Melbourne and Beijing are three hours apart.
On the same Friday night, inside the Johnston family mansion on the Yarra River in the northern suburbs of the city.
In the days after arriving in Australia, Simon would discuss all aspects of the future of the Westeros system with the men of the Johnston family after dinner.
It's midsummer in the southern hemisphere, in a cool study room on the first floor of the mansion.
Simon, the old man, the two brothers Anthony and Norman, and tonight there is Janet in Simon's arms. The topic is about Simon's recent layout for South Korea, and even more considerations that extend from it.
After once again explaining to the old man who did not understand the related industries that his layout in South Korea was mainly for semiconductors, one of the lifebloods of the future information industry, and why it was South Korea, Simon continued: "The future scale of the entire Westeros system will only be It is not impossible for it to become larger and larger, even surpassing the GDP of the United States. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States is at another peak period in these years, and the economy is generally improving, so there will be no problems for the time being. However, once If the U.S. economy turns or even worsens, social conflicts will become more intense, and it’s hard to say whether someone will point the finger at us, just like Hitler pointed the finger at the Jews."
The 79-year-old old man was still energetic. Hearing this, he said: "So, you plan to leave the United States, kid, this is not a good idea. At this stage, no other country can accommodate your situation, not even Australia?"
Simon shook his head: "It's not separation, but decentralization. On the one hand, we try not to put our eggs in one basket. On the other hand, we also try to weaken our sense of existence as much as possible. The best state I pursue is this world. Most people will not be aware of the existence of the Westeros family for more than ten or decades."
Norman Johnston smiled and interjected: "I'm afraid it won't be easy, Simon."
"I know it's not easy, but I have to try my best."
Anthony Johnston said: "Simon, is this too passive?"
Simon said: "Of course there are proactive measures. As far as the United States is concerned, I have been working hard to penetrate into the political circles in recent years. In addition, I also hope that through control of the American media industry, I will try my best to shift future social conflicts to the racial level. To guide, the contradictions between blacks and whites in the United States, the contradictions between whites and Latinos, the contradictions between Latinos and Asians, and so on. There is almost no solution to racial problems in the United States, so when socioeconomic problems arise, with a little push, related contradictions will disappear Exploded. By directing the conflict to the racial level, the public will no longer pay attention to issues such as the gap between rich and poor."
The old man waited for Simon to finish speaking, grinned his straight teeth, which were still quite white, and praised: "That's a very good idea. In this case, you need to increase your support for the Democratic Party, open up immigration as much as possible, and promote the greatest ethnic diversity in the United States. Diversification."
Listening to her father praising her husband, Janet also smiled. She even rubbed her cheek affectionately against Simon's chin, enjoying the friction of the man's stubble.
Anthony nodded slightly and said, "Simon, I just heard you say that you seem to be very unfavorable about the U.S. economy?"
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the United States can be said to be the only superpower in the world. Especially after the devastating Gulf War a few years ago, the whole world has recognized this. In recent years, with the rise of the new technology wave in the United States, even if the Internet bubble burst in the first half of the year and the new technology wave briefly fell into a trough, everyone can find that economically, the United States is also the absolute leader in the world.
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Simon said: "The Great Depression of the 1930s has proved that the U.S. economy has quite fatal problems. Luck accounts for a large part of the reason why it has reached this point. The root of social problems has always been economic problems. The Clinton administration is in the eighth year of this year. In March, he pushed for the signing of the Balanced Budget Act, hoping that before the end of his term, the U.S. fiscal budget can be balanced and no longer be in a long-term deficit state. Tony, you know that before this, the last year in which the United States achieved a budget surplus instead of a deficit was Which year?"
Anthony shook his head.
Simon said: "In 1969, it is already 28 years ago. No matter how rich the wealth accumulated from the two world wars is, and no matter how hard the hidden harvest of the US dollar as a settlement currency is to the world, it will one day be exhausted. In my personal judgment, the United States The peak will last for another 30 years at most, which will happen to be a cycle of a century before returning to the origin of the Great Depression."
No one in the West is unaware of the Great Depression, because when the Great Depression occurred in the United States, the whole world was also experiencing a severe economic crisis, which in turn brewed the Second World War, which was even more tragic than the First World War.
The old man who was born in 1918 and has certain memories of that era was silent for a moment and said: "Son, please pay more attention to Australia from now on and make this your real home, our home. If anything goes wrong, just Hide here."
Simon nodded seriously: "I am also considering this matter. Australia is currently just a vassal of Europe and the United States. I hope to make changes. Probably, like Switzerland, we can make Australia a neutral land."
"It's a very good idea. I'm also tired of those politicians and businessmen who are always used to fawning over Europe and the United States." The old man smiled with satisfaction, and then directly named him: "Just like that kid Rupert, who immigrated to the UK first. , and moved to the United States. Oh, since he thinks Europe and the United States are so good, don't come back. We will try our best to accept the assets of News Corporation. If we want to make Australia our territory, the Johnston family must first control it. public opinion."
Even many years later, News Corporation is still the largest media power in Australia.
Why was Australia the first to propose charging Internet giants for using the news resources of traditional media? With a little thought, it is not difficult to find the shadow of News Corporation, which sticks to the old-school news position and has deep-rooted influence on Australia. If Simon wants to control Australia and create a similar neutral place, the first thing he must do is, indeed, as the old man said, he must fully occupy Australia's media resources.
The old man disliked Murdoch, and the whole family knew it.
However, Simon has no intention of falling out with News Corporation, at least not yet: "In the short term, we still have to develop new media such as television and the Internet, which are easier to control. As for traditional print media, they are destined to be eliminated. , without spending too much energy. In addition, I think the core of Australian operations is still economic control. Now that we have completed the integration of Billiton, I think we can initiate an acquisition of BHP to further control the iron ore It is the lifeblood of Australia's economy."
The old man grinned his white teeth again, understanding Simon's subtext, and obviously didn't mind, and said: "You kids can make up your own mind, there's not much I can do."
Feeling the old man's submissive tone, Janet got up from Simon's arms, ran over and sat down on the armrest of the sofa next to the old man, and hugged her father's neck flatteringly: "Dad, you are the backbone of our family."
The old man swayed with his baby daughter's strength, smiled and patted Janet's little hand, but suddenly looked at Anthony and Norman, his expression turned serious: "Tony, Norman, you two remember, Simon will be us from now on. You are the backbone of the family, even if you are brothers, you must obey Simon’s arrangements, do you understand?”
The dignity that the old man has established in front of his children for a long time is obviously very effective. No matter what they think in their hearts, Anthony and Norman immediately nodded in agreement.
Seeing his two sons nodding, the old man looked at Simon again, withdrew his gaze, turned to Janet, and complained with an obviously pointed complaint: "What is called Westeros, isn't it Johnston? This is our last name. ah."
When Janet saw the old man bringing up the old matter again for the Nth time, she just laughed and acted stupid.
The old man thought of another thing and looked at Simon: "You also saw the youngest of Tony's family, Becca, today. What do you think?"
Simon thought of Anthony Johnston's youngest daughter, 4-year-old Rebecca Johnston, whom he had met at dinner. This was the fourth child in his eldest brother's family, and he was puzzled for a moment: "What?"
The old man was finally a little dissatisfied, thinking that Simon was pretending to be stupid, and said directly: "Merr and Beka had a good time, why not just settle the matter between the two of them. In the future, Beca will marry Moer as his wife, and you and Becca will be together." Same as Jenny.”
Simon: “…”
Doesn’t it mean that there are no arranged marriages in the West
Moreover, even if it was an arranged marriage, it was still a baby marriage. It’s okay to kiss a baby, but still like this... kissing more and more, is it really good
The old man seemed to have settled the matter in this way, ignoring Simon, and turned to look at his second son: "You and Judy should have another child, your eldest brother has four children, and your family only has one, Victor. How shameful. It would be better if she is a daughter who can marry Nick in the future.”
Norman Johnston also didn't know how to answer the question for a moment.
It's just that this Wuyu is different from Simon.
A little... exciting.
Of course Norman also knew that Simon had created a bunch of children. However, like his father and brother, Norman also believed from the bottom of his heart that the real heirs of the Westeros family should be Melbourne and Nicholas, the sons of his sister.
If the eldest brother and I each marry a daughter, not to mention that the relationship between the two families will become closer. As the father-in-law of two heirs of the Westeros family, they will definitely be prosperous in the future. Frankly speaking, in front of this too dazzling brother-in-law, even if he had another identity, Norman Johnston would still feel more or less unable to stand upright.
Seeing that her father had left her husband and two brothers speechless with a few words, Janet hugged the old man's neck and shook him again, smiling and saying: "Dad, there is a age difference between Merle and Becca, and , Nick is already four years old, and when Norman gives birth to another daughter, haha, there will be a big difference."
When the old man saw his daughter flirting with him again, he stabbed Janet in the heart with an unkind remark: "What's the age difference between you and Simon?"
Janet: “…”
So he got angry, let go of the old man's neck, and jumped back into his man's arms.
Actually, Janet didn't mind that much.
After so many years, the raw rice has not only been cooked, but also eaten and wiped clean. There is nothing to be afraid of. Anyway, this man himself has a firm grip on it, and he will fight with all his strength to anyone who dares to snatch it.
As for the old man’s proposal
Actually... Janet also thinks it seems pretty good.
The old man just chatted to death, looked at the expressions of a group of children and descendants, grinned his white teeth again, stood up, said good night and went out.
The remaining brothers originally had a lot to talk about, but now they can only stop for now.
It was getting late, so they dispersed.
Jennifer took her children back to her mansion after dinner, but Simon and Janet stayed here, pestering the man to carry them all the way to the bedroom on the second floor, where they were thrown on the big bed and bounced a few times. Janet turned over, lying on the bed and looked at Simon who was sitting at the desk: "Dear, what do you think?"
Simon turned on the computer and said seriously: "I am a very liberal father and will never arrange a marriage."
Janet pouted.
A very liberal father...
Nonsence!
However, considering that I am also a very liberal mother... Well, this matter is not urgent.
Anyway, the old man won't just talk and let it go.
Moreover, I just took a look at the expressions of the two brothers, and it was obvious that they were also very moved.
All in all, the adults didn't seem to object very much, except maybe two little guys... Well, four little guys nodded.
One more was not born yet.
But what the hell.
There is ample time.
Thinking with a smile, Janet saw Simon opening an email, glanced at it, thought about it again, and asked curiously: "How much is it?"
Janet was asking about the box office performance of "Titanic" this past box office week.
This unexpected Hollywood blockbuster has attracted more and more attention in recent days, and it even has the potential to overturn "The Flash 2", even if it is released simultaneously in Australia. Johnston's At dinner, the family talked about the movie.
It’s still Friday morning in North America, and the box office data for the new week has just been released.
Simon flipped through the report in front of him and said: "It dropped 4%, with a revenue of 63.94 million."
"It's missing," Janet said: "Didn't the overall price fall by 8% over the weekend?"
Simon reminded: "Christmas Eve."
Janet blinked and realized that there was basically no box office for the family reunion on Christmas Eve. It was equivalent to one less day in a four-day working day. The overall box office decline during the week was naturally not as good as the three-day weekend.
In any case, it is a miracle to be able to reverse the decline first under the pressure of a blockbuster movie like "The Flash 2".
"By the way, how much is "The Flash 2"?"
"97.88 million."
"Oh, it must be a pity for Warner that it failed to break the 100 million mark."
Simon then smiled, and he could indeed imagine the mood of Warner, and even Warner's parent company, General Electric.
Both Warner Bros. and General Electric have high hopes for this "The Flash 2". Moreover, the significance of the film is not only at the box office, but also on a deeper level, and to win more DC movie universes from Daenerys Entertainment. The meaning of initiative.
Now, "The Flash 2" failed to achieve a very symbolic first-week box office of over 100 million, even if it seems to be only a little over 2 million short, it is still a big regret for Warner and GE.
More importantly, what suppressed "The Flash 2" and prevented it from reaching over 100 million in its first week was a movie by Daenerys Entertainment, Warner's actual biggest competitor in Hollywood, that was not expected by most people. It's even more depressing.
Because this actually means that Warner is still firmly suppressed by Daenerys.
Unable to move.
Simon read the North American box office data report for the past week, checked other emails, and clicked on an email from Chen Qing who was in South Korea. In addition to some Korean affairs, Chen Qing specifically mentioned "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" in the email. "has become a hit, and its ratings have easily surpassed that of "Kangxi's Private Interview".
Even though it was expected, Simon was somewhat surprised that the new version of "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" still achieved such ratings since they are two time and space after all.
Just as he was about to reply to an email to Chen Qing, Janet came from behind and Simon had to give up temporarily.