Since the invention of wireless telegraphy, human communication has quickly entered a new stage, and the long distance has finally ceased to be an obstacle for human beings to transmit messages, and it has immediately shortened the distance of human communication. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The news of the arrival of the French convoy spread like lightning across the land of China and even in Tokyo, Japan.

The official residence of the Jiang family in Chongqing

Looking at the telegram he had just received in his hand, Chairman Chiang, who had just finished lunch and was sitting on a recliner on the balcony for a short time, was silent for a long time, with a look on his face that seemed to be happy, emotional, and reluctant.

It happened that Mrs. Jiang had washed a plate of fruit and put it on the table, and when she saw Chairman Jiang looking at a telegram, she couldn't help but ask curiously, thinking that something big had happened: "Darling, what did you send and what made you embarrassed?" ”

Chairman Jiang sighed, handed the telegram in his hand to her, and said in a lonely voice: "The French fleet is coming, and Su Sansi is leaving." ”

"Su Sansi is leaving?" Mrs. Jiang was startled at first, and then smiled: "Darling, you are really, in the past, when you mentioned Su Sansi, you looked like you had itchy teeth, and now that he is leaving, why are you reluctant?" Isn't it just time for you to send troops to take over Zhejiang? ”

"It's as simple as you say." Chairman Jiang glanced at Mrs. Jiang helplessly: "The affairs in Zhejiang are far beyond your imagination, Su Sansi and others are leaving, but he didn't take all the troops away, he left two national police garrison divisions in Zhejiang." Moreover, Zhejiang has now become our only outlet to the sea, and it is also the only channel for us to receive foreign military assistance, and its importance can be imagined. In the past, Su Sansi was in front of all the pressure of the Japanese, although he was not very obedient, but we also have to admit that the Third Army is very strong, once he is gone, these pressures will all be transferred to us, I can be sure that after Su Jin leaves, no more than three days at most, the Japanese will definitely attack us from Jiangsu, Fujian and the sea at the same time, will we be able to withstand the crazy attack of the Japanese at that time? Even if we can hold it, how many troops will we need? Have you considered how many casualties you have to pay to keep Zhejiang? ”

As a highly educated elite of this era, she is very aware of the importance of American aid to China, since the United States began to provide military aid to China, military supplies from the United States have begun to flow into the country, although the materials are not very many, and the dilemma of lack of materials on the domestic battlefield has not been fundamentally reversed, but it is much better than before. Once Zhejiang was occupied by the Japanese again, she couldn't imagine the consequences.

Thinking of the consequences of losing Zhejiang again, Madame Jiang couldn't help but be frightened, and as soon as she grabbed her husband's hand, she asked with some horror: "Darling, isn't that dangerous?" What should we do? ”

Chairman Jiang rubbed his temples and said helplessly: "Now we can only take one step at a time, Zhejiang has now become the most important and only port connecting us with foreign countries, and we must not afford to lose, I have already ordered Xue Yue and Gu Zhutong to hoard troops in Jingdezhen, Shangrao, Guangde, Liyang and other places, and when Su Jin is on the ship, he will enter Zhejiang as quickly as possible to take over the defense, as for whether I can hold Zhejiang, I can only do my best to obey the destiny of heaven!" ”

Listening to her husband's words that damaged her own momentum, Mrs. Jiang was silent, this is the current situation in China, lack of food, weapons, ammunition, fuel, in short, there is a shortage of everything except people, and it is not easy for her husband to forcibly organize a scattered country to form a unified anti-Japanese war situation.

Not to mention Chairman Chiang, who had mixed feelings in his heart, the Japanese were in another mood.

When the headquarters in Tokyo received an urgent telegram from Zhejiang, the staff officers of the base camp, who were originally confident in their plans, immediately fell into a stupor, they never thought that the French would be willing to spend so much money and use such a powerful fleet to escort Su Jin and his Third Army, so that the plan that originally seemed to them to be a knife to kill chickens now seems to be a little unreliable.

In the Japanese base camp, dozens of senior staff officers were standing in front of the huge map and arguing, and the quarrel was so fierce that many people's necks were red.

"According to the information sent by the instructions lurking in Zhejiang, the French have sent a convoy consisting of a powerful fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier, a battleship, four cruisers, eight destroyers, and a number of submarines and auxiliary ships to Taizhou.

Some opponents immediately said: "What is not reliable, we have planned to use the huge force of two aircraft carriers, one battleship, four cruisers and eight destroyers, and if this does not defeat the escort fleet, I really doubt the necessity of the Empire to build such a large navy at great expense." Could it be that you still want to sail the entire Combined Fleet out? ”

"You know what? There is an old saying among the people of China, the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, let alone against such a powerful fleet? ”

"But don't forget, the people of China still have an old saying, kill chickens with a knife!"

"Yaga...... You are irresponsible for the great cause of the Empire, and who will be responsible if the French fleet escapes? ”

"You're a bunch of guys who don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, do you know how much fuel it takes to add a fleet to sail?"

The more the two groups of people talked, the more angry they became, and they were even about to fight, but finally calmed down under the angry reprimand of the star officer.

However, next to a huge world map not far from these staff officers, Mitsumasa Yonechi, the chief of staff, Prince Zaihito, the chief of staff, the prime minister, Fumihiro Konoe, and the Hideki Tojo, the land minister, were staring at the map in a daze, ignoring the quarrel that was close at hand.

It was only after the voices of the staff officers arguing were suppressed by the duty officer that Hideki Tojo said to Mitsumasa Yonechi, the prime minister of the sea: "Minai-kun, Zhejiang has now become an important port for the United States to support China, and according to intelligence, they will provide China with more than 100,000 gallons of gasoline, thousands of tons of food, ammunition, weapons, tires, steel and other important materials every month in the past few months. This time Su Jin and his Third Army left China for France, which became our best chance to destroy him, but now things have changed, we have underestimated the determination of the French, I wonder if the navy is sure to annihilate this fleet in one fell swoop? ”

Mitsumasa Minai pondered for a while before saying: "Although the strength of the escort fleet sent by the French was beyond our expectations, according to the original plan, our two aircraft carriers Chicheng and Kaga plus the battleship Ise, plus four cruisers and eight destroyers, are basically the same as the French escort fleet in terms of strength, but with such strength, it is impossible to completely annihilate the French fleet, so I think that if we want to have a complete grasp of the complete annihilation of the French fleet, we must at least add one more aircraft carrier, two battleships, Five cruisers and six destroyers, so that they can be foolproof and not let Su Jin and them slip through the net. ”

"Hiss......"

As soon as Mitsumasa's words came out, everyone gasped, and even Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe said: "Minai-kun, the fleet sent out earlier is still looking for fighters at sea and waiting for the French fleet, if you send such a huge fleet to the sea again, it will inevitably increase the financial burden of the empire, and the military expenditure of the navy this year cannot be increased." ”

Konoe Fumiro's words represent the general view of the civilian officials of the Japanese government, who say that a cannon is ten thousand taels of gold when it goes off, but what many people don't know is that in fact, compared with warships, cannons can only be regarded as scum, and the fuel consumed by a warship, especially a warship of tens of thousands of tons, is terrifyingly large once it is started. Taking a battleship as an example, a battleship needs to carry 4,000 tons of heavy oil, 50 tons of lubricating oil, 40 tons of light oil, and about 160 tons of drinking water at a time. Now Mitsumasa Yonechi is going to send another fleet to the sea, which makes Fumiko Konoe, who is in charge of finance, not break out in a cold sweat.

Prince Zairen suddenly spoke: "Konoe Jun, this Su Jin has caused too much damage to the empire over the years, the empire has already killed hundreds of thousands of warriors in his hands, and many generals have been transferred to the reserve for him, so I think that as long as Su Jin can be eliminated, even if it is worth paying a big price, we can still get back what we have lost, but once Su Jin is released to France, then it will be difficult to find an opportunity like today next time." ”

Tojo Hideki also nodded and said, "Yo Xi, His Royal Highness the Prince has a point, as long as Su Jin and his Third Army can be eliminated, any price is acceptable." ”

Seeing that the army and navy, which had always been at odds, had a rare unification of opinions, Konoe Fumiro was surprised and also sighed that Su Jin's ability could make the Japanese high-level hate to such an extent, and he was the first person in the past hundred years.

Thinking of this, Konoe Fumiro nodded and said: "Since the opinions of all the monarchs agree with it, then I will report this plan to His Majesty the Emperor, and we can implement it after His Majesty's imperial inspection, but I hope that Prime Minister Minai can give me a guarantee, so that I can report to His Majesty!" ”

"This coward!" Mitsumasa Minei secretly despised this prime minister who came to power by nepotism, but on the surface he still said solemnly: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, we will definitely complete the task!" (To be continued.) )