviet invasion. He is indeed resolutely resisting, but once there is a possibility of cede land and seeking peace, he will act as a "traitor" without hesitation.

Of course. Although these actions are forced, Mannarheim is indeed not as determined as the "mainstream" patriots, and he is determined to break things up than to lose things. He is more like a politician. Under strong pressure, he can compromise without hesitation, but in the process of compromise, he will try every means to show his patriotic sentiment.

It can be seen clearly from World War II that although Finland finally stood on the same front with the Germans, he was still wary and guarded against cooperation with the Germans. After all, Mannheim is a person who is very good at singing songs on any mountain and sings in the cracks.

Such people are indeed suitable for politics and become politicians, but for friends of such people, it may not be a good thing. Under strong pressure, he will compromise and surrender to power without hesitation, and may even sell his teammates. He must be careful when he will change his camp when he cooperates with such people.

Therefore, he can only share wealth and honor with Mannaheim, not suffering. If he wants to cooperate with him for a long time, he must put pressure on him to understand what the price he will pay to turn the gun.

"Germany is close to Finland, or Russia is close to Finland?" Li Xiaofeng suddenly asked.

The answer to this question is naturally self-evident, but Mannheim understands that someone is not expressing a question of distance, but a real threat. He was about to refute, but a certain immortal continued to ask: "British, France and the United States are close to Finland, or is Russia close to Finland?"

"Are you threatening me?" Mannarheim was immediately annoyed.

"I am helping you understand Finland's geopolitical environment!" Li Xiaofeng replied with a sneer, "As Russia's close neighbor, if Finland adopts an attitude of exclusion and hostility to Russia, the consequences will be difficult to say!"

Mannahim said angrily: "We Finns are absolutely not lacking in determination to maintain independence!"

Li Xiaofeng still replied lightly: "We Russians are not lacking in the same determination. Do you think how much support can you give to you when you start to fight now, whether it is Germans, British, French, and Americans?"

Mannarheim stopped talking at once. If a war really starts, in terms of war potential, ten Finlands are not opponents of a polar bear, and both sides are not opponents of the same order of magnitude at all. But he is not so easy to surrender, and he immediately said angrily: "Do you think this can be used to ask us for help?"

"Are our requests too much?" Li Xiaofeng asked back with great contempt, "Our requests are very simple and easy to do. In order for our two countries to live in peace and friendship for a long time, both sides promise not to join the military and political groups targeting each other. Is this requirement too much?"

Mannarheim stopped talking because this requirement is indeed not high, but it is really hard to achieve. "Finland is just a newly independent small country with weak power. We are unable to resist the threats from those big countries!"

"You are not powerless to resist!" Li Xiaofeng immediately exposed the lie, "You are probably following the flow. Some extreme nationalists in your country have always been hostile to Russia. Even if we have made you independent, they still want to take revenge. This trend of thought is very marketable in Finland today. They think that Russia is trapped in the quagmire of war and is weak. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and can dig a large piece of fat on Russia!"

Mannarheim was immediately embarrassed. There were indeed many Finlands who had this idea. In fact, those nations that had just broken free from the Tsarist Russian Empire, such as the Poles, had this idea (even the Poles put this into action. The war between Poland and the Soviet Union was completely initiated by Poland. As a result, the big bobo was repaired miserably at the beginning, and almost lost the capital. If it weren't for the timely support from France and Britain, the country with the foot cloth might have destroyed the country again).

"I must remind you that this idea is very dangerous!" Li Xiaofeng warned sternly, "Maybe you can get some benefits for a while, but in the long run, this will only make the relationship between our two countries very tense. Although Russia is weak now, the situation will be completely different in ten or twenty years. At that time, you will inevitably spit out the little advantage you have taken, and even spit out more!"

Li Xiaofeng was right. The sorrow of a small country is here. Being a neighbor with a giant like Russia will be very stressful. You can steal chickens from the fat polar bear for a while, and once the polar bear grows stronger again, the revenge will be extremely rapid.

In this regard, the country of wiping the feet cloth is the best lesson. In 1920, with the support of Britain and France, the Poles repelled the Soviet Union and took advantage of the subsequent peace negotiations. However, just 19 years later, even those with capital and interest were returned, and the price was heavy.

Speaking of this, we must mention one more thing. The Poles are really a strange European creature. They are a great mess. Although World War II, especially the Katyn tragedy, it is worthy of the fact that they deserve it. In the fashionable words of today, God can't stop people from committing suicide!

Poland was once powerful in history. A few hundred years ago, as a powerful country in Europe, the Poles were raising hatred everywhere, making trouble with the Prussians, causing trouble with Austria, and not dealing with the Denmark and Swedes, and even invading Tsarist Russia. The final result was that they were united by Prussia, Austria and Tsarist Russia and divided them three times in a row until the country was destroyed.

Anyway, the urinary nature of this nation is really not very good, and sometimes it looks pitiful, but this guy likes to learn to bite people. He is a typical bully of the weak and afraid of the strong. Anyway, even the British say that they are like wiping their feet cloths.

Now there are two choices before the Finns. They choose to take revenge, but there is actually no hatred. Finland has never existed independently in history. It was first protected by Sweden. Of course, this protection is in quotes. To put it bluntly, it is the vassal of the Swedes. When Peter the Great defeated Sweden and turned this first-class Nordic power into a second-rate country, Finland was "protected" by Tsarist Russia.

However, Finland still had a certain degree of autonomy at that time. It was more like the special administrative region of the Tsarist Russian Empire, with an independent parliament and constitution, and only respected the Tsar as the head of state (a bit similar to the Commonwealth, but the Tsar had always sought to completely annex Finland, which was also the main contradiction between the Finns and the Russians). To be honest, the conflict between the Finns and Russia was far smaller than that between Poland and Russia, and it was easier to resolve.

Of course, in the 1930s, the conflict between Russia and Finland tended to expand. The main responsibility was of course on Russia. The big country scene of the Iron Comrade is not a joke. For Finland, a member of the Tsarist Russian Empire, he wanted to recover it from the bottom of his heart.

In fact, there is no need, because the land in Finland is really not very good. Even if it is taken down, it will not change Russia's geopolitical environment. Instead, it will make Nordic countries deeply wary of Russia and will drive them to Britain and France who are inclined to be neutral.

Anyway, Li Xiaofeng was not very interested in Finland's territory. For him, Finland's only value was to act as a bridge from Russia to the outside world. In the more than ten years after the end of World War I, the Soviet Union was blocked very badly, otherwise with the Soviet Union's resources, the trauma of World War I could have been restored faster.

So after harshly warning Mannaheim not to have those unrealistic thoughts, he immediately said: "We Bolsheviks respect Finland's independence and are willing to live in peace with you for a long time. But the premise is that respect is mutual. You are friendly to Russia, then we will naturally repay you. If you want to fight, then we will repay you with swords and guns! The right to choose is entirely up to you! And I personally sincerely hope that you will remain neutral, and you can't afford to participate in this world war. The chaos in Russia now is the best lesson for you!"

Mannahim agreed with the opinion of a certain immortal. As a soldier who participated in this fierce world war, he deeply knew how destructive the war was. With Finland's small arms and legs, he really couldn't match it.

However, what he didn't understand was why a fairy wanted to say this to him. If someone's intention was to warn the Finnish government not to take risks. Then he should warn the Finnish interim cabinet prime minister that Mannaheim really did not have that much influence and could not influence Finland's direction!

According to Mannaheim's understanding of someone, this kid never does useless work. Since he said this to him, it must have a purpose. But what is the purpose?

"I think you should go into politics!" Li Xiaofeng said with a smile, "As a politician, you have more promising prospects than as a soldier!"

Mannahim asked back angrily: "As you mean, am I not qualified as a soldier?"

"I didn't say that!" Li Xiaofeng waved his hand, "You are a qualified soldier, but you are definitely not a military genius, not a person like Hannibal and Napoleon. And your political talent far exceeds your military ability!"

"I barely think you are praising me!" Mannahem still had no good face. "But for the time being, I am still a soldier, and I am just a soldier. My duty is to maintain the independence of the motherland!"

"If you still want to maintain Finland's independence, then you must do something now!" Li Xiaofeng refused without hesitation, "If Finland continues to develop according to the current political atmosphere, Finland will soon be unable to say anything independent!"

Mannahem was speechless in this regard. However, his failure to speak does not mean that Li Xiaofeng would not press forward step by step: "I must remind you that our Bolsheviks are very concerned about Finland's political trend. If Finland chooses to be hostile to Russia, we will definitely not be inactive!"

"Hmph, scare me?" Mannaheim snorted contemptuously, "You can't take care of yourself now, what can you do to us?"

Li Xiaofeng just said casually: "Finland also has a working class, and Finland also has a Bolsheviks. We can gain power through a revolution. It's not impossible for the Finnish working class to do it!"

This sentence directly made Mannaheim's cold sweat come out. Over the past month, the workers in Finland have indeed been silent. They have made voices to follow the Russian revolution and establish a socialist Finland.

Mannahim did not dare to underestimate the power of the working class at all. Through the Russian revolution, he had seen how much energy the angry workers could burst out. Now the Russian Bolsheviks had not taken action to motivate Finnish workers, so if they attacked them, they might...

Mannaheim didn't dare to think about it anymore. As someone said, Finland is too close to Russia. Once the workers in Finland begin to seize power, the Russian Bolsheviks could continue to support them, and even directly use the excuse to intervene. At that time, Finland will inevitably be in chaos.

And such chaos is definitely not what Mannaheim wants to see, so he could only sigh: "I will convey your meaning to the relevant people, and I believe they will consider the issue in full."

Li Xiaofeng nodded. He also knew that Mannaheim could only do so much, but he still has considerable influence in Finnish politics, otherwise he would not be the chairman and commander-in-chief of the Finnish Military Commission soon.

"So what about the problems with Umbrella and Northern Industrial Company?" Someone then took the topic back.

"Don't be too greedy, okay?" Mannahim was speechless.

"I'm not trying harder, but these two companies are very important and have considerable significance for the future Russia and Finland!"

Mannahim said angrily: "I can't see what the meaning is!"

Li Xiaofeng shook his head: "These two companies will become one of the channels for Russia to contact foreign countries. If Finland retains such channels for Russia, it will inevitably win Russia's friendship!"

"Then we will offend Germany, Britain, France or the Americans. Which one do you think is more important!" Mannheim asked back angrily.

"Of course Russia is more important!" Li Xiaofeng stopped Mannaheim from interrupting, "Now even if you offend those countries a little, they will not do anything to you. You can completely put the blame on our country, and it is said that they are forced!"

Mannahim thought about it and agreed with this statement. It is understandable that the weak Finland is forced to do something against its will in order to protect itself, and at least it can be explained to those countries. Even if the jackals, tigers and leopards do not accept this excuse, Finland can cry and make a fuss and pretend to be pitiful. There is no big problem.

"And this will be beneficial to you!" Li Xiaofeng continued to make a fuss. "Now Russia is facing a blockade, and the channels of foreign trade have been basically blocked. If you agree to use the channels, you will also gain a lot of benefits in re-export trade, right? Don't tell me, you can't see the economic benefits!"

This really made Mannaheim's eyes shine. As a major resource exporter, if Russia's exports had to be transferred through Finland, it would be impossible to pay any taxes. What's more, Finland can do much more than just taxes!

Suddenly, Mannaheim made up his mind: "I will give your suggestions to the cabinet soon, and I believe we have a complete foundation for cooperation!"
Chapter completed!