The inauguration ceremony was followed by a grand welcome dinner. 【Reading.com】

The welcome dinner was held at the newly restored Japanese Navy Club.

After a brief ceremony, the envoys and diplomats of various countries who were invited to attend the dinner, as well as the officers of the Central China Front and the Central China Dispatch Army, went to the Navy Club one after another.

Cherev also came to the Navy Club with Stilwell.

The dinner was a Western ritual, with dozens of long tables scattered throughout the hall, each with a capacity of twenty people.

Stilwell, as the US military attache to China, and Cherev, as the Soviet minister to China, were invited to sit at the main table.

Halfway through the dinner, a group of journalists were allowed into the hall for impromptu interviews.

This was deliberately arranged by Shanshan Yuan, in order to recover the negative impact of the provisional 79th Division on the Japanese army.

Because before Shanshanyuan arrived in Shanghai, Shigedo Chiaki sent a telegram to Shanshanyuan, claiming that the remnants of the provisional 79th Division had been besieged in Nantong City, and they would be annihilated soon.

Therefore, Shanshanyuan wanted to take the opportunity of the dinner to reveal the news.

Compared with Matsui Ishine, Shanshan Yuan is better at using the weapon of public opinion and is good at building momentum.

A female reporter with long fiery red hair walked up to Shanshanyuan, raised the camera and pressed the camera shutter continuously at Shanshanyuan, Shanshanyuan turned his head sideways very cooperatively, and put on a smile on his face, but he was seriously injured in the head when he participated in the Russo-Japanese War in his early years, and his right eyelid was always drooping, so this smile looks very Ysen.

The female reporter took a few photos and said: "I am Selena, the war correspondent of the New York Times in China, and I would like to ask Your Excellency the General a question: Is the Japanese government not afraid of being sanctioned by the international community for such a reckless invasion of China and wantonly massacres of innocent civilians?" Or is it that the Japanese government simply ignores the existence of international law? ”

Shanshan Yuan took a deep look at the female reporter in front of him, this female reporter not only has long fiery red hair, but also has a snow-white beautiful face, but the most attractive thing is her tall and angry figure, he is almost sixty years old, seeing this female reporter can't help but be excited.

However, Shanshan Yuan was not fascinated by beauty.

After sorting out the wording, Shanshan Yuan said: "First of all, I want to correct one point, our Japanese government has never invaded China, our Japanese government has always respected the Chinese government, but what I want to say is that we live together on the earth, the common interests of mankind are higher than national interests, after the Meiji Restoration, our great Japanese empire has made great progress, and the Japanese people have also lived a good life, but we have not forgotten our neighbors, our neighbors are still living a miserable life, especially China, because of the warlord melee, ** The Chinese people are suffering from a miserable life of not having enough food and clothing, so we in Japan want to help them as much as we can......"

Selina unceremoniously interrupted Shanshan Yuan: "What you mean by help, do you mean hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops, armed with bayonets, stepping on Chinese soil, looting the property of the Chinese, J*Y Chinese women, massacring China's old and young women and children?" Your Excellency, I can't imagine that in your Japan, the definition of help is like this. ”

Shanshan Yuan immediately realized that it might be a mistake to put reporters into the dinner scene for impromptu interviews.

But it's already like this, and Shanshan Yuan can only try his best to find a way to round up what he just said.

At the moment, Shanshan Yuan said: "There are many ways to help the Chinese people, your US government has set up schools in China, provided full scholarships to the best Chinese students, so that they can accept American culture and Western beliefs, and when they return to China, they will devote themselves to the construction of China, which is a good help, but our Japanese government attaches more importance to civilians, and we hope to make more poor people live a good life in a direct way. But we can't stop doing it just because something goes wrong, can we? ”

The implication of Shanshanyuan's words is that even your US government is not a good product, and your US government is following the elite line, and by cultivating pro-American elites, the political intentions of the United States are realized, but our Japanese government is implementing the grassroots line, and realizing the political intentions of the Japanese empire by liberating the vast number of low-level civilians.

If Selina still wants to dwell on the definition of aggression, Shanshan Yuan decided to talk to her about the political intention of the US government to build schools in China, aggression is aggression, whether you are wearing a noble cloak or in the name of barbarism, you are doing the same thing.

Selina glanced at Shanshan Yuan and was not fooled.

The smart beautiful reporter immediately changed the topic: "I heard that the provisional 79th Division, which killed His Royal Highness Prince Fushimi, has successfully escaped the pursuit of the Japanese army, and your predecessor, General Matsui Ishone, was also dismissed by the Japanese army base camp and the imperial family because of the ineffective pursuit, may I ask Your Excellency the General, is this true?" ”

Shanshan Yuan coughed dryly, and said loudly: "As far as I know, the reason why His Excellency Matsui was dismissed was not because of the ineffective pursuit you said, but because of health reasons, in fact, His Excellency Matsui is currently being treated in the Naval Hospital, as for the provisional 79th Division you mentioned, I admit that this is a cunning opponent, and it does pose a certain threat to the imperial army......"

Speaking of this, Shanshan Yuan deliberately paused, until he attracted everyone's attention, and then said: "I was about to take this opportunity to report to you that this provisional 79th Division has been surrounded by the Shigeto detachment in Nantong City, and I can responsibly tell you that the provisional 79th Division will soon be wiped out by the imperial army." ”

Selina immediately asked, "This one you said was fast, how fast?" A day or a week? At the last press conference, I asked His Excellency Tsukada the same question, and he told me that the 79th Provisional Division would be wiped out soon, but in fact, you mobilized three wings to encircle and suppress them, but you still let them break through. ”

Shanshanyuan's face couldn't help but show a trace of embarrassment, although everything that happened before had nothing to do with him, but no matter what, he was also a Japanese soldier, and now he was the commander of the Central China Front, and the Central China Front Army mobilized three infantry wings to encircle and suppress hundreds of Chinese remnants, but he returned in vain, and his face was also gloomy.

At that moment, Shanshan Yuan looked at him left and right, and said, "What I want to say, this is just an accident......

"Accident?" Selina asked relentlessly, "Your Excellency General, I wonder if there will be an accident this time?" If something happens, will Your Excellency the General be dismissed like your predecessor? ”

Shanshan Yuan was a little impatient, and at this time, a young man hurriedly walked up to him and whispered a few words.

Shanshan Yuan's face immediately changed greatly, and he turned around and left, Selina caught up with him unrelentingly, and asked persistently: "I want to ask Your Excellency the General, did there be another accident in the Battle of Nantong?" ”

Shanshan Yuan ignored it and walked straight into the side hall.

The hall filled the hall with envoys and diplomats from various countries looking at each other.

As the host of the dinner, it is very rude for Shanshan Yuan to say goodbye without saying goodbye.

Fortunately, the chief of staff of the Central China Front, Tsukada Tsukasaki, reacted quickly enough, and immediately got up and said: "Everyone, please be calm for a while, please enjoy the wine and food first, and Your Excellency the commander will go back as soon as you go." ”

After pacifying the guests, Tsukada and Mamoru Iinuma left the table and entered the side hall.

When the two of them walked into the side hall, they saw Sugi Yuan standing there stunned at a glance.

Behind Shanshan Yuan, there stood a young staff officer with the same solemn face, and in the hand of that young staff officer, there was also a folder.

"Your Excellency, Commander, what's wrong?" Tsukada asked in a low voice, but Sugi Sugimoto didn't react.

The young officer standing next to Shanshan Yuan handed over the folder in his hand, and Tsukada's face was still normal when he took the folder, but after reading the telegram, the whole person immediately became bad.

The telegram was not sent back by the front-line troops, but by the special high school.

After Chiaki Shigedo sent the first telegram, he never reported the situation of the battle to Sugimoto.

Even if the Japanese army fell into the plan of hiding from the sky and crossing the sea, Shigeto Chiaki also suppressed the news, because Shigeto Chiaki thought that even if he was ambushed by the provisional 79th Division, it would not be a big problem.

In the end, it was the independent battalion that was electrified in clear code, and the Japanese army's special high class was able to know the news.

And the content of the telegram was even more appalling: the Shigeto detachment was completely annihilated! Not only was the Shigedo Heavy Detachment completely annihilated, but even the detachment leader Chiaki Shigeto and the two Wing Commanders were also captured by the Provisional 79th Division!

Seeing that Tsukada had a different expression after reading it, Mamoru Iinuma quickly turned his head over.

"Nani?" Mamoru Iinuma raised his eyebrows, his eyes wide open, and he stared at the telegram in Tsukada's hand.

Mamoru Iinuma took off his myopic glasses on the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes vigorously, suspecting that he was dazzled.

How is that possible? The Shigeto detachment is a whole detachment, with nearly 10,000 troops of all arms combined, which is an army of nearly 10,000 people! However, the provisional 79th Division only has a remnant of a few hundred people left, even if it is counted as much as in the past, it is barely a battalion of only five or six hundred people!

What's more, there are all kinds of indications that the remnants of the provisional 79th Division simply do not have so many troops.

However, now, the Shigeto detachment, which has nearly 10,000 people, has been defeated and defeated by the remnants of the provisional 79th Division, which has only less than 500 people!

Moreover, the Shigeto detachment was not only defeated by the provisional 79th Division, but was also completely annihilated!

The army of tens of thousands of people was completely wiped out by just a few hundred people, and even the detachment leader Chiaki Shigeto and the two co-captains under him were all taken prisoner, and Mamoru Iinuma couldn't believe that this would be true!

Rubbing his eyes vigorously, Mamoru Iinuma put his glasses back on and re-read the telegram in his hand.

The result was the same, the contents of the telegram transcription paper did not change in any way, and the Shigeto detachment was indeed completely wiped out by the remnants of the provisional 79th Division!