Just when Zhou Hexuan handed over the sulfonamide medicine to Du Yuesheng, the 87th and 88th Divisions of the elite German weapons of the national army had secretly arrived near Shanghai. At the same time, the elite troops stationed in Suzhou changed into the uniforms of the security regiment and secretly stationed at strategic points such as Hongqiao Airport.

Obviously, although the national defense conference has not yet ended, Chang Kaishen is already planning to start a war in Shanghai.

In fact, until this moment, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters did not think of attacking East and South China. According to the "Outline of National Defense Policy" formulated by Ishihara, Japan did not regard China as an enemy at all, and their imaginary enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union.

In terms of specific tactics, Japan wants to "strive to maintain friendly relations with the United States" and curry favor with Britain and the United States and other capitalist countries by occupying Northeast and North China and curbing the southward movement of Soviet communism. At the same time, Japan also planned to frantically expand its armaments and negotiate with the Soviet Union with the backing of force to "force the Soviet Union to abandon its plot to attack the Far East."

This is the international grand strategy formulated by the General Staff Headquarters of the Japanese Army, and under this international grand strategy, a small strategy of dialogue and war is carried out.

It is very likely that some people do not believe it, but the Japanese General Staff Headquarters is against the expansion of the war. Their short-term strategic goal was to stabilize the northeast and occupy North China, and then provoke a civil war in the northwest. The long-term goal is to gradually penetrate into the South Seas to obtain rubber and oil from Southeast Asia, and then squeeze out the British to try to eat the East Indies, so as to ensure the supply of strategic resources such as oil and rubber.

After taking Southeast Asia and digesting the territory of Northeast China and North China, you can take the opportunity to get involved in Northwest and East China and swallow the whole of China. At that time, Japan will no longer need to rely on U.S. resource imports, and will be able to engage in a "final war" with the U.S. By defeating the United States, Japan could become the hegemon of the Far East and the Pacific, and then take advantage of the situation to eat up the Soviet Union's territory in the Far East.

The very whimsical and reasonable strategy shows that there are still people in the Japanese General Staff Headquarters.

If this plan is followed, many forces in the country will see that the south and northwest are safe, and maybe a civil war will break out again, which will make the Japanese army occupying North China smile and watch a good show. Moreover, with the digestion of North and Northeast China by the Japanese army, as well as the penetration of Southeast Asia, Japan's strategic resource reserves will be more abundant, and the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor is very likely to be postponed, and the United States will not have an excuse to enter the war so quickly.

However, the Japanese Navy could not wait......

If the steps of the "National Defense Policy Outline" are strictly followed, the Japanese Navy will have no war to fight for at least 10 years. Without fighting, there would be no military merit, and without military merit, there would be no promotion, and there would be no reason for the Japanese Navy to ask for more military spending.

As a result, seeing that the army was fighting smoothly in North China, and the General Staff Headquarters planned to negotiate peace with China (it was a real peace talk, it only wanted to occupy North China), the navy finally couldn't help but make a move in Shanghai.

On 9 August, Japanese Navy Lieutenant Yuo Oyama and Saito Yozo, a first-class sailor, drove a military vehicle into the Hongqiao Military Airport. When stopped by Chinese soldiers, they shot and killed one of the Chinese soldiers, who were immediately killed on the spot by the airport guards.

The Japanese Navy finally picked up the matter, and the war in Shanghai had to be fought if it was not fought. Some officers and generals of the War Department were not willing to occupy only North China, and they were very cooperative in helping the Navy stir up trouble, forcing the General Staff Headquarters to expand its war intentions and change the original plan of occupying only North China to occupy the whole of China.

The Japanese General Staff Headquarters was still very sober at first, but when they saw that the army easily conquered Pingjin, they also felt that China was a super soft persimmon, and they shouted that they would destroy China within three months.

From the beginning of the Japanese Marine Corps' stirring up trouble at Hongqiao Airport, the direction of the entire war has been out of the control of the Japanese military department and government. It's like holding a few vicious dogs in your hands, those vicious dogs are running forward frantically, and the person holding the rope can't pull it at all, so he can only be led forward by the vicious dogs.

On 13 August, five days after Zhou Hexuan left Shanghai, Hasegawa, commander of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet, ordered air raids on Nanjing, Guangde, and Nanchang, as well as a surprise attack on Shanghai's Hongqiao airfield. In the following two days, the Japanese army sent 16 warships to Songhu with a number of marines on board, and the Japanese cabinet also decided to send army reinforcements to Shanghai.

History says that the August 13 incident.

On the Chinese side, the Nanjing Nationalist Government issued the "Declaration of Self-Defense and War of Resistance", appointing Zhang Zhizhong as commander-in-chief of the Ninth Group Army and Zhang Fakui as commander-in-chief of the Eighth Group Army, to resolutely resist and strike at the landing Japanese army.

Britain, the United States, France, and other capitalist countries have a standing idly by attitude towards the Sino-Japanese war, and the United States continues to sell strategic materials to Japan. Germany ostensibly favored Japan, but continued to secretly sell large quantities of arms to China.

Regardless of international friendship and morality, the United States and Germany are all doing things for the sake of making money.

Only the Soviet Union sided with China and soon signed the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Under the special circumstances of that time, when the major powers were all taking a neutral stance, the Soviet Union separately declared that it would not be an enemy of the Chinese side of the Sino-Japanese war, in fact, it was showing solidarity with China and identifying Japan as a potential hostile target.

The Soviet Union's approach was also irrelevant to international friendship and morality, which fell under the category of geopolitics.

In any case, the signing of the "Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact" has brought great encouragement to China at this critical juncture, and both the Nanjing Government and people from all walks of life are extremely excited about the signing of this treaty.

When the news of the August 13 incident came, Zhou Hexuan had already arrived in Nanjing, and specially asked someone to find a gentleman - Xu Chuanyin.

"Why did Mr. Zhou come to visit me?" Xu Chuanyin felt a little puzzled. Although he was an official in Nanjing, his official position was not big, and it was impossible for him to enter Zhou Hexuan's eyes.

Why did Zhou Hexuan look for Xu Chuanyin?

Because he volunteered to stay during the war, he served as the vice president of the International Red Swastika Society, presided over the housing arrangements for refugees in the international security zone, and became the only Chinese member of the International Relief Committee.

Under the auspices of Dr. Xu Chuanyin, a total of 25 refugee camps were built in Nanjing, sheltering about 200,000 to 300,000 refugees.

As the only non-traitor Chinese allowed to move freely around the city, Dr. Xu Chuanyin witnessed the atrocities of the Japanese army throughout the process, and he later became an important witness in the Tokyo Trial Court against the Japanese army against the Nanjing Massacre.

Zhou Hexuan asked, "Dr. Xu, if the Japanese invaders capture Nanjing, will you leave with your family?" ”

Xu Chuanyin shook his head and said, "I shouldn't be leaving." I am not in good health, and my family business is also in Nanjing, so I have to stay here to keep my family property. Mr. Zhou thinks the Japanese will attack Nanjing? ”

"It's hard to say," Zhou Hexuan sighed, "judging from the military strength of China and Japan, I'm afraid Nanjing can't be saved." Moreover, as the capital of China, once the Japanese invaders captured Nanjing, they may have the same thing as Lushun in the past. ”

"The Holocaust?" Xu Chuanyin stood up.

"I'm not afraid of 10,000, I'm afraid of what happens," Zhou Hexuan took out a bill of exchange of 200,000 oceans and said, "No matter what, when the war comes, the people will suffer." The 200,000 oceans were also accepted by Dr. Xu and hired some ox carts and horse-drawn carts to help the orphans, widows, the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled who were living in difficulty to evacuate. ”

Xu Chuanyin felt dizzy, he was just a little bureaucrat and capitalist, Zhou Hexuan found him inexplicably, and inexplicably gave him 200,000 oceans, and said a bunch of inexplicable words.

It wasn't until a few months later that Xu Chuanyin really understood Zhou Hexuan's intentions.

In fact, since November this year, the Nationalist Government has been planning to organize the evacuation of Nanjing citizens. For refugees who have moved internally, the government has set up refugee shelters in cities and counties along the way, issuing refugee certificates and a small amount of travel expenses free of charge, and also contacting charitable organizations such as the Red Cross to provide assistance.

Before the outbreak of the war, Nanjing's permanent population was 1.015 million, but by the time Nanjing fell, there were only 500,000 left, and those who could go had already left early.

Those Nanjing citizens who are reluctant to leave are roughly divided into five categories:

The first was left behind by order. For example, the police assigned to the international security zone, such as the Kuomintang and Communist Party agents, and the left-behind workers in schools, hospitals, and government agencies.

The second is to stay voluntarily. For example, Dr. Xu Chuanyin, vice president of the World Red Swastika Society, and Ms. Cheng Ruifang, who co-manages the Jinling Women's University refugee camp, both volunteered to stay and help the refugees.

Third, it is difficult to give up the homeland. No one could have imagined that Japan would carry out a massacre, and many ordinary people worked hard for half their lives, and finally managed to build a little family business, such as storefronts, such as real estate, and land. It is difficult for them to make up their minds to leave these industries behind and leave their homes and move towards unknown distances.

Fourth, it is difficult to make the trip. These people lived in poverty, and during the Great Evacuation, transportation was expensive and transportation was hard to find, so they had to walk little by little. It's too hard, and there's no security in life, so they don't want to go.

Fifth, the pro-Japanese faction. These people relied on having contacts with the Japanese, or had business dealings, or directly became traitors, and thought that the Japanese would be promoted and make a fortune when they came, but many of them died in the massacre.

Historically, the Nanjing military police mobilized and evacuated from house to house, exhausting their strength and not being able to persuade those citizens to leave.

What can Zhou Hexuan do?

Even if it is advertised everywhere that the Japanese are going to commit a massacre, then someone has to believe it!

The only thing Zhou Hexuan can do is to leave a donation to reliable people to help refugees who are living in difficulty, so that those who want to leave but can't do so can save their lives. For example, in this case, no matter how much the gendarmes persuaded a family that did not leave, the widow pointed to her mother-in-law and several children who were sick in bed and asked the gendarme: How do you let me move?

With Zhou Hexuan's funding, at least those orphans and widows can leave.

Zhou Hexuan bowed and saluted: "Dr. Xu, please help, please!" ”

This trick is very effective, ordinary people really can't stand Zhou Hexuan's gift, Xu Chuanyin hurriedly supported him and said: "I'll accept the money, I'll open you a receipt." If you don't need it, I'll give it back to you later, okay? ”

"Thank you!" Zhou Hexuan clenched his fists and said.

After sending Zhou Hexuan away, Xu Chuanyin stood on the balcony and said to himself: "What is the mess? ”

Before the Nanjing Massacre, Xu Chuanyin was just an ordinary person, and he had not yet been sublimated by his soul and personality.

Of course, since he promised Zhou Hexuan to help, a good person with a sense of responsibility like Xu Chuanyin will definitely try his best to provide assistance to those in need, and how many can be saved.

After leaving Nanjing, Zhou Hexuan went to Hankou to inspect the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, which was under construction.

It's summer, and the flood is coming.

The water level of the Yangtze River in the three towns of Wuhan has risen significantly, and it is estimated that in half a month, the construction of the bridge will be temporarily suspended, because the annual floods are coming.

Mr. Zhou inquired about the progress and was told that the bridge would not be completed until at least next spring, and that the slightest problem would drag it out until summer or autumn, when the battle for Wuhan was underway.

Zhou Hexuan decided to follow Mao Yisheng's practice and asked the construction party to reserve a hole in the pier to place explosives, so that the Japanese army could blow up the bridge when they came.

The bridge was very important in north-south transportation, and a day earlier it could facilitate the transportation of wartime supplies and soldiers, as well as facilitate the crossing of the river by refugees fleeing from the north.

I hope it will be completed as soon as possible and blown up smoothly.