"Today, with the majesty of Your Majesty, the Imperial Army and Navy have conquered the three towns of Guangdong and Wuhan to pacify important areas of China. The National Government was only a local government. However, the government and the Northwest regime still adhered to the policy of resisting Japan and accommodating the Communists, so the empire must not withdraw its troops, and must fight until the other side collapses. The empire is responsible for building and ensuring a new order of permanent stability in East Asia. The ultimate goal of this focus is that all countries will also have a correct understanding of the intentions of the empire and adapt themselves to the new situation in East Asia. This statement is the policy and determination of the Empire not to move! ”

After the capture of Wuhan, the Japanese army issued such a statement after sending a note to the ministers of various countries. This statement is for China, and at the same time, it is also for Britain and the United States. This is also the first time that Japan has announced to the world this national policy in the form of a public statement by the government -- to establish a new East Asian order centered on Japan and to line up for the old East Asian order centered on Britain and the United States. to achieve its long-standing Great Asianism. It was also a major shift from Japan's cautious approach to European and American diplomacy and its traditional pro-Anglo-American policy at the beginning of the war of division. It is also a signal that Japan has turned its attention to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean and is about to move southward.

In the early days, Britain and the United States strongly protested against Japan's aggressive momentum, the most intuitive is that after the United States and Japan issued a statement, they directly announced that they would provide a loan of 50 million US dollars to the Republic of China, and Britain also announced a loan of 2.5 million pounds to the Republic of China to help the Republic of China's wartime collapse economy, as well as military aid.

Most of this part of the loans, Chairman Chiang, who had already returned to Changsha, used them to buy weapons, but unlike in the past, a considerable part of the weapons purchased by Chairman Chiang this time were provided by the northwest. After the Northwest distributed a large amount of money, it was used to buy a large number of machinery as always.

However, the insistence of Britain and the United States has brought about considerable changes in the rapidly changing international situation that has followed.

Since the First World War, the German army, which has been silent for more than 20 years, has not moved, and the movement of the sky has collapsed. After successfully destroying Poland, the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway again after the cold winter of 1939 and the snow began to fall.

The German army had already mobilized the chariot without the slightest pause due to the successful occupation of Denmark and Norway, and after occupying these two places, it secured its own iron ore source, and it took the German army less than a month and a half to bypass the Macedonian defense line and destroy France, which claimed to be the strongest army in Europe.

In short, Hitler, a war maniac, threw a set of combination punches that were dizzyingly fast, and the speed of attacking cities and destroying countries was unprecedented in history.

After threatening France to close the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, Japanese Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita formally requested the British ambassador to Japan to close the Yunnan-Burma Highway and the Yunnan-Burma Railway, which had only been open to traffic for a few months.

Compared with Foreign Minister Hachiro Arida's request, Japanese army officials were more blunt, directly threatening the British ambassador to Japan, saying, "Britain is about to perish, and it is no longer in Japan's mind." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is weak and incompetent, and it does not represent Japan's strength. Only the Army is the power that truly represents Japan. Britain must respect Japan's demands. ”

After Japan's demands were made, Britain began to face a dilemma: either to abide by its promise to support China's war of resistance in terms of China policy, to reject Japan's demands, and to risk conflict with Japan in the Far East; Either they will turn their backs on the traditional China policy, succumb to Japanese pressure, and close the Yunnan-Burma Highway at the cost of worsening Sino-British relations. The choice that Britain will make is the focus of attention for Japan, China and the international community.

In the midst of an extremely grim international situation. In Europe, after the defeat of France, the war quickly spread to Britain itself, and when most of the countries in northwest Europe had fallen, Britain was taking on the task of fighting fascist Germany alone, and most of its troops were put into the European theater; In the Far East, Britain also had to undertake the obligation to defend its colonies such as Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong, India, and Burma, and its military defense strength was obviously insufficient. Japan's offensive in the Far East made Britain extremely uneasy, and Britain, which was caught in the European theater, did not have sufficient military strength to confront Japan, not to mention that doing so would expose Britain to the danger of fighting on both the east and the west.

However, Britain was also very entangled at this time, whether to offend the Japanese, or to continue to adhere to its interests in China and not let Japan do whatever it wanted. At least the opinion of the British Foreign Office and the ambassador to Japan at this time is completely opposite. The British Foreign Office believed that the Japanese were just bluffing at this time. The proposal of the Japanese was rejected.

However, Japan was soon to take further action. Some officers of the War Office even clamored for a direct war with the British. And these officials received a strong reaction from the militarists.

A few days later, more than 5,000 Japanese troops gathered near the Kowloon Concession for exercises. The Japanese army's active preparations for war shocked the British.

At this time, in order to succeed the presidency of the United States, Roosevelt had to send a good signal to the isolationists in Congress, and also chose to remain silent on this matter for the time being, not to provoke an excessive reaction from the Japanese.

Under the strong pressure of the German army, Britain really did not want to provoke such a strong opponent as Japan in the Far East, so under the threat of the Japanese army, Britain chose to compromise, losing nearly 10,000 lives, and invested more than 500,000 laborers, and it took several years to build the Yunnan-Burma Highway and the Yunnan-Burma Railway. These two lifelines, which played an irreplaceable role in the War of Resistance, were unilaterally closed by the British. Although it was only to notify the Republic of China to be temporarily closed, it was at the expense of the out-and-out interests of the Republic of China.

But what Britain and the United States did not know was that Japan's habit of lack of greed had begun to develop since the First Sino-Japanese War. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China made step by step concessions to Japan, but did not bring peace, but only gained a war that became larger and larger each time, and lost more land each time. Japan will never let its opponents back down. On the contrary, greed, after the previous demand is satisfied, will only make more demands, and once their demand cannot be satisfied, they will not hesitate to resort to force and use their own way to grab it

"Mr. Special Envoy, your country's decision to sacrifice our interests and preserve our own interests is unacceptable from your country's point of view. Now that your country has made a statement, there is nothing to say, there is an old saying in the Republic of China, called feng shui in turn, with the situation in Europe at this time, your country has not turned to our country for help, and at that time, your country also has the possibility of becoming an outcast. ”

Looking at the British envoy who wanted to explain in front of him, Jiang Li smiled indifferently and said, "Since the Yunnan-Burma Railway and Highway have been closed, I don't need to keep in touch with your country. The closure of the Yunnan-Burma highway and railway did cause our army to suffer certain losses, but it was still within the emergency plan in the northwest. Mr. Special Envoy, please come back! ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, I deeply regret this decision of our country!" Envoy Clay withdrew apologetically.

"If an apology is useful, what else do you want the army to do." Jiang Li turned around and left the living room.

"The commander of the Northwest Army is an extremely resolute man who loves and hates. This compromise of the empire with Japan undoubtedly rejected an extremely firm and powerful ally in the future. According to my observations in the Northwest over the years, the Northwest Army has the strength to fight the Japanese enemy, their army is well-trained, and their governance is more clean and efficient than that of the central government in the south. The central government of the Republic of China in the south had already retreated into the local area after the Battle of Wuhan. Influence has been greatly reduced. Until now, the pressure of the Northwest Army on the Japanese army, the number of Japanese troops killed, the number of Japanese tanks, and the number of planes are far higher than that of the National Central Army in the south. ”

What is even more commendable is that under the command of this young general who has a very thorough understanding of the war, the Northwest Army has never suffered a major rout, and until now, Henan, as the core theater of operations, is under orderly control. As the main investor and builder of the Yunnan-Burma Railway and the main highway. The Northwest has spent enormous human, material and financial resources. In order to build these two roads, tens of thousands of lives were directly lost. Under the circumstance that the southeast coast of the Republic of China has been occupied by the Japanese army, these two roads bear the responsibility of importing more than 80 percent of various strategic materials to the Republic of China, and almost pinned the hope of the Republic of China on the War of Resistance. The empire chose to close these two passages at this time, undoubtedly pushing the other party into a desperate situation. It is also a move to keep out Asia's most powerful ally in the future. ”

"Since those stupid officials have made such a foolish decision, let time tell, but unfortunately, time can only prove the loss of the British Empire, and as a diplomat of the Empire, it is an extremely painful thing to be unable to stop all this." At the same time as a heated quarrel with the British ambassador to Japan, Clay sent such a telegram to China

"The Soviet Union is now focusing on the European battlefield again, and all kinds of military supplies for the Republic of China have been greatly reduced. Now that these two roads are closed again, it seems that the Republic of China is really a little isolated, facing the Japanese army alone, President Yuan Da held something that a country did not dare to do decades ago, and now let us stand up, this is really a bit of a drum in my heart. The rapid changes in the international situation made the leaders at this time a little unable to sit still, and they rushed to Luoyang by plane to meet Jiang Li. At the same time, he also listened to this passage between Jiang Li and the British envoy.

"Anyway, meeting these Britons is what Mr. Zhou should do, let me do it, it's more than a substitute." Jiang Li walked into the living room next to him.

"Britain is now concerned with military issues, and besides, they have indicated that they want to see you. For foreigners, you still have experience. Mr. Zhou smiled and said. However, our current situation is not very good, these two roads are one, and the materials behind them will not be able to be transported. ”

"I'm even more panicked, I'm afraid it's Chairman Chiang, we still have some foundation, and Chairman Chiang's way to get the British like this, but it's almost broken." The leader said, "But then again, now that Chairman Chiang has retreated to Hunan, and the influence of the Nationalist Government has been greatly reduced, it is the time for us to win over foreigners and expand our international influence. Foreigners have always been arrogant. Later, if I beg them, I am afraid that the other party will have to serve the shelf again. ”

"Foreigners are very realistic, if it's not good for them, even if we call the sky out, it's useless. If it's good for them, foreigners can also pull it down. Now we don't need the British, and it's nothing to drive them away. The Japanese army is advancing step by step in Southeast Asia, and the British are much more panicked than us. Jiang Li sneered, "Now that Japan is persecuting the British, they will make armed threats at every turn, which is no different from threatening our Republic of China at the beginning." It won't be long before the British beg us when there is a war in Southeast Asia. ”

"In fact, at the beginning, I strongly advocated the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Highway and the Yunnan-Burma Railway, so as to ensure that after the war with Japan, there would be a channel for importing materials from outside. Against the blockade of the Republic of China by the Japanese army, but in the past few years, a lot of equipment has been purchased, and the leader Mr. Zhou is in charge, the industry in the northwest has developed faster, and we are now able to stand on our own feet, and external assistance is no longer as urgent as before. ”

These two roads, from the original strategic goal of transporting materials, have become important channels for the future march to Southeast Asia. There is one point, our goal is the same as that of the Japanese, both of them are to establish a new order in East Asia, and the British and French colonies should not continue to exist in Asia. After the Japanese army was driven away and the British and French colonies also withdrew from Southeast Asia, the Republic of China could really be on the road to rise and minimize some uneasy factors. ”

"Can we really get this far? In the future, if the Republic of China wants to monopolize Southeast Asia, won't it offend the Japanese and the British, and these two countries may not be able to tolerate us at that time. ”

Mr. Zhou asked with some confidence. After all, the Republic of China was still a weak party at this time, even if Britain was in trouble at this time, the prestige of the empire on which the sun never set has been established in the world for a hundred years. And the Japanese army in front of him, relative to the Republic of China, is still a behemoth. At least for the time being, neither of the Republic of China and these two countries are comparable, and the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse.

"There is a contradiction in the middle, between Britain and Japan, between the United States and Japan, and between Britain and Germany. Director Jiang's meaning is nothing more than the fisherman's profit, but I agree with Lao Zhou's opinion, the current situation is indeed beneficial to the Republic of China, but four or two thousand pounds, you still need to have four or two strength. At least now it seems that even if Japan defeats Britain, the Republic of China wants to face Japan alone, it is still powerless, even if the Americans enter the war, but the Americans will not sit idly by and watch us control Southeast Asia. The leader took a puff of his cigarette. Besides, we can be regarded as external and internal troubles now, and Chairman Jiang and us are not of the same mind. Before the domestic problem has been solved, I will start abroad, and I am afraid that I will not be able to do it. ”

"The Northwest has been working hard all these years, and it has never relaxed in the years since the war, so naturally there is still some background. Originally, the report on this new weapon should have been delivered to your desk, but it was just in time for the leader and Mr. Zhou to come to Luoyang. It's missed, let's go check it out. Jiang Li stood up and made a gesture of please. (To be continued.) )