I recognized it deeply, but the light bulb was still on in the office of the commander's hall. Dianlian handles business in the office.

As the Yuan of this country, Zhao Bei is very clear. This Sino-Japanese war is the first battle of China's rejuvenation, and it must not be lost, and if you don't want to lose, you must go all out, every detail, every one. Although he does not intend to "remotely command" all the generals on the front line like a certain celebrity in history, but as a historical traveler, Zhao Bei is very confident that as long as he closely watches all the details and progress, then he can avoid mistakes to the greatest extent.

In a war, it depends on which side makes the least mistakes, and in a war, both warring sides are likely to make mistakes. But if one side makes fewer mistakes, then that side is more likely to win, which is simple, but to avoid making mistakes, you have to be fully focused.

Now, Zhao Bei is engrossed in the military map on the research table, which is a map of the Liaodong Peninsula, which was surveyed and mapped by the air force. It is one of the most accurate maps available, and although it is impossible to draw how many wells each village has, as is the case with the Japanese military map, it is possible for an officer of any profession to pull his troops exactly wherever he wants

。

Now Xiuyan has been taken by the East Road Column, and the eastern strategic support point of the Liaodong battlefield has been controlled by the squadron, and the rest depends on the direction of Gaiping.

Gaiping is in charge of the West Road Column, and the city has been besieged, and Wu Luzhen, the commander of the West Road Column, has sent telegrams several times to ask for battle, but every time Zhao Bei calls back, he always "waits, waits." This made Wu Luzhen very anxious, although he also understood that this was an important step in the "encirclement and reinforcement" plan, but as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, Wu Luzhen did endure a little uncomfortable.

I have to endure the discomfort, Gaiping is related to the overall situation, Zhao Bei does not intend to take down this strategic support point in the western part of the Liaodong battlefield so quickly, he is waiting, waiting for the reinforcements from Japan to arrive, and once the Japanese reinforcements arrive. It is time for the squadron to launch a general offensive, and if Gaiping is taken by the squadron before that, then it is not good to say that the Japanese government will turn its attention to the coastal areas of Fujian or Guangdong, which will violate the spirit of "encircling the point and sending reinforcements", Zhao Bei does not want to expand the war to the vast areas of China, he only wants to set the main battlefield of this war. In the Liaodong Peninsula, this is in line with his strategic plan, and it can also avoid unnecessary war damage, and now China, with its industrial strength, is so small that it really can't withstand any toss.

According to the telegram taken from the front, the total strength of the Japanese army in Gaiping is now close to 30,000, and the strength is still relatively strong, in order to avoid heavy casualties of the 6th Army, it is indeed necessary to carry out firepower killing and wounding of the Japanese army in Gaiping before the general attack, which is also the secondary reason why Zhao Bei delayed the order for the general attack, and he wanted to harass and kill the Japanese army in Gaiping with artillery and aircraft first. Lower their morale and fighting spirit, and then swallow these Japanese troops in one gulp.

According to the previous battle plan, the East Route Column was only a feint force, but now the situation has changed. The East Road Column has already conquered Xiuyan, then. This corresponding combat plan must be updated

Finish.

The General Staff of the Sixth Army has sent someone to send a new combat plan to Zhao Bei for review at noon today. Once he nodded his head in approval, the East Route Column and the West Route Column would cooperate in accordance with this battle plan.

In the afternoon, Zhao Bei had already consulted Cai Feng and Zhang Xiaozhun on this battle plan, and the two only made some small amendments to the battle plan, and it was Zhao Bei who finally made the decision.

In fact, Lan Tianwei's battle plan is already very cautious, but Zhao Bei always feels a little too cautious and not bold enough, but after all, he is not on the front line, and naturally he is not clear about the actual situation on the front line.

From the bottom of his heart, Zhao Bei really wanted to go to the front line to inspect and understand the actual situation on the front line. However, the presidential palace is busy with affairs, and in addition to those ordinary government affairs, since the start of the Sino-Japanese war, ministers and friendly people from various countries in China have often asked to visit the president and try to mediate. Although Zhao Bei did not intend to start armistice negotiations with the Japanese government now, considering the current international situation, he still decided to make a false deal with these foreigners, and put some information from these people's mouths to see if he could find out the bottom line of the Japanese government. Because many of these foreigners are people with close ties to Japan's political and business circles, no one dares to guarantee that their actions are not sounding balloons released by the Japanese government.

Among the foreign envoys to China, the position of US Minister Stade is the most important, and the United States is now on its own side. Since the start of the Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese submarine Lixuan launched a strike on Japan's trade and shipping lines, Zhao Bei fully believes that the Japanese government's retaliation will also come soon, in view of Japan's strong surface ship forces, China's coastal routes are likely to be unable to navigate normally for a long time, once this situation occurs, it will seriously affect China's foreign trade, and may shake the confidence of some people, in this case, the position of the United States is very important, as long as the US government acquiesces, The U.S. merchant fleet would be able to transport goods to Chinese companies, and these U.S.-flagged merchant ships could sail under the noses of the Japanese fleet, and if Japan were to attack these American merchant ships, it would inevitably cause a diplomatic dispute. If the situation further intensifies, then it is not impossible for the United States to enter the war.

Of course, the possibility of the United States directly participating in this war in the Far East is very low, and in order to prevent the Japanese fleet's action of "killing one and doing a hundred" to make the American shipowners retreat, Zhao Bei has already officially stated to the US Chamber of Commerce and the US minister that once the US merchant ships transporting goods for Chinese enterprises are sunk or seized by Japan. Then the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the Salt Industry Bank will come forward to provide insurance to compensate the US shipowners for the new ships. This policy is far more cost-effective than ordinary ship insurance rules, and many American shipowners have already moved.

Now it's up to the U.S. government to make a statement. And before the U.S. government responds. The German Government has made representations to the Japanese Government through diplomatic channels, "reminding" the Japanese Government that German merchant ships in China enjoy the protection of the German Government and that German merchant ships in China are not allowed to carry out any "hostile actions" while the Japanese fleet is not permitted

The intention of the Germans was clear, they tried to use this means to further win over China and pull China into the German tank. However, considering the current international situation, it is obvious that the action of German merchant ships to transport goods for Chinese enterprises will not last too long, and once a war breaks out in Europe, Japan is likely to immediately declare war on Germany, then German merchant ships will be intercepted by the Japanese fleet like Chinese merchant ships

In this way, the only thing that can really be counted on is the American merchant ship.

As a matter of fact, just this morning, Zhao Bei held an hour-long meeting with US Minister to China Steder and exchanged views on this issue again; although the attitude of the US Government is still ambiguous, Steder has already said that he will try his best to organize a civilian merchant fleet in his personal capacity to serve Chinese enterprises.

No matter what the U.S. government's ultimate position is. Zhao Beidu was determined to carry on this war. Until Japan relented, at this time, he was very confident. Because he has enough strength.

In the current Liaodong battlefield, the total strength of the squadron has exceeded 250,000, and it continues to increase, even if Japan can send reinforcements to the Liaodong battlefield, it is impossible to surpass China in terms of troops, considering Japan's mobilization ceiling. As long as Zhao Bei has maintained military pressure on the Liaodong battlefield, the Japanese government will not be able to hold on sooner or later. Now that the First World War has not exploded, Japan's economy lacks a shot in the arm to stimulate, and Zhao Bei chose to start a war against Japan at this time. It is taking advantage of this weakness of the Japanese economy.

Therefore, it is not a matter of how many Japanese troops are eliminated, but what is important is to let Japanese politicians see how fragile Japan's economy is and force them to take the initiative to back down.

However, all this is just Zhao Bei's ideal plan, and whether things can unfold as he predicted depends on the war exhibition. Ultimately. As long as you win, everything is easy to say, and the key to victory is in the Liaodong battlefield.

"President, this is the battle report that the Admiralty has just forwarded, please take a look."

Just as Zhao Bei was reviewing the strategy of Liaodong, an adjutant of the chamberlain walked into the office and brought a telegram.

Zhao Bei glanced at the telegram and couldn't help but slap the table. said with a smile: "The navy didn't disappoint the center!" Zhang Guangyang lived up to my trust in the end! Go, send someone to the German legation again. I ask the German Minister to contact the German Embassy in Japan to verify this information. ”

"Yes!"

The adjutant saluted and exited the office.

"It's two large warships again, and now, the Japanese Navy is seriously damaged. I didn't expect the submarines of this era to be so powerful, if this is after the sonar and hydrophone are clear. But it's not so easy to attack a warship. ”

Zhao Bei paced around the office with his hands behind his back. I was quite proud in my heart, if it were not for the fact that he resolutely put the construction of the submarine force in an important position in the construction of the Chinese navy in the first place. Then today's Japanese fleet would not have suffered such a heavy blow, losing huge ships one after another, and behaving in embarrassment in front of the world powers.

In addition to being proud, Zhao Bei did not forget that the times were in the exhibition. A few years ago, because of his excessive intervention. Europe's aviation industry has entered a period of rapid expansion ahead of schedule, and now, now that China's submarine forces have achieved such brilliant results, it is certain that a more intense military-technical competition between submarine attack and anti-submarine warfare will follow.

"It seems necessary to warn the parties concerned. The development of new weapons and equipment has been stepped up. I wonder how Mr. Tesla's lab is set up? ”

Thinking of this, Zhao Bei turned around and touched the phone, intending to ask about the electronic expert invited from the United States some time ago, but before his hand could touch the microphone, a guard walked into the office.

"Report to the President! Vice President Zhang asks to see! ”

"Vice President Zhang? Why did he come so late? ”

Zhao Bei was a little strange and looked up at the wall clock. The hour hand had already reached eleven o'clock. Mr. Zhang had never taken the initiative to visit the president at such a late hour.

"Please Vice President Zhang come in and speak."

After Zhao Bei walked back to the desk, he personally cleaned up the documents on the table, and when he put the documents into the filing cabinet, Zhang Xiao had already followed the guards into the office.

"Vice President Zhang, it's so late today, you are still here, is there something urgent?" Zhao Bei asked.

"Please take a look at it, please."

Zhang Han glanced at the guard guarding the door. Then he handed the letter he was holding to Zhao Bei.

Zhao Bei glanced at the envelope, did not look up, did not make the payment, and felt quite strange, but still pulled out the letterboard, and after looking at it a few times, he was even more stunned.

"This is a letter from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce?"

Zhao Bei pointed to the letter and glanced at Zhang Sai.

After the Sino-Japanese war, all Japanese expatriates in China were expelled, but due to the existence of concessions and leased territories, many of them did not really leave China, but lived in the concessions of Britain, France and other countries in China, including members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.

"Exactly! I saw that the Japanese Chamber of Commerce meant that it wanted to mediate the Sino-Japanese war as an intermediary. Today, the president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce sent someone to my office to send this letter to my office, asking me to intervene so that they can get in touch with the president. It's up to the president. ”

Zhang Cha said something and kicked the ball to Zhao Bei.

After reading the letter carefully, Zhao Bei's brows twisted, although the letter was written in the name of the president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, but on the letter, there were famous chaebols such as Sumitomo & Co. and Mitsubishi & Co. in Japan, which revealed the information quite puzzling.

"Could it be that the Japanese Chamber of Commerce wants to negotiate? Don't they know that their Government has rejected the offer of international mediation? Zhao Bei put the letter on the table.

"I don't know about that, but it's true that the Japanese Chamber of Commerce is worried that the war will affect trade."

Zhang Cha only said half of this, in fact, he was also worried that the war would affect trade, and now that the war has only been a few days, there is a backlog of goods in his imitation weaving factories, because the central government has requisitioned a large number of civilian steamers for transporting military supplies, the transshipment of civilian goods has become very difficult, and the train is also responsible for military transportation. This was further compounded by the fact that not only Zhang Sai felt the negative effects of the war, but also many merchants, who wanted the war to end as soon as possible, and in this respect, the Chinese merchants were no different from the Japanese merchants.

But is it really that simple? Zhao Bei doesn't see it that way.

The Japanese zaibatsu control the government, have agents at the top of the government, and can influence the decision-making of the Japanese government, and in this regard, the Japanese zaibatsu are much stronger than the Chinese businessmen.

Therefore, when Zhao Bei saw that Sumitomo, Mitsubishi and other famous Japanese chaebols appeared on the letter. He used his brain.

It's not a good idea, it's a temptation. It can be seen as a temptation of the Japanese chaebol or a temptation of the Japanese government.

If this is the case, then it means that there is a policy divergence, at least among the Japanese zaibatos.