"I've seen it," Chen Gongbo's expression suddenly fell silent: "Fohai, this matter still has to be carefully considered, I always feel that without Mr. Jiang's participation, this peace may be difficult to achieve, and it should be handed over to Mr. Jiang." ”

"Gongbo, I really can't tell Mr. Jiang about this," Zhou Fohai took out a cigar from his underwear pocket with a smile, and then continued: "Mr. Jiang is now focused on the main battle, and the Americans have given a large amount of loans, which makes him so excited that he can't find the north. ”

"It is precisely because of this that I think this move is inappropriate," Chen Gongbo still felt bitter, and the uneasiness in his heart became stronger: "The people's main war, Mr. Wang's strong peace, has already had an impact on Mr. Wang's reputation, if he takes this step again, I am afraid it will be more difficult to be understood by the Chinese people, and how will history evaluate Mr. in the future." ”

Wang Jingwei walked over and patted him lightly on the shoulder, and sighed: "Gongbo, I don't know how dangerous this step is, since the former Qing Dynasty, I followed the prime minister's revolution, and I have worked hard for decades, in order to make the country rich and strong, the nation can read well, and the people can live a good life, but over the past few decades, the country has become more and more chaotic, and now it has reached the brink of peril. ”

"But sir," Chen Gongbo still disagreed: "If this continues, the party will be divided, the country will also be divided, will he still keep his promise?" We have suffered too much from them, from the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War to the Lugou Bridge Incident, when have they talked about credit. Also, this is a matter of holding peace with the enemy with a political axe on his back, and there is also the question of organizing another political axe, sir, this matter must be cautious. ”

"Gongbo, you are too careful," Chen Bijun disagreed, but Wang Jingwei interrupted her: "Gongbo's worries are not unreasonable, if you really want to take this step, every step in the future cannot be wrong." ”

"Mr. Wang, you can rest assured," Zhou Fohai raised his head and said: "Zongwu has news again, they negotiated with Akira Akira and Takeo Imai, and Prime Minister Yuben will first issue a statement, and Mr. Wang will issue a statement in response, and then formally negotiate with Yuben to announce this treaty, and then we will contact Yunnan Longyun and Guangdong Yu Hanmou to respond and form a new political axe in southern Yunnan." ”

"Long Yun?" Chen Gongbo exclaimed in surprise: "Long Yun himself is still in Yucheng?" Zhuang Wenge had already destroyed his power in Yunnan, and he still responded by electricity? Establishing a New Deal Axe in Southern Yunnan? Brother Fohai, you're not dreaming. ”

"It's not enough to dream," Zhou Fohai laughed: "The emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, the Zhuang Cultural Revolution is a hundred secrets, Long Yun's two sons are still in Yunnan, the boss is still the commander of the southern Yunnan garrison, and southern Yunnan is still controlled by Long Yun." ”

"I can't make a statement in Yucheng, I am the vice president of the Kuomintang, and the statement made in Yucheng is made on behalf of the political axe, so I must leave Yucheng and make this statement outside, this is only on behalf of myself, only as my personal behavior, if the negotiation is appropriate, then come to persuade the political axe, if Mr. Jiang does not accept it again, then we can only set aside him to set up a new political axe, I believe that our good intentions will be understood by the people."

Zhou Fohai glanced at Wang Jingwei, he knew very well that the reason why Wang Jingwei had not made up his mind for a long time was mainly because he was worried about the people's reaction and how history would evaluate it.

"How history evaluates that it is a matter of the future, it is very complicated, we can ignore it for the time being, what we can do is to do what we should do well, to achieve things in people, to plan things in heaven, to do great things we have to take risks and sacrifices."

Chen Gongbo understood at this time, he sighed softly, looked up at Wang Jingwei and said, "You have all discussed, what else do I say, but, sir, I still think that this matter should be cautious, and it is better to give up." ”

"Gongbo, you and I have been friends for twenty years, and I will value your considerations, but I am determined to take action, and I hope you can help me as before." Wang Jingwei was very sincere, and his eyes were full of expectation.

Chen Gongbo sighed slightly: "Sir, if you have to do this, even if I don't approve of it in my heart, I will still follow Yihou, you go there, I will follow there, if you leave Yucheng, I will also leave Sichuan." ”

"Good! Adversity sees the truth, Gongbo, you are worthy of being Mr.'s confidant! Zeng Zhongming was overjoyed, Chen Gongbo is Wang Jingwei's important assistant, and he has a great influence on Wang Jingwei, if Chen Gongbo insists, even if Wang Jingwei can make it, no one knows what it will become in the end.

Chen Bijun brought the red wine, she was very happy in her heart, this matter was finally finalized, these days seeing Wang Jingwei's preoccupied and hesitant appearance, her heart was on fire, and today the matter was finally settled.

"I'll go talk to Long Yun tomorrow, finalize the details, start now, and every step in the future can't be wrong." Zhou Fohai's spirits were greatly lifted, don't look at him full of confidence, in fact, he is not sure in his heart, this step is completely gambling.

Chen Gongbo saw their happy looks, the depression in his heart was incomprehensible, he was not as optimistic as Zeng Zhongming, nor was he as confident as Zhou Fohai, he had fought with Chiang Kai-shek all these years, and knew that there was no distress of the army, southern Yunnan, the land of projectiles, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to clean it up, and there was no need to transfer troops from other provinces, Zhuang Jihua could destroy it.

After Gao Zongwu received a telegram from Zhou Fohai, he immediately went to the East Asia Trading Company to visit Takeo Imai, who was very excited when he learned of Gao Zongwu's intention.

"Gao Jun, thank you for your hard work, I will inform Tokyo immediately." Imai Takeo's tone was a little trembling, while waiting, he and Kagesa Zhenzhao returned to Nanjing once, and the operation they presided over was carried out under the guidance of the General Staff of the base camp, strictly speaking, without the consent of the Masaki of Samoto, it was a private peace negotiation move.

At Nanjing, the statistics of the results of the Wuhan operation had been reported to the General Headquarters of the Chinese Dispatch Army, and everyone from the commander-in-chief, Jun Tada, was stunned by the huge losses.

The entire Wuhan Theater Army invested more than 1 million troops, 600,000 troops against the Fifth Theater alone, 200,000 troops from the 11th Army south of the Yangtze River, 100,000 troops from the Third Theater to contain Gu Zhutong, and 200,000 troops to attack the First Theater to the north of the Mitigation Campaign.

The troops that had suffered heavy losses urgently needed to be replenished, but an order from the military department said that the country could no longer meet the needs of the dispatched troops, and asked them to make full use of China's industrial enterprises to produce all military supplies, including weapons and ammunition.

After receiving the order, Tada Jun became furious on the spot, China's industrial enterprises, the only few industrial enterprises in China, had long been demolished and relocated to the west, and the rest were all workshops, with low production capacity, which could not meet the needs of the army at all.

In addition to supplies, in the later stage of the Wuhan operation, the soldiers who were replenished in China were either seventeen or eighteen-year-old dolls who had just graduated from school or half-old men who were over forty years old.

One-third of the soldiers' salaries were forcibly purchased into patriotic bonds, and there was even a food shortage in the remote garrisons of Suiyuan, Inner Mongolia and other areas, and looting was extremely widespread.

As the war expanded, the army occupied most of the resources, causing serious dissatisfaction among the navy, saying that half of the more than 700 planes in the Wuhan operation came from naval aircraft carriers, and the navy's resistance was getting higher and higher, and the Triple Alliance's delay in approving it had a great deal to do with the navy's refusal to make concessions.

Steel is needed to build tanks, steel is needed to build cars, and steel is needed to build artillery; The empire only has so much aluminum every year, and the navy and the army want to build the planes, and the navy and army want to compete for supplies, and in order to compete for supplies, the navy even uses marines to land on Hainan Island, which is completely unnecessary, and in vain arouses the attention of Europe and the United States to the southward movement of the army.

In desperation, the military headquarters demanded in the latest instruction to Tada Jun that the Chinese dispatch army should not launch a large-scale offensive in the near future, that it should use as many troops as sparingly, that some divisions and regiments should be transferred back to the mainland and Manchuria, and that the Chinese dispatch force be reduced to 1.2 million by the end of the year.

From these orders, Imai Takeo smelled that the military department was trying to solve the China incident by political means, and this was a major shift in the military department's policy, although since the Lugou Bridge Incident, there was a distinction between the expansion faction and the non-expansion faction in the military department, but in fact the expansion faction has been controlling the military department's policy-making power, and after Ishihara left the military department, the expansion faction took full control of the military department, and even Seishiro Itagaki could only secretly conduct peace talks.

After Gao Zongwu left, Imai Takeo excitedly turned around the house a few times, Wang Jingwei, the big fish, finally took the bait, as long as he established a new political axe in Yunnan, China's monolithic anti-Japanese war situation will be broken, even if peace does not come immediately, the pressure of the imperial army in China will be reduced a lot, and the pressure of the domestic situation will also be reduced, and you can sit and watch the changes in the war in Europe.

Takeo Imai immediately ordered a telegram to Tokyo and Shanghai, informing Itagaki and Kagesa Zhenaki that Wang Jingwei had accepted the treaty, and that he should immediately report to the political axe and quell the Shina incident as soon as possible.

What Imai Takeo didn't expect was that Kagesa Zhenzhao's reply would arrive soon, but Itagaki Seishiro's call was late, and it arrived the next morning, and the content was not a congratulation or a plan of action for the next step, but told him that the military department had decided to overthrow the cabinet, and the Minister of War Shunroku Habata resigned, and the army decided not to send someone to take over as minister, forcing the Abe cabinet to resign.

After receiving the telegram, Takeo Imai was so angry that his hands and feet trembled, and the head of the Hong Kong organ, Matsusho Daizo, who sent him the telegram, was taken aback.

"Yaga!" Takeo Imai slammed the cup in his hand to the ground, and the cup split on the ground, splitting into countless pieces.

"Your Excellency." Matsusho Daizao hurriedly stepped forward, and Takeo Imai waved his hand: "It's okay, I'm fine, I, I'm just angry, the empire has reached such a critical point, and the domestic [***] is still like this, why can't we work together!" ”

(To be continued)