Beginning at 4 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the various units of the People's Army set out from the Shanghai New Area, entered their respective positions, and completed the complete blockade of the Shanghai Concession area, but the Shanghai Concession was obviously also on guard, and had set up a position to defend the edge of the concession, but the position was very simple, and it was not difficult for the People's Army to break through the position.

And Luo Yue did not give the order to attack. After all, this caused the least loss to the Shanghai Concession, so it was better to adopt the tactic of encircling but not fighting, and wait for the concession to send people out to negotiate with the People's Army about surrender.

Luo Yue had no objection to this, but said that he could only wait for one day, and by 5 o'clock in the afternoon, if someone in the concession had not been sent out to negotiate with the People's Army about surrendering, an attack would be launched.

However, Li Songchen proposed that if no one came out in the concession within a day, he could personally go to the concession to persuade him to surrender. But this suggestion was rejected by Luo Yue, because Luo Yue thought that if the concession had the intention to surrender, it would not wait for the People's Army to send someone to persuade him to surrender, at least he should send someone out to negotiate, even if it was to probe the bottom, after all, the strength of the two sides was there, as long as it was a sober person, he would know that it was impossible for the concession to resist the attack of the People's Army, but if he was not sober-minded, he would never take the initiative to surrender if he still had a fluke mentality, and at this time it was useless to persuade him to surrender, only by striking hard at the other party's resistance first, and letting the other party know that it was painful, and then persuading him to surrender would have an effect。 After Li Songchen thought about it, he thought that Luo Yue's consideration was more reasonable, so he no longer insisted on it and agreed with Luo Yue's opinion.

But the fact was that Luo Yue and Li Songchen were more optimistic, and at noon, the concession sent a five-member substitute clothing group to negotiate with the People's Army.

As a matter of fact, yesterday the People's Army Navy completely annihilated the British and French fleets and captured the port of Shanghai, which had already alarmed the concession, and the landing of the People's Army at the wharf in the Shanghai New Area had aroused the vigilance of the concession. Although they knew that Britain and France had declared war on the East China Government, the Concession never thought that the East China Government would attack the Concession, because at this time the Shanghai Concession had been established for more than 60 years, and had experienced two large-scale incidents of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War and the Boxer Rebellion's exclusion of the ocean.

However, the reality was cruel, the East China government obviously did not agree that the concession could stay out of the war, and seeing that the army was pressing, the administrative organs of the two concessions, the Public Concession Industry Bureau and the French Concession Industry Board Bureau, also hurriedly held consultations, decided to impose martial law in the concession, mobilized troops to defend the concession overnight, and appointed Colonel Frank, a French officer, as the commander of the concession's defense. In addition, they also generated electricity to the country, so that the country could find a way to rescue the concession.

However, there were not many troops in the concessions, there was only one battalion in each of the two concessions, and there was one more company of marines in the public concessions, with a total of only about 1,500 people, so the two concessions also organized the police, so that it could be regarded as 2,500 people, which was enough to form a regiment, but the weapons were mainly rifles, only 5 Makqin machine guns, and 4 53 mm caliber guns. Obviously, it is impossible for such a military force to compete with the People's Army, so Colonel Frank also bluntly told the Public Concession Bureau and the French Concession Industry Board that it is impossible to withstand the attack of the People's Army by relying on the military strength of the Concession alone.

At this time, the news of the landing of the People's Army also spread in the concessions, and people in the two concessions were panicked, and many people were packing up and cleaning up overnight, preparing to escape from the concessions. However, early the next morning, the People's Army appeared in the south, north, and west of the concession, and the People's Army ships also appeared in the Huangpu River, and the two concessions were surrounded by the People's Army.

The ideal result was, of course, to persuade the KPA to stop the offensive, but this result was not even believed by the managers of the two concessions, so the mission of the delegation was twofold, one was to delay time and leave time for the concession to maneuver and rescue, and the other was to maintain the independence and autonomy of the concession as much as possible even if it surrendered to the KPA.

The two concessions are self-governing for residents, the Public Concession Bureau is composed of one general director and nine directors, and the French Concession Bureau is composed of one general director and seven directors, the directors are elected by the taxpayers of the concession, and the general directors are elected by the directors, but the candidates and electors are limited to foreigners living in the concessions, and Chinese are neither eligible to vote for elections, let alone run for election. Of course, the number of directors of the Public Concession is distributed according to nationality, and generally the majority is British, with 5-6 members, 1-2 Americans, 1 German, and 1-2 from other countries, while the French Concession Board of Directors is all French. The current general director of the Ministry of Industry of the Public Concession is Cecil Hollidar, an Englishman, and the general director of the Industrial Board of the French Concession is G Henrot.

After consultations between the two sides, it was finally decided that the delegation would be led by H. De. Gray, an Englishman, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry of the Public Concession, and the members were N.J. Gresson of the United States and F.C. Heffer of the German. The Americans, this is also conducive to negotiations, while the French Concession Board of Directors sent two directors, C. Paturel and E. Chisi.

When the delegation arrived in Shanghai New Area, it was already 1 o'clock in the afternoon, but Luo Yue and Li Songchen still received the delegation in the headquarters.

Among the people who participated in the reception, there was also Li Songchen, and the five members of the concession delegation were also somewhat relieved, because they and Li Songchen all knew each other, although they were only general acquaintances, but after all, they were familiar with each other, and these five members had lived in China for a long time, and they all knew that in this place in China, acquaintances are easy to do.

After the two sides introduced each other, De Gray first spoke: "General Luo, District Chief Li, I wonder if there was any misunderstanding between our concession and the East China government that caused the East China government to launch a war against the concession, so we hope to communicate with each other, eliminate the misunderstanding, and stop the war." ”

Luo Yue shook his head and said, "I don't think there is any misunderstanding, Britain and France have already declared war on our East China government, and this is the reason why we started this war." ”

De Gray smiled: "This is the biggest misunderstanding, the concession is self-governing, all directors and directors are elected by the taxpayers of the concession, and are only responsible for the concession, and have nothing to do with Britain and France." District Mayor Li should be very clear about this. ”

Li Songchen said: "Of course I know, but Mr. DeGray, I want to ask you, and you, the concession was originally the territory of the Qing State, but it was leased by the Qing State, and I don't think you will deny this." ”

De Gray was stunned for a moment, but still nodded, although the concession is known as a country within a country, de jure the sovereignty of the land still belongs to the Qing court, but the land leased by various countries to the Qing court. This is something that DeGray and others cannot deny.

Li Songchen said: "Then it was the British and French governments that signed the land concession treaty with the Qing State, or the Ministry of Industry and the Industrial Board of Directors of the concession?"

DeGray was stunned for a moment, not answering. It's not that he can't answer, but he knows that this answer is not good for him, because it was indeed the British and French governments that signed the land concession treaty, and although the concession was autonomous, de jure speaking, the legal user of the land in the concession was the British and French governments, and to a certain extent, the autonomy of the concession was granted by the British and French governments, so it made sense in law for the People's Army to attack the concession.

Gresheng smiled bitterly and said, "District Chief Li, we are also friends, is there no room for redemption!"

Li Songchen said: "I'm sorry, we are indeed friends, but now it is a matter at the national level, and we can't talk about personal friendship, but as a friend, I can suggest to you that you give up resistance and surrender to us, we can ensure your personal safety and property, once there is a war, the consequences are unpredictable." ”

De Gray was silent for a while before he said, "General Luo, District Chief Li, please allow us to negotiate." ”

Luo Yue nodded and said, "At that time, I hope you can have a result of the negotiation within 30 minutes." ”

Degray said, "Yes." ”

So Luo Yue ordered people to lead the representatives of the concession to a room next door, let them negotiate privately, after about 30 minutes, De Gray and others returned to the negotiation room, De Gray said: "General Luo, District Chief Li, we can surrender, but we demand to maintain the status quo of the concession, your army cannot enter the concession, you can send a representative, or form a working group, enter the concession, supervise the affairs of the concession, but the concession Ministry of Industry Bureau, the Bureau of Industry and the Board of Directors of the Concession still retain, and exercise power, you must not interfere with the Ministry of Industry Bureau, The executive powers of the Board of Directors. ”

Luo Yue and Li Songchen glanced at each other, both of them showed stupid eyes, Li Songchen smiled and said, "Mr. Degray, do you think such conditions can still be regarded as surrender? If we accept such conditions, then what's the point of starting this war?"

Hai Fei coughed dryly and said, "District Chief Li, this is our condition, if you have any conditions, you can put it forward, and we can negotiate." ”

Luo Yue sneered and said: "Our condition is that people must surrender unconditionally, and there is no room for negotiation, if you agree, you will surrender immediately, our army can sing and enter the concession, if you don't agree, prepare for war, and we will enter the concession." ”

Li Songchen nodded and said, "Yes, this is our condition. ”

Patilley stood up abruptly and said loudly, "You can't do this. ”

Li Songchen smiled faintly and said, "Why can't we, can Patillei give me a reason." ”

Patillei was about to speak, but was stopped by De Gray, and then turned to Luo Yue and Li Songchen and said, "Okay, we are all clear about the conditions of the East China government, and I hope to give us time to negotiate." ”

Luo Yue said: "Yes, I will give you 1 day." ”

De Gray frowned and said, "Only 1 day is too short, we need 3 days." ”

Luo Yue shook his head and said, "3 days is too much, I can only give you 2 days at most, this is our final bottom line, no more." ”

De Gray said, "Okay, then 2 days." ”