Han Sen had already guessed some suspicions from Zhuo Fei's daily actions and layouts, but he never expected that Zhuo Fei's mind was so big, there were hundreds of thousands of people in Nanjing, even if he crossed the river before the war, there would be no less than 100,000 people left in the city. "Boss, I don't know when it will be, but I want to remind you that these things should be the responsibility of the government, and I am afraid it will be difficult with us people."

Zhuo Fei looked at the river in the distance, and said in a low voice, "I know, I know what you said, I know that you mean well, and I know what you are worried about." But I assure you that if you want to leave, I will not stop and get angry, this is my wishful thinking, you have helped me with a lot of things, and I am very grateful for the help you have given me. ”

When Zhuo Fei spoke, the corner of his eye kept paying attention to Hansen's reaction, Hansen often boasted that he was a Chinese expert, but he was not an authentic Chinese after all, if he was Chinese, at his current age, he would not know the word retreat. Zhuo Fei's trick of retreating into advance made it difficult for Hansen to make a choice, as a descendant of the German Junker family, he should not have participated in this kind of thing, but there has always been a voice in his heart that told him that Zhuo Fei had saved his life, if it weren't for Zhuo Fei, maybe he would have died in the bandits' den a long time ago.

Hansen's expression made Zhuo Fei's heart happy, but he still pretended to be miserable and continued, "Mr. Hansen, this matter is my negligence, I forgot that all of you are not actually Chinese, and there is a big difference between you Westerners and us Chinese in terms of culture and habits. I'll make this public to Angela, and as I promised, I'll respect their choice, whether they stay or go. ”

Hansen has been in China for so many years, and his experience in dealing with people is not in vain, and he was only shocked by the news revealed by Zhuo Fei before. At this time, when he heard Zhuo Fei say that he would respect other people's choices, he subconsciously turned his head to look at Zhuo Fei, and Han Sen's heart immediately flashed, and secretly scolded Zhuo Fei for wanting to play the trick of fiction and reality with himself. "Boss, you know I didn't mean that, I just said your plan is crazy." Hansen thought that Zhuo Fei was playing tricks on himself, but he didn't think about anything else.

Hansen's tone changed, Zhuo Fei's heart was secretly refreshed, and then he answered, "Mr. Hansen, I don't want you to help the Chinese army fight the Japanese army. I just thought that once the Japanese broke through the city, you expatriates could join together and set up a safe zone. In the war between countries, it is the innocent people who suffer, and if there is a safe area in Nanjing that can accommodate these innocent people, I think it will be a great merit. ”

"Safe Zone?" Zhuo Fei's words made Hansen fall into deep thought, and then thought of those custom-made German flags and Zhuo Fei's meeting with Rabe, Hansen suddenly realized that his little boss was afraid that he had already planned everything. "Boss, I can only say that I will personally be very willing to do this, as for the others, I am afraid you still need to convince them." Just to establish a so-called security zone, there is no need to fight the Japanese army at all, which is not a burden for Hansen.

"No, no, Mr. Hansen, you don't understand what I mean." Hansen's words made Zhuo Fei shake his head again and again, and spread his hands towards Hansen, Zhuo Fei smiled, "You and I both know that my American identity is fake, and you look at my skin color and hair, do you think the Japanese soldiers will really think I'm an American at that time?" I want you to recruit Angela for this purpose, Angela is an authentic foreigner, and this can only be done if you Westerners come forward. ”

Hansen, who was already indifferent at the moment, took out a cigarette and lit a puff, then nodded slowly, "Boss, you mean that this safe zone wants us foreigners to come forward, including Mr. Rabe, right?" After all, Mr. Rabe is a member of the Nazi Party, and the Japanese may embarrass us, but they will never dare to embarrass Mr. Rabe. Slowly exhaling the smoke in his lungs, Hansen gave a thumbs up to Kazuki, "Boss, I have to say that you are very cunning and mean. ”

"Hehehehehehehe" Hansen's words of praise full of contempt made Zhuo Fei laugh repeatedly, "Mr. Hansen, I am a Chinese, for the sake of my compatriots, I am willing to do anything, even if it is to be infamous for it." Mr. Hansen, I really need your help, you are a devout believer, maybe our encounter in the bandits' den was arranged by God's old man, don't you think so? In the words of us Chinese, this is fate. ”

Zhuo Fei's words finally made Hansen laugh, and the two stood side by side at the Shimonoseki pier for a while, until Hans finished smoking the cigarette, and the two drove back to their residence. "Boss, all I can say is that I'll do my best to do what you say, but I can't promise I'll be able to do it. You know, sometimes, things don't work out of our will and imagination, and maybe there will be some results that we don't want to accept. When he got out of the car, Hansen, who had been muffled and silent, finally spoke again, although this kind of answer could not satisfy Zhuo Fei, but he also knew that this was Hansen's maximum guarantee.

Roughly revealing his plan to Hansen, and getting Hansen's assurance, Zhuo Fei suddenly felt that the pressure on him was much lighter. Over the next few days, both Zhuo Fei and Hansen were busy, with Hansen frequently visiting Rabe's residence and contacting expatriates from all walks of life in Nanjing. And Zhuo Fei took Zhuo Yan to drive around the city all day long, and after a few days, Zhuo Fei actually drew a map of Nanjing.

After the Japanese army landed in Jinshanwei, the government immediately ordered Chen Cheng, the former enemy commander of the Songhu battlefield, to deal with the situation, and Chen Cheng urgently ordered the 67th Army of Wu Keren of the Northeast Army of the Right Wing Army to reinforce Songjiang, but the enemy could not retreat. On the night of November 8, the Japanese army broke into Songjiang City from the east, south and west with strong firepower, and the 67th Army of the Nationalist Army was completely annihilated, and the Japanese army occupied Songjiang.

After occupying Songjiang, the Japanese army immediately divided into two routes, one along the east bank of Taihu Lake, through Zhejiang and Anhui to Nanjing, and the main force pointed to Fengjing Town, Jiaxing, and Pingwang. On the 9th, the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway and highway were cut off. At the same time, the 16th Division, under the command of Nakajima Imasago, successfully landed at Baimaokou in Taicang, Jiangsu, and the advance was directed at the Beijing-Shanghai railway and highway, forming a trend of convergence. After the six divisions of the Japanese army on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek forcibly crossed the Suzhou Creek on October 31, they quickly moved closer to the Japanese troops who landed on both routes, and the 700,000 Chinese troops in the Songhu area were suddenly in a dangerous situation.

As early as the evening of 8 November, Chiang Kai-shek had ordered the Songhu Nationalist Army to carry out a comprehensive retreat, and all the troops withdrew from the Shanghai battle and retreated to Nanjing, Suzhou, and the area west of Jiaxing by two routes. Unfortunately, due to the hasty issuance of the retreat order, coupled with the fact that the command system of the national army has been out of control, the retreat has evolved into a comprehensive retreat of the national army in Songhu. On the 9th, the Japanese army repelled the scattered resistance of the Chinese army, occupying Hongqiao Airport, Longhua, Fengjing, and Qingpu, and on the 11th, the Japanese army advanced to the bank of the Suzhou Creek, and the troops of the Nanshi and Pudong National Army who were responsible for the covering task were ordered to withdraw from their positions.

On November 13, the Japanese army occupied Shanghai, the Battle of Songhu ended, and Jiangyin became the gate of the Yangtze River, forming the last defense area on the Shanghai-Nanjing line with Wuxi, Suzhou, Changshu and Fushan. On November 14, the 13th Division of the Japanese Army captured Liuhe Town, Taicang was lost, and the entire Zhajia Line was lost. On November 18, the Songhu battlefield was retreated on all fronts, and the Japanese army launched an attack on the Wufu Line position on Lijiaqiao north of Changshu and the west bank of Kuncheng Lake south of Changshu, at this time the main force of the Nationalist army in Suzhou had withdrawn westward, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 36th and 88th Divisions that had retreated from Suzhou to Wuxi in advance to move to Nanjing, ready to defend Nanjing.

On November 19, the Wufu line was broken through by the Japanese army. A large number of Chinese troops began to retreat to the Xicheng line, and on the same day, the Jiangyin front line gathered the four main divisions of the Jiangfang Group Army to use the Jiangyin Huangshan fortress as a firepower base to implement a strong positional defense. On November 20, the main force of the national army retreated from Suzhou to the area of Jiangyin and Wuxi, and the 154th Division also arrived near Jiangyin on the night of the 20th, and was ordered by Liu Xing to enter the periphery of the Jiangyin fortress by night. In addition, the fortifications of the two defense lines of Suchang and Xicheng unexpectedly did not work, so the advance of the Japanese army was quite smooth. The 10th Army, with the 13th Division as the vanguard, followed up with the 9th Division, which lost more than half of its strength in the Shanghai operation, and the 16th and 11th Divisions, which were relatively intact in combat strength, and launched an offensive on the Xicheng Line.

On November 24, the Shigeto detachment broke through the Chengxi defense line in the middle section, cut off the highway between Jiangyin and Wuxi, and began to encircle Wuxi and the southern part of Jiangyin Fortress by land, and the battle situation in southern Jiangsu took a sharp turn for the worse. On November 25, the Japanese "Shanghai Dispatch Army" broke through the positions of the 74th Army and the 39th Army, and the left and right flank armies of the Japanese army converged at Zhoushanbang in Wuxi, and broke into the city, so that Wuxi, an important city in the south of the Xicheng defense line, fell; The 10th Army broke through the defensive line of the 7th Army and occupied Huzhou; After the 10th Army captured Huzhou and Changxing, it ordered the 114th Division to continue to pursue in the direction of Yixing and Liyang. After the loss of Wuxi, the Chinese army abandoned the Chengxi line, and retreated along the Beijing-Shanghai Railway to the western suburbs of Wuxi and Changzhou, and most of them retreated to the south, passing through Yixing to Xiaofeng and Ningguo on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi border.