A large number of news media in the concession with different backgrounds, relying on the particularity of the concession, like to criticize Wang Puppet and Japan when they have nothing to do, and some literati have a stinky and hard temperament, and even assassination cannot frighten the pen in their hands. The decisions of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau have never paid attention to how to keep them secret, and these news must have spread throughout Shanghai at this moment.

What made Horiuchi Kanjo feel even more troubled was that the Japanese army and navy stationed in Shanghai must have known about these things, and these dismissed inspectors and special department personnel all had the background of the army intelligence department, and they were either subordinates of the Mei agency or were named in the Shanghai gendarmerie.

Since taking office in April, the new director of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau, Kai Ziwei, has always been very cooperative, and has never taken any action that disobeys Japan's demands. Therefore, this time his sudden turn of face made the Ministry of Foreign Affairs feel extremely surprised, and Japan's situation in the public concession became quite passive, and the whole situation took a 180-degree reversal.

Since the beginning of the 38th year, Japan has been trying to infiltrate the management of the public concession, but now it seems that all efforts may be in vain, and the heads of the Japanese secret service in Shanghai must be scratching the wall in their offices and scolding them.

If the army's horse manure had been half a year ago, he might have shouted "Kou Noano" or "How can it be repaired", pulled out his saber and rushed into the concession. However, after the [Morimoto Brigade Incident], the Tokyo base camp used a harsh example to pour a pot of ice water on the smoking heads of the horse dung.

The Morimoto Brigade Incident exposed a serious tendency in the Army, and in order to put an end to this kind of behavior, Minister of War Tojo resorted to frightening and ferocious measures in dealing with the incident after the incident. The tragic fate of the people involved in the Morimoto incident made the young men of the army realize the determination of the upper echelons of the army, and the Tokyo base camp will no longer tolerate indulgence in ignoring the orders of the superiors.

Having said that, this time the situation was a little different from the past, and it was the Japanese side that usually made provocative gestures, and there had never been a case of the management of the concession attacking Japan.

The biggest fear of the Public Concession was that Japan would send troops to take over the territory of the Public Concession for public security or political reasons, because they did not have the strength to prevent the Japanese from doing so.

Historically, the management of the Ministry of Industry Bureau was mainly in the hands of the British, and even the Americans could only be a foil in it, and if it were not for Japan's efforts for Britain in World War I, it would not even be possible to occupy a place in the Ministry of Industry Bureau. Speaking of directors, Japan's board of directors were received from the Germans after World War I.

In the 40s, there were two Japanese directors in the Ministry of Industry Bureau, Taro Takao and Kazuse Okamoto. The former claimed to be the manager of the Shanghai branch of Mitsui Kaisen, but in fact had a background in the Japanese army intelligence department.

The latter had worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a long time, served in both the Japanese Embassy in the United Kingdom and the United States, served as the Japanese Consul General in Singapore for one term, and lived in Shanghai after his retirement, where he participated in the election of the Ministry of Industry as a director of the Japan Textile Association, replacing Tian Cheng, vice president of the Japanese Tung Huazhong Railway Company, who had resigned in April.

This time, it was Kazusei Okamoto who was kicked out of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, on the grounds that he had participated in the previous Ministry of Industry Bureau election, and the votes at that time had been confirmed to be lost, so he was not eligible to enter the Ministry of Industry Bureau as a replacement. The seat left by Makoto Tian because of Makoto's resignation in Japan can only be used as a vacancy until the next election of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau.

As a result, the proportion of directors of the Ministry of Industry became five in the United Kingdom, two in the United States, and one in Japan, and the remaining six seats were all Chinese.

This means that the Japanese have been completely marginalized in the management of the Public Concession, which is obviously a rather dangerous message for Japan.

Horiuchi Kashiro hurriedly sent a telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, and as Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul General, he had an unshirkable duty on this issue, and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a request to the Cabinet on his behalf, in any case, to give him some more time to use diplomatic means to resolve the present dispute as much as possible.

As soon as Horiuchi got off the plane, he went directly to the Shanghai Army Headquarters of the China Dispatch Army on Disway Road, and urgently met with Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Army, with the aim of asking the supreme commander of the Shanghai garrison to immediately order the actions of his subordinates to be restrained.

If you have any impression of the name Shigeru Sawada, he is the deputy chief of staff who followed Tojo to the Indo-China border to deal with the problem of the Morimoto Brigade, and the disposal order of the Morimoto Brigade has his signature on it, and it is because of his effective handling in this matter that Lieutenant General Sawada won Tojo's favor, and as a reward he was awarded the fat post of commander of the 13th Army.

The 13th Army is responsible for the operations and garrisons around Shanghai, and basically there is no chance to dispatch, sitting in Shanghai, a magic capital with bright lights, the work is easy and simple, there is no danger, and you can earn a large amount of gray income, which is second only to the Kwantung Army in the Japanese army.

From the day Shanghai became an isolated island, the smuggling business between Shanghai and the Kuomintang has never stopped, and in order to open up the joints, Chinese merchants openly bribed the Japanese army, and the garrison troops under the 13th Army were all overwhelmed.

Of course, eating alone in this kind of thing is a life-threatening thing, so paying tribute to the boss is the easiest way to save your head, and the military commander at the top of the food chain will of course also get a generous share, and as a result, less than a month after taking office in Shanghai, Sawada bought an elegant mansion in the center of Tokyo.

Sawada personally participated in the handling of the parties involved in the Morimoto incident, how could he let something similar happen to him, he immediately ordered the whole army to carry out a major inspection, all the officers and soldiers who went out should immediately return to the barracks, and the headquarters should inspect the maintenance of weapons and count the ordnance materials of each unit. The headquarters of the 13th Army will dispatch units under each division and regiment for inspection at any time, so no one is allowed to leave the station area until the inspection mission is over.

At the same time, Sawada telephoned Saburo Miura of the Shanghai Gendarmerie and ordered him to immediately send military police into the streets to supervise the return of all Japanese officers and soldiers on the streets to the barracks and garrisons.

Sawada's reaction made Horiuchi Kanjo very happy, he had never seen such a reasonable army general, and his favor for this army commander immediately skyrocketed.

Because of the timely intervention of the 13th Army Headquarters, the situation in the Japanese-occupied area of the Public Concession did not fluctuate much, and the subsequent telegram from Tokyo proved that Horiuchi and Sawada had made a fairly correct decision.

The Tokyo cabinet not only agreed to Horiuchi's request in its entirety, but also behaved even more enduringly, almost like smashing his teeth and swallowing it in his stomach.

The Tokyo base camp issued a series of orders to the military and political departments in Shanghai, first of all, strictly ordering all Japanese garrisons and Wang's puppet troops in Shanghai not to act rashly and recklessly, and not to allow officers and men to make any provocative acts against the concession within the urban area.

At the same time, the Shanghai Consulate was ordered to cooperate with the police officers of the Special High-Tech Department to strictly restrain the behavior of Japanese nationals in Hongkou Little Tokyo, and not to provoke on the streets without the permission of the authorities, and those who violated the order were all non-nationals.

The secret services of the China Dispatch Army must temporarily stop all sabotage and assassination operations within the urban area, and they must strictly restrain the agents of the subordinate Wang puppet agencies and not allow them to step into the concession area. Any person who violates the above orders, regardless of his status or rank, shall be severely punished by military discipline and state law.

Finally, he also pointed out that this is not only a decision made by the Tokyo Cabinet and the base camp, but also the imperial will of His Majesty the Emperor, which means that His Majesty the Emperor has nodded his head on this matter, and you red deer must be sober-minded.

Sawada had this order issued to the Army, and I believe that the Navy will receive the same order.

Because the Japanese side kept it strictly secret, the outside world did not know the reasons for these orders, but only that the Japanese and Wang puppets suddenly reined in a lot, and Shanghai became unexpectedly stable.

In fact, the reason is very simple, because the German mission proposed to visit the concession in Shanghai, and by the way, to see the real situation in the Japanese occupation zone.

During this period, the Japanese side had to make a good impression on the Germans no matter what, so maintaining peace and tranquility in Shanghai was the most important thing for the Japanese Government at present. As for the public concession or something, this is just a small problem of ringworm, and it is not worth talking about at all compared to the great cause of the empire.

PS: Thank you for your support and a great start to the new year.

PS2: In the chapter yesterday, the general director of the Ministry of Industry Bureau was written as Fan Keling, but in fact, the general director of the Ministry of Industry Bureau in 40 has been replaced by Kai Ziwei, who was a director of Jardine Matheson at the time, and has been modified in the original text.

Thank you, and by the way, ask for a guaranteed monthly pass at the beginning of the month. (To be continued.) )