Cook shouted for a long time in front of the position of the lone army camp until his throat smoked, but no one paid attention to him, and finally Cook could only return to the British position in a gloomy manner and report to Ferguson. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Ferguson was furious, but helpless.

At this time, Jonathan, the general director of the Concession Ministry of Industry, and Johnson, the police commissioner, also rushed over, and Jonathan even personally went to the front of the position and asked to negotiate with Xie Yuan, the commander of the lone army battalion.

Jonathan and Xie Yuan met twice, one of which was to persuade Xie Yuan to lead his troops to withdraw into the concession at the new garbage bridge, and then once to come forward to do Xie Yuan's thoughts when he disarmed the lone army camp, although the two meetings were not very pleasant, but Jonathan was still confident to persuade Xie Yuan to induce the lone army camp to release the hostages.

However, to Jonathan's great surprise, Xie Yuan did not show up at all this time.

Let Jonathan shout in front of the battle until his throat was dry, Xie Yuan never showed up.

In the end, Jonathan had no choice but to return to the British position.

Jonathan said to Ferguson: "Your Excellency, it seems that the lone military camp is determined to release the hostages. ”

Johnson said with a bitter face: "What do these Chinese people want?" They take so many hostages, there should always be a demand, right? Whether it's to get a ransom, or in exchange for a way out, they should always ask for something, but when we go to negotiate, they ignore it, what kind of trouble is this? ”

"Otherwise, let's attack directly." Ferguson said in a deep voice, "The dignity of the British Empire cannot be desecrated!" ”

"No way!" Jonathan flatly refused, "You must know that it is not only Baron Steve and more than 30 citizens of our British Empire who have been kidnapped by the Lone Battalion, but also the citizens of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy, especially the Lone Camp has captured more than 100 Italian soldiers, if we cause these casualties due to our military operations, it will cause an international incident, after all, the relationship between the Empire and Italy is very delicate now." ”

Ferguson immediately fell silent, as a brigadier general, he still knows some of the current international trends.

Since Mussolini came to power, Italy began to seek dominance in North Africa, especially Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal, and it is a piece of fat that Mussolini dreamed of.

However, Britain did not want to see this in any case, because Britain was trying to draw the attention of the German-Italian-Japanese Axis Alliance, which was about to take shape, to the Soviet Union, and Britain hoped to induce the German-Italian-Japanese Axis Alliance to jointly attack the Soviet Union through appropriate concessions of interests, so that Britain would be able to fish in troubled waters.

Britain was willing to concede to Germany and Italy in the interests of Western Europe and Eastern Europe, but Egypt, which controlled the Suez Canal, was absolutely unable to concede.

Therefore, this matter must be done with caution.

After a long time, Ferguson muffled and said, "Then what do you say should be done?" ”

Jonathan pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that the only way to put pressure on the Nationalist Government is through diplomatic channels, and let the Nationalist Government directly give orders to the lone army camp and order them to disarm and surrender!" ”

After a slight pause, Jonathan continued: "However, if only the Ministry of Industry of the Concession comes forward, I am worried that it will not be enough, so we have to urgently contact China, and at the same time call the embassies of the United States, France and Italy in Shanghai, and work with them to put pressure on the national government." ”

(Dividing Line)

Ever since receiving the news, Chairman Chiang has been in a state of high tension.

What is Chairman Chiang nervous about? Nervous reaction of the West, especially the British, of course! As far as Chairman Chiang is concerned, China's domestic affairs are not a matter, and even if Wang Ching-wei, a veteran of the party-state, betrays the party and defects to the enemy, Chairman Chiang can still watch the flowers bloom and fall in front of the court, but only in the West, Chairman Chiang will never dare to ignore them.

So early in the morning, Chairman Chiang summoned several staff members and Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui to his official residence to urgently discuss countermeasures, but after discussion, everyone failed to come up with a good charter, and in the end, Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui said, or wait for the British government to protest?

So the matter was put aside for the time being, and a group of people began to wait anxiously for news.

At noon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally waited for the protests of Western countries as promised.

However, the lineup of protesting countries is somewhat large, in addition to the expected Britain, there are actually the United States, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary and other countries, Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui roughly counted, the number of diplomatic envoys who signed the official letter was actually as many as 13, and the diplomatic envoys who came to the door in person were six people.

Among them, the Italian minister to Chongqing, Clinder, was the most forceful.

Clint strongly warned the Nationalist Government and ordered the Nationalist Government to immediately order the Lone Army Battalion to release all the Italian prisoners of war, and to sentence all the more than 400 officers and soldiers of the Lone Army Camp who participated in the atrocities to death, otherwise Italy would urgently transfer troops from the country, and Italy might even directly declare war on China! In addition, the British minister in Chongqing was also very angry, saying that he would urgently transfer troops from Hong Kong to Shanghai to suppress the lone military camp.

Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui made a good argument before persuading the nine indignant foreign envoys to go to a side hall to rest.

As soon as the nine foreign envoys left, Bai Chongxi, the deputy chief of staff, said with extreme disdain: "Bluff, these ghosts think that they can scare us by saying a few cruel words, but they are too naïve. ”

Chen Cheng first glanced at Chairman Jiang, and then retorted: "It may not be a bluff. ”

"How is it not a bluff?" Bai Chongxi said suddenly, "I also transferred troops from Hong Kong, as far as I know, the British garrison in Hong Kong is only 10,000 people in total, just such a small number of troops, the 21st Army on guard against devils is not enough, how can there be extra troops to transfer to Shanghai?" As for Italy, it's even more nonsense. ”

Chen Cheng said: "What is? I must remind you not to underestimate the determination of the Italians. ”

"Underestimating the determination of the Italians?" Bai Chongxi was stunned, "It's really not that I underestimate their determination, in fact, I have never underestimated anyone's determination, let alone the determination of a country's government?" But determination is one thing, reality is another, the Italians have determination, can they turn it into transportation capacity to transport troops from Europe to the Chinese battlefield? ”

"Doesn't Italy have a navy?" Chen Cheng disagreed, "Why can't you transport troops from Europe?" ”

Bai Chongxi frowned and said: "Cixiu, it stands to reason that you should know better than me that military has always been just a continuation of politics, and Italy has no core interests in Shanghai at all, do you really think that the Italian government will go to war with China thousands of miles away for the safety of more than 100 soldiers?" ”

"You're a fluke." Chen Cheng said, "What if Italy really decides to go to war? For Italy, the transfer of a fleet of tens of thousands of troops to Asia is just a piece of cake, but for us China, this is an unbearable burden. ”

Seeing that Bai Chongxi was about to say, Chen Cheng immediately rushed to say: "Moreover, have you thought about international influence?" The lone military camp made a big fuss about the concession was originally our fault, and Italy is not to worry about it, but what if all Western countries unite to put pressure on us, China? Can we resist it? ”

At this moment, Chief Chen, who was making an impassioned speech, chose to forget, and the lonely army camp was the real victim!

He Yingqin also continued: "Even if we can withstand the pressure of the West, but in this way, the West's assistance is not to be thought about, now is the critical juncture of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and it is the time when we urgently need strong support from Western countries. ”

Seeing that He Yingqin also said the same, Bai Chongxi immediately closed his mouth, anyway, he had already said what he should say, even if the Nationalist Government finally made a decision that was not conducive to the Lone Army Battalion, he would have a clear conscience, and seriously talk about it, the Lone Army Camp is a unit of the 88th Division, which can be said to be a descendant of the Central Army, Chairman Jiang's father is not distressed, what is his hurry?

At this time, Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui came back from the side hall and asked urgently: "Have you decided?" The envoys over there couldn't be appeased. ”

Bai Chongxi and Chen Cheng turned their eyes to Chairman Jiang.

Chairman Jiang's eyes fell on Dai Li, who had been silent, and asked, "Yunong, is there any faction in the liaison group sent by the Shanghai District of the Military Command to go to the lone military camp?" ”

Dai Li said: "If you are lowly, you will call and ask." ”

Chairman Jiang said, "Just go to my study and fight." ”

"Yes." Dai Li agreed and entered Chairman Jiang's study.

After a while, Dai Lian came out again and said respectfully, "Bench, I have been contacted." ”

"It's good to get in touch." Chairman Chiang breathed a long sigh of relief, and then said, "You immediately send a telegram to Wang Tianmu and ask Wang Tianmu to convey the order of the command: order, the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division immediately release all the Western hostages it detained, immediately disarm, and surrender to the British troops on the opposite side." ”

Wang Chonghui whispered: "Commission, do you want to also put forward conditions to the Western envoys, so that they can ensure the safety of more than 400 soldiers in the lonely military camp?" In any case, these more than 400 soldiers are all meritorious soldiers, and we must not watch them suffer, but at least ensure their basic safety in life. ”

Chen Cheng frowned and said, "At this time, everything is important to calm down the situation as soon as possible, so don't make trouble, right?" ”

Chairman Jiang was also obviously hesitant about this, but after a moment of silence, he still said: "According to the meaning of rhetoric, there is no need to make any more troubles at this time. ”