After Kong Xiangxi left Berlin, the embassy in Germany once again held a banquet, this time of course, not for big figures, but only for embassy personnel, military attache personnel, and a small number of overseas Chinese and international students attended. Ambassador Cheng Tianfang read out the letter of appointment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in public, and then announced in an extremely passionate tone the commendation order issued to him by www.biquge.info the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government and the Ministry of Military Affairs, praising him for his act of safeguarding the dignity of the party and the state and winning glory for the nation. After Cheng Tianfang finished speaking, it was naturally the Minister of the Navy Chen Shaokuan who spoke, he briefly recounted the past of Major Li Kongrong, and then smiled and put on the fifth-class Yunlu medal for him.

For a while, the embassy applauded thunderously, and the flattered Major Li Kongrong could only salute dryly, he was very aware of the gap between himself and the real recipient of the medal, and did not dare to speak and testify, but only saluted the minister and the guests present. Immediately, Chen Shaokuan announced that he had been promoted to lieutenant commander in the navy, but it would take some time for uniforms, epaulettes and other items to be sent to Berlin.

It was another award and a promotion, and Major Li Kongrong only felt that he had really hit a big luck, and his life began to rise. And at Kande Lusil Gartenhof's bar, Captain Tang Zong, who was looking directly at the Italian woman, felt that he was likely to be unlucky for the rest of his life - Jiang Weiguo was the second son after all, and his frequent meetings with intelligence brokers obviously hindered his identity, so he would be responsible for the future transaction with Ms. Maria, the representative of the Japanese traitor Rokuro Takano. Maria didn't care who approached, she only cared about money, and after a new round of bargaining, her income for each mission was agreed to be eight percent of the intelligence sales.

After being contacted the morning before yesterday, she came with the information that Tang Zong needed, but the price of this information was extremely high, Li Kongrong priced it at 10,000 US dollars, but she claimed to more than double it without authorization, and the opening was 10,000 pounds.

"Miss Maria, this is blackmail!" Tang Zong said with a bitter face. As far as he knows, the price of normal intelligence in the world ranges from a few hundred dollars, and there has never been a piece of intelligence that has cost tens of thousands of pounds.

"Sir, it's worth the money!" Susan held a cigarette and smiled at Tang Zong. "It is in his best interest that Mr. Takano can give your country false information, mislead your head of state, and cause a large-scale war between China and Japan, but Mr. Takano does not want to do so. For the sake of peace between China and Japan, he is willing to bear the loss of intelligence gains. For this point, he needs to compensate. ”

"It's too much." Tang Zong still shook his head, "I have to go back and ask for instructions to answer you." ”

"Then please come back." Susan looked at Tang Zong, who was about to leave his seat, and did not hold back at all. "But please turn to Your Excellency, don't lose a lot of money for a small one, the cost of the Chinese army in a day of combat is far more than 10,000 pounds."

Tang Zong wanted to leave to test whether she would lower the price, but he didn't want people to be indifferent. He sat down again helplessly and said, "I only have 100,000 dollars in my hand for intelligence trading, and if I spend it, there will be no next business to do." ”

"Is that so?" The Italian woman smoked a cigarette and her heart was hot, but in the end she still felt that she had to gamble, "It would be a pity." Perhaps your country can pay for it first and buy it back to see if it's worth £10,000. ”

"What if it's not worth it." Tang Zong asked.

"Then the next piece of information will be given away for free." Susan smoked harder and harder, and finally snuffed out the remaining half in the ashtray.

"Okay, I'll agree for the time being." Tang Zong was helpless. His helplessness came from Chang Kaishen's urging and because of the urgency of the Beiping incident.

Seeing that Tang Zong didn't take any action after speaking, Susan was surprised, "Mr. Tang, you should immediately transfer money to Mr. Takano's account, and then we can talk about ...... again."

"Miss Maria, I vouch for my personality that my government will definitely pay." Tang Zong smiled bitterly, he was afraid of dealing with women.

"No, I refuse to give out any information until I receive the money!" Susan cites it.

"You ......" Tang Zongzhen, who is known as Zhiduoxing, can't help her, he wanted to keep on credit, since the other party came for profit, no matter how much money he had, as long as he could receive the money, he would sell the information, but the reality of the woman in front of him made his scheming unable to implement.

"Sir, it is rude to point to a beautiful lady like this." Susan, who had the initiative, smiled, "I think you should go and send money by telegram immediately, and we will meet again tomorrow after verification." ”

Tang Zong did not leave Susan but left, but surprisingly waited six days for a sale of eight hundred pounds to be remitted to Susan's private account. In the high-end restaurant on Emperor Hou Street, Susan made fun of Tang Zong's slow payment before he said according to the information given by Li Kongrong: "Mr. Takano said that the war in North China has been unavoidable, and the Kwantung Army and the Korean Army have entered the customs. The Konoe cabinet believed that the war in North China was 'to promote the introspection of the Chinese government,' and Lieutenant General Kiyoji Kazuki had been appointed commander of the North China garrison......"

Tang Zong memorized every word Susan said, not wanting her to finish without saying a few words, he said very unwillingly: "This is worth 10,000 pounds?!" We already know all this information. ”

"There is all wrong information, but which one does your head of state want to believe?" Susan asked rhetorically, leaving Tang Zong speechless. "Mr. Takano also attached a piece of information, that is, the actions and intentions of the troops of Zhang Zhizhong of the 9th Army of your country in Suzhou, which the Army General Staff Headquarters knew very well. The General Staff Headquarters had already drawn up a detailed plan for the reinforcement of Shanghai, but at present Japan did not want to hurt the war, so he advised your government not to take risks so as not to trigger a larger-scale war. ”

Compared with the previous piece of information, this piece of information made Tang Zong feel that it was worth the money. He has been in Germany for a long time, and he is not in the military system, so he naturally does not know the situation of Zhang Zhizhong's 9th Army, but obviously, the Japanese have long noticed the 9th Army, and they know better that they will attack Shanghai, otherwise how can there be a detailed reinforcement plan.

"How did the General Staff Headquarters learn about the plans of the 9th Army?" He asked, expecting to get the most out of the £10,000.

"Because there are a lot of Japanese spies around your head of state." Susan said softly. "And they are carrying out a conspiracy: to prepare the assassination of Your Excellency Chang Kaishen, the head of your country. Mr. Takano is investigating the matter and believes that the results will be available within a month. ”

"A month?" Tang Zong shook his head, "It's too slow, we need to know who the spy is right away!" ”

"It takes time to find out about him!" Susan said, thinking about how much the Japanese spy could sell for. "One month is the fastest. Therefore, I can't let unrelated people know about my intelligence dealings with you. ”

After a few more words, Susan Esposito walked away with her high heels and long skirt. She finally realized what it was like to be a superior person: this is what it tastes like now! And Tang Zong immediately rushed to the embassy to report to China after she left. Because Chang Kaishen pretended to be hesitant before, the money was remitted very late, and the telegram was sent to Lushan on July 16. At this time, Japan's attitude towards the North China Incident was very clear, but because of its previous tough statement (thinking that Japan was unprepared and that his own strong statement could scare Japan away), Chang Kaishen was already difficult to ride a tiger on the Beiping Incident.

Therefore, the famous Lushan said, 'We want peace, not peace; Be ready to fight, not fight. We know what the situation will be like in the aftermath of the war...... If the war starts, then there is no distinction between the north and the south, the old and the young, no one and no one, all have the responsibility of defending the land and resisting the war, and they should all have the determination to sacrifice everything...... in case it really comes to the last moment of inevitability, of course, we only have sacrifice, only the war of resistance' one day ahead of history, July 16 at the second plenary session of the Lushan Talk.

And Chang Kaishen's diary was also a day earlier. In his diary, he wrote: 'The use of the habit of surrendering without a fight was exposed. I will deal with them with unyielding determination to fight, or I may be able to control their ferocity and eliminate the scourge of war. …… The instrument of my determination seems to have reached the time of [publication], which "should make it clear to the Japanese that my last position may be suppressed, and that it will not cause war," so that men think it is dangerous, and I think it is safe. [note 17]

The speech of Lushan, which moved and inspired countless people, was just a declaration of the weak who pleaded for the unavoidable and 'if you dare to bully me, I will fight with you', so the choice of words and sentences is very particular. Because of this, Chang Kaishen, who finished speaking, was extremely sensitive to the situation, but something that made him desperate came: the intelligence from Berlin clearly informed that the war in North China was inevitable, and the commander of North China had been appointed, and his heart fell to the bottom in an instant, and then it was even more terrible that he was not here, and what was even more terrible was that the Japanese knew about their deployment in Shanghai - the 9th Army's preemptive plan was actually detected by the Japanese pirates!!

"How is this possible?! How is this possible?! Chang Kaishen was disappointed and surprised, and he actually said his heart to himself, which made Dai Li, who was standing on the side, very uneasy, he could see that the principal had messed up.

"Is Tang Naijian reliable?" For a long time, Chang Kaishen asked sadly.

"Principal, Comrade Tang Naijian is really a party and state cadre, and he has been tested for a long time, and he is very reliable!" Dai Lisa replied cautiously. He didn't dare to guarantee others, but he dared to guarantee Tang Zong.

"Then this is the trick of the Japanese to cover up people's ears!" An idea popped up in Chang Kaishen's heart, and he became more and more affirmative. After he said that, he asked Wang Shihe, "Is there a call?" ”

"Report to the principal, Mr. Yongzhi has probably just arrived in the UK at this time, and it is estimated that he will call later." Wang Shihe said.

"Okay, okay." Chang Kaishen said twice in a frustrated manner, and then began to be stunned. He originally thought that a tough stance would make the Japanese back down and prevent North China from becoming a second puppet Manchurian, and he didn't want Japan to be more aggressive after making a tough statement, and it was simply becoming more and more threatening, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumiro Konoe actually said that the war was to promote the Chinese government's introspection, didn't he know that the Japanese army was on Chinese soil?

Chang Kaishen was stunned, and Wang Shihe, who received the telegram from the telecommunications office again, whispered when he calmed down a little: "Principal, General Zhang Wenbai from Suzhou is calling. ”

"yes, I see." Chang Kaishen said weakly, but in fact, Shanghai's decision had been made three days earlier—on July 13, he agreed to follow the original plan and disguise a regiment of Zhong Song's Second Supplementary Brigade in plainclothes as a Shanghai security team to enter Hongqiao Airport and Longhua Airport[Note 18]. All he has to choose now is to decide whether or not to make the fire bigger in Shanghai.

The storm is coming, the big war is approaching, Chang Kaishen has to choose, and Vice Admiral Chen Jiliang, who is temporarily acting minister of the navy in Nanjing, has also to choose -- because the plane was delayed on the way, Second Lieutenant Qiu Zhongming, who should have arrived in Nanjing early, has only arrived in Nanjing now. As soon as he arrived at the Admiralty, he handed the battle plan strapped to his body to Vice Admiral Chen Jiliang. Half an hour later, the first meeting to decide the fate of the Navy was officially convened.

"Let these ships Jiankang go to Jinshanwei to ambush the Japanese ships?!" The commander of the Second Fleet, Rear Admiral Yiding, sneered and shook his head, "I think this is simply sending you to death." Not to mention whether the Japanese army will land here, even if the Japanese army does land here, what can they do with these old ships? At most, they will sink a few troop carriers of the Japanese, and then they will be sunk by the Japanese destroyer fleet, and they may not even have a chance to sink the troop carriers. ”

Major General Lu Deyuan, director of the Counsellor's Office, who was also not optimistic about the ambush plan, also said: "I think it is better for these torpedo boats to stay in the Yangtze River, so that the Japanese army can defend Wusong and Jiangyin when they go up the river in the west." Sending it to Jinshanwei is really ......, and it can only scare the Japanese army for one or two days at most, what good can this be? ”

"It's useful." Vice Admiral Chen Xunyong, who was smoking a cigarette, smiled and began to play round. "Isn't it explained in the plan, if the ambush can sink the enemy ship, it is the best, but the most important thing is to delay the landing of the Japanese army and attack the flank of our army, so as to buy one or two days for the army to retreat. Didn't Chen Cixiu and others from the Ministry of Military Affairs say that they have always attacked our navy and done nothing? We'll show them this time, the Navy also has a role to play. With a few old ships and one or two hundred people, you can achieve this goal, and you really don't have to suffer. ”

"But the question is, can these boats do it?" Zeng Yiding looked at Chen Jiliang, who was silent, and sneered again, "Everyone knows how many years they haven't fired torpedoes, and only God knows whether those torpedoes that have been useless for decades can go off!" I said why do you want to repair the ship, it turned out to be for this. What we want to repair is not a ship, but a human being, and we should do less of this kind of grinding of guns. ”

"Province three, what do you mean is to shrink in the Yangtze River to protect the ship?" Lieutenant General Chen Jiliang, who couldn't listen anymore, finally spoke. "Now that the ship is already under repair, and the plan has been sent to the Admiralty, what if the Japanese army really lands on the side of Jinshanwei during the war? This thing can be hidden for a while, but it can't be hidden for a lifetime, just think about what future generations say. ”

"Instead of sending torpedo boats to Jinshanwei to ambush them, I think it's better to prepare mines to block the Yangtze River." Zeng Yiding didn't look at Chen Jiliang, and looked proudly at the Kuomintang flag hanging on the wall, still excited. "These torpedo boats are too old, and the torpedoes have long been unusable, how can Houfu know about the things under the fleet! He seemed to be able to delay the landing of the Japanese army, but in fact, he let the soldiers go to death! You can die in battle, but you can't send you to death, and the battle is by no means something that he can fight as much as he wants. ”

"Okay, then I'll let the Jiankang go, and you can keep the lake osprey for yourself! I don't believe that a Japanese ship can't be sunk! Chen Jiliang was also angry, Huo Ran got up and let out cruel words.