On December 7, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

On December 8, the Japanese army attacked the Malay Peninsula from Thailand, and the scale of the war in Southeast Asia expanded. On the same day, the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong, and the scholars and celebrities who had taken refuge in Hong Kong retreated north.

On December 9, Lin Sen, the head of state, issued the "Declaration of War against Japan", and China officially declared war on Japan. On the same day, the United States and Great Britain declared war on Japan, and Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

On December 20, the Flying Tigers shot down 6 Japanese planes in Yunnan and damaged 3 planes, with no damage to themselves, and won the first battle.

In other words, the three squadron emblems of the Flying Tigers have a magical pattern.

"Adam and Eve's Squadron" is a slick woman running after a man; "Panda Squadron" depicts a smiling panda with squinted eyes; The "Squadron of Hell Angels" is a woman with wings and a halo on her head, and she is also undressed.

With the team emblem, and then look at the magical shark painted on their plane, it adds a bit of humor to the cruel Chinese War of Resistance.

New Year's Day, 1942.

Led by the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China, representatives from 22 countries around the world signed the Joint Declaration in Washington. It marked the formal formation of the World Anti-Fascist League and laid the foundation for the establishment of the United Nations after the war.

After Soong Ziwen signed the "Joint Declaration of the United Nations," he immediately received the task assigned by Lao Chiang -- to ask the United States for a loan of at least $500 million.

Roosevelt urged Treasury Secretary Morgenthau to settle the matter as soon as possible, but Morgenthau was unwilling to give money and proposed another solution. That is, the United States bears the military expenses of 1 million Chinese troops every month, and at the rate of $10 per person, it pays $10 million per month.

Song Ziwen bargained, proposing that the United States should bear the military expenses of 3 million people, and that it must pay $30 million a month, and Morgenthau agreed. Song Ziwen was overjoyed and reported to Chang Kaishen: "This is equivalent to 600 million fiat currency coming in every month. ”

Chang Kaishen firmly disagreed, believing that the United States was trying to control China's military in this way.

Due to the defeat of the United States in the Pacific War, the US government was more panicked than Chiang, and the congressmen forced Morgenthau to pay the money quickly. After a month's delay, the U.S. Congress passed Bill 422, agreeing to provide a $500 million loan to China.

There is no interest on these loans, and there is no set time for when they must be repaid, and everything will be said after the war. Its impact on China's war of resistance was very huge, and without the $500 million, the fiat currency would have collapsed faster, and China's finances would not even survive 1942.

Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor really saved China.

In late January, the British Governor General in India, Lithgow, invited Chang Kaishen to visit India, and Roosevelt made it clear that Zhou Hexuan and his wife must also go.

What happened to Roosevelt during Lao Chiang's visit to India?

However, Britain agreed to India's independence in the "Joint Declaration of the United Nations," which made the Indians overjoyed, but in practice, there was no hope at all, and Nehru, Gandhi, and other well-known Indian personalities made a fuss because of this, and some Indians even joined hands with Japan to carry out a national independence movement.

Roosevelt, on the other hand, wanted to establish a Chinese theater in Asia, and India needed to cooperate with transportation and other tasks. He did not want chaos in India, so he proposed that Chang Kaishen visit India to persuade the Congress Party to compromise with the British government.

As for Zhou Hexuan's fame in India, it is not far from Tagore's fame in China. The same oppressed Asian country, the same Asian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Zhou Hexuan has received great praise in India.

Even, Zhou Hexuan's speech "I Have a Dream", the historical monograph "The Rise of a Great Power", the poems "Praise" and "Answer" are all widely circulated among the Indian people. The "Collected Works of Zhou Hexuan" published in India five years ago even invited Tagore to write a preface - Zhou Hexuan did not get a dime of copyright fees.

This is not only the case in India, but also in Japan.

Asia before World War II was a symbol of backwardness, and Japan could not change the status quo even if it left Asia and joined Europe. Therefore, whenever there are Asians who have achieved great things, all Asian countries are honored, and the Japanese and Indians regard Zhou Hexuan as an Asian hero.

Even though the Japanese authorities later listed Zhou Hexuan's works as banned books, there are still a lot of them in the Japanese people, and the more Japanese senior intellectuals like to collect them.

At the suggestion of his advisers, Roosevelt learned of this situation, so he asked Chang Kaishen to bring Zhou Hexuan with him when he went to India.

On 5 February, the Indian delegation headed by Chang Kaishen officially set off, accompanied by Wang Chonghui, Shang Zhen, Zhang Daofan, and Zhou Zhirou.

got on the special plane, Chang Kaishen called Zhou Hexuan to sit with him, and asked Song Meiling to have a family meal with Zhang Leyi. Such an intimate attitude made the accompanying government officials look sideways, and they regarded Zhou Hexuan as the number one celebrity in the academic world.

"Mingcheng, the progressives in India still need you to contact this time." Chang Kaishen said.

Zhou Hexuan said: "I really don't know anything about India, I don't know anyone. ”

Chang Kaishen seems to have known the situation in India beforehand, saying: "The Indian elite all know English and Latin, and they also like to read Western literature. Take Nehru, the leader of the Congress Party, for example, I heard that this person was particularly fond of Nietzsche and George Bernard Shaw, and was friends with the great writer Romain Rolland. You also know George Bernard Shaw and Romain Rolland, and you must have shared a common topic with Nehru. ”

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Is there any purpose for President Jiang's trip?" ”

Chang Kaishen said: "The purpose is that the two great nations of China and India work together and fight side by side, and China supports India's independence!" ”

"Well, I'm going to engage with Indians with that in mind." Zhou Hexuan was a little speechless.

Chang Kaishen is not just shouting slogans, he really did this in history.

Roosevelt's original intention was to persuade the Indian progressives to compromise with the British government. As a result, after Chang Kaishen arrived in India, he actually supported India's independence in various ways and called on Britain to immediately agree to India's national liberation.

Lao Chiang's operation made Churchill so angry that he threw his dentures, and at the same time caused huge pressure on the British authorities at home and abroad.

While scolding his mother in his heart, Churchill expressed his opinion through Reuters: "The British government has paid sympathetic attention to Chiang's proposal, and the British wartime cabinet has thoroughly reviewed the whole situation. ”

Our President Jiang is still showing operations, and he has not stopped after leaving India, holding "India Day" activities in Chongqing. He also wrote to Roosevelt and Churchill, criticizing Britain for "closing its eyes to the facts" and urging Britain to immediately change its attitude and to ease the antagonism of the Indian people, otherwise it would be too late for Japan to attack India.

Churchill received a letter of criticism from Chang Kaishen and threw his dentures again.

From February to July, Chang called Roosevelt again and asked Roosevelt to urge Britain to make concessions. This made Churchill furious, threatening to revoke the Sino-British Covenant and then put Nehru and Gandhi in prison.

Chang Kaishen did this because he wanted to use Indian affairs to improve his position in the allies and to establish China's status as a great power in Asia.