If Wang Mo's territory was in the coastal area, perhaps he would have been wary of the huge fleet of the Japanese Navy, but Sichuan and Hubei? When the battleship can sail ashore to fight, the threat of war from Japan will be taken into his eyes.

Wang Mo said after a long time: "Okay, if you must provoke a war, then Your Excellency the Minister can leave now and prepare your army." ”

"You-" Matsumura Sadao suddenly became angry, he didn't expect that Wang Mo was not afraid of the threat of war at all.

Damn, even Yuan Shikai of Beiyang didn't dare to ignore the threat of war in the Great Japanese Empire so much, how could Wang Mo, a damn warlord, dare to show such an attitude!

If it weren't for the fact that Sichuan and Hubei were both inland provinces of China, and if it weren't for the fact that Wang Mo, a warlord, had ten 120mm cannons capable of threatening river gunboats, Matsumura Sadao swore that he would declare war on this hateful and arrogant warlord on behalf of the Japanese Empire now!

However, politicians, especially diplomats, are very good at using reason to restrain their words and deeds.

Although Matsumura Sadao was furious in his heart, reason still made him hold it down, gritted his teeth and said: "Since His Excellency the Governor insists on doing so, then you must bear all the consequences caused by this!" After speaking, he turned around and left, he knew that Wang Mo, an arrogant warlord, could not be persuaded by him, so he stopped and calmed down the situation.

As soon as Matsumura Sadao left, Zhang Xiaohuai walked out of the room next to him, his expression was not as relaxed as Wang Mo. He has studied in Japan for many years, and he studied military affairs, and he knows very well that Japan's strength is definitely not something that Wang Mo can compete with today.

Therefore, although Zhang Xiaohuai was very happy to see Wang Mo defend national interests so strongly, he still said to Wang Mo very worriedly: "Young marshal, I am afraid it is not appropriate to start a war with the Japanese now. After all, the strength of our two provinces, Sichuan and Hubei, is not enough to compete with the strength of the whole country of Japan. ”

"Brother Runnong, you don't have to be so tactful." Wang Mo smiled slightly and said, "Deal with a local Chinese warlord like me." The Japanese did not need to mobilize the whole country yet. I'm still self-aware of this. However, we are not in the coastal zone, as long as the Japanese battleships do not come ashore. Then their threat of war is not bullshit! ”

"With those ten 120mm cannons deployed on the river defense batteries in Hanyang and Jiujiang, it is indeed not a problem to block the Japanese river gunboats." Zhang Xiaohuai also understood where Wang Mo's confidence was, but he still said, "But, young marshal." After all, the Japanese own the shares of Han Zhiping through legal means, and the forcible seizure of the Dazhi Iron Mine by force in this way may have a very negative impact on the international community, and it will not be good for the image of our country, is it ......?"

Indeed, in any case, the Japanese infiltrated and controlled the Han Zhiping Company through legal economic means. If Wang Mo does not use force to forcibly seize Han Zhiping's company, it is easy to arouse distrust and panic among other foreign companies in China about the Chinese government.

Once those foreign capital and technical personnel are withdrawn one after another, then China's economy will inevitably suffer a heavy setback, and it will be difficult to develop again.

Wang Mo didn't seem to be too worried about this. He smiled lightly and said, "Brother Runnong, don't worry, I never planned to use a gun on the side of the Dazhi Iron Mine, and I will not forcibly seal the Dazhi Iron Mine by force." ”

"What are you going to do, young marshal?" Zhang Xiaohuai asked very suspiciously, he thought that Wang Mo transferred the first division and one regiment of the Sichuan Army to prepare to control the Dazhi iron mine by force.

"Wait and see, it shouldn't be long before the Japanese at the Dazhi Iron Mine will find out that the 1st Division and 1st Regiment of the Sichuan Army stationed on the periphery of the mining area will not block their entry and exit from the mining area at all. Hao Gang: It's just the Chinese miners who want to stop them from entering the mining area. Wang Mo smiled. Don't think that if he is a soldier, he will not play tricks, in his previous life, he would have died a thousand thousand times if he had less heart on the battlefield abroad.

"This ......," Zhang Xiaohuai said in amazement. Young Marshal, do you want to completely paralyze the Dazhi Iron Mine? ”

This is also amazing!

You must know that in addition to the management, supervisors and mine protection team of Dazhi Iron Mine, which are Japanese, they are basically Chinese miners. As long as the Chinese miners are stopped and prevented from entering the mining area, it will be difficult for the Dazhi Iron Mine not to be paralyzed, and this is no different from a seizure.

Wang Mo shook his head and said solemnly: "Brother Runnong. You'd be wrong. It was not that we forcibly intercepted the Chinese workers and prevented them from working in the mines, but that the Chinese workers were so indignant at the humiliation of the iron works workers by the Japanese advisers that they resigned one after another and went to the Panzhihua mining area in Sichuan to continue their mining operations. ”

That's even greater!

On the surface, Wang Mo did not use force to force the workers, but the workers voluntarily resigned and went to work in Sichuan, which is not prohibited by the laws of any country. The steel city construction plan in Panzhihua, Sichuan can also speed up the pace of implementation, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Zhang Xiaohuai's expression was a little strange, he really didn't expect that Wang Mo, who had always given him a strong straightforward and rigid military style, would be able to play these twists and turns like those old slippery politicians.

As Wang Mo said, with the door-to-door persuasion of the Huangshi City Government and the interception and obstruction of the 1st Division and 1st Regiment of the Sichuan Army, the Chinese miners working in the Dazhi Iron Mine had to give up this decent job, or change jobs under the coordination of the Huangshi City Government, or were organized to move their families to Panzhihua, Sichuan.

After all the Chinese miners did not come to work in the mining area, the Japanese even fools noticed the problem.

Standing on the defensive position of the mining area and looking at the Sichuan army troops not far away, the chief adviser of the Japanese advisory group, Inoue Hara Nosuke Asahi Saburo, the captain of the mine protection team, Fujiwara Saburo, asked: "Fujiwara-kun, is it possible for the Shinagawa army to attack the mining area by force?" ”

Fujiwara Saburo replied: "Judging from the current situation, the Shina River army has no intention of attacking by force, they are only blocking and blocking the miners of Shina on the periphery of the mining area. "He's been keeping an eye on any move by the Sichuan army.

When it comes to Chinese miners, Inoue Harasuke's face is full of iron, and he said angrily: "The despicable and shameless Shina people actually use this method to paralyze the mining area!" ”

Another Japanese adviser, Aoki Fura, also said with anger on his face: "The government of China has also forbade the people of China to sell us daily necessities, and our existing food supplies can no longer support us for a few days. Once the supplies are exhausted and there are no supplies, then we will have to be forced to evacuate the Dazhi Iron Mine. ”

It's just too insidious!

The Dazhi Iron Mine was suspended, and they were at most confronted with the people of China for a period of time, and there would always be a day when it would be resolved. But now that the people of China have cut off their source of supplies, how can they stay?

"Aoki-kun, if we apply to the Tokyo headquarters to bring in new Chinese miners from other places, or our country's miners and supplies, do you think it is feasible?" Inoue Haranosuke asked Aoki Tomira.

Aoki Fura did not answer immediately, but carefully pondered the feasibility of this method.

After a while, Aoki Furashi shook his head with a disappointed face and said, "Inoue-kun, I'm afraid this won't work." The problem is that that damn young warlord has the ability to block the upper shipping lanes of the Yangtze River, and without solving those ten 120mm cannons he deployed on the Jiujiang and Hanyang River defense batteries, we simply can't use the Yangtze River to transport personnel and supplies. ”

At the mention of the ten cannons, the expressions on the faces of Inoue Hara and Fujiwara Saburo were both jealous and hateful.

Just when several people were worried, a Japanese soldier came to meet them with a Chinese.

This Chinese, Inoue Haranosuke and several people are also quite familiar, and he is Li Fu, the steward of the Li family, an influential landlord and squire in the Dazhi area, and in the past, he did not come to the mining area to give gifts to them on behalf of the Li family.

The favorite of the Japanese advisory group is a landlord and squire like the Li family who actively moves closer to them, so Inoue Haranosuke smiled very enthusiastically: "It turned out to be Li San, why are you here?" ”

Li Fu hurriedly stepped forward and bowed down, and said with a flattering smile: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the case, my lord heard that there is a shortage of grain in the mining area, so he specially asked me to avoid the blockade of the Sichuan army and quietly sent five truckloads of grain over. ”

With the Sichuan army so tightly sealed, only a local snake like the Li family has the ability to send grain into the mining area.

Hearing that there was food, Inoue Haranosuke was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Yo Xi, Master Li is really a loyal friend of my Great Japanese Empire." Aoki-kun paid Li Sang at five times the market price of the grain. ”

"Five times the market price! This ......" Aoki Fura was about to object, but Inoue Haranosuke blocked back the words with extremely stern eyes, so he had to nod and answer, "Okay, Li San, you come with me." ”

"Oh, how can this make Toyo-sama pay, my lord really wants to treat you as friends." Li Fu said with an exaggerated expression.

How could Inoue Haranosuke not know what the Li family was, but he still smiled very enthusiastically: "Li San, it is precisely because we are friends that our great Japanese empire will not let our friends suffer." ”

Li Fu just pretended to excuse himself for a few words, and then happily followed Aoki Fuliang to collect the money.

With Li Fu sending this batch of grain, the mining area can hold out for an additional ten days and half a month. However, the situation was still not optimistic, and Inoue Hara had to telegraph the dire situation in the mining area to the Japanese consul general in Hankow, Matsumura Sadao.

Before Matsumura Sadao could react, Wang Mo's new wave of public opinion offensive came again.

On this day, in the name of the Hubei Provincial Government, Wang Mo initiated and organized a press conference attended by dozens of noon reporters.

On this day, the press conference was live.

Wang Mo walked into the venue in a military uniform, and then the sound of "poof" and "poof" flashing magnesium lights continued to sound, and dozens of noon reporters held cameras to take pictures of Wang Mo non-stop.

The main purpose of this press conference was to elaborate on the incident of the humiliation of Chinese workers by the Japanese advisers of the Hanyang Iron Works and the corresponding handling by the government, and to answer questions from reporters at noon about the subsequent changes in the Sino-Japanese conflict.

However, no one expected that as soon as the press conference began, Wang Mo's first sentence was extremely strong: "I want to tell everyone one thing first, that is, we are not afraid of any threat of war!" (To be continued.) )